And just like that...

I have a 5 year old, a 2.5 year old, and a 6 month old. Hang on, WHAT? When did that happen? Sometimes I feel a little stunned when I look at the stats.

Sweet, wonderful Ava Rose was born at the end of May. There is no doubt that this little person simply had to be in our family. My little peanut pie was born peacefully at home in the water, just as I had hoped. The magic of a home birth has yet to wear off, as I still marvel at the fact that she sleeps, nurses, plays, snuggles, etc., on the very same spot she was born. Like my other two births, as soon as contractions started I knew I was having a baby that day. And as expected, Ava came barreling through quite a bit faster than the other two. A drug-free, mother-guided birth is profound in many ways, one of which is being very connected with everything that is happening and instinctively reacting as your body needs to. I felt that very strongly with Sofia and Nico. This was a bit different though, because all the same physical changes had to happen (obviously) to birth Ava, but they were all condensed into a shorter period of time. Of all three births, this was the only one where I actually said the words, "I'm scared." I wasn't worried for my health, or Ava's, but it was all happening so fast I simply didn't have time to figure out how best to cope with the pain and Ava's progress. Birth team to the rescue! My amazing team of three midwives and my dear friend Crystal all made it to the house just as I moved into hard labor. The encouragement and support of powerful women who had all been in my shoes kept me grounded and focused, and reminded me that yes, I could do this (as if I had a choice). With candles burning, I sank into the welcome warmth of the birthing tub and welcomed little Ava into the world. As much as I'd like to avoid cliches, this one is unavoidable. It was absolute deep, true love at first sight. There is simply no other way to put it. Once born, it was clear that Ava was ready to be in our world. Her plump little body was ready to go, and once she started nursing she only took a few short breaks over the next 6-7 hours. Nico and Sofia welcomed their little sister with peaceful fascination and so much love. Sofia fed me apple slices as Ava and I cocooned ourselves in bed. Dad cut the cord just as he did with his other children, and Ava weighed in at a perfect 8 pounds, 6 ounces.

And now, that same little peanut tips the scales at somewhere around 16-17 pounds, is rolling over, grabbing everything, and simply dying to eat whatever we're eating. Her giant blue eyes reflect her utter presence...she has been an incredibly alert, aware baby right from the beginning. Her smiles came early and haven't stopped. She's a loudmouth, jabbering away at whomever will listen. And wow, does she love her mama. When I'm not holding her, she is watching my every move. When someone else holds her, she utters the greatest sigh of joy when she is returned to my arms. It is *just* the way things should be.

Sofia and Nico couldn't possibly love her more. Yesterday we were having a raucous session of throwing the kids onto our big bed and wrestling around. Sof and Nico could've continued this indefinitely, but Ava got sick of her swing and needed to be held. The second I brought Ava to the bed and laid her down, the other two immediately calmed down, snuggled in next to her and kissed and loved on her. Ava has that effect on them anytime she enters the scene, and it's not unusual for either of them to get mad because they haven't touched Ava yet.

This giant love in our house balances the crazy. Sofia is growing up, slowly entering the world of schedules and responsibilities. She has kindergarten, dance class (hip hop!), playdates, homework, piano practice, and chores. She is growing up beautifully and gracefully. We attended our first ever parent-teacher conference yesterday, and couldn't have come away any prouder. Sofia earned a perfect report card (all S+...her teacher said she actually earned all Es for Excellent, but she wanted her to have room to go up). Her teacher described her kindness to every one of her peers, her eagerness to learn, her adaptability, etc. For me, the biggest indication that Sof is thriving is her excitement to go to school every morning, and her excitement to come home. She has it great in both worlds, and the world is her oyster. Her latest ambition is this: to be an "ambulance girl," an artist, and a mommy. Oh, she also wants to work in a zoo and be the person who gives shots to the giraffes (we recently saw a show that documented zoo workers, thus explaining that little gem).

