Fall Mini-Session Giveaway!!

Ahh... it's ALMOST my favorite time of year again... FALL!!! And what better way to kick it off than with a chance to win a fabulous photo session with a talented photographer (and really good friend), Melanie Rice Photography?

She's seriously SO good and we've been more than happy with the results every time we use her. I've used her for family photos (Fall 2010), Rusty's 1-year photos (Spring 2011), and just recently for my maternity photos. I love ALL of the pics she gave us on the CD that she provides and I always get compliments on the pictures, which is a big deal to me. :)

You can enter for a chance to win, as well, but I hope I win it! haha.

With Emmeline coming soon (hopefully withing the next 2 weeks), having Fall family pictures again would be a dream.

Good luck!!

You can enter here: http://www.melaniericephoto.com/2012/09/fall-family-session-giveaway.html

Baby #2

It's been a long time since I've posted anything, but with a very active 2-yr-old, being pregnant and tired, and all of the other things that keep my life busy, I just haven't had the energy (and, I credit this to pregnancy brain!) and I completely forget about posting anything on here! It's so much easier to post something quickly on Facebook than it is on here, but I feel like today I have the time and the interest, so here goes. :)

As many, if not all, of you know, I'm pregnant with baby #2 (I still get the occasional- "You're pregnant?!?!- yep, and I have been for the last 5 1/2 months!). We found out on April 30th that it's a little girl and I can't begin to tell you how excited we are! I wanted a boy first so badly and I got my wish, but now it's time for a girl. :)

Rusty is finally starting to understand that there's a baby in Mommy's tummy and it's so sweet/funny how he acknowledges it... he asks to see "Emmie" all the time and insists that I lift up my shirt so he can see my bare belly and he'll rub it, and kiss it, and say, "I love you, Emmie!"

SO. CUTE.

(I'll have to get a picture up of it sometime)

This pregnancy has been good to me. I was never really sick with Rusty, but from about weeks 6 to 12 were a little more rough. I guess it's being pregnant with a girl (or so I hear) that makes you more sick, but it was a blessing to have Russ home more often to help out with Rusty while I didn't have the energy or desire to get up and play with Rusty as much. It's been good for their relationship, though, so I don't feel too bad.

I'll be 23 weeks tomorrow (Sunday) and the time has just flown by! I can't believe that she'll be here in less than 4 months now! I'm not going to lie... it's taking EVERY ounce of self-control to not go and buy all of the cute baby girl outfits and accessories I'm bombarded with almost every time I walk into a store! I love shopping for Rusty, almost as much as I love shopping for myself, so I can't even imagine the damage I'll do to our bank account ounce I start shopping for her! I can't believe how many more things there are for girls! SO FUN!!!

We're naming her Emmeline Jo. I've loved that name since the first time I heard it in a book 3 years ago and I love it still. This is what we would have named Rusty had he been a girl, so it's been our #1 favorite name for a girl for a while. Her middle name, Jo, is my middle name, as well as my mom's, and Emmie Jo is just too stinking cute together! And easy for Rusty to say. :)

Here's her first picture:

I love this little face so much already!

Russ says I'm crazy, but I seriously think she looks like Rusty in this ultrasound picture. The big head (thanks to my dad's side of the family), the small nub of a nose, the lips... everything! Call it a Mother's gift, but I swear she already looks like him. (Humor me.)

Can't wait until September!

"I do it!"

Yep, it's the "milestone" of the "I do it!" stage. And, boy, are we excited! [Fake, forced smile]

Actually, it's nice in several ways. It's fun watching your kid(s) reach certain milestone and stages, and this one, for the most part, is a funny one. He loves to read his books... by himself. He loves to drink out of a cup... by himself. He loves to zip up the zipper to his jacket... by himself.

You see, now I can tell him to go turn off the TV and he feels like a big boy. I can tell him to go get his jacket and he does it with a pep in his step. I can tell him to go throw away his diaper and he does it enthusiastically. He's been doing these things for a few months, but just recently he's actually been able to express the fact that HE can do it... by himself.

He's been talking up a storm lately, too, which is SO fun to hear and also extremely funny. The sentences are what kill me. The other day he brought me a baseball mitt full of tennis balls and said,

"Here you go, Mommy."

Umm... I'm sorry, what?!?! It totally took me by surprise! He's been saying words since before he was 1, but putting multiple words together has been a new thing around here and I LOVE IT. Usually when he does say multiple words it's with a prompting from us, but now, it's clear, that he can also do that... all by himself.

He's also been saying the word "sorry" all on his own when he knows he's done something wrong, which I think is huge. It means he most certainly knows the difference between right and wrong on some level and knows that the word "sorry" is used to placate the situation. Whenever he has to go to timeout, we don't ever get him out until he says sorry, and sometimes he won't, so we leave him in timeout until he can say it. Now, we don't even have to cue him. It's awesome. :)

Rusty will be two in two weeks and I think this upcoming year will be the best yet. Two years that I've been blessed to have a happy, healthy boy. 

Having a child is such a whirlwind of a ride and every day I'm literally floored with the new things that he's able to do and say. I love it. I love all of it. Afterall, if he can do it, "I do it"!

Mini-Photo Session Giveaway!

My friend, Melanie Rice, is having a mini-photo session giveaway and I'm so excited about it! She does such a good job and I would love to win, but I'll be excited for whoever does. :)

She's the one that took our fabulous family photos last fall (see our blog header picture... she took that!), as well as Rusty's 1 year photos, and I honestly couldn't have been happier with them. We took Rusty's pictures a whole month before Father's Day, but Melanie kept it a secret for me until that day to post any pictures, which I REALLY appreciated! The pictures were a hit! Russ LOVES them, and so do all of the grandparents... but mostly me. Who isn't in love with their own kid and wants pictures that capture their cute little personalities? She did just that. I know I sound like an infomercial, but I honestly do feel that she is amazing at photography and I will continue to use her for all of our family/children photos.

Here's the link to her blog if you want to enter. The details are on her blog. Good luck!

http://www.melaniericephoto.com/2011/09/fall-2011-mini-sessions-and-giveaway.html