Kaitlyn talks to the camera!!

A big lunch out at Steak 'N Shake. MMmm...

My trip to Austin to see the Powell Family!

I took a little trip to Austin to see my new godson, Sutton Powell. I also wanted to go there to photograph the family, for a gift to Courtney for having another BOY. :) Sutton is adorable, just like his big brothers. No... no way in heck am I having another baby... yet. Ha.
I had a lot of fun there in Austin getting to play with the boys and be able to help out with daily things like making dinner, etc. One night we had Grandma Casey's turkey noodle bake... man was that good!
Here are my favorites from our photo shoot at the Powell house... Steve was too busy for us... just kidding Steve. Ha.
















Love you guys!!!

Aw-rite...

Kaitlyn's new favorite word is "alright". She says it without the "l" sound though, so it's more "aw-rite". One of the funniest times I remember her using this was last week at bed time. She has this slightly irritating way of constantly repeating "MOM?" one after another until I come up to see what she needs while she's in her crib. Literally, "Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom?" (also can be DAD?- ha). Fully annoyed, I went upstairs one night to tell to stop, and I went in and said, "Kaitlyn, now that's enough, you need to go to sleep." and she replied... "alright" and laid down. I nearly fell over in laughter. I also was taken by surprise that she didn't cry when I left. Since then she uses "alright" a ton... do you want breakfast? alright... do you want a drink? alright... you need to eat some asparagus first before you get any more hot dog... alright. :)
She also is attaching the name of the person that she is so politely thanking. "Thank you, Mom." or "Thank you, Dad!" If she looks at me and says, "Thank you Dad!" she immediately fixes her mistake and says, "Thank you, Mom!" However, when she says, "Thank you, Mom!" to James, he fixed it first before she even has a chance by saying to her, "No, I'm JAMES!" then she says, "Thank you, Deem!"
Her favorite ritual now at night is running around naked after her bath. It's so cute to see her tooshie swinging back and forth as she's running through her room and around in the hallway... usually carrying Lovie. That's just one of those cliche things that kids like to do, but it's just do darn cute!
Kaitlyn will be 2 years old one month from today!!!!!!!!! Sheesh.

Oh to be caught up on the blog...

So I've really been bad about blogging the last few weeks. My schedule has been ramped up with a new MOMS group that I'm facilitating, which requires a lot of time for preparation, etc., plus photography work time, and a trip to Austin, and throwing parenting all in the middle. :)
I flew to Austin on Wednesday morning, very early, and by noon, I was there having lunch with Courtney, Molly, Aunt Bev and sweet baby Sutton.
I had a great trip there, filled with lots of laughs, lots of baby time, some photography, and much more food. Ha. The last thing I wanted to be was a burden while I was there so I jumped on the wagon and made dinners for the Powell family, earning my keep. Ha.
My goal of the trip was to photograph Sutton and anyone else that would have been willing. It turns out that Alex and Gabe are excellent subjects when they are having fun... we just talked, causally, about cars, favorite foods, school, etc, with me snapping in the middle of conversations. Turns out Gabe and I have a TON in common... we both favor chocolate ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, and PORSCHES! :)
Sutton doesn't have a career in baby modeling... that's what we decided. ;) Courtney would get him fattened up and asleep and when we'd try to photograph him, he'd cry almost immediately. However, it turned out, that the last day he cut me some slack and modeled with his Mommy for me. I did get some super cute photos of him by himself too, so I'm anxious to have some time to work on those here at home. To answer everyone's question, NO, I don't have baby fever now from seeing Sutton. HA.
As for the Powell family, I wish them luck finding and getting rid of the ever present sour-milk funk emitting from the back of the van. Good luck! Ha ha.
I was excited to get home yesterday after a few days away from my sweet kids. James came down with some kind of sickness while I was gone, so the mommy-guilt of being away was tripled. I hate having my kids with someone else when they are sick! Booo. They did fine, though, and all is *hopefully* better now. I did get to video chat with the kids when I was in Austin, and it was nice to see James all cuddled up on my side of our bed. Sweet.
I came home to a full dinner already prepared by my wonderful husband. I ended up waiting for my bag for an HOUR so it was time to eat when I got home. It was the best Valentines present I could have asked for... along with a good hot dog for dinner. Mmmm.
Today, Nathan is off to the Daytona 500 with Rich, Kevin, Cameron, Ben, Jack, and Ben's friend Peter. I hope they have a great time... and hope they have good weather, since it's a bit ugly outside right now! Hopefully it's nicer farther North!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Grandma Kathy gave the kids M&M beanie baby bears. OOOOOH, what a hit!

