::a little lily love::

ash and lily spent some quality time together last week at the park and this is the evidence of ash's photographing genius...

oh oh oh... emma watson!!!

i can think of no greater joy than spending time with family. and since finn has been born, we have been overwhelmingly blessed with the visits of our family members. this past week, all of my siblings made the trip from all over the country to unite here with us. it was absolutely wonderful and we had a blast. our kids were showered in love, we shared great conversation over delicious meals, and spent hours just being our ridiculous selves together. it is so wonderful that you can just truly be who you are in the presence of family and it was perfect. thank you so so much, ash, whit, duke, sam and jim for making the trek here. we miss you like crazy already!!




















and in my post-baby-haze, i have somehow managed not to get any pictures of brandon up with finn! sorry, b!! brandon ANXIOUSLY awaited the birth of finn as he was getting ready to move to new york for the summer and finn's delayed birth was about to put a kink in his plans. he was thrilled when he heard i'd finally gone into labor and made the drive through the night to meet the newest addition of the family. we love you, brandon!!

growing...

it's every middle-aged man's nightmare... thinning hair and packing on the pounds. but somehow it seems to make our little one only seem cuter. he sure is changing right before our eyes!










and who doesn't love an afternoon in the sprinkler??

a thousand thanks...

both of our moms have spent a week with us during this time of transition. and for that we could not be more thankful. we appreciate your love, support, help and encouragement beyond words. we miss you both desperately already.
thank you!!

honesty...

today lily asked me if she could feel the baby in my belly move.
i told her that the baby was out of my belly and the baby was finn, of course!
to decide if i was fully telling the truth, she decided to feel my belly to be sure.
and after assessing the situation, she said, with one hand on my belly, "but mommy, it's so squishy."

oh how i love the honesty of a toddler.

finn's first fourth...

our first holiday has come and gone as a family of four. it was a sweet day spent with kathy with lots of relaxing for all. ryan and i took lily to the pool for some special time with us. and then we grilled out a feast for dinner and watched fireworks from our lawn and enjoyed a movie. ry decided lily should be awakened for the fireworks and our extremely chatty child had no words for the show of lights. after several minutes, she just started shaking and asked that she be taken inside. (but of course the next morning she couldn't talk about them enough!!) and our sweet little one spent the show cuddled up just like this...






loving every minute of the 4th of july!

little mama...

this is literally how lily has spent the majority of her last two days... a combination of rocking/swaying/patting/changing.
sweet big sister...