The Nashvegas Clores

Batmans!

2012-02-07T20:59:00.003-06:00

Harvey loves to request specific items, and then put an "s" on the end. For example, 'I want my Batmans pajamas". But in these pictures, it actually makes some sense. The Batmans (mens........boys.......mans.....). No matter what you call them, they're pretty darn cute (in my MOST humble opinion, of course).

You seein dis guy?? He's pretty cwazy, really.

Mom's so lame...........

It's all fun and games until...

Little brother starts touching your cars.....

And your pants.

Poor sweet, innocent little Charlie. He didn't mean to scare big brother off so he could have the chair and the photographer all to himself........

Or did he?

He just desperately needed you to see his two brand new teeth!!

I call dis one, "Bwue Steel".

Always so serious when the camera comes out. But so very smiley otherwise. So strange.

One more smile for the road!

Trains

2012-01-24T10:19:00.002-06:00

Our boy loves trains. Seriously. loves. them. In the car, just running errands, he asks to drive over more train tracks (who doesn't love a nice big bump when driving?!). And he is genuinely super excited to just go over the tracks. It's the simple things, really.

Santa brought him a train table for Christmas. It has been the most exciting gift he's ever received. Thomas the Train and all of his friends, regular strength trains, cars, dinosaurs, airplanes---pretty much everything has had a turn on that table. He's spent hours creating and re-creating different scenarios. And everyone that walks in the door is asked (read:harassed) to "Come play train table??!!". Such a sweet obsession.

This past weekend, John thought it would be a fun family outing to go find some train tracks and let Harvey get out and explore. If nothing else, it would be good for us to all get out together and go for a ride (we hadn't all been out together since the beginning of December). We were able to do better than just an empty old boring track----we found a train pulling in for a stop!

Don't worry, we had the camera. :) I'm trying to make up for lost time here.

This was pretty much the highlight of his whole life to date. Now the plain old empty tracks aren't nearly as exciting. Still exciting, but he's pretty determined to find another "big train". We've set the bar pretty high I'm afraid.

Charlie Five Months

2012-01-20T14:36:00.003-06:00

I somehow found the time and energy (and cooperation from Charlie) to get his 5 month photos taken on time! This was literally a 10 minute shoot, and it wore me out. I really need to get it together soon. Baby steps though. First a 10 minute photo shoot, then maybe a 10 minute walk. Maybe.

Here is what you all are really here for. Not my *super* inspiring talks about fitness, but photos of our sweet boys.

Note: His hands are ALWAYS in his mouth. His two bottom teeth are about to make an appearance. Hurry up already!

My favorite from the day. Love, love it.

See? Wasn't even kidding about those hands.

I wanted a really good photo of his chunky legs. I'm afraid this photo doesn't do them justice. There is a third roll on there, but in an effort to keep this rated PG, you can't see it. But trust me, it's there. Those legs are probably where he stores most of his 20+ pounds.

In several photos he was looking up or over to the side. This is what he was staring at:

And honestly I would keep an eye on him too if I was laying on the floor and that wild thing was literally running circles around me.

Charlie at five months:

We just recently really started in with food. He currently has 2 tbs of cereal with a 4 oz fruit at lunch, and then a 4oz veggie for dinner. And, obviously, bottles in between. Homeboy does not let you forget to feed him.

I can't decide which he's going to do first:, sit up or roll over. He wants to be in an upright position at all times, but can't get the hang of doing it himself. I'm convinced its his cheeks pulling him down. He attempts to roll over all the time, but that one arm is always on the way. Always a tricky thing.

He finalyl started sleeping through the night. Thank goodness!!

He is still having a hard time staying asleep with his arms unswaddled, so we continue to try to find new ways to force him to sleep. Trying to get a giant 20+ pounder swaddled is quite an ordeal. We just need to get him a big twin sheet and call it a day. :)

A Snow(ish) Day

2012-01-14T15:16:00.003-06:00

Here are a few photos of Harvey in our first "snow" of the winter. Even he realized it was way too cold for the amount of snow of our little walk. He was begging/running to get home. Since when does he beg to go home??

He was pretty darn cute out there, I'll have to admit. Enjoy!

Charlie 4 Months

2012-01-10T22:20:00.003-06:00

I'm baaaaaaaaaack kids!

But only for Charlie's four month stats. And only because he's going to be five months old one week from today. I know, what the heck is this kid doing, growing up so fast?!

I'm still having pretty killer headaches everyday, but I realized I could (and should) edit photos a little at a time and then blog. Because our adoring public is waiting! :) And because I have all of these sweet four month photos of Charlie taken by our friend Leigh while I was in the hospital. I remember on the 17th I was super sad because I knew it was Charlie's 4 month birthday and I wasn't going to be there to take my usual monthly photos of him. Once I was a little more together, John told me Leigh took his photos, on his calendar, on his actual birthday. How thoughtful is that?! So, so sweet. Thank you so much for these photos Leigh. We'll always look back on these and remember how awesome you were for not only taking the time out to take them, but for remembering our sweet little guy on his four month birthday. Thank you for doing exactly what this mama wanted to be doing with him on that day.

And here's a super good photo of our big boy, also taken by Leigh. You might just have a future as a photographer one day. :)

Charlie's official 4 month stats:

Height: 26.75 inches

Weight (drumroll please......): 20lbs

Head--17cm (at least I hope its cm!!)

Compared to Harvey: everything is pretty much the same, but he weighs 2 pounds more. In babyland, that's a ton! This kid has some crazy chunky thighs that I'm going to have to document soon. Ok, I need to rest my giant aching head. Until next month......:)

Sarah no longer has staples

2012-01-07T07:29:00.002-06:00

Sarah and I went to see My Week With Marilyn last night. It was a wonderful movie. I've always been a fan of Marilyn Monroe, and the story contained in that film only made me more interested in her story, and her untimely murder.

After that we stopped in to Sonic for ice cream. We sat in the car and listened to The Goo Goo Dolls ("Black Balloon"), Ryan Adams ("Lucky Now"), The Police ("Wrapped Around Your Finger") and Snow Patrol ("Crack the Shutters"), courtesy of Lightning 100.

The simple things mean a lot more now.

We made an impromptu visit to Sarah's surgeon's nurse yesterday, and we are so glad we did. Sarah had her staples removed. The nurse told us Sarah is doing well and could slowly begin to act more like a "normal" person. This is far from an "all clear," but it is obviously a step in the right direction. In the meantime, we continue to be blown away by the love of family and friends. Life is progressing.

The enormity of our situation continues to hit me. I am slowly realizing what has happened since December 5, 2011.

Thank you for helping us stay on track.

John's Thoughts, 12/29/11

2011-12-29T00:55:00.002-06:00

It has been 24 days since we learned Sarah had a brain tumor, 16 since it was removed and six since we left the hospital to return home. Sarah is doing well. Our mental and emotional processing continues.

On the morning of Tuesday, December 13, the day of Sarah's brain surgery, I was numb. I wasn't mad at anyone or anything - I was just trying to get by. I was trying to be brave. For Sarah. For myself. For our boys. For whoever needed it.

That was one of the hardest days of my life. Actually, the hardest. Other than the day we learned of the brain tumor, the day it was being dealt with is it.

Now I sit in our living room and talk with Sarah. We watch (partial) movies. We laugh. I tell her bits and pieces about the things she missed, and we both are continually amazed at how people love us.

"It is in the shelter of each other that the people live."

This is an old Irish proverb brought to my attention by the ridiculously-talented, extremely smart and abundantly compassionate band, Jars of Clay.

The response to our little situation continues to blow me away. A very difficult circumstance has been turned into a beautiful thing because of you. If you're reading this, you have some level of care for what is going on in our world, therefore, I'm including you.

I am glad I do not have to imagine going through this alone, and I am simultaneously heartbroken for those that do.

Please do all you can to love those closest to you more.

For whatever reason, our family has added the removal of a brain tumor to our resume. Though I do not appreciate its happening, I accept it, and will live with the following lyrics in mind, from Jars of Clay's song, "Run In The Night."

For I am such a man

Seized by the power of a great affection

No matter where I am

Peace spreads below me in every direction

When evil sets the war upon me

I won't stumble, I won't fall

Though they do their worst

Your love has found me first

For by you, I can run in the night

Hope for Sarah

2011-12-26T12:05:00.004-06:00

During this unusual time in our lives, some friends have set up a donation page to help us get through. Thanks to all of you for your continued support. You can visit the page here.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T14:48:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas. You all are wonderful people. We are enjoying our Festivus Miracle and attempting to relax...

John's Thoughts, 12/22/11

2011-12-22T21:56:00.002-06:00

Never in a million years did I think this would be us. Not at 29/30 years old. We've been through some interesting things, but surely it wouldn't get to brain tumor-type intensity. But everything has changed in the past two weeks. Everything. That's not to say life won't be "normal" again after a while, and/or that Sarah won't be fully functioning in the near future, but there is no way you walk away from a tumor in the middle of your brain, a successful removal surgery, an emergency surgery two days later and a shunt surgery the following week - and life not be entirely different.

It is said you gain wisdom just after you needed it. I certainly haven't gained all of the wisdom that is to come of this life-change, but my perspective on life has again been turned upside down, shaken, stirred, and tossed around a bit. To think that my beautiful wife, Sarah, would have had a tumor growing in the middle of her brain for years? Are you kidding me? And that we would find it the very same night following a conversation about how we just wanted 2012 to be a boring year, with no big changes to our world. And that it would come after we have welcomed two precious boys into creation? What. In. The. World?

We have spent 11 nights in the hospital since December 5. I have watched countless nurses and doctors come in and check on Sarah, on the hour, every hour, of every day. I have arranged, and rearranged, our hospital room furniture so we could live in the space provided us. I have bought a lot of coffee from the not-Starbucks coffee stand that has the Starbucks logo all over it that won't accept my Starbucks gift cards. I have been up and down what feels like most of the elevators Vandy has to offer, traversed its parking garages a few times over, and sat with many lovely people that have come by to visit or bring food and gifts.

Amid my exhaustion due to our situation, there is one thing I have learned a whole lot about these past two weeks: love.

Love from family.

Love from friends.

Love from nurses and doctors.

Love from co-workers.

Love from fellow church-goers.

Love from the man that married us.

Love from classmates.

Love from seemingly everyone we have ever known.

As for me, my love for Sarah.

Let me be very clear - this situation vehemently sucks. I hate this. There is not one thing I like about what has happened, and is happening, to us. I would not wish this on my worst enemy. This is not a fun time. This completely blows.

But no one promised any of us a life of total comfort and satisfaction. Who am I to think I am above the darkest and meanest this world has to offer? I am not. Sarah is not. None of us are.

It will be ok. In the midst of this confusion, it will be ok. It still sucks. But it will be ok.

Back to my love for Sarah. I'm just beginning to understand how Grandma loved Grandpa through seven years of alzheimer's, all the way to the very end. I'm just beginning to see how Mom loves Dad, and Dad loves Mom - and all of the other wonderful examples of stubborn, love-filled perseverance I have in my life.

When you go to bed having accepted you may lose your wife the following day, but then she makes it, something changes.

I hate that we are going through this, but for how it has positively impacted the love I have for someone I already loved, I may someday say it was all worth it. I'm not quite there on the latter, but the former is definitely true. My love for Sarah significantly began increasing at Summit Medical Center around 10:30 pm on Monday, December 5, 2011.

Love is all you need. It is all that really matters anyway.

Two little boys, a brain tumor and lots of love

2011-12-17T15:08:00.003-06:00

Sarah had been having brain/head pains for a few weeks. After the memory foam pillows did nothing, she knew it was time to have it checked out. We made the necessary, last-minute arrangements at 9 pm to proceed to the nearest ER. Within 30 minutes of our arrival to Summit Medical Center, the doctor quickly came to our room with news that something was not right. A few hours later, we were in a Neuro ICU room at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Sarah had a tumor in the middle of her brain.

Questions, fears, tears, shock and endless thoughts filled our night. Where had this come from? I mean, our story has always been a little crazy: married nine months after meeting, child number one comes home the day before our one-year anniversary, child number two comes along three and a half years into marriage, I changed jobs six months ago, and we have moved three times in less than four years of marriage. But a brain tumor? Literally in the middle of Sarah's brain?

We spent another night at Vandy. We talked with the surgeon - Dr. Reid Thompson - an amazing man. We tried to get the word out. We learned that we would go home for a few days, then return the following Tuesday for a seven-plus hour open-brain surgery to remove the tumor.

You don't plan for this. You simply hope all goes well, and deal with the outcome.

The night before surgery, Sarah told me she had actually enjoyed the prior few days, because we were able to experience what most people never do, and a reaction that usually doesn't come until death. We had the honor of seeing just how much people love Sarah and our entire family. But especially Sarah.

Tuesday morning, December 13, 2011, 7:30 am in Nashville: some 30 people gather in the hospital lobby to support us through their presence, prayer, hugs, snacks, crossword puzzle books and yoga pants. All of those people...they were there for Sarah, for me, for Harvey, for Charlie. I was amazed.

From the lobby, I talked to Dr. Thompson on the phone around 3:30 that afternoon. He told me the surgery could not have gone better, and that he was quite certain they had removed all of the tumor. I was able to go to the recovery room a bit later to see my bride. That first image of her was a beautiful one. Seeing gorgeous Sarah resting after one of the most traumatic and invasive surgeries possible - there are no words to describe that sort of thankfulness.

It's currently a quiet Saturday afternoon here around the Neuro ICU at Vanderbilt, except for the occasional ding from one of Sarah's vital signs monitors (I'm convinced no one really knows why those things are dinging most of the time). As I sit here on this couch that has served as my bed for the past four nights, I am absolutely exhausted and simultaneously awestruck at the response from so many people over the past week and a half. Likely, you are one of those. Thank you. This would be an altogether different experience without the endless prayers, vibes, energies, thoughts, cards, hugs, tears and love coming our way.

As Sarah and I sit/lay here and try to prepare for what's next in life, please know that this is one of the hardest things we have ever dealt with. This is no fun. This is completely draining. This sucks.

But, it will be ok. Somehow, some way. We believe we are part of something far beyond us that hopefully is impacting many people for good.

As you read this, know that you are special. Know that you are important, and important to us. Know that we could not do this without you. Enjoy life. Enjoy your family and your friends. Do not take things for granted.

All Sarah wants to do right now is see and hold our precious little boys. Please join with me as we energetically await that moment. Please join with me as we wait for the fluid on Sarah's brain to drain off on its own. Please join with me as we adjust to a whole new life - one free of an unwelcome obstruction blocking the second most important part of Sarah's body, her brain.

It really is all about the heart, for without love, forget about it.

We love you, and we thank you for loving us.

Charlie Three Months

2011-12-02T15:34:00.002-06:00

Now that our hunka hunka burnin' love is almost four months old, it's time to post his three month photos, don't you think? Here's our sweet Chugs at three months.

It's getting so hard to get the calendar AND the baby in these shots with my 50mm lens. Gotta move up for the next shoot!

And now for my favorite photos----this boy loves hats almost as much as big brother.

But look how sweet when he finally cools off! This is Charlie telling me how "gooooood" he is. I love this kid.

A few stats (and there aren't too many):

*I weighed him at home on his 3 month birthday and he was 17.2 pounds. Mercy!

*He still typically gets up 1 time in the night to eat. He goes to bed between 7:00-7:30pm and gets up for the day around 7:00. He's always been such a great sleeper!

*It looks like we're going to have another sweet blue eyed boy.

*He still has not mastered sucking his thumb. But, he sure does chew his hands all.the.time.

Brothers

2011-11-30T17:36:00.003-06:00

I have a zillion photos and posts to do. But, I took these photos today and I just had to move this post up to today. These kids are so funny together.

Dis so booooorings.

C- Hey, whatcha' donin' big brudder?
H- Nuffins.

