Life on the M list.

Still pregnant...

2010-02-07T21:42:00.002-05:00

....just in case you were wondering.

Sitting here, 80% effaced and 2 cm dilated as of last Thursday. Baby is low. Like, real low. I'm feeling all sorts of interesting pains and weird sensations. It is the final countdown. I'm waddling around like the big hot mess that I am. I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore, but then again don't want to rush back into the no-sleep-zone so quickly. Hmmm.

I'm so jealous of Melrose and the cousinly love she gets. She has 4 cousin, all of them within 2 years of her. Lucky! I never had ANY cousins close to my age. Cry me a river, I know. I'm just so happy that she is going to have an experience I never got. For Dan's birthday party last night we gave all of the dirty little ones a bath. Melrose got to bathe with Jakey and Lilly. It was a party in a tub. She was unsure of it at first, but then loved it after realizing how much fun it could be.

The baby...

2010-01-27T22:34:00.003-05:00

...feels like she is going to fly out. Is that normal? I mean, she is sitting sooooo loooow. Every time I pee I think to myself, "Please don't come out now"....probably TMI.

Right now I am blogging because I have this ridiculous pain 'down there' like she is trying to squeeze her way out. Stay in, little one, at least until Sunday afternoon. Dan is going skiing tomorrow and Friday 3 hours away and Sunday I have a baby shower. Must stay pregnant.

The last three days I have had the flu. A little gift from the young one to me. She was puking Saturday night and Sunday morning and passed on that little gem of an illness to her momma. I didn't realize that when you have the flu and are this pregnant that you honestly believe that you are dying. Thank god for my dad. He took Melrose half a day on Monday and all day on Tuesday so I could lay in bed and feel sorry for myself. He tried to watch her at my house and all she did was stand by the gate and yell, "Meeemeee" (translation mommy). So he took her back to his house and they had a good old time.

To be honest, I was just thankful Melrose was feeling better. Watching that little sweet pea puke all over the place was terrible. They get so dehydrated so quickly, I was so worried about her. Dan was near tears watching the whole thing transpire. At one point he was rocking her naked little body and telling her everything would be ok. Awww.

For some reason I cannot get 'juice' out of my head, so I must go and drink some. Pregnancy obsessions.....

I Heart Faces: Texture

2010-01-24T20:18:00.002-05:00

This is one of my favorite photos of Melrose because her face is so cute, her little toes are so chubby and adorable AND I love the background texture of the lime green shag rug. People thought we (I) was kind of crazy for putting together a nursery/room for a little girl that had bright orange walls with lime green accents. IKEA would beg to differ.....they had all of the crazy colors I wanted. On the floor is the pride of the lime green accents...the coolest of the cool shag rug. It looks like a patch of grass on the wood floor.

So one night when Mel and I were rolling around on her carpet I grabbed my camera to take some pictures. She had just discovered how yummy her baby toes were, so a lot of the pictures were of her chewing on those little gummy bears attached to the end of her feet. I figured this photograph was perrrfect for this week's photo challenge...who doesn't love a little lime green shag as a backround texture?!?

To see more photographs with neato textures, head on over to I Heart Faces.

Getting my fitness on.

2010-01-22T16:07:00.003-05:00

Not right now, of course. Right now I am getting my eat-lay-nest on. But since I am getting down to the final month of being pregnant, I am looking forward to two things. One: getting back in shape, getting back to my healthy lifestyle and finding a way to workout . Two: finding some possible way to get a little mommy-only time in. I have learned that this time is very important and may be the only thing that keeps a parent of young children from insanity.

So I am thinking about joining a gym. And not your typical gym either. This is a reeeeal fancy gym ya'll. It is like a mixture between a gym and a country club...with a price tag that is slightly more then a gym. What they do offer that is super appealing is a mack daddy child care center. One in which they will watch your children for up to two hours a day.

And because this gym is so fancy, during these two hours I could get my hair did, sit in the sauna, swim, workout, play basketball, rock climb...oh the options are limitless!

Because child numero uno is still so little, preschool is not available for her, so this is my only chance to get her involved in some child interaction AND get me some time to release a bit. My little brain is twirling with the possibilies.

I've not had much to say.

2010-01-17T21:01:00.002-05:00

If my husband heard me say this he would probably piss his pants from shock, but seriously, I haven't had much to say lately. I have been so busy lately. I thought things would settle down once I was done teaching...but that is a big fat nooooooo.

Somehow I have managed to get to 35 weeks of being pregnant and have no clue where the time between week 8 and now went. Dan and I have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get 'things' ready. Baby room- check (kind of, but good enough). Car seats all in order- check. Melrose's room redone- check. Baby clothes ready to go- ha, no, not even close. Baby closet cleaned out, shelves installed, organized- bwa hahahaha. Mode of transportation for two little ones in the form of a double stroller- noooope. O'Douls Non-Alcoholic beer in the frig- hell to the yeah!

Priorities? Who needs 'em. As long as there is a crib for the kid to sleep in, I am good to go!

So another gem that this pregnancy has offered me is this ridiculous pelvic bone problem. I'm not sure of the exact name of it, but lets just say it hurts like a mo' fo'. Yay for that.

Melrose has been entering the hitting-not listening on purpose-throwing a fit-demanding random things-demanding specific things-pretending not to listen to me-engaging in activities that are dangerous about every 10 minutes stage of her life. This should last, oh, only about 18 more years. The high point is that she gets cuter every day and that she is all about the snuggling these days. Due to my laziness as a parent, mostly caused by this later stage of pregnancy, we spend time before naps laying on the couch together watching cartoons. It is pretty much the best ever. pushes her little face against mine, snuggles in and turns to ask for a kiss on the lips every so often. It honestly doesn't get much better then that.

Last Night Was Fun

2009-12-21T17:25:00.002-05:00

If it were opposite world.

I woke up about 5 times to go the the bathroom between midnight and 4am. At about 4:45am I was woken up with a HUGE urgency to pee. And what happens? Nothing. For the next hour I felt like my bladder was going to explode, yet I didn't actually have to go to the bathroom.

Went to the doctor this morning thinking it was a bladder infection, however the initial tests say no. We will see what the lab comes back with, but I swear to all holy hell that if it happens again tonight I'm going to be really really pissed (pun intended! ha, I'm hilarious).

On another note, Melrose has changed her sleep pattern for little ol' me. Now that I am home with her again, I prefer to sleep in a little (like to about 8am). And what has that sweet little angel done for me? She now goes to bed later and wakes up around 8am. It has been wonderful. A nice little treat before my own personal sleeping hell begins come February.

And speaking of that second little bundle of joy growing in my stomach, the doctor told me this morning that she is head down. Money! I am hoping she stays that way and that this delivery goes as smoothly as Melrose's entry into the world. Minus the terrible pain in my no-no zone from the babies head/my pelvic bone being traumatized, this pregnancy has not been so bad.

As always, I am so excited for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I can't think of anything better then spending time with family. That sounds so cheesy, but it really is great fun for me. Spending time with my family. Spending time with Dan's family. It is all wonderful. I love watching Melrose interact with the family and get to play with all of her cousins on both sides. I am looking forward to eating various different treats ranging from Mark's tasty appetizers to my dad's Ponenya to some quality cheesy dishes (mac and cheese, cheesy potatoes, etc). If I know my husband well, which I am pretty sure I do, Dan will be excited to lay in the middle of the floor and fall asleep amidst chaos (not sure how he does that, must be a guy thing).

Where did Melrose go?

2009-12-12T21:35:00.004-05:00

Because the toddler we took to the mall tonight was DEFINITELY not our Melrose. This toddler sat, patiently, in her stroller as we walked around the mall. She ate the food we gave her without throwing a huge fit, demanding something else. She didn't protest once about being at the mall or wanting to run around like a crazy person while we pushed the stroller behind her. She didn't whine.

This obviously was not our child. Our Melrose is patient in a stroller for about 10-15 minutes and that is only if we are walking at a brisk pace, making sure she is stimulated every second of those 10-15 minutes. Ir we dare to walk into a store she grabs, whines and points at everything she sees- demanding that she be able to hold/bite/destroy it. After she eats the paper tag off of several garments, she will then demand to be taken out of her stroller so she can run around the store. Run around and try to hide from us, scaring the living crap out of me at every turn if she isn't in my eye sight.

When we try to go eat, she hates whatever we present to her and, once again, her patience with eating grows thin after about 3 minutes- leaving Dan and me shoving the rest of our food in our faces so we can keep on moving.

But not tonight. She was the perfect little angel. We have no clue why. I asked Dan if he slipped her an elephant tranquilizer before we left. Santa's present has come early to us this year! Ha.

We Are Family

2009-12-09T21:25:00.004-05:00

Well, here are some of my favorites from yesterday's family photo shoot.

A little cousinly love!

And, on a side note, I am very excited that I have taught myself how to crochet and the little pink hat that Emily is wearing above was my first project! I wanted to learn a hobby that I could do while sitting next to Dan, watching TV. I love to sew and make clothes, etc., but I am stuck in the basement with that. This can be a good thing at times (when I need a break from everything!) but most of the time I rather be upstairs, chatting with the hubby.

Today's Fun

2009-12-08T14:51:00.003-05:00

So today was the big photoshoot day. The day in which I was going to attempt to take a picture of Melrose and four of her cousins. That's right, five children 3 years old and younger.

Let's start from the oldest....

Lilly: 3 1/2 years old
Danny: 2 1/2 years old
Melrose: 1 1/2 years old
Jake: 1 year old
Emily: 1 month old

As you can imagine, everyone involved was skeptical that this would even work. Last years holiday picture was done at a standard photo studio-like place and it was, to say the least, a disaster. Three of the four cousins pooped their pants before the picture. One of the cousins got into a scuffle with another child and the other child's dad verbally assaulted Grandma/Aunt Sue.

Screaming. Kicking. Boo-boo lips. The best photo of the bunch that was used for the holiday card? Lilly is screaming so hard you can see the vein in her head. Danny is crying and their is snot on his face/forehead. Melrose has the biggest boo-boo lip in the history of the work. And Jake is sound asleep on the ground. Priceless.

So this year we decided to take advantage of my skillzzz and do the shoot at my house. What a good decision. It took far less time and involved ZERO temper tantrums! The kids all cooperated.

::::sigh of relief::::

I Incorporated a few little extras that I think helped- the biggest one being the television just to my right playing cartoons. Yesssssss.

Once I get them all uploaded I will post a preview of the session.

I Heart Faces: Sweet Dreams

2009-12-07T15:54:00.003-05:00

Nothing was better then watching Melrose while she slept as a newborn. She would just curl up into my body and sleep the days away. The best was all of the interesting things she did in her sleep. She would smile and giggle and yawn and have the funniest facial expressions. All while sleeping.

This picture I captured when she was only a few weeks old. Dan had just gotten home from work and was holding the little peanut. This was a mid-sleep yawn. How you yawn mid-sleep is beyond me (or laugh or giggle for that matter!).

Check out other sleeping angels at I Heart Faces.

I Heart Faces: Tooshies!

2009-12-01T21:41:00.003-05:00

I love this week's theme over at I Heart Faces...and I love this photo. And, the best part is that the light was just right so you still see her cute little tooshie, but you don't really see the tooshie...ya know what I mean?

Although I have truly loved working these past 15 weeks in the classroom, I am going to enjoy spending more time with this little tooshie before the next little one is born (countdown: 2 1/2 months till Baby Beck #2!). This is my very last week in the 4th grade class and I'm going to miss those kids...but I am in need of some quality time with my kid!

I Heart Faces: Autumn!

2009-11-17T21:12:00.003-05:00

A week or so ago Dan and I took the little one to the park. Thus far, it has been such a beautiful Fall in Ohio and we try to get out as much as possible. Melrose couldn't love the outdoors anymore so it is a bonus that we are getting this sweet weather.

So, we go to the park with Melrose and bring the littlest girl (our Chihuahua Rigby!). The two of them are running around like crazy, loving the leafs and the bright sun.

Melrose, like the cute little 15 month old she is, will sometimes obsess over a certain object or toy. The day at the park she became enthralled with Rigby's leash. She had to hold it. We couldn't touch it. It was not to be folded up in a nice pile for her to carry. It was to be drug behind her in the mud with her walking at about .000000000000000000038478 miles per hour.

I snapped this picture while Dan was attempting to 'walk' Melrose.

I love this picture! Is the parent leading the child or the child leading the parent? I will give you one clue: the ruler of our household stands at less then 3 feet tall.