Nico is still our fireball, and challenges me as a mother on a daily basis. As great as the challenges are that he throws at me, the rewards are equally great. Nico is strong, determined, curious, fiercely independent, and fiercely loving. Every day he adds to the list of things that only Nico could do. Here are a few: painted his eyes with Sofia's (thankfully) washable nail polish, carted in ash from the Weber grill and placed it in neat piles across the couch, opened the heating vent and filled the duct with toys and replaced the vent cover, flushed immeasurable amounts of toilet paper (and other items) down the toilet, dumped a full bottle of shampoo onto the carpet, put a quarter in the CD player in my car, mopped the countertops...these are just of few of hundreds of things this kid comes up with. But don't let him fool you, he's as smart as a whip. He knows pretty much all of the words to a number of books, and he's demonstrating a real musical ability. He's got fantastic rhythm and coordination. One of my favorite things to do with Nico is hike with him. He is a fearless and tireless leader, and the woods are his zone. He calls the shots, and he is clearly comfortable in that role. My mom always says "that kid will take you places." Well, he has, he does, and he will!

Growing flowers, veggies, babies, etc.

Oh, spring. You fickle thing, you. Teasing us with 60 degrees of sunshine one minute, only to snow/hail/rain on us in the next. But it's OK, I still love you. So much, in fact, that I tend to have all my babies in the springtime. I have to say that that's quite clever of me. Ha. Anyway, SPRING. My first ever daffodils are up, I have veggie seedlings sprouting in my windowsill, and garden beds are being prepped left and right. This is not to say I have any idea what I'm doing with all this gardening business, but as my wise friend once advised me, I'm just putting seeds in dirt and seeing what happens. Hopefully we'll get some deliciousness out of it for our soon-to-be family of FIVE!

Baby #3 is now officially 31 weeks old, and is a tap dancer by night. It's become quite normal to wake up around 4-5 in the morning and have no hope of getting back to sleep due to the crazy acrobatics happening in my tummy. We've turned the corner from gentle squirming and thumps to quite painful jabs and stretches. Some days I think she will literally burst through my stomach. Happily, I'm quite healthy and despite my grumbling, I'm once again loving carrying this little life inside of me. Mmm, these hormones are gooood!

Nico "The Torpedo" Caselli. Yes, indeed. The first trimester was pretty challenging, dealing with absolute physical exhaustion in addition to a very strong-willed, curious toddler. Nico climbs, explores, opens, throws, rips, empties, and otherwise dismantles pretty much everything he's not supposed to. Baby 3 has even burrowed into what my midwives refer to as "the safety position," and has manufactured high amounts of amniotic fluid to protect herself. But I'm watching Nico's intensity beginning to come into focus. I'm seeing a fantastically happy and social little guy who has this incredible zest for life and a LOT to say (even though he doesn't have words yet). Don't believe me? Just show him an excavator and check out his extremely loud vocal reaction and the amazement on his face. Every. Single. Time. He adores his big sister, and always tries to do everything she does. He loves wearing her hair clips and bracelets, and is forever imitating her dance moves, expressions and sound effects. The last time we went swimming, they spent a huge chunk of time holding hands and jumping into the shallow end together. His favorite books are Where the Wild Things Are, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli and Too Many Dinosaurs. His favorite thing to say is "beeauuuuuutiful butterfly," from the last page in The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Of course, it sounds like "BEEEEEEEEEE badadadada." I've been trying to catch this on video with no success. I hope I never forget what he sounds like saying that! He now thankfully sleeps past 6 every morning, and instead of waking up mad at the world, we find him chatting and messing around in his crib, just waiting for company. He's trying so hard to ride Sof's razor scooter and balance bike. He's also trying to please/help us in general, I can see it in his face. Of course the ratio of actual helping to destruction is still way skewed in favor of destruction, but I love the direction this is going. He will throw things away, flush the toilet when asked (and when not asked), hand me towels, put toys away, and he even helped me weed a garden bed the other day. He's a pretty cool little dude.

