Last week could probably be described as “lazy chaos”. I was solo-parenting for most of it, too pregnant and tired to really care about much beyond keeping the kids mostly alive. We didn’t do much besides attempt to keep the floor at least 50% visible under the layer of laundry and toys.

Sunday:

Weirdo

We found some extra kids

He thinks I am a jungle gym

Monday:

The big bed makes him look like a baby again

I want a choclate river

Dragon noodles I turned into fake Pad Thai

Tuesday:

Very proud of his outfit

Ice cream for dinner

Tooth brushers

Wednesday:

Pls jump yourself into exhaustion

Cuddles seem so nice but it’s SO HOT

Thursday:

More lake life

Very fancy photoshoot outfits

TAKE MY PICTURE MOMMY

Friday:

I sent her to piano alone because…

…this was happening in the car

ALWAYS ON ME

Saturday:

MORE JUMPING

The whole recital was extremely adorable

A small sample of the mess I live in

Once again, it’s Tuesday and I am just getting this done. I shot my (most likely) last two client sessions before I have the baby this weekend and all that work was exhausting. This week Evan has camp so the house it much, much quieter during the day, so I’m hoping I can get all that editing, plus some cleaning and organizing, plus some napping done. Mostly the napping. It’s going to be a long time before I get a nap again once I have a baby. (37 weeks, fingers crossed I have a baby at exactly 40).

300 is a lot of weeks. When I started doing this, mostly as a joke, I was pregnant with Caroline. Now I’m only a couple weeks away from having a FOURTH child, which means I have documented every day of our lives through almost 6 years. Sometimes I wish I focused more on taking beautiful iPhone photos that made our lives look happier, cleaner, more photogenic than they really are. But then I look back at previous weeks and all I can think about is how nice it is to have these dumb, blurry, boring phone photos that would otherwise be deleted saved somewhere for me (and the kids) to look at. I mean, Week 3 was nothing special but looking at tiny Baby Evan is not a thing I will get tired of. I would regret it forever if I let this weekly post die now, even though doing it in a timely manner seems to be beyond me. We’ll give Baby 4 a chance to be overly photographed and documented for at least a few weeks before I think about giving it up again.

Sunday:

It’s too hot for pajamas OR covers, but Big Kids sleep in Big Kids beds

Brotherly tv watching

Or maybe he’s not a big kid, just a sweet lap nap baby

Monday:

We meet some really interesting people while hunting Pokemon

Important research

Too hot for real life so we hang out in the only room with a/c

Tuesday:

3 kids, 3 check ups, 0 cavities!

More hiding in the a/c

This only lasted 5 minutes

Wednesday:

Chair stealer

Lake life

AMAZING light for my photo session

Thursday:

Which Pokemon is that?

More air conditioned fun

There’s a rat on my daughter!

Friday:

Safety first when eating bread

Card night

Helping organize the cards

Saturday:

Good old-fashioned slip and slide fun

Watermelon stealer

SO DELICIOUS

It’s raining today, which means it’s cool enough in the house to actually BE in the house. I have big plans to Get Stuff Done – so far, some laundry, some dishes and this post are all checked off, let’s see if toy organization, finishing three photo sessions and napping happen. I feel like napping has a pretty good shot.

This week feels like it happened months ago. I was SUCH a mess just seven days ago, I can’t even believe I didn’t end up in the hospital. Fingers crossed that’s as sick as I get this pregnancy, I can’t handle any more than that.

You’ll notice a lot of messy house and couch pictures this week as a result of my convalescence. At least let’s pretend that’s why.

Sunday:

View from my sick bed

My children being kind and loving

My children being annoying because I don’t have the energy to stop them

Monday:

Big kid swings

Little kid naps

Big kids nap too

Tuesday:

He’s a Target Pro

With their Vacation Bible School goodies

He insists on walking up the stairs like this all the time now

Wednesday:

New pregnancy craving: fresh bread

Seems like a perfectly good place to park

Evening lake life’

Thursday:

HASHTAG REAL LIFE HASHTAG MY CHILDREN ARE THE WORST

Sea Swirl is my favorite

They’re all obsessed with this statue in Mystic

Friday:

A week of VBS plus lake equals SO TIRED

Bread thief

Storm’s a’comin’

Saturday:

I’m currently obsessed with film

Caroline is obsessed with changing diapers (we have a rash situation, I’m still using cloth mostly)

You should smell this lavender farm. It’s AMAZING.

