I love these iheartfaces photo challenges if only for the reason that it makes me take a look back at photos I've taken and remember again. I just looked through soooo many images of my baby girl and how she's grown. It's only a little over 2 years, but it's crazy how fast they grow. That cliche is sooooo true!
This week's challenge is a "slice of life". Well, Disneyland and Mickey are definitely a slice of our life. And so are these girls. We have a pass to Disneyland and I know how lucky I am and I know how lucky Riley is. Believe me, soon as she's old enough to understand, I will let her know (constantly) what a privilege it is to be able to go anytime we want. I wish all little ones had at least one chance to visit Disneyland or Disney World or Disney whatever. I definitely get use out of my pass. We probably go once a week (minimum!). Some people like to kid me about going so much but I figure, why have a pass if you're not going to take advantage of it?! We are so lucky but also blessed - Mom paid for my pass this year as a Christmas present. That is a BIG DEAL. Thanks Mom. :)
Anyway, these little cuties are also a slice of our life. My girl met these girls through a MOMS Club that all of the moms are in. I love the mom's of these girls and I hope that we (and our girls) will be friends forever. So...these girls and a play date at Disneyland is definitely a slice of our life right now and what a blessing that entire sentence is!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Disney, Friendship and Blessings - iheartfaces photo challenge
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Lauren - Anytime Session
Wow...this session is a couple months old and I'm just now blogging it! I met this sweet girl through Brenda, sort of. When it all comes down to it, we all met through Incahoots, the internet and our love of country music. Too long of a back story and I'm not sure anyone would care anyway. ;)
A few of Lauren's images that I loved. This session just says "fresh" to me now that I revist it a couple months later. Everything was crisp and cold this day, if I remember correctly...and Lauren just kind of 'glowed' in the pictures.
Monday, March 21, 2011
"Baby Blues"
I haven't blogged in awhile and this topic wasn't even on my mind to ever blog but I get a lot of readers here (I check my stats every few weeks...not sure why a lot of you don't comment, but that's neither here nor there!) and I felt that this would be good to put out into the internet world in case there is another mom out there wondering about it.
Yesterday a friend of mine had a baby shower and there were cards that asked you to write advice for the mom-to-be. My husband and I have talked sooooo many times about things that people don't tell you when you become a parent. You get all the generic advice: get your sleep now because you won't sleep when baby comes (worst advice ever - you can't bank sleep!), take it all in - they grow so fast, your life is never going to be the same (um, yeah, thanks). :/ I swore that if new moms ever asked me for advice (I'll never offer because that's another thing that is maddening - unsolicted advice for new parents!) that I was going to be COMPLETELY HONEST. On my advice card, I wrote:
1) Try to remember that the sleepless nights aren't going to last forever.
2) Cry it out when you need to!
3) If hubby offers to help, LET HIM!
Seriously, that is the advice I wish someone would have given me. I'm only bringing this up because a friend on Facebook posted a status update today asking if it's normal to have the baby blues 7 weeks after having a baby. My answer was YES!!!! Two other commenters said the same thing.
The first three months for me were the hardest. I wouldn't say that I was in a depression, but there were definitely days where I would just start crying and hubby would just take over. I'm blessed because I have a GREAT hubby, I really don't know how some people do it alone. For those single moms (and dads) out there, KUDOS TO YOU! Anyway, I really can't remember much of that time if I'm being honest. As I told my friend, after the first three months, it was like the clouds opened up and sun started shining through...and it continued to get better as time went on. I'm not sure that I had anything like post-partum depression (although, maybe that's exactly what it was), it just felt gloomy at times and that I felt I should be happier than I was. I also told my friend there were GREAT days, too...and that it, indeed, does get better.
She asked what you could do for it and one friend suggested she read this book. I read that book and I didn't have feelings anywhere near the desperation Brooke Shields did, so I can only imagine the cloud that some moms have hanging over their head. :( I really think that I had a light case of baby blues and they were only here and there, so if I had a light case, I feel for the moms that have it bad. :/ I told her that maybe some books would help or if it was really bad, she should talk to her doctor (and another friend told her the same advice because that's what she did). I also told her the advice I gave my mom-to-be friend and I'll repeat it again:
1) Try to remember that the sleepless nights aren't going to last forever.