To see other autumn photographs, head on over to iHeartFaces.

In and out.

2009-11-08T22:27:00.003-05:00

I know I have been quite sporadic with my posting the last few months. This whole working full-time, being pregnant, taking care of a toddler has taken it's toll on me! I've done basically nothing to prepare for the second baby. Wait. Let me rephrase that. I have, in fact, done completely nothing to prepare for the second baby.

No crib or bedding. No organization of clothes (this is currently a big hot mess). No baby room. No nothing.

With Melrose we were alllll over everything. I had her room ready months before I was due. The name was picked out and bags were packed for the hospital way in advance. Baby Beck #2? We are playing it fast and loose!

On another note I am getting over yet another cold/bacteria/virus/blah mess. I'm not kidding you when I say I have been sick since the beginning of September. I have had about a week (no not 7 consecutive days, but 7 random days pieced together) of feeling healthy. Beyond that, being sick has been my norm. This time around it was a nasty cold for both Melrose and me. She got a rude little ear infection that required antiotics and I got bronchitis. She also had pink eye and developed a rash from this fun October/November cold. We were both sick with this one for about 2 weeks.

In other news I am looking quite pregnant. People no longer stare at me and wonder, "Is she fat or is she pregnant." Now they just come out and ask when I due. I kind of think they are expecting me to say next week since I look and feel like I am 9 months. When I say February I am fairly sure they judge my fatness. Ha.

I have taken ZERO belly photographs and really need to get on that. Maybe I will make my husband, next weekend, snap some photos of me and the Mel. She is fascinated by my belly-button, so it shouldn't be hard to get a few nice pictures.

Because it is late and must get to bed for work tomorrow, I will leave you with this recent picture of the cutest Beck Baby (so far!).

This, by the way, is her new hair style. Her bangs were getting so long and both my mother and Dan were suggesting we cut her hair. Um. Hell to the no. I told them I would figure something out and this is that something. The top-of-the-head ponytail. Only the coolest toddlers sport them.

I'm stuck at home.

2009-10-21T13:30:00.002-04:00

The school where I am teaching has had a spike of absences. Lots of kids with the flu. What type of flu you may ask? Who knows. They aren't even testing to see if people have the H1N1 virus because (a) they are learning that the test is 50% accurate at best and (b) the treatment for the H1N1 is nearly the same as the seasonal flu and finally (c) so far no seasonal flu has appeared and this is technically not normal seasonal flu 'season'.

So because of all of this, I am at home until at least Monday. Waiting for the spike of illnesses in the area to go down.

This swine flu business sucks. It freaks me out. A lot. Not only am I pregnant, but I have a 15 month old. I am also working in a field in which exposure to the virus is extremely high (have I told you how many kids have sneezed/coughed/germed on me lately?).

I have picked the worst year/season to be pregnant and working in a school. But who would of known that this would happen. I mean, I had the flu when I was pregnant with Melrose and no one was concerned. Now pregnant people are dying from this craziness and I am a few steps away from being put into a human bubble and living in a cave.

The husband is in Las Vegas until Thursday so I have been sleeping at my parents with Melrose. I HATE sleeping alone in the house. I am a big baby. I am scared of the dark. I am scared of any noises. I spent the first night by myself and literally had an evacuation plan in my head for any possible scenario that could take place from 10pm until 7am. Robbery, flood, fire, etc. In my mind I had everything mapped out, weapons in place and 'grabbing the baby and running' action plan ready to go.

So pathetic, I know.

We survived the first night, but I got about 4 hours of sleep. So I decided to save my brain the energy and my sleepless body the worry and just sleep at my parent's house. It was a good plan.

Plus it is nice to wake up and have several people hanging around to eat breakfast with and entertain the MelBel with.

I Heart Faces: Excited!

2009-10-12T20:01:00.003-04:00

The husband and I celebrated our two year anniversary this past weekend. That's right, you heard me right. Two years. Almost two kids. A little bit of craziness.

We went away for the weekend to Port Clinton (right on Lake Erie) and left the love bug at home with her grandparents. It is tough leaving her for two days, but we kept on telling ourselves that it is good for us (and her) to have a little time away. And I have to admit, it was nice.

Friday was spent driving up there, eating and then sleeping. Ahhh. How nice.

Saturday was Put-in-Bay, naps, eating, movie watching and then sleeping. Happy happy!

This photo was snapped by the hubby on the island... Do I look excited or what?!?

Sunday was breakfast and back on the road to see, with lots of anticipation, our little Melrose. Yay!

We had a wonderful day on Sunday with the little one- taking her to the Pumpkin Festival. She ran around like a crazy woman. Tripped and did a complete front flip (and survived). Pet the animals at the petting zoo. Got head butted by a goat (she didn't get hurt so it was fairly hilarious). And back home for mom and baby to take a two hour nap. We were exhausted!

So all-in-all a wonderful weekend. I'm a bit tired today, but hey, what can you do? It was all worth it for the fun times we had.

To see more photos featuring excited people and to read their stories, go to I Heart Faces.

I Heart Faces: Blue

2009-09-28T20:58:00.006-04:00

My niece and nephews all have bright blue eyes. So, I went through all of the photos I have of them to get one I liked the most. I love this photo of Jake. He was a few months old and I remember his mom telling me had no pictures of the little one (curse of the second child!). So I came over and brought my camera to capture some of the little peanut.

I really love this picture in particular because he looks like such a soft, squishy little baby! He is almost one now and believe it or not, his eyes have actually gotten more blue. I'm not even sure how that happens! Out of three sets of parents, two sets have brown hair and brown eyes and only one set has lighter hair with blue eyes. However, all four cousins have blonde hair and blue or green eyes. I think we have a mystery gene floating around somewhere. It will be interesting to see when cousin number 5 and cousin number 6 are born to see if they follow suit.

And speaking of that. We will have SIX cousins all within less then four years apart. Come February there will be... an almost 4 year old, 3 year old, 1 1/2 year old, an almost 1 1/2 year old, 3 month old and a newborn. A baby born in this family every year since 2006. Craziness.

And because of the last two additions coming soon, it will be four girls and two boys. Girls win! We are going to tip the scale with having our second girl...if we would of followed the family trend and had one of each sex then it would be even steven. Oh well!! Girls Rule!!!!

Check out more cool photos at I Heart Faces.

Well, it is official.

2009-09-28T12:46:00.003-04:00

Come February, we are going to be the proud parents of another little girl! This is so exciting for us- Dan was beyond thrilled when they told us it was going to be a girl. Apparently he is a gluten for punishment and wants to be surrounded by only women. Even our dog is a female.

Both of us knew deep down it was going to be a girl. I think if we decided to have more kids, which by the way is not in the plans right now, it would be a string of girls. We are a family destined to have the double xx genes or chromosomes or whatever the hell it is.

No name yet. Everything he throws out I hate. Everything I throw out he thinks is insane. We have a few names we kind of like, but we haven't really talked about it seriously. We had a boys name from when I was pregnant with Melrose, but we both knew we wouldn't need to use that any time soon. Maybe if I have 18 kids we would be able to use a boys name once or twice.

But after an early morning doctors appointment, crappy sleep patterns (due to peeing ALL of the time) and just being pregnant- I am exhausted! Melrose is talking in her crib, about to go to sleep, so I think I am going to follow suit and take a little nap. Ahhh. This is going to feel good!

I'm alive!!

2009-09-24T21:14:00.002-04:00

After three weeks of the most nasty virus EV-ER, I am starting to pull back the shades and am alive. Within the past three weeks I have had two sore throats, two sets of different coughs, stuffiness like no other, hot flashes....and the list goes on. I have been diagnoses with strep throat, a sinus infection, SWINE FLU and then finally with a mysterious, long-lasting terrorist virus.

The only diagnosis that has actually been accurate is the last. They even went as far to prescribe me TAMIFLU in which I refused to take (did you know that stuff has not been testing on pregnant humans??? and the tests on pregnant animals did not go so well??).

So, if you are reading this and know ANYONE who is pregnant, urge them to read ALL of the research and information online about TAMIFLU before they take it. It is considered, BY THE MANUFACTURER, to be unsafe to take during pregnancy. However, the CDC is telling doctors to give it to pregnant people. Insane.

In the meantime, Melrose has gotten creative with entertaining herself. At one point when I was talking to the doctor she had managed to get into the pantry and find her goldfish stash. She was shoving handfuls of fish into her mouth and loving every second of it.

She also has been running around the house like a crazy woman with one of my dresses. Dragging it around, playing hide-and-go-seek with it.

And sunglasses are her new favorite. She used to hate if anyone put them on her, but all of a sudden she has decided that they are the coolest.

Melrose gets down while this pregnancy decides to kill me.

2009-09-20T20:47:00.002-04:00

On Saturday we decided to go to the mall to walk around. Me, Mel and my momma. We needed something to do while Dan cut the grass and my mom wanted to check some things out, so off we went.

After a few hours of people watching and browsing we decided to head towards the door. Melrose was super sick of riding in the stroller so I pulled her out to walk the rest of the way. In the process of getting from point A to point B, we passed by the Guess store. Now I must tell you that the mall we went to is quite the fancy mall and at least 2 of the stores have DJs spinning records (yes, just like at a club) pumping music out of the very hip stores. So anyway, we pass by Guess and Melrose stops.

She stops. She turns. And she stairs into the store wondering what this intersting thumping music is.

Then she gets down. Starts dancing and shaking her booty. Everyone in the store looks out at her and start laughing. After about 10 seconds she is done with her dancing and keeps walking.

It was one of the funniest and cutest things I have every seen her do. And I honestly have no idea where she gets these moves from. No one has ever taught her how to dance nor has she ever seen people dance. It must be in her blood!

On another note....a far more annoying note....I am sick. Again. If my math is right, this is the FIFTH time I have been sick since getting pregnant. And, if you are keeping track, I am not even 5 months pregnant yet!

I'm fairly sure that I am allergic to being pregnant. This is beyond ridiculous.

So I decided that because this is right on the heels of barely feeling better from the last cold I would go into the doctors and see what is up. And because I don't have time or patience to make an appointment, I drove up to the Urgent Care.

The doctor said she didn't *think* I had the swine flu. Hmm. Awefully reassuring there.

She does think I have either strep throat or a sinur infection or a combination of the two. I got antibiotics that will kill both (yay) and took my first horse pill tonight. My throat is red and swollen and every time I swallow it feels like I am trying to choke down razor blades. Mmmm.

Because of this sore throat business I got about 3 hours of sleep last night, divided into 20-30 minute increments.

I seriously *SERIOUSLY* need to start feeling better soon. I mean, I am taking my prenatals which should help a little with getting sick ? and I wash or disinfect my hands a million times a day. I don't get it. Last time I was pregnant it was the same damn thing. Sick every couple of weeks.

So I have a big lesson to teach tomorrow and feel like absolute crap, but I am confident I can act healthy for about an hour to get through it. After that you may find me in a ball of human pregnancy mush in the back of the room.

Weekend in review.

2009-09-09T20:13:00.007-04:00

As you can see in my previous post, I was SUPER excited for the long weekend. I had a wedding to shoot on Friday night, but the rest of the weekend was mine. Alllll mine.

Until.

I got sick. Friday at the wedding I wasn't feeling quite right. My throat was itchy and I was super exhausted. By the time I got back to my hotel room I was in full-on sick mode. Sore throat out the wazoo, achy, sniffly and crappy. I got about 4 hours of sleep (I think) and was back on the road Saturday morning, heading towards home.

Because I am pregnant, cough drops are about the only thing I can take for any ailment. Flu? Take a cough drop. Cold? Take a cough drop. Sprained your ankle? Take a cough drop and one Tylenol. You get the idea.

So this craptasticalness started on Friday and today, Wednesday, I am just barely getting over it. Sweet.

I did, however, have a few hours of reprieve on Sunday. For some reason I felt a little better that morning and we decided to meet my parents at the Oktoberfest. Dan and Melrose danced the polka and my mom ate cotton candy like it was going out of style.

Long weekend, here I come!

2009-09-04T09:55:00.003-04:00

Working has been a beotch to say the least. I know. Complain, complain, complain! I need to stop whinning. But it has been, really! So this long weekend is welcomed with open arms. And the best part? I am off of work (at job #2...ie teaching) and working at job numero uno (the paying one). I have a wedding down in Cbus this evening. Fun fun!

