Missing days

It is always a surprise to me when I realize there have been no posts for a number of days. Why? It always seems to be when more stuff then normal is going on, but by the time I get to posting it doesn't seem to be so exciting to write about.

Yesterday, however, is nice and fresh in my mind. A few weeks ago a friend of mine, Lisa, was talking to someone at church I didn't know about combining their families to spend Thanksgiving day together. They were painting this lovely and fun picture of the day in my head. When he walked away I asked her about it, because my family was unsure if they were coming or not. Basically after talking for a few minutes I realized I knew his wife and asked if I could come should my family not be able to make the trip. Lisa said it should be fine. By the end of the church services they, Kim & Dallas, said I definitely can come. YAY!!! It felt pretty goofy and weird to invite myself. It turned out my family could not come :-(. We also were able to get to know Kim and Dallas a lot better prior to yesterday when I would see her at friends or at church and when we went over to take their new baby, Manon's, photos. She is the latest addition showing on the photography blog.

Another side note about Manon's photo shoot. She is the SECOND baby this year and the second in all my years as a photographer to poo during the naked part of a photo shoot. Ha ha! And Kim was such a trooper since she was in the 'firing' range by continuing to hold her there for some more shots.

Back to yesterday. The kids and I managed to get the car loaded up, and I mean loaded up, with all of our gear. They were so good for about 15 minutes while I made several trips to put stuff in. We took enough bottles for the day, some runny food, diapers, wipes, bibs, burp cloths, jammies, blankets, teddy bears, Blake's binkie, the portable I-Pod dock, the monitor, a floor activity gym, a walker, my camera bag, home made salsa, cheese ball, chips, crackers, pillows and the feeding chairs! Oh, and games too. I called Kim to make sure it was OK to bring 1/2 our house, first. She was very gracious.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way to pick up some more chips, a lemon, a lime, some chili peppers and a vitamin water. On the way in I grabbed a grocery cart by parking right next to a cart return (Thanks again, Aleesha, for that fantastic idea!!!) which did not have two sets of leg holes. I put each kid in with one leg out and the other folded up to the side. There was a car who rolled down their window saying, "What a brave woman. What a brave woman." lol Poor Blake didn't fit quite as well as Madison. I ended up about halfway through the store pulling him out and putting him back into the same place with his legs folded up towards the sky. It was marginally more comfy for him. It took three trips to unload the car at our destination. Luckily Kim and our friend Jessica who had stopped by were available to each grab a baby.

We had a great time talking and eating the appetizers including some cocktail shrimp while they prepared food. Kim and her mom in law made these fantastic home made rolls. I have a left over bag in the kitchen just begging for some special attention today. Poor Lisa had a tough time with the sweet potatoes that were taking forever to cook. She came over about 2 hours late which still worked out fantastically by pushing back a couple of the other foods. When we all sat down to eat we only packed away about 1/4 of all the food! None of us could eat as much as we wanted to. I felt completely stuffed after one roll and a little turkey with tatoes and gravy. Yum yum.

We had planned on playing some games. We ended up just talking. Every single time I went to help with something like the dishes or clean up one or both of the babies needed something! I felt pretty unhelpful on the whole. THANKS to LISA, KIM, DALLAS, and all the KIDS for a fantastic day yesterday! Guy even managed to make it for an hour on his way to work. Everyone had a great time checking out the police car and all his gear. The only thing they didn't do is turn on the sirens. At least I didn't hear them if they did.

Here are a few of Madison's naked photos. There are about 4 shoots photos I need to work on before going back to our personal photos again.

Yes, this isn't a naked picture. We actually started with her clothes on. The cute little dress form in the background was picked up in Naples, Italy when we took a non touristy road down the mountain after taking a return Fanicula down the mountain that only went half way. What a fortunate wrong turn with our fabulous friends Merv & Maureen!!!


Check out the beginnings of curls sticking up from her head. The scarf is one I use as a belt. Her face is just so cute. Look at those fabulously huge cheeks.


She was having a blast playing with the scarves.