C- Has you seen dees fings??? Do you has dem??
H- Yeah, dose your hands. Babies don't know nuffin.

H- I fink I has a idea!!!

C- Ummmmm----moooom!! I fink he has me! He has me!!

C- Wet me go!!!
H- Now we're having fun, aren't we Charwie?!

C- Dis no funs!

C- Ok, maybe dis not so bad.

C- Ok ok. You right!! I wike you big brudder!

C- Mom, you makin' sure to get a good angle? Dos I wook chubby from der?

Sweet boys.

More to come soon. Pinky swear.

Halloween

2011-11-10T09:54:00.003-06:00

Man, I'm way behind. It's been a crazy crazy last couple of weeks. We moved into a house, I've had a few photo shoots that i've been editing and getting sent off, we've been packing, moving, unpacking, sorting, cleaning, and organizing some more for what feels like forever. Oh, and then we have these two kiddos as well. No big deal. :)

So we briefly discussed "skipping" halloween this year because we had so very much going on. But, Harvey caught wind of what was going on (thanks Barney!), walking around our house yelling "TRICK OR TREAT" all day long, so we decided it's not that much work, so we should do it. Harvey was obviously going to be Woody, and then I saw this bear costume and HAD to have it for Chugs. He makes the perfect bear. If I do say so myself.

We took them to the mall to trick or treat. Such a good decision. This way, Harvey was contained, he couldn't run out in the street all hopped up on sugar and foaming at the mouth (slight exaggeration----only slight), and we didn't have to worry about the weather. And when we were starving at 7:00 because we still hadn't had dinner, there was a food court. Perfection.

Here are some photos of our crazy crew.

He needed to get a closer look at this "bear".

Hey, my names is Chawrwey. But you can calls me Chugs, Chugs da bear.

You think this guy was excited?

That's the way to do it. Put those kids to work!!

Such realistic bear paws..........

Dragging daddy inside.......gots to hurry and get 1200 dum dum suckers!!!

Halloween Sneak Preview

2011-10-27T11:14:00.002-05:00

Any guesses what Harvey is going to be for Halloween?

I love that they're on the wrong feet. :)

He even kind of has the walk down.

He is over the top excited to be Woody for Halloween. He woke up from nap, wearing just his diaper (this undressing thing is getting crazy), and I showed him his hat and boots that came while he was sleeping. He put on the hat and boots so dang fast and started running around the house screaming "IMMA COWBOY!!!! IMMA COWBOY!!!!". We haven't been able to take the boots or hat away since. He even went to bed with them on. John went in after he went to sleep and took them off. Then first thing this morning, he had them on again. I love it. And apparently he does too. He's SUCH a picky guy about what he wears and he definitely does not like to wear anything new. But Woody's clothes---those are a different story.

Charlie Two Months

2011-10-17T14:39:00.004-05:00

Hard to believe our little guy is two months old today.

So here are some photos from his big two month shoot. :)

You can never have too many photos of your children mostly naked wearing ridiculous hats. Never.

See? He is awake sometimes. I feel like most of his photos are of him sleeping. And looking to the right. But that's another issue entirely.

Month one to month two. Chunkin' up!

And some outtakes:

Oh, well would you wook at dat! I'm is 2 months old aweady! Time sure is goin' fast...........

Nope, I'ms not gonna cwy about it.........I'm not.

Ok, maybe I'm is gonna cwy about it! Why I has to grow up so fast? Is so sad!!

Some two month updates:

* I weighed him at home the other day: 14.2 pounds. He's pretty much doubled his birthweight now (unofficially). And with the way he's continuing to eat, I think he wants to quadruple his weight by his 4 month weigh in.

*He still eats every 2 1/2 hours- 3 hours around the clock. Sometimes at night he will "accidentally" sleep for 4 hours. After that, he wants the next two bottles every 2 hours. It's getting a bit ridiculous around here folks.

*We're working on sleep training, trying to get us all ready to go back to work. So far the day time naps are going well. The night time when we attempt to not feed him and get to him skip one of the 3(!) feedings he's wanting (clearly out of habit, not necessity)-----that's not going so well. He's quite set in his old man ways.

*Just this week he's started to go to bed around 7:30-8:00pm and sleeping until 7:30-8:00am. But, he's waking up around 10:00pm, 2:00am, 4:00am, and finally 7 or 7:30 to eat. Fortunately, he's all business---bottle, diaper and back to bed. A few times he's been wide awake, but he'll at least go back to bed and chat to himself (sometimes for well over an hour) until he can fall asleep on his own.

*Sizes: Clothes: Mostly 6 months, but I can shove him into a few 3 month outfits.
Diapers: Size 3 (we just went ahead and skipped the size 2s).
We'll have his "official" length and weight on Wednesday.

*He's such a good baby, really. Super laid back, and as long as you keep him fed and keep his diaper clean, he's content to do whatever. We're so blessed to have him in our family.

Chugga Chugga Charlie

2011-10-10T15:39:00.003-05:00

I've decided if there is ever another baby Clore (we're saying we're finished after 2, but we don't always get to call the shots!), Harvey totally has to name the next one. He randomly started calling Charlie "Chugga Chugga Charlie". Slight train obsession anyone? Anyone??

I love it! Best nickname ever. Naturally, I call Charlie "Chugs" pretty much all of the time. I also like to incorporate Chugga Chugga into other people's names---Chugga Chugga daddy said it's time for dinner. Why don't you come over here and play, Chugga Chugga Harvey? Now, that's pretty obnoxious. But, that's not going to stop me. I love being obnoxious. Just ask John.

Yesterday I took little Chugs out for a super quick photo shoot in our backyard after church. You would never guess it's almost the middle of October in these photos. They look like spring/Easter photos.

My favorite. This is definitely going up in our house somewhere..........if I ever print some photos.

Sweet little buddy is still sleeping almost 20 hours a day (still waking up ever 2 1/2 -3 hours to eat, don't worry. He goes back to sleep mid-way through his bottle while still chugging away). It's starting to mess with our night time a little, so we're working on keeping him awake and wearing him out during the day. Pretty hard to do. He was sleeping in his car seat, I took him out, took him outside, put him in a basket, took photos, carried him back inside, laid him down and he still never woke up. I guess we should enjoy all this sleep while we can!

Charlie's First Cardinals Game

2011-10-05T15:28:00.004-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we loaded up the car and headed to St Louis for Charlie's first Cardinals game. It was John's dream to take each of the boys to Busch Stadium for a game the year they were born. Since Charlie was originally due September 9, then scheduled for September 1, we decided he would be too young to make the voyage in time for the last regular season home games September 24/25.

Since he was born so much earlier, I figured he would be old enough to make it for at least one game that weekend. That's right, I was the one that approached John about going to a game. Most people think he totally pressured me into going, but he had actually moved on. I figured that even if it was a terrible experience, at least we tried and we made one of John's dreams come true. And if we never try to do anything with our boys, we'll never have any stories to tell..........good or bad. :)

In the end, it. was. awesome. Seriously. We normally can't say that about taking Harvey out in public, not even factoring in a five week old baby. We went up on Friday night, stayed in a hotel (ummm, not exactly the highlight of my trip, trying to get everyone to sleep in one room and keep big Harv asleep as Charlie woke up every 2 1/2 hours), then got up and headed to the stadium Saturday morning. I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story.

Do you think Harvey likes waking up in a hotel? Especially when we're going to see "De arch!! And Fweebird!!!". Oh yeah!!

Charlie was equally pumped up.

What you guys fink? You fink I wooks good in red? Yeah, I fink so too. And you fink Fwedbirwd is gonna be scary?? Yeah, me too..........

Again, super pumped.

But what Charlie lacks in excitement...........

Harvey makes up for it with his over the top excitement.

And here's what he is truly excited about:

OMG!! It's Fredbird y'all!!

Where'd he go??? I can't see Fwed through all dem guys dressed in white uniforms!!!

This was our boy at the end of the game. Screaming, yelling (like he was being chased by an axe murderer, but that's ok), clapping. So excited.

So excited about this:

Yup, Fredbird again. I told John, Harvey thought Fredbird just won the Fredbird game in Fredbird Stadium. That's what Harvey was there to see anyway.

This is SO Harvey these days.

Check out that hottie!!

Shielding him from the fireworks and cheering at the end.

Looks like someone ate a few too many nachos and passed out.....

And of course, daddy and his littlest boy at his first game. Such a fun day. I love experiencing things with my boys and seeing things through their eyes. Baseball games, hotel rooms, seeing the Arch are all fun things for us as adults, but to Harvey it's all so magical. He could not have been cuter if he tried. And Charlie was a perfect baby all weekend. I can't wait to make many many more memories with both of our boys in St Louis.

A Stroll and Some Harvey Stories

2011-09-27T14:32:00.003-05:00

I decided to take the boys out for a walk last week. We had been cooped up in the house all day and I wanted to get out, and I wanted to get some use out of our double stroller. I wanted to get some photos of the boys while I had some good lighting and while they were (strapped in and held captive) sitting so nicely. These kids were giving me some strange looks. The obviously were feeling a little skeptical about my abilities to push a stroller around.

Harv: I don't know bouts you and dis stwoller............where's my daddy? he knows how dis fing works.
Charlie: Hey.

For real........

Ehhhhh..........

Mom totally doesn't has a clue bouts pushin dis big fing, right Chorlie?

Heh heh heh heh..........

What the heck are you laughing at?

Heh he heh heh...............

Chuckle, chuckle snort...............

Oh snap!! People still says dat, right?

Seriously, those were the best photos from our walk. They didn't give me much to work with. Regardless, they're a cute little pair.

Now onto some updates about this guy. I want to make sure this doesn't become all about Charlie. Harvey is becoming quite hilarious in his old age.

*He calls Charlie "Chore-lie".

*When Charlie is crying and he's laying on the floor or somewhere where Harvey can reach him, Harv will walk over and sit next to him, put his hands around Charlie's hips and start dragging him onto his lap while saying "Come on Chorelie, don't cry". Such a good big brother. And, fortunately he's never fully picked him up. :)

*Harvey does know how to count, but he's changed it up recently. He walks around saying "1, 2, 5" quickly, all the time. And the more you try to correct him, the faster and louder he gets. So, 1,2,5 it is buddy, Preschool should be a rude awakening.

*He repeats EVERYTHING we say. There's a lot of "It's ok buddy", "Yeah man", "Good job buddy". He really makes me evaluate some of my bizarre phrases.

*Another favorite: "Ok fine" said very monotone and under his breath.Hilarious!

*He's become very independent since Charlie arrived. Out of necessity, of course. He wants milk, he can go to the refrigerator and get his own sippy cup. He climbs into his chair at the table, his car seat in the van. He can undress himself and he does it all. the. time. He can go fetch most anything I ask him to. He knows how to turn almost all of the lights in the house off and on.

*He now calls me mom and John dad. I try to correct him and make him call me "mommy" and John "daddy" because he sounds just too old. He won't do it.

*When he's feeling extra Jersey Shore he calls me "ma". Definitely not acceptable.

He's growing up so fast. Such a sweet, sensitive, caring little guy, So glad he's ours.

One Month

2011-09-17T16:57:00.003-05:00

It's that time again. Time to start another round of monthly birthday photos. Not gonna lie, I really like doing these. This time around, instead of making up a sign and trying to force him to sit patiently with it, I'm going to use a calendar (and try to make him sit patiently with that). Don't worry, I'm not suddenly creative. I think this idea came from Ashley Ann.

How he spends a lot of his time these days. Well, the crying part. Not so much the laying naked on a calendar part.

So big!! I need to see if they make XXL calendars for big babies. I'm sure it's a common request.

One month stats........and other news.

*I weighed him yesterday at home----a little over 10lbs. At his two week checkup he was 8 lbs 2 oz-----up from 7lbs 2 oz at his one week dr visit. So, looks like he's following in big brother's footsteps with the pound-a-week plan.

*Right now he wears 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. I stuffed him in a newborn outfit today so I could feel like he was still teeny. I wonder when I'll stop doing that..............

*Charlie mostly keeps a 3 hour eating schedule. Sometimes, especially in the middle of the night, he tricks us and starts crying after 2ish hours. We're not so good at math at 2am, so he gets to eat early. But for the most part, he makes sure his meals are right.on.time. And, no wonder home boy is gaining weight like it's nobody's business.

*He is pretty needy these days. Lots of crying, so lots of holding. He hates the Moby, so no breaks for me during the day. I get almost nothing done everyday. Pretty amazing. In fact, I hold him and hangout with him so much, this morning when John took over at 3am and I didn't hold him again until 9am, I was starting to feel a little weird. No baby in my arms, so much "free time" to take Harvey to breakfast and even take a shower. I almost didn't know what to do. Almost.

*A funny story I shared on facebook. The other night I was giving him a bath and I was using the cradle cap brush on his head. All of the sudden, I realized I had rubbed a giant bald spot right on the front of his head. Lots of flaky dead skin came off, but so did all of his fine baby hair. His hairline is awesome now. There are so many times a day I wonder who in the world left me in charge.

Three Weeks

2011-09-07T21:37:00.002-05:00

Our big little guy is three weeks old today. I took a few photos in honor of being not quite a month old. Like I really need a reason other than his sweet little face to get my camera out.

And here are a few from waaaay back when he was a newborn. I still haven't gotten shots that I love thanks to the yucky natural lighting. Guess I'll just have to keep trying. :)

This is how he was in utero. His little feet were hooked together like this when he was born.

Ah, Sleep Deprivation

2011-09-06T21:05:00.003-05:00

I've decided I no longer need to sleep. Good thing, because I'm not going to be doing much of that anytime soon anyway . Charlie has entered into a new phase: the baby sads. He now cries anytime of the day or night (uh, mostly night) about anything, everything and nothing all at the same time. The only cure for the baby sads? Someone has to stay awake with him all night long and watch him sleep. Heaven help you if you *accidentally* fall asleep. He always finds out.

When we're not up helping Charlie work through all of his sadness and troubles that come along with being a newborn, he's eating. Every two hours. And that's two hours from the start of a feeding. So if he starts eating at 2am (a popular feeding time), then he takes 30-45 minutes, you then have about an hour and fifteen minutes to sleep before his little baby stop watch goes off and its time to feed again. Seriously, last night (aka this morning) he ate at 2:10, 4:10, and 6:15 (he accidentally hit snooze at 6:10).

Wow, I sound a little whiney. Not trying to be Debbie Downer, just sharing and documenting. Even though it's a bit exhausting, this is such a sweet time and I'm sure we're going to want to remember all of this (like we'll be able to forget this :) ).

And here are a million more photos. Some more of big brother and Charlie. He's always telling Charlie he'll "hep" him. Hep him get out of bed, hep him by picking him up, hep him by giving him a hug. Such a big "heper". Hey, maybe I should just go put Charlie in Harvey's bed around 2:30am so he can really hep him!

And some bath time photos. His cord stump is still hangin tough, so last week I decided we can't wait forever. I'll be glad when that thing is gone.

Oh yeah, he loves it!

And here is his wonderful hair. Somehow I managed to cover the baby mull. We'll get some clear photos of that soon. Before it falls out.

He looks just like his daddy............

Charlie Quentin Clore

2011-09-03T17:44:00.002-05:00

Whoa, who knew it would take me so long to update about something so important. Little Charlie was born on August 17th at 7:50am. He weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz (not too shabby for a 36 weeker) and was 19 inches long. And, he's pretty much Harvey's doppelganger. He's awesome.

At his two week checkup he was already 8 lbs 2 oz (up a fully pound in one week) and was 20 1/2 inches long. I have a feeling we're going to have another big boy on our hands. And with the way home boy likes to eat, it's no wonder. Seriously, all the time.

Oh, and did I mention he has the best curly blonde baby mullet there ever was? Yes, it's all true. I've always wanted a baby with a mullet, so it appears I win, forever.

Ok, I'm crazy tired (go figure), so I'm just going to let some photos tell the rest of the story. Hopefully it's not another month before we update again!

