our week by iPhone - week 85

i've gotten kinda lazy about picture taking these last couple weeks.  actually, maybe i've just gotten lazy in general.  i have valid reasons, right?  i'm growing a human & it's tiring.  but we did have a pretty good week & i did manage to take a few pictures.

here they are!

monday.  got up & went out for stroller strides on a rare sunny day.  parker had a blast swinging on some swings after class & there were post-nap snuggles.  those are some of the best kind.

tuesday.  followed parker around trader joe's as he did his grocery shopping & then hit up round two of the swings.  this time?  big boy swing!

tuesday night sam mowed the lawn & parker insisted on helping.  and by helping i mean running around after him screaming & laughing & throwing grass in the air.

wednesday.  while the sun was still out, i stripped parker down to his bare bum to help a nasty diaper rash get a little air.  i think he totally pulls off the socks, shoes & no pants look.

wednesday night i got all kinds of productive & pulled out all of parker's old clothes that were in no sort of order & organized them by size & packed them in labeled boxes.  basically the most useful thing i've done in months.

thursday.  parker was up bright & early & woke up slowly with some light reading.  i went to work & waddled around the halls & then came home where parker & sam had their nightly wrestle sesh.

friday.  parker & i had some time to kill friday morning & stopped by our friends for a short visit.  this is parker & cami acting like they are playing nicely but approximately two minutes later this scene ended with toy throwing, toy hitting & a timeout.

parker insisted on more reading in bed after his nap & we ended our night with fro-yo for the first time in a long time.  sam looks like he's upset to be sharing here, but i think the frowny face has a lot more to do with my incessant picture taking.  you'd think he'd be used to it by now.

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***photos edited via instagram.  do you instagram?  find me @amy_agoodlife & let's picture bond!***
that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=152252" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:

wordless{ish} wednesday: swinging.

i took over a hundred pictures of p-ray actually really enjoying the swings for the first time in his life & i wish i had time to edit & post them all.  but for now... here's my favorite.

ok, maybe it's tied for top ten favorites.  i'll probably post more.  love him.

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemon, the paper mama, jenni from the blog & a little king & i}

thirty-three weeks. bumpdate!

{compare boy two belly to parker belly here.}

the weeks are not slowing down & my to-do list isn't getting much shorter.  but i'm realizing i'll never really be "ready" for this little boy so shoot, bring him on.  i'm so excited to meet this little guy!

this week i feel like we officially moved into the "baby is trying to bust out of my belly" stage.  his movements are so big that i swear he's doing full flips in there & contorting my stomach all over the place in the process.  i love it though... i love feeling him squirm around in there & i get uneasy when he's been still for too long.  movement makes me happy!

sleep is tough.  i position myself to sleep & then literally don't move an inch all night until sam leaves for work in the morning.  movement in bed is so painful that i can't do it in my sleep.  when he wakes me up in the morning most of whatever side i'm laying on is asleep & throbbing so i have to push myself up, carefully shift everything to the other side {legs, belly, hips, supporting pillow} & lay back down.  IT HURTS.  it literally feels like every bone in my hips/pelvic area is broken.  the weight of my belly feels like a bowling ball & sometimes my hips pop & send sharp pains down my legs.  so that's fun.

then, when it's time to get up i have to lean on the bed or bathroom counter until my body wakes up or else my legs give out.  less than seven weeks left.

don't get me wrong, there are parts of pregnancy i love.  i love carrying this little boy with me everywhere i go & feeling him move, watching him grow via my growing belly & sporting the bump.  i do feel like i have a "pregnancy glow" just because of the excitement & anticipation that pregnancy brings.  it's fun.

but physically?  i do not make a good pregnant girl.  some people seem to go through their pregnancies in stride but my body really does not fare well.  so much that sam & i talk a lot about whether i could ever physically do this again.  he says no.  especially because this pregnancy has seemed to cause a bit more pain than with parker, so who knows what #3 would be like.  it's such a hard call to make.

