Our friend Brandi is starting a photography business, and we met her today to take some new pics of our brood. Shawn had scoped out some cool photo spots at Pearl, and we thought it would be neat to take some there....It's a combination of old crumbling buildings, and new construction, so we found some really interesting places to shoot. Of course, it was sweaty as crap....and the babies only cooperated for so long, but luckily Brandi is good enough, and shot enough frames that we decided the day was a success! We have only seen the few pictures she has posted on her blog, but can't wait to see them all! I am sure there will be a lot of pictures of the babies escaping the shot...I don't know how she did it, but she got some great pics of them nonetheless...she was so diligent at chasing after them and getting on their level to capture good pictures.....Miss Hayden will be walking in all of them, and Cale will be enjoying life from a seated position....

After we took pictures, Shawn took us to a really cool park in the middle of southtown....there is a big fountain that the babies played in and got soaking wet. I took a few pictures of my own....they are nothing professional, but they capture my baby people laughing and having a good time. They loved the water, and a few admirers stopped to watch them play.....it is heartwarming to watch them; happy and loving life, with no worries at all! Sort of makes me want to be one again!

Another weird rash under our belts...

Last weekend Cale was PITIFUL. I mean, the sorriest lookin' baby you have ever seen. He did not feel good at all, and wanted his mommy to hold him the WHOLE weekend. (I am not kidding) The sickness actually started Thursday when we heard crying coming from his room hours after he'd already been asleep. I wanted to take him to the doctor the next day, but we decided to see if it would go away on it's own....well, it eventually did, after a saturday a.m. visit to the doctor on call, who told us it was probably a virus and there was nothing we could do to fix it, besides making him comfortable. UUUUGGGGH! Luckily, he felt better after another day or so....and then a weird dotty rash appeared on his tummy and chest (which is what the doctor predicted) Now, he is right as rain, but the rash thing weirds me out. This is another rash in the growing list of them we have had appear in our family....I had them when I was little, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised my kids get them. I am just grateful he is feeling better...I hated to see him in so much pain. (But I LOVED that he wanted to snuggle so much!) He is happy now, and is rocking thirteen teeth....beating his sister who is apparently only going to grow four. He has been saying "duck" the last few days, and does a pretty decent attempt at "Dixie" (the dog) Both babies are trying to talk so much lately....I know they know what they are saying, but I'm not sure what is going on....I usually respond faster to pointing and grunting. (Great reinforcement, huh??) My mom insists that Cale can say "Akmadinashad" (I am sure that is misspelled...spellcheck just suggested "extinguished") and is concerned with Iran and nuclear weapons. It is true that ninety percent of the time he sounds like he is speaking Russian or something...
I need to build myself up to leave them.....tomorrow we are heading to Houston for Casey's baby shower and the bambinos are staying with their Daddy. I considered taking a baby or two with me, but then their naps dictate our time with Casey and Brenda and that is probably annoying for everyone (no matter how much they love them) Plus, time away is good. I know their daddy can handle it!

My little walker...

How much does this picture crack you up?? I love the look on her face (proud) and the way her arms and legs are all akimbo....So funny! Now I am on the manhunt for shoes...they have a bunch of Robeez, but I am wondering if she needs something with a little more stable sole if she is going to try to walk outside....I found some shoes for "emerging walkers" online that squeak when the baby takes a step....I guess I need to order some....any suggestions???

Note to my readers: Before you snicker with disdain (but you're nicer than that!) at the clownish amateurity of my photo editing skills, let's just applaud my effort and excitement and pretend I am a five year old who just drew a really cruddy picture! :)

I am so excited I can't hardly contain myself....I now have Photoshop installed on my computer and LOVE the stuff I am learning to do to pictures of my kiddos! The only problem is, I don't have a degree in rocket science so I can only do about four effects on my pictures. I really, REALLY need to take a class. I could probably figure a lot out just by playing with it myself, but I know things would look a LOT better if I had an informed person tell me what to do. I just want to become more proficient with it for fun....I will leave the professional photography of my family to the professionals....Plus, if I am taking the pictures, I am not in any of them. I told Shawn if I died tomorrow, my kids would have all of four pictures of me; fat and swollen in the hospital on the day of their birth, and that is it! For now, I am going to pay other people to get some shots with me actually in them, and work on taking cuter pictures of my kids; just to frame and use in scrapbooking....