Big brother is absolutely over the moon.

And this is pretty much how he spends all of his time these days. When he's not eating, of course.

McQueep

2011-08-02T19:39:00.002-05:00

Ah McQueep, my other other child. You may actually know McQueep. His real name: Lightning McQueen. But to Harvey, he's McQueep. The love of his life. The best thing that's ever happened to him. The one toy he can't go anywhere without. And, simultaneously, the one thing he can never seem to keep up with. Oh my word.

I spend a good portion of my days keeping up with Harvey, Mary Helen and Sam while also keeping up with McQueen's whereabouts. Because if I don't, he ends up in all kinds of interesting places. If I see Harv put him somewhere secret (behind couch cushions, under some other toys, in a basket mixed with Mary Helen's toys) and I ask him where McQueen is soon after, he can go find him and bring it to me.

However, if I'm not watching and he hides him, he'll forget where he put him within five minutes and there's a four alarm fire to find him again. And guess who's on the search party? Yup, just me. I spent a good 20 minutes on my hands and knees the other day, looking behind/under furniture, going through toy boxes, searching drawers in the kitchen while Harvey whimpered and watched. Thanks for the help! I finally emailed John and told him McQueep was officially gone and we were going to have some serious issues. I decided to try one more time, and in a deep dark dusty corner, there was McQueep. Shew, dodged that bullet!

McQueep is a requirement to go anywhere. Leave the house without him, you'll be turning around to get him (happened today on the way to Target). He goes to the pool and sinks right to the bottom. He goes to bed with Harvey every time and "sleeps" on his nightstand. It's the first thing he grabs in the morning. And the last thing (get this) he kisses at night. You see, Harvey doesn't give kisses. Ever. He'll lean in and allow us to kiss him, but we've never ever seen him kiss someone/something else. John told him to give McQueen a kiss goodnight one night, and now he kisses that car all.the.time. It's a bit ridiculous.

So as you can see, McQueep is a huge part of our lives, completely deserving of his own blogpost.

And here are a few recent photos of our sweet McQueep toting toddler.

Haha, I love this face. He was so sick of me and my camera by this point. Sorry buddy, I'm never going to stop. Ever. So you might as well smile sometime. :)

The Best Way to Beat the Heat

2011-07-21T19:21:00.002-05:00

And repeat..........

Cardinals Game

2011-07-18T20:59:00.003-05:00

Somehow I forgot to add this story to the blog. Back in June (June 5 if you want to be exact) John took Harvey with his dad, brother and two other friends to St Louis for a Cardinals day game. Aka---I had one whole day all to myself! :) And Harvey and John got to have some super fun father son time. Some of these photos absolutely crack me up. Here are just a few that I love from their day.

Man, what a lucky guy. Breakfast, a movie, endless entertainment in the floorboard. He sure knows how to travel first class.

Taking his turn to drive.

Speaking of traveling first class---lunch at the Champions Club.

Such a sweet/funny face.

Uhhh, I should prolly has dis Cokey. Mommy would want me to has it.

Travelin' light.

This series of photos is so totally Harvey these days.

Move it or lose it PawPaw. Gots to put my water somewheres.

And the best photo of the day:

This is how he reacted when Pujols hit a walk off home run----aka they just won, fireworks are going off, everyone's screaming. Including Harvey. And he's crying. We'll have to work on his reactions.

Summer So Far

2011-06-29T21:54:00.002-05:00

I'll just be honest---I'm having a hard time getting motivated to do much of anything "extra" these days. Thus why the blog has fallen by the wayside. I'm always so tired, then I can't sleep at night, so I'm even more tired. If only I could just lay around eating bon bons and watching my stories all day, maybe I would blog more often. But that's not reality. My reality involves chasing/settling disputes between two two-year olds and an almost one-year old, keeping up with our house, bills, cleaning, cooking..........you know, life. So at the end of the day, I would rather sit in the quiet and stare at nothing. True story. My days are so full of noise, I don't even really like the TV to be on much. So, blogging is slow now. But I'm sure I'll come around. One day. :)

In the mean time, here are so photos to try to catch up on our summer and some big mile stones we've hit around here.

A glimpse into the everyday. Its been so hot, instead of going to the park most days, I fill up the pools, get out the sprinkler, bingo bango, hours of entertainment. Or at least 'hour' of entertainment. Whatever. And, notice there's definitely a girl pool and a boy pool. I love that the boys are crammed into the teeniest little pool. Harvey does so love his Sam. Such a sweet bond they're forming.

Little stinker. This was Harvey shortly after he watered my Blackberry with the hose. Looking quite pleased with himself really. I was only a little mad----I ended up with a much nicer phone in the end. :)

Running around naked after bath. Always a favorite past time.

Harvey got his big boy bed! The transition has gone well, minus a few instances like tonight. Last I heard he was banging on his bedroom door screaming for mommy. Sorry buddy, mommy's watched a lot of Super Nanny. I'm not coming in your room 453 times a night. Should be interesting what we find when we go check on him before bed.

Charlie also got a room in our house. Lucky guy. I'm going to have to take pictures sometime when the lighting is better. But for now, here's our little (big) guy at 29 weeks.

Harv was a huge help while we were putting the nursery together. Broke in all of Charlie's new toys, sat in the baby swing (yup, all 35 pounds of him), checked out all of his baby blankets. Quality control.

And of course, the pool. We're there every chance we get.

John and his baby.......wait........

There we go. John and his baby. :)

Lots of little stories I want to document soon, before I forget. But for now, I'm going to sit and stare at a wall and then go to bed and not sleep. Sounds great, right?

A Day At the Zoo

2011-06-05T21:51:00.002-05:00

A couple of weekends ago we took a trip to the zoo. We wanted to get out there one more time before it got too hot, and we did it just in time. Since then its been in the 90s every day. Trust me, Harvey and I were hot enough as it was.

Naturally, I forgot to bring my nice camera, so I was left with only my poor Blackberry camera. But, that's better than nothing!

The meer cats.

Petting some baby goats. Never mind that this goat is peeing while Harvey is petting it. And right after this photo, he began to do some other business. We quickly moved on to some other, less leaky animals.

I love this photo. They were standing looking at the tigers when a plane flew over just as I took this photo. Harvey is ob-sessed with planes. Apparently there are some things boys never outgrow.

Stubborn boy would not sit in the stroller. He was h-o-t and tired. You can kind of tell how red his face is and his hair was soaked.

Finally, he just sat down in the middle of the walkway with is big bottle of water. After that he accepted some assistance from the stroller.

And here are a few random recent photos from my phone that were too cute to not post on here.

The same day as the zoo, we set up his little pool on our patio. He loved the pool but absolutely would not put on a swim diaper, nor would he take his clothes off. Its been a long road but he's finally swimming in a swim diaper AND swim trunks. Thank goodness. No more Dora/Diego swim diaper wedgies running around the public pool. :)

Some nights you do what you gotta do to keep the peace. Even if that means he eats dinner on the counter.

And I leave you with this.No comment.

Second Birthday Highlights

2011-05-25T21:03:00.002-05:00

Only a few weeks late. :) Here are some sweet photos of Harv on his big day/weekend. 'Twas a long one for sure! And one where I didn't take enough photos. That's always a bummer.

He got all of the Dinosaur Train dinos. They all talk and interact with each other. Not gonna lie, they are pretty fun. The funny thing is, shortly after this photo I took that big dino he's so excited about and made it growl and open its mouth in his face. He still whimpers every time that dinosaur comes too close. Who knew it was that easy to damage a toddler?

These next few are when everyone was singing 'Happy Birthday' to him. Do you think he likes being the center of attention or something?

He kept looking around the room to make sure everyone was watching him. He's such a ham!

The Day Before Two

2011-05-05T21:37:00.003-05:00

Tonight I tucked in my sweet baby one-year-old for the last time. Tomorrow he will wake up and be two years old. Not so much a baby anymore. Not that he's been acting like a baby for quite some time-----the tantrum he threw (over and over again) during dinner proves he's ready to be a full fledge toddler. Oh, but poor mama! I'm not sure she's so ready for him to be so "big".

As I've done the last two years, here are some photos of Harvey on his last day as a one-year-old. I would drag out my photos from the past two years, but we've switched computers and it seems like so much work right now. Maybe next year. :)

I'm sure there will be plenty of birthday photos to come! Stay tuned..........

Easter

2011-05-05T09:02:00.002-05:00

A week and a half later. But, better now than next month.

And maybe I don't exactly have photos from actual Easter Sunday. We literally went to church and came home to spend the rest of the day together. And Harvey spilled a boat load of milk all over himself during our little brunch, so no photos of him in his Easter gear. However, the day before we went to an Easter egg hunt that our church put together, and I got a ton of photos there.

By the way, a not quite two-year old+ egg hunting= a little bit of chaos. But he LOVED it!

John and I each threw an egg in his basket, hoping to get him pumped up to go get some more. Instead, he sat down immediately, right in the middle of the field to see what he had in his basket. I went and got him two more eggs, but the those kids had the field cleared in no time!!

And then he discovered there was candy in those eggs. Oh man, was he ever happy!

And then there were Krispy Kreme doughnuts. His whole life was made. (Note the sunscreen not quite rubbed in all over his face. Sorry Harv!).

Oh man, what a happy (and dirty) little boy. Such a fun little family outing.

Art Time With Captain Harvey----and Other News

2011-04-25T15:22:00.002-05:00

Man, I'm really hating my love/hate relationship that I've had with my blog lately. I think of all kinds of things to talk about, updates to post, photos to edit and put on here. But then I don't, then I keep falling further and further behind, then I don't feel like getting all caught up, so I go longer and longer...........and here we are now.

I have some photos to share (from March 2 apparently-----quite timely really), but I really don't feel like getting all caught up on everything that's been going on for the last couple of months. So let's just hit some highlights, shall we?

Harvey LOVES the alphabet and letter recognition---he's crazy about it. Counting? Nah. Colors and shapes? Nope. What letter is this? Now we're talking!

John turned 30 and we took a trip to LA, just the two of us. So fun!

Harvey will be 2 in less than 2 weeks. Let's not talk about it.

However, I think he knows he's about to be 2-----the attitude/defiance/craziness has hit an all time high. And I know this is just the beginning. Can't wait for baby bro to get here so Harvey can really lose his mind! (Oh, and I'll most likely lose mine along with him).

Clore 2.0 is a boy, Charlie, and he'll be here at the end of August. Everything looks healthy so far! And he already looks large and in charge like his big brother. He's measuring about a week and a half ahead already. Life with two little boys is going to be insane. In a fun way I'm sure. :)

Ok, back to my March 2nd photos. :) I took some photos to show what art with Harvey is like most days. Homeboy likes to eat, so you put something that's even remotely edible in his hands, he's gonna to go for it.

Starts out innocent enough.

Let the taste testing begin!

Here, you shuld has dis one to twy. It tasteses wike puwrples. So nommy!

Oh man, I wuuuuuuv marwkers!!

Sowwy, I can't hears you?!

You says eat more da marwkers?? I fought you always twy to tells me not to eats da marwkers? But if you say so...............

Haha, got you! Man I wuv arwt times!

Catch Up

2011-03-29T14:16:00.002-05:00

Hopefully this is the last time I feel the need to play catch up on here. And with a new baby coming, I'm totally sure I'll constantly be all over this blog. I'm certain there will never be anything else more important than writing on here. Ha! So I'll make no promises, but I think I'm going to try harder to stay caught up.

The problem right now is that I've allowed so much time to go by, I'm all out of practice, and there is SO much to catch up on, and so few photos to show for the last few months. Blogs aren't much fun without photos. I've been about 12 shades of burned out on taking photos of everyday life. But that's going to change my friends! Someday anyway. :)

I have been super busy working on spring photo shoots. Check out some of what has kept me away from this blog for awhile: . So many cute children and families, so little time. And now that it's spring, it's so fun to go out and shoot photos all afternoon. Just gotta get big Harv out there soon.

We've hit the 16 week mark. We'll find out 3 weeks from tomorrow if Harvey's getting a little sister or a brother. He doesn't want either. He wants a big sister to boss him, drag him around, sing silly songs. Bad news buddy. You're the big brother. He's always super jealous of little babies, but endlessly entertained by big kids, especially girls who want to mother him. Again, tough break.

Here are some fun updates in a list, because I'm lazy. And I'm currently creating lungs and unfused eyelids, so cut me some slack.

*Harvey's current favorite toys: his Buppy (bunny/puppy I guess) and his Buhbuck (his blanket). I love the names kids give things.

*He's super into dinosaurs, trains and airplanes. He's officially a boy. And I love "Dinosaur Train" on PBS. Perfect combo. I taught him to walk around the house and scream "All aboarddd!". Love him.

*He's a big time mimic-er these days. He'll repeat just about anything. So be careful. The latest---"yuv you". So sweet.

*He randomly knows some letters. We didn't teach him this. I'm thinking all those hours of Sesame Street when mama was feeling super sick/had a migraine are really paying off. We went to a bagel place before church on Sunday, and he was standing in the window where there was a decal. The word was "breakfast" and it was backwards to us on the inside. He pointed and said "E. K. Stars.". Uhhhhh, yup, that's an 'E' and a 'K' (and there were some stars on there as well. John and I will take the credit for shape recognition :)). How the heck did he know that?! I've since tested him and he clearly knows the e and the k. Thanks Elmo! Didn't know puppets could do my job for me. So glad I'm off the hook!

*We set up his basketball goal on our screened in patio, so he's constantly begging to go "ow-side". He ate dinner outside on Sunday night when it was in the upper 40s at best. He doesn't care. He loooooves to sit out there and stare. Then hurl himself out of his chair to go play ball. He's definitely a boy.

An Explanation

2011-03-01T19:15:00.002-06:00

It's been almost a month. A whole month with no Harvey blog updates. My apologies.

But I have reasons. Excuses. Really good ones. But because I know you didn't come check the blog to just hear from me, here's Harvey with a special blog post.

I has a wittle secret to share wif you............

Oh man, is a good one!

Oh man, I'm so cited I almost can't control myself!!

Ok, deep breaf. Gets it togever.

I'm gonna be a big brudder.

Baby Clore number two is coming at the end of August. :)

See, I told you I had a good reason for being away.

The Force

2011-02-03T14:11:00.003-06:00

We've all heard of it before. We've heard the horror stories of what The Force can do. How silly it can make moms and dads look. How stupid and irrational it can make us feel. And, we've heard the unfortunate stories of when The Force is no longer with you.

Yesterday I experienced the power of The Force myself, and I hope it never happens again.

It started sometime Monday. Harvey was acting funny, whiney, low-grade fever. Then he didn't eat dinner and was in bed by 7:00. That's an hour early for our wild man. Something was brewing for sure. Not being one to jump the gun during cold and flu season, we waited.

Tuesday, same deal. Runny nose, not eating, low-grade to sometimes real fever (101), extra clingy, just overall not really himself. There were a few glimmers of hope right after a good dose of Tylenol or Motrin, but overall he seemed sick. Tuesday night---no dinner and bed by 7 again. And, he let me rock him to sleep. Extra weird.

Oh, and I failed to mention John was up in the middle of the night with him on Monday and Tuesday nights. He was sweaty and his bedding was soaked. So let's add night sweats to the list. Check!

Wednesday morning he's moaning, his right eye is pink, he's running right around 101 (100.2 in one ear, 101.1 in the other. Why do those thermometers do that?!), he's all congested and coughing. So John and I decide it's time to go to the doctor. After three days we no longer feel like we're being "those parents" who run to the doctor all the time. He doesn't eat breakfast, he cried after he coughed, and he was just pitiful. I make an appointment for 3:00 (right in the middle of nap time, no less), feed him an early lunch (which he didn't eat) and put him to bed early.

