it's Halloween! let's iPhoto dump.

happy halloween friends!

and to all my east coast readers, i really hope you're somewhere safe & dry & you weathered the storm alright.  i am completely hooked on watching sandy coverage & cannot believe the devastation over there... thoughts & prayers your way!

so yeah, it's halloween & this will not be a halloween themed post.  that will come after i take hoards of pictures of my babies in their costumes, which i JUST finalized yesterday.  yeah, i'm that mom this year.  we didn't even carve pumpkins!  you guys, i'm doing good to fold the laundry & shower occasionally, carving pumpkins just wasn't on the agenda this year.  but next year?  for sure.

don't get me wrong, things are going great these days.  elliot is sleeping a 6-8 hour stretch each night, waking up once to eat & then back down til 7 or 8.  it's GLORIOUS!!!  yes, i think the heavens just opened up & sang hallelujahs.  i heard it, i swear.  and?  oh my gosh, i fall in love with him more & more every. day.  he is just so sweet & happy & he smiles & coos & has my heart wrapped around his little finger.  i just want to eat him up!  i love my little baby.

i've been keeping busy with the ol' photog business.  i kinda just sat on it for a bit the last year due to the pregnancy/baby, but now it's time to hit it hard.  so i've been busy rebuilding some of my branding & advertising & working on editing from my latest sessions.  so that's been fun.  seriously, i LOVE all things related to photography & my photography business & would be happy sitting in my office all day doing business things & editing & shooting sessions too, obviously.  so that's been keeping me happy busy in those times when kiddos are sleeping.

pictures of me working on photography stuff just really isn't that exciting though, so you'll find that 99% of my iPhoto pictures are of p-ray & elliot because they're basically the cutest.

happy halloween!!

scenes from bath time.

oh my goodness i love these two.  this picture cracks me up.

{also, i pinky swear no babies were hurt during the taking of this picture.  elliot actually loves the bath but had just scooted down a little & needed to be readjusted.  that took place promptly after i immortalized parker's goofy bath-time grin by snapping this picture.}

ok, and now?  photo dump because i can't help myself.

i am one lucky mama.

elliot - two months in mostly pictures.

ok so this month went a little faster.  i just love this little boy!  and while my days are double the crazy & we're still not getting much sleep, his adorable little face & smile & coos make it all worth it.  cliche but true.

{compare previous month pics here}

at two months elliot is:

-->  wearing 3-6 month clothes & size 2 diapers.
-->  eating every 3-4 hours for 15-20 minutes.
-->  cooing & smiling & kicking his legs when he's happy {which is usually right after he wakes up & then has eaten.  that's when he's at his best.}
-->  had his first cold.  it's still lingering, actually.  and he gets congested as the night goes on & he's been on his back for a long time.  so it's still making his sleep no bueno.
-->  his longest stretch of sleep to date was 6.5 hours.  too bad i couldn't sleep for the first 2-3 of them... my mind goes crazy at night.  who knew newborn mom insomnia was a thing??
-->  being put in the wrap or the ergo is like a sedative to him.  he would live in a carrier if he could.
-->  picks up on voices in the room & searches out who's talking.
-->  goes to sleep every night swaddled & then put in his crib awake but drowsy after eating.  usually falls to sleep in 5-10 minutes after a bunch of grunts.  i call his grunts his "dinosaur noises."
-->  sam is pretty much the only person who he'll fall asleep on anymore, outside of a carrier.  he loves cuddling with his dad.  it's adorable.
-->  weighs 14 pounds 1 ounce {90%-tile} & is 23.5" long {70%-tile}.

and is ridiculously cute.

love him.

wordless{ish} wednesday: bro faces.

while i love seeing how elliot is his own little person, i sometimes feel like i'm looking in a mirror of parker's baby face.  my take on it?  same nose, same eyes... maybe same lips.  totally different face shape.  also?  slightly better camera with elliot.  ha!

you be the judge.  who doesn't love a good comparison?

{parker - circa june 2010 - 2 months}

{elliot - circa yesterday - 2 months}

elliot's two month update is coming soon!  with stats!

iphoto dump & potty training update.

you guys, this last week has been rad.

parker has taken to potty training like a boss & seems to be getting the swing of it.  elliot has started sleeping in longer stretches consistently & i'm feeling like normal life is just around the corner.  i've completed most of the editing for all the sessions i've done in the last month & am feeling like a weight is slowly lifting off my shoulders... and?  we are having awesome stormy, wet, soggy, grey fall weather.  i love it.

some of you have asked what we're doing for potty training.  if you're curious, read on... if not, skip this paragraph & look at the pictures!  the truth is, we kinda jumped into it without a huge game plan or any research {i totally thought i'd have an entire strategy mapped out & would have done buckets of research to know exactly what we were doing... but no, we just made it up as we went along}.  basically parker just woke up one day & we told him no more diapers!  he spent the first three days pantsless except naps & nighttime, when he wore a diaper.  we coaxed him into going potty on the toilet & rewarded him with an m&m when he went.  we would have him try like every 15 mins for the first day & before long, he was telling us he had to go & went running to the bathroom.  he got it pretty quick.  goin #2 has taken a little more time but i think we're coming out the other side successful.  the first few times he pooed on the toilet he was pretty terrified & really didn't like it.  a couple accidents in his pants later he realized that was no fun either & has been going on the toilet.  so...?  hopefully we're good.  we've resumed normal life {besides the potty that hangs out in the back of my car for use while out doing errands... that may not be normal} and i can count the number of accidents he's had while we're out on one hand in the last two weeks.  yay potty training!