I got to wake up and hang with my love bug this morning and it was wonderful. Distance makes the heart grow fonder...that is for damn sure. I used to cringe in the morning when I would hear that first yelp, thinking, "I want to sleep more!" But now? I am excited to run in there with her sippy cup and snuggle and start the day off with her. I think this experience is going to make me a better mother because I will appreciate the time spent with my daughter much more.

The pregnancy is progressing normally. I am getting fat and glowy and all of that schtuff. My skin is finally clearing up from my first trimester of hormone related lovely acne issues. Never had that with Melrose, but this baby made my face go cr-A-zy. Not sick anymore...or at least I thought.

Last night before Open House I was eating dinner with Mel before Dan got home and all of a sudden I got this icky feeling in my stomach. Hmmm. I figured I would wait until Melrose stopped eating and then I would drink some water and maybe taken the anti-nausea stuff. Then Melrose learned how to manipulate her gag reflex with her fingers.

I'm not kidding. Right at that moment she figured out she could gag herself with her fingers and thought it was just about the coolest/funniest thing ever. Well, the sound of her gagging and nearly puking sent me over the edge. I ran outside and puked in the garage. Gross. I couldn't even make it to the grass. Then I came back inside, thinking I was all done, and continued these fun times in the sink.

In a matter of 15 minutes I had eaten dinner and then uneaten dinner. Awesome.

And the whole time Melrose just looked at me like, "What?"

Oh. My. God. Working.

2009-08-28T16:46:00.003-04:00

I have been thrown back into the work force and I think I have some whiplash. Ouch.

My situation is unique and I only have to work for 15 weeks, BUT let me tell ya...this working 40 hours a week and then coming home to take care of the little girl and then having some kind of dinner ready (that part usually doesn't happen) is difficult. How do some of these moms do it?!?

Any spare time that I did manage to find is gone and I am finding the guilt of being away from Melrose nearly unbearable. Especially at night after she is sleeping. I snuck into her room around 9pm just so that I could 'accidentally' startle her and then pick her up to hold. It was awesome. We just cuddled in the glider for a few minutes.

I'm dead tired right now. Blah!

Baby's got belly!

2009-08-20T13:49:00.007-04:00

I've been busy taking maternity photos for some sexy pregnant ladies! I really love taking photographs of pregnant people, it is great. I would even venture to say that it might be my favorite type of photoshoot. There is something so neat about capturing images of a beautiful pregnant woman with her significant other and/or other children...photos that can be shown to the little bundle of joy when he/she is old enough.

Anywho, the last two shoots have been great. The first one was with our friend Heather who is due September 1st. This is baby number one for her and her hubby. They decided to come to our house because of their crazy lab and our really photogenic yard. The photos turned out awesome.

The second photo I love because they were both, in their words, showing off each of their pregnancy bellies. Ha! I mean, if your wife is eating ice cream and craving donuts it is hard for the husband to pass these up too. Dan had a hell of a time trying to resist when I was pregnant the first time.

The second shoot was with a friend who lives down the street. She has an adorable little boy who is 2 1/2. I got some cool photos of this family on their property which includes a lake, a pool and lots of greenery.

The little man has been wearing these boots all summer long and was not about to take them off for the shoot.

Aren't these ladies beautiful or what?!?

Frustration

2009-08-17T21:14:00.002-04:00

I am finding it harder and harder to relate and hangout with the never-been-pregnant-don't-have-kids-I'm-just-doing-whatever group of people. The first problem is (a) I'm pregnant and the people in this category don't seem to understand that going to an event in which drinking is the main activity is no fun for me. Let me rephrase. These types of activities are sucktastical for me. What do I want to do in my barely there free time? Watch people around me get drunk and stupid and bump into my belly? Sounds like lots of fun.

The second problem is that I already have my little love bug at home and staying out until all hours of the night is not the best idea when you have a 6:45a human alarm clock the next morning. Oh and did I mention I am pregnant and thus incredibly tired?

The third problem is that when pregnant (and even my husband falls into this category) everyone thinks I am just like the perfect little designated driver.

It is just hard being pregnant, with a family, and relating these things to people who are in different places in their lives. And trust me, I sympathize with them too. When I was single or without a child I never understood why pregnant peeps or peeps with kids never wanted to go out. I was annoyed with their anti-funness. I made fun of them. Now I am them. It is just impossible to explain to someone what it is like to be pregnant or have children...and conversely it is impossible for them to sympathize with my whining about late nights and being tired.

But, for now, after this long rant, I leave with a photo of what I like to call 'Hillbilly camping bath'....

Frog legs!

2009-08-13T09:29:00.002-04:00

I got to see his/her frog legs yesterday...baby number two is starting to look like a human! I went in to get a check-up due to continued cramping and everything was A-OK. But they did do an in-room ultrasound (kinda like the big fancy ultrasound, but a little less fancy and a little more blurry) to make sure everything was moving along nicely. From week 10 until week 12 the baby has turned into a fetus of the human species, with legs and feet and cute little hands with tiny little fingers.

Now I do my internal countdown until week 18/19 when we can find out the sex. This is pretty much torture for me. I have no patience. Wait, let me revise that, I have LESS then no patience. If I could I would be like crazy Tom Cruise and buy myself an ultrasound machine so I could look for those three dots or a dangling peeps. Everyone and their mother are convinced that we are having a boy due to this pregnancy being pretty darn different then the first. I'm still convinced we are having another girl, but we will know for sure in 6 weeks.

The pictures the doc printed for us are really cool. One is of the baby upside down with it's legs crossed (looks like frog legs). The other one is of him/her with the hand near the face. Now I can't wait for the anatomy ultrasound because those photos are always the bomb. We still have Melrose's photos up on our frig...her little baby foot and the profile of her face.

On another note, can you believe we are STILL trying to organize from vacation? It has alsmot been a week and our house is still a mess. The main problems are: (a) busy season for photography so my weekends are slammed (b) Melrose much prefers to play over watch us clean, so since she makes the rules nothing seems to get done (c) Dan and I are still trying to recover from the vacation. It will get done....one fine day. Not this weekend, though. I am going to the waterpark with one of my friends for her birthday and on Sunday I have a wedding.

Bye Bye Vacation!

2009-08-08T19:46:00.003-04:00

Vacation has come and vacation has gone. It is good to get home, but I am going to miss the ocean, having Dan home with us 24/7, seeing the sun every waking moment and living a beach life.

We went to Chery Grove Beach, South Carolina. It is clustered in the group of beaches that make up North Myrtle Beach...and no, it is nothing like Myrtle Beach. No high rises. Barely any college students. All residential. A few touristy shops, but mostly just beach houses that line the channel and ocean. We had a house that was on the channel and was about a 4 minute walk from the beach. I rented it through a private owner (highly recommend) and it was fabulous. Everything was included in the price and it was soooo much cheaper (not to mention a million times better) then getting a hotel room.

Here are some highlights from the vacation...

1. We went to the beach every day we were there. Dan, Mel and I were the only ones to brave the heat and sun each day, but we wanted to enjoy the ocean as much as possible.

2. Melrose loves the water. She is not scared of it at all (bad thing). She refused any type of assistance when entering water. Hand holding was completely thrown out the window. Carrying her into the water was tolerated for a short period of time. Running and tripping into the water so to swallow gallons of the salty stuff and sand was the preferred method. Even when carrying her in the deeper areas she would sometimes push away from us like she wanted to do it herself. I don't think she realizes she will sink like a cement block.

3. Dan loves to throw the frisbee. To himself. Every day. He thought he was quite clever that he could throw it into the wind and let it sail back to him. I'm not kidding you, he did this every day at the beach. Oh was he proud!

4. Apparently my morning sickness has decided to disapate a bit. Yesss! Still a little naseous, but nothing like before. I think I can officially say that this pregnancy has been completely different and way better (morning sickness) then the last.

5. On Sunday morning, first full day of the vacation after driving, I decide to take a little nap. I was woken from this nap by terrible cramps. I, of course, thought the worst. I thought I was miscarrying. These cramps only intensified...and I mean bad. Like, just as bad, if not worse, then labor pains. Then I started puking from the pain. Awesome. My mom called the OB/GYN on call at our hospital to find out what to do. By the time I talked to her I had issues with both ends (sorry TMI, I know). So I was stuck in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet with the waste basket in front of me for about 4 hours total. Then the next few hours I laid in bed recouperating, trying to hydrate with some blue gatorade.

6. The 12 hour drive went more then ok. We were terrified that Melrose would melt down and we would listen to screaming for hours. But, she was perfect. We only had one melt down and it was on the drive back. We hit a spot in the drive where there was no place to stop and we had to push back her dinner an hour. That did not go over well. Hysterical screaming. Lots of it. But once we found the Waffle House it was all good. Poor thing had a soagy wet diaper and was starving. I felt like a horrible parent, but I guess I couldn't make a restaurant appear out of thin air.

7. Dan is mildly obsessed with t-shirts. I think he bought like 5 on vacation. I mean, I don't even think he wears 75% of his t-shirt collection. Every time he left the house he would come back with a new shirt.

8. High humidity and 90+ degree days takes a little one year old's patience and pretty much makes it disappear. When she got hot, she made sure we knew about it. When she was hungry, she flipped out. When she wasn't happy with her current situation, she was more then loud about vocalizing this. But she was cute when she did it, so it was ok.

9. My most wonderful husband let me sleep in EVERY morning of the vacation. He is so wonderful. He enjoyed the one-on-one mornings with Mel. Whenever I am in the room she is mildly obsessed with being next to me every second, so he can spend some really great quality time together while I am still snoozing. And, for the most part, this pregnancy is making me super tired. More then the first time around, so Dan has been so wonderful in letting me take it easy. He is such a good guy.

10. Again, this might be TMI, but it really is a high point for the trip. Melrose somehow timed her pooping so that we were never in the car. This means, we never once had to pull off the road to change a diaper. This was pretty much spectacular. She would time her little bathroom breaks when we were in restaurants or at the hotel or before we got into the car.

So all in all, vacation was awesome. The time with my family was great. It was our first family vacation (even including baby number 2!) and it was a lovely experience. I wish Dan, Mel and I could hang together 24/7 all of the time.

RIP Kodiak Bear

2009-07-26T20:58:00.004-04:00

Our most loyal and loving Chocolate Labrador Kodi was put to sleep on Saturday. It was beyond horrible for me and even worse for Dan. I met Kodi 6 years ago, when he was 5, when I met Dan. Dan got him as a puppy 11 years ago.

Recently his health has been deteriorating. He itched himself about 20 hours a day from some bizarre skin condition. His skin was raw from it. He bled from it. He had a ton of hair loss from it. He was also nearly deaf. He spent most of his time in the basement, just laying around and itching...no quality of life. I told Dan either we need to figure out if we can help him or we need to put him out of his misery. He had a slew of other problems in addition to this and I just knew it was the end of the road for him.

I made the appointment on Thursday to take him in on Saturday. We started to mourn then. We started to come up with absurd reasons to keep him alive for another week or month. We were being selfish, wanting him around for us, because we loved him...not much thinking about how much pain he was in.

So Dan and I dropped the baby off at my parents and made the drive to the vet. We pet Kodi and told him we loved him and told him how sorry we were. We got out of the car and let him walk around in the grass one last time. Dan told him his favorite story- the story of how he picked him from all of the other puppies.

We walked him inside the vet's office and then inside the room where he would never walk out of. It was heartbreaking. The vet came in and Dan asked her if we were doing the right thing and if there was anything else we could do to help him. She told us that this was the only humane option for Kodi. We knew, then, that we had to go through with it. We had to give him a dignified end and some kind of peace.

So they gave him the shot that would calm him. He got a little wobbly and so we helped him over to the bed they brought in for him. We hugged him and told him, again, how much we loved him. He started to drift off into a sleepy state and just kind of laid there. The vet came back in to administer the euthenasia. We decided not to stay for that. He was already out of it and to be honest I don't think either of us could take anymore.

So, we each gave him one last pet and one last 'I love you' and walked out. It was just simply terrible. He was the most wonderful lab ever. Always accomodating to us. Always loving. Always a good boy. We will miss him so much.

Kodiak Bear
1998-2009

What the what?!?

2009-07-26T09:44:00.003-04:00

In many respects, this pregnancy is COMPLETELY different then my last one.

