Georgia—11 months.

I didn’t actually take pictures of Georgia at 11 months—and I just realized this (a couple of months later), so these pictures from a week later will have to do.  Georgia has been getting tougher every month, and she has become the focus and energy of so much of heart and mind, as I am constantly trying to figure out how to make this little babe happier.  But even with all of her craziness, she has us wrapped around her chubby little fingers—she is the worlds best cuddler, she’s a fabulous eater, and…man, I wish I could think of more.  I’m confident things will get better, but we are baffled right now by her irritableness.  Lots of prayers for this girl!

April swim lessons.

 

Ready for swim lessons!

The first class went like this—Hattie sat on the top step, and never got in.  And Elna (see her behind H) at the beginning of every class, would put her arm around Hattie’s shoulder and would walk her into class.  The sweetest.

But she warmed up, and by the second lesson was all in!

Elna has always been such a fish.

Oh, and Georgia—she had swim lessons too.  But, she spent a lot of time crying and we didn’t even finish a couple of the lessons because she was so miserable.  So, this smile?  It’s misleading.

Seaside getaway.

This is a long one…

One down, thirty to go.  (tax seasons) and we’re off to the coast for a few days!  Hip hip!

Our first stop, before checking into our place in Seaside, was the Astoria column in Astoria, OR.  The girls were so ready to get out of the car and run around.

At the top of the Astoria column.  125 feet tall, it takes 164 steps up a spiraling staircase to get to the top.  Brian and I were dying, but our girls were un-phased—so either the fear of heights skipped a generation, or it doesn’t affect younger children?  I do think I get more afraid of heights the older I get.

So high up.  I couldn’t even get near the edge.

See us girls at the bottom there?

Brian and I visited Astoria when we were dating and went to this restaurant—the Wet Dog cafe—we loved it, so we thought we’d bring the girls back.

Fort Macon in Astoria.

Then off to Seaside:

Three mamas and their babies out looking for sand dollars early in the morning, because a vacation with kids isn’t a true vacation without staying up late and waking up early.

Cannon Beach.  Playing on the sand drifts.

And a fun stop at a candy store in Cannon Beach for some fresh saltwater taffy.

This was such a highlight from our trip.  We rented this fun bike and pedaled all around Seaside in it.  The girls loved it, of course.

 

Here we are at the drive-through of a bagel shop.  Such fun memories!

I asked the bagel lady to take a picture.

This girl and this boy love the ocean!

And this girl loves to be warm.

Where’s Hattie?

We spent a lot of time swimming at the pool.

We spent every morning searching for whole sand dollars.

This is the story of two sisters, who in many ways were different…one loved the ocean, the sand, and getting dirty, and the other didn’t.  (The first phrase of that sentence is from a book I was read to when I was a tiny girl, and now I read the very same book to my tiny girls—they love it!) One of our girls is seriously obsessed and the other asks for the “hot pool” the whole time or begs to be held.

Every time we were on the beach, Hattie asked for the hot pool—so here we all are at the hot pool after visiting the beach.

So many starfish!

While Gigi was napping, Brian took the girls on an outing—this was my view from our balcony.

They went on a merry-go-round.

And they went to a candy shop and then to the beach to eat their candy.

All good things must come to an end.

The morning we left, Georgia really bonked her head/eye—no pictures did it justice, but it was sad!  You can kind of tell in the picture above—her right eye.  AND then we weren’t even out of the parking garage of our hotel when Georgia started throwing up all over the place.  So, we had a baby and car seat to clean up, and a sick baby the whole ride home.  So sad!

You can kind of see the swelling in the above left picture.  And then she was just so sweetly sleeping, I had to get a picture.  It’s probably the last time we will get a picture of this girl sleeping.

And when one girl gets sick, the next one does too.

And the next:

Why I take pictures of my kids when they are sick…not really sure, but they are just so beautiful—look at those rosy cheeks.  But still so sad to have all 3 of my babies sick.

Take us back to the beach!