I packed up some uneaten items from his lunch, grabbed some toys and loaded the car. When I went to get Harvey up from nap, he's soaked with sweat. With each symptom, I'm feeling more and more affirmed in our decision to go on to the doctor. He's a zombie in the back seat throughout our entire 30 minute ride.

Enter: The Force.

We get out of the car and walk into the doctor's office, and I'm confused as to where my child has gone. The child I had been with for the last three days was pale, clingy, pink eye-ish, sad, and overall lethargic. The child that I was now following all around the waiting room was energetic, giggling, laughing, dancing, playing with toys----giddy. What in the world?

He played out there for a good 15-20 minutes (busy day full of pretend sick children I suppose)before we go back into the exam room. In the exam room, Harvey keeps asking to "eat eat eat!". So I pulled out what I had from his lunch and he ate it. All of it. And kept asking for more. They take his temperature----obviously, 98.6. The doctor comes in and Harvey yells "Hi!", with a big grin. Yup, pretty darn sick. I told his doctor about his miraculous recovery in the waiting room, and he told me it was The Force. The one we've all heard about, that makes sick children suddenly better right before they see a doctor. I was still kinda hoping we would find something to justify our visit and copay (note: I obviously would never want there to be something wrong with my child. My pride was just taking a serious hit).

Ears: perfect. Throat: totally good. Chest: sounds great! Pink-ish red eye: looking clear. He was in, out and done in 2 minutes or less. Off to check on someone who actually brought in a sick child or something. He was nice enough to acknowledge that it's a catch 22. You bring your child in: he's totally fine. You don't bring him in: he suffers through an ear infection for several days before you finally take him in. After his ear drum ruptures. It's true, that's really how it works.

We went to see John at work, I ran a couple of errands with him, and then we met up with John and had a family dinner date. And Harvey.was.amazing. So well behaved, he drank out of a big boy kids cup and didn't act like a monkey in the zoo. Amazing.

Today: back at it again. Fever was 101.4 in one ear and 102 in the other (again, driving me crazy), runny eyes and nose. But he ate 5 Bagel Bites like a champ at lunch. At least his appetite for carbs and cheese is on the up and up.

So we carry on. It's probably just a weirdo virus that will work itself out in a few days. I'm thinking we just need to go play in the pediatrician's office more often. Miracles happen there.

Snow and Stories

2011-01-25T20:15:00.002-06:00

I never thought I would be a once-a-week blogger, but here I am. And, what's worse, I don't have many recent photos of Harvey to post on here. What's the world coming to?! Don't worry, I did find some from the first snow back in December that I'm just now getting around to posting.

Pretty excited little guy. He hadn't really been out in the snow before, so this was a pretty big deal.

He looks so small in this photo. I love it.

He was running everywhere screaming "It nowed! It nowed!!". And, apparently snow makes everything one even, flat plane. Curbs, hills and ditches no longer existed to him. Needless to say, I was working over time trying to keep up with him and keep him alive. And take zillion photos without hurting my other baby, my camera.

Sometimes you just need a little help getting back home.

On an unrelated note, Harvey is obsessed with animals. Especially the ones that run away from him. The more frantic they are to get away, the better. He thinks its a big game, and I know cats and dogs will always be faster than a (clumsy) toddler, so I just let it go. So the other day he was "playing" with Mary Helen and Sam's cat. The cat jumped off the bed and started running, and Harvey was hot on her trail. As he was running he was saying "Meeeooow---sharry (sorry)! Tat! Meoooow sharry!" Love him!

And, I'm fairly certain he ate a bookmark the other day. He's a paper eater, I left him alone for about 5 minutes with a bookmark, and when I came back---gone. Paper in his teeth.

Maybe that's why he pooped in the bathtub tonight...........

A List

2011-01-17T20:12:00.002-06:00

Yup, I'm guilty. I have been a serious blog neglector. I'm quite certain I have a good excuse. Just need to come up with it.............

Here's a list of some funny stories I woulda, coulda, shoulda posted over the last week and a half.

*You know you're a parent when: you find a whisk (among other things) stuffed in between your couch cushions. Harvey LOVES to hide random items behind the couch cushions. Like a squirrel. I'm sure that will come in handy one day. Maybe.

*When Havey gets in trouble he likes to change the subject by gasping and pointing while exclaiming "Us dat?!!" (what's that). Typically he's pointing to the wall or the ceiling. So hard to keep a straight face and stay mad at him. Smart guy.

*He's also learning how to stall at bed time. "Mo' book. Mo' book!". He will sit and read for 30 minutes some nights. I would much rather hear him beg for "Mo book" then "Shoooooow!".

*He loves a good haircut. We took him to get his haircut last month and we kept joking that he totally could have just driven himself over there and done it all by himself. When they called his name he walked on back to the chair, she put him up there and he sat still while she cut his hair. No big deal. No wiggling, no crying, simply enjoying a good haircut. And when she took the cape off we saw he had his hands folded in his lap the whole time. Such a good boy.

*He now uses a pillow at night. One night it just dawned on John and I that perhaps he would like a pillow to sleep with, like the rest of the human race. He used to flip flop all over his bed, and now he sleeps with his head on the pillow. Like a big boy.

*He thinks your a rockstar if you can sing along with anything on TV. The Wiggles, Elmo, Choo Choo Soul. I desperately want to be a rockstar even if it is just for a toddler. He will clap and cheer after anything.I like that kid. Makes me feel like I have some real talent.

I just came across this photo of him playing in the snow for the first time this year. I have so many photos to edit and get on here. This one makes me laugh. He looks like a little toy soldier marching through the snow. Love him.

20 Months

2011-01-07T15:25:00.005-06:00

Yup, sounds crazy to me too. Harvey turned 20 months old yesterday. We're on the downward slope toward his second birthday. I guess he's not going to listen to me----I keep forbidding him to grow up, but he just keeps going.

He is becoming more and more cuddly the older he gets. That's a little different for a crazy toddler boy. Recently I have had to tell him more than once a day to get up and go play----stop sitting on mommy's lap (although secretly on the inside I'm doing a little dance because I love thats he's a bit of a mama's boy). Last night he sat on the couch between John and I and watched TV. Not little kid shows, sitcoms. He just wants to be around us and be a part of things. And to cuddle. And not just cuddle with John and I. This boy is a lovie lover. Any kind of lovie, blankie, stuffed animal, anything with a tag on it--he loves it.

In honor of Harvey being a big twenty month old, I wanted to pay tribute to two of Harvey's dearest friends----Dog Dog and his football blanket.

Dog Dog has been around since his first birthday. My mom took him to Build A Bear before his birthday party and let him "pick out" whatever he wanted. It was love at first sight.

Then after his obsession with tags began, he got a Taggie Football blanket. And the three of them have been inseparable ever since.

Occasionally he will throw in another stuffed animal, another blanket or two into the mix (every time we leave the house Harvey has Dog Dog and his football, and 2-3 other items stuffed in his arms. When we try to make him walk to the car he stands in the doorway crying because he can't see over all of his "friends" in his arms). But no matter what toys come and go, these two are his forever (until he discovers girls) friends.

Even when Dog Dog says something shocking and crazy, we still love him so.

When Harvey fell down yesterday (right before these photos), I went and scooped him up and the first thing he asked for was "Dawg Dawg". So sweet.

Thank you Dog Dog for being such a good friend. I knew when I saw your flat little body in Build A Bear you were special. A dog living among bears. Truly remarkable. And Taggie---thanks for having so many tags. You've saved us from having to carry multiple blankets around to get the same effect. You guys are awesome.

Christmas Part Two

2011-01-04T20:28:00.004-06:00

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then prepare yourself for a gazillion words in this post. Here are some photos from Christmas Eve. Maybe next year John and I will actually make the cut and be able to be in a few of these. Just maybe.

Oh, but first here are a few photos from a few days before Christmas when Harvey was "helping" me make some Christmas cookies.

I gave him a small pile of chocolate chips to eat so I could finish up without all of his "help". What a big helper!

He pulled this out of the drawer. Not sure what he thought he was going to do with it exactly. (Don't worry, he was totally being supervised. And those butter knives are totally smooth. Disaster averted).

Ok, now back to Christmas Eve.

Yup, that's my boy. Two things he loves in life: a good chair/bench/tray/shelf in Wal Mart/box to sit on, and a fun hat---or two. He's got all the bases covered here.

And he pulls his whole look together with a blank, far away stare. It's a nice touch really.

Cookies anyone?

Yes please.

When Harv wasn't chilling in his rocker waiting for Santa, he was busy practicing going up, and down, and up, and down the stairs into the family room. Home boy loves a good set of stairs.

I suppose his tongue is what helps him keep his balance. That's why it's out in almost everyone of these photos.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Backin' it up folks!!

Note:we have now added a hat to the stair climbing. This is quickly becoming the best night of his whole life.

And back into the rocker.

And let's now add another hat. I'm telling you, this kid is a real party animal!

Then we ended the night with a litte "Frosty the Snowman" with the cousins. Doesn't get much better than that.

Up next.....Christmas Part III...........or, It's Actually Finally Christmas. You decide.

Zat you, Sainta Claus?????

I'm Baaaaack!

2010-12-28T19:49:00.003-06:00

With a bagillion stories and photos to share (yup, I can count that high). Since I'm so very far behind and I have tons of photos to edit AND lots of real life to live outside of the interwebs, I'm not really going to edit my photos to put on here. I think it's just best to get it done. So without further ado, here's a bunch of stuff. Excellent description. Someone should pay me to write concise descriptions-----with lots of typos so I can stop hitting the darn backspace button.

Let's start with our first round of Christmas. Since we traveled for Christmas, Santa so kindly came to visit Harvey a whole week early. So very accommodating! So Saturday the 18th we woke to this:

This is the sweet little face of a guy that has no idea what's going on---he's just happy to be awake! And he's oh so happy to see his mother------or the camera. It's hard to say.

This is what was waiting for him from Santa:

Stop the world! Something that's actually appropriate to climb on in the house!

And then there were some other "lame" gifts (his big boy bedding for instance). He'll be pretty excited about that someday. If we ever let him out of his crib.

And he finally understands why momerazzi was following him all over the house. He's finally seeing his precious.

And this is pretty much how the rest of the day went:

Heh heh heh. Bet you guys are pret-ty jealous of me right now, huh mom and dad? Heh, maybe next yeawr. Maybe.

We had a relaxing day at home followed by a fun holiday dinner. Then we went out to a local toy store and then to look at some lights and chat with Santa. I guess it was to say thanks for everything he already brought. Thank goodness he's still too young to understand what really happened. Why did Santa keep asking me what I wanted? Why couldn't Santa remember he was just at my house today?! Oh the questions we would have had to answer if he was any older.

There is a subdivision here that goes crazy with Christmas lights. Tons of people come out to check them out, coming in limos and buses, and then you can get out and walk around if you want. And naturally Harvey needed a much closer look.

This is just one house. It was Harvey's dream come true.

Love this photo. The holidays are so magical with a child.

The plan was to go somewhere else to see Santa, but fortunately he was all set up at the end of the culdesac. Tricky Santa!

This was the best shot I could get without my flash. Still, sweet little memories. And a new Christmas tradition is born.

I meant for this to be one huge catch up post, but it looks like it's just Christmas Post Part 1. Oooh, catchy title.

A Party for Everyone

2010-12-17T16:09:00.003-06:00

Alright, I'm back and ready to roll. I've been working on editing and getting photos sent off all this week. Then last night I watched a sweet little 4 week old baby girl for some friends of ours. Now originally when I signed up for this gig, John and I had nothing planned, and we would wrangle the two children together. Nice little trial run if you will. (Oh, and I will). Shortly after I said "we" could do it, John got an email about a work Christmas party. For the same night. Nice.

So instead of putting on a nice little dress and going out for some adult conversation, I got to stay home and facilitate "dentle" (gentle) time with the big Harv and baby Ava. And man oh man, he was a jealous little thing. We're with Sam and MH 4 days a week, but there's something different about a new baby being in HIS home. She cried and he walked over and said "Oh, hi!", like he didn't see her there. Then he "dently" offered her his sippy cup. Very sweet.

However, when she continued to cry for the next hour, he did anything and everything to get my attention. Saying all kinds of words, dancing, playing his banjo, dressing up as Elmo. He did anything he could to a) make the baby stop crying so b) mommy look at me! He sure was hoping this kid wasn't permanent.

And naturally, she stopped crying as soon as I put him to bed. Nice. But really, I probably did have more fun at home with the two of them. Nothing better than snuggling with a newborn.

Since you have to have an official Christmas get together/party for every group you're associated with (doesn't it seem like that's the case this year?!), I decided to follow suite and have a little something for Mary Helen and Harvey. Today we decorated cookies while listening to Christmas music and then we had a fun pizza lunch with cookies. There was supposed to be some fun Christmas crafting in between all of that, but the mess after the cookies----good heavens. After I spent almost an hour cleaning (and doing some laundry) I decided craftiness could wait. Until next week.

Here are a few photos from today. Naturally, I forgot to bring my camera today, but Jenny allowed me to use theirs. Thanks Jenny! :)

So here is what we started with. Pretty darn fancy.

Eagerly awaiting party time. I can just feel the excitement radiating from this photo.

Mary Helen was SUPER into this.

And she was super into sprinkles as well.

The boy needs.a.haircut. Stat.

Up to this point neither of them knew they were working with food. Finally Harvey deicded he's taken a bite of every other art project we've ever done (crayons--check! markers--check! gluey paper--check! finger paint (tastes pretty soapy)--check!), so why not try taking a big bite outta this here craft. And it was magic. Now I'm going to have to work twice as hard to convince him not to eat art projects. "But mom, I did it dat one time and it was so nommy. Gots to see if dis is nommy too."

The finished products. What was left of them anyway.

And no party is complete without a temper tantrum. Nice.

Luella Rose

2010-12-12T22:53:00.002-06:00

I just did a sweet photo shoot today with Miss Luella and her mommy Jess. I promise to get some more photos/stories on here soon, but in the meantime you should go check out her sweet photos. I can't just leave you hanging with nothing to read! :)

Clore Photography

Top 19 at 19

2010-12-08T10:56:00.004-06:00

In honor of Harvey being 19 months old, I'm going to do a list of Harvey's most favorite 19 things in life. Since 19 is such a nice round number and all. Makes total sense.

1. Playing his "banjo" and dancing around. He especially loves it when mom and dad will rock out with him. Because banjos are so rockin.

2. Saying "MmmmmMMMMMmmmm!" for everything he wants. Kinda cute. Kinda annoying when you hear it all.day.long. We're working on using more words. Immediately.

3. His football lovey and Dog Dog. They go everywhere with him.

4. Blankets of any kind. Especially if they have a nice big tag on them.

5. Christmas decorations. Every time we drive by a house that's decorated we hear a giant GASP!!! and he's pointing to the lights. He's beginning to over generalize just a bit. When we drive by gas stations/grocery stores/anywhere there are bright lights he also gasps every now and then.

6. Elmo.

7. Cheese, yogurt and anything carb-y. Totally my child.

8. He loves to "GO go go!" most anywhere. In theory. Until it's time to get in the car seat. Or get out and get into the stroller/shopping cart. Then we get to hear another lovely screaming fit complete with much screaming/crying/pelvic thrusting/NO!!!-ing. But this is a list of everything he loves. And really, I'm starting to think he loves to throw down a good tantrum every now and then. So that's number 9 for ya.

9. Tantrums.

10. Finger paint. What toddler doesn't like a good mess?

11. Giving hugs and sitting on everyone's lap. He gives the best snuggley hugs before and after bed time. I so look forward to that time of day.

12. "Goggies" and "Ca-AAATSS!". Such an animal lover.

13. Wrestling with daddy. Really anything daddy does is pretty cool. I love to watch those two together.

14. Balls, trucks, blocks and puzzles. All things boyish make him so happy.

15. Eating paper. Sad but true. If he can get his hands on a piece of paper, he quickly bits off a piece and tries to swallow it before we can get over there and fish it out. I choose to think of it as a game we play. :) A nasty, weird game we play.

