10 on Tuesday

1. Jeremy's birthday is on Thursday, I'm trying to pick up a few things for him and make a cake. Hopefully it's a good day!
2. On Saturday, Macy Grace and I took a road trip. We headed over to the bigger small city and picked up a few things. I love shopping for fall and bought lil love the cutest outfits. She has a stylin' brown wool jacket with pink and purple plaid. I'm living vicariously through her, I'll admit it. And of course she has a few adorable outfits that coordinate very nicely with the jacket! We also found her some shoes. My itty bitty is just now starting to wear a size 2 and it's hard to find a decent shoe to learn to walk in in a size 2.
3. And on that note, Macy Grace stood all by herself yesterday for 5 seconds - a couple of times!
4. I did manage to pick up a present (or two!) for J, I hope he likes them. He is very difficult to shop for because he never wants anything. So...I just do what I can.
5. Have I mentioned that itty bitty has a top tooth. Yup, just one, and I'm really hoping the other is on it's way. I can't imagine her with just one top tooth!
6. Friday night I had a couple of friends over for a last minute girls night. I made tacos and we ate and ate and talked and laughed and ate and laughed and talked some more and ate again then laughed. It was great fun until we woke up on Saturday morning with major headaches from no sleep. They didn't leave until after 2:30. It was a late one.
7. Jeremy has been busy working on his mom and dad's house so they can put it on the market hopefully by the time we leave for our cruise. He has been hard at work but he enjoys working on projects. He had some time off the other day and told me he was bored. I didn't think that was nice. Apparently I'm boring now. Just a mom. Just boring.
8. Is it too early to start packing? I can't wait for the cruise!
9. I'm planning on taking some reading to do on the ship since it'll be vacation and reading is relaxing for me. Any recs?
10. Macy's birthday party is coming up and I need to start planning. But I can't decide on a theme. Her birthday outfit is chocolate brown and pink and some orange. Maybe I'll use those colors? I need to get started!

Well folks, that concludes Tuesday's edition of 10 on Tuesday, come back next week for another - until then - xoxo. I'm off. Peace.

can I say it?

In 10 days we are leaving for our VACATION!!!!!!
woot-woot!

puppy love

Macy Grace loves this puppy. It's a black labrador retriever, just like Jake, and she even says "puppy" and knows it is this puppy that is hers! She's getting attached! Here's a peek into our Saturday morning.











And if you have the great pleasure of knowing Macy Grace in person, you know she does this all the time with alot of her toys and this picture is SO her! And was very excited to finally capture it!







Jeremy's mom buys lil love books from a volume set of animal books and this was the new book that just came that morning.





And she can read!

models

Major backlog here! When I was in California for the Get Tha Funk Out Workshop, we had some models for our photo shoots and here are a couple of them.

okay so my daughter is cute

There, I said it. She is. Don't you agree? We were at volleyball practice - which seriously, Macy LOVES!, and she decided to entertain the huttle with a little game of peek-a-boo. She had her blankie and would pull it up over her head and back down, just like peek-a-boo. She had the entire teams attention and was loving it! I pulled out my phone and caught a little on the video feature, I'll upload it as soon as I figure out how to do that!

She's fabulous!

ETA: I just bluetoothed it, easy as pie!


Happy Friday!!

here she is

We take our cruise in a little over two weeks and it seems to be the theme of our days. I'm stalking air tickets pining for the lowest possible fares! We sat down the other night and looked at excursions and researched things to do and places to avoid. I'm a member over at cruisecritic and I highly recommend checking out their site if you are looking into cruising. Alot of great information over there!

Macy isn't feeling so great. Before I left for California, she had a runny nose and I think it started from allergies. While I was away, she developed a little cough and became congested. I started her on some breathing treatments and thought she was doing better until two nights ago she really started coughing alot through the night. Jeremy has her right now at the dr's so she can get better.

Other Macy Grace news includes she cut her top right tooth over the weekend and the left one is getting close. She actually has done pretty good with this set, her bottom two had her running fever and she hasn't with this top one yet!

