Davis at 10 weeks!

Our little guy is growing up so fast! He is such a chubby happy baby, we are all pretty happy just staring at him all day. The girls are completely obsessed with him and I get in trouble with them if I let him cry for even a minute. He's going to be so spoiled but we are having a lot of fun doing it! 

Secrets!

So, we are pretty into surprises in our house. This comes from Justin. I love surprises but I can never wait for them and I was always a "peeker" growing up. The girls love to be surprised and for the past 2 years have not asked for anything for Christmas. They say they will love whatever Santa wants to bring them. I love that about them. They do always love whatever Santa brings them. This year though has brought a new challenge. When we asked Emma what she wanted for Christmas she told us that she wants us to be surprised and that's why she is only telling Santa what she wants. Hmmmm . . . 

A few recent favorites . . .

I don't know if I've formally introduced Ellie the Elephant and Lily the Lamb on this blog yet. They are our other 2 children. The girls have had them since they were born. They fix "owies", help induce slumber, and love to be dressed up. 

The girls at the Sauvie Island pumpkin patch. Have I mentioned before how much I love Halloween and pumpkin patches. I know it's almost Christmas but I'm a few months behind in my life these days. I also love Christmas but more of that to come in a few months :)

Justin and Emma at Mt. St. Helens. 

Abby pulling around the cousins. 

Poor Davis, he doesn't have a chance in this house of girls. I just noticed that he's even wearing a gown to top it all off. What a sport. (This one is mostly for you Mikey.)

What I am NOT missing right now . . .

I am thankful for a lot of things this holiday season and not looking like this anymore is one of them. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind being pregnant that much, I actually even enjoy it a little. But I just got done scrubbing the tub and I didn't have to lie sideways on the edge of the tub to get to the hard to reach spots, I didn't get bleach all over my belly and I wasn't even out of breath when I got done. Like I said, much to be grateful for. And, Davis is so much cuter "out" than "in". 

Quote of the Day!

The other day the girls were watching a Christmas movie and I brought them each a bowl of popcorn. They asked if they could have some water too. I was leaving the room to get it and Abby said:

"Mom, you're pretty much like our servant, huh?"

Glad someone noticed.

Soccer Pics!

So I am playing catch up with all of our pictures. There has been so much going on and I haven't posted about any of it! I just realized that I never even put the girls "first day of school pictures on here". Tragedy :) Anyway, I will try to get caught up slowly but surely. Here are some of Abby's soccer pictures. She is a cute little soccer player for sure. She's excited for next year when she won't have to play with the ball-hog boys anymore! 

Our Halloween Bugs!

We had such a great Halloween with our little "bugs"! Davis didn't even know he had left the house, let alone trick or treated for a few hours. He was asleep when we put him in his caterpillar costume and was still asleep when we got home and took him out of it. At least we have the pictures he can see one day!

Here's the fam out for some candy gettin'!

The kiddos!

Ahhh, what a life!

The Butterfly Costume!

These are the girls "harvest skirts" that I made them.

Thank Goodness for Family!

Okay, it's been a little while since I posted. Between figuring out 3 kids and having major computer drama, it's been a little tough to get on here. But I needed to give a little tribute to our amazing family. My mom was the BIGGEST help the first two weeks of Davis' life. She not only took over all of the cooking and cleaning and getting my girls to school and doing homework with Abby and any other thing that needed to be done, she also made the totally amazing baby bedding for Davis. (see below). Have you ever seen anything cuter? I am so in love with it. And of course, the picture doesn't even do it justice. Thanks Mom!

Then my Dad came and met my mom here for a week. He was a huge help getting the girls to and from school and showing them funny things on the computer. He also brought the biggest banana squash I have ever seen, we are still eating it and it is SO good! (see behind my mom in the above picture).

After my parents left we were lucky enought to have Justin's family out here for a week. Justin took a few days off work and we had so much fun with them. When I wasn't feeling up for fun, they took the girls for the day and I just got to rest with my little one. I will have pictures of that soon (right Mikey?).

Thank you, thank you to all of our family and friends that have helped out with the girls and with meals and gifts and everything. We are so so blessed and we love you all so much!

I Am In Love . . .

with two men!

Welcome to the world Little Man!

Our little guy is finally here! The quick version: Davis Justin Wilkinson was born on October 4th at 6:40 a.m. at OHSU Hospital in Portland, Oregon. He was (get ready for this) 9 lb. 11 oz. and 21.5 inches long. Everything went very smoothly. We are so excited that he is here and is healthy. I am feeling great (considering having given birth to an almost 10 pounder). His sisters are loving him and can't think about anything else but holding their little brother.

