Motherhood

Here's something else I haven't done in a while

I made Sam's first page for his scrapbook today. I never made it past Katie's first page, so I plan to do hers right along with Sam's. It might take me awhile, but I really want to do it. I want them to each have something cool to look back on when they are all grown up. You can click on the image to see it larger.
I think the reason I never finished Katie's is because I started when I was pregnant. And pregnancy zaps all the mojo right out of you.

We learned something about cats yesterday

After a fun afternoon of swimming and boating in my sister's pool, we headed home. Sam as usual passed out in the car, and Katie was trying to fall asleep from all of the swimming and playing. But at 6pm, Katie does not need a nap. She stays up late enough as it is. So I thought she was rubbing her eyes because she was tired. But by the time we got home, Katie was screaming and crying and I could not get her to calm down. So I get us all in the house and sit Katie down to figure out what's wrong with her. I noticed her eyes are swollen, she has scratched the crap out of her neck and her face is way puffy. I know immediately what's wrong with her because I have the exact same symptoms when I get the oil from cat fur on my face. Poor thing is allergic to cats. She is my mini me in more than just looks it would appear. She is still swollen today, but much better. I explained to her that she was allergic to cats. I told her that the kitties had made her eyes swell. So later she kept telling me that there were "kitties in her eye". Too funny. Oh and no more Benadryl for Katie unless she absolutely needs it. You would think it would make her pass out. Nope, not my child. Just made her act like she'd had a few too many, if you know what I mean. She couldn't walk a straight line, her speech was slurred, and she was soooo annoying. Being goofy and silly. LOL Oh well, at least she's mostly better now. At least now I know I have got to keep her hands constantly wiped or washed when we are around cats. I didn't even see her touch any of my sister's cats, but you know 2 year olds. Sneaky little devils.

So here's one for the adventures in potty training....

See this look, this is how I feel Katie feels about potty training. So we are still trying to potty train. Yes...it may be easy for some, but not with my daughter. We are getting close now though. At least now she tries to hold it and asks to go to the potty. And probably only those of you who have little kids or have potty trained will find this story amusing. The problem we are having is unless I tickle the pee out of her, she tells me, "It's too hard to get Mrs. Pee Pee in the potty.". But I digress, this post is about poop. So we have the same problem with Mr. Poo Poo. So yesterday she comes to me and says, "Mommy, I need to go poopy!". So I tell her to go on her little potty and walk away to give her some privacy. She needs it for poopy. She can do the whole take down her clothes and sit on the potty by herself. So a few minutes later she comes to get me and tells me she did it. So I go to check and sure enough there's poopy in the potty. Yay!!! I'm totally excited, we are doing the happy dance. Can you see where I am going with this? So anyway, we go to flush it down the big potty, and on further inspection of the poopy, I notice it's rather compact. More like it would be in her diaper. So I ask Katie, "Katie, did you poopy in your diaper and then put the poopy in the potty?". To which she nods and says, "Yeah, I did it!". Oh, I was so disappointed. I really thought she had actually poopied on the potty. But as I said we're getting close, just no cigars yet. I don't know if she thought that's what I meant for her to do or if she's just so smart that she figured she could trick her old Mom. I guess I am going to make sure I take down her diaper and clothes from now on.

Sam is 6 weeks old today

Check him roll over front to back! < He can do it on a flat surface, but he was having fun doing it on my little photo set today. :) And because I just love his little smiles. He smiles so much more than Katie ever did, I think. Maybe it's because I notice them more because I'm not as stressed out because this is the second time around? Maybe? He's also been doing his mini push ups, but he's been doing these for awhile. It'll be awhile yet before he's doing the whole push up and the roll over from back to front, but he's doing pretty good for a 6 week old huh?

So....it's time to get serious, I think....

So I have decided I really really need to try and get this photography thing going. I really love doing it and it would be nice to make some cash to support my habit. So I have come up with a new logo, that I think I am happy enough with to not change it for a long time to come. So if you all know anyone in the Atlanta area interested in some portraits, let me know or send them my way. Pretty please with a cherry on top?

I just love his big ol' smiles

It takes me a minute to get him to give me one of his big ol' smiles but it's there. Or maybe it's him laughing at me because he knows he's about to spit up. :)

I haven't made a signature in forever

But the one I use for email and message boards is incredibly outdated.