1. Less morning sickness (thank the pregnancy gods for that). I still feel like crap, but like hydrated and fed and less puking crap.
2. I am having weird pains and cramps in my belly/no-no zone area. I have been told you have more 'pains' with the second and this is certainly true so far.
3. I am getting fatter quicker. My nice husband tells me, "You aren't fat, you are pregnant". We both know that is a lie. I am fat and I am pregnant. I'm ok with it. I was told I was "big all over" last time, so I can deal.
4. I am far less crazy this time. Last pregnancy I was pretty much crazy my entire first trimester. I would bite Dan's head off at the drop of a hat. This time I am much more calm and collected.

However, some things just don't change...

I have been sick, already, two-three different times in just 4 weeks! Last pregnancy I was sick allll the time. Last pregnancy: Flu (several times), many colds, bronchitis. And that is what I can remember. I know there was more. This time: Flu, two colds and bronchitis. What the hell?

So I am blogging, right now, from my bed at 10am on a Sunday morning in my nightgown, with my throat ON FIRE, congested, feeling totally crappy. Melrose is also sick. Dan is also sick. They are both starting to feel better, but I, on the other hand, am feeling just as bad if not worse. Awesome. I am glad the little monkey is feeling better because I truly hate when she is sick. I would much rather feel like poo then have her deal with the sniffles.

My little lady is one!

2009-07-16T21:27:00.006-04:00

...as of this Saturday! But I am posting this early because I want all my peeps who only have computer access during the work day to be able to view this. I am also posting this through my blog and not through YouTube because the said video hosting site has had a falling out with Warner Music Group. WMG owns just about every song out there and they pull the music and/or your video if you post anything with their music attached to it. Bummer!

So here is our little angel face. I cannot believe she is one!!!!

(turn your volume on- there is music)

Don't let me scare you off.

2009-07-15T14:46:00.003-04:00

I know my posts are scaring off the "I've never had kids but I sure as hell don't want to get that sick, so maybe I'll stick to pets" people with my posts. Don't be frightened though. I get WAY sicker then most people. My mom got this sick with me and my brother, so ask your mom how she tolerated for morning sickness and that will be a good indication. Also, I can't take birth control because it gives me these types of symptoms... So if you have been on the pill for years and are fine, you probably will survive morning sickness.

And trust me, even as sick as I get, it is worth every second of it to have a wonderful and healthy baby. I would go through this a million times over to have Melrose in my life. So, come on....join the cool kids club and make some babies!!

The only bummer I am having right now is that I was supposed to go to Las Vegas with Dan in September. We were thinking the baby making would take a few months and that I would be knocked up in the Fall or early Winter. Well, seeing as I get pregnant when the wind blows, this did not happen. So now I am going to stay home while he goes for work. Boo hoo. But I did make him promise that once baby numero dos was born that just the two of us would go on a wonderful vacation and he was totally cool with that. Yay!

I have photos to post. I promise. From camping and such. I have just been so icky feeling that it is hard for me to get around to that. But I will. Give me a few days.

I am able to post this with my one good finger.

2009-07-13T21:06:00.002-04:00

That is the only part of me that is feeling healthy. One good finger. The rest of me feels like it is slowly dying...a death of severe morning sickness.

Right now I am wondering how I will be able to make it another 8-10 weeks feeling like this. Dan just made the food we do not speak of when I am dealing with morning sickness (chicken) and the smell of it, even while I am upstairs in the bedroom, is making me want to do you-know-what in the toilet/sink/waste basket. Oh god, I need to change the subject, I am getting so grossed out.

I have stopped most communication with the outside world. I sit at home every day and hope that 6:15p comes soon so Dan can help me. Poor Melrose is so bored. I try to take her for a walk and sit outside with her, but I can tell she is wondering, "Uhh, what the hell are we doing sitting at home every day? This sucks!!!"

The medication I am on only helps a tiny bit. Enough that I can mildly function and eat some food, but not enough. I feel like I have the stomach flu about 70% of the day. For a few hours I will feel pretty good, which I am more then thankful of (I never had that when I was pregnant with Melrose). I feel craptastical in the morning and even worse at night. Eating helps and then it makes me feel sick. Drinking fluids helps, but then it also makes me feel sick. Laying around doesn't help, but getting up and moving around makes me sick.

This little baby is feeding off of me and trying to kill me, I swear. Melrose was the same way and worse in many respects. I think I have a pregnancy defect or something. It is NOT ok to be THIS sick when you are pregnant. And that is final.

The last few days...

2009-07-09T21:02:00.005-04:00

I kind of skipped over my awesome weekend camping because it has totally be overshadowed by a great deal of sadness...

Over 4th of July weekend we went camping with the husband's family. It was awesome. The weather was perfect which is probably the only reason that Melrose was a perfect little angel the entire time. We are so glad we had our little monkey with us because she made the camping adventure that much better for us. Me and the babe slept in our huge mack-daddy tent while Dan slept in the mini, little guy tent.

It was a perfect set-up.

Melrose went to bed at her usual time. I followed suit an hour or two later. And what happened next was nice, peaceful rest until the little monkey started her cute little foreign language baby talk at 7am.

Dan drank with the boys. Stumbled into his bed. Snored all night. And got a wake-up call at around 7:15am when I brought him the monkey with a fresh diaper and sippy cup. Then momma laid back down because morning time does not agree with pregnancy. ::::puke::::

We swam. We ate. Dan drank. We chilled. We blew bubbles. We saw fireworks. It was awesome times a million.

We can't wait to go again next year...with Melrose and baby numero dos in tow. Right now we are currently in the process of convincing my parents to come so they can help us out!

And then on really sad and depressing news......

Our family friend, my dad's best friend, passed away on July 8th. He was 52. It has been so sad. Randy was the coolest guy- just like my dad. He was super handy, he could pretty much fix or build anything. He was lots of fun and had a great sense of humor. He was caring and nice and a great person to have around. He was diagnosed with lung cancer at the end of 2008/beginning of 2009 and it was a downward spiral since then.

He had been getting radiation, but it wasn't helping. He was in and out of the hospital, but this soon changed to just being in the hospital. I got to see and talk to him one last time on July 2nd after I photographed the wedding. I held his hand and told him Dan, Melrose and I had been thinking about him. He thanked me for everything and congratulated me on the pregnancy. And that was it.

Back when he was diagnosed with cancer he asked me to take photos of him and his family. He was a nurse, so I think he knew deep down what was going to happen. He wanted to have lasting images that his family could keep forever- even after he was gone.

I feel so bad for his wife, his son and his daughter. It just doesn't seem fair. Randy was such a good guy. He didn't deserve an end like this. He will be sorely missed by everyone that knew him.

A baby.

2009-07-02T22:03:00.003-04:00

Part Two: A Baby.

On a happier note, yes, we are pregnant again!

I know you aren't supposed to tell people until you are like 12 weeks, but hell, I am terrible at keeping secrets AND, if you are lucky enough to see me peak from my cave within the next few months, the greenish sickly look on my face would reveal it all.

If you followed my last blog you know I was deathly ill when I was pregnant with Melly B. Sick and stuck in bed until I was 15-17 weeks. Throwing up, dehydration, trips to the ER...the works. It was beyond suck-tastic. Some may ask why I would even venture getting pregnant again. And I'll tell you why...because it is soooo worth it. My daughter is the coolest (ie: born with natural mohawk) and would be sick a million times over to have her in this world.

So just to answer many questions people have been asking:

Q. So, uh, was this planned (aka was this a big old accident or what)?

A. Well, we both know how babies are made and we both know how to stop the making of babies, so yes, it was planned. We kind of let nature take its course and figured whenever it happened would be the right time. Well, as the fertility gods would have it, that nature taking it's course thing happened in about a month. About the same amount of time we tried to conceive baby numero uno.

Q. How far along are you?

A. We are 6 1/2 weeks. Very veeeery early in the pregnancy. My husband literally cannot keep a secret for one second. As soon as I told him he couldn't contain his excitement and ran around like a chicken with it's head cutoff and told 4 coworkers. I think by day two his entire building knew. My mom has the same problem. I literally negotiated some sweet babysitting time with her, but it came with the stipulation that she was able to tell anyone she pleased.

Q. Do you want a boy or girl?

A. I honestly don't care. Dan will tell you in a second he wants another girl. Mel is such a joy and he likes the idea of having a house full of crazy ladies (me being the leader of these crazies). I am used to girls, so I think another girl might be easier...? But I think a little boy would be so cool too. Just for the record, I totally think I am having another girl, but soon enough we will know.

Q. Uhh, how far apart in age will these kids be?

A. A little over a year and a half...around 19 months apart. Yes, I know we are a little crazy for having them so close together, but oh well! As they get older it will be nice to have a playmate so close in age and you all will be jealous of it. Ha. It is going to be super hard at first, but let me just tell ya...EVERYTHING with children is hard. If it isn't one thing it is another, so we will figure it out.

Q. Do you have names picked out yet?

A. Holy moly. Let us get used to the idea we are having another kid first! Just kidding. We do have a few ideas, but are going to wait to find out the sex before we deliberate. Last time I was mildly obsessed with names, but this time we are going to play it fast and loose.

Q. Oh boy, are you sick again?

A. Yes. I'm on some anti-nausea stuff that makes my unbearable hyperemesis more like normal morning sickness, so that is good. I'm scared it is going to get worse, but at least I have my retired daddio to help out. He is the best. Melrose loves him and would be more then happy to play with him then play with her lifeless, sick momma.

Any additional questions can be submitted via comments or e-mail :)

So, we are super excited about this. Babies are wonderful. Children are wonderful. Being a mom is the best and I cannot believe I will have the privelage to be a mom to two children.

WARNING: This was written while super tired and I didn't spell check or reread any of it. I am pregnant and thus my brain has temporarily stopped working. Don't judge me if I don't make sense.

A wedding.

2009-07-02T21:55:00.003-04:00

Part One: A Wedding.

I shot a wedding tonight that was so heartbreaking it was almost too much for me to handle. My parents have these best friends. They are totally cool. They have come to party at our house, hung out with us, played the Wii with us. They are just so down to earth. Their daughter, who graduated with my brother, got married this afternoon. The wedding was supposed to be July 18th, but her dad, my dad's best buddy, is in the hospital with cancer. So they had the wedding in the hospital so he could be part of this big day.

It was actually a very nice set-up. The hospital had a conference room for the wedding and everyone pulled together to make it happen. But, as soon as the woman started playing the wedding music on the piano I nearly lost it. I had to separate myself from the situation to be able to keep my composure to take the photographs.

The whole situation is just so sad. This guy is the best- he is just like my dad, they were literally two peas in a pod. The whole family is a great bunch. I graduated high school with their son, so we've known them for quite a while. I just can't get past how sad I am over this. I wish I could do something to make him healthy. Everyone does. It just never seems ok when this type of thing happens to someone who is so nice and only in his early 50s.

The sadness from this wedding will stay with me for a long time.

I'll give you one guess.

2009-07-01T21:41:00.003-04:00

Here is the equation. I'll give you one guess to figure it out...

PLUS

EQUALS = ???

I Heart Faces: Wedding Bells

2009-06-29T14:55:00.005-04:00

Perfect timing! I just shot a wedding Friday and have been editing the photos the last few days. I just finished adjusting the RAW images and am now breaking into the Photoshop editing. So it is perrrrrfect timing for this photo challenge (in case you were wondering, but you probably weren't!).

So this couple is super cool. Like I said in my last post, it was a great wedding to shoot. Joe and Katie were fun, relaxed and totally in love (their wedding kiss confirmed 'totally in love' part!). It was an outdoor wedding which offered some fun and some challenging lighting. I got this photo as they sat on the park bench and enjoyed some lovey-dovey-wohoo we just got married and don't care who sees us kiss time.

LETS HEAR THOSE WEDDING BELLS:

Go check out other photos at I Heart Photos.

A little excitement.

2009-06-28T21:16:00.002-04:00

Lots of excitement going on over here. I will explain more later, but it has been impossible to get on the computer to blog.

I did an excellent wedding on Friday for a wonderful couple. The bride and I went to college together and it was a small affair that was a real pleasure to shoot. Yay for nice couples and fun weddings!

Right now I am going to fall into bed. More details to follow about some cool and exciting stuff going on :)

I Heart Faces: Da Boys!

2009-06-21T20:27:00.005-04:00

Is there an echo in here? Once again I have posted a photo a week early and will be reposting the image for this week's I Heart Faces challenge. But I didn't give a ton of detail about the image before, so this will give me a chance to tell you a little more about the picture.