anywho, the good news is that with parker my body seemed to recover quickly.  once he was outta there the ligaments tightened right back up & my pelvis seemed to go back to normal.  seriously hoping that's the case this time too.

you guys, less than seven weeks left.  that's like a month & a half.  we're gonna be meeting this little boy before we know it!

life lately... my biznass.

so i keep talking about how i've been super busy lately which is all just wonderful to hear i'm sure because hey, we're all busy right?  but i thought i'd share what's been keeping me occupied late at night on all those evenings i don't get to post on this here blog.  i like to call it "my other life."  actually i've never called it that but maybe i'll start.  basically when i'm not blogging i'm editing photos.   i don't often share my work on here but i figured the occasional photo dump is well within my right, right?

so yeah, in case i haven't dropped enough hints from time to time, i do run a little photography business on the side which takes up lots of those precious p-ray naptime & post-bedtime hours... but it's totally worth it.  i love what i do.  it kinda provides this weird high since i still get nervous butterflies before every session {seriously, i do... WHEN will that go away??} but then once the session starts it's like the camera takes over.  i get to become this person on the other side of the lens who is in control & knows what she's talking about.  and even when i don't, i've learned to fake it & somehow, miraculously, things have worked out so far.

i can see that i've come a long way in my photography & yet there is so much further i want to go.  there are so many amazing photographers that i look up to & if i spend too much time on their blogs i start to get all pouty about not being there yet.  but there's this quote i saw on pinterest once that said something like "the only photographer you should ever compare yourself to is the one you used to be."  and that is so true.  i've seen my stuff evolve quite a bit over time & it's exciting.  i know that if i keep practicing & searching for inspiration to bring into my own images & working on my editing technique & workflow that i can go as far as i want.  it will just take lots & lots of work.

so anywho, here are a few of my favorite images from some of my sessions the last few months.  just thought i'd share what i've been up to.  and in case you're interested?  here are some more deets about my biz:

facebook page  | website |  photo blog 

check 'em out.

i love what i do.

our week by iPhone - week 84

aaaaaaand i'm tired.

are you surprised yet?  even though i cleared a few things off our calendar this week, we still found ways to keep pretty dang busy.  well, maybe it's just parker who is keeping me busy.  by the end of each night he's got me exhausted!  so, sorry for the lack of posts this week... i've been a busy girl trying to catch up on editing from the last few photo shoots during those precious post-bedtime hours & then attempting to get a few hours of sleep where i can.

here's what we fit in during the day time.

monday.  parker was still recovering from sick-weekend so we met up with some friends suffering from the same sickness as us... CABIN FEVER.  we hadn't gotten out of the house all weekend & neither had they, so we took our sick kids to the lake & let them breath some fresh air & throw rocks in the water.  seemed to help.

monday night p-ray wound down from his busy day with some games on the iPhone in his "tent."  it also doubles as the covers on my bed.

tuesday.  started the day off with a visit to my OB to hear baby brother's heartbeat & see what i'm weighing in at these days.  oh boy weight gain is fun.  after the doctor's office it was off to the library to play with puzzles & pick out a few new books.  and oh yeah, if your kid rips a page out of a library book just hope you get lucky & the librarian decides the book was old & needed to be retired anyway... worked for us!

our errands ended with a minor meltdown while loading p-ray up in the car.  it happens.

wednesday.  parker got to spend the official first day of summer with his friends actually enjoying the sun & "playing in the dirt."  we are soooo ready for more days like this around here!

in the meantime?  i got to work from home.  woohoo!

thursday.  can i just explain to you how hard it is to figure out what to eat every day when NOTHING sounds good?  besides carbs & fruits & sweets, anyways.  this day?  that equaled whole wheat bagel & strawberry smoothie lunch.  perfection in muh {big} belleh.

and thursday night?  a photoshoot with one of my favorite families on a perfect night is perfect.

friday.  p-ray & i hung out around the house all morning waiting for Mr. UPS man to deliver my new love lens.  oh hey there 35mm f/1.4L... how YOU doin?

after it arrived {and i sufficiently introduced myself by taking about 100 pictures of parker in about five minutes} we headed over to our homies' house for a last second playdate with a whole bunch of our favorites.  it was too crazy for pictures so you just have to judge how fun it was by parker's squeals of delight from the backseat.  it was that good.

