What happened to the clouds?!

Today I woke up at 5:50am blindly going into the bathroom and taking a shower in the dark. Travis and I were up late ironing clothes for our whole family since we were taking family photos at 9am in Tigard at my mother in-law's house. We picked her house because she has a beautiful back yard with lots of pretty spots for little girls to pose for pictures. We left the house at 7am with the car packed for the day and several costume changes for each of us (4 for each kid and 3 each for us).

The person who was going to be taking the photos is my sister in-law's cousin who, looking at her website and myspace page, takes beautiful pictures and is extremely reasonable price wise. For anyone who knows my daughter you know hat she is shy around anyone she has not met before along with those she has met several times. She took one look at Micalah and was instantly comfortable and wonderful. This made me feel great! I have been to some portrait studios over the last couple of years and I have met some terrible photographers who have no patience for little kids and let me tell you this was not the case! Micalah was so patient and calm and she has such a way with little kids. This was a great experience that I would recommend her to anyone who was wanting to get some pictures of their family or kids. You will love her.

After the photo session it was about 90 degrees at 11am so we stripped Claire down to her diaper and let her run around the yard and play in the water and I took a couple of candid shots of her and Ben. Mine are not nearly as good as Micalah's but it will have to do until we get the pictures back. I can't wait to have to call her again for another session. If you want to visit her website or myspace page I will post them on the bottom.

The statue picture was of her totally naked but she struck this pose that just managed to get but I made her a leaf bikini bottom in Paint. She is not actually wearing a bathing suit of leafs. That would be neat though.

www.myspace.com/micalahwilsonimages

I love him

I put Ben to bed after nursing him about an hour ago, burped him in the dark, and laid him down. I stood under the plastic glowing stars on the ceiling and among the vinyl monkeys on the wall and just stared at him. His limp sleeping body lightly raising up and down and the little buzz of his breath made my heart ache. I love him. I love him despite the fact that he pooped today making the bumbo turn into a grotesque soup bow. I love him despite the fact that he cried for an hour while I was trying to make dinner and burned most of it. I love him because he reminds me of Claire and Travis. I love him because he loves Claire. I love him because when I was changing him before bed he couldn't stop laughing when all I was doing was looking at him. I loved him before he was born and I will love him all of my days.

Catching up on life

Since Ben was born things have picked up and calmed down a bit. Ben is doing very well, not that we thought he wouldn't, but he is a BIG boy. He had a 4 month check up last Monday and we found out that he is 18 lbs 7oz and 27 1/2” long. His doctor said that he is doing great and continuing to thrive and stay on the same growth arc. She also mentioned that he is the size of an average 7 ½ month old! That blew my mind a bit. He is mastering a new skill it seems every day. He is rolling over on both sides, talking up a storm, laughing at every opportunity, enjoying his feet, Grabbing anything within reach to chew, eating rice cereal, and trying to crawl. The last few nights have been tough for Travis, Ben, and I since Ben has decided that he no longer wants to sleep more than 2 hours at a time. I'm confident that we will all figure this “Stage” out soon and we will all be back to wonderful sleep.

Claire on the other hand has discovered her sassy side and is embracing it at every opportunity weather we like it or not. She has been choosing the most inopportune times to bring this demon out and sharing it with others while I turn red and try to handle the situation in a diplomatic manner. Her new trick she has learned is singing and making up her own songs while playing a cardboard tube, her guitar. We have been really listening to the lyrics and they are just hilarious. The songs always start out with the same 2 lyrics, Bobo (my mom) and Grandma (Travis's mom) and are then followed either by every other name in her répertoire, the events of the day, or about all the things she is not allowed to do or say. “I hit mommy I hit daddy BAD BAD, GO AWAY pinch Moes (the cat) BAD” and it continues all in a sing song voice. As long as she is not doing or saying those things to others we are OK with the songs and at least she has a constructive outlet. Oh how we love her.