This is a photo of my nephew Danny. Technically he is my great-nephew. Now I know, I am only a twenty-something, but because my husband is older then me and he happens to be the youngest of four, his nieces and nephews are in my age range... And thus I am a great-aunt to three totally cool kids. Since they are all three and under, this complicated equation is far beyond what they can comprehend, so I am just a plain ol' aunt to them. So my nephew Danny was in need of a babysitter on Thursday and I was happy to volunteer to watch him. He was so cute with Melrose. In the car they were both reaching across to hold hands. At the house he was showing her how to play with toys and she was just so pleased to sit there and watch him. She really loves watching older kids, especially her cousins, play. He would every once in a while say, "Wasssssup Melrose?" and she thought that was pretty funny. Danny gave her several kisses throughout the afternoon and held her hand during certain points of the day. It was very sweet.

This photo I got while they were playing in the living room. He was busy showing Melrose how 2 1/2 year old boys get down with toys.

KIDS ENTRY:

He is pretty much the cutest. Blue eyes, blonde hair- adorable. So far the family have seen four children born, three with blue eyes, one with green and all with blonde hair- AND only one set of the parents has light hair and eyes. The rest of us have brown hair and brown eyes. We must have some sort of mystery gene floating around giving these kids such fair features.

This next photo is of my two favorite boys, the hubby and our old Lab Kodiak. Poor Kodi is near the end of the line. He has some sort of skin condition and his fur is falling out, he has sores on his skin and itches all of the time. He is about the most loving and loyal puppy you could ever ask for. Because of pregnancy and parenthood, Dan barely ever gets to take Kodi for his favorite ride ever, but when they do go, they both love every minute of it.

ADULT ENTRY:

He really is (w0)man's best friend.

Week in photos.

2009-06-20T14:45:00.008-04:00

So I have been completely absent from blogging for the last week because of a few reasons... (a) I've had a tremendously busy week. (b) I currently have the flu.

I am so bummed I am sick. We are supposed to do down to this AWESOME park tomorrow with my fam and the hubby's fam, but I might have to stay home if I am not feeling better. I babysat my nephew the other day and he was sick with a 24 bug and I am hoping that is what I have. Which would mean I would not be contagious AND feel better by tomorrow. ::::please please please::::

But, since I have been gone from the bloggy work for 7 whole days, I have many photos to share. Here is the past few weeks in photos.

Here are some photos from our fun day babysitting cousin Danny. He showed Melrose how to properly play with toys and she loved every second of it. She just would watch him intently as he did his big kid thing and every once in a while saying, "Wasssup Melrose!"

Our first trip to the baseball game. Kind of craptastic photos because it was taken with my point and shoot, but you get the idea. Big hotdogs = fun from afar...terrifying close-up. Other then that, she loved it!

Working out and eating Chipotle.

2009-06-13T20:13:00.003-04:00

I think I am a bit self desctructive with being healthy. All week long I eat healthy, go on jogs after the baby has been put to sleep, get to bed at a reasonable hour. On the weekends, however, the other Kristen comes out to play it isn't pretty. Chipotle? Steak N Shake? Meatballs smothered in barbecue sauce? I'll take two of each.

Running? Hahahahahahahahahaha. No.

Laying on the couch for hours in the evening after eating said food? Yessssssss.

Baby goes to bed around 8pm, momma eats and then goes catatonic around 8:30-8:45p.

Then come Monday morning I am like a supermom again. Waking up with the baby, having every second planned with eating, playing, going on little adventures. Dinner is ready for the hubby when he gets home from work. Baby gets bathed by hubby and then I read to her and put her to bed. And then I somehow manage to find energy to go for a jog.

I just don't know what happens on the weekend. I seriously become a lazy, shut-in who only wants to eat, eat, eat and lay, lay, lay. Like right now, I am sitting here writing this while the hub goes and gets us Chipotle. And guess what we plan to do after stuffing our faces? Oh, that's right, watch a movie.

I think that I pour everything I have into the weekdays that by the time the weekend comes the thought of lifting a finger after baby bedtime is imcomprehensible. Dan is the complete opposite (minus the Chipotle eating). He becomes the superdad on the weekends and plays with the babe and then while she naps will run out and cut the grass. Weekdays I can barely get him to form a sentence to talk to me.

At the very least, it seems to be a good balance.

Pool time is fun time.

2009-06-07T22:48:00.006-04:00

Another beeeee-autiful weekend filled with fun in the sun. Today my parents invited us over for lunch and some pool time. What a great to do it- warm, sunny and puffy white clouds every so often floating by.

Only problem? The pool is a little doggy sized pool for their yorkies and of course our little peanut. So no room for us big kids. Oh well.

Melrose loves the water and loved this pool. Really, to say she loved the water is an understatement. She was in full blown infatuation with the baby sized fun tub. My dad filled it with water and then my mom hand elivered 5 big buckets of hot water to make it the perfect temperature for the delicate little flower we call our daughter.

She went all natural in the water because nothing says fun like skinny dipping! Plus those swim diapers and swimming suits are a pain in the arse to get on and off. So, after loading up on about 3 gallons of sun screen and securing the sun hat, the little peanut was dipped in the water by grandpa.

The entire time she was in the pool she went cr-A-zy. Splashing and kicking and crawling and licking the yum yum water off of her fingers. It was pretty awesome. We had one set back when she tried to stand up and crawl out of the pool and did a face plant on the deck. The crying lasted about 30 seconds and began as a "ouch my face hurts" cry and turned into "why am I not in the pool right now" cry. Back in the water she went and it was like it never happened.

For this reason, she pretty much thinks my dad is the coolest. He has lots of fun things planned for her (and my mom too), but she is just really attached to my dad. It is so sweet. Things she likes to do with my dad: stare at him when his glasses are on, stare at him when he takes his glasses off, try to eat dog toys when he turns his head, do face plants on various surfaces in their house to keep him on his toes, eat his cellphone and fall asleep on his lap as he talks to her.

I kid you not.

2009-06-07T10:13:00.002-04:00

I wish I was joking about this. I wish it was all a bad dream (or rather a nightmare). Let me digress...

So I was invited by the hubby's brother to go to a church musical Saturday night. Me, along with the hubby's sister and niece, decided to go despite the fact that most church plays suck. Either way, we though it would be nice to support the hubby's brother and support the church. All good things, right?

We ate a glorious dinner at this old italian restaurant. We had pizza (mmm, one of my favs), this awesome salad that was piled high with cheese and of course some bread. We ate, we talked, we all enjoyed time spent child-less for the first time in a veeeery long time. We finished up dinner and picked up the brother-in-law and headed to the church.

We sat down and once the show started realized we were four of only 22 people total in the audience. This made all of us feel uncomfortable because we knew the actors would be looking right at us during the musical...and they did. I made eye contact with more people in the play then I would like to admit. Controlling my facial reactions to look pleased, but not too pleased. To look energized (and not half falling asleep), but not overly excited.

The musical was Godspell and, as I was informed, can be left up to the director's intepritation a bit. Hmm, sounds interesting, right?

Well let me just tell you the three high points of the musical:

1) There was an old woman in the production who sang like a barking seal. (Special Note: There were several other actors/singers who were extremely talented, so that kind of made up for the barking).

2) They washed their feet with the American flag. And then offered to wash the audience's respective feet with said flag.

3) At the end, when Jesus is crucified, instead of nailing him to the cross they waterboard him with the American flag.

I kid you not.

I was MORE than horrified by all of this. Let me just throw this out there- I am a liberal and I believe in freedom of speech and I am pretty in line with a lot of what the lefties believe in. My husband is slightly more conservative, but he is right there with me. However, I was appauled by this.

The hubby is a veteran of the U.S. Army and although he didn't serve during wartime, he nonetheless risked his life for our country. I respect him and others who are and have served and think it is crap that they are bringing politics and digracing our flag in a church. I mean, are you kidding me?

I wish I would have brought my camera to capture a decent photo of it because I'm telling you, you would be mortified to see this. Just hearing about it, I'm sure, is bad enough, but seeing it was worse.

Oh and I forgot to mention, in the director's rant, in the pamphlet they handed out, he went on and on about the weirdest stuff- comparing Nascar to the devil. Uhhh, what? It was so weird.

Should I?

2009-06-03T22:00:00.003-04:00

So I am kind of sick of my hair right now. In November of 2007 my friend and I had a nonprofit event where we got 26 peeps to cut off their hair to donate- us included. I went from suuuuuper long hair (like to the top of my butt long) to suuuuuper short hair (like two inches long). It was awesome. Freeing. Plain out cool.

Then I got pregnant. And was suuuuuuper sick and didn't even get to enjoy my short hair- all I did was lay in bed and my hair looked pretty bad.

So now I am growing it back out because I kinda liked it longerish. Not top of the butt long, but somewhere in between two inches long and there. But I am getting bored with this mess, so now I am thinking about doing something drastic.

Like dying it blonde.

Any thoughts out there?

I'm usually a naturalist with stuff like this. Never paint my nails...unless I get a pedicure (mmm, pedicure). I never wear high heels...like ever. I dress in the most casual clothes....ever. I like to wear my hair in pigtails just cause it is super easy. So basically, I am like a boy with boobs and a you know what. So the thought of dying my hair is kind of crazy. Especially going from brown to blonde.

Hmmmm.

I Heart Faces: Pets and Birthdays

2009-06-01T23:34:00.007-04:00

This week's challenges over at I Heart Faces are funtastic! They are breaking the mold with doing a pets category ::::gasp:::: and not requiring any people faces.

For this one I knew just what picture to use. My parent's beloved yorkie, Sparticus (Sparky for short), passed away a year ago. He was diagnosed with some kind of kidney disease and was in so much pain. They had to make the heartbreaking decision to put him to sleep. :( About a year before this I went on a vaca with the 'rents and my friend Kim to Florida. There was a dog beach that we took Sparky and his brother Rockafellar (Rocky for short) too. They beyond loved it. Sparky was so funny with the water. He would run in, get scared, run out and then insist on rolling around on his back in the sand. Then would repeat this over and over. By the time we left he looked like a little Shake 'N Bake chicken- coated with sand that looked like breadcrumbs. So this is little Shake 'N Bake Sparky.

I love to NOT look at the upcoming challenges and then post photos that are perfect for the upcoming challenges about a week early. Idiot! This is what I did with this photo. I posted it about a week back in just a random blah blah blah posting, but now am posting it again to enter into the contest! (First time entering it into the I Heart Faces contest though, just to clarify, so you don't think I'm breaking the rules!)

It is of my niece who turned three a few weeks ago. This photo is her looking on to her yummy and colorful Spongebob birthday cake. Sooo excited to blow out the candles and so excited about her birthday. From what I can tell, three years old is when kids start to 'get' things. She definitely 'got' that it was her birthday and loved every second of it.

Go look at other neato burrito photos at I Heart Faces!

*Please note I wrote this blog after taking two Benedryl so don't blame me if it doesn't make any sense!

Don't stop- itch it, itch it.

2009-05-31T23:26:00.005-04:00

I literally would like to rip my skin off. I itch so bad it feels like I am being poked with tiny needles. Awesome. And the best part? I deal with this at least once or twice a year in the spring time. I have some sort of allergy to sunlight (I know, lucky me) and every Spring I have my yearly allergic reaction or two the first few times I am exposed to sunlight. Thankfully, after dealing with this condition for eight years, I know how to manage it. The best part? I am too lazy to go to a doctor who could properly diagnose and medicate me.

So instead I self diagnose by reading things on the internet which we all know is super reliable. A combination of left over steroids and Gold Bond makes the pain more manageable. And I am not kidding when I say pain. This itching, some years, has left me crying in pain and unable to sleep for two nights straight. I know, I know. I am an idiot for not going to a dermatologist for help. Instead I go for the quick cure at the urgent care and that, for the time being, will suffice.

I told myself this year I am going to go to a doctor though. I promise!

And what caused this year's annual itchfest? The most wonderful, awesome, enjoyable day at the park! We went with Dan's sister and niece and all of the cousins and it was great. Dan was a little crabby, but I can't blame him. He works hard and has been pretty drained the last few weeks. Either way, it was great. A little on the cooler side, but when the sun was out it was perfect. We cooked hotdogs- a delicacy in my eyes and ever so yummy, ate fruit, gobbled up chips and drank iced tea.

I took these photos with my point and shoot, but I do have to admit I think they turned out fairly nice with a little Photoshop business.

Is this photo of the three of them in the wagon not the cutest cousinly moment ever? I just wish we had the eldest of the foursome in the photo as well, but maybe next time.