Check out her cottage cheese thighs. The parasol in the background is one my parents purchased when we lived in Japan when I was only about 4 months old. It is sooooo fragile!

I absolutely love this shot. Why oh why are people so into only getting smiley photos of their kids? There are so many other fantastic faces we all make.


OK. So the smiles are quite lovely and captivating.

Aaaawwwwe

We were driving two times in the last couple days only to hear the babies break out in back and forth laughter. They will look at each other and just crack up now. I absolutely love it. Soooo, I didn't get the babies 7 month naked photos done yet. We have been shopping for some photo equipment and other stuff the last few days. Also, Blake has been especially clingy making it hard to get anything done.

Check out the photography blog. I'm about to put some new baby photos on there.

I forgot to mention two things

Guy and I completely forgot our anniversary! So if we forget any birthdays take comfort in the fact we can't even remember our own anniversary!

The last four days have been been dog drama. The next door neighbors kept their dog on a 10 foot chain under a tree in their back yard. I never saw anyone in the 7 months we have lived here play with the dog. About 4 weeks ago we saw someone moving stuff out of the house. Since then there has been even less activity at the house then normal for our reclusive neighbors. Guy saw the dog roaming around four days ago and put him back on the chain. That night I was up when something got up on the front porch scarring me. It turned out we saw the dog loose again. The next day I heard the neighbor kids on the other side of us yelling. They were telling the dog to go home and were backed into their garage. This dog is almost as tall as I am on his hind legs. Since he is a jumper I know this for sure :-(. I rescued the kids and took the dog back next door. He was on a slip chain with no collar. I fixed the chain to keep him from slipping out, and asked the kids to give him some water. I don't think they did though. The next day another neighbor from down the street rang the doorbell with the dog in tow. Did I ever mention my husband is a police officer with a take home car the neighbors all think gives him special powers? lol He obviously wanted to leave the dog with me. He still had on the slip chain, but he had chewed through the cable chain to get free. This is when I really began to think the neighbors had abandoned him with no food or water. The neighbor who brought him over put him on the back porch of the neighbors house. Guy and I thought hard trying to think when we last saw a car next door. It had definitely been a few days for sure maybe longer. No one came home last night. This morning he was out roaming again. I put Moose's food and water in the house with the dog door closed off. The dog was definitely eager to come into our backyard. He made a beeline for the food out for him. He also drank about 30 oz of water. Animal services picked him up a couple hours later. It made me so sad to see him go even though I know we couldn't keep him.

Happy happy birthday children dear

Happy happy birthday children dear
Happy days will come to you all year

The babies turned 7 months old today. It has been an amazing journey from the day we finally got that you are pregnant mark on the pee stick (Then the 5 other tests Guy made me take!). The time has passes so quickly yet it feels like they have been in our lives forever. Just tonight we were talking about how they couldn't hold their heads up just a few months ago. Their personalities already feel larger then life which makes looking forward to how big they will get in the future.

Here are the only pictures I could get of them today. Blake slept for 3 hours this morning/afternoon. Madison only took a one hour first nap. She and I hung out playing and talking. It became clear today by one of those ah ha, DUH moments why she doesn't like to sit up. Just the pressure of her pants and/or diaper cause her to chuck up a little. Obviously it is uncomfortable for her. It also confirms to me my theory on why she had/has acid reflux. My belief is the valve between her esophigus and her stomach wasn't fully formed. I think it is mostly formed now though. She doesn't chuck much now, and it mostly happens when she is sitting upright. she also seems to have a burn or pain whenever she burps. The reason I bring this up right now is because her photos are of her standing leaning back against the armchair. Blake and I tried to hurry up and get outside to let him experience his first snow (yep! Snow flurries in November in NC. Weird). I grabbed a jacket, shoes and the hat I made him and tried to get them on him as fast as possible. We got outside and it was already gone. He really wasn't too impressed by the cold weather.

She looked back at me. I really want to find the time and place to do some naked photos of the babies when they are not in a bath or freezing cold.


This is almost her big smile. She will not give the huge smile to a voice and a camera. She has to be looking at my face for the really big smile. Her daddy gets the biggest smiles of all.


