Jenner

Spending time with family is a true blessing.  We spent this past holiday weekend with family in Jenner, CA.  With extreme certainty, I can say both Elanor and Lydia had a blast (as did Dan and I).  I don't think Ella quit talking and running around the entire four days we were there.  And it was a rare moment to find Lydia without a set of hands waiting to scoop her up.

We spent the majority of the weekend just relaxing in the rental house, which was superb.  This house had the most amazing view of the Russian River!  Lydia spent a majority of her time in the hands of Great-Grandma.  But also found time to spend with other members of the family.

We would have spent more time at the beach, but the weather didn't have the same ideas that we did when we were packing for this trip.  We made it down once, and played paddle ball, frisbee and just generally ran around in the sand.

Dan and I took advantage of the free babysitting and went on a 25 mile bike ride to Cazadero and back.  It was a beautiful ride, but I was pretty sore afterwards.  Gave me a good excuse to use the hot tub later that night though.  

We also went to Guerneville one day to check out the town but there wasn't much to see, so we left pretty quickly.   But we did manage to find an old pedestrian bridge to run around on.  Ella is a track star in the making, there is no walking anymore..."I want to RUN!"

The Jenner house crew, not including Janet and Lindy who had to leave a day early.  It was great to see everyone and to spend the quality time.

Can't wait for our next trip!

Is That Allowed?

For the past two years I have been dealing with a camera that waits about 1 second to take a picture after you push the button.  This wasn't a problem previously, but when you have children who can't stay still for more than 1/4 of a second, this poses a problem.  So for Christmas this last year, I recieved a super fancy camera, that actually takes the picture when you push the button.  I was so excited!

It allows me to take amazing photos such as these:

Sadly, the flash quit working in February.  I postponed sending the camera in for repair until now (I couldn't be without a good camera for those newborn photos).  But now I am faced with the question....

     Is it allowed for a mother of small children to be without a camera?

It almost feels as if I am partially naked without my camera within arms reach.  Luckily, we have had two professional photo shoots in the past 2 months, one of which was this past weekend.  I guess I will have to rely on the photographer's pictures to capture this week's moments (who am I kidding, they are going to be much better than the ones I would have taken anyways).  But I am still left with the uncertainty of how I will capture the weeks until my camera is returned.

Here are some pics from our original newborn photo shoot on March 20th.

Beginning Again

Inspired by a friend of the family, I am starting again on the tales of the cutest babies every born...

It has been a little over a year since I posted last and I am beginning to wonder where that time went.  It's hard to notice the time as it passes day by day, but when you look back, it really does 'fly by'.  So much has happened over the past year it is hard to believe.

Elanor is now a big sister and loving every minute of it.  As am I.  It is an amazing blessing to have another baby in the house and even more amazing to see the girls together and how we have come together as a family.  I don't know why, maybe because it feels as if Lydia has been with us a lot longer then 9 weeks, but we truly do feel like a complete family.  It is an overwhelming feeling that I never would have thought existed if I hadn't experienced it for myself.

The part I was most nervous for when we brought Lydia home was how Elanor would react to a small sibling.  I shouldn't have been worried at all because Ella is absolutely in love with her little 'sissy'.  Since the day Lydia arrived home from the hospital it has been nothing but hugs and kisses...

It's amazing to see, even in a child the age of 2 1/2, the nurturing that occurs when a new baby is around.  Ella's first instinct is to take care of her sister, whether it is reading her a book to go to sleep, putting her pacifier in, helping to burp after a feeding...

It is also really special to see the way Lydia reacts to Elanor.  Now that she is starting to recognize faces you can tell just how much she loves her big sissy, too.  Lydia gets really happy and has big smiles when she sees Ella (which isn't hard as Ella tends to be only inches away).  It melts my heart every time.

 

I'd have to say the hardest part about being a mom for the second time is feeling that you have enough time for everyone, especially yourself.  Although I may not be able to spend as much one-on-one time with Lydia as I was able to with Elanor, the time Lydia gets with Elanor is priceless.  And this is only the beginning.