Pictures, Before and After, 8-10-12

The evening light was perfect and we were prepared for the unexpected as we arrived at Humiston Park for our first big photoshoot as a family of five (seven if you count Grammy and Grandpa).  I've done a lot of thinking lately on the difference between realism and pessimism.  When you have so many little ones, it's really hard to get good pictures with everyone smiling, or even looking in the same direction.  If I aim for perfection, I end up frustrated in this and many other things in this season of my life.  It's okay to want things, but I also have to remember that stress is the difference between the reality and my expectations.  If my expectations are optimistic and yet flexible enough to leave room for a few hiccups, it seems to be a happy medium.

Our photographer, Kristin Schultz, is a mom and also a fellow blogger:

http://loveteachplay.blogspot.com/2012/08/floridas-sense-of-humor.html?spref=fb
 

Just as I expected, I had to be flexible and spend the first ten minutes changing a dirty diaper instead of getting started immediately and taking full advantage of the perfect weather. It's amazing how flexibility and sense of humor can turn a small hiccup into serendipity.  If Craig and Devon hadn't wandered up to the boardwalk early to tell Kristin that we were on our way we wouldn't have gotten these perfect shots of Devon and Daddy.  Craig is smiling his Daddy smile, the one I first saw when he was holding newborn Devon in the chair at the hospital and looking up at me just over two years ago. 

Craig looks happy in our engagement photos and happy in our wedding shots but I didn't think they did justice to the joy he is capable of expressing like pictures of Daddy with his little boy.  I love everything about this picture.

Here are the pictures of two-year-old Devon.  There's the tiny chip missing from his front tooth from a collision with the edge of the bathtub when he was horsing around a month ago.

Those are the dark eyes he got from Mommy.

Those are the lashes he gets from Daddy.  Strangers still stop us in the grocery store so Devon can bat his eyes at them.

Here he is doing what he always loves to do at the beach.

There we are!  I could wish for a shot with all three kids smiling, but that's okay.  I've never looked skinnier (Body by ThreeToddlers, Inc.) and Craig and I have never been happier.

We have many more years ahead.  Soon they'll be old enough that I can bribe them with quarters to smile in pictures like my mom used to do.

Speaking of happy....

The miracle is not that Devon is smiling and looking so interested.  That's the way he always looks at the beach.  The miracle is that he is walking slowly and holding on to Grammy and Grandpa's hands.

At this point, Carrie was really into smiling for the camera, Devon was trying to figure out why we were all sitting so still, and Melina was contemplating the sand on her foot.

We sat the kids on the sand next to each other, took a few hasty steps back, and then ran to snatch them up again.  First, an unexpected wave splashed right up to them and almost drenched the kids.  Just when we thought we were safe and dry, a raindrop splashed onto Carrie's nose.  Then two more.  Then thousands.  We ran for our discarded shoes and the stairs back up to the boardwalk as Kristin stowed her camera with our precious pictures inside it.

I wish we had been able to take a few more shots of the ensuing hilarity, but it just wasn't possible.  Florida downpours are sudden, warm, and relentless.  Craig made it to the car in record time and had Melina in her car seat and the stroller stowed before I even made it up the slippery wooden stairs with Carrie.  Grammy and Grandpa tossed the picnic blanket over their heads with Devon between them and ran to the car in an absurd six-legged-race.  Three long minutes later I grabbed my dry iPhone out of the cup holder and tried to document the experience.

Craig' wet shirt...

My waterproof (hah!) mascara...

The sneaky smile on Devon's face.  In the commotion he made off with two of the toys that Kristin brought to make the kids smile: Ringing Bug and and Giggly Elmo.  All the way home Devon talked about "his new toys" as Elmo laughed maniacally in the background.  We didn't think we should tell him right then that he hadn't gained ownership of the toys like spoils to the victor and Kristin would be coming over tomorrow to finish taking pictures and get her toys back.

The hardest California rainstorm is still a light spritz compared to Florida rain.  It earns the term downpour because when it's over you feel like someone's just dumped a pitcher of warm water over your head.  When we got home we were still soaked.  Craig set up the tripod to capture an "after" photo so we'd always remember the day.  That's the one we're sending out with our Christmas card this year.

Just kidding.

Grammy and Grandpa, August 13, 2012

We make frequent trips to Orlando to pick visiting friends and family up at the airport, but I think this was the first one Devon really understood.  It's hard to explain long distance living to a toddler.  One day people come, later on they go.  It doesn't make any sense to someone who has yet to comprehend how very big the world is and how sometimes we have to live apart from those we love.

"Tomorrow we are going to the airport to pick up Grammy and Grandpa!" I said to him the night before.

"Talk A-Grammy?" Devon said, pointing to my iPhone.

