Life, Lately.

Today this sweet baby is two months old:

Having a new baby around is giving the "real" camera (ie. not my phone) a workout. 

Which is good, because it was starting to feel forgotten and sad. 

 It's also helped me keep life straight these past couple months, and remember what-the-heck has been going on. 

I've been trying to think about why they've felt so crazy. 

Conclusion? It's because they HAVE BEEN crazy. 

A few things from the past little while:

Rebekah's blessing! We ended up having it in our home on a Saturday evening, and it was wonderful. We did it on a Saturday (vs. a Sunday in church) because of some scheduling issues...but it made me want to bless all my babies in our home surrounded by a small group of family & friends. So great.

Fun fact: Darren called Bekah by her middle name the whole blessing. We like to joke (almost seriously? With a hint of nervousness?) that maybe we called her the wrong name...umm...haha!?

This guy got his mission call! TO THE SAME MISSION AS DARREN. Except Justin is Spanish-speaking, so Darren is jealous. Two brothers, same mission? Not coincidence.

Darren has been working hard with long days landscaping during the week...and often a photo-shoot or two on the weekend. Today he got to skip the landscaping altogether and spend the day shooting a big commercial event and their product. He's thrilled.

Daily life is a lot of half-naked, messy kids.

But they are happy!

Phewf.

Darren's sisters have both had babies recently as well, so we've been down to southern Alberta, Canmore, and back on weekends for blessings and visits with family. These kids sure have fun with their cousins, which warms my little Mama heart...because my cousins are some of my favourite people in the world, and I have memories galore of playing and sleepover parties and getting in trouble together.

Cousins make pretty sweet friends.

Watching the ice cream truck go by.

Rebekah has been surviving her role as "little sister." 

Luckily.

Her brother and sister are obsessed. Which translates to careful supervision to make sure Renae doesn't try to carry Bekah like a sack of too-heavy-for-her potatoes, and Micah doesn't kiss a whole through her cheek or bite her roll-y arm out of the sheer intensity of his love.

Approximately fifty times a day, you can hear me utter the phrase Just give her some space to breathe, guys!

(No babies were harmed in the taking of these photos.)

And last. but not least, my sister Jocelyn has been diagnosed with cancer for the second time. She has two types of Lymphoma, Hodgkins and non-Hodgkins, which means treatment is difficult. The cancer has been vicious and aggressive, returning just 6 months after being cleared as cancer-free...and growing so rapidly over the space of a few weeks that it interfered with her breathing. Interventions to help her breathe have landed her in ICU, but she's improving steadily. And the chemo has started taking effect, shrinking the tumours enough for her to breathe again.

We're running a fundraiser for them; Darren's shooting mini-sessions with the proceeds going to their little family. For more information on the mini-sessions, or how to donate without getting your photo taken, go to this website here.

We are looking forward to life settling into a new normal...but it IS summer, sooooooo.....normal is probably still going to be crazy. 

I think we're okay with that.

But I'll still make sure to bring the "real" camera along for the ride.