Samuel and I woke up early and I took the opportunity to hold a little photo shoot with the morning light. Look at those cute little feet. I have a bunch more photos but I will post them later. I think they deserve a post all on their own (oh, and I haven’t finished editing them yet).

I also took the opportunity to take some “mug shots” for Samuel’s passport. His birth certificate arrived on the weekend so I have to get moving on it.

Today was a real Mummy day for me. I took Thomas to a birthday party in the morning with a bunch of his daycare friends. Then we had Quinn over to play. He lives a few houses away but is sadly moving soon. OK, only a mile or so, but still… So I kept two toddlers occupied for a while as I looked after Samuel. It wasn’t too difficult – snack time, a couple of activities and then a movie (Toy Story of course). The 100 degree heat meant that we decided to stay indoors. Thomas was a little grouchy. I don’t think he’s used to sharing his own toys with others. Although he’s more than happy to share theirs.

Here they are doing their cheese faces (Thomas threw in a Laser shot as well). Then they both asked to look at the photo immediately. Ahhhh, the instant photo gratification that was missing in my childhood. We were lucky to see photos my Dad had taken within the same year. And that is no exageration.

Friday was a beautiful day in Portland and Kei had the fabulous idea to get dinner down by the waterfront – actually ON the waterfront at a restaurant located on a pontoon. It took a little while to get our sea legs so we could avoid throwing up before dinner was served.

It was so nice just to hang out for a couple of hours as a family. Thomas followed dinner with an ice cream cone that was roughly the size of his head.

Thomas is shooting his laser like Buzz Lightyear. I feel I have to explain this action up front so people know he is not making a rude gesture in their direction. Although I’m not sure shooting someone with a laser is really very polite…

Last week marked my first week alone with two boys. Yes, I am aware that there are some mothers who do this every day without the luxury of childcare but frankly I think they’re nuts. It is exhausting managing a toddler and a newborn – espcially the toddler. The newborn is no trouble at all. He has no opinons or preferences or mind of his own. No, at six weeks you basically feed them, change them and put them down for a nap and you’re good. Thomas, on the other hand, needs to be entertained. If left to his own devices he could destroy the house. You think I’m kidding…

So to keep Thomas occupied for the week I set up some play dates. Wednesday was a trip to the zoo with my friend Laurie and her two kids. That’s Ethan with Thomas in the photo above. I just love how they look so cool while they pose for the photo.

The primary purpose of the visit was to visit the temporary Dinosuar exhibit. Thomas is a little obsessed with Dinosaurs right now so I thought he would love it. Well… he didn’t hate it. He was just pretty much terrified. The dinosaurs were animated and had sound effects. In fact the whole thing was very cool but a little too real for an almost three year old. I think Thomas still enjoyed himself but he stayed very close to me the entire time. In fact this is the only photo I was able to get of him standing “with” the dinosuars. He wouldn’t leave the stroller so I could get a picture.

We then spent a long time hanging out on the lawn while Thomas and Ethan chased each other. They had a great time together and I wish we could all get together more often. Samuel was a dream as always. I just have to feed him and keep the stroller moving and he is content.

If I let myself get carried away (and if I weren’t limited by hard drive space) I would take a million photos of the rose garden near our house. I is breathtakingly beautiful right now in full bloom. And if you think the photo is impressive, you should really experience the divine smell. It is certainly welcome to someone who is changing diapers all day.

Almost there. You are looking at a photo of our beautiful bannister at the top of the stairs. The gateway to Nirvana – or at least more room and closet space, less noise and the return of our privacy. The bannister will be painted white to match the rest of the trim in the house, but for now let’s just bask in the beauty of the wood and all that it represents.