One Wonderful Month of Eila Jean

Tomorrow Eila will be one month old!  It’s been an amazing first month, and getting to know this baby is proving to be very enjoyable and entertaining.  If one was to try and extrapolate her future personality from her baby mannerisms in this first month, they might say she would grow up to be perceptive, intuitive, comical, opinionated, easy-going yet assertive, expressive and engaging.  Did we mention a genius and drop-dead-gorgeous?  (Okay, maybe this is if it was her parents interpreting the data.)  But like the big sisters who came before her, Eila is quite a character.  She’ll fit in just fine in this family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isn’t she lovely?  Happy One Month Birthday, Eila!

 

A Photo Scavenger Hunt

We had a house full of grumpy grumps Friday afternoon.  The visitors had gone home, the holiday was over, and everyone had been in the house all day when 4pm rolled around.  There were a lot of scowly faces and snappy tones being thrown around.  It was decided by the grown-ups that a trip out of doors was needed for everyone.  But with sundown fast approaching, and with two 8-year-olds who never want to leave the house lately, we had to get creative – and fast!  So Kate and Kane threw together a photo scavenger hunt for the kids.  Wrote down a list of items, and told Shaelyn and Davia that we had a mission.  We had to find and photograph everything on the list, and then we’d get a prize.  The list items were carefully chosen to require a trip outside.  To the grocery store, in fact, as that was the only place we could think of that was a) indoors, b) open the day after Thanksgiving, and c) not a Black Friday shopping destination.

And we completed our mission!  Look…

Here is what we were searching for to photograph.  Please ignore the title of “Treasure Hunt”.  The term “scavenger hunt” slipped our minds until after the game, when we realized that’s exactly what it was.  And we really weren’t hunting for treasure at all.  But who cares!  It’s a game!

A picture of our list (taken after the game was ove

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Item #1:  a stop sign

Item # 2:  a bird

We had to get creative for this one, because it was past most birds’ bed time.  So Shaelyn and Davia spotted Tweety Bird in this machine.  We also had to be stealthy, because we didn’t want to get kicked out of the grocery store for photographing the merchandise.  So we made it a picture of the girls.  (Note the yellow bird in the machine.  Item # 2, check!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Item #3: a blue minivan

We had to be stealthy again here, so that minivan owners who might be watching would not get suspicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Item #4:  Davia under a tree

Item #5: Shaelyn next to a mailbox

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Item #6: Mama, Kane and Eila in the frozen food aisle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Item #7: slug bug

Item #8: box of Fruity Pebbles cereal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Item #8: Kane holding a lemon to his forehead

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#9: a Christmas tree

Mission accomplished!!  And by “mission”, I mean getting the whole family to have fun together for a little while without bickering.  Of course, that lasted until we got back in the car to go home, but hey.  Tis the season for bickering, right?

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We just had a fun Thanksgiving with some of our favorite friends from California.  Anne and Nathan, and their awesome kids, Zane and Fiona, drove all the way up from the East Bay to visit us here in Oregon!  They arrived Tuesday night and just left this morning (Friday).  On Wednesday, Kane had to work, but Shaelyn and Davia were out of school.  So everyone (minus and missing Kane) headed in to Portland for the day.  There, Kate and Eila went to a midwife appointment while Anne and Nathan took all the big kids to lunch.  The plan was to meet up at OMSI (http://www.omsi.edu/) after lunch and Kate’s appointment, but when Shaelyn and Davia begged to see the Body Worlds exhibit (http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html), Kate got squeamish and fled home, taking Anne and Nathan up on their gracious offer to take the kids.  Shaelyn and Davia were totally fascinated by the Body Worlds exhibit, so it’s really lucky that Anne and Nathan were here to take them.  (Kane shares Kate’s squeamishness about the whole dead bodies thing, so otherwise, the girls never would have gotten to go!)

Wednesday was our out-and-about day, and Thursday was our lounging-at-home day.  Except for a couple walks around the neighborhood, no one left the house all day.  The kids ran wild and had a blast.  The grown-ups chatted.  Fiona asked Kane if he was a boy or a girl.  There was a fort building contest.  Kids played just about every board game in the house.  Anne cooked up a storm.  We all ate a delicious vegetarian thanksgiving dinner.  The grown-ups played trivia games.  The kids watched Ruby Gloom.  Eila ate, pooped, slept and was cute.

Anne, in the kitchen where she spent much of the day.

Eila in her Thanksgiving dress (before it was covered in spit-up) and Kane

The Men, waiting for food

Shaelyn and Fiona, posing naturally for the camera

Eila, making a her it's-my-first-Thanksgiving face

Zane, Shaelyn and Eila

Zane, Davia and Eila

Davia and Eila, having a sweet sister moment

Fiona holding baby Eila like a natural

Hope all our friends and family out there had a fun, delicious, safe and stress-free Thanksgiving (or Thursday, for those not in the USA).

lots of love,

Kate, Kane, Shaelyn, Davia and Eila

P.S. To Anne and Nathan and Zane and Fiona, thanks for a great visit and for being such wonderful house guests!