A scolding

Kaitlyn was walking down the stairs the other day with Daddy when Daddy tried to reach out a hand to help. Kaitlyn looked at him with a stern stare, pointed her finger up in the air and shouts, "IIIIIIII! I do it!"
Silly Miss Independent.

Ca-raaaazy!

The kids and I went over to my parent's house for the Superbowl... well, not really for the game, just for dinner. The kids had baths after dinner, thanks to Grandma, and then we piled in the car. Grandma and Papa followed us out as usual to see us go, and when we were all strapped in and getting ready to drive away, James spits out, "Mom... those kids are ca-raaaaazy!" Kids? ;)

Mom? I have to tell you something...

James gets really serious sometimes and tells me that he needs to tell me something (meanwhile I'm bracing myself because I really never know what's going to come out of his mouth).
I say, "Yes James? What is it?"
He replies with something like this, "If you be careful of that light, then you'll get a great surprise."
"Oh wow, James, thank you! Good to know!"
I have no idea. I'm pretty sure it's his ultimate last try to keep me in his room for .5 more seconds. :)

Static at the green park!

I guess this is what James gets for sliding down the slides at his favorite park (he calls it the "green park" because all of the slides are green... his favorite color)! It was so funny. His hair would be completely normal when starting down the slide, but by the end, this is what he looked like! ;)

Kona and Me: A Pet Retrospective.

This is a really long blog, don't read this blog if you haven't read Marley and Me or if you plan to see the movie!

