Some more picture updates...

Ross's dad just started a new job... in the DESERT! He has to train for six months before he knows where he'll be long-term, so he just came by himself and got an apartment near his job. But we've gotten to see him a lot more---- and it's SO fun. It just feels good to be near family.

oops... a left-over from Easter. I wanted to be part of the fun. And Finn's sweet expression kills me.Tummy-time...Family tummy time.... otherwise known as Ab Ripper X. This was Saturday, and I'm still sore. And I took a break to take a picture.

Yes I wish they were reading to him or something... something I could be more proud of. But sharing Pippi Longstocking on Netflix was still pretty cute.

Although he might not agree.

"Help Me." (in tiny Finn voice.)

Get used to it mister.

It's going to be a long road ahead with these big sisters.

What? It's still Spring...

I was perusing my picture folder and realized I'd never blogged our easter weekend in San Diego... for record's sake, here is a "pile" of photos.

Busy:

-Trying to remember how to run to see if I could physically (literally) survive the Napa Valley Ragnar.

- Shimmying around the house because my muscles are too sore for anything else.

- Cooking for dinner group. This week I did this Thai Chicken Salad.

- Getting shots for Mila and Finn. They were both champs.

- Eating 8 dollar yogurts from yogurt island. Not because yogurt island is expensive, but because I have a disease and I CANNOT control myself at a u-serve yogurt joint and I ALWAYS get the largest in the group. Even when I tell myself the whole way there that I WILL NOT.

- Hearing Ross wander around the house watching cross-fit clips on his iphone. He is obsessed... I'm convinced it's a cult. Just kidding... it sounds pretty amazing.

- Hanging tons of frames on the girls' wall to create a big gallery wall... now wondering if I need to simplify to a few identical in a row instead...

- Video taping Mila sing Justin Beiber. I think I might have to blog it-- it's dang cute.

Clearly all real check-list items that take lots of time. It's no wonder I've had the same stack of laundry on my dining table for like 5 days.

A Couch

I love almost everything about my new(ish) sectional from sofacraft. Almost. I love the color, custom length, fabric, washability (it must be a word because there's no squiggly line under it), the texture. The one drawback we never saw coming is that it feels shallow. Like the cushions behind are pushing you off a little. Ross often throws his on the floor so he can lean farther back. I nurse Finn in the same spot every time.... right in a crack so I can sink back a little more and pull my feet up. Pretty sure there's going to be a nice big dip there eventually.

Anyway... this extra deep couch looks so dreamy to me. So perfect for curling up and reading a good book. Or watching the Bachelor. I'm not going to say which I'm more likely to do personally....

via

To a new decade

That was weird... blogger made my post disappear... ?? It's back. You can rest easy.

(This photo is actually from our anniversary last week... but I needed a visual. And the only one I have from last night was taken by the Roy's waiter and I don't feel like scanning it in.)

As of yesterday. I. Am 30.

Probably every birthday for the past 30 years (of the ones I can remember) have included someone asking if feel any older. My answer is always the same. I feel no different. And yet somehow I've traveled 30 years of my life-span. THIRTY years. Today, I feel different.

I saw this post from my friend Rebecca. She writes about how her face is changing-- older? skinnier? I found myself hollering "amen"s. Skinnier doesn't seem like the right word for me, since I'm working on baby-weight... but somehow, things are sinking, or hollowing out. My eyes seem deeper and my nose seems bigger. I think my smile is getting narrower as my teeth are trying to revert to pre-brace days and I don't have the tolerance for a retainer anymore. I've got lines and crevices where I used to just have rosy cheeks I cursed. My hair is fluffy and course, not hangy and smooth like it once was. (Although I finally caved and got some Moroccan Oil and I think it might be changing my world.)

"So my hair and face are getting older, but my personality is stuck solidly at sixteen."

I read this in Rebecca's post and can't say it better than that.

I'm realizing this is how it's going to be. My body and face will just keep aging. People will be less and less surprised by my having three children (I confess I'm depressed every time I mention, "oh no, he's my third" and they nod as if that makes sense-- pft-- they're supposed to be shocked--- I'm so young of course.) They will call me ma'am and ask me if it's rude to ask my age (yes, A, that's you. :)), and all the while I will foolishly skip around town feeling like everyone probably thinks I'm the babysitter. Yes, I am that woman from the rad mini-van ads.

