four on friday.

Judah. Oh these two. Our firstborns. In many ways similar and also so fiercely different. Things that bring them together: puzzles, the trampoline, their love of pizza and all things sugary.

Amelie. She hit a wall with swimming this week, and we’ve had lots of tears. Judah went through several weeks of it last semester; the shine wears off and their legs and arms ache, and making their bodies move in strange new ways is hard. But she went back and faced her lesson this morning and listened to her coach and did her best. After class she said, all smiles, “Mommy, I didn’t want to, but I did it!!”

Gabriel. He nearly always asks me to play music, either in the van or at home. He says, “Will you turn on the music, Mommy? Not your music — my music.” Favorite albums: “the church music,” Andrew Peterson’s Slugs & Bugs, and Rain for Roots.

Noah. Triumphantly eating Reese’s peanut butter cups for using the potty.