Katie loves to swim!

So Thursday we went to swim in Aunt Connie's pool. We put floaties on Katie and one of those floatie swimsuits and pretty much threw her in the water. She did great! She can doggy paddle and get herself around the pool pretty well. I think it's going to be a fun pool filled summer. :) I think she just loved that she could be independent while in the pool. Then yesterday Mr. Caleb, Claire, and Robin came over to play. Caleb and Katie play fairly well together despite their 9 month age gap. Of course there are always the little battles, but I know Katie always asks to see him again. And of course being summertime, we decided to let the kids hop in our little backyard pool for awhile. Which I believe they LOVED. Katie plays in it quite a bit, but there's never anyone fun to splash around with. I think Caleb had a blast splashing her too. I also spent a little bit of time yesterday playing with my black throw I found at the thrift store. It has two sides, one is fuzzy and the other is like black velvet. It really is perfect for baby portraits. I took some more of Sam. He was exactly 5 weeks old yesterday. Before you know it I'll be posting his 1 year pictures.

Have I ever mentioned our addiction?

To consignment shops, thrift store, etc? What started out as a need to get Miguel a transitional wardrobe while he lost weight has turned into an all out addiction. At first the idea of everything being second hand... but then when you see everything is in great shape and really, wouldn't you take stuff second hand from a friend? I can get Katie a whole summer wardrobe for $30. And that is a lot of clothes. Anyway, our latest finds include a double stroller in excellent, almost unused condition for $20. Yay! I was not looking forward to spending anywhere between $120-$300 for one. My $4 picnic basket, which we used last night to have beautiful picnic at the park. It was the perfect summer evening last night. And last but not least I found a never used with the tags still on beautiful black throw for baby portraits. I didn't have time to set up all my studio stuff so the picture was taken with flash only, but still, I loved how it worked. I love my thrift stores.

Sam is 1 month old

Sam is officially 1 month old tonight at 8:35pm. :) The first month seems to have been a loooonnnggg month. But I know as I watch him graduate high school, I'll look back on it and wonder where the time went . LOL Grandpa and Grandma bought him a bear from Northside Hospital where Sam was born. Katie has one too from when she was a baby. I decided to take a picture of him with his bear yesterday for his one month picture. I know technically he wasn't a month old till today, but I had the opportunity yesterday. It's a good thing I took it yesterday because some little milk monster nursed from 2 am to 6 am straight last night. He has never done that before. Let's hope it's just a growth spurt and not a new trend because I am dog tired today.I also took pictures of Katie with her big bear and the baby bear Grandma and Grandpa got her. Katie's not so easy to get to be still for two seconds. But you get the idea. This is a picture of Katie with her big bear at about 10 months old. I forget how little hair she had. I'm just shocked every time I see pictures of her when she was little little.

Happy Father's Day!

Here's to my dear hubby who takes care of us and sits at work right now on the weekend so he can get three days off a week to spend with his family. Thanks for all that you do for us and for being so wonderful and we'll have dinner ready when you get home. :) And here's a special treat for his Daddy and of course everyone else. I actually caught one of Sam's smiles on camera today. Although it was at the end of his smile and he closed his eyes, and I was so late getting my camera flash to fire. And I cut off the top of his head in the picture. But I promise it was even cuter when his eyes were open. Isn't that the best present ever! He's been giving a few big full face social smiles for about a week, which is way crazy I know. He's still so small. But they are the cutest things ever.Oh and check out the dimples. I love them!

Putt-putt, mini golf, whatever you want to call it

We took Katie to attempt to play it yesterday. Ummmm.....yeah. Katie had fun, but as far as "playing" putt putt, there was none of that. Running up and down the green and putting the ball in the hole, yeah, there was A LOT of that. LOL After that we went inside and Katie played video games with Daddy. She also played some the games where you win tickets and earned herself a lollipop. Good times, good times......