The big sister, my little nurturer. She is so excited to meet her baby sister, she kisses and loves on my tummy every day. My tiny big girl sat with her legs crossed the other day, talking to me like a miniature adult. She said, "Mom, soon you will have three children. You will have your hands full! But don't worry, I'll help you." I can feel my Sofia updates becoming trickier already. We're beyond the baby/toddler milestones and headed into increasingly grayer areas. She has countless "best friends," and even a few boyfriends. Don't worry, I clarified that she simply means boys who are friends. However, one day she came home with a lovely cut out, colored heart and explained to me that the boy who gave it to her is "pretty much like her husband." She is becoming aware of things that might feel embarrassing, sometimes sharing whispered confessions with John and I about various things. She talks about how much she can't wait to grow up and be a teacher and a mom, and have a pug to sleep with her in her bed every night. My heart aches and I want to slow time down! But she is still a precious little girl who loves to sing her preschool songs and play endless imaginary games. She adores dressing up all her stuffed animals with jewelry and whatever sparkly items she can find. She is a lovely dancer, and I watched her absolutely burst with pride when I told her I could see she was a great leader in her dance class. What I don't want to forget about her right now...how much she loves her mommy and daddy. She told me she loves me as much as God. She loves me around the solar system, through the black hole and back twenty-one-thirty times. She looks at me with innocent eyes that aren't yet irritated with me, or embarrassed by me. She sings to me at night, "You are my mommy, my only mommy. You make me happppy, when skies are gray. You'll never know, Mommy, how much I love you. Please don't taaaake my mommy away." My little heartbreaker.

So life is good. Challenging and full of hard work, but equally full of rewards and countless blessings. We're looking forward to a summer literally cram packed with unknowns. Wish us luck!

Way back to Halloween. You can't see the full glory of Sofia's parrot costume, but I was pretty proud of it (made by me):

Just catching up on current events:

Look at that grin! There's a happy camper:

Sofia and Emma, two precious angels at Christmas:

Nico at the Children's Museum -- no one wanted to play next to this splashing maniac:

Making my Grandma O's Christmas cookies:

Sofia costumed herself:

And she painted her own face at the Children's Museum:

Nico found the flour (we later made flour angels):

Sledding at Mt. Hood:

Sofia's parrot painting (I drew the outline, she did the rest):

Nico in the air blaster at OMSI:

 Still technically winter in this photo!

Tubeworms:

Landscaping buddy:

Trip to Sunriver:

Hanging with Bradyn in Seattle!!

Speed drawing:

Gotta remember this...

Sofia just wrote me this letter:

Dear Mommy,
I love you with all my heart with so in love. You are always beautiful no matter what, even if you don't have makeup on.

Love, Sofia, Daddy & Nico

What a sweet girl I have!

An epic fall, so far

Really, life is simply never boring. Even with all the seemingly mundane routines of cooking, cleaning the kitchen, cleaning the kids, doing the laundry (I actually had a friend mention her laundry being done...I had no idea what she meant), picking up toys, there's really never a dull moment.

For example, my background noise while tidying up the lunch dishes was Parrot Sofia flying around the house and cawing, and Nico doing some quite experimental dance moves in the middle of the kitchen. Earlier today, while Sofia was in school, I took Nico to Cafe Au Play. In his first exploratory mission away from the play area, I found him by the water bubbler, holding the tap open and pouring water everywhere. Recently, I found him crawling along the keys of our piano. I'm still really not even sure how he got up there, as the bench was pulled several feet away from the piano. I've found him in cupboards, in toilets, under furniture, in the recycling bin...generally any place that isn't intended for children.

Oh, so back to our Epic Fall. It's been GORGEOUS. Sun and rain, brilliantly colored leaves, crisp temperatures, pumpkins on our porch, long cooked-from-scratch soups and breads -- yep, it's pretty cozy around here these days. This being, technically, only my third real full fall season, I'm still drinking it all in. Bring on the hay rides and pumpkin patches!

We were super lucky this year to get to take Jess, Cody, Bradyn, Aiden AND Crystal with us on Sofia's pumpkin patch field trip. They came down for a whirlwind visit, and boy did we pack it full of good stuff -- Voodoo Doughnuts, downtown food carts, trampoline, carving pumpkins, roasting pumpkin seeds, etc. It was great. Sofia was beyond thrilled to have her cousins sleep on her bedroom floor.