I'm thirty.

Luckily I know that it doesn't actually matter if I have deeper smile lines and thinner eyelashes and wiry, darker roots. It's ok that I don't have a flat tummy, that I don't have bright, rested eyes, that I don't have smooth hamstrings anymore. I'm thirty and I have this family. I have this husband and these three kids and it can't get much better than this. Now that I think of it, I think this will be the best decade yet.

This has been productive. Thanks for letting me work through it.

Dad

Yesterday marked a year since we lost my dad. It was also my birthday which unfortunately will forever be a little bittersweet. Sometimes I'm not sure I'm supposed to talk about it anymore, sometimes I wonder how we talk about anything else--- ever.

But we do, and I know we should, and I know if he's watching he'd want to witness as much action and happiness and laughter and debate and affection and arguing and making up and JOY as possible. He'd want to see it all. He loved life and taught me so much and I miss him like crazy and still think of him every day. Some days more than others. Yesterday was one of those.

I love you so so much, Dad.

Happy Mother's Day

Ross snapped these one morning while we slept. Mila had crawled in our bed at who-knows-what hour and spooned me for the rest of the night. My neck was stiff but my heart was full. :)

Between my own mother, Ross's mother, and my life as a mother... there's just too much to be grateful for today... and not enough time. But I couldn't let the day pass by.

It was special. I feel like it was the first year where my girls really got into it. They each had gifts from school they'd made for me and beamed with pride when I opened them. They brought me breakfast in bed with Ross and were sweet to me all day.

I'm so grateful that I'm a mother. It is by far my favorite thing about myself. I believe it is a sacred calling and no doubt the most important thing I will ever do.

I'm so grateful for a mother who set a remarkable example of what a mother should be. She will forever be the standard by which I measure myself.

I'm so grateful for a mother-in-law who raised a man like Ross. I wouldn't be able to love motherhood nearly as much if I didn't have a husband who did more than his share--- always with a smile.

Happy Mother's Day mommies.

What I've been working on lately...

More on the other blog.

I love me some Moroccan poufs

But at $225- $325, they're hard to justify. Especially since no one can sleep on them or put clothes in them or drive them, or use them for some other very functional purpose. You can sit on them, or put your feet on them. But mostly I just want to look at them. I LOVE them.

And DID you see the new Calypso line at Target that's selling a knock off faux-leather pouf for 59 dollars? I did. I saw it coming, I followed online and in stores and of course they were sold out immediately. Eventually I found three in our Palm Springs store and I bought them all. (One for Brooke who was also on look-out.) This is what they look like:

So I think I'm thrilled about them. Silver wouldn't be my first choice, but it's the only color they've got. (What happened to the gold they showed online beforehand? Anyone know?) Obviously they look cheaper with the fake leather. They've also got a little bit of a wood frame inside so they're a little overly perky for my taste-- they're more cylindrical and less squishy/squatty, and much lighter. But for $59, I think they're gorgeous and I THINK they'll end up at the feet of my girl's beds in their longest-project-ever of a room. Someday I'll take a picture if I ever finish! I've had major indecisiveness with colors in there. There's just always something cuter, you know?

Blasted Internet.

Eight Years

A couple from the dating and engaged days.... sorry for your eyes Lace--- I must have posted this before, because I think I remember apologizing for that already. :) I have limited old scans at my fingertips!

The big day...

In Paris, our first and only time to Europe... pregnant with Sophia.

A "romantic getaway" to Coronado when I was pregnant with Mila.

Hawaii... not pregnant... phew.

Just one I like of us. :)

And one of my favorites. There's few things I love like my husband's real smile lines.

Notice there are no photos since I got pregnant with Finn or stayed pregnant-looking with Finn. It wasn't a deliberate attempt at deception, promise. Just an indication that I don't get on the other side of the camera much these days. Maybe we'll take one tonight for documentation's sake. Maybe.

Wish I had time to make a video like I did for our fourth anniversary. Or finish the story of how we met that I started on our sixth anniversary. But we didn't have three kids yet, and my hair didn't used to take a whole hour to make date-ready. And I do have myself a hot date with that handsome man above in ONE hour.

It's been eight really wonderful years. Really. I feel grateful every day that I went to take a nap in the library that day.