Today, the little monkey came with the hubsters and myself and walked around this great outdoor shopping mall. We stopped to have lunch and let the little one crawl around the children's area of the bookstore which is pretty much her favorite thing to do. A million germy toys, a bazillion germy stuffed animals, books galore and old gum (literally, she somehow found this and put it in her mouth...I almost died when I saw the complete grossness of it when I yanked it out of her cute little feed hole). What is not to love?

We also went to a sporting goods store and bought Dan and tent. Ha. This is really funny. So we have this huge, monsterous tent that Dan received for his birthday. It is the mack daddy of all tents. Several rooms, massive size, big enough for a family of 10. Only problem? No sound proof walls to keep out the loud and obnoxious snore of my husband OR the noise of him fumbling around, drunk, trying to get into the tent at an indecent hour OR the noise of him finally figured out how to work the zipper and falling all over the tent, breaking several poles, slipping on the air mattress and waking me up. Yeah, for some reason these features didn't come with the mack daddy tent.

Soooooooo. Our solution? A little mini tent for him. To be set up reeeeeeeeeally far away from us. He can snore and fumble and fall all he likes- until his heart is content. Me and the baby? We will be sleeping, soundly, with no snore/fumble/fall interuptions.

I can't let her go.

2009-05-27T20:52:00.002-04:00

I have been lucky enough to be a WAHM since my daughter was born, running my photography business out of my house and when I work, my husband is home or my dad is available to babysit. It has been next to glorious. But this is all about to change.

I am finishing up my second degree in teaching and HAVE to student teach before I can officially be certified. I don't plan to teach right away, but would like to eventually when my little monkey is a little bit older. It is a great career to have in conjunction with my photography business and while being a momma. But here is the problem, I am fairly sure I am more attached to her then she is to me. I cannot handle being away from her for very long and the thought of being away from her every day, from 8am until 4pm, for 15 weeks makes my stomach turn.

Trust me, I KNOW I am super privelaged to have spent as much time with her and a lot of moms go back to work after 2-4 months...but it still doesn't make this any easier. My dad has grashiously volunteered to watch her three days a week, so I am now trying to figure out what to do the other two days.

Daycare. In-home babysitting. Pros and cons to both. I would be all over the in-home babysitting if I knew someone who would be willing to do this. I, however, am not comfortable leaving my little angel with a stranger at my house- with no one to oversee. I am just not that trusting. On the other hand, I am worried that at a daycare she will not be stimulated enough and will be stuck in a pack-n-play all day. I mean, she is crawling and almost walking, so I guess this probably won't happen, but I am a pesimest by nature.

The other issue with daycare is most have a minimum of 3 days/week. We want 2 days/week.

The last issue is that I am a control freak and this is multiplied by about a gazillion with my daughter. When I think about leaving her with anyone except husband/grandparents/misc. family it brings about thoughts of her not getting enough to eat, her being scared, her getting hurt and ME not being able to be there for her. I literally tear up when I think about this.

I don't know what to do. Scratch that, I DO know what to do. I want her and I to live in a bubble for the next 20 years so that she never has anything bad happen to her ever and so that I can protect her. Do you think I could convince the school to let me do my student teaching with her in the Patapum?

Weekend, please stay!

2009-05-25T22:32:00.004-04:00

I am officially in love with holiday weekends. My husband let me sleep in on Saturday and Sunday AND Monday. I also got to take a nap on Monday. Ooooh my goodness was it nice. I told him for payback I will let him sleep in next weekend both days. You see, this is how we negotiate- sleep has the currency of gold in our household. (Oh and by sleeping in I mean until 8 or 9am...the college version of me would laugh at this).

So beyond sleeping we were fairly busy this weekend. Pretty typical of holiday weekends...you need a holiday from the holiday to recoup. On Friday we had dinner with my parents, my brother, his fiance and her family. Dan's brother drove up and after dinner we hung with him at the house. They watched the Cavs game while I chilled out, all snuggled up in bed. Oh sweet sweet relaxation.

Saturday we had a small part-ay at our house. Family first for some pizza, then friends for some drinks. I bought something I have been thinking about buying for a while and it was kind of glorious. As you can image, this purchase made my decision about running a 5 mile run the next morning. Yeah, that didn't happen.

Sunday was the big birthday day. My most adorable niece turned three. I held her when she was a little less then a day old and since then I have been convinced that she is pretty much the coolest.

The second photo is of my nephew. They are both so darn cute.

On an exciting note, my brother and his fiance are finally and officially back living in the great state of O-HI-O. Yay!

Baby wearing: The new black!

2009-05-22T14:46:00.004-04:00

Melrose is around the 75% percentile, give or take a few, for weight and especially height. She proudly boasts the most adorable and raspberry blow-able tummy. Because of this and her cloth diaper wearing (which makes her looks like baby J-Lo) proves to be an growing challenge for us to find things that fit her. Not just clothes, but other things like baby carriers. You see, when you have cute, pudgy thunder thighs, they don't exactly fit into the ridiculously small leg holes in these craptastic carriers.

And by craptastic carriers I mean the Snugli. That thing is useless. Not only does it not fit my child, but it literally encourages her to lean back so that the entire time I carry her I am forced to lean forward and have a neck and back ache. Sweet.

Oh and did I mention I cannot vacuum or do any other houseowork unless she is in the carrier?

Double sweet.

So off I went to the haven of all WAHMs...the internet! I researched and found a pretty cool carrier that not only accomodates chubbier babies BUT a carrier we can use until she is a toddler. Mooooooney!

I just got it in today and I am so excited to use it. I tried it once and she seemed pretty happy in it. It was fairly comfortable for me too. I mean, wearing a 22 pound backpack is never really that comfortable, but it feels like it is going to be as comfortable as it gets. I mean, it is about 2329823983856627623 times better then the Snugli. Oh and I almost forgot to tell you what I got! A Patapum Toddler Carrier.

Now all I have to do is find more pants and t-shirt that fit this tall baby with a J-Lo booty and I am golden.

I Heart Faces: Blurb Photo Contest

2009-05-19T07:30:00.004-04:00

Well, I haaaaad to participate in this week's I Heart Faces contest! I love the blurb books (per grandmother's 80th birthday gift) and yesterday marked my little love bugs 10 month mark. So a perfect time for a photoshoot!

I absolutely love this photo. This is her 'look of wonder' look. And, the best part? This is the ONLY photo I have that shows off her razor like bottom tooth (and just breaking through bottom tooth to the left of it!). So she is exactly 10 months old in this photo- I cannot believe we have made it this far. I'm pretty sure all moms deserve some kind of award for keeping kids safe and happy and healthy 'cuz I will tell ya what- it is hard work! But look at that face? It is worth every second of it.

"I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites."

I'm going cr-A-zy with my sewing machine.

2009-05-15T21:47:00.002-04:00

I was recently informed that fleece makes an excellent diaper cover (who would of known that it is water resistant without any prep?!?). So off to JoAnn Fabrics I went to buy two yards of yellow and pink anti-pill fleece to use with my new soft, fancy and oh-so-cool prefolds.

Now, let me be honest, I was scuuurred (translation: scared) of prefolds. I don't know why either. I guess whatever you get used to and try first, you just feel more comfortable with. Thus is the case with my bumGenius diaps. Using them is a no brainer for me or my husband and to think of trying anything else was kind of freaking me out a bit. (As you can see I spend way too much time and effort thinking about diapers).

Thankfully, I was shown how to use these oh-so-cool prefolds and given several to try. So after my trip to the fabric store, I came home and made three diaper covers. The first one was a bust- really cute, but too small. The second one, however, was a hit. And the third, a hit as well. I am going to take some pictures of those asap and post them on here so you can see what the heck I am talking about!

And on a very exciting note (exciting in my world- probably super boring in yours) my mom has a serger and is giving it to me. She has NEVER used it. She got it because it was a good deal, but never ended up using it. Boooooyah.

Way more fun in the sink!

2009-05-12T09:32:00.003-04:00

Baths are sweet. But they are WAY more fun in the sink. Especially when dad borderline smothers your face in water the entire time. I kept on suggesting to him that he may want to hold back a bit on the face water boarding, but apparently he thinks this is the best way to clean her face.

I mean, he is the bath master, so maybe I should keep my mouth shut. But do you see her hands gripping on the edge of the sink?!? I guess her laughter should be key for me to mind my own business. You can put me in the category of overprotective mom (times bazillion).

At home we usually give her a bath in the craptastic, way too small, ever so useless Fisher-Price tub. When we go to my parents we use their sink. Their guest bathroom, with the tub, is dark and little girl apparently doesn't like bathing in a cave.

So off to the sink we go where her bath time is always a spectacle. She is splashing and laughing and grabbing at anything within an arms distance away (which is a lot of stuff). And we can't seem to take enough cute pictures of her while she enjoys the spotlight.

I Heart Faces: Laughter

2009-05-11T12:26:00.006-04:00

For this week's challenge I wanted to find some legitimate laughing pictures. Not just a smile or a happy face, but some serious laughing. I found these.

For my baby entry I have a photo of my daughter when she was a few months old. As things go when babies are only a few months old, she was just laughing to laugh.

My adult entry is of three siblings- twins and an older sister. They wanted photographs for their family. They were pretty much hilarious. The brother was so animated and the two sisters laughed at him the entire time.

To see more cool laughing pictures, go to I Heart Faces and check out the other entries for this weeks contest.

Maternity Photography

2009-05-05T21:13:00.006-04:00

So I was recently inspired to get into maternity photography. It seems I am surrounded by pregnant ladies, so maybe it was a sign from the stork to get busy with my camera. I've done two shoots so far...and...so far so good.

About 38 weeks pregnant. Her daughter was pretty adorable during the shoot- very shy at first and by the end was directing me which pictures to take.

In other news, I read/heard about the craziest birth story ever. I think you should read about it too!

I Heart Faces: Hats

2009-05-04T10:55:00.005-04:00

I know I posted this photo a few days ago, but it is the perfect (and only) shot for this week's I Heart Faces challenge...Hats!

I took this shot a week ago at the park. I love the photograph because her beautiful little rosebud lips are just so perfect and her green eyes are shimmering. The image was captured on my point and shoot.

To see some other wonderful photographs head on over to I Heart Faces!

Wool soakers.

2009-05-02T12:41:00.006-04:00

As I wrote about before, my good friend from college is a crocheter (is that a word?) and I asked her to make Melrose some wool soakers. Well, they were made, mailed and are currently being worn by the little pee pants.

They are so cute and so awesome. I ordered them a little big so she could wear them for a while and they pretty much rock.

Our new favorite activity: walking while any adult is hunched over borderline breaking their back so said child can take a stroll. (But seriously, aren't those soakers cute?)

"Crawling is for sissies. Walking is more my style!" ...says the little one.

I went a little crazy last night.

2009-05-02T10:14:00.005-04:00

So I never go out. Ever. If I do it is having dinner with the husband and then coming home early to either watch TV or watch a movie. That is a normal crazy night for me. Not last night though. Oh no, not last night.

I decide to go out with my friends and have a *few* beers on Coventry. Eat some food. Laugh. Sounds like a good plan. Well, somehow a few beers turned into about 7 (although I can't really verify that) and coming home around midnight turned into coming home around 4am.

BUT. It was for good reason.

We had to go to Steak N Shake for a Frisco Melt and fries. Super important.

On another news front, last weekend we had to take Melrose to the Emergency Room. Sunday was hot. Like 80 degree plus hot. We decided to go for a walk in town and find a nice shaded grassy area to sit and relax. It was very nice.

Until.

We were walking back to the car and little girl's face was blotchy, swollen and her eye was watering like crazy. We put her in the car and Dan sat in the back seat so he could wash her face with water and get off whatever was irritating her skin. By the time we got to my parents it had gotten about a million times worse and through a conversation with the nurse on call realized that she needed to go to the ER. She had swelling near her mouth and nose which is very scary and considering my allergies, I knew we didn't want to mess around with it.

So off to the ER to find out it was probably the sunscreen that she is allergic to. They didn't give her anything and just monitored it until it started to subside and sent us home. All in all a not-so-bad trip to the ER (if that is possible). We were in and out in an hour and little girl was feeling much better.

We still had fun at the park though!

Baby crying.

2009-04-27T20:40:00.002-04:00

That is what I hear right now. And it is really really hard to sit down hear and listen to it when I just want to walk upstairs to hold and rock my little monkey to sleep.

All of a sudden our little easy-to-bed little girl has decided to protest sleepy time. I am fairly regimented and I have a great schedule for her during the day so by nap time she is exhausted and melts into her mattress after eating. But nighttime. Oh nighttime.