Let me start by saying that this fourth of July was more successful than last fourth of July. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will remember that my son screamed his little bird head off last year at the slightest mention of "fuegos artificiales" (fireworks...shawn and I saw that on a sign on the highway and for some reason thought it was hilarious) This year, we were hoping for a little bit better reaction...and we got it! We decided to take the babies to the Randolph fourth of July festival to meet Andrew and Holly. Too bad for us that we didn't eat before arriving, because thirty billion people were in about four food lines. Neither Shawn or I could imagine standing in those lines, so we decided to head out. We lasted for about thirty minutes! (We had seen our fill of guys with tattoos in tank tops smoking a cig) Anyway, we went and got food (DQ-what's more American than that??) and went back to the same church parking lot we parked at last year. We sat in the back of my Tahoe with the babies, and they literally stared at the entire fireworks show and NEVER peeled their eyes from the sky. There was only a little bit of whimpering on Cale's part when I was turning him around on my lap and he thought I was letting him go. He clung on me like a monkey and started to panic! When he realized his mommy was going nowhere, he settled in for the show. He is normally not terribly clingy, so that was the only indicator we had that he was still a little nervous about the noise. It was MUCH more successful than last year's attempt... and so funny to see my little family watching fireworks....able to go do "things" together as the babies have gotten a little older.

We are all moved out of our house, and messily ensconsed in my parents'. I am not sure they realized how much junk comes with a family of four, two who are 14 months old. We have totally taken over their house, and although I know they are glad to provide us with somewhere to stay, they will be happy when our renovation is complete. I am fairly certain we will never move ourselves again. After four VERY long days, Shawn (with lots of help from his brother, and a few friends) managed to move all our stuff. The only problem is, it is in a 16 foot pod, a 15 foot self storage unit, Shawn's mom's house, and my parents' garage. Moving back IN our house is going to be hilarious. I am POSITIVE we will hire movers, though, which will make it tons easier. To make matters more difficult for Shawn, I came down with some 24 hour bug and felt HORRIBLE while we were moving, so I wasn't any help at all. Even if I had felt okay, having two babies sort of makes me worthless in the moving department anyway. I am SO glad it is all over....

This week brought some major news in the baby department....Hayden is walking! She is not very sure of herself, but can really make it pretty far if she is not paying attention. She can get across a room, unless she realizes she is doing it by herself. If that happens, it is straight to the floor. Cale is blissfully uninterested, and will seemingly remain that way for a time to come. I am okay with having her walk first....it means I can adjust to one walking baby before I have to chase two! It is so funny watching her learn to walk...I love the stumbling little drunk guy thing she does, waving her arms in the air as she totters from side to side....I can't believe I am a mother, much less one with two babies...even LESS one with a baby old enough to walk!!! It makes them (and me) seem so old!

Moving Mayhem

How we are going to be out of this house in time to close on Friday is beyond me. I have packed forty thousand boxes and still it feels like everything is still in cabinets and drawers. I am looking at the things I own and wondering why I have hung on to this junk for as long as I have. The pile of stuff going to Goodwill keeps getting bigger and better. Some lucky chump is going to roll up on our stuff and think they hit the jackpot. I am knowingly getting rid of some things that are pretty worthwhile, but I have no will to move them, so out they go! All the moving around of furniture has unleashed a flurry of dust and dog hair into the air, so my floors are filthy. Add to that all the coming and going and we are looking at some seriously dirty floors. I refuse to clean them (okay, so I vacuum every morning, but I mean "clean") until all our stuff is gone, so when my kids go into the bath at night, they are literally black from knees to toes. They are having the best time....crawling into boxes, climbing piles of linens...this is like the world's best (dirtiest) playground for them! At least all the boxes serve a great purpose: to block them out of certain areas....They haven't figured out how to climb the big boxes yet, but today we were at my mom's and we looked over at Hayden and she was kneeling on the tile hearth. Eighteen inches off the ground. How that kid can climb but not walk is beyond me.

The babies are wonderful, and love the chaos. Every day it feels like they are so much older. They know how to tease and play jokes on each other (and us) now, and it is so cute! Every day they try to say something new, and it is starting to sound more and more like real words....Today when I went to get them after their naps, each of them hollered "Mama!" at me....which I love. They both mastered "Dada" a LONG time ago, so this achievement is particulary special to me...(especially since I am the one doing the majority of the hiney wiping...apparently they know little about who is buttering their biscuit!)

I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do in the blogging department, but I just realized that the puke smell that keeps bothering me is coming from my own shirt.....off to change/bed for me!