16. Remote controls. He just walked over and handed one to me. Again, such a boy.

17. Uh-oh! and No!. His two favorite sayings. Nice.

18. Sliding. He even got really brave last week and went down head first like the big kids at the play place in the mall. He ended up with a pretty sweet carpet burn on the side of his face. But he was so very proud of himself. And the next time he decided to go back to going down feet first. Smart boy.

19. Bath time. He gets to take a bath in our big bath tub. Its like a big baby pool for him. Lots and lots of splashing and acting wild. Such a boy. And I love it.

There's so much more he loves, but I must stop at 19. Because I'm a rule follower. Even the ones I impose on myself. If only Harvey loved rules that much............

A Day in the Life Part II

2010-12-07T16:13:00.002-06:00

Nap typically goes from 1-4. Sometimes it only lasts until 3:30, and other days it goes until 5:00!! Yesterday Harvey was up by 3:30 (then Sam at 4:30 and Mary Helen at 5. Seems to be the norm for now).

He ALWAYS wakes up crying from nap. Tis never a pretty site. Especially when everyone else is still trying to sleep.

Because he's waking up about an hour before everyone else these days, I bring him downstairs quickly and try to keep him quiet for an hour. So that means.......TV time!!!

A little TV, a little sippy cup and a good blanket for snuggling. Now that's how you keep a toddler quiet for about an hour.

Everyone else gets up, Sam has a bottle, everyone is diapered and dressed and we play until mom comes home at 5:30. Then on Monday nights I have Bible study at church at 6. So Harv and I head straight to church where we meet up with John.

John switches the car seat into his car and they're off!

From there, they do dinner around 6:30, then it's time for some Wheel of Fortune....................

Some baby yoga..............

Santa time...............

A little time with his new favorite sunglasses...............

And one last check of the Christmas tree before bath around 7:30 and bed at 8:00.

So there you have it, a typical Monday for the Clores. That's some exciting stuff right there! And this particular Monday just so happened to be Harvey's 19 month birthday. So crazy that 19 months have already come and gone.

A Day in the Life Part I

2010-12-06T22:20:00.004-06:00

I got this idea from my friend Alicia. I wanted to document what a typical weekday is like for us, and then in a couple of weeks we'll document a typical weekend day. I think this is something we'll look back on one day and be so glad to just remember the little things from everyday life.

On a typical day, John gets up around 5:15 to go workout (at least that's what time his alarm goes off----the number of times he snoozes depends on the day :) ).

I get up around 6, get ready, make lunches, and pack up for the day. Around 7 John goes in and wakes Harvey up and gets him ready to go to "work".

We get to work around 7:30 and it's breakfast time for all of us. Then after breakfast is play time. Today Harv started play time
with a bang----literally.

He fell and hit his eye on a shelf. Poor kid. Monday's are tough.

Poor Sam. Wearing a "Cute Little GIrl" bib while Harvey tries to shove a Santa hat on him. It's tough being little.

Around 9 little Sam goes down for his morning nap and I do art with the big kids. I had the cat take these photos, so try not to judge the quality of the setup here. :)

The final products. Today we worked on our shapes. Obviously.

After art we went up to the playroom to play. And cry. And play dress up. While crying.

The first of many crying fits. I soon realized (uhhh after 30 minutes of crying) that perhaps he had a bit of a headache after his collision earlier in the morning. I gave him some Motrin and voila! Tantrum free.

Harvey vs The Laptop. Stupid thing wouldn't do what he wanted. So he threw it.

Then gave it a few kicks for good measure. Taught that laptop a real lesson.

Post Motrin playtime.

This photo cracks me up. She's dressed in a fairy costume, with and apron around her waist and a firefighter coat on top. Then she used a temper tantrum to really help pull the whole look together. Priceless.

Captain Harv.

Sam wakes up around 11 and we go back downstairs to play until lunch time at noon.

The lunch crew.

Some lunch time shenanigans. They thought I wasn't paying attention because I was taking photos. False.

I made them trade cups back immediately after this photo. Maybe next time kiddos.

After lunch we clean up, do diapers then it's off to nap time. They love to march up the stairs chanting "Go, go, go!! Up, up, up!!"

And he's outta here. Stay tuned for part two tomorrow!

Saturday Night in the Clore House

2010-12-05T22:05:00.003-06:00

It's a pretty wild time apparently!

(These photos were taken just before we went out for a ride to look at Christmas lights and ice cream. Harv loved the lights, but threw a random fit when we finally got our ice cream after waiting in line for about 15 minutes. He took two bites and started signing "all done" and screaming and crying to get down. We quickly put our coats on and made a quick exit. He was screaming bloody murder in the car while John and I ate our ice cream in the front seat. I finally got out of the car and stood in the cold and fed his highness his ice cream in the back seat, then John took over just before hypothermia set in. Yeah buddy, we taught him a real lesson about throwing a tantrum! :) ).

A Very 70's Christmas

2010-12-03T15:54:00.002-06:00

I recently got a new computer (his name is Mackey the Mac Book Pro. I just call him Mackey, Or Mac. Or Mr. Pro), and I've actually had a lot of time to work on my photoshop actions. I wanted to try some of them out, so I took some of our Lexington Christmas photos and got to work. I really like the vintagey/70's/retro look I got in a lot of these photos. It looks like a Christmas straight out of the 70's. It's John's dream come true. :)

You've gotta have at least one awkwardly posed cousins photo to make your holidays complete. And you have to hurry and get it in before...............

Someone gets silly/grows antlers/gets.........well, drinks too much punch and passes out right in the front row. Family holidays will do it to you.

Harvey, quite pleased with himself and how's he's working the room and making people laugh. Where do kids learn this stuff?!

Slightly unamused.

And very unamused.

I'm not sure who this gift is for. I seem to be pretty darn excited about this 3ft basketball goal.

Who is SUPER Pumped Up About Christmas?!

2010-11-30T10:21:00.002-06:00

This guy!!!

(Note the stunned on lookers).

Seriously, this kid is so darn cute and excited about all things Christmas this year. Every trip to Lowes he is taken aback by the large blow up lawn decorations. He has noticed and gasped over every little decoration in our home. Right down to the little snowman towels in the kitchen. He threw a nasty little fit over getting dressed while his Christmas tree was on in his bed room. He just wanted to stand, naked, under his tree to admire its beauty. Clothes are so unnecessary when there's a Christmas tree in the room.

We opened gifts with my family in Lexington over Thanksgiving. I was kind of expecting him to be over the top excited about every little gift. And he started out super excited (as you can see in the photos above). But just like every other toddler in the world, he ended up being so in love----with the bows and boxes. He got a basketball goal and thoroughly enjoyed jumping/dancing/running all over that big box. Then when we got it out at home, he kept screaming, and clapping, and giggling like it was the best gift EVER! And he didn't even know what it was. I just love that kid.

MIA

2010-11-24T08:09:00.005-06:00

I've been a little MIA this week (perhaps you haven't noticed, because I'm not such a regular blogger these days :) ), and it's all because of this: www.clorephotography.com.

I finally started my new business (Clore Photography) this week, and I've been busy busy moving stuff over to my official website, getting the kinks worked out, and editing/adding photos from my most recent photo shoot. I started with 1,250 photos, edited it down to 650 and I'm still weeding through and editing the best photos from that group. All of that on top of work and trying to get everything ready for Thanksgiving. No big deal. :)

So if I'm ever missing for awhile, chances are I'm working on Clore Photography. Check it out, and if you need some family photos, let me know (insert shameless self-promotion here)!

Baby Sam

2010-11-17T21:10:00.002-06:00

The other day when the "big kids" were napping, Sam and I had a little photo shoot. I think he needs to audition to be the next Gerber baby. Nope, I'm definitely not biased.

And here's big sister. Can't leave her out, not even out of a blog post. :)

Beach Trip 2010

2010-11-16T23:16:00.004-06:00

Whew, I'm falling way behind. It's just that I work all day, come home and keep on working, and when Harv goes to bed, I want to watch TV or sleep. Like in bed by 9pm kind of sleep. So I'm working hard to get caught up on tons of projects so I can get some more projects started. Sounds simple enough. Oh, and if the sun would stop going down at like 4:15, that would help me stay awake past 8:30. The end.

So last month we went to Destin for Kent and Melissa's wedding. While we were there, we went to the beach one afternoon. I was determined to take Harvey to the beach for the first time and stick his little feet in the frigid water, like it or not. And he mostly chose not. Here are a few photos from our afternoon at the beach.

Obviously not loving it so far. (Perhaps its his horribly mismatched outfit that's making him cry. Just a thought).

And not loving the water.

Dad, dat mean mama made me puts my feets in da water. Don't wet hers do it again!

Don't worry, we made up. He knows we have to make up. Who else is gonna feed him lunch? :)

Starting to give this whole beach thing a chance.

And suddenly, he loves the sand. Loves. It.

He even loved it enough to kick back and eat a little.

Tada! He went from a beach hater to a beach lover.

There's a lot more coming to the blog this week. Just you wait and see. I'm going to stay up late like a real adult to get some stuff done.

Maybe. :)

The Difference 6 Months Can Make

2010-11-07T13:49:00.005-06:00

Who said my child could go from this:

To this:

To this:

To eating so many cookies on his 18 month "birthday" that he was almost in a sugar coma..........

To then being paranoid from his sugar high..............

To then having his own cell phone..............(or taking someone else's and making strange phone calls with it)............

Who said my sweet, tiny, precious baby boy could grow up??

Probably his dad.

Our boy is 18 months old now. Halfway to 3. Where in the world is the time going?! We so love living life with this crazy kid. Even when he says "NO!" to just about everything.
Except cookies.

Miniature Male Model

2010-11-04T21:23:00.002-05:00

I'm currently working through hundreds of photos from Kent and Melissa's big day (yup, almost 3 weeks ago. I took about 1500 photos. And I learned a valuable lesson----if I ever want to watch TV and relax ever again without feeling guilty for not working on photos 24/7, don't take so many photos next time. The end). While editing tonight, I just couldn't help but notice what a great model our son would make (man, I'm so unbiased. Oh, and humble. Definitely humble).

See for yourself.

Ah, the deep, faraway model stare. He's a natural. (He probably just saw a leaf or a squirrel, but he certainly looks happy about whatever it was).

I don't know if we could have a happier boy. Really, so sweet and funny. Just like his mama.

Yup, definitely like his mom.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-27T08:15:00.004-05:00

Reality.

Eye of the Tiger

2010-10-25T21:34:00.005-05:00

We went Trunk-or-Treating at our church this past Saturday. I think the photos speak for themselves.

I'm afraid that he might just know how cute he is. Maybe.

The first Trick-or-Treating experience is a tricky thing to figure out. Especially when you're only 17 months old and have never even had candy.

When he got his first piece of candy, he took it out of his bucket and carried it around. Then when he got his second piece, he had quite a dilemma. He ended up putting a piece in each hand and tossing his bucket in the street. Good move.

Mk yous guys! Who wants to gib me sum more caaaandiiiies?

Dad is not taking his hand out of the dish, he's actually sticking it in there. We had a timid little tiger on our hands.

After this we went back to the "bumpin" patch to take some photos. I didn't have my camera with me the first time, and they have all kinds of cute places to take photos.

Mk, if you's gonna dwess like a tiger, you's have to walk wike a tiger.

Den you gotta figures out where tigers live. Dis is it! Dis wooks just wike a tiger house.

Mooooooooom. Dis not what boy tigers do. Dey do not pose wif fwowers.

Who Drinks From A Sippy Cup and Loves Pizza?!

2010-10-24T20:50:00.002-05:00

This guy!

He loves it so much, he even shared it with his forehead, hair, and cheeks. So generous.

*Note---the shirt he is wearing is my old t-shirt and is his art smock. Not a shirt he wears day to day. I figured he would need a little more "full coverage". I was correct. Obviously. Mom is always right.

M.I.A.

2010-10-21T13:38:00.003-05:00

Wow, a whole week and a half since I last posted. That's got to be some kind of record. We were in Destin, FL last week for Kent and Melissa's wedding, and then it's been a bit chaotic since. We got home around 9:30 Sunday night and had to get up bright and early for work the next day. Then Harvey decided to be sick on Monday, only to be truly "normal" today. Not only do I have about 1,000 photos to go through and edit (no joke), but I still need to edit some from before the Florida trip and I've taken on one of the biggest projects to date----I'm finally making a photo book of Harvey's first year. Whoa, what an ordeal. Sorting through literally thousands of photos and deciding which ones to use, uploading them to Picaboo, then sorting through some more, deciding which ones to really use and what order. Then resizing, editing the pages, picking backgrounds, adding titles. I've worked on that for 2 days straight and I'm just now on the fifth month. Ideally I would like to finish that before moving onto all of my other projects. It's going to be a busy busy weekend!

Some funny things I want to share:

*I think Harvey thinks "mama" means food. He never calls me mama. He calls John daddy and talks about daddy all.the.time. But when he's real hungry, he'll say "Mama, mama, mama!" as he goes to his chair. Nice. Mama=food. Smart kid.

*We got some pumpkins last night. One big one to carve, a smaller one for Harvey to paint/decorate, and three little ones to decorate the house. Harvey is quite enamored with our pumpkins. He calls them "balls", "bumpin", and "baby". Baby came from when he almost snapped off the stem from our big pumpkin and slammed it into the wall. I told him he had to be gentle like with baby Sam, and he started rubbing the pumpkin gently and saying "Dentle (gentle) baby, dentle". Then he slammed it into the wall one more time, picked up his little "bumpin" and threw it while screaming "Ball!". Such a good listener.

*I now have all three kiddos by myself. Mama went back to work and we've all been adjusting. Today I took all three out for the first time. We went to the play area in the mall. Harvey and MH ride in the double stroller and I carry Sam in the Baby Bjorn. We look like quite the clan walking through the mall.

People used to stare/smile/ask how old my "twins" were before. I would go through the whole story sometimes, sometimes I just acted like they were twins. So much easier. But now with three kids under 18 months, we're pretty much a traveling circus. So many people asking questions, telling me how I have my hands full, asking about ages and how I had 3 babies so close together. I'm sure some people think I'm a glutton for punishment as I chase Harvey, who has run out of the play area (for the 52nd time, mind you), and carry a screaming crying toddler back to the play area, all while wearing bright eyed Sam. That's fine, a little screaming/crying/flailing doesn't scare me. Yet.

The one bonus to having all these kids in the mall: I can walk past all of the kiosks and no one bothers me. They take one look at me with my clan and realize I don't have time to try their lotion, have my hair straightened, my eyebrows threaded, have a massage, check out their shams and prepare to be "wowed", check out the latest cell phone plans. I think they're all afraid of the chaos that would ensue should I ever say yes. Sure, I would love a massage! Just watch these three kids for me. Oh, and be careful, this baby is a real spitter!

They all know what I really need. A third arm and a Valium.

This does not apply in the food court. Everyone still asks if I want to "Try sum cheekin?". Fair enough. Maybe I look like I could use a snack while pushing 52+ pounds of baby while wearing a 12 pounder on my chest.

A Picnic

2010-10-11T22:35:00.004-05:00

Last week I took Harvey on a dinner picnic. We stopped at Sonic and picked up a kids meal and then headed out to Percy Warner Park. Such perfect weather, a sweet time together, and a perfect toy in the kids meal.

We've been working with him on biting his food, not just shoving it all in. Sucking on his grilled cheese is positive yardage.

His super sweet kids meal toy.

I couldn't love this kid more if I tried.

And, because I took over 700 photos, and because I know Ali is reading this while staying up all night long :), here are a few more Amelia photos.

Amelia Jane

2010-10-10T08:22:00.004-05:00

I've been busy busy lately. I've had 3 photo shoots this week, which means lots of photos to edit. I did some head shots on Sunday, and I'll spare you the photos. They turned out great, but really, nothing too exciting. Just some heads and shoulders. Exciting stuff.

