Snuggles

It's the little things you don't realize you miss with your second child until they finally happen.

Tonight after I put Arabella to bed, I put Evan down for a late evening nap, then did the dishes and baked a cake. But before I could get the cake in the oven he started to scream. If you know me, you know my children have very huge lungs and aren't the least bit quiet when it comes to crying. So I hurried the cake into the oven and set the timer. I walked down the hall to find my little man had rolled over onto his stomach but was still stuck on his shoulder. He can get his body rolled real easy, he just has to figure out how to get his upper half whipped around.

So, I scooped him up and calmed him down. I nursed him a bit to get him calm enough that I could rock him. The opportunities to rock my little man when he isn't nursing are far and few between. In fact he's nearly 4 months old and I've never been able to just rock him. So the fact that I was able to calm him and have him fall back asleep lying on my chest while I was rocking him was an amazing feet and one of pure joy for me. I just sat there, rocking my little man, and I had the biggest smile across my face. I truly wish we could have more peaceful bonding moments like that. But again, with a 16 month old it's near impossible. But, there is hope.

Yogurt Breath

Yesterday I got brave. I gave Arabella her very own yogurt cup to eat all by herself. I'm not a huge fan of messes so we tend to still feed her messy foods. It all started with Jell-O fruit cups a week or so ago. So I figured she did such a good job with that, that we'd try yogurt. She did amazing. She only got two tiny drops on the table, the rest either went in her mouth or well, you can see for yourself...

Memorial Day Weekend Fun

This weekend we had a good friend, Maryanne, over. She was accompanied by her two little boys, Jackson & Forrest. Forrest is 2 days older than Bella, and cute to boot. We had a fun time smoking some meat, playing in the kiddie pool, and just having some good old adult conversations. It was bliss!

I think this was my favorite picture of the day. Aren't they so cute together?

Evan didn't do much but eat and sleep...so nice.

Difficult Week Ahead

It may be a difficult week ahead of me, but it's not what you think. Our challenge for You Capture this week is to take photographs ALL WEEK LONG, and then, you ready for this....we can only pick ONE to post for Thursday. ONE FREAKING PICTURE???? I mean, I took over 200 pictures yesterday, and I'm well on my way to that today. In fact I have to do some housekeeping on my laptop and memory card in order to keep up. I still have Evan's birth pictures on there....and that leaves me somewhere around 2,054 pictures on my card right now. Oye. This is going to be a total challenge for me this week to decide which ONE picture is my best shot...

My problem could be worse right?

Bella's Bows ~ New Products

Hey everyone, thank you so much for your support in this short amount of time!

Secondly, I've added new clippies to the line as well "Lil Chunks" which are a wider version of the hair clippies. I do have two other ribbon choices so far for the Lil Chunks and I'll get them up soon. Check them out on the Bella's Bows tab above!

Introducing Bella's Bows

TADA!!!! Okay, I'm very proud of myself today as I have four sets of hair clippies up for sale under the Bella's Bows tab above. In the future I will be adding more bows as time permits, including more patterns of clippies, and various other styles of bows. So hang on for a wild creative ride. Sorry this is short but I have my munchkins and a spare today. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

You Capture ~ Sky

This week's challenge is Sky. Here are some pictures I took last week while I was working on the DoF challenge. These are full shots of the water fountain that I teased you with last week. The sky wasn't a very pretty blue, but it was the last gorgeous day before we were bombarded by day after day of rain.

These were taken the day after the rain stopped last Friday. I do believe they turned out nicely. Now when it starts to rain again I can just go back and look at these pictures and remember just how gorgeous it can be. It has also went from a gorgeous spring to a terribly hot summer in an instant. Boo!

For more gorgeous sky pictures visit I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Meet Mr. Personality

As of lately it is more and more apparent that Evan and Arabella have completely different personalities. Arabella didn't show her personality until later in her life whereas Evan is Mr. Talkative, Mr. Giggles, and Mr. Noisemaker. It's hilarious and interesting how your children can be so different.

Evan loves it when you talk to him. He'll chatter back to you and will completely blow up if you ignore him while he's "talking." We've also discovered his uber ticklish feet. He busts up laughing when you tickle him. He's also started to blow bubbles and raspberries when you talk to him. His favorite place to do this seems to be on the changing table, but he'll do it at other times as well. I just love to make him laugh and giggle. He has got the cutest dimples for a child from non-dimpled parents.

He doesn't have to be the center of attention, but he's much happier when he is. Arabella loves to give him lovins. It's too freakin cute. And Evan loves to watch her play. He just watches her run back and forth and try to figure out what the heck she's doing sometimes. Well I'd love to delve into Mr. Personality a little bit more for you right now, but he's turning into McFussyPants right now.

Code Brown, Code Brown

OMG!!!!! Arabella was supposed to be taking a nap. She was talking and howling so I sent Adam in after her. The next thing I know he's yelling at me to get upstairs. Our little princess removed her onesie, followed by her diaper full of poop. She then proceeded to play with the poop and I'm sure you can use your imagination as to what we've had to clean up.

Luckily just before we got home we purchased a potty chair because I was going to being potty training her and this pretty much sealed the deal. We're going to start phasing in potty training since she's decided taking her dirty diapers off herself is necessary these days. Pray for me, pray for me.

Random Stuff

I feel like I should have a ton of stuff to blog about, random stuff on the kids, about being a "single" mommy most days while trying to uphold the role of housewife; but it seems I have some sort of mental block. Earlier today I was talking in my head, running through things I wanted to write down on the blog for the kids' baby books, and now I got nothing. How does this happen?

I know...because I'm trying to prepare dinner while both kids are screaming, one wanting to be fed while the other is getting into everything under the sun, including trouble, while trying to hand wash dishes, unload and reload the dishwasher and finish up the laundry that Adam started. Then there's bath time, putting away left over dinner, oh did I forget to mention nursing Evan and feeding Arabella at the same time? Then there's the jar of peanut butter that I nearly tripped over because Arabella thought I needed it while cooking dinner, not to mention the can of green beans she brought me while proudly stating "water." Apparently anything she can pull off the baker's rack is "water" now.

It's been one of those weeks I suppose. Soon enough I'll have to take Evan in for his 4 month check up and before I know it, it will be time for Arabella's 18 month check up. Where does the time go? That's right...out the window.

You Capture ~ Depth of Field

This weeks You Capture challenge was Depth of Field. What does this mean? In short terms it means the foreground is in focus and the background is blurry or vice versa. This was something that I thought occured naturally in some photographs but as I've learned you can make your camera do this wonderful thing but adjusting it. I don't have the first clue when it comes to my camera like I thought. I truly have a professional camera if I learn to use it properly. Thanks to Beth I'm beginning to see just what my camera can do. So sit back and enjoy my ride as I learn how to properly use my camera. I'm hoping by now that my photography skills are improving.

I practiced on my daughter's new nesting blocks. Kinda cute huh?

Then I hit the town, so to speak. My honey kept the kiddos for a half hour or so in order for me to get some shots in. Here are some pretty flowers near a local golf course.

These little yellow guys are just so cute.
**Thanks to Bec I now know these are called Lantana.**

This is our fireplace screen.

This one didn't really work the way I wanted it to. I was attempting to get the foreground posts in focus while keeping the remainder of the posts out of focus. Instead it kept the fence in the back (behind the front fence) in focus and put the front fence out of focus.

The same fence.


This is a water fountain near the same golf course.

I really wish this fountain was in my yard. :)

For more depth of field photography visit I Should Be Folding Laundry.