'Brothers & sisters are as close as hands & feet.' -Vietnamese Proverb
Our week: healthy kiddos- finally. daytrip to Anchorage for Ry's doctor appointment- exhausting! bare feet- dirty laundry? tummy time- Ella's getting strong! fresh air & lots of rain...happy Tuesday! p.s. one thing I learned? capturing 30 tiny toes in one picture can actually be an adventure!
'Live your life. Live your life. Live your life.' -Maurice Sendak
I haven't decided what to rename my 2 on 2sday yet, since there's now 3 (just in case you've missed the multitude of blog posts on our new arrival), but for now 2+1 will work...the last 7 days have been busy. Mike & Ry headed to Anchorage for Ry's allergy testing. Covey, Ella & I stayed behind. All of the sudden traveling with 5 sounded like a big adventure...but one I'd be willing to take to a hot, sunny destination (just saying). We got some exciting allergy test results back, but we always have to refrain from getting too excited. Ultimately, it's how he responds when he eats the food, rather than what the test results show. So I guess you could say we rely on hope. Hope that he'll respond well & hope we will have even more 'safe' foods. The testing is a four day process, on the 4th day Mike woke up really sick in Anchorage. Here at home, Covey woke up really sick. It's still lingering, Ry caught it too. Ella & I are feeling good so far, but I may have just jinxed ourselves. It's a nasty bug they got. They're still fighting it- a combination of a cold & fever. We've been watching lots of movies, drinking lots of liquids, getting lots of Vitamin C & dispensing more Tylenol then we usually do (which we usually never do). Perhaps tomorrow will be the turnaround point for these boys. After all, the sun is shining & we need to get outside & play in it!
food allergy results- we get to reintroduce beef, chicken, wheat, sesame & shellfish...it's big results, but takes 3 weeks with just one food, so it's a long process
I spy, with my eye, one sick dude on the couch
Covey caught a second wind this afternoon & decided to do a puzzle...we didn't make it beyond 'the dumping it outta the box' stage
Ella got a glow worm from Nanny & Papa (they just back from vacation)...I think she's stoked on it
they love their dinos, sick or not
& Star Wars, another favorite thing...Covey turns 3 (say what?!?!?) in a month & he wants a Star Wars birthday & wants to be Darth Vader for Halloween, at least he's sweeter than Darth
'Making the decision to have a child is momentous.It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.' -Elizabeth Stone
I decided to try something fun...well, in some sort of post-pregnancy state I thought it would be fun ;) Two days before EllaGrace was born, I took the photo on the left with my camera on the tripod & the self-timer. Two weeks after she was born, I did the photo on the right. Ry (my oldest) helped with this one. I again had my camera on my tripod, but he got to press the shutter. Running back & forth with a baby, racing against the self-timer, just didn't sound like the adventure I wanted to pursue. In the end, it turned out pretty close to what I envisioned. Considering it took me a week just to upload these photos to my computer, pretty close is going to have to work :) I think I'll stick to photos of my kiddos- I'm so in love with their recent photos, I have to admit I look at them often (in case you missed the post of the three of them, check it out here!).
'Sitting there in your pajamas & all the time in the world & if I could keep any moment it would be this:watching you & holding my breath with the wonder of it all.' -Brian Andreas
This month our CM challenge is friendship- we have a beautiful new friendship developing in our household with our baby girl, EllaGrace (her newborn pictures are here). The boys are in love. They both are being incredible helpers & tend to her continuously. Ry soothes her with songs. Covey refers to her as 'his baby.' For the most part, the transition to three has been smooth....except Covey has decided that it's funny to ask if his baby sister is still in my belly & tells me at least once a day my belly is still big. Hmmmm. Not sure how I feel about that one. Luckily, he's known to be the family clown & likes a good laugh, so for now I'll just go with it ;)
I knew I wanted pictures of my three kiddos for this month's photo challenge, I just wasn't sure how I was going to accomplish it. At the moment, Ry is my muse, Covey not so much. A few days ago I decided to attempt a very impromptu photo session with them. There may have been a little bribing involved (Covey does love chocolate!), but the moments captured are so real. I think I'm discovering that impromptu works best for my kids. They see my camera come out way too often, but the more I attempt to capture our daily life & less I ask them to smile, the happier I am with the final product. Through these images, I see their friendship- I already treasure it & look forward to watching it grow with them.
Now head on over to view the talented Mindy Newton's post on friendship!
'May you touch dragonflies & stars, dance with the fairies & talk to the moon.May you grow up with love & gracious hearts & people who care. Welcome to the world little one, it's been waiting for you!' -Anonymous
Our sweet baby girl gets to be my sweet baby model. In all honesty, it was a bit of a challenge to do a newborn shoot of my own newborn for no other reason except motivation. When I sit on the couch holding her, I have all these ideas for her pictures floating through my head, but actually getting up & following through with the ideas? That motivation, yep, it wasn't quite there...until a few days ago. I took some pictures here & there in our first week together (they can be seen here) & then my energy suddenly reappeared & with it came the motivation I was lacking. I'm so glad it returned because I am absolutely in love with the photos I got. Perhaps it's partially because she's my own, but I know part of it is because I finally did something I've been thinking about for months- I had a lifestyle newborn shoot. I've felt like this was the path I needed to follow for my newborn photography & have been a little anxious to try it out with Ella. While I think some posing is sweet, the extensive props & posing is just not a good fit for me. I love capturing the reality of our newborn- her bright eyes checking out the world so intensely, the love her brothers have for her, the tiny little details that are already changing. Everything seems to pass so quickly, but thankfully these pictures will help us remember the early days of EllaGrace, who we named after our paternal Grandma's (in one of the photos below).