Katie and her first dance class

So I took Katie this morning to a one day dance camp and she had class with Avery. Sara and I weren't allowed to hang around and take pictures and watch, but from what I can gather, they had a blast! I was a little nervous about leaving her there for 3 hours, but honestly, I think Katie could've cared less whether I was there or not. They took her into the room, she started coloring, and forgot about her dear old mother. Who was waiting for her start asking for me to stay at any moment. So Sara and I left and went and had some good coffee and conversation while the girls had their dance camp. We waited and waited for the "one of them was having a melt down and please come get them" call. But it never happened. We went back a few minutes early to get some pictures of them before the camp ended and I swear Katie was trying to close the door so I couldn't take her away. I guess she knew my arrival would be the end of her dance camp. When Sara and I got there, the girls were dressed up as Sleeping Beauty with their baby Auroras. It was so cute.And I was so proud that Katie did so well. She participated and had fun. They got to finish the last 10 minutes out by dancing underneath the disco ball. The video up top is Avery and Katie dancing. Again, too cute!

What do we do when life slows down?

Well, Miguel builds leggo pyramids with Katie. :) I spend the time taking care of the future pyramid builder. Not much going on the past few days. Just living la vida loca. Tomorrow, I should have interesting pictures as Katie is going to her first ever dance class. Fun!

Sam and Claire meet

And I think that Sam is going to get his butt kicked when he's older. LOL Claire is quite a bit bigger than Sam, but I know Sam will hold his own. We went over to Robin's house so Caleb and Katie could play. It was a good day. It was funny seeing two little babies like that together. They were completely oblivious of one another. They were way more interested in the ceiling than anything else. This last pic is just for fun and because they play quite well together. Well with the exception of Katie and her drama queen attitude that comes out once in awhile. But hey, she IS two after all. Anyway, here is a picture of Caleb and Katie drawing together.

Hey there....blue eyes?

So my little baby boy who had such dark gray eyes that I thought were going to turn brown, has blue eyes at the moment. Go figure. They may still turn brown one day, but right now every time I look at him they look a little lighter. He's so adorable right now. And I am sure he'll hate me for this picture one day. But it was so cute. I plan on doing a for real all-American (funny since neither of their parents are Americans by birth) portrait later on, but this was fun yesterday. And last of all, but not least, Miss Kate trying on a pair of my old pointe shoes. She really is a girl after my own heart. :) She even tries to stand on her toes in them. I don't really let her for too long, since it's not good for growing feet. But it is ever so cute. Makes me want to go back and take a class. Maybe once I am back in shape. Maybe...I've been saying that for years. In any case I hope she is prepared for her class on Friday. I want to her to enjoy it and have fun. Hopefully with Avery there, it'll be a real blast. Oh and believe me, THOSE will be some cute pictures.

To brag about my daughter for a minute.....again

Katie has been practicing riding her tricycle >around the kitchen and has finally mastered steering AND peddling at the same time. The deal was we couldn't take it to the park until she could do both. In the video she is going straight only (which does require some steering, lol), but trust me she can steer with the best of them and she can go super fast. As soon as we have a free evening I will definitely be taking her to the park and letting her loose. :)And I went and bought Katie a leotard and some shoes for a class I am hoping to take her to next week. She is really excited about doing some ballet dancing. :) Hopefully she'll like since there is a dance class I was hoping to put her in once she starts preschool.

To catch ya'll up on our life

Here are some pics. Honestly not much going on. Katie and Sam are getting along. I am getting into somewhat of a routine that revolves around the kids with some cleaning and housework added in. :) We are looking for a new car to make life easier and so that I can go places without my knees buckling from sticker shock at the gas station. I thought I would give you all your photo fix of the kids, since I haven't posted since Monday. I'm giving them to you as thumbnails. IF you want to see them full size, just click on them. Enjoy!

It must be such a strange experience for Katie

So I had the thought a couple of days ago, that it must be so weird to Katie to have her life invaded by this just under two foot, hungry little boy, who all he seems to do is cry, eat, and need his diaper changed. Then on top of it, mommy and daddy expect her to be completely ok with the fact that he invaded her life. Well, honestly, I don't think we really expected her to be completely ok. She's been good, but we have had some sad moments, more than a couple of breakdowns, and some serious neediness. But for the most part, she is a totally loving, nurturing, sweet, and helpful big sister. She gives him tons of kisses and hugs, and loves to cuddle with him at night as they fall asleep for the night. Totally sweet. One of these days I have to get a picture of the two of them in bed. Thankfully Katie is very still as she falls asleep and Sam seems to like it too. Of course we put Katie in her own bed after she falls asleep. But on the nights she wants to do it, she'll cry and cry until we let her fall asleep with him.