I've been told by my sister-in-law, Beth, that I absolutely positively MUST read "Marley and Me" (I know it's supposed to be underlined, but I can't figure out how to do it-ha). So I bought it when I got to Orlando International, and started reading it on my flight out to Phoenix. Now, I've looked at this book at Borders before, and every time I put it back thinking, "Eh, I don't really need to read anyone else's story about a Yellow Lab, I have one! I know how they are!" BUT, now since Beth was insisting that I read it, I thought maybe it might be a good one.
Boy was I in for a surprise. This book is hysterical! The story is absolutely wonderful and I can pretty much relate with EVERYTHING in the book. Of course it's not all about Marley, it's a LOT about Marley, but it's also about the story of this family and how they get through issues and problems together. It's a very warm story, with hysterical antics and tidbits of dog-gone bad dog situations. But above all, I'm very grateful that I read this book, especially since now I can recall many situations with Kona that I've never blogged about. My kids obviously know Kona, but they are so young that when they grow up they won't remember him much. I'd love to write about Kona so my kids can look back at this and read what our dog was like.
When Nathan and I were in Santa Barbara, California, we decided that we wanted to get a dog. I had thought about it before he actually moved out to California, but decided to wait to learn more about the adoption process and to understand what I should know about adopting a dog.
I got cats first, adopted from Los Angeles Kitten Rescue. I adopted two 4 month old black (one one with white paws and belly) cats. Saki and Ali blessed my life! Ali ended up contracting Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) in his first year and passed on to kitty heaven before he turned 1. Very sad, very very sad. He was an awesome cat. He did all of the great things that cats do, like cackling at bugs and jumping really high trying to get the feathers glued to a stick. He also fetched. YES, fetched. I would crumble up a post-it note into a tight ball, and he would run up to me and wait for me to throw it. He found great pleasure in running across the house and batting the little yellow paper ball around on the hardwood floors. This was Ali's claim to fame, and bless his soul, I still miss him.
So after the cats got settled in, then one died, I thought, "Why not get a dog?" Ha. Actually, it was perfect! Nathan and I found a breeder located in San Luis Obispo (about a two hour drive north of Santa Barbara), and drove up there to see the puppies once they were born. We had first pick of any of the males (a whopping 3 of them), or we had third choice of females (all 5 of them). These puppies were the MOST adorable things I had ever seen. They were a bundle of yellow fluffy puppies, and I was instantly in love. We met his mother, but didn't meet the father since he didn't live with them. We picked Kona because we loved the way he looked and also the way he interacted with us. He was sooo young! It was hard to leave that day without him, but he still had some growing to do, so we drove back to Santa Barbara after putting our deposit down for the pup.
I assume after I got home that I went out and got all of the puppy stuff for my house, but I don't really remember this part. I do, however remember the kennel that I had bought for him in the beginning. It was HUGE, compared to him! He ended up growing out of the thing about a year later.
When the pup was weaned (only 6 weeks), we drove back up to SLO to get him. We still had the naming thing to do, so I did my research on names on the internet. I loved the name Kona, but Nathan wasn't really sold on it. The name is Hawiian, and it means "golden coast", which I liked since he's yellow, and we lived in Santa Barbara.
We got the pup and loaded him up in the car, but of course not before we argued like children about who got to HOLD the dog and who got to drive. Just like kids, we agreed that since we'd have stop and let the pup go potty at some point, then we'd switch. I had the pleasure of driving first, holding second.
We did indeed stop for the pup to run in the grass at a park about halfway home. He was so sweetly walking and frolicking in the grass! He even went potty, and we acted like our child had just won a gold medal! ;) I started calling him Kona just to try out the name, and to me it fit wonderfully. I also liked the names Marty and Montey, but neither of those seemed to fit (from what Nathan said-ha).
I got to hold him for the rest of the drive back to Santa Barbara, and Kona decided that I was the one he was going to puke on first. Awesome.
We got him home and scheduled his first trip to the vet for his shots, ID chip and flea medication... he was full of fleas! We started his potty training, which was awesome to live in a house with hardwood floors instead of carpet for this part of his training. He got a hold on the concept pretty quickly, if he had accidents they were minor, so I think we did a pretty good job!
During the night I put him in his kennel, and he did the typical whine that dogs do. It was so pathetic it made me laugh and cry at the same time. He'd start off really loooow, looow, looooow, and slowly make his pitch higher and higher and higher and louder and louder and louder! It really was hysterical. Do you know why they do this? It is a survival trait in puppies to alert their mother if they are lost and alone... they whine so their mom can find them and return them to their pack. Interesting huh? Well not at 3 AM when you're trying to sleep. I stuck to my guns though and put a clock down by his kennel with a loud ticking, and before I knew it, he was fine in his kennel. Whew.
Kona grew so fast, so incredibly fast. We had so much fun with him, taking him with us wherever we went, especially to the beach. Before he learned about depth perception, he walked off of the back porch that was about four feet up from the ground straight through the wrought-iron railing and tried to walk on top of a dense bush, thinking it was just a continuation of the ground. It was hysterical!
We introduced him to a dog park (Nathan, do you remember the name of the park?) that we ended up frequenting at least 3 times a week to let him run and play with other dogs. He started off with a puppy collar, in rasta colors, which I still have and will never get rid of... ever. We also learned that he was super sensitive with is front paws and the only people to touch them were us since he trusted us.
Kona never really was much trouble (besides the one time he chewed a stick, got a piece stuck between his teeth and had to go under general anesthesia to have it surgically removed), and still isn't. Since he was kennel trained early on, he would stay in his kennel while I was at school. He didn't chew up shoes or anything like that, but he did make teeth marks on some of my furniture. He has a love for socks... clean, dirty, adult size, baby size, whatever. He doesn't eat them, chew them or ruin them, he simply picks them up and transports them to another location in the house and puts them down. He also does this with sneakers... but only one of them. Usually it's when he needs a walk. Silly dog.
Only one time did Kona get sick in his kennel. It was disgusting, there was poop EVERYWHERE in the kennel, and it was runny... really really runny. I had to take the kennel outside and hose it down it was so bad. I think he had gotten sick from a bone I had given him. Poor thing, he hung his head in shame when I got home.
Kona did cause trouble in some respects. During the treacherous training at Brook Institute, sometimes I didn't get a chance to walk the dog when I was supposed to, or happened to leave him at home a little too long. Of course, me being a softy, couldn't just put my dog in a cold metal kennel without something soft to lay on, so I bought him dog pillows. On these days that I was gone too long, it snowed in Santa Barbara. Particularly in my family room. Kona would shred the pillows and get every ounce of white stuffing out of them. DOH! Another $30 down the drain. I'm pretty sure I finally learned and stopped putting pillows in the kennel. ;)
When Kona was old enough, I had an electric fence put in around my house. I lived on a busy two lane road in Santa Barbara, and I was so worried about Kona getting out and running into the street. I decided to go with the electric fence instead of putting up a wooden fence. Now my memory is failing me, because I can't remember if Nathan built the wooden fence first and then we put in the electric fence... I'm pretty sure it was the wooden fence first... whatever. The point of this story is that Kona got OUT of the back yard one day. I had trusted the chicken wire fence that bordered our neighbor enough to leave the dog outside in the gorgeous Santa Barbara weather while I was at school for never-ending film development time. As I was returning home, I had about three messages on my phone from my vet saying that they had Kona there for me to pick up. WHAT? WHAT? WHAAAAAT? I freaked out. The dog had been found ACROSS the busy street on our usual walking route. He had chewed through and snuck out through the back fence, gone around the house, crossed the street and was about 1/8 of a mile away from our house when he was found. Bless those people for taking him to his VET!
As Kona got a bit older in Santa Barbara, these were our favorite activities and fun things I remember:
-Going to puppy obedience school at night taught by Wency Lopez in the parking lot of a vet's office in Goleta. He did so well, and by the end could obey many commands including "shake". Wency also took the dogs across the street to McDonalds' and would get one big soft-serve vanilla ice cream cup and take turns letting the dogs nicely lick the ice cream off of the spoon. She was a big believer in teaching the dogs to "take it nicely" from our hands.
-How hard he would whine when he figured out we were driving to Summerland beach or the park, and how early he would start whining... usually when we first hopped onto the 101. When we ended up leaving Santa Barbara and moving to Iowa, he whined for three hours after we got onto the 101 thinking we were going to the beach.
-We'd go to Summerland beach with a chuck-it and tennis ball and Kona would fetch that ball until he no longer could walk. If Nathan or I had a tennis ball, it was just as good as a leash. He went NOWHERE. If we didn't have a tennis ball, he knew to go run and play with the other dogs, which was always a BLAST to watch.
-When fetching the ball at the beach, he'd run to get it and when bringing it back, would make a gigantic circle around us to the left before bringing it to us. He'd also dig in the sand and bury his ball, and also, more common than I wanted, he'd go poop in the water.
-Summerland beach sometimes had dead seals on it and Kona would go rub in them and stink so bad he had to have a bath. SICK! It was the hardest thing to get him away from those carcases! I'm just happy that he left the nude sunbathers alone (Yes, Summerland Beach was well know for it's nude sunbathing followers... double SICK).
-He'd fetch sticks at the park and get so dirty that he'd need a bath. He'd never let us get too far away before racing to catch up to us. We'd try to give him a bowl of water after the park, but he was a heck of a lot more content to drink from a water bottle squirting water at his face. (This park was absolutely amazing, it was up on a gigantic cliff above the coastline, and the view was amazing!)
As the year 2003 came to an end, Nathan and I had gotten engaged and moved back to Ames, IA. We never, ever, ever, thought about leaving Kona behind, he was officially our family member now, and we were excited to move our little family (including psycho kitty Saki) to our new home in Iowa.
Kona had the best of the best yard in Iowa, a huge space of grass to run and play and chase the tennis ball around the yard. The only problem? What the heck was that white stuff that it so COLD on his feet? Kona actually loved the snow after he got used to it a bit.
Things changed in Iowa since there was no beach to visit and most of the parks had leash laws. We broke those laws for a while, but then Kona seemed to lose his ability to listen well enough to be off leash (of course with the exception of when Nathan had a tennis ball). We did let him off leash when we'd take him to the back of our developing neighborhood so he could run and investigate and eat construction workers left-overs left in trash bags. SICK... again.
By this point of Kona's life, we were a family, he loved us, we loved him, and there weren't many new surprises about his personality... until James was born.
Kona got a lot of my attention before James was born since I was so big I stayed home a lot. I'd throw the ball to Kona on a daily basis in the back yard, and we had a pretty good routine going. Enter an infant.... After we brought James home, Kona wouldn't look at me in the eye for three weeks. He was so MAD at me. I don't really even think it was just because I brought a baby home, I think it was because I had taken my attention away from him and was giving it to this new being in the house. Eventually though, I learned that Kona still was a softy and if I just rubbed his ears once a day, he was agian my buddy.
The other part of Kona that came out with a baby in the house is his intense dislike of toys making music or talking. We figured this out with our phones, not toys, to begin with. Kona really disliked the ringing of our new cordless phones that we had bought for our home. We were trying to pick a ringtone one day and Kona was howling like he was trying to sing along. To this day, he howls when toys are singing, talking, playing music... EVEN over the monitors from upstairs. Poor dog. That must hurt!
Kona was fine when Kaitlyn came along, he wasn't so mad at me that time. Ever since he's been wonderful with the kids. He loves them too, although he hates their toys. He has significantly calmed down since his puppy years, but whenever someone comes over to our house he's still the barking, energetic, jumping (sigh) puppy that he was when he was 2. I was told at the vet last time that Kona will be 7 next June, qualifying him to be a senior. Yes, that's not for anther 5 months, but still, seeing Kona as a senior makes me sad. I know that there will be times ahead of us that will be tough, and obviously since dogs don't live as long as us, we'll have to deal with him dying someday. I just pray that I have the patience to enjoy Kona while he's still here with us, despite the poop in the yard, the enormous amounts of dog hair in my house, and his wretched breath. He sure loves to give kisses. ;)

