This is my husband...

And this is what he was doing today in Central Oregon at Smith Rocks. A single shot like this makes his job look so romantic and amazing, but does little to show how much work and time goes behind each shoot. Such as waking up at 430 am and driving well into the night just so he can be home in the morning to hear his little boy sing 'morning Dadeee' and see the first smile of the day from his little girl.
We are so lucky to be a family together.

Sitting up

With help from Bumbo.

Could we be?

There appears to be some teething activity around here. Hands stuffed into mouths to the point of gagging, drool, gnawing on things, you know, the ushg. Preemie's milestones are calculated differently, so does that mean that P is really over 3 months old now because she was so late? Finn got teeth at 3.5 months so maybe we are close. Hmm.

In the meantime, it is late, we are tired but someone too cute to be ignored is running baby marathons and giggling. So I stay up, take some pics and play with Instagram (iPhone/iPad users beware it is an addictive way to play with photos. Nick thinks it's hilarious that we spend all this time trying to make pictures look old).

Tata for now.

Thankful

Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the US. We spent the day at my parents with lots of family and loved ones. Grandma came, which was incredibly special. Four generations under one roof. That is something to be thankful about.

Some other things I am thankful for?

1. Poppie's health. She had her first real laughing episode in the bath last night. At Finn splashing. I called Nick and Nana to run quick and they came breathless to the bathroom thinking something was wrong. Poppie laughed and laughed and we all giggled along with her. Finn felt like a star.

2. My family. The birth one and the chosen one. And all the people who come along with that, near and far.

3. Food, shelter and warmth. And all the love that goes into them.

4. Nature. Being outside near the water, breathing fresh air, walks, even the rain.

Good morning, Grandma!

Remember this hat? You made it for me when Finn was wee and I was but a faraway thought in everyone's heart...

Can you handle the cuteness?

Neither can I.

F is for Nana

When Mamas take a little bit of time and play with us, it feels really good. Especially when we are playing with a new toy that we build letters with. Mama gave me an F for Finn and it feels so good to be given an F for me that I wanted Nana to feel good too. So I gave an F for Nana and an F for daddy too. And because Papa was there, he got an F too. And Uncle David and Uncle Daniel and Uncle Ben too. Everyone got an F and we all had fun and everyone felt good.

The End.

Oh to be that age when mobiles rocked your world like nothing before...

Home again

We are finally home after a wonderful trip to the UK. Finn and Poppie were both little angels on the plane and the trip went really smooth. Finn had his own seat on this leg of the journey, which made a huge difference to all of our comfort (on the way over we had two seats between the four of us and were sandwiched in by a cold woman who hardly moved the whole trip and made it clear we were not her preferred neighbors, but who could blame her?). The weather is crisp and clear, which I secretly think is helping Nick feel like Seattle is home, because for the past 3 years he hasn't stopped comparing England's crisp, cold, clear with Seattle's warmish, cloudy, wet, and this whole trip home to the UK has been a complete switch in weather.

Anyway.

Finn is thrilled to be back with Inca and Nana and Papa, although he is telling lots of England stories about everyone and how much he loves certain key characters (you know who you are). We all had a wonderful time and it is bittersweet to be back. But really, we couldn't have planned it better because next week is Thanksgiving here in the States, which pretty much means a week of food in our family. The prep will start with a trip to the Farmer's market this weekend, followed by an epic grocery store trip that will take my mom and I two whole American-sized shopping carts to complete. Then the cooking starts. I absolutely love cooking alongside my mother and every year we pull in new recipes to old favorites, trying to up last year's meal. This year we are feeding 18 people, which is mere compared to last year's 25. And as if one day was not enough, we have a second Thanksgiving celebration the day after (although much, much less food this time around) with my mom's side of the family who are in town, but spend the actual day with their extended family.

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of another holiday and I am not the only one excited for it this year. Finn has gotten wind that DEER FLY IN THE SKY AND DELIVER PRESENTS! Deer are his favorite animal at the moment, he received two suitcases of presents in the UK (and thus knows the fun of opening presents) and this whole Santa and his reindeer thing couldn't be better timed. We have already spent all evening talking about it and there is something like 39 more nights until Christmas (which I know because I just googled 'christmas countdown' and am shocked/not shocked that there are actual websites dedicated to the number of days left until Christmas. I bet they get a lot of hits about now, but what keeps them going from December 26th onwards?).

This is the first magical Christmas where Finn has an idea what is going on and I am thrilled to make it really special and start our family's traditions. This is another area in life where it is fun to have a multinational family where we can merge the traditions from both of our countries (not that they are too disimilar).

When I stop to think about how many memories I have of Christmas and my feelings of what makes Christmas magical, I am humbled by the power we have as parents. Nick and I are literally shaping the world for Finn and Poppie and what we normalize, they will respond to as normal for the rest of their lives. The memories and traditions we create now (and beyond that, how we teach them to carry themselves in the world) will forever impact them and will majorly define who they are and what they become.

Kind of heady to think about all of this with my jetlagged mind, so I will sign off.

xoxo

Brighton

A day with the boy in the striped sweater

Sunday at sunset

In Polzeath, Cornwall with friends.

Rock, Cornwall

Famous for its golden beaches and the favor of the Princes. Rock has a fantastic little pub where we met a young family with a Finn-aged Finn with the same lust for life and a little brother one day older than Poppie (what are the odds?). I wanted to ask the mum if she wanted to be friends and how long she was staying in Cornwall for and Nick laughed and told me how American I am (she was the type of person that would have said yes to being friends. I mean, for heaven sakes we named out firstborns Finnley and conceived our second children around the same time so we must have something in common, right?)
While Finn was digging (of course), Nick took a few snaps of me and Poppie.