I feed her while we rock together in the glider and she pulls at her hair/ears/blanket while her eyelids grow heavy. She is half asleep when I lay her down and this WAS when she would grab her blanket and drift off to sleep. Not now. As I lay her down she is cool for about 5 minutes and then all hell breaks loose in her room.

Screaming. Wide awake. Sitting up (new trick). This then escalates to hysterical yelps combined with screaming and kicking the end of the crib. I listen as long as I physically can and then I send my husband in to comfort her, lay her back down, hand her the blanket and walk out.

That usually pisses her off more- probably because she sees one of us and that makes her want us to get her out of the crib reeeeeally badly- but we hold strong. And, now, about 15 minutes after the crying has started, I only hear silence (well that and my husband's continous cough that is pretty much like nails on a chalkboard).

Hearing her cry is painful. I swear. Having to listen to your child cry is terrible. But both me and Dan know if we go in there and pick her up every night and rock her to sleep that our nighttime is going to progressively get worse until we are literally camping out in her room until she is 18.

Can't talk now...

2009-04-26T22:04:00.000-04:00

...too busy enjoying this fabulous weather!

Grammy's birthday.

2009-04-22T10:35:00.004-04:00

So I am pretty excited about my grandmother's birthday gift. I cannot take credit for the great idea (my mom thought of it), but I was asked to create the gift AND it is right up my alley.

We are going to put together a timeline/photo memoir of my grandmother's life in the form of book. And, what perfect timing, iHeartFaces posted a link about a website/company called Blurb that has a program to help you create beautiful books. From what I have seen, this is one of the best programs to create these books on your own.

So I am super excited. My dad is getting busy scanning in old photos so we can hit the ground running. I will post pictures of the final product.

iHeartFaces: Self Portrait

2009-04-20T20:41:00.007-04:00

Such a challenging theme! I am the photographer which means I am NOT in the pictures. Literally, I have thousands of photos of my husband and daughter and other various family members, but there are barely any of me. So I had to dig deep.

Adult Entry:

Well, this is me by me. I had to take this photo special for this week's contest because I had no 'me only' pictures that I could speak of. I did a little cropping business with. Then played with some photoshop actions and, ta da! here it is.

Kid Entry:

This photo of me and the little one was one of the very first pictures of us. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. She was, and still is, such a little angel.

To check out other photos or to submit your own in this week's contest, head over to iHeartFaces!

At least Saturday was nice!

2009-04-19T22:39:00.004-04:00

Today (Sunday) has been so dreary. Blah. Cloudy. Rainy. Grey. Cloudy. Blah.

But the silver lining was that Saturday was a nice day to beat all nice days. 72 degrees. Sunny. Happy faces.

The little one, the husband and myself met my parents in town for lunch and to walk around to see the cone-lickers, stroller walkers (including us) and dog walkers. I wore shorts for the first time this year which was super sweet because I got to show off my super sexy alabaster white legs, unkept feet/toes and unskilled shaving abilities.

Melrose also wore a pair of shorts/wool soakers that I made for her. They aren't lanolized yet, so right now they are just a cute pair of shorts that fit ever so nicely over her already waterproof AIO cloth diaps.

It is getting increasingly more difficult to get Melrose to look at the camera when taking photographs of her because she is distracted by ev-er-y-thing. Seriously. When she is on the rug she will somehow squirm her way over to the one tiny speck of whatever and sit/lay/lean/hover by this new great adventure she has found. She will play with it in between her fingers and then do the obligitory in-the-mouth move in which she quickly tries to shove it in her mouth for safe keeping and good eats. Outside presents an even more delectible environment where she was shoving bark/sticks/leaves/dirt in her mouth.

As you can see in the above photo she has a stick in her hand just waiting to be eaten.

Sunday was a mild disaster. My dad picked up Melrose so that the hubsy and I could go out to eat with his family for a birthday lunch. Mmmm. At a hibatchi restaurant. Double mmm.

Not so much.

We went. We ate. We left. And then I got sick twice on the way home, then at my parents house and then several times when we got back to my house. I don't want to give TMI, but lets just say I had issues with both ends. I know, enough said. Blah. I don't want to think, hear, smell or look at Asian cuisine for a while.

Cloth diapering.

2009-04-16T11:20:00.003-04:00

In the last few weeks I have decided to cloth diaper my little one's bum. It was a scary transition met with much disapproval (my mother). "Are you suuuuure you want to use cloth diapers?"..."Are you suuuuuure this is a good idea?"..."Are you suuuuure this isn't going to be more expensive?"... Yes, yes and YES.

So we have been using all-in-one cloth diapers (bumGenius), but thanks to some inspiration out there, I will also be trying prefolds soon. I am going to use wool soakers with the prefolds. I am going to make a few from recylced sweaters and I am going to have my very talented sorority sister who lives in California knit me one.

So far everything has been going great with the cloth. They are just as easy as disposables and, dare I say it, possibly more convienant because I am not forced to go to Costco (I hate that place) and weave through millions of pushy people to buy the overpriced (but the most reasonably priced) box of diapers. Then stand in line forever with a figity baby who has zero patience (like her mom) for lines longer then 5 minutes long. This process ends up taking at least an hour, costing $50 plus tax for the diaps AND costing us gas money to drive 15 minutes to and from Costco.

It is sooooooo much easier to stay at home and just wash the damn diapers.

White type on black backgrounds.

2009-04-16T11:15:00.002-04:00

Somewhat random, but certainly necessary. Why do some insist on using a black background and white font/type in a word intensive website/blog? OMG. My eyes hurt for days after reading this mess. Now, I am definitely a culprit of using a black background on my own company's website, BUT I am a photographer and it helps to highlight the photos! And I don't have much type beyond one page out of the entire site. So there.

I would just like to ask anyone who has a website or blog that is word intensive to please consider using a light background with dark type. Please. I am seeing spots right now and it hurts my head.

If you choose to ignore my random rant then I am ok with that too. But I may choose to stop looking at websites that are culprits of this thorn in my side.

iHeartFaces: Easter/Spring

2009-04-14T15:30:00.005-04:00

So I have seen this on a few blogs and this week I decided to get involved! This photo is of my sweet little angel who couldn't be a happier baby. She thought it was hilarious that she was sitting in a basket and clung to the sides every time I tried to take her out of it. As Easter festivities were taking place around her, she sat in the basket playing with toys and giggling. I know I am biased, but she is so cute!

Oh Easter.

2009-04-13T11:49:00.006-04:00

Family gatherings are always so eventful, especially when a certain someone's brother comes :::cough cough husband's brother:::: He was slightly better behaved, but as always let a few gems out during the course of several conversations. The two that I can remember is him calling my 6 month old nephew a hillbilly, or at least, a soon to be hillbilly. And, RIGHT after we finished eating dinner he was stomping around the kitchen irritated that the desserts were not laid out for him. My parents had to stop their conversation to get the desserts ready so he could eat and leave. Such a charmer.

At this point it is just comical. I don't even get irritated anymore because I realize he can't even help himself.

Either way, it was a great Easter. Melrose got to see and play with her cousins. She is infatuated by her younger (by two months) cousin. She claws at his face and giggles with delight every time she is around him. He smiles at her a little, but is mostly just scared of her I think. He always looks like he is trying to scoot backwards when she is feverishly trying to rip off his eyelids.

Melrose sported her knew bumGenius Baby Legs under a white dress.

I found a new fun activity to keep Melrose (a) busy and (b) contained.

This was one of her gifts from her great grandmother. She isn't too spoiled, right?

(white wicker chair with a plush green cushion)

We love the bunny.

2009-04-12T10:27:00.006-04:00

Melrose apparently loves the Easter Bunny. She smiled at him/her and even gave the fuzzy thing a hug/snuggle. I was fully prepared for hysterical considering how her introduction to Santa Claus went. It was kind of like this...

Oh hi mom! What's up mom? Mom, you are over there. And so is Dad, Grandpa and Grandma. Hmm, so who is holding me? :::turns head slowly:::: SCREAM!!!!!!!!

So that was Santa Claus. With the Easter Bunny I had my camera ready to snap a million pictures in a matter of seconds to catch a smile or at least a mildy happy look before the screaming started. But alas my little girl surprises me again. Apparently she likes soft, fluzzy, white bunny rabbits. (And hates creepy, bearded, old, smelly Santas).

At the Garden Center.

With Easter Bunny number 1.

With East Bunny number 2. We thought this one a little on the creepy side, but Melrose seemed to like this one best. Lots of smiles and snuggling.

Oh and one really sweet bonus for Easter? I somehow managed to pull something in my middle left back and it hurts to breathe, move, sit, lay or stand. Sweet.

Fun, sunny days.

2009-04-05T21:19:00.004-04:00

I am pretty much begging Mother Nature to let Spring officially be here. I cannot take the cold one bit longer. Before children, I NEVER complained about the weather (a lie), but now with a little one I want (aka need) to be outside. I have gotten the worse case of cabin fever this winter and warm days, like today, make me vow I will one day move somewhere warm.

So today, on a most lovely day, we 'went into town' and typical of Chag Falls, there was plenty of stuff going on, people walking around and cone licking taking place. Apparently there is a new organization trying to make the roads safer to walk/bike on and so they had a big set up at the town hall with a theme referring to a chicken crossing the road...?

They had a whole set-up great for older kids with food, drink and games. Melrose, however, liked this part...

A man in a chicken costume. Awesome! He was walking up and down Main Street flapping his wings and kicking his legs out. He even gave the little one gift- she loved it!

I need more afternoons like this. Afternoons filled with chickens, smiling babies and WARM WEATHER!

New things.

2009-04-05T10:25:00.000-04:00

So here is a quick snapshot of what is new in my life since last posting in December:

1. I am currently trying out cloth diapers and by trying out I mean I just made a significant investment in them so that means no more disposables.

2. My daughter (who will be wearing this soft new diapers) is a whole new baby. She can sit and roll and is trying to walk. She babbles in babytalk all of the time (mostly to her best friend Curious George) and is a mini person with big personality.

3. I have stopped eating meat because of a documentary "Death on a Factory Farm" - I still eat fish and am contemplating eating kosher meat. But, for the time being, no meat at all. It feels great, actually, because it forces me to eat a little healthier and my body is reacting accordingly.

4. Over the winter I went snowboarding several times and loved it. I cannot wait to get Melrose involved. I pray that she likes the outdoors as much as Dan and I do.

5. I have finished all necessary class in pursuit of my second degree and now have to wait until the fall to finish my field hours. I am already dreading spending time away from my little one.

6. I am going to be an aunt, again. So far we have four cousins all within 2 1/2 years of each other and now we will be adding a fifth cousin, all five within 3 1/2 years from one another. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a girl.

7. We started and are continuing to participate in mom and baby yoga which we both love. Through this Melrose has made her first friend. A friend who is two days older then her that likes to drool, growl and crawl. They laugh and talk to each other and it is wonderful to watch.

8. I joined a moms group to try to make other mom-friends. I am the first of my circle to have a baby and although I do try to drop hints for them to have children, I don't see this in the near future for any of them.

9. I have been experimenting with my camera a lot lately and also made some fairly awesome purchases of new equipment. Two new lenses and one new camera body. Next on my list is a second flash and a bracket.

10. I have missed writing in the blog and decided it was a perfect time to come back and rejoin the bloggies.

She has gotten so big.

2009-04-05T10:20:00.000-04:00

Here is my little princess (an understatement might I add) in an updated photo.

I took a much needed break.

2009-04-05T10:15:00.001-04:00

Everything was getting kind of crazy for me and I was feeling overwhelmed, so I took a long hiatus from many activities while rekindling others. I decided to set down the laptop (and blogging) to pick up my camera and start taking more 'fun' photographs. I take a million photos while I am documenting weddings or doing family portraiture, but I neglected to set time aside to just take photo- for no particular reason.

Anyway, I also was finishing up some intense classes (lots o' class shoved in a short number of weeks) and between that, trying to revamp my photography website, and being just generally busy with everything else (birthdays, holidays, mini vacations) I decided blogging was low on my list of priorities.

Poor blogger.

I'm sure at this point I have lost the small group of people who read my blog so I need to branch out and start over. Should be fun!

After a long absense, I have returned.

2009-04-04T21:36:00.001-04:00

Stay posted (pun intended!) for my return to the blog world!

Here goes cheesy holiday photos.