Things I don't want to forget about Kona:
-Him finding James' socks in the bottom of the diaper bag and bringing them to me when James was only 1 or 2 months old.
-His seat belt that he had in Santa Barbara, and the seat cover we had in the 4-Runner.
-The time when he had to be rushed to the vet when we were out of town and another dog at the kennel had bitten his ear.
-How he goes into Uptown Dog "ready to party."
-His glazed eyes and his blissful sighs when I rub his ears.
-How he collapses and rolls over for me to pat his belly when I am even remotely interested in petting him.
-DROOL!
-Death by kisses and licking.
-How he barks in his sleep and runs while dreaming. He gets so loud it wakes me up!
-He won't give up the tennis ball, ever, unless I bribe him with a treat bone.
-When I have a rawhide bone to give him, he sits, lays down and rolls over without any prompting by me or Nathan. We usually have him wait and do things on our command before he gets the bone.
-How sharp his puppy teeth were! OUCH!
-How he helped himself to the food on the table when we weren't around and decorated the top of the table with scratches.
-His "smile".
-Playing "hut 1, hut 2, HIKE!" and watch him go nuts.
-How he was afraid of the waves in the ocean until Nathan got him to chase the ball out there and swim for it.
-Him swimming for a stick or tennis ball in the Skunk River in Ames until he was so tired he could've drowned.
-How much I love him. SAP!

