My Little Critter

Baby Bear



Baby Bunny

Baby Bee

{Spring is Here}

At least it was, and then it snowed this weekend. Hopefully it didn't completely kill off all of the bulbs and blossoming trees. But if it did, then I was lucky to get these few shots last week before the late snow.

And then there was Charlie, with the great big bear!

It's Official, They Love Each Other

The following photos are not the best quality photos I've ever taken, but boy do they tell the story between the bonding of brother and sister. Tonight, for the first time, I knew for sure my children loved each other. It was definitely official, when Marley gave Charlie her new Lightning McQueen car papa bought her. I knew then, this was serious.

He just loves her.

Get used to it, the first of many hair pulls.

Lots Going On

I am a little behind on this blog. I had a hectic week last week. Charlie for the first time since coming home from Children's Mercy came down with something. He was running a fever, as high as 103, and had to be taken to the Emergency Room once and the pediatrician twice last week. As quickly as his illness came, it disappeared. He is much better now, no fever, no stuffy nose, no long bouts of crying. For that I am really really thankful. We will be headed back to Children's Mercy on Thursday to get his immune system re-checked. They will be counting t-cells, and checking to make sure they are working properly. I have been anticipating this appointment since the day they told me about his lack of thymus. Keep your fingers crossed, your positive energy directed this way, your prayers in our direction, that Charlie's t-cells are growing stronger, working well, and that we will not have to be prisoners in the confinds of our house much longer. Did you know he has never been in a public place that was not medically necessary, like the doctor's office? He has been in the open air, like to the park with Marley or on a walk, but never to Target, Wal-Mart, or even a restaurant.

Also last week, one night after I took Charlie to the ER, I spent the next evening in the ER with a dear friend(who attended the birth of Charlie) while she heard word that she was experiencing a miscarriage and that her baby no longer had a heartbeat. I was going to be present at this baby's homebirth to photograph it's first breath, but sadly those dreams were lost. I will still be there for my friend's next birth, but we are mourning the loss of this baby.

Meanwhile, I took a few new photos of my kidlets, after Charlie started feeling better.

In the Spotlight

Head on over to The Maternal Lens blog and check out my autobiographical post. One at a time all 5 of the blog contributors will be writing a little something about themselves. Currently I am being featured until probably later this afternoon or this evening when another woman will write her story.

{The Maternal Lens} Check us out!

As I mentioned early in my last post, the launch of a new blog that I am honored to be apart of has finally happened! After many months of brainstorming, waiting for the right moment, honestly just procrastinating, we have finally went live with The Maternal Lens. We hope to be the next big thing in BlogLand, and I'm sure with this collaboration of talent and personalities it is sure to be a hit. We are five women, who are friends, mothers and photographers, coming together to share our stories, lives, photography, advice, opinions, and much much more.

Come check us out, http://www.thematernallens.blogspot.com/ If it looks like something you're interested in following, please do so, and check back in daily for new posts.

It's All About Me

I'm taking over Marley and Charlie's blog, with rare photos of myself. I was in need of a good photo of myself for an upcoming blog that is under construction that I am apart of. It is a blog written by 5 women photographers from across the country ranging from Montana to Massachussetts with some stops in between. My dear friend and business partner, Sarah of Joyful Photography came over to exchange photo shoots. She was in need of a new photo as well, and she is one of the 5 contributors to our new blog. I decided to share with you my favorites, of the photos she took of me, and I of her.

You didn't think she was actually going to let Sarah and I steal the spotlight did you? Of course not, this little girl who now refuses to let me take her photo anymore, was more than eager to jump in front of the lens when she saw me taking somebody else's photo.

Spring is Near

We've had a bout of warm weather and the bulbs are starting to bloom. We've been getting outside to walk a lot lately, and also some just to play around.