2008-12-05T12:19:00.001-05:00

This one was for my mom. She is a sucker for the fancy photoshopped border. I went online and downloaded a neat-o holiday brush set that makes snowflakes, icicles and other wintery wonders.

Here is my favorite....

Sleeping help! (calling all moms)

2008-12-02T13:07:00.001-05:00

So here is the story....

My little monkey is 4 1/2 months old. She goes to bed every night at 9pm like clockwork. Some nights she will sleep all the way through the night and wake up around 5am for a feeding and go back to sleep until 7am. Some nights she will want to be fed around 2am and then wake up for the day around 7am.

The nights that she sleeps until 5am, she usually will stir around 2am and I will give her the pacifier and right back to sleep she will go. The nights when she wakes at 2am for a feeding, I will attempt to give her the pacifier, but she says, "Hell no" and insists on being fed.

I know she can sleep through the night without a feeding, but I'm not sure how to ween her off of that 2am bottle. I have tried putting the pacifier in her mouth over and over and over and if I delay the food too long she throws a shit fit and will start screaming like she was poked with a hot iron.

I know at this age they can start to manipulate you a bit (or so says the pediatrician), but I am not going to let her scream her lungs out in her crib either (ped didn't suggest that, but I have other people who tell me I should).

Anything work for you blogger moms out there?

I really don't mind waking up with her, but I would like to get her on a consistent schedule and the back and forth of sleeping through the night versus 2am feeding is throwing a wrench into the mix.

It's been crazy 'round these parts.

2008-12-02T12:54:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving was craziness for us. My brother came in from MA for two and a half days. My cousin flew in from boot camp to spend time with the family. The baby got baptized the Sunday after Thanksgiving with her cousin Jake. All four cousins got pictures taken the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. AND, to top all of this off, I thought it was a really good idea to see if Melrose still needed to medication.

Wrong week to try this.

To digress a bit... We went to her 4 mo old check up for shots and such and the doctor suggested we try switching back to the normal formula (versus the hypoallergenic we have been giving her). This would help our pocketbook and confirm if she still has a problem with milk/milk protein.

We switched and.....yay! No more allergies. She must have been sensitive to it because she was born a wee bit early and so very tiny...either way, she has grown out of that problem. Double yay because now I can eat more dairy (I had to restrict my diet because I am still breastfeeding).

I guess you could say I was feeling fairly confident about this newfound 'no more allergies' business and thought it was a good idea to take her off of her acid reflux medication for a few days to test this out. The doctor has also suggested she might grow out of this and said there is no harm in taking her off this once in a while to see if she still needs it.

So, right before the busiest week of the year (thus far) I decide to take her off of her medication. We were just finishing up the bottle of Pepcid and I figured it would be a fine time to see if she still had reflux.

Bad. Bad. BAD decision.

The first day or so went fine. In retrospect this was probably because the Pepcid was still in her system. On day three the shit hit the fan.

Crying, screaming, squirming, not wanting to take a bottle, waking up all night long.

We thought, "hmmm, maybe she has a cold or something" as we didn't want to jump to conclusions. So we waited another day.

Bad. Bad. Bad. BAD decision.

Lets just say, thank god I had Dan to help me out. She was a mess. I felt so terrible, because I knew at this point it was because of the medication and it was my fault she was in so much misery.

In quick order I ran to CVS to refill her prescription (with her screaming in the backseat of course) and started to give her the medication right away. That night she slept a little better and was a little less fussy. It progressively got better every day and today she is acting like her old self.

The fam

2008-11-11T23:11:00.000-05:00

To add insult to injury.

2008-11-11T12:27:00.000-05:00

This morning was a new bout of terribleness when the little princess decided not to take her morning nap and, instead, to squeak, squirm, let out loud cries and be generally unhappy.

I took her temperature and it was a very normal 96.8 degree. So what gives?

I am exhausted and irritable. I thought the whole 'colicky' phase was over. Boy was I wrong...it is back and back with a vengeance.

My ears are ringing.

2008-11-10T22:46:00.000-05:00

After a really great day with the babe... a nap taking, smiling, happy baby kind of day... we had a night of terribleness.

Fire sirens. Booming Thunder. Chihuahua's crying. My two year old niece squealing. You all have nothing on my Melrose screaming her lungs out.

For almost two hours we got to enjoy the peaceful sound of a (almost) four month old screaming so hard that her face was beet red, her tongue was quivering, her eyes were tightly squeezed shut and her mouth was wide open letting out the most horrible of all baby cries.

The type of cry that cannot be fixed with food, snuggling, rocking, pacifier or act of god. Thank goodness I had Dan to help me. We took turns walking her around the house, arched back and all, trying to calm her down. We both, at one point, had to lay her down and walk away because obviously nothing we were doing was improving the situation.

She was tired, hungry and pissed off. So pissed off that she couldn't even concentrate on eating or sleeping. The kind of pissed off the reminds me that she is indeed my daughter with my super patient temperament.

Even placing the bottle or pacifier near her mouth would send her even deeper into this tailspin.

So how was this fixed?

By stroking her face and blowing on her face (to cool her down). This was enough to distract her long enough to stop her crying for a split second. In this split second I, in the quickest fashion, picked her up, threw the pacifier in her mouth and started to rock her in a vigorous manner.

She let out a few wimpers, but started to calm down. Once we were out of the 'danger zone' (her reverting back to the screaming) I swapped out the pacifier for the bottle and success! She ate and then went to bed. Yay.

A little late, but...

2008-11-05T11:40:00.001-05:00

...better late than never.

Laughing baby.

2008-10-28T12:26:00.000-04:00

The other night I was to my wits end with our precious little one. It was about 10:30pm and she showed no signs of going to bed in the near future. She was crying, whinning, arching the back (her new trick) and just completely unhappy. So, I decided to do what we always do when she is like this...take her to her room.

Her room, for reasons unbenounced to me, is the calming sanctuary for the baby. We will take her in there, put her on her changing table and she will (75% of the time) stop crying and look around. The colors, the smell, something puts her back into her happy place when we are in there.

So up the stairs I went. I laid her down and this is what I got...

Apparently the bedroom combined with me blowing raspberries on her belly was enough to send her over the edge. Best part of the whole laughing fit? We found the culprit of her unhappiness. At the very end of the video you will notice she makes kind of a funny, scowling face- this face was made right before she pooped her body weight.

Oh yes, she released the beast and I couldn't of been happier. Once we got the pooping out of the way, she could eat a little more and go to bed.

She's getting so big.

2008-10-22T17:36:00.000-04:00

In the daze of my illness I put together this 3 months video of my little peanut. Excuse any mistakes as I am hopped up on (legal) drugs, chicken soup and tea.

Speed bump number 48237283 this week.

2008-10-22T11:16:00.000-04:00

I am as sick as a dog.

Working sucks.

2008-10-19T23:27:00.001-04:00

Don't get me wrong, I love feeling productive and having dignity and being able to contribute to the family piggy bank by working. But, beyond those small pluses, I really hate what working is doing to me.

Every second I am there I hate myself for not being with my little peanut. I feel like a terrible mother. The worst part is I am going to miss important baby milestones like her first Halloween. I am, of course, scheduled to work that night.

The economy sucks and we need the money, but it tears me apart inside when I am away from Melrose. I just don't know what to do because there doesn't appear to be any other options. I honestly wouldn't mind going to work a few days a week if I wasn't missing out on important events.

And a secondary, but far less important, downside of working is that I am barely able to scrape by in classes. That's right. I am working, going to school and trying to raise a daughter. I know everyone is probably judging and trust me, I am judging me too.

I just don't know what to do. This sucks.

Happy Anniversary.

2008-10-13T21:16:00.000-04:00

To me! It has been one year since Dan and I took the big plunge. It seems like it's been longer considering what we have accomplished in the last 365 days (pregnancy, baby, school, job, etc.). To celebrate this joyous occasion Dan planned a whole weekend of romantical things for us to do and it all was a big surprise!

What fun, I looooove surprises.

I met him Friday, around 4pm, at a hotel about 40 minutes south of our house (he was coming from work). I parked my car and loaded my three bags (I didn't know where we were going, so I packed everything I own) into his car and hit the road. About an hour and a half later we were at the Atwood Lake Resort.

It was beautiful down there. With Fall in full swing, 70+ degree weather and so much sunshine you can hardly believe it is Ohio it was the perfect weekend for us.

We stayed in the lodge and had a glorious view of the lake. The lake that I didn't know even existed until Friday afternoon- I mean this lake is pretty damn big and I had no idea it was down there. Dan knew of this gem in middle Ohio because he had his bachelor party here.

Friday was filled with mommy and daddy alone time, dinner and a movie (in our room of course). Side note: Iron Man was a much better flick then I wanted to give it credit for.

Saturday we woke up, ate breakfast, came back to the room to take the first of two naps of the day, then around 11am woke up again and headed to the lake. We rented a boat and cruised around on the water for a few hours. Ahhh. Peace and quiet.

After that we went on a 5 mile (ish) hike that I graded as a D+. It was challenging because it was so hilly, but only the first part of the hike was in a thick wooded area. The rest of it was more open space which is ok, but we both prefer woodsy hikes.

After that we came back to the room and took our second and last nap of the day. I didn't even know what to do with my nap taking freedom. I was unsure of how to function on normal amounts of sleep and being well rested.

Saturday night I got a massage around 7pm, then we both headed to the bar for some wings and beer. Next morning we woke up, ate and headed home, both missing our little girl.

And, speaking of the little girl.... She spent the weekend with my wonderful parents. They offered to take for two nights so that we could go away for our anniversary. I missed Melly terribly, but it was good for both Dan and I to get some time away.

Last night was our first night back from our trip and I was worried the little one wouldn't sleep well since she taken out of her comfort zone and routine while we were gone. Boy was I wrong. She was exhausted from her action packed weekend and went to bed at 9pm and slept until 6am. I mean, shit, are you kidding me? Then she stayed up for about an hour to play, eat and smile- only to fall back asleep until 9:15am.

Wh- Wh- What?!? Where did this 9 hours of sleeping come from?

Fingers crossed she does it again tonight!

The baby blues.

2008-10-07T21:30:00.000-04:00

No, not me.

I'm talking about the baby. She has been so upset the last day or so. Crying and carrying on at night that we thought was put far behind us. Poor little thing.

And it doesn't help that I am rendered useless due to my neck spasms. Poor baby and poor Dan. I can hear her wailing downstairs and it makes me want to cry. Dan is trying to calm her, but she is just so unhappy right now. :(

This seriously sucks.

2008-10-07T13:21:00.001-04:00

I am a bed ridden, muscle relaxer popping, babyless waste of space.

This neck thing has been elevated to ridiculous proportions and I am in so much pain I can hardly even begin to describe it in words. I've had to call off of work all week and enlisted my dad's help in taking care of the baby. I cannot lift, feed or hold her without terrible pain shooting through my body.

Like I said last night to Dan, I rather go through child birth 32304834 more times to avoid feeling this pain.

Right now I have a hot water pad on my neck and am slowly creeping away from a muscle relaxer delusional state. That means I need to pop another in my mouth for some relief.

Thank god I have the option to give Melrose formula otherwise I would really be screwed. I physically couldn't breastfeed her in this state.

Happy baby.

2008-10-06T12:03:00.001-04:00

*Taken via cellphone, thus the poor photo quality.

Ouch, my neck.

2008-10-06T11:58:00.000-04:00

The baby has been taking a turn for the better in the sleep department.

10pm to 5:30am...are you kidding me? What have I done to deserve this wonderfulness?

She did well last weekend and reverted this week and went back to wonderfulness last night and the night before.

This morning I woke up with her at 5:30a and got her bottle ready. In the midst of bottle preparation I had a sneeze attack in which I sneezed about ten times. I attributed this to my outdoorsy-ness this weekend, fed the little one and we both went back to sleep.

Come 8:30a when we both wake up for the day and I cannot move. My neck is so sore I can barely lift my head from the pillow.

I had to call off work. Call my dad over and throw the baby in the swing (I HATE putting her in that thing) because I couldn't pick her up. Thank god for my dad and the muscle relaxers he brought over. I mean, I still can't move, but it hurts a tiny bit less.

Here I Am.

2008-10-05T16:54:00.001-04:00

New blog. New layout. New everything.

I figured I would transition to a new site because, well, I felt like it. And So It Begins was all about my prebaby/pregnancy/newborn journey. Now that I am in full swing with life as a mom, I thought a new Blogspot was in need.

This NEW site will be all about my life on the M list...marriage, motherhood, my little Melly.