Kona's litter, he's the one in the back facing the camera.

Those girls were feisty!
Nathan holding Kona.
Kona's mom (he looks just like her in the face now!
Me with a pup, not Kona.

Nathan and Kona got to model for me for some of my photo assignments. :)
Kona at Summerland Beach.

Kona at Summerland Beach.

Kona at Summerland Beach.

My boys modeling yet again.
Part of our engagement session, photo by Ana Schechter.

Kona's beautiful smile!
Kona at 6 years old.

Daddy Gym

Lovies

My kids both have lovies. James' is a sock monkey that was a gift to me from Nathan when I was pregnant with James. It's from Gymboree so it's a mass-produced perfect looking sock monkey.
Kaitlyn has a "my banky" lovie (officially named Kami) that is a bear with a pink blanket separating his torso from his bottom. Must be uncomfortable for that little bear... to have a blanked in the middle of his tummy. :) Kaitlyn has always had her lovie, and calls her lovie... well "luh-ie" to be more exact. Every time we come upstairs she RUNS to her crib screaming "LUH-IE" to grab her and love on her. Tonight she was trying to pull her out of the crib and she was stuck. Kaitlyn started laughing so hard that she nearly fell over. It was great!
Lovie used to have a rattle in her head until finally I performed surgery to remove the unnecessary and utterly annoying rattle. Whoever thought that putting a rattle in a lovie doll that goes in a crib with a toddler is a moron, although, I must give them total props for coming up with the "my banky" in the first place. Ingenious!
"Monkey" didn't actually start out at James' lovie. However, by the time James had chewed the fur off of the nose of TWO "my banky" dogs, instead of dumping another $15 down the drain for another one, I introduced Monkey to James. He had a lot more durable fabric since he wasn't fuzzy. It wasn't long before James had chewed the two little black threaded nostrils off of Monkey (James had serious issues with teething, so much so that he chewed off the paint on the front rail of his crib... no lead, thank goodness-ha). The most disgusting part about Monkey's nose threads being chewed off is that one actually stayed in tact until I cut it off. For a while, James liked to play with the 4 inch stretch of thread that used to create the left nostril. I was so grossed out about him constantly putting it into his mouth that I cut it off.
James took to Monkey immediately and still is his best sleeping buddy. I will admit though, that he's not as attached to it as he once was. When he was two, if we left Monkey somewhere and didn't have him for nap time or bedtime, it was tough getting James to go to sleep. Kaitlyn is probably in that stage now, luckily we have never been in that situation with her... yet... knock on wood.
The best part about these lovies is that we instilled in them from the beginning that lovies were ONLY for bedtime and sometimes MAYBE for longer car trips or airplane rides. The kids really get the grasp on this idea! I'm so glad they are not dragging their blankies/lovies around with them everywhere they go!
I love that my kids have lovies. I still have my teddy bear and Nathan has his doggy with one of the ears safety pinned back to his head. One day in High School we were instructed by our Theology teacher to bring our childhood pals to school for a day. It was so fun and cute to see all these pubescent teenagers carrying around their blankets, doggies, teddy bears, etc. They were like gold when we were kids, and somehow that feeling never ends, even if they are stuffed in the back of our closets.
This is a funny video and it has great shots of Monkey and Lovie enjoying the ride. :)

