One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, I gave birth to our baby girl, Fina. She came into this world easily into a tub of warm water. Her birth was peaceful. She stared up at me, bright eyes and red lips and I fell in love all over again. Not only did I fall in love with her again, but I fell in love with Doug and Cooper all over again too for watching them love Fina made me love them even more. She has been the perfect edition to our family.
When I held her in my arms that night and every night since it was like holding a little slice of heaven. I marveled over all the little noises she made and was intoxicated by the way she smelled. I still feel a sense of peace when I hold her and smell her head as she nuzzles in.
This past year has been nothing but perfect. She has been a dream baby. I think a lot of it is because Doug and I trust ourselves as parents much more now then we did when we were new at it with Cooper. We don't try to mold her or push her to do things she is not ready to do. If she cries we pick her up, if she needs to sleep with us she does, if she wants to be held we hold her. It feels good to be confident in these things and not worry about schedules or what the latest "expert" says. Fina has taught us to trust our instincts and having her has made us better parents all around. I would say that we trust our parenting instincts more with Cooper since she arrived too.
Fina has such a lovable personality. I have enjoyed watching her go from an angelic newborn to a active baby. I have loved watching every little hair sprout on her head, every delicious arm roll get bigger and then now slim out a bit, every little twinkle in her eye when she discovers something new, and have especially enjoyed every giggle that comes out of her when she is being entertained by her big brother. Love. That is what I feel, complete love.
Here are some photos of her party. She loves balls so we had a ball themed party. The little Birthday Girl slept for about half of her party. I guess it was a bit much for her :) Annie made perfect cupcakes for her party and Cooper helped blow out the candles. I made her a special birthday crown and tissue balls to hang around the yard. It was a great party and a great way to celebrate our baby girl because she is something worth celebrating!
We love you, Fina Marie!

Today I Feel....

Thankful. Happy. Blessed. Amazed. Loved. Sad. Why is sad in there? Well, because I can't believe that we had my baby girl's first birthday party this morning. I couldn't even sing the birthday song because I had to choke back tears. Children are such a blessing and it pains me how fast it all goes by. I LOVE when they are babies and Fina has been a dream baby so while I am happy to celebrate this milestone, I am sad to see my baby grow up.
Her actual birthday is Wednesday. I will post many more but for now, here is one of the party girl. We had a lovely party and I took many photos (shocker). It was so nice to be surrounded by people who love Fina.
Love.

Birth

You have heard me talk about our dear friends, the Schell family many times. They were expecting their second baby and they asked me to come to their birth to photograph it. It was such an honor to be there. The only other home birth I have ever been to was my own with Fina so it was really special. Her labor was very quick, around 20 or 30 minutes. It was peaceful. Such a beautiful birth. I see birth every day that I work but there is something so special about a home birth. It is unhindered and natural. It is so great to see how birth unfolds without any intervention.
Sarah was so strong and in complete control. To me, she looked so beautiful. The ultimate vision of a mother. She gave birth to a baby boy, their second with such grace. Thank you Sarah and Craig, for allowing me to be there for such a life changing moment. You have two beautiful boys.

4th of July 2011

Does this photo say 4th of July, or what?

Have to say. What a fabulous holiday. Its summer. Everyone is off work. There are family parties. I think it is my favorite holiday, aside from Christmas.
We had a great time. Ann had a wonderful party with amazing food as usual. It had all the components of a great party, beer, good food, good company, little kids wearing red, white, and blue and some with two poney tails. Plenty of playing in the dirt. We went down to South Lake Union and watched the firework show from a building where a friend of ours works. It was a beautiful view. This was extra special for Cooper as this was the first year he stayed up for it. It was a great way to kick off summer!










Don't worry. It was empty.

Summer Time...

And the living is easy....
I LOVE summer so much, always have. So much free time, letting the day unfold organically without schedule or pressure. Lots of time outside. In the summer we are so thankful for our wonderful yard and all the time we spend in it. Here are a few shots of us playing in the yard. Fina airing out her bum, Cooper playing "airplane swing", and a few of him "flying" on my feet. I know one day he will be too big for that so for now he can fly the summer away.
Hope you are enjoying your summer too!

















BTW, yes that is dirt in his nose. I love it.

10 Years Ago...

While we were all in nursing school, you never could have told us that within 3 years we were going to have SIX kids between us...





Now, getting together is more fun then ever. Not up all night studying or partying but good time all around.



We had a little BBQ last week with the Fritz and Bartch families. I met these girls (and their hubbies, Doug is the only non Seattle U grad) back at Seattle U nearly 10 years ago. We had some pretty great times together and managed to survive Nursing School together. We even lived in Belize for a month together during nursing school. It is so great to get together with these guys. The kids have fun and so do we. It was a very fun night.






(photo by Alicia, finished by me)


(photo by Alicia, finished by me)


The girls played in the castle, while Coop and the men played football.










(photo by Alicia, finished by me)

So blessed to have such great friends!