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***photos edited via instagram.  do you instagram?  find me @amy_agoodlife & let's picture bond!***
that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=151144" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:

making it up as i go: toddler discipline.

toddlers are awesome & so freaking hard all at once.  parker's been averaging a timeout per day & testing my patience constantly.  but all at the same time he is picking up so many new things, becoming this hilarious mini person & surprising me every second with this strong little emerging personality.

so far timeouts have worked wonders & he gets them frequently for things like fighting against me while i'm trying to get him dressed, fighting me during diaper changes, smacking me in the face when he gets mad & refusing to sit in his high chair to eat.  by the end of his timeout, he's usually relaxed & asking to do whatever it was he was fighting me about to begin with.  so far, parental success.  i'm just trying not to overuse them so they keep their effectiveness & i can keep feeling like i know what i'm doing.

yesterday sam offered parker a bite of his popsicle & parker freaked out when he didn't get the whole thing.  obviously this resulted in thrashing & crying on the floor.  i told parker, "ok, you can cry but it hurts mommy's ears so you need to go in your room & do it.  you can come out when you're done crying."  {thanks for that line, lindsey!}  i walked him back to his room & left the door open a crack & he continued to scream & yell but stayed in his room.  a couple minutes later he walked out & said "all done crying in my room."  i was floored.  because he really was done crying & seemed to understand what had just happened.  who is this guy?

i don't know what i'm doing.  i'm making it up as i go & trying to be consistent all at once.  sometimes i have to turn away & count to ten to keep from throwing myself on the floor & crying & kicking & screaming alongside him.  sometimes i wonder how the heck this sweet little guy can make me so dang frustrated one second & then turn around & melt my heart with his innocence & sincerity the next.

i feel like with every age & stage the polarity between the good times & the bad times gets greater, like he's more challenging than ever but he's also more fun than ever.  does that just continue on forever?  i don't know if my heart can handle that amount of love & stress.

someday we'll be trying to figure out what to do when he stays out past curfew or skips school.  or maybe he'll talk back to a teacher or get caught cheating on an assignment.  but i'm pretty sure he'll still find ways to amaze us & make us more proud than we thought possible.

until then, i'll just enjoy the days of oatmeal in my hair & timeouts.  seems easy enough.

our week by iPhone - week 83

happy father's day baby daddies!

this might not be one of the best father's days in our family's history since we're nursing a sick little boy.  he's gone through all sorts of stages today:  fever, then bouncing off the walls, then coughing so hard he throws up, then completely normal, then coughing so hard he can't sleep or eat & repeat.  but i've had to laugh at the irony... sam is pretty much spending this day defining a great dad.  at one point parker didn't want sam to leave his side so he ate his dinner on the couch with one arm while a holding a coughing & crying parker in the other, taking bites of his food between p-ray nose wipes.   parker didn't want me, he wanted sam & that's the kind of dad i'm married to.  pretty much one of the best ones ever.

anywho, we had a pretty busy week around here.  this is what it looked like in iPhotos.

monday.  woke up real late but the sun was out so we had to get ourselves out to the last 15 minutes of stroller strides & time at the park.  then it was off to the car wash where parker was a little unsure of the whole process & then a much needed manicure during naptime.

tuesday.  met up with our bloggy friends stephanie & hunter for their first stroller strides class!  they just moved to the same area as us & it's so fun to get to hang out with them!

