Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Finally posting again. :-P

Here I am at 20 weeks! Baby surely has taken notice, she's kicking probably twice the amount that she was before and is very active through the day AND night. Good and bad, lol. :)

Here I am, two days ago (@ 19wks 5days):Excuse the subdued smile. My mom always told me that I was photogenic but taking a photo every Sunday evening and being worried about how all of me looks leads to a distracted smile, lol.

The kids are, well... the kids. As usual. They've been very excited talking about baby sister and Olivia keeps asking if she can put on all of the new diaper covers we've been receiving... nonetheless they've been having fun with the idea. :)

If Olivia comes out of her hormonal rampage this afternoon I'd like to get some photos of them. In the meantime... check the funnies and day in the life for some flashback photos. :)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

FINALLY, my 18wks 6day shot (I was late this time!)


This shot wasn't as good as the others as it was a last minute oh-shoot-we-never-took-a-photo-last-night... and it was downstairs at nearly 9:30pm. The only light in our Family Room is a lovely Tiffany-style floor lamp and it doesn't light the room nearly as well as the Office ceiling light, where we normally take the photo. Needless to say... I'll be continuing to take mine in the office to get the best look for each one. It just looks different this time and I want them to look fairly similar for comparison each time.

Gosh, gab gab gab - I'm sure no one's concerned with my lighting. Okay, me, but yeah. What's new there? :-P

On other news, on Monday night the kids had a fun Family Home Evening where we talked about being children of God and they got to GUESS whose baby photo each photo was. We also had some pretty interesting responses as to "things we like about the New Baby".

Here's a photo:
Because, what list coming mostly from a pink-obsessed 4-year-old and only slightly from an all boy 2-1/2-year-old would be complete without: "we can hold her and wash her in the tub", "we can play with her *in* Family Home Evening", and "we can help her to draw a Princess".

Ahh... someone's a LITTLE excited that it's a sister that Momma's cookin'.

Monday, September 22, 2008

No belly shot. :(

In all the commotion of yesterday I forgot to have Cameron take a photo, I'll try to get him to do one tonight, must remember!

Livy unfortunately threw up, one yesterday morning, and once after Cameron and I got to bed last night - all over her bed of course. Luckily I'm positive it's due to the strawberries we got on Saturday. She has a slight allergy to strawberries that builds up and eventually makes her sick. Last time it took quite a lot to get her to that point, this time it was only 2-3 berries on Saturday, and 2-3 berries on Sunday night with her shortcake and 3 hours later it was all over her bed.

She's fine now but I think I'm going to try and find a way to finish off the berries we have left because obviously she's not getting any better regarding them. She's fine with 1-2 times a summer but definitely in small amounts and not in consecutive days. Luckily, she's happy and playing her Dora Saves The Mermaids, on www.nickjr.com, game as we speak.

Me? I'm just glad it's not some type of stomach bug and that it isn't contagious. That is the LAST thing we all need right now! And of course, since it's just the strawberries, it's nice because I can keep them out of site and therefore she gets to feel better. It's nice having something sickness-wise that I can control for my child. Colds, flu, fevers, etc. are awful, other than acetaminophen, there's not much you can do. Thank heavens it's none of those!

In other news, I won a lottery from Necessitae on HyenaCart myself, 2 days after someone won one on mine! :) Here's the link to the gorgeous cards I got for free! I can't wait to get these, thanks again Becky!

In other news, Duncan is still doing terrific with his potty training and I think his new favorite panties are his Rocketship Panties from Walmart, haha, because of course - they GLOW in the dark, lol.

And his new favorite response, to a number of questions, is:
"Duncan, those pants are dirty, let's find some clean ones."
"NO, NOT!"

Ahh... a 2-year-old. :D

Thursday, September 18, 2008

frecklefeet & backpacks

My store, frecklefeet, opened it's doors this morning @ 11:30am (EDT) at it's new site: http://www.hyenacart.com/frecklefeet

I'm very excited to be in a new spot, more editing capabilities, new audience (much more suited to what I'm selling), as well as my upcoming collaboration with Lindsay of Rainbow Waters! Lots of exciting things going on.

Arriving home from Preschool, and a million errands while she was IN school, we found a boxed up Air Filter for the new Trail Blazer that Cameron had ordered and a package from Bonnie in Oregon! The kids were very excited to see the box and we came inside and opened it up to find a Dora backpack and lunchbag for Liv, and a Cars backpack and lunchbag for Duncan! Treats inside, including new Princess shoes, and the kids were thrilled. I'll try to get photos of them and their new bags but I wasn't able to yesterday.

