New Life....

Today is supposed to be the first day of Spring. It certainly does not feel very spring like, there is a cold icy wind outside and it's cloudy, no buds on our trees and we got an inch of snow yesterday morning (it's all melted now).

Spring signifies new life, but I can't help be sad today - a dear friend of mine said goodbye to her baby girl yesterday. She delivered at about 24 weeks, the little one was diagnosed with Anencephaly and the little one was going to make it past birth if even to full term.

They chose to induce labor, she was born yesterday morning, and went to be with Jesus at the same time. They got to hold her and spend some time with her and their families.

Any mom/parent can instantly feel that pang in their heart at the thought of losing their baby. Having lost my own, I know how heartbreaking the whole process can be.

So thankful for my little Rylee girl. It's actually been a bit of a rough weekend for me, not sure why. Rylee almost certainly being our only child hit me (again) this weekend. I'm totally enjoying her development. Yesterday it became apparent that she has hit a new stage - being genuinely scared of things.

She's growing up. Playing. Talking. Choosing to "Play with toys" over her dinner. Requesting that we play with her. Laughing when the rest of us laugh to be 'apart of the group.'  My baby is rapidly running away from me. I really do enjoy every moment. She is my entertainment, I prefer to watch her for hours on end over TV. She's so funny to watch. I've said it before - but I LOVE to watch the way her brain thinks about things.

I'm sick of not being in Church. It's been over 2 years since we've been there consistently.  I was so frustrated this morning because I wanted to go to church, was getting up to get ready and realized I had forgotten that we have to get up at about 7 just to be able to get in the shower as there are 5 of us that take them on Sunday mornings - and the hot water just doesn't last that long. I know it sounds so trivial... but we are a family of obsessive people that all need a shower to function in the morning, so there isn't much of a way around that.


Kenny's got 2 quarters of school down and [hopefully] only 6 more!  It's 2 more years of school, but thinking of it as 6 quarters feels more attainable/shorter. I'm pretty sure he's got a 4.0 or close in all his classes. I'm so proud of him. I also can't wait to be living in our own house again.

I just miss it, ya know? Every time I see our storage pile of stuff I wonder why I'm even keeping it - oh yeah, I love it and would really like to use it again. ...but maybe we should sell it and just get new stuff... ....no.... that would cost so much more... but.... yeah. I'm a downer on this Sunday.

Colds colds go away!

Rylee has never been as sick as she has this week. Took her back to the doctor last night because I knew there was something more going on than just a cold. We found an ear infection this time, a new development from last week. So, we've finally got a prescription that'll take care of her ear-infection and most likely her chest problem too. Didn't sound like Pneumonia, but if it was something bacterial it should be taken care of with the the antibiotic.

So, while we were waiting for her prescription to be filled yesterday I took her across the street and shot these delightful photos! I love having a dress-up-doll (toddler)!

 

 

 

 

And today my awesome husband took us on an impromptu  drive up to Mt.Spokane and after doing my share of picture taking my husband made me get In-Front of the camera!

 

Heaven-forbid I'd actually be in-front of the camera.  Heehee. No, I spend life looking through a lens. I love it. I love having our daughters life documented and I love helping to document other people's children as they grow too.

 She's 2 years and almost 3 months, now. Kenny's Birthday is in a few days. I am in no way ready for his birthday. I always have plans, I always have his gift purchased weeks-months in advance... not this year. It's been a little nuts, though, between school-work-work-kid-life. I'm hoping that I'll have it figured out later tonight, or by Monday at least. Haha.

Cabin Fever

We're suffering from cabin fever majorly here at my house. Rylee wants to go play outside so bad, but our stupid "spring" weather can go from 20 degrees to 40 degrees to 16 degrees in a day. It can also go from sunny, to rainy, to snowy, to hail, to sun, to rain to.... all in a day as well. The ground is mushy and everything is wet and gray. There is dog poop up to our eyeballs in our backyard because it's been so gross no one wants to go out and clean it up. Some random neighborhood dog has been laying huge piles in our front yard - so that's out as a play area too.

When I'm not working either on photos, returning emails & phone calls, or helping my dad out we almost always end up taking a trip to Target or a thrift store just to go out. Usually I'm really good and the most money we spend is on a juice or something 'special' from the gas station. Other times I just can't help myself when I find a great prop from a thrift store.

Rylee is also on month 2 of non stop colds. Everytime she gets over one she ends up exposed to another from a friend or cousin and gets sick all over again. I finally took her to the doctor a couple nights ago just to make sure it wasn't something more serious that she'd need an antibiotic for - nope! Just another freaking cold. Doctor Mom here says it's an Upper Respiratory Infection. I've had more than my fair share of those darn things and this time it acts and sounds just like one. Poor kid is so congested she can hardly breath when she naps/sleeps - so she sleeps badly. Then she's cranky and clingy the rest of the day - with happy moments here and there.

I've got the humidifier doing full-time duty the last few days, I've got the Vicks liquid added to the humidifier water, the Vicks alternated between her chest and feet, Ibuprofen to help inflammation....

So done with this. I've gotten very few pictures edited from my Sunday photo session because every time I go to work on one the kiddo needs me again. Kenny is in Finals week at school and it doesn't end until next Friday - but that's his last day of school for the quarter - and we're off for a week.

My best friend is gonna have a baby any time (well, her due date isn't until the 27th, but all mom's know how due-dates and labor actually works) and I'm so excited to head back down to Portland to do her newborn photos.

Spending the weekend at her place for her babyshower was so much fun. Doing her maternity photos was a total blessing for me. I'll leave you with a few of her maternity photos for today, enjoy!

 

 

Can you say that again?

Rylee: "bebast ime, mama"

Me: "Huh?"

