May 6

I did it: I got rid of the majority of our baby girl clothes. Since Chris and I are fairly certain that we are done having babies (*sniff*), it made sense to get rid of all of the baby girl clothes that Lily has outgrown. Luckily, my friend Amber has a baby girl of her own, as well as a sister expecting her first baby girl.

Amber and her kiddos came over this morning, and the children required so little supervision that Amber was able to make quick work of the bags and boxes of clothes. 

The kids found a caterpillar, and Daisy ran inside for her giant magnifying glass. Even Lily wanted to check it out!

Daisy and Michael attempted to examine it, but neither really knows how to use a magnifying glass yet.

So much fun!

While she was here, Amber graciously offered to take some babywearing pictures for me. Yes, "babywearing pictures" are a thing. Babywearing is convenient, but it is also a beautiful, emotional way for parents to connect with their babies. I think I've mentioned here before that I feel a little bit sad that I don't get to wear Lily as much now that Eli is here; it's even sadder because Lily really loves to be worn! So I chose to have Amber take pictures of me wearing Lily so that we would always remember how much she loves it.

The next several photos are Amber's.

I love her perspective of Daisy with the caterpillar, and Lily looking on. I'm pretty sure Lily isn't actually looking at the caterpillar; she just knows that there is commotion happening and she wants to be a part of it. That girl is so funny!

But on to the babywearing pictures. These are basically straight out of camera - Amber is an editing guru, but she dropped the files on my computer and I am just too tired to edit them, especially when I know that Amber will work her magic in a few days. But they're so lovely that I couldn't wait to share them.

Before we started taking pictures, Lily was swinging.

Swinging is her favorite thing ever, and Mary was even pushing her. But when I came outside with my LennyLamb cherry lace wrap and asked Lily if she wanted to go up on my back, she grunted and nodded vigorously.

The girl loves being wrapped up on my back even more than she loves swinging. It makes this mama's heart happy that my little girl just wants to be snuggled up close to me, even when she has other things to do.

Look at that grin! I love that girl.

 This one was my favorite, and I got to watch Amber do some editing on it. I've known Amber for 20 years (is that possible???), and I am still consistently surprised by how smart and talented she is.

And this one just melts my heart, because it is so perfectly Lily. 

Eli, meanwhile, snoozed inside for most of our photo shoot. When he woke up, I brought him outside where he was content to lounge on his wrap.

(This photo is mine, because my sweet boy would only smile for me.)

The rest of the photos are mine. Amber took a ton more, but it's too close to bedtime to share any more.

At one point during our visit, Eli was chilling in his swing when he started to fuss a bit. Before I could even respond. Catherine had him out of the swing and was bouncing and walking with him. I seriously need a Catherine of my own. That 8-year-old is better with babies than many adults I know!

Our friends left after lunchtime, and we all had naps. I was on it and had dinner on the table when Chris got home from work, which left ample time for him to take the big kids on a bike ride.

Caleb insisted on taking his Lego Snowspeeder with him.

At first, Caleb was really upset that he had to ride in the trailer instead of his tagalong bike. Eventually he reconciled himself to the idea, and off they went! 

I can't wait until Eli is big enough to go along, too, so I don't have to miss out on the family bike rides!

I love our funny little circus!