A quick recap of the last three weeks since Griffin was born.

As I said, my dad came the weekend after he was born. I was going to mow the lawn at one point- it was desperately needed- but it started to rain as soon as I was about to crank up the mower. Dad took care of it for me while I was at the hospital. Dad and I took Fawkes and Phoenix for a walk down Forest Hills I think the Saturday Tristen and Griffin came home.

That was Easter weekend. Dad went to the Catholic church on Wrightsville Beach because he likes that one despite there being closer ones to our house. We had a family get-together at Johnny and Torrie’s. The Easter Bunny brought Fawkes and Phoenix some bunny ears. Fawkes was whatever about them, but Phoenix, who enjoys hats, really liked having them on. He puts them on almost every day.

That Monday Tristen decided to see how Fawnix handled feeding themselves yogurt on a spoon. It went about as well as you’d think it would.

Thursday the 25th we went to Sam and Burk’s to hang out and eat some dinner. We got the boys home a little late, but they did alright with it.

Torrie has this mom group she goes to the park with, so Tristen took all the boys one time. The next time she went she left New Baby at home. It’s a bit to handle, especially since Fawkes and Phoenix don’t want to walk yet. Sure, Fawkes took a few steps a couple weeks ago, and he’s taken a few here and there since, and Phoenix has taken some half-steps, but they don’t seem to have much desire to actually walk yet. It’s probably coming real soon though.

I bought a very nice drone that I intend to get a license for so I can use it to supplement work. I’m really enjoying it, but these kids aren’t giving me a ton of time to get much practice with it.

April 27th (my mom’s birthday) was a Saturday and Milly had a birthday party to go to for her friend Hailey. I had Fawnix with me and went to Tristen’s parents’ house afterwards to meet up with Tristen and Griffin. There was an Earth Day celebration at Hugh MacRae Park, which is very close to the house, so we all went over there. I picked Milly and her friend Nour up from the party and took them back to the park for a bit. Nour stayed over and the two kept themselves entertained. I had to remind them to stay quiet while the boys were asleep a few times, but they were good. I made pancakes for everyone for breakfast the next morning.

That Sunday we went to a family day thing at the Bellamy Mansion. I had taken Milly when she was five or six and she had really enjoyed it, but she wasn’t as interested in the crafts and things they had set up this time around. She did make a necklace out of day-glo beads or something, and she enjoyed the petting station they set up where she got to feed goats and a llama. We all went to Boombalatti’s for ice cream after that.

Laura came over to watch all our babies sleep one evening while Tristen and I went to go see Avengers: Endgame. I’d been avoiding spoilers like the plague and I was glad I did. Tristen was sobbing at the opening scene and cried probably four or five times. I’ll admit I got teary during a part or two.

Milly had a Battle of the Books. It’s an inter-school competition where groups read a bunch of books from a list then have to answer questions about them, almost like a trivia quiz. She’d been reading books all year for it, and her team finished seventh out of 24, which is really pretty good! I’d have gone to it, but apparently some parents last year ruined it for parents in the future.

The next day she had a field trip to Greenfield Lake, where they got to ride in pedal boats.

I took Milly to a friend’s house, Ella, on Saturday the 4th. One thing that kind of struck me was that I think the layout was the exact same as Tristen’s house with Nick. I’m sure you can find all sorts of houses in that area that are about the same, but, I don’t know, it just kind of dawned on me. No positive or negative there, just an observation.

Anyway, that house was right down the street from her friend Braden’s house, so I called his dad, TJ, and asked if it was cool for me to stop by for a minute. TJ and Liz throw a good number of parties and I’d forgotten that they were doing a Cinco de Mayo party until I was chatting with them. I had declined the invite since the previous day, May 3, was Griffin’s scheduled c-section date and I figured we’d all be at the hospital. Since we weren’t, we all, the whole family, went over there later when we went to pick Milly up. We didn’t stay super long, but it was an enjoyable time and it was nice getting out.

In between all that, while I was taking Milly to Ella’s, Tristen and Laura took Fawkes and Phoenix (Griffin was running around with me) to a nursery/farm thing. They brought home some plants that we have yet to plant.

After I read a book, Blended, to her before bed that she had been reading, Milly talked to me about something that had happened in her life that she was upset about and how it worried her about things in her future. It’s nothing dangerous or threatening, but it’s a private matter that isn’t my business to talk about, but I wanted to note it because it’s a big deal for her and I hurt for her over it. I did appreciate that she felt she could be so open to me and to Tristen about it.