2) Cry it out when you need to!
3) If hubby (or anyone!) offers to help, LET HIM (them)!
I really don't know why mom's aren't so truthful about lots of parenting things they experience. I'm sure some of them don't experience everything others experience but I also know some do. Maybe they don't want to seem like a bad mom or a failure or whatever. That is soooo crazy because it's a new life and if it's your first time, you're definitely going to be thrown for a loop. So if you're reading this (whether you're a regular follower, came via keywords, whatever) and this was your experience, don't be afraid to share it with your other mom friends or family - it may help someone down the road. Or if you still experience this, maybe they (or a doctor or books or something else) can help you. But I wish moms would open up more and talk to each other about 'real' stuff. It's a hard job (the hardest I've ever had!) and we all need support. I'm thankful that my friend asked and didn't keep it inside. I kind of did. I only sent an email to a few friends with several kids asking for their advice. I was so grateful for it. And if you ARE feeling the baby blues right now, again, I promise you...it gets better. The 'baby' days weren't easy for me but 3 months and on have been FANTASTIC. Life with this little girl just gets better and better and better. :)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Best Face in February - I Heart Faces Challenge
Participating in iheartfaces photo challenge again this week because it was fun seeing new visitors this week and seeing their fantastic images. So much talent out there!
This week's challenge was "Best Face Photo from February 2011". I try to take pictures of Riley and categorize them by year and month now since I'm no longer doing a blog for every single month. This image was from February 23rd right after she woke up from a nap. She looked so adorable that I had to run out and grab my camera. I love, love, love this picture of her.
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A Weekend in the Life...
I follow a LOT of blogs. A LOT. Photography blogs, crafty blogs, 'mom' blogs, food blogs, and 'interesting' blogs - a category for those blogs that have so much going on, I'm not sure how to categorize them. I love seeing how other people are living their lives, what creativity is out there, learning about new things...love it!
I'll be honest...I'm tired of blogging. I started to feel like I had to blog, either to keep family informed of how Riley is growing or to showcase images from sessions for people who are stopping by to check out my work. I try to keep my blog and Facebook light hearted because I do have a lot to be thankful for and I try to be a 'glass half full' kind of girl...it doesn't always happen, but I try. But I'm tired of blogging and I was thinking that I HAD to blog a couple of images from either this weekend or a couple of months ago (that I haven't blogged!). Well, when I looked over my weekend via Facebook, I thought, "Oh yeah! I forgot about that!" while looking through my pictures. How crazy is that?! It was just today and yesterday! But sooooo much happens and we tend to forget the little things...and it made me appreciate my blog and the blogging process a little more. So this entry is for me - a reminder of (some of) my weekend when I look back on it a few years from now. Because if I hardly recalled some of it before looking at some of these pictures NOW, I'm certainly not going to recall it in the future - unless it's in a diary or blogged...and I'm CERTAINLY not going to go through the process of keeping a diary if THIS seems like a chore sometimes. ;)
So "Cheers" to my blog and it's keeping of my memories.
After the gym, I spotted snow capped mountains.
Riley has never had a topping on frozen yogurt before and I gave her a choice this weekend: brownies, rainbow sprinkles or chocolate sprinkles. She chose rainbow sprinkles. :)
An engagement session with a friend from JUNIOR HIGH/high school!:
A funny bird performing for passerby (leaving the engagement session):
A fun birthday party where Riley experienced her first bounce house (LOVED it - this was the FIRST shot of her being in it!):
Her first banana lollipop...seriously, a banana lollipop?! No, thank you...but she seemed to like it!
...and fun souvenirs from a crafty party:
The not so fun part of the weekend...the price of gas. :/
And a big thanks to the Instagram app...makes documenting life fun!
