A Decade In Parenting

#1 Every kid needs a picture with antlers. #2 Durango, CO #3 Not real spiders #4 Partners in Crime

This morning someone suggested that I start a blog. That was my first clue that too much time had passed since my last blog entry. So, one of my New Year's resolutions will be to be more consistent with my blog. Here goes nothing. No really, I mean this resolution could be dead and gone within a week. I'm horrible at this stuff.

11 years ago I was in my early twenties. OK, maybe not too early, but not exactly late. I was young and fancy free. Not sure what "fancy free" means but fun to say and slightly poetic. We came and went anytime any place. Heck, we even bought a black convertible. Speaking of black convertible...I remember feeling so sick and miserable waiting for our fiance agent to work a small miracle with our income and lack of credit history. I had been feeling sick for 7 weeks or so, but I was pretty sure I had a bug. Who cares anyway? We are young and now is the perfect time to buy a convertible (at least this is what we told my parents.) Long story short, yep, I was preggers. Telling everyone was fun but met with several odd responses. My mom asked "how did this happen?" I was not sure if she needed me to answer or if she was completely caught off guard, but odd moment to say the least. My friend Tammy, with whom I saw almost everyday, cried. Not a happy cry, just a 'my fun time with you is over' kinda cry. Eventually, we all rolled around to the idea of my parenting a child. Scary for all involved.

After a long night of putt-putt and Mexican food on New Years Eve, I settled in for the night. We celebrated the big millennium starting, and we were thankful that we had power, water and our computers were all working. Around 1am is when my life began to change. After many hours of laboring, pushing and getting to see how the vacuum and forceps felt, my child was out. I can still remember starring in complete confusion and amazement at this perfect child that they pulled out of me. Wow, that beautiful baby was mine.

In just 10 short years he has said his first word, took his first step, made friends and advanced in his education far beyond expectations (obviously, from his mother.) I can't wait to see what the next decade has in store for us. I love you Andrew!

What's Taking So Long?

I know what you're thinking the first and the last look the same. Well, they're not, you've gotta trust me. Every once in a while I get a bit overwhelmed. I start feeling the pressure to get my edits back to my customers. Normally, I blame those I love most for my delays. Running around kids or messing with someone else's business, or general wifely duties. However, occasionally, I notice me slowing myself down. When I've edited a photo img_9996E, that's a good indicator that I may have edited this photo too much and I should really move on. The most obnoxious part is that I sit and wonder which one is my favorite?

Note to self, this is not professional and completely obnoxious. Move along, just keep swimming.

My Little Devil

Don't let the puppy dog eyes fool you. Apparently, the bunny ears never get old.

My favorite site, both of them walking to Beth's house :)

Seriously, this front tooth is so loose, it looks like it's already gone.

Sweet Lily
For weeks now Abbey has insisted on being a devil for Halloween. She has three separate devil costumes circled in the well worn Party City magazine. I'm not sure why she can't just wear her everyday devil suit, denim shorts, T-shirt and flip flops. I could do a whole three minute bit on the perfect irony of that child wanting to be a devil for Halloween.

Any who, yesterday I got an eye full when I answered the feverish doorbell ring. I knew it was the girls because I could hear them giggling and plotting outside the door. After pretending to not be home for several minutes (hey, you can hope can't you?) I answered the door. My first glance went to the red sequin halter top that my sweet devil was wearing. She had one arm raised on the door frame exposing more mid section that I ever care to see. Honestly, I'm not sure how my little devil did not get picked up walking down the street? After the initial shock, I did what any mother would do after seeing her daughter in a prostitute devil costume......I grabbed the camera. These two girls are so stinkin' cute, I had to. I'm sure in a couple of days we will have two prostitute devil costumes. How can I resist?

I Might Even Be A Rock Star

Before the concert, and yes, very aware of the bunny ears. Seriously, who let's their kid go this long with a tooth that loose?!

One picture waiting inside for the concert, and the big picture is in the car before we walk in. Yes, she is screaming.

In case you ever wanted to know what it looks like to watch a concert from the last row in the building.

Thank God for nifty zooms and arm rest tripods. If you were to ever grab my ipod, you might notice my full collection of Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus songs. I might also tell you that they are in there just for Ab's. That, however, would not be the complete truth. She kinda rocks and she's fun to dance to. We are, after all, HUGE dance in the living room with music blaring fans. We even have a huge mirror downstairs that we can check ourselves out while dancing a fool. Again, off on at tangent.