Rylee: "bebast ime, mama!"

Me: "I don't understand what you're saying, sweetie."

Rylee: "Bebast ime, Mama!!!!"

(this continues for several minutes)

Me: "OH! Breakfast Time?"

Rylee: "YEAH! bebast ime, mama!"

As she's playing with her toy kitchen and plates. She proceeds to bring Kenny and I plates with pretend food and then gives us bites of pretend food. Takes the plates back to her kitchen and says "Rylee's cooking bebast." 

"Here's mama's bebast"

"This ones papa's bebast"

Oh, to watch life through a child... and decipher their babble.

I can't help myself...

Thanks to my wonderful family I have a new addiction.

Photo Props.

I asked for props and gave examples of little things to get me for Christmas. Well, my family came through and I got props! ...Which sparked my almost inability to hold back now. I was good for about 3 weeks after Christmas. I played with my new ones as much as a person can when it's subzero and snowy outside and no one wants pictures out in that weather. 

Theeeen I started going back to thrift stores. I've scored some seriously adorable things and that has just fed into my addiction. 

My sister-in-law is knitting me some awesome props for newborn sessions I've got coming up. 

I fear  etsy may actually become a dangerous place for me too. Thus far I've only ever bought 1 or 2 things from there. But there are SO many adorable photo props available to me that I don't think I'll be able to contain myself much longer. ...I might need to go to an A.A. meeting for photographers ...or something like that.  Heehee. 

But seriously. I can't help myself and my daughter is also helping feed this problem by producing delicious almost edible pictures like this:

:::SIGH::::

Follow me as you enter...

::::::::THE TODDLER-ZONE::::::::

(Twilight Zone music)

Yep, we have definitely entered into The Toddler-Zone. 

It is so much fun, it really is. We're watching her become a real person. She's playing "pretend" all the time now. Pretending she's cooking things on her kitchen stove, in her play microwave making "Beep"ing noises when pushing the pretend buttons.

She pretends to talk to her Aunts on the phone. 

Pretends to feed her numerous baby-dolls bottles, makes them go "nigh-night," says "Baby woke up!" or "Baby hungry too!!" when it's time for breakfast. 

She's talking and repeating everything. EVERYTHING. It's totally adorable and I'm thankful we haven't had to do any speech correcting (i.e. "No, Sweetie, that's not a nice word").  

Rylee talks about herself in the 3rd person. It's the funniest thing. I think it's largely due to us always saying (almost from the day she was born) "Is Rylee hungry?" "Hi Rylee!" "What's Rylee doing?" "Is Rylee Pretty?" ...and so on. Getting her to make the association with her name as soon as possible. 

Anyway, it gets really funny when she starts really chatting. "Rylee hungry, Mama. Rylee eat soon?"  "Buh Bye soon?? Rylee coming too???" 

She's also REALLY polite! It's so adorable! When I give her a meal in her high-chair she says "THANK you, Mama!!!" (Or Papa). She says "You're welcome" after we tell her 'Thank You.'

---Back to The Toddler-Zone. 

Oh boy. Can we say GIRL? Cause she is awesomely manipulative. She has also gotten quite demanding for whatever it is that she is wanting at the moment. We tell her "Rylee, you need to say 'Please'" and she'll get all smiley and say "YEAH!" as in: "Yeah, Mama, 'Please' - you just said it for me." She does it all with a smile so that makes it "Okay" in her mind. 

"Please."

That is a whole different struggle. She does NOT want to say "Please." It's seriously like we're asking her to go live with a different family. 

She gets her strong-willed personality honestly from both of her parents. So it makes for an interesting fight. It's not that she doesn't understand what we're asking her to do. She completely does. It's an outright defiant act. 

Asking for her Pacifier in a screaming and demanding manner earns her a "Say Please and settle down a little bit, then you can have it." She will instantly calm down, cross her arms in front of her chest, tilt her head up, and walk away. 

Rylee LOVES her pacifier. But when told she needs to say please for it will go ALL DAY, without it until she finally says it at some random point in the evening quietly and timidly. 

Tonight - she was coloring in her coloring books. All fine and well - then I realize that she's coloring on a table, a toy and the tried to color on some adorable wooden blocks I bought a couple days ago. So, we have the "Paper Only" discussion, again. A few minutes later I hear quiet giggling over in the corner. I quietly got up and walked over to see what she was doing... coloring on her baby doll's head. 

"Rylee, is that paper?"

...silence...

:::Meltdown:::

Ooooooh, Yes. We have definitely entered into The Toddler-Zone. That time in you and your child(ren)s life where everything is SO cute and adorable, and so challenging all at once.

Not a Baby anymore

My kiddo is growing so much! I was going through pictures they other day trying to dig up some old ones for my up and coming photography website, and to put a better portfolio in order for myself - and I realized that we moved into my in-laws nearly a year ago. My little baby girl was still baby-ish at the time, she's totally not anymore! I'm so sad!!!

Her hair has grown at least twice as long, she's gotten REALLY tall, her feet have grown a TON. She's using real sentences now. Kenny and I were realizing the other day that she actually has better sentence structure than a lot of jr.highers and highschoolers these days. Yeah, I'm bragging a little.

She is in love with babies, thomas the tank engine - and - Toy Story!

It's totally cute, she loves Buzz and Woody and Jessie and Bullsye.

I wish she had a sibling. There. I'm saying it. Had to get it out of my system. She would be an excellent big sister, and would (hopefully) help with her serious mama-jealousy and problems being around other kids. She's so antisocial it's pretty awful. We're working on that.

See what I mean, though? 

She's a real person these days. Not just a baby any more. A person.

 

::::::SIGH::::::