Miss Manners says "No-huh"

Kaitlyn is quite the well-mannered 22 month old (two more months of referring to months for her age! Woohoo!). She literally says "thank you" after you give her anything. She doesn't just say it once either, if you don't recognize her saying "thank you" she will repeat it in your face until you say the appropriate response of "you're welcome." She is also this way with "sorry", which is equally as adorable.
For a long time we've been trying to convert her from saying "uh-huh" to "yes" but we're not really getting anywhere. She is also quick to answer to any question with "NO!", for instance, "Kaitlyn, do you want more milk?"
"NO!" she says.
But what happens when mid sentence, she realizes that maybe, indeed, she does want more milk? Well in that case we get, "No-huh!" She did this tonight at dinner and Nathan and I nearly fell out of our chairs.
I remember when James hit this stage too. He'd quickly answer, "NO!" and follow with "... but yeah." So funny! He still does this.
Lately James has been requesting music at bedtime. This makes me laugh, because the entire time he was an infant, EVERY time I fed him in his room, I'd play one certain CD that I got from Beth. Joanie Bartels' Lullaby Magic. What a fabulous CD. I literally would listen to the CD about 4 to 5 times a day. So naturally this was the CD that we started playing for him. He knows all of the words, and loves the CD so much. http://www.joaniebartels.com/
Kaitlyn also has a "fun" bedtime routine now thanks to Santa. He brought her, as well as Bennett, I believe, a starry-night turtle that projects stars onto her ceiling in green or blue. We always turn it on for her at bedtime when we leave the room. As SOON as we walk into the room, she says, "No, (pause) geen!" I'm not sure where the "no" part comes from, but by the time I'm ready to leave the room, she has changed her mind about four times. "No, bu-lue! No, geen!" So I put it on green, she says, "Thank you" and as soon as I walk out and close the door, she cries and says, "NO! Bu-lue! BLUE!" and it just continues until I let her cry it out for a minute and realize that Mommy isn't coming back in to change it on her every whim.
Poor, poor children. They are so spoiled. :)

Barnes and Noble means we're leaving!

The kids and I went to the mall tonight to meet up with Daddy. We didn't get there until about 5:30, which meant that we only had time for a few stores before dinner. James knows, also, that when we go to the mall, he gets to play on the playground (the germ infested sickening swamp of a playground). I told him we could go there if he ate a good dinner. Mistake #1.
We entered the mall through Barnes and Noble, a favorite of mine, but didn't stay to shop. Instead, we headed straight to Gap where Daddy was so get the ball rolling on shopping.
Kaitlyn got a few new pairs of pants: a cute little capri khaki pant, and some new jeans. Finding pants for her is difficult, the only ones that work are the kinds with the extra cinch waist (adjustable waist). Even still, her belly is so skinny, that they look like a balloon is covering her diaper from the extra fabric. She's so tall though, that we have to keep her in the right size for her length, or she looks silly. James was this way, but not as bad, I'm hoping Kaitlyn will put on a few sooner rather than later. It would make my life easier. She can't even wear the cute little yoga style pants they have everywhere since they are huge on her waist if they are long enough!
We headed to Banana Republic after the Gap for a few minutes, and then headed toward the food court. James insisted on a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner (which is what he ALWAYS wants for dinner when we're out), so we loaded up our tray full of yummy stuff from the only place in the mall that had a grilled cheese sandwich on the menu. James and Kaitlyn ate a great dinner, they shared the grilled cheese and split a bowl of fruit.
After dinner we noticed that it was already 7:00. YIKES! Nathan still wanted to go to Dillard's to check out their shirt selection, so we did. I told him that we could literally stay for 5 minutes if we wanted to get the kids to the playground. Even that was pushing it since they are usually in the bath tub by 7:15.
So we shopped for about 4 and a half minutes and then I decided that it was just not worth it to go to the playground. Mistake #2. James hasn't napped for two days in a row, today being the second day. If he's not going to nap, he needs to be in bed by 7:30 or 8 at the latest.
I piled the kids in the stroller (against their will) and told Daddy that we'd meet him at home. He looked at me and said, "You know he's going to..." and I just interrupted and said, "I know, I'll just have to deal with it."
We strolled back to Barnes and Noble, my mouth zippered shut not saying anything. Mistake #3. We entered Barnes and Noble, and James (being to dang smart for his age), said, "Not the book store! This means that we're leaving! I want to go to the playground!"
Awww. Stab in my heart. I sweetly and sadly told him that we had simply run out of time and that we needed to go home. Well, then, "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" came out of his mouth right in the middle of Barnes and Noble. Honestly though, I didn't care. Let people stare at me, it's not a big deal. At least my kid will be rested for school tomorrow.
I told him when we were exiting the store, "I promise that next time we come to the mall, we'll go to the playground FIRST buddy."
I still feel guilty.
On the ride home James was still upset, rightly so. Kaitlyn was trying out her usual banter with him by repeatedly saying his name, "Ame! Ame! Ame!" but he responded to her like this: "No Kaitlyn, don't talk to me, I'm sleeping. Talk to Mommy, she's awake." Ouch. Crank monster. Then Kaitlyn said, "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?" She really has no necessary need for this, she just likes to talk. :)