Back in June, I surprised Abbey with news about the concert. She was excited, but not real sure what a concert involved. It was pretty obvious when she had mentioned how cool it would be to talk to Miley and get her "sign-a-ture". After explaining that our seats were closer to roof than Miley, she was a little confused. As the day grew closer our excitement did too. What to wear, how to do our hair, trying to pull that dang tooth out, where to eat......lots to do and talk about.

It's hard to put into words how she reacted. Sometimes, she would just hop around or scream because there were no words for her either. After seeing Miley on stage for the first time she kept repeating "Oh my gosh, that's Hannah Montana!" Her face lit the room. In fact, I spent most of the concert just watching her. We've all been to the concert and seen the many different concert approaches. Some just sit and watch, some sit, clap and sing a long, some sleep but the fun ones really know how to dance it up. Abbey is a dancer!! She swung her arms around the WHOLE time. Toward the end of the concert, she had lots of room to move around so she made full use of that space putting on her own show. One perk of sitting on the last row is the small table behind us. I was able to put my camera down and film some of her moves. I have several bits, but I'll just post one. I'm so excited I could experience her very first concert. She has her fair share of pain in the butt moments, but this makes up for it. Even more, I finally have a good concert buddy that I can take with me and really have a good time!

Rock Those Socks

Quick photo before school. This morning goofing off is also why we are on tardy #3

No real reason for this picture other than a pretty standard progression to all of our photo attempts. I could line a album with these things. Just yesterday I was out shopping and found a shirt that screamed "Abbey". It was blue, her favorite color, and had the message I love my puppy. I carried it around for a minute, but I ultimately put it down. The reason? Simple. I did not want to see that t-shirt every 3rd day for the next 12 months. If I've learned nothing else (and it is quite possible that I have not) I've learned to buy clothes that I don't mind seeing on a regular basis. If I don't want to see it, I don't but it. Great Rule.

With all that being said, and because I can be a slow learner, we do have those "special" items in the closet that get intentionally overlooked. Up until now, I've grabbed the socks in the morning just because they are the top drawer and I know there are MANY pairs in there that should never see the light of day. In an effort to please me (rare) she dressed and got her own socks. With overwhelming pride she popped around the corner to present herself to me. A very "ta da" moment.

What?! My eyes almost popped out just trying to find a place to look first. Was it the mid-shin length, was it the color, was it the text? Surely it was not the floral print Chucks? Trying to keep her proud of her "achievement", I started with a simple "Wow! Look at you?" "What's up with those socks?" Abbey replies, "They say I love you and I want to wear them to school." I returned with the question that I was pretty sure I knew the answer to. It was pretty obvious to me that she wanted to tell her beloved mom, right? I continued, "Who do you want to tell 'I love you' to?" Abbey grinned and said quickly "Ms. Sowers, I love her soooooo much!".

Seriously, how can you possibly make her take those off? Ms. Sowers, my hat is off to you. We knew you had a tough act to follow with those amazing Kindergarten teachers we had last year. I'm not even sure if you'll notice (although hard to miss) that her socks were sending a message straight to you.

Crop Magic

Every once in a while I get the urge to do something different. OK, not really every once in a while, more like every session. I've been editing this wedding now for over a week and I feel like I do the same old tricks. I went to crop down this picture and forgot that the last obscure crop was this ratio. The results really blew my skirt up, so I thought I'd share.

Rules To Go By....

Statistically, 3 out of 4 kids raised by ninjas become ninjas.

Posing rule #42: If you can't see me, I can't see you.

In case the holiday sweater isn't weird enough, throw in the ever so popular bunny/parrot combo.

Posing Rule #67: Matching holiday sweaters never really works out for the men, regardless of color or pattern.

Large creepy heads of your youngest is just weird.

Not only are they engaged, but they are also in hiding.

Is it me, or are there more heads than bodies?

Just in case the shirts and lays weren't enough.....

Posing Rule#23 Make sure the pose doesn't raise more questions than answers.

Posing Rule #98: Crossbows and little girls don't mix. I'll let the logo T's comment go.

See above pose rule #23

Not only do they all work at Sears, but very supportive of mom's playboy status.

Pose Rule #65: Large banana squash and miniature schnauzers should never be paired.

Wow, that was fun. Maybe I should declare Thursday "What Not To Do Thursday"? I'll let it simmer.