Then on Monday, Dave and Ali had their little girl, Amelia Jane. I didn't have to work on Monday, so I was really pulling for her to be born on the fourth. I told Ali over a month ago that she was going to be born on the fourth and I would be able to run over and take photos whenever. She told me Amelia would already be here and be home on the fourth, but I could come over and visit. It looks like I won. :)

She was born on Monday around 4:15pm. I was storming in there, camera in tow, at 7:00pm. Craziest non-family member around that day. Although, I am Auntie Sarah. Her aunt that's not her aunt, but is her aunt, but isn't her aunt. Catchy title eh?

Here are some photos from Monday night.

Cute little family photo.

Then I went to their house yesterday and did some more photos. I'm still working on sorting through and editing (I took 736 photos), but here are a handful of my favorites so far.

It's the Year of the Tiger on the Chinese calendar. I love this photo.

This photo make me want to have 12 more babies. Immediately.

I'm sure there will be more photos of Amelia that will make it to the blog soon. There are also some sweet little Harvey photos I need to share too. So many photos, so little time!

Because It's Tuesday

2010-10-05T13:43:00.006-05:00

And because I wanted to do more than one blog post this week, I'm going to squeak one more in today. Here are some more photos from my Blackberry from the last couple of months. Always an interesting post!

On days when he's sleepy, Harvey loves to sit in MH's toy baskets with a blanket and suck his thumb. I'm always down with this plan.

Rolling through the Target dollar spot. We found a pirate hat and a new "big boy" cup for him. He immediately had to try them both out.

And this is the ride home from Target. He wouldn't take his hat off for anything. He was so glad to finally know his true identity. (Note the big orange tag hanging off the side. Yup, super authentic and classy pirate).

At the zoo with Mary Helen. These are about the only animals they can actually see.

Just eating a little mulch on the playground. I have to remind him this is a playground, not Golden Corral. This is not a giant mulch buffet, buddy.

We let him push the cart around at Wal Mart one Saturday. Take my word for it---big mistake. Now we have a tantrum almost everytime it's time to get in the cart.

And last, but certainly not least, I give you.............
Snack time, or art time? It's hard to say sometimes.

Some Days...

2010-09-29T19:52:00.006-05:00

Some days your kids are so cute you could just eat them up. Other days, you wish you had.

We had quite a day today, in case you couldn't tell by my intro. I told my mom, if I get head butted in the face or karate chopped in the throat one more time, I really might lose my cool (all these actions occur when I'm carrying Harvey to safety/our destination and he goes ballistic in my arms trying to get down). Harvey is super independent right now, and he's quite confident he knows what's best. Mom, it's totally cool if I just run out in traffic. Other people's moms let them! (Insert karate chop to the throat). Geeze mom, I can run behind the swings when there are big kids swinging super high. I know they're not going to give me a concussion (or whatever you said)! (Insert back arching head but to the nose). And don't get me started on all the tantrums.

But then, there are so many cute little sweet moments that melt your heart and cause you to (temporarily) forget how emotionally unstable your child is. Diet coke and chocolate. That's how I'm self medicating. Totally healthy coping mechanism.

On a completely unrelated note, here are some photos of Harvey and his cousin Lorelai from this weekend.

Lorelai---Why you fink dey put us in da sun wike dis and den say "smile"? Is too sunny to smile.

Harv---Uhhhhhhhh, Worelwai? Why your parents gib you such a hard name to say? And, why your face look like dat?

Lorelai---I don't know what you means.

Harv---Twy a face wike dis. Eeeeeeee!

Lorelai---Wike dis? Nnnnnnmmnnmm!

Harvey---No! Wike dis! EEEEEEEEE!!

Lorelai---Ummm actuawy, your face wooks dumb. And, Harbey is kinda hard to say too.

Harvey---Maa-ommm! Worewai said my name was hard to says!

Lorelai---Dere, now I can make whateber face I wants to. I wike to wook wike dis for photos.

Harvey---Why is girwls so hard to wive wif?

After this photo shoot, I was spinning the kids around, making them real dizzy and putting them down and letting them fall over. Don't worry, I kept asking if that was some form of child abuse, and we all decided since they kept coming back for more, it was simply entertainment. After all that spinning, I was pretty dizzy myself so I laid down in the grass.

The children are obviously "concerned". Let's see what they do to "help".

I fink she might be hurt!! Wets sit on hers!

Little rascals. I'm not sure either are showing signs of a future in medicine.

Quick Stories

2010-09-24T08:01:00.003-05:00

I have a few quick stories I want to share before I forget about them forever.

--Harvey had his first kiss from a non-family member the other day. MH leaned in and gave him a little smooch. Harvey let out a big chuckle followed by a snort. Then he leaned in for another as she turned and walked away. Smoooooth. He's definitely my child.

--Yesterday I took him to the doctor (he has a throat infection. yup, it is as fun as it sounds). I had packed his little Cardinals backpack with a juice cup, some crackers, a couple little books and his keys and cell phone. So I got him out of the car, stood him up, and put his backpack on (for the first time). He immediately put his arms straight out and fell flat on his back. He just laid there like a little chalk outline. Mother of the Year here obviously doesn't know how heavy is too heavy when you're only 16 months old.

--I decided to give big Harv a bath last night, I figured it would make him feel better. So he's playing, I'm sitting next to the bath tub sending emails on my Blackberry. All the sudden he scoots around a little, I look in the tub and there is a horse size poop just sitting in the bottom of the tub. I immediately snatched him out of there and stood him on the (brand new white) bath mat while I turned to get his towel. He then proceeded to lose his balance, land his poopy butt right on the rug, and scoot around like a dog. Then I wrapped him up in one of our white bath towels. Seriously reconsidering our bathroom color scheme.

Harvey's Monday Highlights

2010-09-20T21:33:00.002-05:00

Snack time. Always a highlight.

Art. Obviously. Highlight.

Witchy GQ photo shoot. Total highlight.

What an emotionally complex witch.

Driving the car. Highlight.

Uhhh, actually driving the car with mom. While the car is parked. But, sitting in the front seat. So, still highlight.

My mom likes me. A lot. Highlight.

Keys

2010-09-15T21:06:00.002-05:00

These are what make Harvey's world go 'round. His keys. Harvey has such an obsession with keys right now. He takes them off of tables, pulls them out of people's hands, even takes them out of random people's pockets/purses. It's pretty serious. So yesterday I took him to Home Depot to get his very own set. I bought him 4 un-cut keys (yeah, go ask the locksmith for 4 of their cheapest keys---oh and, don't cut them please! That will get you some looks), a pretty sweet skull key chain (it was that or polka dots, ok?), and then I added a broken keyless entry that we already had. He now knows he's hit the big time. He's the proud owner of four keys that go no where and a keyless entry that doesn't work. Big.time.toddler.

Speaking of big time toddler, check out this toddler 'tude.

Just keepin' it real folks. This is what happens when you even speak of maybe putting the keys down so you can eat your breakfast. Or go to bed. I seriously had to rip them out of his hands (while he was throwing a nasty tantrum, of course) last night when I put him to bed. I pondered just letting him go to bed with his keys. What's the worst that can happen, sleeping with a set of keys? I immediately took them away.

Harvey is getting so big. He is now a full time walker. He's been walking for quite awhile, but until last Thursday, he was still mostly crawling or walking with our help. Then last week while we were at Davis Kidd, he just stood up and walked across the room and that was it. Since then, he walks more than he crawls. And he almost never lets John and I carry him. We now inch our way from the parking lot to any store. I'm always praying for a close spot, even when the weather is nice.

While it's sad to watch him grow up and need our help less and less, there are some perks. It's pretty nice to get him out of the car and let him walk by himself into the house while I get everything out of the car in one trip. And now we can go to the playground to play! Before he could walk it was silly to go out and let him crawl all over the mulch and put him up on the playground equipment to let him crawl up there. Now he can walk, climb and walk on the equipment, and even go down the slide all by himself. It's all happening so quickly now.

He was dragging that big frog all over the house the other day. Then he tripped and fell over it, and just laid on the floor sucking his thumb for awhile. Guess he figured he needed a good rest.

A few other quick stories about Harv:

-He started carrying around a few of my purses today. He loads them up with all kinds of treasure and drags them all over the house. Now he can really leave crap everywhere!

-We ordered him a cardboard cottage the other day. Seriously. I'm excited.

-Harvey is getting along better with baby Sam, although he is still hung up on all of Sam's "accessories". Sam was laying in his Moses basket on the floor sucking his paci, minding his own business. Harvey saw an opportunity and went for it. He picked up a block, crawled over to Sam, placed the block next to Sam's hand and pulled out his paci. Harvey just knew he couldn't just take Sam's paci, so he decided to trade him for it. Sorry man, that's not how it works. But he earned some points for creativity.

-Anytime he hears a phone ring, he puts his hand up to his ear and says "Ewhoaw". He'll even sometimes do it when he hears one of our BlackBerry's vibrate. Now that's talent.

I Just Love Him

2010-09-08T21:23:00.003-05:00

And here are some (very much unedited) photos so you can love him too. These are from this past Saturday at the park.

Uh, dis stuff wooks dirty. Why is we here again?

Can yous guys turn down da sun a wittle?

A more substantial post is coming tomorrow. Scouts honor.

List Time

2010-09-01T19:41:00.002-05:00

-First and foremost: swim diapers don't hold poop. So when a small boy poops in a small (3 foot round) pool, it gets real nasty real fast. Especially when you see the water is suddenly cloudy, can't think of any reason why it would look like that, let said small boy continue to play in the water for another 15-20 minutes, then you get him out and realize he has been bathing/splashing/drinking poo water for 15+ minutes. Sick.

-I took Harvey on a date to McDonalds today. First time he's been there. He had some fries and a chocolate shake for lunch. I figure the chocolate shake isn't much more unhealthy than a big burger or chicken nuggets from there. Nothing with "Mc" in front of it is super healthy.

-We ran quite a few errands today too, and Harvey was in quite a mood. He waved, smiled, laughed at absolutely everyone we passed. For real. He just loves to be out and about and be the center of attention. He's his mother's child.

-We've been practicing walking more and more lately. He's pretty good at walking in his bare feet, but we bought some Stride Rite big boy shoes a few days ago. I wanted him to wear the "pre-walkers" that are super soft and squishy on the bottom. The sad news is they stop making them in a size 5 or 6, and big Harv wears a 6 1/2 wide. I guess they figure by the time you almost wear adult size shoes you should be walking. The shoes we ended up with still have a "softer" sole than I've been able to find anywhere else, so they should still be helpful. (And for $50 I expect this kid to be tap dancing by Friday).

The new shoes have definitely thrown off his mojo. He looks like a miniature Frankenstein (only way cuter and less green). He loves to walk with help, so we've started making him walk with us to and from the car, up and down the driveway, anywhere it's acceptable to have such a slow mover in tow.

We were walking into Lowes today when Harvey saw something he's never seen before---his shadow. Only 6 more weeks of summer folks! But he just kept staring at the ground and watching the little boy on the ground follow him---until mom ruined the whole thing by picking him up to walk in front of waiting cars.

I'm telling you, taking 1 inch steps all the way from your parking spot to the store takes some patience. But I thought to myself today, if I don't have time for this, if I don't have time to teach my son how to walk, what do I have time for? Even though it took us about 5 full minutes to get into Target today, I wouldn't have missed that time for the world.

John took Harvey out for some practice tonight after dinner and I ran out to get some photos. Enjoy!

I just love that he couldn't go out without his (flavor of the week) bunny.

Hold on feets! Wait for me and my bewwy to catch up!

A true toddler in action:

Get dat fing outta my face!

Oh, nebermind! I wove da camera! And da camera woves me.........

And Harvey's first piece of art. Note the missing upper right corner. That's where he took a nice big bite of his paper. He loves to eat paper any chance he gets. I can't make this stuff up!

No, Not St Louis Photos

2010-08-25T21:07:00.002-05:00

I've got something better to share with you today. Maybe not the best quality (ok, definitely not the best quality---this is a video from my Blackberry), but it's a modern day miracle. Our boy can walk!!!

He took his first steps on Thursday. We tricked him into taking 2 steps while he wasn't thinking about it. Then I tricked him into a couple more on Friday (that's what good moms do---trick you into doing exactly what they want), and then there weren't any more steps to speak of.

Suddenly, yesterday he just stood up and walked. The strangest thing I've seen lately. I was starting to think it was just a fluke, then he stood up and walked some more. He was taking about 4 steps before he would fall/give up and crawl. By the end of the day, he was able to take about 7 steps. Today, he only walked this one time that I caught on video. If John or I stand him up, he immediately sits back down. He totally wants to do it his way and in his time. I don't care how he does, just so long as he starts doing it soon. (My right arm just screamed "Amen!")

So without further ado I present to you, Harvey vs Gravity:Part 1.

St Louis

2010-08-22T21:26:00.002-05:00

Here are a few photos from last weekend. There are more to come, but right now Photoshop is acting all squirrelly and Harvey is crying for some unknown reason (at 9:30! He never does this. Always lights out around 7:15 and he's asleep. I'm afraid something's brewing.......), so I'll get back to editing tomorrow.

Uhhhh, dad? What's dat fing on your wip? You should get dat wooked at............

Yeah! Da dwink guy is comin!! I sees him! Can I has a coke?

Really, does it get much better than this? That sly grin, the big boy hat. Melting this mama's heart.

Harvey and I desperately need to work on our posing skills. Desperately.

Good Intentions

2010-08-18T21:44:00.004-05:00

This past weekend we went to St Louis for 2 Cardinals games, then we spent the day in Eldorado on Monday visiting family. We took over 500 photos this weekend. Today I had big plans to edit photos, write stories and put it all on my blog, all while being super mom and getting some much needed housework done. Negative Ghostrider.

Somewhere around the time Harvey exploded my mineral blush all over the living room carpet/his face and mouth/his outfit as we were about to walk out the door for his doctor's appointment, when we were 5 minutes late for said appointment and were consequently there for an hour and fifteen minutes for a quick visit and 3 shots, when we made a "quick stop" at Trader Joes and he screamed until I carried him around the store while pushing the cart and picking up everything we need for the week, when I picked Harvey up from his chair after lunch only to realize too late that he had massive diarrhea and it was all over my arm, and when I was cleaning up said diarrhea and it was all over the changing pad/his hands/and the wall, that I decided to just get real and the blog could wait.

I uploaded all the photos on my computer, it started to thunder, and I immediately jumped in my bed, snuggled in and took a nap until Harvey woke up.

Way better than editing and blogging. It's not everyday that you actually can take a nap during a thunderstorm.

So until I have some time to get those photos together, I thought I would do a quick update on Harvey's doctor's appointment.

Weight: 27 pounds 13 oz---88th percentile. Up from 81st at 12 months.

Height: 33 1/4 inches---95th percentile. He grew an inch and 1/4 in 3 months.

Head: 19.29 inches. 92nd percentile.

Harvey put 2 words together today for the first time. He now says "Uh-oh.....gone". Kind of. "Gone" sometimes sounds normal, and sometimes has extra letters and syllables. But that's definitely what he's saying. Probably because mom and dad tell him that every time he throws something on purpose.

Still no fruits and veggies in his life. But, he has accepted yogurt again, so I sneak in some fruit and veggies in the Horizon Blends yogurt. Yogurt blended with a fruit and a veggie---tricksy mom.

He is a funny boy. So giggley and happy (almost) all of the time. He reaches out for strangers and is happy to be held by anyone. Unless he's tired/grumpy/teething. Then he's either all mommy or all daddy. It changes frequently. Always keeping us on our toes.

All 4 of his first molars are working on coming in (3 are all the way there), and his top eye teeth are coming in too. He's allowed to be grumpy some days, I guess.