I'm trying to come up with a plan for making Macy's baby photo book. I thought I would do the books every 3 months for the first year, but now I'm not sure we'll get that detailed with it. The trouble with studying photography is you become a huge critic of the art. I look at my pictures and although she is my beautiful baby I see all the photographic errors and color casts and decide they aren't good enough to print. I need to just realize that this is not what it's about. It's about capturing the memories of her daily life, whether they are great photographs or not. And I take alot, I'm just not satisified with them because everytime I snap a pic of Macy Grace it isn't perfect lighting, focus, clarity, or white balance. And I'm hard on my work. If it isn't fabulous I don't want anyone seeing it. That isn't good. These are memories of Macy Grace and I want them. Good or bad. So, I may be showing more 'bad' photos over here in the next few weeks.

Fall is in the air and I just LOVE it! I bought some pumpkin spice febreeze the other day and I'm drenching my curtains and couch with it and I love the smell. It's so warm. Yumm-o. And the weather is certainly autumnish too! With a daytime high of 67 it's cool and crisp and I'm enjoying it!

I'm going to try to get back here in a bit to post some recent pics of lil love from the weekend.

~*~*~waving hello~*~*~

and showing off my two teethers!

I feel so badly that I have neglected my blog lately. I'm just not satisfied with my blog performance right now, and if I were to receive an e-val, I'd be in the RED! Yikes!

The truth is I feel like I'm in a huge transitioning time in my life. I know that I definitely need a photography blog, and I LOVE my personal blog. But what to do? Do I mix them? Keep them separate? I just don't know.

I would love a blogsite, at least for now, but they are alot of work and I'm html illiterate! So, I'm thinking. Looking around. Contemplating. The blog is in dire need of a massage, a makeover.

I'm in Denver

Things were so crazy this morning I didn't have a time to post that I was leaving for the weekend. I've been up since 5:30am and I'm exhausted (and starving!), so I'm sitting down, about to enjoy a pasta bread bowl from Domino's pizza.

I was really rushed trying to get everything packed, but I think I have everything. I did forget my dramamine, but did just fine on the plane ride here to Denver without it. I cried when I said goodbye to Miss Grace, but she was ALL smiles. The security guard that was standing there when I said goodbye told me, she (Macy) didn't know what was about to happen. I looked at the officer and told her to not talk about it!! I got to see Macy and Jeremy when I walked out to the plane and she was standing at the window just laughing and waving bye-bye.

**I better be careful, I might start crying again!**

Last night, I was freakin out. I just felt uneasy. I prayed for peace and went to bed somewhat early for me (around 11pm). This is just a new chapter for me, and I'm more than excited about it, just nervous.

I have one more flight to Orange County and hopefully I'll have internet access at the beach house. If not, I'll update either in Denver on Monday on my way home or when I get home.

Here's to a fabulous weekend!

::cheers::

jamaica mon!!!

We're GOING on the cruise!!!! YEAH!!!! You have NO idea how officially excited we are now that we know 100% we ARE going and Macy IS going too!!!! Ah, I'm stinkin' giddy just thinking about it. Eeeeek =)

I never allowed myself to get this excited before because I wasn't feeling peace about leaving Macy and wasn't sure the cruise would happen anyway. But it is now, we are thrilled!

Can you hear the caribbean music playing? I can. Can you smell the ocean? I can. The pizzeria and ice cream are calling my name - watch out!!
Oh, I love to cruise.

Here is the funship freight liner, it's HUGE!!

courtesy of cruiseweb.com



courtesy of caribbean-cruises-report.blogspot.com


courtesy of virginholidaycruises

And the best part? When I called today to add Macy and confirm our booking one last time, we received a complimentary upgrade to an oceanview stateroom - woot woot!