Tomorrow Caroline starts Seaport Camp, which means she’s going to be an exhausted mess basically every night. But that just means she (and I) can go to bed extra early. I am toooootally fine with that. I’m getting to the point where I want to sleep as much as possible because I know in another 8 weeks I won’t be sleeping again for 2 years. I’m not really looking forward to that part of having a baby.

This week Lincoln turned 1 and I started freaking out because summer feels almost over.

Sunday:

Target is easier when you can tie one kid to your back and bribe the other two with Icees.

All the kids love the Boppy

Lake Baby

Monday:

Sunflowers for Wishes is beauitful

Caroline dressed up for our wagon ride

I made the mistake of asking them to take a nice picture.

Tuesday:

Party planning

We have a LOT of clicky things from Wendy’s kids’ meals now.

This might have been the last time he napped nicely.

Wednesday:

If you look closely you can see my baby playing with his new 7 year old BFF.

Baby’s first deli cheese

It turns out clean and shopping is pretty good exercise

Thursday:

OK, I’M ONE NOW, I’M GOING SWIMMING

Birthday’s are exhausting

Bumpa will read you alllllll the books

Friday:

The bones of The Australia at Mystic Seaport

Figureheads

Using my camera to check and see if Linc is asleep yet. NOPE.

Saturday:

I’m proud that all my party guests noticed my sling matched the decor

He had a really good day

He has sad eyes because he tried to eat the lit candle, but eating an entire mini-cake cheered him up.

Linc’s first birthday party is over and it was SUCH a success. We were completely done and ready for our guests before they arrived (this never happens) and I got to relax and drink champagne while the kids screamed their heads off on the bounce house. My parents and E’s parents were both here which meant we had TWO grown ups per child – not to mention all the dads that Linc conned into picking him up and carrying him around. He’s really good with dads.

We’ve got some vacation coming up and I cannot waaaaaait. But first I have to get all those party photos sorted and posted, or they’ll end up in the file with the rest of this month’s fun activities and no one will ever see them. What good is a cool party theme without a blog post?!

One of the reasons I keep up my photography business, if only on a very very part time basis, is because it gives me a tiny bit of truly disposable income. I can spend that little bit of income on whatever I want, whether it’s new photography equipment or getting my hair done or an investment in something else. That last one is what I did with my first quarter income from 2015 – I invested it in my family in the form of a membership in the Amos Lake Beach Club.

So far, it is proving to be a very worthwhile investment. The lake has shade, so much shade that I don’t have to wear sunscreen. The lake bottom is mostly sand and no rocks. There are picnic tables and grills so we can sit and play cards and stay for dinner. It is approximately 15 minutes from my front door to the parking lot. There are swings and climby things for the kids, fish so plentiful and fearless you can catch them with popcorn and a net, and there are almost always other children there for my children to play with but it is rarely crowded.

To be honest, I was sort of dreading the summer and all the free time we would have to…stare at screens and ignore each other. I am not good at saying no to iPad time when it’s only 10 am and the kids are already whining. The lake solves the “should we pack up and go somewhere or stay home and relax” problem. We can do both! At the lake! And we can bring beer! I enjoy my family the way I imagine people are supposed to enjoy their families when I am at the lake with a beer. I mean, I love my family all the time, because they are my family. But there are definitely moments where all I want in the whole world is the freedom to go do something FUN that doesn’t end up being incredibly stressful. But when you’re relaxing only 15 minutes from home, it’s easy to relax. As long as no one breaks their leg (KNOCK ON ALL THE WOOD) there are no emergencies at the lake.

I feel really really lucky we can live the #lakelife this summer. It’s going to be good for all of us individually and good for all of us together.