"Grammy and Grandpa are coming to our house, Devon!"  He paused to think on this a moment, and the flush of recognition slowly spread across his face.  Perhaps he was thinking of Christmas, the last time we were all together.

"To o-UR  ho-USE!" he shouted, turning up the ends of every word like question marks in his excitement.  He ran a few energetic circles around, stopping to show me the guest bedroom where they would be sleeping, the basketball hoop where they would throw balls for him, and the stroller they would use to take him "swimming in the cool".

 We waited in the cell phone lot for an hour, long enough for a late afternoon Florida downpour to subside and lightning to move far enough away for the luggage to be safely unloaded.  The interior of our roomy van was starting to feel a bit cramped, with me hopping over the seats from middle to back to front again because I didn't want to open the door and get wet.  Bottles of water I brought for the travelers were emptied into sippies so the kids had something to do while they waited.

Devon kicked his legs in excitement as he saw Grammy and Grandpa swing their suitcases into the back of the van and climb into the car next to him.  There weren't many quiet minutes to contemplate the joy of finally being together.  In the Cracker Barrel on Semorran Drive they plunged headlong into the three toddler lifestyle, moving plates away from grabby fingers and spooning soft mashed carrots into hungry mouths.

Just like that, life got a little easier.  We're used to two adults and three children in our house, or what is commonly called "zone defense."  Normal means being outnumbered.  When the count shifts to four adults and three children, it shows.

Grammy sits by Devon as he eats his "cheevies and yorgitt", making sure he takes little bites and doesn't slop on the floor.

There are extra hands to push the strollers, so Mommy and Daddy hold hands on their nightly walk.

Grammy and Grandpa open their suitcases and lots of new things appear.  Devon, usually averse to anything touching his head, suddenly won't leave the house without his new Cars cap.

It helps that Grandpa always wears his cap, too.

When Devon grabs a comb and tries to comb his hair, Grandpa shows him how you have to remove your hat first.

Devon gets Big Boy Underwear!  The adults sit around in a semicircle as Devon sits on Froggy Potty, staring at him like the goose that lays the golden eggs.

The girls get new outfits!  Twins are just so much fun to dress.

Thanks to the new Bubble Puppy, Mommy can press a button and make bubbles while holding a girl with the other hand.

Melina isn't sure what to make of her first bubble time.

She soon decides she likes it.

Carrie and Melina get wonderful handmade blankets from a dear friend.  Before I graduated from college, started work, bought a house, and had three children, I really enjoyed quilting.  It means a lot to me when other people handmake things for my kids to enjoy now that I don't feel I can spare the time.

Grammy gets the kids hooked on 50's dance music on Pandora.

When the girls get sick, she holds them.

Grandpa puts together the girls' new wagon on their birthday.  It takes an hour and a half and two calls to the Radio Flyer hotline.

When he's not doing something with the kids, Grandpa is behind the video camera.  Devon climbs up into his lap and begs to watch the footage he's just captured.

That explains why Mommy's such a whiz with her camera phone.  Yep, it's all genetic.

We enjoy our favorite evening walk at the Jaycee beach boardwalk.

We watch some parasurfers and marvel again about actually living in a beach town.

It's so nice to have extra hands to hold the camera and take a picture.  So many times I am enjoying a perfect moment with my family and wish I had a spare hand to take a photo.

Or twelve.

Two weeks go very quickly in a house with three toddlers.  We go out to eat a few times on our last weekend together, remarking on how the kids have grown even in such a short time.

We talk, laugh, and enjoy our time together, even as the shared meal starts to feel a bit like The Last Supper.  Grammy and Grandpa have to go home.

The reality hit Devon hard this time.  We loaded the much thinner suitcases in the van and drove them to the airport.  Devon's usual bouncing good humor was periodically interrupted by pensive moments I rarely see in a toddler.  Devon watched as we unloaded at the Southwest gate and kissed goodbye, removing his shoes and pushing his hands into them.

As we pulled away from the curb, Devon's suspicions were confirmed.  "Grandpa!  Grandpa!" he called, clapping the shoes on his hands together and starting to cry.  I watch in the rear view mirror as my son, now just old enough to understand, discovers loss for the very first time.

He didn't wake up the next morning asking "Where did the Grammy go?  I don't know where the Grammy is!" like he usually does.  He gets it now.  We can't always be together.

It isn't any easier on the adults, none of whom are strangers to living apart from family. Years ago it was my mom looking forward to visits from my Grandma Meth.  She was the one being picked up from the airport bearing gifts, wisdom, and a pair of extra hands.  The two little girls in the picture were myself and my cousin Naomi.

We enjoy our times together, saving up pictures and memories to get us through long months apart.