Jack is One

This post just jumped the line of blog posts that have been waiting so patiently.  But once they see what it is, I'm sure they won't even be mad.

Jack is one today.  I'm feeling a lack of intense emotion, probably because I have been so sick this week (shingles) that I've blocked out most feelings.


I think it's kind of symbolic though, that my final baby was born on the last day of summer.

Our family is moving on to a new season.  Instead of bringing new little babies into this world, 

we will instead be focused on surviving the chaos we've created.

I mean, we'll be focused on raising these children.  (And surviving.)

I think motherhood is one of the most confusing jobs in the world.

I am overwhelmed with my day to day job and can't wait until my physical load lessens.  (Though I have made the disappointing discovery lately, that my emotional load will only increase as they grow.)

But, Oh! These babies are addicting!

There is nothing like them.  I want to have a hundred babies.  

But I'm so tired and my brain is fried.

Today I choose celebrate that I got to have five.  I know I am lucky.

I will celebrate that God laughed in the face of birth control and gave me Jack.

He's got 6 teeth now.  He mostly sleeps through the night, occasionally he wakes at 4 or 5am to eat.  

He crawls like a pro.  Pulls up on everything.  And climbs the stairs faster than you can say "concussion."

He has no interest in walking or even holding onto your hands and bearing weight.  

He loves to eat and hasn't proven to be very picky, 

but if he's anything like his siblings, he'll wait a little while and then start to refuse everything.

His eyes are a grey-green.

He loves music and being tickled.

He loves his siblings.  Nothing gets him more excited.  In fact, the only way he smiled in a any of these pictures was if Ava was off to the side being silly for him.

He loves his daddy so much.  He's been a man's man since the beginning. Luckily he loves me a little bit too.  Which is good because the feeling is definitely mutual.

A Fine Trip to Fine Lake, Michigan 2015

Before school started, we had to squeeze in our one last trip.

Mom and Dad bought a little lake house before their mission. And they rented it while they were away.  

This summer they returned and began the renovation.  And I must say, they turned their house into a beautiful little lake cottage.  It is perfect.  Not because it's actually perfect, but because it is charming, and pleasant, and beautiful, and the sweet soft grass runs right along a white picket fence, right to the edge of the shallow, clear water.  And the dock walks  directly out to the boat, which beckons you to go for a ride whenever it tickles your fancy.

And the sunsets.  Oh, the sunsets! I took so many sunset pictures. 

Michigan is where my Dad is from, it's where he grew up, and it's a place I have visited my entire life.  When I was nine, Mom and Dad bought a 240 acre farm about 5 minutes from this lake.  We visited almost every year and saw my Grandmother Edith Abbott and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Chuck. And every time we drove out to the farm, we'd pass this lake and I would pick out which house I wanted to be mine.

The fact that they live there now, seems ironic and expected at the same time.

I absolutely hate having my parents so far away.  Especially after nearly 10 years of them living within five hours.  But after visiting them in their new little house and staring out the huge picture windows onto the lake, a view they have always talked about having, I can't fault them. I can miss them, but I can't fault them.  

Riding the boat and swimming in the lake were our everyday activities.

And wouldn't you know, Finn pulled up for the first time and it wasn't even on dry land.

My brother Ian's family drove over from Chicago and stayed a few days too.

And Finn ate ice cream in his pajamas in the backyard.

And loved it.

And I just kept taking pictures of sunsets.

Michigan has lightening bugs! I've missed them.

We went blueberry picking too.

My parent's house is the little gray one in the middle.

I love it when my mom does the everyday things that she used to do for my kids when we lived so close to each other.  

We wanted to go over to Lake Michigan and the little town of South Haven.  Apparently we picked the day of the Blueberry Festival so it was very  crowded.  But it also meant they had a ton of food trucks and stands set up along the water way.  So we ate lunch and watched the boats before heading to the beach.

South Haven has a light house.  And Max didn't want to be in the picture.

We're big fans of Lake Michigan because it's so big you feel like you're at the ocean, yet there's no salt water and no jelly fish.

It was a cloudy day but it turned out nice because it wasn't too hot.

Meanwhile, we came home so I could take more sunset pictures.

We took the kids on a tour of Abbott Family Sites.

Here is the house my dad grew up in.  This is the house I visited, that my Grandma lived in until I was married.

We saw my dad's old football stadium.

And we stopped by my brother Aaron's grave.  This pictures makes me so happy and I don't know why.

My parent's house is wonderful but it does lack a tub, which means you just use the sink.

Riding the tube was a favorite.  After watching his cousin, Santi, do it, Luke got brave and rode it surfing style.

Finn looks angelic enough but that kid is hard to travel with right now. In fact, he's  kind of hard to live with right now.

I don't want my kids to grow up, but it sure will be nice to take a trip without a terrible two year old.

And this was us on the airport shuttle bus back in Denver.  

Wiped.Out.  But it was a wonderful trip.