The Swarrell Life

Okay, so it's been about a year since I updated this blog. I would apologize, but I don't imagine anyone is reading anymore. My bad. But on we go with some pictures because it is already too late to be doing this. By the way, the date that the blog says I posted is wrong. I started this two days ago and it's been sitting here waiting patiently for me to get off my tush. As I was saying... Trinity likes to go through things. She wasn't too hot on the little tunnel that the Early Intervention lady brought, but the bench in this picture and our sofa table sure are her playground these days. These are a couple of pictures of Trinity in one of her new holiday dresses. Pretty cute huh? Just try and deny the cuteness! Here we are at the Bulldog football game, where Baker beat last year's 4A State champs! They had no idea what they were getting themselves into! Go Bulldogs! Trinity is in her fan attire, smiling 'cause her cousin is helping his team kick some butt! Here...

To start this post, we have an odd photo. It's a beet. A really big beet. It's almost as big as Trinity's head. I've never seen that before. I pulled it from the garden Saturday. Draw your own conclusions. So today was Trinity's birthday. That's right, it's been one whole year since this little baby came into the world. I always thought that 18 years is a long time to take care of a child (yes I know it often goes longer than that). But in light of the fact that today is my daughter's first birthday, I have to say that 18 years is going to FLY by. This last year has gone by so fast, it makes my head spin to think about it. Autumn spent a TON of time putting together a montage of photos of Trin's first year in a video presentation. There were a few technical difficulties that prevented us from showing it at the birthday party, but I sat with Autumn and watched it this evening. A few things came to me as I watched the last year in photos. The first t...

So there we were, just minding our own business. Then Trinity starts to stand! Okay, so that's not huge news, but she's getting tall! Her last checkup had her at 19lbs 4oz and 28 inches long! She can now stand and reach things that she couldn't a week ago. So it go me thinking about how you go about decorating a house when you have a toddler on the loose. I have a great idea that I'll give away for free: Nerf! It would be awesome to have flower arrangements and decorative bowls that were soft, yet attractive. I'll try and submit prototypes soon for your viewing pleasure. In the meantime, enjoy Trinity climbing on the furniture: Here we see the object of desire. Yes it's the lens cap, and yes, this whole scene was staged just for you. See what we go through for you? By the way, no animals were harmed in the shooting of these photos. Yeah, we're also amazed that she is now officially a monkey baby; climbing on EVERYTHING! I think she even amazes herself! Now T...

Life brings lots of firsts. There are first kisses, first cars, first jobs, etc. There are all of these and many more. And there are your first pair of Chuck Taylors. We've all had them. Can you believe they used to play basketball in these things? I mean, I like them and all but they wear more like slippers than shoes. Nothin' but a style thing now. Not one to be left out, Trinity just HAD to have a pair of Chuck Taylors for school. I tried to get a picture, but it didn't work out so well. Enjoy! Yeah, she likes the camera...maybe TOO much. I can't get far enough away to get a decent shot... Here's what you get, just the shoes. Also, we've given Trinity her first real boundary. We've controlled things before, but now we teach her how to control herself. She is not allowed in the kitchen for obvious reasons like sharp knives and bacteria. To reinforce this idea, we put down blue tape to show her the boundary. She pouts something fierce, but knows where the l...

Okay, so "every couple of days" has become "weekly", when it comes to blog updates. I find that the further we get from "the Trinity Incident", the further apart my blog posts become. But the truth is that every single day is fun and new when you have a baby! For instance, one day Autumn and I made home-made pizza for dinner. It's one of our favorite meals to make at home and we get to choose EXACTLY how it is made. Yum! We made a special piece for Trinity with just cheese and sauce (light on the sauce). Here she is waiting anxiously for dinner to arrive. Of course, she is always anxious for dinner to arrive, so this expression isn't really unique to pizza! Waiting for the pie! Reaching for pizza! Autumn had cut it up into small pieces. It seemed a little bit like extra work when all she did was shovel it into her mouth by the handful! We went to Portland for a doctor appointment this last weekend. We left Saturday just to make a whole weekend of i...

I talk quite a bit about my girls. It's no secret that they have always rocked my world. That is even more true since Trinity went into the hospital. To see both of their character shine through has been nothing short of amazing. My daughter has been through a lot, but I think that my wife has been through more. It's like in Proverbs 31, wherein lies the description of a noble woman: Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. I feel exactly that way about Autumn. She has been my rock and she has brought more good into my life than she or I will ever know. Here is one of my favorite photos of late: Trinity doesn't like hats on her head much anymore, but she left this one on for a while. She and Autumn are so dang cute! Okay, so she didn't leave the hat on for too long, but it was great while it lasted! Last Friday we traveled to Ontario (Oregon) to watch my nephew Mark play football. It was ...

So it's been a while since I blogged, since before Halloween. Was it that long? Well, as soon as I can find the camera, you'll see the cutest little ladybug this side of everywhere! In the mean time, let me fill you in on a few details of her amazing recovery. First of all, she is turning into a little monster! I say that with all the affection I can summon, because I am so happy to have her progressing like a normal little baby. Although...she's not so little any more. If you count the clothes and FULL diaper, she was over 20 lbs last week when we visited the doctor! That's a pretty big baby if you ask me! She is now starting to eat things...wait, she was already doing that. But now, she is starting to leave teeth marks and tear things apart with those little choppers! Also, she is learning about the word "no". She is also learning to express how she feels about that word. Fun. Yeah. Really fun. But seriously, she is so much fun right now. She is learning to ...