Hopefully tomorrow night I will have some photos from our big weekend. But for now, I'm off to snuggle while its raining once again.

Meet Sam

2010-08-12T20:11:00.002-05:00

My newest photography subject that will be photographed against his will by me forever and ever, amen. That's the beauty of being a nanny-momtographer you know. This is Sam, Mary Helen's new little brother. And one day, he will be Harvey's little buddy. But for now, he is Harvey's arch nemesis. That's another story for another time. For now, let's enjoy a few sweet little photos of little Mr. Sam.

It's not easy bein little.

More Cell Phone Photos

2010-08-09T21:06:00.004-05:00

I was looking through my cell phone photos and realized I have some funny ones. These need to be shared with the inter-webs. Need. So here are some not so high quality, quality shots of Harvey to get you all caught up on the life and times of Harvey.

Hi! Do you fink I'm pwetty? I wike snacks..........

After I took Harriet's pigtails out, he kept pulling his hair just ot make sure there was nothing left in there. This made for an awesome hair day.

Speaking of awesome hair days........the day before his first haircut, this is how he woke up from nap.

Doesn't he look so much happier with less hair?

Darn molars ruined our day at the pool. Such a pitiful photo.

Harv and MH cookin up a storm.

He cried when I took this apron off. So I put it back on. Who am I to take away his pretty pink apron and ruin his crazy good time?

The Mullet Cut

2010-08-05T16:49:00.003-05:00

We finally did it. Today we took Harvey to have his neck cape removed (thanks Uncle Lee!). It went really well. We took him to a kiddie hair cut place called SnipIts in Brentwood. Harvey was a complete angel while in the chair (waiting in the waiting area for 40+ minutes, that's another story), and it was great. They only cut children's hair, so we figured that's the best place to take (untrained animals) toddlers to (be groomed) get their first haircut. There was a seat belt on his chair, which proved to be key when he dropped his toy and lurched forward to get it. And the hairstylist just kept cutting. No matter which way he moved, she just kept foraging forward. She knows that's the key: finish quickly at all costs.

Oh, and no pressure with the crazy momtographer in your face, shooting over 100 photos in the 4 minutes it took to cut his hair. Hey, you just never know which shot it going to be "the" shot. So I just keep going, crazy mom style.

So here are some "before" photos. This is what Harvey's hair looked like yesterday when I got him out of bed. No lie, I did not do anything to make it look like this (except for the fact that he maybe had some sunscreen in his hair from when we went to the pool before nap. But otherwise this is natural. )

And here are today's photos.

The first cut. Man, doesn't he just look so sweet with his DogDog?

As you can see, the colors in this place were crazy. So I tried to break it up with some black and white shots.

And we're going to act like this is not completely nasty. That's how you get through life with a toddler---just act like there aren't really that many germs on there.

Uh, yeah. I wike my pawrt a wittle more wike dis......lemme show you.

All done!

Uhh, hey wady. I fink you left some hairs on my arm......

Perfect first haircut!

Yesterday

2010-08-05T08:54:00.003-05:00

I wanted to have a little mini photo shoot with Harvey and his Dog-Dog yesterday. He only allowed Dog Dog to upstage him for just a moment, then he had bigger and better things to do. Toddlers!

Check out the grip he has on his bff. "You're not goin no where's, Goggie. You're my fwiend, gots it?".

My favorite from yesterday. Hands down.

Just keepin' it real here folks. This is how most everything ends these days. In tears.

As I write this, Harvey is standing next to me banging on the piano while hiccuping like a maniac. Sure hope our neighbors enjoy waking up to "music". Cause it's loud. And crazy sounding.

Some funny stories to get the day started off:

-Harvey likes to make this "Owww" sound like he's barking (more like howling). We were on a walk the other night and he heard a dog barking and he started making this sound in response to the dog. The dog then barked back, Harvey howled back, the dog barked back, Harvey.......you get the point. This continued until they couldn't see/hear each other anymore. So, a long time. Then a little later on our walk, a lady was walking her small, skittish, dog. Harvey was silently checking out the dog, then when the dog was right next to Harvey's stroller, he let out a nice shrill "Owwww!" at the dog. That poor dog jumped sideways in the air and scampered away, looking over its shoulder at Harvey. Way to fake him out Harv!

-As we were about to walk up to our house, we saw a friend of John's driving by. We stopped to talk to her, and she let Harvey get in the car and sit on her lap. Harvey just knew he was a big deal, sitting in the driver seat and all. He kept turning the wheel side to side, then turning on the windshield wipers, squirting the windshield wiper fluid, then jingling the keys in the ignition. Then he would look at John and I from time to time with a huge grin on his face and wave "bye bye". Little turkey. No separation anxiety there. Not even a little bit. He's driving while sitting on a pretty ladies lap. What's not to love?

-Yesterday we all went to Trader Joes to get a few things. It was a little past Harvey's bedtime, so he was pretty cranky. Squealing and squirming and trying to get ahold of everything we put in the cart. So grouchy. Finally, John takes him out of the cart and we go up front to check out. All the sudden, Harvey is the most charming, sweet, grinning baby----for the lady that was checking us out. He was smiling and waving and doing all of his tricks for her. She gave him stickers and that was it---he was just over the moon. Such a flirt.

Then we put him in the car and whined until we got home and put him to bed. The end.

A New Look

2010-08-04T09:09:00.002-05:00

Harv has been trying out a new look lately. I think it's totally working for him.

I don't know what it is about sucking in his bottom lip and sticking his tongue out, but it's his new favorite thing to do. I think it's pretty darn cute, really.

On another note, I'm really going to miss these rubber band arms and thighs when they're gone.

And this sweet little baby mullet

We're going to attempt to cut it off tomorrow. "Attempt" because with all of his new tantrum tricks he's picked up (throwing his head back, screaming, pelvic thrusting, back arching----you know, a toddler), I just don't know how he's going to handle sitting still while there are scissors next to his face. Blegh, it makes me a bit nervous just thinking about it. I think we're going to try one of those kiddie haircut places. At least they're used to his kind there. And maybe some bizarre Wiggles action will help distract him long enough to have his mullet "wings" safely cut off. We'll see!

Whoops!

2010-07-28T21:21:00.003-05:00

Looks like I let yet another week go by without any posts. I'm so lame. But to make it up to you, I'm not even going to really write a whole lot tonight (bummer, I know how much you all love reading my nonsense. Both of you that still read this. :) ). Instead, I have quite a few photos to share. Some are from the wedding that happened forever ago (I swear, I'm almost finished, and the picture CDs are going out on Monday at the latest. Scout's honor), and the rest are from the other day. I have a sweet new vintage action that I just downloaded, so you're going to see a lot of that. Get excited!

This is a photo that I put on here last week, only this time I ran my new vintage application on it. Love it!

The baby mullet. Business in the front, party in the back. An insane party was going on this day.

Oh Mawy Hewen, you's so funny. Weally, you is.

What can I say? He's a pretty hungry guy.

Nom!!! I wove de taste of ewectricity!! Burns so good.

Classic.

Mother and father of the bride.

John's parents.

YMCA lessons. It's tricky. I guess.........

(Gasp!) We were there too! Can you even believe it?! Melissa was sweet enough to take a few photos of us with our camera. It's not everyday we get to be in our own photos. Sounds kinda sad when you say it out loud.

I will post something sometime soon. Let's just keep it as noncommittal as possible, ok?

More Photos

2010-07-21T20:17:00.004-05:00

What a night. We had to leave a restaurant (ok, it was Moes, but it still counts) because Harvey was so out of control. Crying, whining, arching his back, throwing food, throwing his cup. The final straw---he threw his cup right in the middle of my burrito. On purpose. And then screamed and cried. Done. We packed up all of our food (John hadn't even started eating his burrito yet) and came home. On the car ride home, Harvey was giggley and happy, sucking his thumb.

And it didn't help that it was free queso night, so everyone and their mom was there. We had plenty of exasperated looks from people. Ah, life with (an untrained animal) a toddler. Here are a few photos from yesterday. I planned on doing so much more, but we're going to eat dinner and watch a movie. I'm done for the day.

Listing

2010-07-21T14:07:00.002-05:00

It's time for another list of all the thoughts running through my head right now. This might be a doosie!

-Last night I set out to buy ink for our printer. I ended up saving $20 by buying a whole new printer instead of the ink cartridges. True story.

-Our guest room is about to implode on itself. There is a leak coming from upstairs, and our walls, ceiling, and carpet are soaked. The leak was supposedly fixed yesterday, but our newly soaked guest bed (wet down comforter, duvet, sheets, and pillow top cover) this morning says otherwise. We got things cleaned up, and then after John went to work, I decided we needed to just move all our stuff out of the way. Just for your reference, moving a queen size mattress by yourself is no small feat. The box spring is also kinda tricky. Watch out for art hanging on your walls.

-So glad we're renting right now.

-Harvey is definitely my child. He may not look a whole lot like me, but he definitely acts like me. He's pretty out there, and I love it. For instance, I always try to make him and MH dance to music by waving their arms around. He will do it for a minute, but then quickly moves on with life. The other day I discovered why. He is a booty bouncer! I turned on some music and I started dancing (think Napoleon Dynomite talent show) and trying to get them to dance. All of the sudden, Harvey hoists himself into a standing position on the ottoman, and starts bouncing his baby booty all around. He was squealing and laughing and having the best time. That's my boy! Then later that same day, he crawls over to me like he's on some big time mission. He squinted his eyes and looked at me, took one pudgey little finger and pointed to his eye, then to his nose, and then he frantically crawled away laughing hysterically. He's never done that before. It was like some weirdo inside joke he has with himself. I couldn't be more proud.

-He has started inadvertently mocking John and myself. When he throws food on the floor, he now tosses it over his shoulder, looks at us and says "Ohhhh. Uh uh uh. Uh-ohhhh" while patting his hand (before he started in with the theatrics, we were telling him "No" and flicking his hand when he threw food. Now that it's a big production and a game, we have stopped even acknowledging any of this). Also, he will copy what you say, including the inflection in your voice. I apparently say "cheese" and "cat" high pitched when I say it to him. Now he "mocks" me with "chhEEEee" and "caaAAAt". He's just making me aware of how stupid I sound when talking to children. He's tired of me talking down to him.

-After the really bad Sunday he had in the nursery over a month ago, we started letting him take Dog Dog in with him. No more crying, at all. The boy just needed his buddy to go with him to help him be tough. So sweet.

-Tantrums are going well. As in he has them often. The arched back, throwing his head back trying to break someone's nose, screaming until he gags. He's awesome. And kinda angry at life. Then totally happy and giggling less than 2 minutes later. Kids.are.bipolar. Honestly.

-He's going through a cuddly/snuggly phase right now. When he wakes up from nap he likes to suck his thumb with his head on your shoulder and wrap his other arm around your neck, real tight. I drop everything when he wakes up just to have my busy toddler be my baby again, just for a few minutes. I try to soak it in and remember exactly how he feels in my arms in that exact moment, because all to soon he's going to be too big to cuddle. He just melts my little Grinch heart sometimes.

-I'm about to make me some muffins that taste like donuts. I hope there's at least one left over for Harvey when he wakes up from nap. My jeans hope so as well. They're at capacity at the moment.

Alright, I'm finished. Going to make some muffins and edit some more photos. I should have another post of photos on here sometime tonight. I know, I'm awesome. I just didn't want to come right out and say it, but you forced it out of me.

Ham

2010-07-18T21:18:00.003-05:00

I got out my camera the other day to take some "candid" photos of Harvey playing, and this is what happened.

I'm giving you da stink eye, mom. If dat really is your name.......

Trust me, it goes on and on. I took about 175 photos, and they're almost all of him showing off for the camera. (Side note---there are some good photos of his "double" front tooth here. If you look, his left front tooth is actually 2 teeth pushed together. It was so bizarre when it came in. I've worked with lots of children, and I've never seen this before. Fortunately, our pediatrician had. Just when I was about to sell him to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum in Gatlinburg, our pediatrician totally busted that bubble. He could have been a big star....).

I did happen to capture of a few of him playing in his box. Seriously, this kid LOVES this box. It's now on its side with a blanket "door" that he lifts and lowers for privacy. And he takes his favorite toys in and out of there on a regular basis. He's an interesting little guy.

I've been in a bit of a blogging slump, and I'm hoping to get out of it soon. It's just so hard to come home and get motivated to sit at the computer when there's plenty of trash on TV. I mean, hello, I HAVE to see what happens on 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey', because you know they won't re-play it over and over again. I've got priorities here. But really, editing photos, posting photos, blogging about photos---those will be my priorities. Soon. I think.

Raining Dogs and Dogs

2010-07-09T15:29:00.004-05:00

Yesterday evening on our way home, it started pouring. It's been awhile since we've had some good rain, so it was a welcome sight. We pulled in our garage, and I was so thankful we didn't have to get out in that mess. Then I went to get Harvey out, and realized how much fun he would have in the pouring rain. The sun was out, no threat of lightening, so we went out in our driveway to play. Man, he loved it! He's a big fan of water, and he'll take it however he can get it. Even if it means he's weirdo mom makes him play outside when the sky is clearly falling. Our neighbors probably thought we were a little weird, but all they had to do was look at the big smile on his face to get it.

When I finally took him inside, I stripped him down to his diaper, he climbed up in his chair with his Dog Dog, I wrapped them both up in a blanket and turned on one of his Baby Einstein videos. Sweet boy sat there with the biggest grin on his face throughout the entire movie. Pretty sure that was his idea of the best day ever. Then we took him out to dinner where he screamed for my Diet Coke, threw food all around, and threw his sippy cup across the restaurant. But that's another story for another time. Kids are just bipolar. They can't help it.

There aren't too many monumental Harvey updates. He's currently cutting 4 molars (really helps with the bipolar activity), we're working on dropping the morning nap, he loves to play in his carboard box, he has a rather intense obsession with dogs. Really, it's beginning to interfere with everyday life. I'll explain in a minute. First, some words he knows: "Uh-oh" (repeated often throughout the day), ball, dog, shoes, gilk (milk---said while signing milk), mo (more--while signing more), tees (trees), "hey-o" (hello---used when answering anything (puzzle piece, block, lego) like a phone). He's turning into quite a character!

Ok, back to his dog obsession. We have Dog Dog, his bff dog stuffed animal. Dog Dog now goes everywhere and does everything with us. He rides next to Harv in shopping carts, sit in his car seat while we're driving somewhere---you get the picture. Then, we have a dog book that Natalie and Nick gave him for his birthday. He has requested it at bedtime every night since he got it. He knows it backwards and forwards. He even says "Tat!" (cat) at the end, just like I say it----but before I can even get the page turned all the way. No problem, it's good to have a routine. It's even good to have a favorite story. But now, anytime we even come close to his room, "Dog, dog, dog, dog, dog........." while reaching for the chair where we read. Obviously, we don't read it everytime we go in there. Sometimes we're simply on a mission to get his diaper changed and move on. Everytime he wakes up from nap, "Dog, dog, dog", and we'll usually read it to him then. We can't even go in there to play anymore---it's pretty much the only thing he can think about when we're in his bedroom.

So the other night,John and I were going to bed, it's about 10:45. He starts crying, I wait to see if he can work it out. A few minutes later, he's getting pretty worked up so I go in to check on him. Usually at night he's pretty out of it. I walk in, he rolls over and starts with "Dog Dog, Dog Dog, Dog Dog". Holy cow, seriously? Did you really just wake up and start crying for your Dog Dog? So I went to the living room, got Dog Dog out of the cardboard box where they had last been playing and brough him in to Harv. He snuggled up with him, stuck his thumb in his mouth, and that was that. Obsession. I think we're going to get him the Cat book soon. Blow his little baby mind.

A Wedding Story: Part 2

2010-07-08T21:04:00.004-05:00

Here are a few more images from Kenny and Angela's wedding. Tomorrow I plan on actually writing a blog post. Such a creative idea. I should probably write a book about blogging.

