fort

Using all the pillows in the house used to be a point of contention.
Now I realize it's way more fun to participate than to nag.

rooster

So many nights this spring I'd feed the baby around 3am and get him back to sleep and get myself back to sleep, only to roll over just a few minutes later as Tolliver tip-toed into our room.
On those mornings, for a split second, I might have wished that he would not wake up, wished that I could just sleep a little longer.
And then I allowed myself to imagine the alternative: What if he did not wake up?

For four years he's been like a wild horse, with a wake up routine that can not be broken.  By 6am,  without fail, the party has started.  And the party is Tolliver simultaneously slingshotting Angry Bird balls across the basement and telling some elaborate tale about dragons or minions or astronauts.  Listening to him, while cartoons carry along in the background, I feel like I could plant a yawn farm.
(Aside: His storytelling actually has the strange, mystical ability to make coffee taste even better than it already does at sunrise.  He may be the most imaginative child I know.)

I realize that in the finger snap of a few years Tolliver will be a teenager, still in bed at noon.
And right now, when my little early riser feels far from the child I imagined parenting, I know it’s because I was not inspired enough to envision him.

lately they've been leaning toward more of the latter

Some days brotherhood is fused through fury.
Other days cooperation and grace form their companionship.

so much joy

In four months Hank has more than doubled his birth weight.
He has learned to laugh and to make the hard g sound, to grasp and roll over with purpose.
He brings our whole family so much joy.

Andy likes the way his eyes baby doll back when they rock together in his room before bed.
RoRo tells everyone who'll listen that Hank's first instinct is always to smile.
Tolliver calls him our little sum thucker.
And I love everything about him.  Four months now and, dare I say, practically perfect in every way.

Off the hook

Thankful for friends who bring poles and bait, and their fancy camera, to the fishing pond.

Chadwick Arboretum, images by Juliet Carey

one minute of moments

from the last couple of months

we spent the weekend

with some of our favorite people, all of whom shine way brighter than any fireworks.