The Magic of Dirt and Leaves

The effect that nature has on Shaelyn and Davia is uncanny.  It’s like magic.  I mean, most people probably respond to nature to some degree or another, because fresh air and sunshine are good for us, and trees and flowers are pretty.  But this thing that happens in Shaelyn and Davia when you get them outside and into the dirt and trees is crazy.  Like they were fish out of water before.  Like they breathe dirt.  (Well, sometimes they pretty much do breathe dirt.)  But it’s really amazing, how much happier and relaxed they are out there.  They’re almost like different kids.  They can go from being total grumps, fighting and sassy and scowling at everyone, to practically glowing with joy.

Davia, on a nature exploring outing with her grandma and sister

 

Shaelyn, on outing with Bubba and Davia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lauren (who we’re lucky enough to have a visit from right now) and I took the big girls and the baby to Hoyt Arboretum in Portland yesterday.  The day had not been going so well for S and D.  They were crabby as could be and just having a really hard time.  But the second we got out of the car and their feet touched the dirt and they were surrounded by trees, they turned into little rays of sunshine, enjoying their experience with a love and an enthusiasm that I’m pretty sure would rub off on anyone who saw them.

Enjoying fall at the Hoyt Arboretum in Portland

 

For their birthday, Lauren got them these really neat nature journals, where they can record their discoveries.  A perfect gift for these girls, who seem to be endlessly fascinated with the natural world, reveling in the discovery of each and every bug, leaf or stone they find.

a sneak peak into Davia's nature journal

They seem to get so much satisfaction from these discoveries and seem to have a never-ending attention span when it comes to learning about nature.  Whether birding with their Grandpa Jim or reading the giant visual encyclopedia of the natural world their Bubba (Grandma Mary) gave them recently, they never get bored.  They just eat it up.  And the joy they get from it is all over their face and in their voice and their body language, so that it’s totally contagious.

So if you’re ever hanging out with Shaelyn and Davia, and they’re being grumpy, or if you ever want to be inspired and have your own sense of awe awakened, take those girls into the woods or a meadow or down by a creek, and watch what happens.  I’m telling you, it’s magical.

A healthy dose of sleeping baby for you

At least somebody’s getting some sleep!

Halloween

We love Halloween in our family, but this year the holiday got less attention than usual from some of us.  Others of us, two in particular, spent a good month looking forward to it with their often undivided attention.  Many trips to the Halloween super store, many conversations about costume ideas, much calendar watching.  While the grown-ups were preoccupied with moving and birth preparations, then a birth and then a newborn in the weeks and days leading up to Halloween, Shaelyn and Davia made sure the day would not go by uncelebrated.

They took it upon themselves to locate all the Halloween decorations we had packed in boxes (among boxes of all our other possessions) and put them up around the house.  Here’s what they did, almost all by themselves, to the front yard a couple weeks before Halloween:

The big girls show off their spooky decorating job.

Davia and a scarecrow

Shaelyn and some bones

They were very proud when neighbors would comment on how good the house looked. I’m pretty sure they started hanging out in the front yard more to wait for people walking by to say something.  And then they’d run into the house and tell us what the person said, beaming.

Halloween came when Eila was 4 days old, 2 days home from the birth center.  So things were a little chaotic in the house, and Kate and Kane were busy and tired.  But Shaelyn and Davia were full of the Halloween spirit.  They added some finishing touches on the decorations…

Our spooky front porch on Halloween

And they made sure jack-o-lanterns were out and glowing…

Shaelyn's on the left, Kane's on the right

Davia's jack-o-lantern

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, of course, they were ready in their costumes by sundown.  They even made sure their baby sister had a festive outfit to wear!

A Davia witch, a Shaelyn cat, and a little Eila pumpkin

They were super excited about trick-or-treating, and Kane took them out.  Shaelyn couldn’t find her cat tail, but was a sport and didn’t let that stop her from having fun.  The big girls stayed out until their hands were too cold to hold their candy buckets and the buckets were overflowing.  Kane was nice enough to let them use his big pockets for extra candy storage.  Back at home, Kate and Eila had dozens of visitors to pass out candy to. Shaelyn and Davia came home, thawed out their hands, put on their pajamas, and ate some candy before bed.

Over all, a successful Halloween!

Halloween girls

Eila is here!

It has happened!  Our tiny baby has come.  Eila Jean was born on Thursday, October 27, at 2:29 a.m.

(Since many have asked, the first name is pronounced like “eye” – “la”.)

We’ll try to get more words about it all posted soon, but since one-handed typing is hard, this post will mostly be pictures.

Here she is, 4 days old and feeling fine.

 

Davia and Eila

 

Shaelyn and Eila

 

Sisters - two big and one tiny

 

This is what a very proud papa looks like.

 

Kate and Eila, dressed to go home from the birth center

 

 

We’re so happy she’s finally here!  She’s even more wonderful than we imagined, and she’s the perfect addition to our family.  Welcome Eila!!