hawaii, sweet, hawaii

it felt so good to get back to the island and back home with daddy! coen really really missed him and was begging me by the end of the trip to go home. i think as he gets older he is more aware of how long we are away. of course now that we are home and reprogramming he is begging me to go on an airplane again, and to see his cousins. vacation spoils all of us. 

zonked

3.5 weeks, 3 states, 6 houses, planes, trains, and automobiles...summer mainlandtour2012 was a thrilling success! of course it was totally and completely exhausting. i ended up with a million pictures of coen zonked out. why are kids so incredibly irresistible when they are sleeping? since we never sleep with coen at home, it was a special treat for me to spend so much time snoogling and sleeping with him on vacation. have i mentioned how much more i like vacation mom, than regular at home mom? it's a lot. 

farewell mainland, next time we will be plus one! 

meet sidonie

 some of you might remember the amazing story that i shared about my dear friend virginie and her miracle baby, sidonie jennifer . well, i got to finally meet this little miracle and she is just too stinking cute! we had a quick visit with virginie, faustin and sidonie and it was so great to see them. i can't fathom how big our boys have gotten...seriously?! it was too quick, but so sweet to see all 3 of you! 

sweet as honey...

i was totally blessed while in seattle to have a special night to celebrate the upcoming arrival of our sweet baby girl. jen, geri & cortney hosted a very sweet and adorable baby sprinkle, and the best part was that it gave me a chance to visit with dear friends that i am not lucky enough to see everyday. i felt so blessed to have people come out to celebrate this bundle and can't wait for them to all meet her on our next mainland tour. 

marin maisie, we can't wait to meet you! 

bath time with b!

while in seattle we got to spend a few days with the pennebaker's! man, aren't we good at squeezing it ALL in?!  beckett is growing up to be quite the funny guy, and i love his little personality. the boys took a few baths together, something we will remind them of when they are 14. i love them. 

baker babies!

my main focus while in seattle was to get my hands on the baker babies! i had been dying to meet connor, hope, madison & victoria since they were born and felt blessed that i got to hang around and help out for a few days. i thought that i would take five million pictures, but the truth is when you are at the baker house you are busy! as an extra special bonus amber (the very loved surrogate) was also visiting and i finally had a chance to hug her. what a special person she is to the baker family, and to all of us that love the baker's so much! 

so, how are the baker's doing with FOUR babies?! in one word, amazing! they have such a system and lots of helping hands and all the babies are growing and thriving and very very much loved. when you walk in the front door you can't help but feel the joy that radiates through the entire place. it is just amazing. each time i left i wanted more of them. i never got enough. 

coen impressed all of us by hanging out with the babies for 8 hours one day! he set up his airplanes and showed them to the babies. he was such a trooper. it was kind of baby boot camp for the big brother to be! 

brian and misty, thank you for sharing your beautiful family with me. i can't wait to see them grow and become hilarious little people. by the way, parenthood looks good on both of you!