lindsey and sprout.

dear baby sis,

i remember when you were toddling around
with your sweet rolly-polly thighs and
bald head,
big bright blue-green eyes,
and the sweetest smile.

seems like just yesterday.

now look at you.
all grow'd up.
no rolly-polly thighs to speak of.
same bright eyes, same gorgeous smile.
only now... you are
toddling around with a volleyball
for a belly.
cutest baby bump everrr!

i know first hand
the indescribable joy of
holding your tiny baby boy for the first time.
there are no words for how excited i am
for you to experience it

in just a few short weeks!

(thank you for letting baby miles into this shot.  he cannot wait to meet his little cousin)

linds 

you are a super sweet, talented, kind, beautiful bella.

you are going to be an amazing mommy.

i love you to the moon and back.

i am thrilled for you and jeff.

and i cannot wait to meet little sprout.

xoxo,

nik

"being a mother means that your heart

is no longer yours;

it wanders wherever your children do." - unknown

gather

no matter what we are doing at roughly 7:30 each night...
whether we are cleaning up the dishes, editing photos, building an epic train track
or catching up on american idol (yay phil phillips. i have a not so tiny crush on him!),
we stop what we are doing and
we gather for story time.
the tradition started as soon as oliver arrived.
when he was teeny tiny, we gathered in our bed.
a few months later, we found ourselves on the floor in the nursery leaning against the crib
reading our favorite stories to our favorite sleepy little buddy.
now that oliver has a big, comfy bigboy bed
we gather there.
all five of us: mom, dad, oliver, baby miles, and maxi dog.
we read three or four favorites (one or two of us may or may not listen from the fort under the covers),
we sing songs (oliver likes to hold baby miles' hand while we sing).
occasionally we have a tickle fight.
we laugh. we smile.
and i always find myself reflecting on how crazy lucky i am.
two little lovies.  i adore them.
and they adore each other.

7:30 is always my favorite time of day.


introducing the oh so sweet boucher family
who just welcomed a second precious little lovie...
meet miss nova:

proud big sis xyla is no stranger to my camera. she is soooo sweet.

see xyla's previous pics (here).

thank you sweet boucher family

for letting me hang with you for a bit ;)

cheers.

nik

"while we try to teach our children all about life,

our children teach us what life is all about" - a. schwindt

p.s.

a few of our very favorite stories

well worth gathering for:

tickle monster;

the lorax;

sneetches and other stories;

otis and the tornado;

harry and horsie;

cookiebot;

goodnight moon;

guess how much i love you;

no sleep for sheep; and

little blue truck.

blue.

you know how i feel about littles with big baby blues.

nuff said.

without further ado...

meet the gorgeous cowger family:

thank you, thank you cowger fam for the fabulous picnic on the beach. 

super fun evening of friends, food and fotos  :)

just for fun...

one new one of

my littlest blue-eyed babe:

xoxo,

nik

p.s. stay tuned for pics of yet another (tiny) blue-eyed sweetie...

brand new baby nova. next post.

"a moment lasts all of a second, but the memory lives on forever."

oh happy day

i feel so lucky today.

lucky to have two amazing moms

and so lucky to be a mom to

two perfect little buddies.

and what a perfect day!
slept in (relatively speaking)
delicious breakfast with some of my very fave peeps,
super sweet cards, a bottle of my favorite cab
a very generous gift card for

you guessed it

anthropologie.

my favorite dinner: grilled halibut + roasted tomatoes.

and i've spent the day carefree, playing with my three boys.

my heart is full.

happy mothers day to all the mommies

 (thank you jen blaine for the super fun fam photo)

xoxo,

nik

p.s. 

it's the simple joys, the simple pleasures
the heart remembers and dearly treasures - h. marshall

lovies

my littles lovie is growing so fast.

last week i noticed that his sweet strawberry blonde eyelashes have grown so long that they have started to curl.  there is something about little baby eyelashes, isn't there?

he was 5.5 pounds 10 weeks ago. he weighs 10.5 pounds.
he has sweet chunky thighs and tiny little rolls growing around his wrists.

he smiles. a lot.

and yesterday - my baby looked up at me - and then... sweetest gurgly giggle i have ever heard...

babies.

i love them. i love him.

i also love these shots of nate (one of the sweetest daddies there ever was) and his three bellas.

so

incredibly

sweet:

thank you ladies and gentleman

loved all the pink. and the pig tails.

not much pink or pig tails around the mclaughlin pad.

xoxo

nik

p.s.

"happiness is not a station you arrive at , but a manner of traveling." m. runbeck

p.s.s. did you know i have a slight (ok more than slight) obsession with stripes?

found this organic cotton stripey onesie by naturebaby while browsing crewkids.com.  found it cheaper at naturebaby.com. so perfectly simple and cute. i am in love.

and i think it will look perfect paired with baby miles' tubby thighs.

i predict a stripey-themed 3 month photo shoot.