There is her tongue!


This is adorable


Where did her lips go?


She is so happy.


It still amazes me how tall she is. This is an 18 month outfit I thought would be way to big when pulling it out of the closet.



I think the reason he often looks legless is because he has that big man gut hanging over onto his legs hiding them.... Well, and he leans forward when he sits up.


He is just checking everything out in the really cold world.


Cute little smile. This is the hat I made for him a week or so ago. It's time to get crackin on Madison's hat next. Especially before the 4 photo shots on Thursday and Friday.


Finally a bigger smile


He was almost in a trance this afternoon and this evening when we went grocery shopping. No cold!


He's looking at the trees across the street.


He loves looking at the flash and not the lens of the camera. No matter what I do he tracks right to the flash when my face goes back behind the camera.


Oh look he's looking at the flash again... Did I mention I made the hat? My first hat in about 4 years, and still not one had made following a pattern.


This will be night 8 of 9 with the babies not eating between 8 ish to 8 ish!!! They do have some wake and cry issues though which I hope go away soon. Tonight would be great, but a couple of weeks sounds much more realistic. Motherhood sure does teach patience and anticipation.

Makes my Monday

This very blury shot totally Makes my Monday! This is how much Blake likes being strapped onto my back. I was holding the camera out to the side to prevent the flash from being in the frame and trying the auto fucus. It liked the wall behind us and didn't work very well...

Old and new photos in the laundry basket

Today I found a couple friends of mine on Facebook from my first Ward as a member of my church. Ward is a congregation. They are brother and sister. Kurt was one of two people who were taller then me in the 7th grade, and he ended up being 6'6" or close to it! The other one was a really freakishly tall girl instead of an early tall girl who petered out to just under 5'10". Ha ha. Seeing Kurt's photo totally reminded me of the right when I got my first car. My uncle Lance (the one who passed away from cancer) had gotten us a smokin deal on a Pontiac Sunbird. It was 4 door, medium blue with boxed paint (way beyond cracked), blue interior and a sunroof. I loved that car the year I had it. Anyway, one of the first nights I had it I picked up Kurt and we were headed to another friends house. It began to rain. It was not just any rain, but one of those Phoenix downpours that produce all the flash floods but are typically gone in under a half hour. All of a sudden I hear Kurt making surprised noises and look over to find what looks like a fountain pouring on his head from the sunroof! lol I still remember the look on his face.

Thanks Donna!!! If it wasn't for your comment I wouldn't have remembered the babies turned 7 months old today!!! Happy 7 month birthday Blake and Madison!!!

With Blake's hair growing I am wondering how in the world his hair will get cut and styled. I know absolutely nothing about boy hairstyles and how they look prior to and after a haircut. This will probably be something Guy will need to take care of until I get the hang of it. It sounds so dumb to me to be so clueless!

Madison had a few little bunches of hair curl up off her head tonight. They had a bath this afternoon, and I left both of their hair towel/lotion messy. Hers stayed up a bit even after drying though. This is new. I seriously know it will be a few years before there is enough to style, but I'm still so stinkin excited to have a girl's hair to play with.

I am plugging along at the scrapbook pages, but this has put me behind in finishing Madison's crochet hat. Not that we leave the house much, but we are supposed to only have high temperatures in the low 50's.

Here is a photo of the Madison and Blake at one week old. The basket worked perfectly to help combat Madison's reflux issues. She doesn't really chuck up at all anymore! (Maren - Hopefully Nate will be there very soon since he is two months behind her.)


A close up of them in the basket.


Here are the babies in the laundry basket a few days shy of 7 months.


Another full shot in the basket.


Showing off her butterfly earrings. I didn't notice they were upside down at the time.


An Offer and a Gentlenibble. ha ha


What a thumb sucker! Neither baby is super serious about it though. They dabble in sucking their thumbs more then anything.


This is some serious cuteness!