Home at last!

I got home on Wednesday night from the trade show, and both kids and my husband were all asleep. I got to kiss them all though, which was wonderful.
I have been told all of the new things that Kaitlyn has been doing, but it is really fun to see it in action. I took the kids over to a friend's house, actually, it's a classmate of James, named Nate. We took our plasma cars and all of the kids at this house decided to ride theirs too. Take my kids, Nate and his brother Jake, then some neighbor boys riding plasma cars in the driveway, and now we have a party. ;)
They were all going so fast around and around it was so funny. It was especially fun to watch Kaitlyn ride on hers, since she was only sitting on hers when I left. She has gotten really good at pushing herself a long on it now. It's very cute.
She sure couldn't keep up with all those boys though. For some reason, all 6 of them were trying to ride their cars in the brick walkway to the house instead of the driveway. Total traffic jam! There were a few tears shed by Kaitlyn when the boys would ram into her as if to say, "Get out of my way little baby!" Awwww. She was overwhelmed a few times. Once I talked them all into staying in the driveway instead of the brick walkway, things drastically improved. ;)
Yesterday, also, James threw in some new sayings that I find particularly funny. The predictable one that he says is "oh pickles" from the TV show Higglytown Heros. It's so funny though, and it's worth noting. The other one that cracks me up is this: "That's the SPIRIT!" What? Where on Earth did he learn that? I think I'll probably have to chalk that one up to the Methodist School. Ha.
Last night Nathan and I were trying to teach James the cheer, "We've got spirit, yes we do, we've got spirit, how about you?" but it didnt' work. He just looked at us as if we were nuts- which happens more than I'd like it to happen. Ha ha.
After we wrapped up dinner, Nathan was having a talk with James about why he couldn't have a snack. He was squatted down to talk to James in the eye, told him something and then asked James, "Did you hear what I said?"
James replied with his finger held up in the air, "Um, could you tell me one more time?"
So Daddy told him again, and then asked again if he heard what he said.
James said, "10 more minutes then it's time for bath." Nooooo, let's try this again... the third time was the charm! Too funny.
I guess every time I ask him to repeat what I said and it's about bath time, I need to make sure he's actually telling me the truth! ;)

It's over!

I am officially done with my conference! I haven't been the best at updating this because I've been absolutely zapped by the time I got back to the hotel. I have had the best experience, but it's not a vacation, that's for sure! I have been in class for the past week and I have learned so much about this industry that it almost makes my head spin. Marketing, business advice, branding, posing, lighting, computer skills, etc. I'm worn out!
It's difficult too, of course, because you want to buy everything that everyone has to offer so that, in the smallest way, it might make your life easier. I know I will be upgrading some software soon, but it's a matter of priority! Wow, things change so much so quickly!
I have been spending a lot of time with Katie, too, which has been so awesome. She's so much fun, so lively, so energetic, and so loving and caring. I really am not sure what I would've done without her here this week! I photographed her with Aiden this morning, and I know I got some cute stuff! It's really hard not to with such beautiful subjects.
Tonight I got to go out with Mike and Maureen to the restaurant where Connor is a bartender. I hadn't seen Connor yet since I've been here, so it was nice to get to see him. Fortunately, he wasn't working so we got to chat a bit about photography and what I'm doing here in Phoenix. I snapped a couple of photos tonight too, so I'm excited to get home and see all of the images that I have from this week.
I'm flat out exhausted. I'm very excited to be able to sleep in tomorrow and read my book in the morning. Maybe I'll even work out... NAH! ;)

The ants go marching one by one, hoorah, hoorah!

