And He Doesn’t Look a Day Over Two…

My baby turns three years old today. It many ways I wonder how we got here so quickly. In many other ways I wonder how he can ONLY be three. It feels like we’ve had him forever – and sometimes he behaves well beyond his years (in good ways and in challenging ways).

At three Samuel is… funny, expressive, smart, pushy, obstinate and loving.

He likes… playing with his brother, annoying his brother, running (the kids runs everywhere), jumping, coloring, hugging and kissing (mostly just his family, thankfully – and we love it), saying “I love you”over and over again.

He is one very bright spark in our lives and I couldn’t imagine our family without him.

Happy birthday baby.

A Touch of Spring

Back at work today after a fabulous long weekend that began with a birthday do-over and progressed to an anniversary dinner, a Spring Festival at Thomas’ school, a T-ball game and then a belated birthday dinner with the girls. And that was just Friday and Saturday.

Needless to say I have a TON of photos to go through and post but until then I will leave you with a touch of Spring in the form of my latest post for the I Heart Faces blog. This week’s challenge is “May Flowers”. I managed to take this photograph on Mothers day thanks to a patient family who agreed to a walk in the rain just so I could capture a few tulips while they are still blooming.

Back with more soon.

Mothers: Celebrating a Brand Spanking New One

I was granted an extra special gift just before Mothers’ Day – I became an Aunt for the 6th time. That’s nephew number 6 – apparently we’re strong with the boy genes on both sides of the family.

I love all of my nephews but the birth of this one was extra special. He was the first one born on my side of the family (and therefore likely sharing a few genes) and the very first one where I was able to experience his birth as it happened. And when I say “as it happened” I mean within the same day. And when I say “experience” I mean by email and phone. But I’ll take it. 🙂

Honestly, I didn’t expect to feel this connected to a child born on the other side of the world… and I didn’t expect to feel so removed from the celebration. Still, I know that this child and I are going to be tight. I mean we share a birth month, an astrological sign AND a chinese year of birth. Oh, and I may have had a little input on his name thanks to a well-timed phone call with my brother just before they made the big decision. See? We’re connected.

I have also never been so grateful for modern technology as I was tonight when we all had the opportunity to see him on the computer screen. Not quite the same as holding him but a lot more interaction than we would have had just a few years ago.

Introducing Charlie Benjamin… As you can see, he was happy to meet us too.

Congratulations Ben and Emma. We love him already.

Birthday 2011: Requesting a Do-Over

I had big plans for my 36th birthday – and by big plans I mean a couple of days off from work, doing just what I wanted to do. No schedule, no appointments, just a couple of days by myself with the opportunity to walk around and take a few photos.

Well, apparently life doesn’t quite work like that.

Tuesday (my birthday) turned out to be a day with Thomas. But not my healthy, happy Thomas. Instead I found myself looking after a sick child who was recovering from the stomach bug that Samuel kindly shared with us last week.

We did the grocery shopping (Trader Joe’s AND new Seasons), spent a lot of time watching TV and generally hung out for most of the day while I carefully monitored his every move to make sure he wasn’t going to throw up.

It wasn’t quite like I had planned but, actually, it was nice. It took me back to those days when we used to spend time together before Samuel was born. Just the two of us.

By the time Kei and Samuel got home at around 5pm, Thomas had perked up enough to agree to a birthday dinner of sushi (for me and Kei) and Soba noodles (for him and Samuel).

And this is the part when I realize just how important it is for me to take photos… While the events of later in the evening dampened my entire perspective of the day (more to come on that), these photos show me just how wonderful and special my birthday really was.

At first Samuel was all cranky and refused to let me take his photo so I said “please let me take a picture… for my birthday…” I honestly didn’t think t would work but then I got this…

And even this…

And then another reminder of that how he and I are genetically linked with the tongue-sticking-out-thing.

After a delicious sushi dinner we headed across the street to pick up a little dessert from the food carts. Thomas treated me to a couple of my favourite photos of him ever.

And then the boys ate cookies while I watched them eat. Strange – I didn’t feel dessert (more to come on that later).

Nothing commands their attention quite like the promise of food.

This was followed by a little activity to work off some of that chocolate. I know this next photo has the wrong focus and Samuel’s head is in the way, but I adore it anyway.

