Oregon Coast

While we were in Oregon, we spent three nights at a beach house on the coast just South of Lincoln City. It was Chloë and Elaina's first visit to the ocean, and they loved it.

On Sunday, my family (sans Samuel) drove to the coast and stayed with us that night. It was quite nostalgic being at a beach so close to where my parents would take my siblings and me 20 years ago.








Monday was beautiful. 70 degrees, and barely a breeze.












Tuesday was a bit overcast, so we spent a little more time inside. By then, my family had left, and the Beckers had joined us.

Oregon Wedding

It's been pretty quiet here on the blog. I guess I was just having too much fun on our week-long vacation to Oregon. And then of course there were bags to unpack, laundry to do, and oh yeah, 500 pictures to sort through. Maybe I got a little trigger happy with my camera's shutter button.

We stopped at Multnoma Falls, and had my brother snap a family shot.


We had to dip Elaina's toes in the cold water. She didn't mind for the first few seconds.


Then we got ready for Johanna's wedding. My mom graciously offered to do the flowers again, and I helped her as much as I could with two babies to keep an eye on. Bryan was out in the heat helping set up tables. Then the day of the wedding, I got to do the hair for all of the bridemaids.

The Ewers' backyard makes for a beautiful location for a wedding.

Andrew and Johanna.


Tim and Leah, who got married in the same place two years ago.


My dashing hunk of a husband.


My brother Isaiah entertaining Elaina.


Another attempt at a family photo. It wasn't going to happen.


My best friend's son Josiah isn't exactly afraid of cute little girls.


One of the bridesmaid's bouquet I helped put together.


The cake, waiting to be cut, under the archway that my mom covered in flowers.


The first dance.


We were so glad we made the drive to Oregon to be a part of the celebration. It is always so good to see all of the Ewers (and former Ewers). Especially Shannon. I love that our kids are so close in age, and wish we could see each other more than once a year. There was talk of getting together sometime after Christmas for a "Thanksgiving in March." I really hope we can all make that happen.

Iowa and Family

My family.


Everyone except Uncle Matt (thanks for taking pictures, Uncle Matt!).


Grandmother and Chloë. The little tin cup had been in the back of a closet for some 40 years. Inside it was a note scrawled by my Great GrandPolly, stating that the cup had a little hole in it, but maybe it would be good for a little plant.


My siblings at the Marcus pool.



Adding Chloë's mark to the closet door.


Helping Mimi make hummus.


Anna and Elizabeth crank out a batch of cookies.


With my dad, grandmother, and youngest daughter.


With my mom, my sister, my grandma and my girls.


With Elizabeth, Anna, and Katie.


Dad reads one of our childhood favorites to Chloë.

Iowa Outdoors

The weather was perfect while we were there.

Chloë loved exploring and running around barefoot.



For a walk on Papa's shoulders.


Swinging with Daddy.


Chloë got to drive a pickup.


Checking out the glorious creation.


Some of the guys roasting hotdogs.


Anna and Elizabeth found a baby bat at the base of the silo.


Bryan, Samuel and Daniel caught the world's largest spider, which happened to be missing two legs. I don't usually mind spiders, but I let out a little shriek when I saw this shelob.


Playing in the warm rain.


Chloë helped Uncle Samuel split firewood.


Bryan was a huge help tearing shingles off the old barn.


Chloë helped Papa drive Alice, the tractor.


Then she had to do it by herself.


I'm so grateful that I get to take my children to this place.

Five Months Old

Elaina is such a happy baby. I love her.


She definitely prefers to kick with that right leg. I'm not quite sure why, and I just hope that she doesn't develop one huge, buff leg, while the left one wastes away with atrophy.

She demands my attention by shriek-yelling: when she wakes up from a nap, when I leave the room, or when she just thinks I'm not paying her enough attention. It's a very loud, hollering sort of beckon, and it's amusing to me that it's her "MOM, C'MERE!" noise.

I don't know what happened to her sleeping for 6 hours at night, but she's been waking up more often recently. Since she's in the bassinet next to our bed, I manage to get decent sleep even though she's waking up every 3 hours to eat. She still prefers to be swaddled at night. We didn't swaddle her last night, and she was very restless and didn't sleep as well.

She really loves her binkie. She'll holler and fuss if she's napping and accidentally spits it out. She has discovered that a finger (hers or someone else's) makes a good substitute sometimes.

Or even her own tongue and lips.

She's been drooling and chewing on stuff, but still no teeth.

We call her Tiny all the time. We really didn't intend for it to develop into a nickname, but I guess it has. Even Chloë calls her Tiny. We confuse our acquaintances, because they can't figure out what we're calling her.

But she's really not very tiny anymore. She has the best little fat rolls.

She had her 4 month appointment a couple of weeks late. She weighed in at 14.3 pounds, which was right at the 50th percentile for 4 1/2 month old babies. So I guess there must be some really chubby babies out there.

Happy, squinty eyed baby.

As long as I don't eat anything with dairy in it, she's a pretty happy baby. It's kind of amazing how obvious it is. If I cheat a little and eat something with dairy proteins, she is much more fussy, and spits up lots of chunky stuff. So as long as I exercise self-control, she's a happy camper.

Last week I figured it was about time I introduced her to the Johnny Jump Up. She loved it.




Her tongue is freakishly long. She hangs it out all the time, and reminds me of a cute puppy.

I don't even know. Not her best look.

The Beckers were over recently, and Aaron and Elaina had some play time. Elaina went a little nuts trying to impress Aaron, I think.

Aaron is only 2 1/2 months old, but quickly catching up to Elaina in size. We try not to make too many jokes about them being married someday, but it's so hard to resist.

She likes to grab her feet. Pretty much all the time.


When we were in Iowa, I noticed this picture of my sister Katie with our dear Grandfather. She must have been about 6 months old.

They must be related.