This is where Harvey napped for a couple hours before and during the wedding. He woke up as they were coming back down the aisle after the wedding. Seriously, awesome. (And yes, he's sleeping in a little mini kitchen in the church. You gotta think outside the box sometimes. As long as we have a pack-n-play, some lovies and a sound machine, he can sleep anywhere. He's a rock star baby).

I just love the look on her face. So serene.

Our little buddy "helping" clean up.

Love that dirty little foot.

There are lots more from the reception that will make their way to the blog. Soon-ish.

A Wedding Story: Part 1

2010-07-06T21:32:00.003-05:00

Alright, here's the first round of photos from the wedding we went to last weekend. I just picked a few of my favorites from the ceremony to put on here. Tomorrow I hope to have the reception photos ready to roll.

Sometimes it's hard to be a kid at a wedding.

The bride and her dad moments before he walked her down the aisle.

So very happy.

I wish I knew what she was telling him........ Probably why I like this photo so much.

Our whole crew.

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T20:48:00.003-05:00

I am so behind on blogging and photo editing, that I am simply avoiding both. That should make it all better, right? If you just ignore a problem long enough, it's totally solved. I still have photos from my family's photo shoot, New Orleans photos, and over 600 photos from the wedding last weekend to get to. But I decided I would just stop putting so much pressure on myself and show you some fun photos from this weekend. Gotta get out of the rut sometime. I think.

We got up early on Saturday (thanks Harv!), had a quick breakfast, and then we went for a drive. We ended up at the park, Harvey in his pajamas. Awesome. (Side note: this morning, Harvey was running around the house in that same pajama top with a rather large diet coke spot on it, and a diaper with no pants. Red.neck.baby).

Check out that wild baby mullet blowing in the wind.

After the park, we stopped by a bakery close to our house for a little mid morning snack.

After that, it was still only 10:30am (again, up so early), so we all went home and laid down for a bit, had lunch, and went to the pool for awhile. Perfect Saturday.

Today we discovered the best things in life are free. Including toys. (Try not to judge these next few photos----the lighting in his play room is not the best.)

We just tossed in a few of his favorite things and voila! Instant playpen/babysitter. Bye bye Harvey! Mommy and daddy are going to dinner. You just stay in your box and play!

And here are a few "festive" Fourth of July photos.

This is real life here. Harv fighting us, dying to get down and.....sit? Still can't walk. Oh how he would love to finally be able to walk away from us. Don't worry Harvey, we're everywhere! You won't be getting away from us for a long time.

He can stand by himself now. Until he realizes he's doing it. Then he hits the deck. Man, check out that stance. That's exactly how I stand. Belly out, booty out, hands up, and spread those feet. Natural model stance.

No Fourth of July festivities for us this year. We were going to be brave and go see the fireworks, but Harvey is cutting 4 molars. And, he usually goes to bed at 7:30. So the 9:30 firework show sounded like trouble. Maybe next year! Hope you all had a fun fourth!

I'm Baaaack!

2010-06-28T20:07:00.005-05:00

We've been busy busy busy around here! Last Saturday we took Harv to meet John's parents, and then John and I left early Sunday morning for New Orleans. We hadn't been on a vacation just the two of us since our honeymoon, so we decided it was now or never. We always seem to have some major life change going on, and for once, life is pretty calm. And we figure this is one of the last times we can go away without Harvey realizing he's missing out. Next summer we definitely want to start taking family vacations, especially since Harvey will be 2 years old and totally into sight seeing. Toddlers are so patient.

Anyway, John and I were in New Orleans from Sunday morning through Thursday evening. We flew back into Nashville at 9:30pm on Thursday, and were in the car on our way to Illinois by 6am Friday morning. We went to get our boy and then we were off to John's cousin's wedding weekend. We were non stop busy with that until yesterday afternoon. We finally got home yesterday around 5:30. Now I'm sitting here with over 1000 photos to go through, and even more stories to share. To top it off, I have zero energy for any of it. Bummer. But I will go ahead and share one story.

This was our view from a coffee shop on Bourbon Street one morning. I was looking out and thought "Oh, what a cute little preschool! So interesting that it's right here on Bourbon Street." Made sense to me.

Then I thought about it a little more, and how bizarre it would be to have a preschool right in the middle of Bourbon Street of all places. I mean, there are strip clubs all over the place.........

Ah, there it is. Not actually a preschool, but the upstairs portion to a "gentlemen's club". Not a cute little teacher's apple cutout from The Parent Teacher Store after all.

And when you take a moment to take in the whole picture, you see it's also next door to 'Stiletto's Caberet'.

So innocent, so naive---until I saw Bourbon Street and their "preschools". So many more stories to come. But for now, I need to finish my chores. So lame.

Just Wike Goggie

2010-06-17T20:06:00.002-05:00

I'm not weal sure what dis is. I sawed goggie do dis once and I fought I should twy it. Is kinda' fun I guess. Silly goggie.

Treasure the Doing

2010-06-17T13:50:00.003-05:00

I was reading Nienie when I came across this quote from a post a couple of years ago.

The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less. ~Anna Quindlen

Now I'm a person who likes lists and schedules. And lists of schedules. Ah, heavenly. I'm very task oriented, and that really does interfere with how I live in the moment, especially as a mother with a young child. I think children need schedules, that they thrive in knowing what comes next. But some days I am so driven by the schedule, by getting this done so we can move on to that, and hurry hurry nap is coming! When really, at the end of the day, none of that really matters if I don't truly connect with those around me. In 15 years I don't want to look back and not be able to remember the sound of Harvey's giggle, the way he smells when he first wakes up in the morning, all the sweet little sounds he puts together right now, but to know that he went to bed on time every night and he always had a regularly scheduled nap. Checking everything off of my to-do list for the day is not as important as playing and making memories with my little boy. While having a routine and a schedule are important, it's more important to be all here all the time. Our children are only little for such a short amount of time, so let's all take some time to relax and treasure all the little moments while we can. I want to start treasuring the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

Me and My Shadow

2010-06-16T19:58:00.006-05:00

Harvey has been quite the little companion lately. He's going through a little (a lot of) seperation anxiety, so he's pretty much under foot at all times. He's basically with one of us all the time during the week except for the 2 1/2 hours he's in the nursery at church. This past Sunday---fail. We dropped him off and he cried after us. He's never done that before. I left my cell phone number with them and figured they would call if he was totally crazy. I figured he would cry for a minute, forget about us and start playing with all the new people. I mean, this is the child that I take to story time that crawls up in other mother's laps and pulls up on their shoulders to play with their hair. Cute for now, creepy in a few years buddy. I kept checking my phone (which was obviously on silent) and never saw anything. After Sunday school, I noticed I had a missed call from about 30 minutes earlier from a number I didn't know. Automatic guilt because we both knew Harv was freakin' out. We walked in the door to the children's wing and we could already hear him screaming. We got to his room, and he's sitting in the corner with a dad beside him, screaming his face off while all the other children are staring at him on the other side of the room. Everyone was a little freaked out by him. As were we, really. You could see the teachers breath a collective sigh of relief when we showed up and took him out. Apparently he cried off and on (mostly on) for the entire 2 1/2 hours. So for the next few weeks, we're supposed to stay in there with him to help him adjust. We'll be going to church just to sit in the nursery and not actually go to church. Sounds productive.

And, I'm really thinking we need to try a little harder to get him in a Mother's Day Out program in the fall. I tried before and they are all full. I think it would do this boy some good to be away from mama during the day just for a few hours a week. Good for mama too. :)

Today he was my little "helper" all around the house. Today we cleaned, cleaned, cleaned and he fell off of/bumped his head on/smashed his fingers in everything possible. Amazing little helper. He cried at first when I started to vacuum (which also has never happened before), so I tried to put him in the Moby carrier on my side. Nothing like 26+ pounds of dead weight literally hanging off your side to make you really break a sweat. That didn't last for long. So I put him back on the floor, and his love affair with the vacuum was rekindled. We've been vacuuming around him since he was little, so he's not scared at all. He watched me as I went room to room, "helped" me mop, played with my duster, found random junk on the floor, and topped the day off by helping with the laundry. Pretty sure he's going to be like most children that are obsessed with the dryer. He pretty much climbed right on in. Whatever keeps him entertained while I'm working is fine by me. Just try not to injure yourself----again.

Here are some recent photos of our little shadow.

Harv and Mary Helen at the zoo. Quite the pair.

He already wants to be just like daddy. I think we're going to have another piano player (we already do, kind of).

And his other favorite past time---the 5 o'clock news. Really, that's what he's watching. Up close and personal. While banging on the DVD player. And getting in trouble. Again.

Tee Ball Part 2

2010-06-13T20:30:00.004-05:00

I finally got all of Connor's tee ball game photos from two weeks ago together. Here are my favorites.

His first at bat during the game.

And here he is "running" home. Really, he's a good player. And not afraid to tell you that himself.

Not always so fun playing in the outfield.

Poor old Harvey was about to have a heat stroke during the game. These photos are not color enhanced----he's just that red hot.

He was desperate to get some water. Especially when it came from daddy's water bottle and not his lame-o sippy cup.

Mamaw and her tired little spectators.

Lorelai found a little buddy and a spot to spy on the boys in the dugout.

His team won!

And he won the game ball! He's the only player on his team to have gotten the game ball two times. And he's not afraid to tell you that. Not even afraid to tell you a few times a day. You gotta love how humble a six year old can be.

All Things Random

2010-06-11T13:58:00.002-05:00

Since I'm currently being lazy every night (after I work a full day, come home and make dinner, clean up, help wrastle our wild animal into bed, spend time with John, and then get ready to do it all again the next day---oh so lazy), I've been neglecting my editing and blogging duties. Such a slacker. So, while I don't have any new photos to share, I do have some random stories and updates to share.

--Harvey is all grown up----no more bottles. We did away with them almost completetly by his first birthday, but we've been giving him one before bed a couple nights a week since then. He can't be bothered with them any longer. When we get in his chair at night, it's all about his "Doag Doag" book. He LOVES his dog book. So darn precious.

--It feels like a sweaty armpit outside right now. So hot and humid. Nice visual, eh?

--Harv is experiencing a little seperation anxiety right now. He's always been our independent first born, but he's turned a corner this past week. Last Sunday he had to have a "special friend" to hangout with him in the hallway while he was in the church nursery. Normally he loves nursery social time, hanging out with his homies, but he decided he wanted nothing to do with it last Sunday. Bad week to decide he was freaked out by other children because we left him for over 2 1/2 hours.

Then I took him to the mall to play the other day when he melted down. There were lots of little people that day, and he loved it at first. Crawling after all the bigger boys, trying to convince them he was big too. He seriously copied everything this one group of boys did. Then, he just sat still for a few minutes, threw his hands up in the air, and just started sobbing. It was one of the more pitiful things I've seen lately. I walked over to him and he didn't see me because he was looking at the floor. When he heard my voice he looked up and threw his hands up for me to pick him up. So relieved mom didn't leave afterall! From then on he was nervous when I would try to put him down to play, so I enjoyed a little snuggle time. Snuggle time is a very rare occurance these days, so I'll take it how I can get it. Even if I have to scare him myself every now and then, I'll do it.

--Harvey fell down the stairs today and hit his head. Man, that sounds like a really exciting story, don't you think? The other details that I left out are that it was actually two carpeted steps and he literally hit his head on a teddy bear. What the heck are the odds of a teddy bear being right there? But don't worry, he still cried and held his head like he fell down a whole flight of stairs. We were at Davis Kidd after story time and there were lots of other people there for him to put on a show for. He stayed snuggled up in my lap for awhile after that as well. Again, I'll take it how I can get it. If hitting his head on a teddy bear makes him want to snuggle, fine by me. I can't wait to tell his first girlfriend how tough he was when he was little.

--I'm really enjoying all the practice I'm getting with my photography. Learning some photoshop tricks has helped as well. I've learned a whole lot lately and I have a lot of things I'm looking forward to putting into practice soon. I have a couple more shoots planned in the next couple of weeks, and I'm pretty pumped about those. If you need some photos taken, let me know!

Ummmmmmm

2010-06-09T20:55:00.005-05:00

I not so sure I wike dis. Dis bwog wooks kinda weird. But, I wike dat I'ms so big........so maybe is good. I dunno.

Testing

2010-06-09T14:15:00.009-05:00

I'm working on making my photos larger and clearer. Clearly, the images are going to be larger, but there's nothing else fun going on here. So, I'm going to keep on trying new things. Should be interesting!

Baseball, Tee Ball Style

2010-06-06T21:14:00.005-05:00

Last weekend while we were in Lexington, we were able to catch a Cardinals game. Our nephew Connor plays tee ball, and go figure, he plays for the Cardinals! He's already Harvey's hero (and John's too, really). So very cute. I have literally hundreds of photos to sort through, but I already have a few favorites I want to share with you.

It was hot. Oh so very hot. Poor little Harvey looked like he was going to have a heat stroke. Poor guy. But we had a blast with these three all weekend! I'm sure there will be lots more photos and stories to come. But for now, I've got plenty of editing left to do.

By the way, I just realized blogger is resizing my photos and making them look a lot less magical. :) If anyone knows how I can get my high res versions on here, let me know! Once I figure it out, I will probably repost some photos. Obnoxious, but totally worth it.

Cell Phone Photos

2010-06-03T10:52:00.006-05:00

I realized today how many photos I take with my cell phone that are never really seen by anyone else. I decided today was the day to reveal some of the cute (and weird) recent photos of Harvey.

This is the way he prefers to eat. This does not happen often. This was lunch after an exceptionally hot and sweaty trip to the zoo. He was thuroughly enjoying rubbing mac-n-cheese and oranges all over his belly.

This was during a shopping trip with Aunt Nat. He pooped all over himself, and I didn't have another set of clothes for him. And we definitely weren't going home! :)He got to play the redneck baby for about 30 minutes while we were in TJ Maxx (where I bought him a new outfit).

Harv and MH at the library. Such cute little buddies.

This is Harvey's new lovie. And he is deeply in love with it. Swoozies was going out of business, and everything was marked 75% off. We were walking around the baby section, and I came across this bib. Harvey loves tags, and I've been looking for a Taggie blanket that's not $25+ dollars. I handed him the bib, and he immediately started sucking on it. It was just $4, so I decided he could have it. Could it be any more random?! There were no others like it in the store, so a girl's taggie bib with the letter "I" embroidered on it------we'll take it!

They lived happily ever after.......

And of course, Harvey in the pool. Obviously, he loves it. The chance to scream and splash and drink nasty dirty water----what's not to love?

Hello Again

2010-06-02T19:23:00.003-05:00

I didn't have a good title in mind for today. And it looks as if I still don't. But, that's going to have to do it! Harvey is going through a super fun phase (sarcasm----I wish I could figure out how to make my words look sarcastic) so I'm pretty wiped out. This past weekend we were away from home, so he was naturally a little off. His schedule was crazy, he was always on the go, so I thought all that 'tude was just because he was tired. But now I'm starting to realize we're entering into the toddler phase of life. So many tantrums, so little time. His favorite things to do currently: throw his cup, throw his food, throw absolutely anything I hand to him, scream as loud as possible anytime something doesn't quite go his way. This is especially effective when done in public. He even managed to throw a couple good fits while we were in the pool today, the happiest place on earth. I'm telling you, kids are bipolar. So after an entire weekend in non baby proof houses, several days of attitude, and 2 family dinners that ended with Harvey crying until he was gagging, I'm pretty wiped out. But, we'll all adjust and get over it! We don't have many choices. I just try to remind myself, it only gets worse from here. Fortunately, he's still the cutest kid I know, and it's what's on the outside that matters most, right? Just go with it.

In between all the madness, I was able to edit a few more sweet photos of Gabby. I still have a few more to go, so you'll get at least one more post of her photos. And then Harvey will make another appearance on here.