We ended dinner with a walk around the neighborhood where I finally had my opportunity to take a few photos of Spring.

The rest of the evening had a lot of promise – Glee night with the girls, wine and cupcakes. It started well but I had to leave a little early. Seems the stomach bug had not passed me over and I was destined to lie on the couch for the next 24 hours while Thomas (who wasn’t quite over it either) was forced to keep himself entertained with Lego and TV (LOTS of TV).

So, I am looking forward to my do-over next weekend even though in retrospect it wasn’t all that bad. Still, there’s no harm in trying to make it absolutely perfect and extend my birthday celebrations in the meantime, right? 🙂

Wordless Wednesday: Watching the Ships Come In

Living in Las Vegas

OK, so I wasn’t exactly living in Vegas, but after six days it felt like it. Don’t get me wrong, it was wonderful to take a trip and experience a little sun (emphasis on little thanks to the windowless conference rooms in which I spent most of my time), but I was definitely ready to come home after 6 days. Vegas is a nice place to visit for a day or two but it can wear out its welcome quickly.

Thankfully, I had a nice home base during my stay so, in the spirit of the Pioneer Woman, I thought I’d do a little hotel room tour. Let’s call it “Nice place, shame about the view.”

In an effort to stay away from crazy-world Vegas, I decided to stay in a place that was free of gaudy French/Italian/Greek decor. The Aria Resort and Casino offered modern decor and included wi-fi and access to the fitness center that I used…uh… once. (Warning about the website link. It plays loud, obnoxious music as soon as the page opens – a pet peeve of mine).

here’s the view into the room. Nice big bed (that I unashamedly spread my entire body across) and warm, neutral colors. Funny thing is that I didn’t realize how purple the carpet was until I looked back through the photos.

See those curtains above? They opened and closed with the press of a button (sheers or blackout). The best part? When I set my alarm in the morning, I could set it to turn the TV on to the Today show AND open the curtains to let in some daylight. Such a nice way to wake up – much better than the white noise offered by my old alarm clock at home.

That’s the front door. Next to it is a panel when I can conveniently push a button to select “service” or “privacy” – not that I remembered to do that 90% of the time that I was there. But it was nice to know I had the option.

Next – the bathroom.

Notice the toilet discreetly hidden behind the frosted glass door? Good thing I was traveling alone or my modesty may have overcome my need to pee. OK, kidding – there’s no such thing as modesty for someone who has given birth to two children. In fact, who needs a door at all?

Then there was the wonderful shower and bathtub…

I used the bathtub once and had the water so hot that I could only remain submerged for 10 minutes – but what a wonderful 10 minutes that was. T=

This was the type of place where they neatly lined up your toiletries after you haphazardly leave them lying all over the counter in the effort to leave quickly after misjudging the time it takes for them to show that one story they teased on the Today show all morning but you just have to see before running to make it to your first session at the conference. Seriously, why do they do that?

The many drawers and closets that I didn’t use… (I’m not the type to unpack in hotel rooms. Far too afraid that I’ll leave something behind).

And, OK, this was my view. The room was wonderful for everything EXCEPT the view. I should have known as soon as I realized that they placed me on the 3rd floor but I didn’t expect a view of the HVAC cover, as stylish as they tried to make it. What I didn’t know when I first moved in was that there was a door in that big white stripy wall. And I didn’t expect a couple of men to walk by after inspecting something inside that door. Let’s just say that it was a VERY close call – for EVERYONE.

OK, so the view wasn’t great, but wait… when I went to a teeny tiny little corner of the window and squinted in just the right direction, I could see a little of this…

It wasn’t much, but at least I could make out some mountains and fading sunshine. I guess that’s something and I’ll take it.

Wordless Wednesday: Vegas Texture

Farewell Blue Skies

As our plane set to depart from Las Vegas yesterday, the flight attendant announced over the speaker that we had better enjoy our one last look at sunshine before we head back to cloudy, rainy Portland. How right he was. I’m back, catching up on work and looking forward to a little weekend family time.

I’m also dreaming of blue skies, if not the freaky, fake world that is Las Vegas. I’ll take my dreary skies and hugs from my babies over that any day.