ten on tuesday

Yeah, yeah... I know its really Wednesday. But I haven't gone to bed yet so I'm still feeling like its Tuesday. It's not often my thoughts are organized enough to list ten things so I've got to roll with it!

1. We have quite the little budding artist in our home these days. Always drawing, always coloring, always growing in her art. If she does indeed turn out to be an exceptional artist, I won't be the least bit surprised since her daddy and his siblings are all incredible artists.

This was the second of two similar drawings she made for me... They were both supposed to be of my dream house. Though the first drawing had a red door (and I would adore a red front door!) this was my favorite of the two because of the little girl and dog. I'm thinking this is really a picture of Emma's dream house because of the purple door, and the little girl, that I am assuming is her, and the dog, that I am assuming is the dog she hopes to get once we move into a house.

2. And this was a special drawing that she made for me while I was out doing sessions this past weekend.

Don't you just love the arms? And I love the frame. I just adore that girl of mine.

3. "Happy Day Mommy. Happy Day." said in the sweetest little three year old voice that there ever was!

Ethan handed this to me a week ago and that's what he told me. I absolutely melted. It's amazing how much the little ones pick up from their older sibling(s). The gesture came out of the blue, but the idea of giving me something special that he made totally comes from watching Emma. And I love both of them for it.

4. Okay. This I stole. It wasn't given to me with a "Happy Day" wish or anything. I just took it. And you would too!

My son brought this to me yesterday (or Monday) and said "It's a man". I couldn't believe it. How in the world did he go from scribbles to drawing a human form (or monkey/human form) in one week?! Oh my goodness, an absolute treasure... That's what this is to me.

5. And speaking of that little man of mine, Ethan has been doing the very confused counting business of just mixing up all the numbers. Though it's been really great lately because he's starting to get it and is counting more in order up to 10 in just the last few days. He counts everything and always asks us to count with him. But he's so cute because no matter what number he counts up to he always sums it up with the total being "nine" - "9 sheep", "9 circles", "9 people". Cracks me up!

6. This is a reminder that we all need to have a good photo taken of just ourselves every now and then. There will be a time when you are trying to find one, because you know, maybe your daughter is doing a family tree for a school project, and you are going through all your photos (within reason, of course), and all you can find are ones where you are squished up next to someone else (usually a kid). So you have to crop the heck out of the photo to get rid of that person next to you. And you are wondering "Why in the world don't I have any good shots of just me?". That was me last night. This holiday season I will make an extra effort to get some good individual photos of just my husband and I.

7. Photos that were used on Emma's family tree project:


8. House hunting is about as fun as I thought it would be. Sarcasm here. Just because they call it a buyer's market doesn't mean its easy to find a house. On the contrary, I'm wondering if its harder right now. I don't know. I'm just not liking it. I'm really dreading the thought that we may have to move further out than I was hoping to. Daniel could care less where we move. It's me that is struggling with the idea. What would I do without my Jerrie and Michelle close by? What would I do?

9. Ethan's eyes are almost completely back to normal again. As in what he looked like a year ago normal. He is healing and handling it like a wonder boy and it's just been such a relief. Whew!

10. I didn't pick Emma up from school today (or yesterday) because I was at my dad's. When I called Daniel on the drive home he told me that Emma got a certificate at school. He said for Outstanding Student, which I thought was super cool. I couldn't wait to talk to her about it. I came home to find the following:
, which I thought was even cooler! At first I was a little bummed that maybe there was a school assembly and that I wasn't informed so maybe I could've attended. But no, it sounded like the principal came into her classroom where she was called up to accept the award. I could tell Emma was proud... You know, there are times when I can tell she just doesn't "get it", but not with this. She knew this was special.

So incredibly proud of my little girl.


So excited to share that stuff and record it for the kids! And now, off to bed! We finally get to see our Jerrie and Dennis for lunch tomorrow... It's been weeks!

post-surgery

To say that our little guy did great with his surgery is just an understatement. Not only did the surgery go well, but he handled it wonderfully. I couldn't be happier with how he did, how awesome everyone was at the hospital, and how he is healing. I feel blessed beyond measure. Thank you to those of you who said a prayer for him (and us) because I know it helped and God was listening.

The surgeon found numerous chalazions in his lower eyelids as well as in his upper. The upper were very small so we had no idea they were even there. They were all removed.

The moment I will remember for always: When the nurse put him in a red wagon, Ethan wearing the little hospital gown with lions on it, and she wheeled him down the hall to the operating room. All the staff in the hallway were cheering him on. He just sat there with his big round eyes taking it all in. Being absolutely brave and wonderful. I gave him a kiss goodbye and then watched as they wheeled him into the big double doors of the operating room. I didn't cry, but I felt I could. I did tear up afterwards when I was brought into the recovery room and I saw the nurse holding him as he slept. His eyes were swollen and bloody, his lips dry and white looking. I held him for another hour as he slept more and just counted my blessings.

Ethan's surgery was scheduled for 7:30am so we had to be there at 6am. I took him on my own because Daniel stayed behind to take Emma to school. He met up with us near the end of Ethan's time in the recovery room. Daniel actually showed up just in time to witness the worst part of the morning with Ethan waking up and being extremely cranky (and angry) for a good 15 minutes or so. It took a lot to calm him down and thank goodness the nurse found the little dinosaur plush that she did because he finally decided that he would accept that gift and calm down. We stood up to leave the recovery room and the first thing he said when he saw the window was, "It's morning outside. No more darky". That's my cute little guy.