Longer version: Justin and I went to the hospital Friday night about 11:00. Luckily my mom had just flown in that morning so she was able to stay with the girls. I was having contractions about 5 minutes apart and we didn't waste any time considering my history with fast-coming babies. We got checked in and since I was already dilated to a 5 (for 2 weeks before-hand), it went pretty fast. Luckily not as fast as with Emma and I had some time for the epidural to actually kick in. None of us could believe it when he finally made his appearance. He is huge! I knew that this baby felt a little bigger than Abby and Emma did but had no idea that he was that much bigger. But he is healthy and wonderful and we love having him in our home. Here are some pictures of the little (big) guy!

Deprived? or just creative?

Yesterday Emma had her first preschool field trip. They walked to Petco to pick out a class fish and a hermit crab. It was very exciting for Emma, especially since it was her special day to be the class helper so she got to be the first one to feed the fish.

When I went to pick her up, there was a list of all the kids on the door. Next to it, the teacher had written what pets they had at home. A few of the kids didn't have pets, but the majority had dogs, cats, fish, birds, etc. Under Emma's name was written "Box Elder bug". Now, I believe I have mentioned before about my kids love for anything creepy crawly. At any moment, there are about 5 cups on Abby's desk with some sort of spider living in them. Well, just yesterday morning Emma had been playing outside and had found a Box Elder bug that she had adopted. She made a habitat and even named it Bock (you know, short for Box). I was so glad that she remembered to tell her teachers that she did indeed have a pet. He drowned shortly after her return from preschool. But the great thing about Box Elder bugs is for every one that dies, there are about 10,000 more in the backyard.

If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again

If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again

If I had my child to raise all over again,

I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.

I'd do less correcting and more connecting.

I'd take my eyes off my watch and watch with my eyes.

I would care to know less and know to care more.

I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.

I'd stop playing serious and seriously play.

I'd run through more fields and gaze at more stars.

I'd do more hugging and less tugging.

I would be firm less often and affirm much more.

I'd build self esteem first and the house later.

I'd teach less about the love of power,

And more about the power of love.

-- Diane Loomis

Randomness

So it's been a while since I've posted. I'd like to say it's because I've been in the hospital having a baby but I can't . . . because I haven't. 3 weeks left to go until the due date. I don't remember being so uncomfortable and anxious when I was pregnant with the girls, but I've had some time for my memory to soften about pregnancy and childbirth.

In the meantime, we have been having a super busy month with school starting, doctor's appointments, soccer for Abby, ballet for Emma and lots of eye surgery for Justin. The girls are loving school and the highlight for Abby has been the Bean and Cheese Chalupa she had for school lunch yesterday. Apparently it was "awesome".

We had the best weekend ever with our dear friends the Akins and Chamberlains in town visiting. We got to get together with the Norths also, making 3 families we love from our San Francisco days. We played so hard all weekend that I'm sure it will take a long time to recover for all of us but it was so worth it. In fact, we had so much fun that I forgot to take any pictures. So, I'll just post some pics of the cutest girls I know. Hopefully soon, we'll have some pictures of the little man that will soon join our family. Until then . . .

Nesting . . .

I've definitely been nesting lately. After a long period of not being motivated to do much at all, except read (I'm always motivated to do that), I have been wanting to sew, paint and organize anything I can get my hands on. This baby better come soon or else it's going to quickly get out of hand. These are a few of my latest projects.

Embellishing old jeans and t-shirts for the girls

Baby shower gifts (how cute is that snail, I can't get over it

The Before Picture (thanks again Amanda for the dresser)

The After (the girl's dresser got moved to baby's room) I think this turned out pretty cute. I painted it and then covered the drawers with scrapbook paper and loads of mod podge. Have I mentioned on here before my complete and utter love of mod podge. If not, I have now gotten it out there.

There are some more projects in the works but they are secret Christmas presents so they will remain unpublished until a later date.

Last Days of Summer

Can you believe summer is almost over?! Where did it go? The girls start school next week and I am having very mixed emotions about the whole thing. This is Abby's first year of "all day" school and Emma will be in preschool 4 afternoons a week. It seems like their childhood is passing before my eyes. I know they're still little but every new phase in their lives seems to bring on a wave of emotions for me.

So we've been trying to get in all the fun we can and enjoy these past few weeks of summer. Last week it was, get this, 104 degrees in Portland. So all of you that think the sun never shines here . . . We had to escape the heat and so we drove to the coast where it looked like this (see below). Yep, cloudy, windy and 60 degrees. I would have settled for a middle ground somewhere around 80 degrees but I wasn't complaining when we got home at 10:30 pm and the thermostat in our apt. still said it was 90 degrees in our house. The girls didn't mind that it was less than sunny. They played all day in the sand and even got in the water a bit. Not me!

The beautiful Oregon coast

Painting - they're practicing to be artists one day

Can I even tell you how much I love the blackberry bushes behind our house! Mmmmm.

Blackberry jam and blackberry-lemon tart - I love summer!

Portland Rose Garden

This has got to be one of my very favorite places. And of course the pictures don't ever do it justice. There are just thousands of roses, every shape and color. It is really so beautiful and the girls love to walk around and smell them and pick out their favorite. Anyone want to come and visit?