Johnny and Torrie had family and a few friends over on Cinco de Mayo. For hotdogs. There were tacos too, but it was mainly hotdogs. On Cinco de Mayo. And Johnny is Mexican. But you know what? The hotdogs were very good. Aside from that, I’m pretty sure Fawkes said, “Hi,” to Johnny’s friend, Eric. And later that night Phoenix said, “Bye” to the bathtub water. There were waves of the hand in both instances, so outside of maybe Mom and Dad, which have been babble-sounding “Mamamamama,” and “Dadadadada,” I think “hi” and “bye” are their first words. I count them because they seem to be using them properly and with intent.

Johnny wanted to give everyone popsicles when we were leaving.I argued against Fawkes and Phoenix getting any because I knew it would be a freakin’ mess, but I was overridden with peer pressure so we let them eat them in the stroller while walking back home. And you know what? It was a freakin’ mess, it stained their skin for a couple days, and Phoenix was pissed when he finished his. They definitely enjoyed their first popsicles though.

I had a couple meetings with my biggest client. I think that’s going well. The main reason for the meeting was to discuss an ad campaign they’re running, and it turns out that I went to college with one of the people involved with that. I knew him a little through a friend names Kris who was part of this group who put together a little sketch comedy show. I helped shoot it now and then and I was in a few bits. The guy, Brad, had looked familiar, but I hadn’t really thought to press it. At the second meeting though, after he had seen my name in an email, he brought it up.

Brad later emailed me a video of one of the episodes, and I was going to show it to Tristen so she could see me from half my life ago, but then I was reminded that it was during a period when I had a buzzed head, a goatee, and an earring, so I decided she probably shouldn’t see it. I told her all then, and she said that as much as she loves me she wouldn’t want that image of me in her head. So then I kind of wanted to make her see it. Maybe one day. I did show it to Milly and it didn’t even register in the least that she was watching her dad.

On Wednesday we had a family photo shoot with one of the preeminent photographers in our area, Eric Boneske. He’s a client of mine and we did a barter- a new site for another business he started a while back in exchange for the shoot. I enjoy bartering and Eric really is exceptional. When I first told Tristen about it, it went something like this:

Zach: Eric wants to trade a family photo shoot for a website.

Tristen: Eric Boneske?

Zach: Yeah.

Tristen: Okay!

It was a very excited “Okay!” Like, eyes wide, big grin, that sort of thing.

Anyway, the shoot was Wednesday and we did it at Greenfield Lake. Laura met us out there to help wrangle babies. Phoenix threw up on the overalls Tristen bought specifically for this shoot literally as we were about to head out the door- right after she put him in his car seat and buckled him in. Milly got to hear a few choice words from that event. But the shoot went great and we can’t wait to see the pictures.

Tristen and Torrie took all the boy cousins to the pool at Summer Sands yesterday and were joined by Laura. First pool day of the year. Tristen said our boys did great and ended up skinny dipping for a portion of it. Sebastian forgot how much he liked the water and could swim and clung to people even in the shallow water. I’m sure it won’t take him long to get used to it again though.

Today was Griffin’s actual due date. It was a good day for me as I got caught up, or at least really close to caught up, on a lot of projects. That’s really nice because I’ve been run pretty ragged lately by my two largest clients. I’m not complaining, mind you, because the money is coming in, but that’s part of why I’ve been so behind on things like this blog.

I got Milly today. It’s Amanda’s weekend, but her dad was having shoulder surgery and she wanted to be there for him, so I got Milly after school. We went Mother’s Day shopping. Later on she, Fawnix, and I went to pick up a pizza for dinner because, well, it’s Friday, so why not? Milly’s school is doing a beach cleanup tomorrow morning and she wanted to join that, so I’m taking her out there in the morning. Amanda will be picking her up around lunchtime.

After the older boys went to bed we watched The Greatest Showman. Maybe I’d just heard too much about how great it was, but I was expecting a bit more. P.T. Barnum had a very rich and interesting life, but they only dug into a little bit of his early life, and being a musical it was, of course, not very true to life. There were some good songs.

In other baby news, Griffin is awake a lot more lately. It’s not uncommon to see his eyes looking around at everything. In older baby news, Fawkes and Phoenix are both very into climbing on things. They can get up on the couch and they can get on the back of the couch, which is a little scary, but at least we taught them very early on how to climb back down on things backwards. Fawkes has been a little sick lately, and I think Phoenix is starting to get it, too. Tristen said her throat felt scratchy before going to bed tonight, so it might be spreading even more. Hmm, maybe I should go ahead and take some Airborne. Anyway, I don’t know if it’s because he’s been sick or what, but Fawkes has very much been a daddy’s boy.

Oh, and they’re finally starting to use sign language. Phoenix is doing it much more than Fawkes, mostly with more, but they both know what it means and how to do it. You can tell they know things you’re saying to them, too. A few days ago I asked if they wanted to eat and made the sign for eat and they both took off towards the dining room. You can also tell them, “Arms up,” and they’ll raise their arms when taking their shirts off.