I haven't been able to get photos of a lot lately, except for the weekly belly shots that Cam takes for me, with how busy life has been. Liv's in preschool, Cam's in school full time as well as still working full time so it's been a little chaotic! I'll try harder, I promise!

More later as I need to check back on the store and possibly do one of the kids' newsletters. Not to mention the toilets, stairs that need vacuuming, and the dishes to be handwashed on my counter... ahhh, motherhood. :)

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

We are undergoing some big changes at frecklefeet right now. We've officially swapped from http://frecklefeet.etsy.com to http://www.hyenacart.com/frecklefeet and listing will begin today and tomorrow but I'm not sure when things will be available to purchase. I'm sort of learning the ropes, appreciating the new crowds and audience I'll recieve from HyenaCart, as well as looking forward to my collaboration with Lindsay from Rainbow Waters that's coming up!

Exciting exciting!

I will keep you posted as to when we'll be ready to roll on the new site and may even open up a seperate blog that pertains only to the store and custom items, purchases, etc. Great for custom work as well. But I'm not that big and popular yet, we'll see!

Wish me luck!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

gaining weight? hopefully?

We've arrived at 17 weeks and 5 days... here's the shot. Let's hope I packed on at least a couple of pounds this month. Gosh, or at least before the 23rd so I don't get in trouble at my appointment with the midwife, lol.

And to answer your questions...

Yes, that's a flip flop tan line on my feet.

No, Cameron has not nicknamed me Shamu yet.

Yes, that's my Tualatin Valley Youth Cheerleading shirt from 1999.

No, I do not wear this outfit in public or on a regular basis. (Okay, maybe at home.)

...

I'm pregnant. What's your excuse?

:)

Starburst Shots @ the Hogle Zoo

It's been a very hectic week this week - some of which I have no desire to go into. But the end wasn't as bad, in my opinion. Friday we ended up rushing in for an unplanned Ultrasound and we found out we're having a girl! We're very excited for the news and excited to get going on all the clothes and baby prep to be done. (Okay, so I'm a little bit of an early nester this time around and I'm excited to begin this... lol.)

Friday night we stayed home and Cameron met with a man who wanted to buy our Blazer. We sold the Blazer to him, he drove it home and for less than 24 hours we had one vehicle. It was sort of tricky as we hadn't yet seen the Trail Blazer we wanted to purchase in person, only online, as well as also speaking to the owner a couple of times. So basically, because of preschool for Olivia, we HAD to find a car the next day!

The Trail Blazer was out in Kaysville and we drove the Malibu out there and to our happy surprise, we loved the Trail Blazer and purchased it right then. So now, as the kids repeat every time we walk outside to get in the car, we now have "the NEW car" - which is actually 4 years old. :-P Kids!

That afternoon we ran home, went grocery shopping, a couple of other errands on the way, and then after dropping off the groceries we went to the Hogle Zoo. It was a pay-no-attention-to-mom day, the kids were a little over energized thanks to our candy idea while in Macey's and so I didn't get very many photos. Those that I did get turned out like the first photo and the one following:

Yeeah... that's some Starburst and WONDERFUL face making action going on there, folks. Pleasant isn't it? Regardless - they were HAPPY to have Starburst and happy to see that while there was one less elephant now, the ones that were still at the Zoo were out and eating and entertaining all who cared to watch.

We had a good time, took the trip slower as my pregnant feet were beginning to bother me (that's what I get for wearing thongs rather than shoes all day). The kids had fun and we finally went back to the car after a long day of MANY activities to head over to dinner.

We went to Denny's for dinner (free kids' meals with adults!) and the kids got to bring their Rocketship Cups to dinner. They ordered Lemonade which they immediately colored with the "magic" coloring packets and we were ready to eat! (I have no idea who this child is, but here is what their rocketship cups look like...)

All in all it was a very tired, but very fun, morning, day, AND night. Liv's back to preschool tomorrow and of course I have about 50 different things to do before that to get the new car liscensed and registered and ALL that fun stuff. :)

Wish me luck. :)

Friday, September 12, 2008

It's a...

GIRL!

We're so happy to find out that the wee one squiggling around in there is a GIRL!

Here are our Ultrasound photos from 17 weeks and 3 days along:

Baby's face

Two little baby feet. :)

Her profile

The "it's a girl!" photo

Baby and little arms!

Stay tuned for more belly photos from this coming weekend!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Not quite Buddha.



