New Artwork

 

This funky amazing piece of art is now hanging in my living room! I love it. I love the colors, the shapes, the flower, well all of it really. But most of all I love that my amazingly talented sister made it for me! She rocks like that. If I picked up a paint brush and painted the end result would be either a huge mess or a group of stick people. Painting is not my area of expertise. Luckily I have her to decorate my place.

Almost 3

How is my baby boy almost 3 years old! It just dawned on me the other night that he is way closer to 3 than he is to 2! I think I'm going to boycott this birthday. I don't know that I want my baby to be 3!!!

 

But since he is almost 3 he is doing so many cool things lately! Things like talking in some complete sentences! Things like using the toilet more and more frequently. Things like pretending when he plays which just cracks me up! Things like attempting to negotiate with me on things. Oh he is turning into quite a boy rather than a baby!

 

Hulk is quite the mover! He is pretty much constant motion. Jumping, running, just bouncing everywhere. He really doesn't sit still for much anymore! He is also pretty smart and is doing very well at daycare/school. He is doing some occupational therapy to help with some of his sensory integration issues (hence all the moving) and just recently had a lot of testing that he did well on. He seems to get along well with his classmates and has a little bit of a crush on a little gal in his class.

Hulk all of a sudden HATES and I mean HATES having to take a bath. I don't know what that is about but I am mastering the art of the 2 minute bath with a screaming toddler. He does however love animals and really really wants a pet or ten pets. We are still negotiating that.

So almost three isn't so bad. But I do miss my little baby just a bit!

Girl Time

 

My sister came home to visit this weekend. We had a really good time! Hulk was super wild and sick of being stuck in the house so it was like wrestle mania up in here! But once he went to bed it was girl time. Complete with chocolate chip cookies, hot chocolate with butterscotch schnapps for me and some wine for Heather! We ate and drank a little to much while we played table topics. But it was lots of fun and lots of laughing.

Have you ever played table topics? It's a blast! Basically you just pull a card from the stack and answer the question, discuss the question, laugh your head off at the answer to the question. You may get serious questions like who is your mentor or a fun question like where would you like to travel to next. It's not really a game so much as a conversation starter. It will be great when Hulk gets older to encourage dinner time conversation but for now it's just fun to play with my sister while drinking and eating too much. You know just typical girl time activities....

Fall Flew By

 

I took this photo a couple weeks ago when it was still Fall. Feels like it was forever ago though. Fall just flew by. Not only were we really busy but the weather wasn't fall like for long. It stayed very warm for so long that we really only had a couple weeks of fall like weather before winter came rushing in. Quite a disappointment for me as I LOVE fall!

Even though Fall was short we still enjoyed it. We made several trips to the zoo, the apple orchard and the pumpkin patch. Lots of time playing outside and going on adventures. I had a great fall photo event that was lots of fun and very successful. And now we are ready to enjoy the winter.

Hulk is looking forward to snow. He looks for it every morning. I think he may go crazy waiting. He has even practiced putting on his snow clothes so he will be ready. And today I had to buy that child an ADULT sized hat! Seriously no little kid hats fit him so he has a man hat to wear in the cold. I hear rumblings that snow may come in the next week or so. We will be waiting. Some of us more excitedly then others....

New Set

 

I have to admit I am a little bit proud of myself! Today I designed a new photo set to use during the winter months. Since it's to cold to do much outdoor shooting I needed something fun for indoors. So today I got all the supplies I needed and put the new set together.

 

Since I needed to try it out to make sure the wood floor would stay together and the lighting would be okay I recruited the best neighbor kids in the world. Not only does this beautiful young lady help me wrangle Hulk from time to time and watch him when I have photo sessions she also willingly models for me when needed. Talk about a gem!

 

And her younger brother is always a great playmate for Hulk. He never grows tired of pulling him around in the wagon or chasing him in the yard. They really are the best neighbor kids a gal could ask for.

 

I think we are going to suprise their parents with a few of their photos for Christmas. So it really worked out great. I got to try out the new set and the kids got the Christmas gifts covered. SUCCESS!!!

She Laughs Like My Son

As quickly as Amara arrived in our home she left. For just a brief while we were lucky to share our home with such a creative, funny, resilient, and loving child! Luckily for miss firecracker her Daddy stepped forward and is more than willing and capable of providing her with a loving and safe home! So she has moved on now.

 

Lots of people thought I was crazy for bringing her into our home, a large portion of my family included. "How would this affect Hulk?" "Could I afford it?" "What if we got hurt?" All of these questions were asked of me multiply times by multiple people.

 

And my answer was and still is "I know this doesn't make sense, it isn't a great time to add another child, there are lots and lots of unknowns. But she laughs like my son!" I don't know that anyone but an adoptive mama could really understand this. But when I heard her laugh and mistook it for Hulks laugh I knew I could not or maybe would not say no! To know that a child so very connected to my own needed a safe place to be and to say no would be unforgivable to me. Maybe others could but I could not.

 

So while her short stay was dramatic and difficult in some ways I don't regret a moment of it. Even if she never stays with us again Hulk had the chance to laugh with someone that laughs like him. And I know that is priceless!!!

Things I Say

Do not squish her!

I don't care if she likes it! You cannot jump on her head like that!

Why is there a doll in the toilet?

Hmmm I don't think the toilet is where doll's like to take baths.

Okay Hulk where is the doll's head? I've told you not to take them off!

Why are there muffins in your dresser drawer?

Please only keep food in the kitchen. We don't hide it in our drawers or the closet or anywhere else.