excusez-moi

Listen to this song, if you've got a moment. I don't know what she's saying 97% of the time, but I think her voice is kinda awesome.

Cupid he rules us all

I seriously want to learn to play this song. (Sorry I can't embed the video)

But I have something else that takes priority on the "creative to-do list". Also I just don't have time right now! So somebody else should learn to play it... Mom?

Beds are for the birds

I put Maya to bed... (fyi I do actually wrap her up to put her to sleep, I just took the picture after she was screaming and I unwrapped to hold her)and then...So I hold her.
That's just where she wants to be.p.s. I put her to bed at 10 pm and it is now after 4:30 and there has been nary a peep. I'm fully aware that I have completely wasted an awesome opportunity. I'm trying not to think about it too much.

Buongiorno principessa

This was Rylie's birthday:This was the day before Rylie's birthday:She's 3 now. I can't believe it.
Some Rylie highlights:-She dotes on her baby sister
-She's in a kind of frenzied girliness stage. Fairies and mermaids and princesses, oh my!
-She pretends to read
-She tells great stories
-She sings a lot
-She loves knock-knock jokes (so does Nathan) but she doesn't tell them right. Here are examples:
Rylie: Knock knock!
Me (or Jared): Who's there?
Rylie: An elephant... with chunks. (giggles)
or...
Rylie: Knock knock!
Me: Who's there?
Rylie: Boo hoo! You don't have to cry, it's only me!
Me: ...Ok!This girl has grown up so quickly. Not that she's grown up. No rush here.

Just keep swimming

We've gone swimming a few times so far this summer (I say we, but I mean they...) and twice it's been at a partially indoor pool. I don't know if that sounds pathetic to you, but I think I prefer it. I don't have to worry as much about Rylie burning or about either one of my children getting skin cancer. Also, I just don't like the bright sun. It's annoying. Am I buzzkill? I guess... but I really think it just means I need to visit England more.

Rylie's obsessed with the baby swings in the toddler play area.Maya's obsessed with sleeping.Jared went down the slide once, he's not obsessed or anything.Nathan just loves the lazy river feature, and here's a Where's Waldo type picture of the three of them enjoying it.And the best picture I could get of the three of them...
And some pictures of Maya preparing for the 2012 Olympics... She really wants me to go back to England for some reason. As long as she can come, of course. Hence the olympics.No wait this is the best picture I could get of the three of them.

Babes in the sun

Maya, like my older two children were as newborns, is mildly jaundiced. I've been taking her out in the sun for a little bit in the late afternoon or early evening because I want her to get some sun, but I'm worried about sunburn.I love her facial expression here:I'm so glad Jared works on our yard and makes it look nice... I love being out there and the kids love playing outside.Look at Nathan's face in the background... I think it's kinda funny:Rylie loves her pink dress. If it's hanging in the closet, odds are she'll wear it.And one more that makes me laugh - she's trying to latch onto my arm:

Father's Day

Just some pictures from that day in black and white, cause I'm artsy... Hope the last one isn't too naked for you. I think it's pretty though, and it's kind of a preview of a bunch of pictures Shannon took when she visited us in the hospital.

Father's Day was today... Pardon me while I wax emotional. I felt like it was this awful Father's Day because I didn't do anything and Jared made all this wonderful food (waffles with his special homemade strawberry topping, then pot roast and rolls for dinner) and still had to do so much for all of us because I'm still pretty incapacitated since I had a baby lo these 5 days ago. So then this evening after Nathan and Rylie were put to bed, I'm sitting there trying not to freak out Maya with my weird reactions to various kinds of pain while I feed her and Jared offers me a massage for when she's finished. Yeah. I just started bawling like... well... like a recently pregnant woman. So then he's all concerned and completely nonplussed. When I finally get ahold of myself and explain why I'm acting so bizarrely he just laughs and says sweet things about how Maya is a wonderful Father's Day present and how the kids are all so sweet when they're not being devilish and how he doesn't do that much, really, nothing like giving birth to three children and that he really liked my card this morning. Then he gave me that massage.

Yeah. I married that guy. The kind of guy who would sleep on this awful thing for two nights just so I don't have to be alone with a newborn in the hospital:

I love you Jared. Happy Father's Day.