after stroller strides we opted for a lazy day around the house... parker read books to all his animal friends before nap time, watched a movie before dinner & hung out on the floor while i cooked in the kitchen.  after bath, sam got home from a late meeting just in time to push parker around on thomas before bed.  i think parker was pretty grateful for that.

wednesday.  drove parker to his sitter's on the way to work where the highlight was definitely seeing a train {"choo-choo!!!"} go across the street right in front of our car.  that makes two year old little boys VERY happy.  after a day at work {where my belly button seemed quite large} it was back at home with the silliest little boy i know.

thursday.  parker ran a fever off & on... which meant going back & forth between snuggly mopey little boy & happy giggly little monster.  by the end of the day it was business as usual which meant lining all  his cars & trains up in a row.  it's what he does.

friday.  parker woke up fever-free & showed no signs of sickness so we decided to get ourselves out of the house & enjoy some sun which kinda felt amazing.  we even spent a little time at the park & i'm pretty sure my nose & scalp got a sun burn.  yesssssssssss.

friday night i got to hang out with the amazing stacy jacobsen & shoot back up for her at a wedding reception.  ginormous barn, dance party, photo booth, a bride & groom who LOVED to boogie?  yes, yes & yes please.  it was a blast.  {see more shots of the wedding party HERE.  #'s 1-4 are from this night... check. them. out.}

apparently i misjudged just how well parker was feeling because here we are, back to nose wiping & hoping vicks on the feet plus a humidifier gets him a decent few hours of sleep.  boooo to sick kids, am i right?

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***photos edited via instagram.  do you instagram?  find me @amy_agoodlife & let's picture bond!***
that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=150225" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:

thirty-two weeks. bumpdate!

{compare boy two belly to parker belly here.}

and now we're in the less-than-two-months mark.  time?  you're a-flying!!

i am so excited for this baby to get here.  like, i'm starting to feel "ready."  we had our baby shower last weekend & got some awesome & much needed stuff for this guy.  my vision for our nursery is starting to take shape & i'm really falling in love with a certain name... sam just has to sign off on it {or think of a better one, ha!}.  our families are starting to make concrete arrangements for their visits & everything is starting to feel real & exciting.

also, it's comforting to know that if i was to go into labor tomorrow for some freak reason, baby boy would most likely be just fine.  i can't believe he's that big & strong!  i already have a real baby all ready to join our family in there, now we just have to wait for it to be time.

for some reason this last week brought on my first round of "wow, you have two more months still?  you're huge!" comments.  i got it at LEAST four times in the last week.  which is weird because i honestly don't feel big at all.  well, i mean, relatively speaking.  i feel like i've done a pretty good job staying on track with weight gain & i realize this belly has a ways to go still.  huge will happen in t minus two months, y'all.

also?  i just think that people don't realize how big the belly really does get at the end.  i mean seriously, you are carrying a full human being in there!  but still, people.  think before you speak.  when in your lifetime is it ok to tell a woman she is huge?  never!!

ok, moving on.

i've gotten a lot of people who have asked why i'm smaller with this pregnancy than i was with parker.  traditionally, your belly is bigger with your second pregnancy & for me, this hasn't been the case.  it hasn't just been luck or "beating the odds," i have actually gained less weight this time around.  i started this pregnancy about five pounds under my pre-parker weight {holla at ya stroller strides!} & have gained about five pounds less so far, so at this point with parker i was about ten pounds heavier.

reasons for this?  ummm, more self control?  less "woohoo, i'm pregnant let's eat two of everything!" mentality?  because i gained a lot right off the bat with parker for those reasons.  like, we're talking 14 pounds before i was outta the first trimester.  so that has something to do with it.  also for some really weird reason i have no appetite with this pregnancy.  i get full super fast & food still kinda leaves me feeling sick.  except chocolate milk & cookies, of course.  seriously, eating healthy has been a struggle for me this whole pregnancy since nothing besides junk EVER sounds good.  just ask sam, it's been real annoying trying to figure out dinner each night & we've eaten cereal for dinner way more than once.  and i think this kid is gonna come out expecting chocolate milk from the boob... oops.