Here we are at 16 weeks and 6 days. I'll try to go weekly, but we'll see... ;)

The lovely Snow White and her ever so charming... well, Prince Charming!

Here are the costumes that Grammy & Pa sent. Grammy was excited to get them here and see that they fit well and they do, perfectly! Way to go Grammy, we LOVE them!




SO adorable! THANK you Grammy & Pa!

WOW!

Life just comes all at once, doesn't it? Haha - but we're surviving and doing just fine. :) I'm actually no longer watching my nephew so that has freed up a little time at the end of the week in the afternoons while Duncan naps, Liv's at preschool - I definitely have my bit-more-relaxing Fridays back. Although - anytime Olivia's out of the house it surely gives me a break and allows Duncan to revert back to his napping.

Anyway - I HAVE still been taking photos, lots of them, just haven't found the breath to sit down, load them all, and explain what's going on! So basically, I'm going to share some preschool ones now and I'll probably end up doing the kids' entries and picking favorites from the unshared photos for that. Enjoy. :)

So, Wednesday, September 3rd was Olivia's first day of Preschool. And WOW - let me tell you, I NEVER would have guess how that afternoon was going to take place! Here are some photos.

Some of these are cropped a little differently because Olivia's school bag is from her school and I figured since I'm normally very open sharing photos and names of my children that I would hold off on the name of her Preschool. BUT - I'm 100% open to showing the originals to the family and friends I personally know that visit here. Some I can't even post because stinker Olivia swung her back in front of them during a few shots - such a goober. But cute nonetheless!

(If you're interested in seeing those photos let me know and I can email them to you.) :)

These were all taken outside in front of our house - it was excruciatingly bright outside and even in the shadows I could hardly get a normal looking smile out of them, they couldn't see - the whole sun in the eyes and kids don't mix well for photos.

Duncan's new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse shirt - we got it for a steal
on clearanceat Walmart and he loves it.
And of course... his cars. :)

Livy also has a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse tee shirt that we got for her with Minnie and Daisy on it but we got it in a 5T and it just didn't look right without a wash, so we switched and wore out Cinderella and Princess outfit and I washed the shirt for her while she was gone. We've yet to try it on but hopefully it helped the fit. :)

So we get to her school and she walks in... scratch that - SPRINTS through her classroom door and immediately goes to play. I have the camera so I'm trying to get photos... which yeah DID NOT WORK AT ALL. She was way too excited and focused on toys and preschool, but that was a good thing as I was expecting her to be too focused on clutching to my thigh and begging me not to leave her alone with these crazy alien people.

Miss Denise, her teacher, called her name as I was trying to get her to stand next to her cubby with her bag for a shot to show Daddy, and of course she listens to anyone but mom, haha. :) Miss Denise took her photo for the wall and Livy hung up her bag and darted across the room to the make-believe cash register to play with another girl.

I actually had to CALL her name to get her to even notice us
and she of course gave us a whatever face.

She was officially busy with her kids.


We went over gave her kisses and hugs (which involved her kissing the air next to my thigh and hugging me quickly, no regards to Duncan, she was MUCH too busy) and that was it! She did fantastic though and has continued to love it and is excited to go the next time everytime she comes home.

Let's hope it stays that way.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Spaghetti a la Preschool

Tell me this boy doesn't belong in a Spaghetti Sauce commercial... ahh how I love my new D60. Makes dinnertime very entertaining. ;)




Interesting how the one horizontal shot changed so much just by the turn of the camera, these were all taken on the same "Child" setting, which I LOVE, and this one allowed more light. As you can see, because we continued on in vertical shots, I love the darker contrast that the verticals created. Nonetheless - this boy could not get ANY cuter. :)

"RAWR!"

The same night we had the crazy spaghetti dinner was also the night for Olivia's preschool Orientation. Unfortunately, Daddy had to miss it, as Wednesdays are our we-miss-daddy-days, he has a math and business class that brings him home a little before 10pm. So we decided to call Daddy before we left for Orientation. :)

Here's Livy chatting with Daddy in her new special skirt made just for tonight at her new BIG GIRL school. :) It's a circle skirt so twirling becomes a new hobby instantly. :)

Duncan joining in the fun... neither of them were particularly photogenic, of course. And Liv's in that stage where you can't get a REAL smile out of her to save your life... at least she's cute. :)

More later, I promise! :)

(Including BELLY shots!)

(No, not the alcoholic kind. This is a family [and pregnancy] friendly blog!)