Lost and Found

Today it was a record breaking high of 85 degrees, so naturally we had to get outside and soak up some of that sunshine. I took the kids on a walk with some of my friends and their children. I had Charlie in my Maya Wrap and Marley in the stroller. We walked until the sun started to get low in the sky and then turned around. We discovered, once we got back to the car, that we had lost Marley's little brown bunny somewhere on our walk. My back was killing me, from having 12 pound Charlie strapped to me, and it was getting dark, so despite Marley's protests and tears I told her we couldn't go back. We had probably walked close to a mile on the trail and a mile back, who knows where it was.

Well my soft side got the best of me, when at that same time Steve called and said he was just getting off work. I asked him to go home and get some flashlights and meet us there for a night walk/bunny finding adventure. Reluctant at first he decided we should give it a try. He probably heard Marley crying in the background. Luckily I had both of the strollers so I didn't have to carry Charlie strapped to me that whole way again. When Steve arrived we headed out. Meantime a couple with a baby had been the last people to come from the trail and I asked them if they happened to see a bunny. They said they had, but they did not pick it up. I asked them how far back it was and they said "a ways back." As we took off on our night walk equiped with a flashlight, a head light (like a miner would wear), two kiddos in strollers and eyes peeled to the ground, we weren't quite sure where to look the paved sidewalk path or the grass along side the path. I knew exactly where we had turned around the first time, so I knew how far to look. By now the moon was high over head and the stars were bright. It was a lovely evening. We kept hitting patches of cool air and then warm air. It was the strangest thing. At one point we smelled a skunk, which made Steve very nervous, and he enclosed Charlie in the stroller/carseat just in case we were to be sprayed, Charlie would be spared. Marley, well I guess she would have to fend for herself.

We scanned the ground in front of us, the whole time Marley saying she really hopes we find her bunny. Things weren't looking good when we got to the point where we had turned around the first walk, there were no signs of little bunny. We knew it wasn't on the sidewalk because we would have seen it, so we decided to really check the grass around us on the way back. The farther we went the more I was convinced that either we missed it, or somebody had picked it up (it is very cute), or even maybe a dog or animal carried it off. Marley decided a bird must have carried it away. We were almost to the end of the trail, and I had convinced Marley that we would have to call Grandma Vicki and see if she happened to have another one of the small bunnies at her house in Georgia (that's where she had received the bunny.) If I remember correctly she didn't have any more of that bunny left in stock (she sold them at their bakery, and since Marley had hers the rest had probably been sold.) All of the sudden low and behold, on the opposite side of the path, at least a foot into the grass Steve spotted the little bunny. We were all so excited, it was really a fluke that we found it, because we hadn't really been looking over on that side all that much because I thought we had lost in on the way back.

Luck be a lady tonight, at least she was for us. Steve thought we should immediately go play the lottery, but we didn't. Marley kept saying she was so happy we found her bunny, and secretly I think I was more upset that we lost that bunny than she was, I've always thought it was adorable, kind of Velveteen Rabbit looking.

When we got home, I took Marley's photo with it, and then sprayed it down with Odoban which kills 99.999% of germs, just in case one of those nasty skunks or some other animal had carried it over into the grass. Because we were never in the grass during our walk, and Marley didn't remember dropping it, so I know she didn't throw it over there. But long story short, we lived happily ever after. The End.

A Day in the Life

This is a normal day, hanging out with Charlie on the couch, between feedings and medicines.

This is Charlie's view, of the mobile I made and hung above his nest on the couch.

A Little Recognition and other news

I was pleasantly surprised to be informed that I had won another photo contest this week. A few weeks back I won Greeblemonkey's February Photo Contest, and last week I won 3rd place in the I ♥ Faces Adult Category, but this week I took first place in the I ♥ Faces Children's Category. The theme was B&W Children's photos and my photo was chosen out of hundreds as this week's winner by a professional photographer. To see the photo and the rest of the top 10 photos click here.Then this morning I was informed that another photograph of mine was chosen as the featured photo on Shutter Sisters' website as the daily click, you can view that here.

In other news, we volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House, cooking dinner for the families that are staying there. This was our second time to do so, and this time quite a few families ate our meal so I was very pleased. We made spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, and a yummy dessert (which I forgot to photograph.) Here are the photographs, the first one was everybody who came to help cook, minus myself.