Living Life!

To say things have been busy would be an understatement!

Almost 2 months ago (I think?) I "officially" jumped into the world of photography. It's been a blast and I've had a fairly consistent number of jobs, about 1 a week or so, and it's been really wonderful. I'm learning a lot - like how to write things down in my schedule book (or even having a schedule book!) making things more "presentable" and just how to organize my computer/external hard-drive! I love it, though. A LOT. I could do this every day for the rest of my life and be quite content.

Kenny is completely registered for school! We got the financial aid numbers in and it looks like we'll be okay! Things will be a little iffy when his hours go down to part time (that's another thing - his boss created a part-time position for him!!) we'll probably have little to no money extra, and I may end up getting an additional part time job too. We'll see, all in time.

Rylee is on a food strike this week. It's frustrating me to no end. I know kids do that, it's normal. However, she's been getting more and more lethargic, grumpier easier AND dehydrating herself. Usually I end up giving her 10+ 10oz bottles a day with either Gatorade or Milk in it and she drinks them all down. Yesterday - she had 2, and only wet 2 diapers enough to kinda warrant a change. She'll sit in her highchair over an hour, just sitting there doing nothing - not touching her food except for when she thinks it might need to be slightly moved or (when I'm not looking) tossed on the floor for the dogs. Not much else to do except watch and make sure she doesn't need a doctor visit from dehydration. - That itself is frustrating to me.

I'm still having a hard time not having my own house, but I've come to accept that I'll always have a hard time not having my own place. It's just something I'll deal with until we move out. My in-laws are awesome, things are really great. Kenny has been able to have something to do with his Dad - which is awesome because Kenny needs projects, it's in his nature. Rylee has a fenced yard to play in, I can let her out back to play with the dog without being too worried about her. We're near by a river, which has been a nice little option for when it gets hot out.

Our dog is **finally** almost housebroken! It's a miracle! Haha, okay, maybe not really quite that extreme. We got a mini dog door (cat door) for her to go in and out of our room so she's better outside trained. She still has accidents - but that's WAY better! Accidents are where we wanted to be a couple months ago. Accidents are okay, they happen with puppies being the nature of a accident. It was just killing and frustrating us SO much that when she would go in the right place(s) it was more of an accident that she got it right.

Kenny blessed me last week by carpet cleaning (this will be the 4th time since we moved in) before I got home. Our room has smelled SO awful I did actually spend some time crying about it. I can't stand places that smell bad - neither can Kenny.

I can't wait for school to start for Kenny and see where things end up. I feel like it's taking forever to really get the new rollercoaster ride going, as if the past few months haven't been one of their own. My lovely sister in law is getting married this weekend and it's going to be a beautiful wedding. I'm pretty darn excited for her. - So that'll be keeping me very busy for the next few days until it's over.

So, that's it for this morning. Have a great day!

Summer Fun Times!

So, I've been remiss about my blogging lately. Summer is (FINALLY) in full swing and so are weddings, and the photography fun and everything else in between!

It's late and I'd like to be in bed now, so I'm just gracing the world with a quick update in pictures!

She loves swinging!

She's my little dare-devil with the slide love!

She's Mommy's little helper!

Rylee's Got a Secret!!!

(Okay, not really, but we thought it was hilarious!)

She looooooooved the teeter-totter 

Okay, so that's my picture update for today, a real life update coming soon! I promise!

I'm not cut out for this

(I apologize in advance for the mess this post might be)

I don't come from a 'broken family' I don't know how to handle the insanity that comes along with 'broken families.'

My brother is so screwed up. Are you kidding me!? You tell the woman you knocked up and had a kid with that you don't love her and leave to go drink with friends that hate her and are only going to screw up your head more!? Seriously!?

That's another thing - where in the hell do the 3 of you get the beer?! You're all under-age, so who is buying it for you?

I'm not against alcohol. I enjoy the crap, so does my husband, and we have a drink together every few weekends or so. Yet we don't get drunk and we have far better things we would like to waste our money on than drinking enough alcohol to get drunk.

We ALL (Kenny, Myself, my Parents, Her Parents) told him they needed to work on their relationship BEFORE he moved out and got their own apartment. We told him he wasn't stable enough to handle it. I want to scream "I TOLD YOU SO!" from the top of a mountain. I also want to scream a lot of obscenities in his face in hopes I'll be speaking his language and maybe something will get through his thick skull!

I just can't believe him. I can't believe that my brother, raised in the same family with the same wonderful parents (who do have their own problems, but we all do) can be such an Asshole irresponsible jerk!

I hate this. I'm not cut out to be a relationship counselor for family. I do it for friends. Family is a whole different level of crazy that I just wish I didn't have to have any part of. This sucks. Royally sucks.

and I hate it.

No I have not!

Not been ignoring my blog, that is.

Okay, maybe I have been a little preoccupied.

The last couple weekends it has been one thing to the next, and it won't stop for the next month or so.

Last weekend,  I had the insane time pleasure of making a cake for a dear old friend of mine. After much turmoil (like dropping an entire layer on the ground) and then Rylee beating the crap out of a corner with my rolling pin (why no, I wasn't so mad I threw the rolling pin on the ground after ripping it out of her hands). After all that - it was actually a beautiful cake!

That same weekend I did a photoshoot for a really sweet family of girls. Quite energetic and full of life.  We had a blast. ....however I will not be quadruple booking myself for things like that again. I was supposed to be at a wedding while I was finishing up the cake and I know there was something else that I was supposed to do that also ended up not happening.

It's been a fun week. We had our first 'no-show' for a photography session. It's okay, I really don't mind, I'm sure she forgot with the kiddos - and I failed to give her a reminder call the day before. I'm learning as I go. I now know I'll be upgrading parts in my computer to be able to better handle the volume of photos I've been taking recently. I'm learning to keep better records of appointments, making reminder calls/emails, how many photos per session is actually realistic, and what kind of pricing is the 'right' one.

Rylee gashed her head open yesterday - falling down a couple stairs. A pretty darn good cut, if I do say so! I didn't do anything for it right away except stop the bleeding and bandage her head. Head wounds bleed - A Lot - I know that. So I wasn't concerned. It wasn't until about 4 hours later that I was finally able to get a good look at the cut in between bleedings and decided to take the trip to urgent care to see about a stitch or two.

She's got such a good memory it's amazing. At her 12 month check-up she remembered getting shots at 9 months. At her 15 month check-up she really remembered and the entire appointment was filled with screaming because she was afraid of the doctors. Everything since then has been the same way - if I go to the doctor - she screams, if Kenny goes - she screams.

As soon as that stethoscope touched her chest the screams came. They didn't stop until we were back in the car. The doctor (who was a very sweet woman) initially wanted to put a stitch in it but Rylee was screaming so much just seeing the doctor she thought that 'gluing' it would be more appropriate. I thought that would be best too - it really just needed help to stop bleeding. So that's what they did and all is well again.

She's a trooper. It did break my heart when (shortly after it happened) she was pointing to her head and whimpering in the saddest most pathetic way I've ever heard. I pulled over at the most convenient store and quickly bought her some tylenol and other goodies.  It makes me sad to see my baby hurt like that. To see the saddest tear-filled eyes look at me and just say "mama fix it, it hurts" without saying any real words. My baby shouldn't hurt like that. Yet, it's really just the beginning. So come the toddler years of pain.

Anyways. I'm trying to get back to regular blogging again, I promise.