I’m just so thankful everyday for having our loving daughter Sydney. She lights up my heart whenever she smiles at me. While she was a unexpected surprise, it’s impossible to imagine how life would be without her. She is truly a gift from god.

This Sunday she turned 2 years old and it’s just hard to believe how fast the time has gone by. She’s already saying words and phrases and I’m sure soon will be talking our ears off with her stories. You can tell how much she loves her brothers when you see her chasing them around, laughing and trying to do everything that they do. And while she’s full of sweetness, she’s also a little terror. It’s not unusual for her to just go at it with the boys until they can’t take it anymore. The more upset they get, the harder she laughs. I’ll admit, she probably gets that from me, and I think my sisters would agree.

So while it is tough having all three kids under 4 years old and makes for some very interesting early mornings, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Having children make you realize just how deep and unwavering your love can be.

Happy birthday Princess Sydney. I love you more than I love myself.

Your loving Dad.

You can find a few more photos on SmugMug. I had to take over 100 photos just to get the very few that I did because she would not cooperate with me (but thought it was funny that she wasn’t).

On this most awesome day of August 1st 2011, I would like to wish my beautiful wife and loving mother to 3 crazy kids a Happy Birthday. Enjoy that long quiet ride back from Michigan. It’s the most alone time you’ll have for years to come.

Even though I had to work what ended up being a very long day (9am until just after midnight), there were two things that really made my birthday a great day.
First, all of the Facebook and email well wishes from friends and family. On the surface it seems so simple and in some ways impersonal, but psychologically it was a awesome. All day my phone was “dinging” with new messages every time a new message was posted, and it was just nice to know that people took the time to write something.

Second, the crew threw me a mini-birthday party at the end of the night just as I was finishing up and all the shoots were done. My last several birthdays have been on the road, and this was a gift in itself and made me really happy. I always tell people it’s no big deal and not to do anything, but if you’ve ever actually had people do nothing for your birthday, it’s kind of depressing.

Anyway, a big thanks to everybody – especially the on-site crew. Turning a year older today wasn’t so bad after all.

While you are only one year old today, life without you seems impossible.

I look forward to the next year with you and many more to come.

Love, Dad

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

I’ve been VERY slow to get anything done that doesn’t involve changing a diaper or sleeping, but I finally posted the photos from the first few hours after Sydney was born. Once again I had my friend Mike Younger stop by in the morning and take some photos since I knew I would have my hands full.

You can find the rest on SmugMug.

To say it was a busy day would be an understatement. If it were not for Toni suggesting that I take some photos of the cake before it was cut there’s a good chance I would not have taken any photos at all. We ended up having around 30-40 people throughout the day and for the most part the boys were very good, especially considering they had almost no nap at all yesterday.

Thanks to all the family and friends that made the trip out (many from the city) to share this special day with us. It means a lot that you spent part of your day with us when so many already had their own plans. Both Brenda and I were left feeling that we short changed nearly all the guests by not having any time to talk to any one person very long, but I guess that’s just the nature of having a party, and even more so a party with twin babies.

You can find the few photos I did take on SmugMug, and I’ll have some video posted tomorrow.

Happy New Year !

Let’s hope 2009 turns out better then we’re all expecting!