so anywho, that's that.  every day i say i'm gonna eat healthier & drink more water & maybe even eat a salad.  but the thought of ranch or vinaigrette or honey mustard or ew, cucumbers, radishes & tomatoes make me wanna throw up.  and these are all things i've loved my whole non-pregnant life.  i'm sorry unborn baby boy!  bright side?  fruit is still delicious & i eat lots of that.  so maybe there's hope.

maybe.

{disclaimer:  i've gained a bit over 20 pounds so far & am on track to land somewhere between 25-30 pounds gained total... so i'm still gaining a healthy amount.  i'm not starving this kid & i promise i do eat real food still, even though it makes me gag, & i take my vitamins.  so i think we're gonna be just fine.}

little bits of happiness | mom lyfe.

i post a lot of pictures on here of me dressed up for "steppin' out" or me at work with my hair curled & a cute shirt/cardi combo but the truth of the matter is those are the rare days.  they're the rare days where i get out of bed determined to do a little sumpin-sumpin with myself.  which is an achievement in itself.

this day?  was tuesday.  sam had a late meeting & the day was all about survival.  it was about getting through bath time, gettin the kid in pj's & making it til dad gets home.

it was a day where you never make it out of your work out clothes {yes, we did at least make it to stroller strides that morning} & you stay in your yoga pants & oversized hoodie because why get out of your stretchy pants & waste a perfectly good outfit on no one?

also?  stretchy pants.  duh.

and oh yeah, on this day parker decided he no longer liked baths & washing his hair involved clinging to me for dear life.  i think i ended up getting as wet as him.

and it was at this moment, after parker's bath as i stood in front of the mirror with my crazy unbrushed hair, no makeup & wet hoodie, that i knew i had to get out my camera.  because this stuff needs to be documented.

he's lucky he's cute.  especially when post-bath with his clean hair & fresh jammies you see him get that mischievous look in his eye...

...on come the boots.  pajamas may say it's bedtime to me but to him?  there's still room for discussion.

apparently on this particular night i needed my boots too.

and then comes the persuading... "mommy, go!  mommy, let's go!"

and just in time, sam gets home.  i guess our adventures will have to wait for another night... because daddy kinda trumps all.

i love this kid.  i love the days where everything else gets put to the side & parker & i just go through the day.  we read stories, we eat sandwiches, we take naps, we color & we don't do anything productive.  i don't do my hair, the laundry piles up & anything important waits til tomorrow.

i love being a mom.

{linking up with stephanie for "little bits of happiness."  because crazy days & silly moments like this make me happy.}

baby shower. BABY SHOWER!

this shower was beyond incredible & can i just say i have the best friends EVER?  seriously, way more than a girl deserves.  we had so much fun & played a game no one had ever seen before & ate delicious foods & drank out of cute straws from mason jars with sliced lemons & talked about babies & kids & pregnancy & labor & yeah... it was amazing.  and oh yeah, the game?  everyone LOVED it.  i mean, usually shower games are all awkward & no one wants to pipe up but this game was like yahtzee meets white elephant & involved candy winnings & stealing other people's prizes & do i get an award for run on sentences in this post?

my girls outdid themselves.  the decor was magazine-worthy & every little detail was done with care.  baby boy #2 was showered with so much love i had to stop mid-presents-opening & take a deep breath because my heart was about to explode from the warm-fuzziness.  thank you doesn't do this justice.

and the advantage of being a photographer?  you get to take all of it home with you in your very own camera to have forever & ever.

these are the girls who made it all possible... the brains & muscle behind the party, the hostesses with the mostestes {yes, i went there},  corinne, lindsey, heather & ann.  words don't even describe... LOVE YOU LADIES!

and thank you.