The Big 2

We did it again! As of June 3rd, we survived another year of Charlie! To commemorate, I dusted off last year's decor and threw him a celebratory little shindig. I didn't even switch out the photos from his first year of life, but hey! There were cake bites (a la Mish) so he didn't seem to mind.



















Yup, this kid sure can drive me crazy. Crazy crazy crazy in love.

San Luis Obispo Nine-year Roommate Reunion!

It's time to resurrect three-word-captions.

Seven of us.

Together four days.

Party without kids.

Historic gum wall.

Everyone else cooked.

Riveting breakfast conversation.

Creme brulee french. (toast) (sorry for cheating)

Freedom to nap.

Braved Pacific Ocean.

Kayaked against wind.

Narrowly escaped killerseals.

That water's cold.

Naomi's water adventure.

Nerds at heart. (but lovable ones)

Terrible, cheesy movie.

Beautiful beach day.

Crazy body surfers.

Family picture time.

There we go.

All look same...

...nine years ago.

Fifteen kids now.

Must reunionize again!

P.S. Montana de Oro.

Love those girls. Really, I do.

Peur

Now that I've gotten my truest, foremost feelings out about being pregnant (in this post), I might as well confess that I'm also pretty scared. No, not constantly plagued with worries, but the nagging feelings are there.

See, I'm already weird. I'm a Mormon. A water-birther. A raw-plant-food-eater. A home-schooler. Just kidding. But still, four kids before our seventh wedding anniversary? Might be the weirdest of all, even for mainstream Mormon culture. (No really, check your stats next sacrament meeting.) That's cool and all-- many who want to have four kids by their seventh wedding anniversary are unable to, for a multitude of reasons. This all still feeds into my growing awareness that there is nothing "normal" about my lifestyle, and a fourth baby will certainly turn whatever is familiar and comfortable about my current life upside down and inside out.

I said earlier in this post that I just don't love babies. I was a little severe, but truly I am not eager to reenter the world of chaos, sleep deprivation, and social isolation that is raising an infant. The schedule cramped by nap times and frequent feedings, the juggling of household tasks and disciplining older children with one hand, the sheer madness that is running errands.

Yes, mothering small children is not for the faint of heart. I made the choice to have this child, as I've done three other times, almost purely on faith in a force much greater than myself. As I consider the practical details, though, I am already baffled and overwhelmed.

I know everything will work out fine. It always does. But... how? I have no answer and feel so very unprepared to have four smallies always with me at home. Five months' time... that's all I've got to resolve these sentiments...

Erik's birthday festivities

I really thought I'd taken pictures of all the fun we had with visitors in April and May. Hmmm, I'll have to hunt for those. In the meantime, Erik did get around to having his fourth birthday and we let him alone dictate the day's activities, free of interference from a certain older sister who lovingly meddles. He requested the train park and Yumberi frozen yogurt. Easy enough.

















I figured I might as well throw him a birthday party, too, while I was at it. It's hard to tell if Erik or his mom loves Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs more (we do like the book, but I'm referring to the film), but our shared fanaticism made for an easy party theme choice.

Vicious winds prevented my vision of dangling food and rat-birds from coming to fruition, but the beauty of it all was that... no one cared. Not a one. Why didn't someone tell me seven parties ago that no one cares how a party looks, sounds, smells, and acts like a Martha-Stewart wanna-be-party? I know, I know, you all tried.

Not that there's anything wrong with extravagant birthday parties, if you're not making sacrifices in every other aspect of life in order to pull them off. Okay, lesson learned.

So ERIK. He loved his party just as much as every previous one. Maybe more. I will do (almost) absolutely anything to procure that toothy magic, but it's very comforting to know it's not nearly as hard to do so as I'd made it.








Yes, I free-handed Flint Lockwood for our pin-the-spray-on-shoes-on-Flint piece of entertainment. Unfortunately, I forgot all of the shoe cut-outs at home, but again, no one cared. We improvised and used it as a target for a rat-bird toss.

Erik even invented his own rendition of freeze tag: the tagger had a toy piece of peanut brittle for tagging/freezing and someone else had a toy syringe for unfreezing/administering the peanut allergy medicine for all the "Sam Sparks'" experiencing anaphylactic shock. If you're not well acquainted with the film, you might be a bit confused. Also, you really should see it. Really.

Don't forget Steve's gummi bears!

Party was a confirmed success when Erik fell asleep while Kyle was offering him bedtime story choices. Do I love anything more than that slumbering face? It was a happy birthday indeed.