Of course our most epic fall event (and yes, I did cruelly bury this -- how else can I ensure people continue to read my full posts?) is finding out that Baby Caselli #3 is on its way, due May 20! Frankly, it was one big shock, something we weren't quite geared up for at this particular moment. God can be pretty funny, but as one friend put it while gesturing to another friend's set of newborn (and unplanned) twins, he could be funnier! Our excitement is growing every day, and how can it not? Sofia's joy at having another baby is indescribable. She's already planning what books to read to her (she has already decided it's a girl, Mary), and has the ultrasound picture hanging right by her bed.

So on we go. Only a couple more weeks to go before the second trimester, when I'll hopefully hit that magic "eye of the storm" phase of pregnancy. Now all I have to do in the next seven months is teach Nico to talk, get him potty trained, and teach Sofia how to cook and we'll be all set!

And now, your totally random, incomplete photo blitz update:

Hammock time!

Headed to the farmer's market:

Last playdate with Miles before he moved :(

Fresh blackberry milkshake!

Fueling up for a swim:

 Our summer swimming hole:

Hiking with Nico while Sof is in school:

First attempt at spongey curlers (didn't last):

With our resident snake, Slither:

Cousins at the pumpkin patch:

Crystal, Sof and baby cow:

Nico also loved snuggling the baby cow:

Yay, Voodoo Doughnuts!

Post doughnut "coffee":

At the Duck Store:

This is what happens when you put a hairdresser in the backseat:

Jammy time:

Enjoying the Arch Bridge before it opened to traffic:

One of our numerous sunny hikes with friends:

Beaches, boxes and a new abode

I always have very good excuses for not updating my blog regularly, right? This one's pretty good, too -- we bought a house and moved into it about two weeks ago! Yay, us!

As one might expect, househunting, buying one house, then packing up another with two little ones underfoot is quite an undertaking, so it's taken up a great deal of time this summer. But we've also been doing our best to squeeze in some fun stuff amongst all the labor.

The highlight thus far was a visit from Grandma and Grandpa O. right before we moved. After an extremely loud July 4 on Mt. Tabor, we hit the road. We rented a sweet little house in Manzanita for three days, and were even able to bring the dogs to the beach for the first time. We walked, Nico rode Ergo-style, Sofia Skuuted, the dogs ran their hearts out, we drank wine, ate chocolate, hit the farmer's market, experimented with zucchini blossoms (yum!), hung out at the Oswald West beach, and just *barely* managed to enjoy ourselves. 

So, yada yada yada, we are now living in our fabulous new home out in Oregon City. I promise to post pictures when we get some of the empty boxes cleared out. But in the meantime, I will say that we LOVE living here. We have frogs, butterflies, a view, a playhouse, a princess tower and (my favorite) a glorious hammock. We all have our priorities...

Kiddo update time! Nico began taking steps on his own this week, and today he took three steps in a row by himself! Even though the advent of walking is pretty darn cool, I think what's even better is the instant transformation. With this little bit of gained independence, Nico's little personality shines through even more, and he's becoming even more of a BOY. He has started pointing at things he finds cool (pretty much anything that makes a loud noise), is waving/saying bye-bye and he kind of says "hiiiii." My absolute favorite current Nico behavior is his kiss, which I must get on video. When you kiss him on his lips, he makes a little "O" with his mouth, raises his eyebrows and leans in repeatedly for more kisses. To die for. He also loves to style his hair with food products.

Sofia, sweet Sofia. Sometimes I forget she's only four years old, the things that come out of her mouth. Right now she loves telling us "whispers," her version of secrets. Usually they entail asking for some sort of treat or to do something fun, like have an otter pop or go swimming. She adores getting together with her girly friends, and when she's on her own, is always "talking" with her animals or taking care of her dolls. She's a very good mommy. When I packed up a box of stuffed animals, I had to give her a moment to softly and tenderly stroke all their heads and tell them goodbye, and that everything was going to be all right. We have moments like this every day! Of course the best ones are when she strokes MY head and tells me in an almost pained voice how much she loves me. She also loves bugs, frogs, princesses, gardening, magical glittery unicorns, dinosaurs, Godzilla, Ultra Man, butterflies, moths, bumblebees, anything pink, books, drawing, painting, dancing, maps, lists, and so much more. She already finishes my sentences for me. Thank goodness, I need all the help I can get!

Otherwise, us four humans and two dogs are settling into our new casa quite well. Come visit soon!