{update.  parker just woke up from his nap & pooed in his pants 10 minutes later... but he DID realize it & run to the bathroom & finished his business in the toilet, so... progress???  whattyagonnado.}

if you have specific questions about what we did, just ask in the comments & i'll reply in the comments!  ok, enough about potty training.

here are some iPhotos of what we've been up to in the last two weeks.  and if you're wondering what has happened to week in iPhotos, well, i just can't keep it up consistently so my good bloggy friend suzanne over at bebehblog has taken it over!  so it's in transition... go link up with her & keep the tradition alive!

apparently i only blog on tuesdays?

third weekly tuesday post, folks.  this is becoming a thing?  something about tuesdays makes my babies nap at the same time i guess & thus allows for quick updates.  i don't have the time to make something organized & thought out, so here are some randoms, mmmk?

--> still not getting a heck of a lot of sleep around here.  elliot wakes up 2-3x a night & his sleep becomes restless at about 5:00am & at that point i usually pull him into bed with me to squeak out a couple more hours of laying-in-bed-half-asleep time.  i know more sleep is in the near future, it seems to be getting better each week but it's definitely the one thing that makes my day the hardest.

--> oh wait, the fact that we're in the midst of potty training parker is probably the thing that makes my day the hardest.  we got the genius idea to cold-turkey potty train parker last weekend which means the last four days have been spent with a pantsless toddler running around the house & using the potty every 15 minutes.  we only have 1-2 accidents a day & he totally seems to be getting it... as long as we're home & he's within two steps of the toilet.  i'm afraid to leave my house again ever.  maybe when he's 16.

--> operation "be healthy & get in shape" is in {sorta} full swing.  ya like that?  sorta full swing?  i've been running & going back to stroller strides but since this potty training business has begun, i haven't really left the house.  but i have been cutting down the amount of sweets & junk i'm eating quite a bit... unless you count the two batches of chocolate chip pumpkin cookies i made in the last 3 days, well then, there is that.  but it's all about portion control!  what is the fall without pumpkin cookies?  it's nothing, i tell ya.

--> and now?  let's be real.  i have good days & bad days.  some days i feel like i'm rocking this mom of two thing & like i have it all under control.  other days?  i realize it's been 5 days since i've showered, six days since i've blogged, three days since i've worked out, i remember i have a huge back log of editing work to do for clients, my stretchy pants that i've worn three days in a row smell like spit up, the laundry is piled up & the hampers are overflowing, one kid is nursing & the other is currently peeing on the carpet & i think i'm gonna lose it.  sometimes?  it's just plain hard.  it really really is.  and i have those weak moments where i want to curl up in a corner & cry because i don't think i can do it all.  no wait, it's because i can't do it all.

being a mom is hard, you guys.  and just because i have said that, doesn't make me unhappy or ungrateful.  i wouldn't trade my babies in for a single thing & there isn't a second in my day where i would give any of it up.  but it can be overwhelming & it's so easy to start feeling sorry for yourself.

where am i going with this?  well, i guess sometimes i feel guilty for complaining or not appreciating every tiring moment.  in any given second, something could change.  we've been blessed with healthy babies & i have so much to be grateful for.  so why can't i go about every single day being grateful for each crazy moment?  that's what i feel guilty about.  i have very close friends & family who can't have kids, who have lost babies or who have babies with a chronic illness.

so i keep going.  in the end, i do have nothing to complain about.  i can have my weak moments but i know a day will come where i will wish i hadn't wished these days away.  i will miss the sweet baby smell of elliot's head & long for the days when parker's bare bottom sat on my lap & asked to read "the grouchy ladybug" for the 100 millionth time.  i will wish i had enjoyed it more & had stopped worrying about clean hair, clean laundry, my daily run or frequent blog posts.  but sometimes it's easy to lose sight of that.

so that's where we're at.  trying to appreciate every crazy moment & looking for joy in the everyday.  should be easy right?  i mean, look at this face.

big ol' iPhoto dump + an update about a rough-ish patch.

oh boy, it's been a week has it?  i'm one of those bloggers now.  and i can't promise it'll get much better for a while... until this littlest boy of mine starts sleeping some serious night time hours {read: longer than 1-2 at a time... 3 if we're lucky}.  but it's not completely his fault.  parker & elliot caught colds & that's no fun for a newborn who sleeps on his back & breaths through his nose.  so we've had some long nights with a sick baby that usually ends up sleeping on my chest the second half of the night as a result of not being able to breath too well.  in other news, i can't wait for the day i realize what it feels like to sleep four consecutive hours in a row again... it will be so SO glorious.

the nights are rough but during the day this little guy makes up for it.  he is still so sweet & mellow & spends probably 85% of his day being worn by me either in the ergo or the wrap.  we've gotten to be pretty good buddies & i think he's a keeper.

parker is continuing to adjust to the new family member.  i think it's safe to say we've had less tantrums & he's back to sleeping normal hours too {he was waking up at 5:30-6 for a week or so & that was no bueno} so thanks for that, p-ray.

i'm starting to feel like a normal human being again, whatever that is.  i've taken both boys out by myself quite a few times now & we've only had one incident that ended much worse than i could have imagined {think parker panic attack & projectile vomit of his entire stomach contents... we survived though thanks to the help of surrounding mom friends!}.  i'm starting to work out again & slowly weeding out the cookie dough & chocolate milk from my regular diet.  i'm ready for this mama belly to be on its way!

and to top it all off?  it's officially fall.  it may be 80 degrees outside {what is up with that seattle??} but i have a pumpkin spice candle burning & the ghosts & pumpkin decor is making its way up around me house.  there is something to updating your seasonal decor that just makes you feel "with it", am i right?  i think i'm right.

and finally, here is another ginormous iPhoto dump from the last couple weeks.  lots of family/friend/solo outings & baby smiles.  oh yeah, & those baby smiles?  somehow make you feel like you had eight hours of sleep the night before & keep ya going.  they're kinda magical that way.