10 months

My Macy Grace,
It is cliche and we say it all the time, but truly, where has the time gone? It seems like just last month you were my itty bitty and now you are growing up. I love you so much and I enjoy every day with you.
Every day you do something new and more advanced. You are getting stronger and developing a very cute personality. Actually, in the past couple of weeks you have been more pleasant to other people besides just me! That's a blessing! It goes without saying that you are definitely a mama's girl and I love it, but it is great that you will now hug on the other people in your life that love you.
My most favorite thing is that now you give hugs and kisses and it is the best feeling ever. The way you reach out and wrap those arms around me is just awesome.
You have started crawling on all fours and what in the world is cuter than a big, diapered bum moving through the air? Nothing. And I love it. You have also started pulling up and moving along the furniture. You open drawers and pull things out of the toy box. One thing you did recently that was just very cute, I have a box in your room that I've been using to pack away your summer clothes and you will just crawl in there, stand up and with the biggest grin and giggle, start pulling your clothes out, one by one.
I love the way you will spot me across the room and point your finger and thumb at me and just smile and laugh. Your laugh is the best sound in the whole world.
You smile alot and LOVE puppies. Any puppy. On tv. Stuffed animal puppy. Real life puppies. It doesn't matter, you love them.
You are very easy to entertain and will play for a great amount of time all by yourself just laughing and talking and playing with your toys. Another thing you love to do is crawl to the door, stand up and look out. You are just tall enough that your eyes can barely see over the screen. You also enjoy being outside.
You help me alot especially with the dishes and dishwasher. It is fun to always have you close by!
You have become extremely independent in your eating. You want to feed yourself. You want people food. No more baby food! And I love it, it is so cute. Your favorites are ravioli's, green beans, carrots, potatoes, macncheese, and muffins. Such a healthy baby ;) At this time you are still breastfeeding one time before bed. And I don't mind, it's healthy for you.
Macy Grace, daddy and mommy love you more than you can understand and I hope and pray you never forget it. I love you with all my heart. You are my sunshine.
xoxoxoxo - with all my love forever,
Mama

10 on Tuesday

1. Macy Grace is 10 months today! I'm crying.
2. She had her first stay over at aunt Rana's and was a good girl - I think! She came home just so happy and not traumitized so I'm pleased.
3. I only called 2, maybe 3 times to check on her.
4. I leave this week for my workshop. I am excited but nervous. I'm flying by myself (no sweat!) to meet a group of people I do not know (sweat!). I think I'll be fine, but I would be lying if I told you I wasn't slightly freaking out on the inside. And leaving Macy. Oh, I'm gonna miss her.
5. Tonight starts my church's monthly ladies meetings. I designed a logo for the theme

6. Yesterday, for Labor Day - I cleaned. I washed. I scrubbed. My house is clean!
7. Saturday evening I got together with some of my friends over at Michelle's house, we had a great time eating and chatting. I love hanging out my lady friends.

Okay, I'm done. I can't think anymore. Have a fabulous day!!

ramblings

Last night my dear friend Kim married a man named Todd and it was beautiful. She was a gorgeous bride. And so relaxed. Seriously the wedding was just very low key and not stressed at all, and just wonderful. And I tried my hand at some wedding photography. I have ZERO desire to shoot weddings. They are too much. I always feel paniced to get the right shot at the right time and it truly just isn't my thing. But last time was different. It was fun. The photographer and I started chatting and he grabbed his backup a - 40d - and told me to shoot away. He said, "You never know what you might get"! Yikes. So, I shot. Completely carefree. And it was crazy. He then attached his 70-200 2.0L on the 40d and told me I was now in heaven and to just enjoy it. It was crazy gorgeous. And crazy heavy. But crazy fun. I'm sure I didn't get one keeper out the bunch just because it was so random and completely not thought out at all but it was a great experience.
And Kim's husband would not tell her where they were honeymooning to! It was a total surprise. She knew they were flying out but that's all. He gave her general directions, pack for cool, warm, casual, and nice. We guessed cruise. She just texted and said, Space Needle for dinner and tomorrow an Alaskan cruise! She's boarding the Princess Star for a week cruise. I love surprises. And hate them. At the same time!

