Roll Call

Picking up a blog after a two year break is such an obvious indicator that you have found life to be a bit more overwhelming and time consuming than expected.  The funny thing is that probably means there was lots of fodder for great writing.  In fact some great amateur bloggers (redundant?) have stopped writing right when life got really interesting because writing is so often the first thing to go when life gets messy.

Our most time consuming, overwhelming project in the last two years has been adding another member to the family. Lily is the sweetest, happiest baby I know (and I'm one of the things that makes her so happy, how awesome is being a mom?!)

Lily was born last August in our cozy old house in Salem. It was magical and perfect and all those other adjectives mothers use to describe homebirth.
Maybe I will finally write it all down one of these day.  I keep saying I will write Liam's birth story and he'll be three next month.....  But I digress.

Sweet little Lily loves so many things in her life, but perhaps none more than her quirky older brother Liam.  We often capture the looks of adoration she give him on film (do we still get to say that with digital photography?) and it just melts your heart.

And now that they are learning to play together and develop new social interactions we get awesome moments like what happened last night. We heard Lily cry out following the distinct thump of being beaned with a toy.  When we asked Liam if he hit Lily he responded "No, fire truck hit Lily."

*sigh*

No one said this parenting gig was easy, but at least we're still laughing.

My motto is "life is messy" and I find that to be truer every day. The more we fight the mess the more stress and turmoil consumes our lives. I try to just accept this hot mess of life and soak it in like steam in a nice hot sauna.  My success in acceptance is mixed sometimes, but acceptance is like yoga; a process not a end point.

Jim is the stable center of our family. Kind and unwavering.  He stays at home to care for Liam and Lily full time, a job made for true saints.  And one of these days he will finally break down and write a blog post on one of the many interesting subjects he is an expert on such as cargo biking, kombucha, dad assisted birth, hiking with kids, oh and the list is endless.














So this is us. Four imperfect people filled with love for each other.  Wandering, adventuring, growing.