Think outside the BELLY

This photo was taken this morning at my house. My sister-in-law (Vicki) has been meaning to have me do a maternity shoot with her and we've been putting it off (illness, conflicting schedules, etc.). I told her she could call me any time of the day if she thought the baby was on his/her way soon - well she did! She called me around 8am saying her contractions were 15 minutes apart! I told her to come on over and we'd get a few before the baby was out. Approximately 12 hours later Brian and Vicki welcomed a baby GIRL into this world (name to be decided) - CONGRATULATIONS!!! We are glad mom and baby girl are doing well :) We look forward to hearing the name soon!

Cingular commercial anyone?

This was the scene on our counter top tonight. Can you guess the illness? Let's start with bottle #1 - cough medicine for Tim (happy birthday honey!!!). He also was treated with an antibiotic (that wasn't as aesthetically pleasing to the photo) for bronchitis and flu last weekend. Bottle #2 is for Jackson. He has an ear infection...............AGAIN!!!! Fortunately (???) he is NOT a good candidate for tubes at this point. Bottle #3 is an antihistamine for Lucas - he has the flu (aches all over his body and fever - did i mention ALL FOUR boys have had fevers the past few days?!!!). Bottle #4 is ibuprofen for Lucas and Reece to treat the aches and fevers. Bottle #5 is also ibuprofen in infant concentration for Jackson's ear. Praise the LORD I am STILL healthy (am I begging for this illness by composing this blog post at 1:24 in the morning?). Tim is finally back to work after 2 days off last week and I'm tackling germs like it's a full-time job around here!



This was a recent picture I took of Lucas one Sunday afternoon.



Notice the GREEN milk mustache - Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!!!

A note on "pillow crumbs"

So over the course of like the past 2 months my boys (Lucas and Reece) have coined the term "pillow crumbs." They say it so randomly that I never really thought anything of it. Well, I finally posed the question a few days ago to Lucas. The conversation went a little like this:
Me: "Lucas what are you saying?"
Lucas: "Pillow crumbs!"
Me: "PILLOW crumbs?!!"
Lucas: "Yes!"
Me: "Well, what are 'pillow crumbs'?"
Lucas: "You know mom, INDIANS and PILLOW crumbs."
Me: Running as fast as I could to record this coined term on paper so I wouldn't forget it (and of course laughing all the way :)

This makes me wonder even more what these children are interpreting from the things they hear...............

A few noteworthy happenings since my last post (sorry all you in blogland who have been patiently waiting......)
1. $3.45 - the price of gas in Allendale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Jackson is now pulling himself up onto whatever he can get his chubby hands onto
3. Jackson is disproportionate according to his 9 mth checkup (95% head, 50% height, and 25% weight)
4. I'm officially a 30-something
5. Reece (strong-willingly) skipped 3 meals in a row yesterday - now that's determination!
6. We made our inaugural visit to the FM Gardens to check out the butterflies (it was very warm with 85% humidity inside!)

I will try to post more regularly again :)

Announcements!

We just learned last night that the Meyers' are adding another member to their family (God-willing) this September. CONGRATULATIONS Randy, Lynae, Ethan, and Josiah!!!! We are so excited for this new life! God bless your growing family!

And you thought your evening was bad...........

"Mom I pooped in bed," wouldn't sound so awful if it came from a toddler with a diaper ON now would it??? On the upside, it wasn't poop Reece was referring to - it was pee...........on the downside, the diaper was OFF. Yes, he decided to completely strip down out of his sleeper pjs and out of the diaper and pee in the middle of his bed. I thought the night was going well - I had just got off the treadmill and was beginning to relax in front of the tv (which I never do - relaxing usually consists of blogging and reading other blogs)..........when I heard the boys still awake in their room (this was 10:15 and Tim had put them in bed before leaving for poker night two hours ago). So, they totally stayed in their bunks, just horsing around for 2 hours!!! How does a 2 1/2 year old and 4 1/2 year old pull that off???!!!! Before assessing the damage, I bathed Reece (his second bath of the evening mind you) and pulled out new bedding. While doing all this the following thoughts raced through my mind:
1. Did he pee standing up?
2. Did I remember to put the mattress protector on last time I changed sheets?
3. Did he pee laying down and aim up to his brother's bunk?
4. Was there poop in the bed I didn't see upon initial entry?
Luckily it was only pee and was in a "contained" area. At 11:30 I believe they are all sleeping................praise God!!!

It's these moments that make me realize how quickly childhood passes - too soon they will be all grown up! They certainly bring joy (and surprises) to our lives!

29

The amount of days I have left on a free software trial version. I just discovered this..........thanks to local photographer, Tina Vink http://tinavinkportraits.smugmug.com/
Here are a few examples of how I've used it to showcase my kiddos.................

Newborn session

Here's a sneak peak at a few photos I caught today during a newborn photo session with Tyler Derick Talsma. Newborns are so much fun (and easy) to photograph..........I could spend my day capturing moments like these! Thanks to the Talsma's for letting me capture these images (and what a fun nursery this little guy has :)