Speaking of cruises, we have one coming up. If J gets off work. They are extremely short-handed but he hasn't taken time off in almost a year, so he put in for next month. If he doesn't get off, I think I will cry. Even though we had thought about canceling anyway, knowing that we can't go, not that we don't want to go will be sad. I'm thinking if he can't get off we might still take a short few days away on his nights off. We'll see. It won't be nearly as wonderful as a cruise, but God knows best.

And if we take the cruise, we both have peace that lil love will go to!!! It was a difficult decision, but once we actually verbalized that she will go, it now seems weird that we didn't consider it right away. I have done some heavy research over the past week and I totally want her to go. My perspective has changed alot. We are now a family. Sure this vacation won't be the same as without a baby, but life isn't the same without a baby. It's not like we could leave the country and have limited access to communicating with her for 7 days and feel great about it. We would not be relaxing. Our life has changed. We choose to make memories with her. We can spend our vacations basking in the sun carefree when our children are grown. Until then, we choose to make memories with her rather than about her. I don't want to remember the feeling of regret when I walk the gangway missing Macy Grace. It will be a long 7 days. I'm just not ready to be away from her for that long. Sure cruising will be different with a baby, but like I said, life is different now with a baby. We enjoy Macy Grace. Feeding her, changing her, playing with her isn't work to us. I won't be cooking or cleaning and that is vacation to me! So, now we are just waiting on the vacation request.

It's Labor Day weekend, the last weekend of the summer and we are working around the house. Cleaning, washing laundry, packing away Macy's summer clothes and possibly getting to some projects. I've got grocery shopping to do and paperwork to finish. I go to my workshop next week and while I'm ridiculously excited about it, I can't think about leaving just yet. I'm confident Macy will be fine and I'm thinking about work and my business, not a vacation. Although it will be loads of fun. I better go, lots of work to do today! And because I can't go without leaving a pic, here is one I took in July and just realized I never shared it. I have alot to share over the next week.

V family slideshow

I love these kids! I had a great time, thanks John & Misty!
slideshow

10 on Tuesday

1. Weekend recap.
Friday evening I had the pleasure of photographing three fun kiddos for my portfolio, we had a great time. My friend Michelle offered to watch lil love for me and that was nice. After the session, I went to pick up Macy and ended up staying over at Michelle's talking until 1:45am!! Crazy. It has been awhile since I've stayed up that long on the amount of sleep I've been getting. It was worth it though, we (or at least I!) had a good time.
Morning came too soon and I had a senior session with my sister (who is almost 18!!! Can't believe that!) and her best friend. I was able to snap a few good ones considering my insomnia! Saturday evening Macy and I just hung out alot together and played and laughed. She has developed such a personality, it's so fun!!

2. I go to my workshop next week! Can't believe it! It's so soon.

3. September! Wow, where did summer go? It went by SO fast!!

4. So, Macy Grace started crawling on ALL FOURS yesterday. It's just the cutest thing. I was almost sad she wouldn't really do that until she was older and already walking. She surprised me and I LOVE the crawl. What in the world is cuter than a diapered bum in the air tottling around - nothing.

5. Still thinking about the cruise. Can't decide WHAT to do. Go not go. Take Macy, leave Macy. Decisions, decisions.

6. I feel like my blogging has gotten old. Same ole thing. I need to spice things up around here.

7. We thought lil love had an ear infection. So, J took her to the dr, nope no ear infection. Which is good. But I felt ridiculous having written out all these symptoms and instructions, and no ear infection. Better safe then sorry I guess.

8. There is this nasty 12 hour flu bug floating around here. I caught it. I felt horrible. Being sick is wrong when you have a baby to care for. Just wrong.

9. It is now Wednesday and I'm finishing this up. So, for wish-list Wednesday: there is this fabulous bedding set from Pottery Barn Kids that Macy needs for her birthday. She wants it!

10. I finished up a slideshow I did the other night for the three adorable kiddos. V family, it was a blast!!!
View it here