The babies and I went to my friend Heidi's Pampered Chef party. Yummy and soo much fun to hang out. Here is Heidi with the ever cutie Blake reaching up for her, Me, and Lisa with her dreamy Madison (she calls Madison 'such a dreamy baby'). Us big girls have identical laughs on our face. Heidi got us going.


Here's our normal smiles.


A photo of their new shoes.


You can see the kids in their new shoes here.

Blake has ADD

It's official. Blake has ADD. Yep, he has All Day Dukie disease. Yesterday he crapped 6 times. SIX! Most days it is only 4 times (yeah, only), but when you cloth diaper it feels more like 10 times. It would be so nice to only rinse out 2 poopie diapers a day and not 5 or more. Oh well, such is life. By the way, of course, Guy came up with the gem ADD. He cracks me up!

Madison was so happy while falling over until she hit! Each day she gets a little better at sitting. A little is definitely the right word for it too.


Blake looks like he has no legs in this photo! Madison is still cranky from falling over.


My cutie. I just want to hug and kiss him all the time.


My other cutie! She is so snugly a few times every day. Love it.




Momentarily holding hands.


Guess who wants someone else's toy? It has started.


She hasn't noticed he is taking it yet.


Now she has. I had to put down the camera and rescue them after this moment!

Early this morning...

At 2:50 am this morning I woke up with a vivid fear of impending danger and possible death. Because Blake was the last person I saw in my dream I immediately got up to go check on him. He was fine, but I couldn't shake the fear so I began praying for the safety & health of my family as well as the safety of our home and asked to be made aware of anything I needed to do. There was some lightning outside. I did notice Blake wet out of his diaper so he got a change. The computer not on a surge protector was also unplugged. About 10 minutes after 3:00 I laid back down. After a couple of minutes I was almost asleep and this thunder seemed to go on and on and on for about 20 seconds. Guy woke up for it, but we went to sleep after that. This morning the news was all about the tornado that passed to the East of us and killed two. I think the long thunder we heard was it passing by, but it must have been super loud due to the distance from us. I don't know. We are certainly thank full for the safety of our family as well as the prompting to pray for our safety.

The mowhawk & the curls - w/bath photos

Today is my day to catch up on all the blog posts missing the last month. I was supposed to go to a paper scrapbooking group meeting today, but the babies were in desperate need of an immediate nap (poor time management) and the prospect of loading and unloading as much babies and gear needed to go was too daunting. Hopefully next month Guy will be off work. Today he is at a training for guns and fighting from 10 am to 11 pm out in the rain. I bet he is sick tomorrow or Sunday because he gets sick so easily and isn't really over the junk we all had recently.


Madison is generally very laid back in her bath. She will move her limbs around, pick up and chew on toys and look to see what's going on around her.


Blake is all excitement and flailing of limbs most of the time. I am constantly readjusting him to keep his ears from being underwater.


He also is now causing his tummy to be red from all the grabbing of his wing ding. Such fascination starts at an early age.


An almost chill moment of toy playing.


Not sure what Madison is trying to convey. Look at that pointed finger. lol


What a sweet smile Blake has. Both the babies took turns napping this morning and both wanted to cuddle with me when the other one was asleep. Today has been very satisfying.


Reaching for the huge wrinkled cute footsies.


Blake definitely has some ham hands.


Blake showing off his curvy topped Mohawk, and Madison letting her curls make a first appearance (THANK YOU WHITE GENE's!!!). I noticed her hair curving just a little bit in certain places a few days before taking these. In order to get her little tiny bits of hair to stand up and show the curls I used lotion and my fingers. By the time it dried it was back down on her head. In a month or two she should have enough hair to know for sure if she really has wavy or curly hair.


Here is a closer photo. She is holding the baby comb.


The next few shots are a perfect example of the lightening speed mood changes the babies go through.

Blake talking to me and Madison watching him.


Blake had her foot in his mouth just prior to this shot. He thought it was even better then his own foot in his mouth.


Blake going in for a nibble on Madison's face which she loved.


He is now a little put out while she is still enjoying it.


I sat him up, he reached over to grab her, and she hated it.


Now they are both enthralled with the ceiling fan.


Both love their mommy!!!