He crashed when we got home and slept for about four hours. He woke up a little cranky again, wanting to touch his eyes and so forth, but calmed down much more quickly this time and then... He was ready to eat! Obviously no problem with the anesthesia making him feel sick.

These were taken as he was eating for the first time that day.


I found it a bit sad that I would take photos of him looking like this, but also knew that I had to because that's who I am. He was really as happy as he looks. Completely himself personality wise. But I'll admit that I felt like I brought home another child as I looked at him. His eyes were so swollen and I couldn't even envision his normal big round eyes. But it was awesome to see him doing so well and really listening to us about not touching his eyes.

Oh, and he went from jello, right to a hotdog. That's my boy!

By the evening he was looking very good. Much better than we expected. And these were taken yesterday afternoon, just a day after the surgery:







Doesn't he look great? There is still some swelling and you might be able to see some of the crusty eye boogery stuff hanging around, but you would never know otherwise that he had surgery the day before. He looks as good as he did the day before the surgery, even better actually, and I expect the bottom to go down even more.

Thanks so much for your prayers and well wishes. And thanks for letting me share. Love you guys!

today

I have taken lots of photos of my son in the last few months, but I really felt the need to take photos of him today before he goes in for surgery tomorrow morning. It will be a minor surgery to remove chalazions that are under each of his lower eyelids. A chalazion is a build up of oil that collects instead of dispersing. The one under his left eye came in around the end of last year and the second one under his right eye came in about a month ago. Some people notice it, but most people don't. Or they probably don't know what they are looking at because they don't know how he should look. His bottom eyelids usually look red and swollen. If you go back through my older posts (like the first photo here) you'll see the difference because with both of them there he looks more even again, although the newest one is actually bigger than the other.




I'll admit that I'm nervous about the surgery and about him being put under. I'm also nervous about the healing process and the level of discomfort that he will have afterwards. We can't let water, dirt or sand get in his eyes for one to two weeks which will be interesting. I feel I can control the dirt and sand, but water? So to help with this we buzzed his hair so we could just wash and rinse his hair with a washcloth instead of pouring water over his head.

But I'm also anxious to see him looking normal again, or at least what was his normal before. The doctor did say that having these removed will help his chances at these not coming back, but there is no guarantee since what causes them is not really known except that some people are more prone to getting them.

Please say a prayer for our little guy. We would be most grateful.


We love our little cheeseball.

our kindergartner

I can't believe my baby is in Kindergarten. The last almost six years have just flown by. I have seen my baby come so far in her growth and language development. It's been a rough road, but she continues to press on and is really turning out to be one who enjoys learning. She actually likes to be challenged. I am so very proud of her and excited for her to start this new journey in her education.

We are so blessed that we could get her into the school she is in. It's not the school we should be going to and we had to do a parent choice transfer (and lottery) to get her there. It is one of the top public schools around and has a great community. For sure this is making it harder on us as we look to buy our first home, knowing that we might have to move her when that happens. For now we will enjoy and feel thankful for where she is at.


This photo was taken the day before school started, at a sort of Kindergarten orientation day. I was so happy they did this because besides answering questions the parents had, it helped the kids get to know each other. It really helped the next day on the official first day of school.

And of course the following were taken on the first day ~


(My husband and I were not the keenest on the Barbie backback, but what can you do?)

There's something about this capture that I love ~


Hey! Can you believe it? A photo of me too!


Her first day went great and Emma LOVES going to school. How awesome is that? Even the homework, she likes that too.~

For the most part anyway. :) She started school on a Thursday so she didn't get homework till the next Monday... That day, after I got her started on her homework, she thanked me for giving her homework!

This photo was taken on the last day of the first full week of school ~

We survived the early bedtime and the early mornings with flying colors! And when I asked her what her favorite thing about school was so far, her answer was, "Doing whatever my teacher gives me to do". Well okay then! And she wasn't kidding. I've decided that she is very project-oriented so I think she likes having things to work on.

Have I said proud I am of her? Yeah, I guess I have. Oh, and one last detail about her first day of school, I only briefly cried as I stood there watching her through the fence that morning. I almost made it without tears, but they snuck up on me. :)

my sis

I hope my sister has gone to bed by now and isn't sitting up waiting for this post... I did promise I would post it before I went to bed tonight. Chances are she gave up, knowing I might be up too late for her.



I am so excited about these photos because they are first of all, of my sister and her girls, but also because I've been wanting to shoot in this location for awhile and my sister was game! I love the way they came out and am totally jealous that they aren't of my family. Someday, right?





My sister really wanted a couple shots of herself which I was so happy to do. I think my sister is so beautiful... And I hope she knows how much I love her and how proud I am of her.


This little girl is not so little anymore. I believe when she first entered our lives she was possibly six. Almost the same age as Emma. Now she's eleven. Wow.


The original reason for doing photos was for this little stinker's third birthday.
I call her a stinker, but seriously, she's a doll and was SO GREAT during our session.

This was Auti's first time at the beach so while she was getting acquainted, we got these super cute shots of Ally and Donna.
You can't see the whole thing, but this old weathered building behind them was the beach house used in Beaches with Bette Midler. How cool is that?

So proud of myself for shooting in bright sun and loving the results ~

And look at the beautiful blue. Sigh......

For more, please go to my business blog. I had to break it up, there were too many. Don't worry, I only duplicated two shots and you may not even notice because they are in opposite colors! Okay, now go and enjoy! Love ya!