Today was absolutely amazing. I've learned so much by attending these classes it's ridiculously awesome. Ana and I made it to all of the classes that we wanted to attend today, and without going into more detail, we had a blast.
I'm really tired today so I'm going to make this brief. We arrived at the convention center at 6:45 this morning, stood in line for coffee that was not yet finished brewing and then headed up to our first classes. We moved from class to class (three total before lunch), then had a nice 5 hour break to get lunch and visit the trade show. Every time classes were over, so many people were everywhere, being directed everywhere, following in lines, waiting in lines, the ants were marching one by one, hoorah, hoorah... the song. It was hilarious. I felt like a cow being herded at times too... having a belly full of coffee and chocolate chip cookies at 7 AM doens't help that feeling go away any faster. Ha.
We took our last class this evening at 5 and then headed to the "celebration dinner" which was pretty LAME. :) We stayed for a beer, ate mediocre tacos and stale taquitos. Not enough fun to keep me wanting to stay... bed sounded MUCH better.
Fun times!
Lots more tomorrow....

Saturday, January 10

Today is Rich's birthday: Happy Birthday Rich!
Last night Ana and I were joined by Ana's old roommate from Staten Island, Andrew. Andrew just recently moved to Phoenix, and really enjoys it here. We all went to dinner on Mill Ave. in Tempe to a restaurant called Z' Tejas, which I recognized from eating there in Austin, TX with Courtney long ago. The food was good, the margaritas were better. :) After that we went to a yuppie student pool bar and had some pretty good laughs at the ASU students. We were there for about a half an hour, and then had to leave before we lost IQ points.
This morning Ana and I got to sleep in a bit, waking up around 8:30. We had breakfast and then were picked up by Joe and Katie. We dropped Joe off at the country club to hit balls with JP and then Katie took us over to Mike and Maureen's house in Scottsdale. Mike was just leaving when we pulled up to the house, which really was a bummer to me since one of my goals of this trip was to photograph Mike and Maureen together in an artsy outdoor lifestyle scene. Oh well, maybe next time.
I did, however, get to photograph Aiden, who was a rockstar model debuting at the age of 7 weeks. This kid has talent I tell you! ;) I had a great time setting up a little area to shoot in the guest room, consisting of a draped white sheet and gold chenille blanket next to a large sliding door facing the back yard. Ahhh, natural light. My favorite.
I got some cute pictures of Aiden while he was awake, but my favorite shot of are him sleeping. Katie took the time to get him to fall asleep in front of the backdrop for me, and these shots are great!
A little while later Aided decided that he wanted to get some more camera time. He invited his Grandma Maureen to hold him and feed him for a while and to cuddle with him for a photo session. He sure loves his Grandma! I think the feeling MIGHT be mutual. Ha ha. Maureen is in love with this baby, and I know why!
So as for the photo sessions go, even though I didn't get to photograph Mike and Maureen together, I did get the pleasure of creating memories for the Casey Family. I have no way of getting these photos onto my computer to share with you yet, so you'll just have to wait.
After wrapping up the photo shoot, Katie and Joe drove us back to Phoenix. Once again we dropped off Joe, but this time to get his hair cut. Katie took us to the Dessert Botanical Gardens which we were told is a MUST SEE location of the Phoenix area. Aiden kept us entertained with what Katie calls his "3 stages of crying" the whole way to the gardens. Poor baby, he just wanted out of that car seat. Been there.
Ana and I had a great time at the Botanical Garden, seeing beautiful displays of cacti, trees, and blown glass exhibits. Uploading those will be another one of my "to do" items when I get home.
Ana and I took a cab back to the hotel, had a few glasses of wine in the concierge lounge, talked photography, went down for a bite to eat in the restaurant, and now we're heading to bed. Our classes start at 7 AM tomorrow, which means we need to leave the hotel no later than 6:15. Giddy up.
Good night!

Friday: Business Day 2

Ana arrived last night into Phoenix, and since she didn't have any checked luggage, she got to the hotel rather quickly (despite the laziness of the shuttle driver and his slowness in picking her up). We chatted on the phone while she waited for the shuttle, and then when she got to the hotel we chatted up a storm as usual. The hardest part was knowing that we had to go to bed (since it was midnight in AZ, but really 2 AM to us), and trying to be quiet. :) We just had too much to catch up on.
I've been back at the Sheraton today again for the second part of the business class. It's rather boring today... ugh. Yesterday we had fun discussing all sorts of things since Carol was there, but since she can't be here today, Ann is going over numbers with us. She is great- she has trouble with numbers herself, so everything she has calculated is laid out for us nicely in a Power Point presentation.
Numbers are booooring though, no matter how you present it.
Right now I'm having lunch at Mi Amigo's Mexican Grill by myself. I don't really feel very social at the moment... have a headache and really would like to have a margarita... but I feel that it wouldn't be a very appropriate lunch beverage. Ha.
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It's now evening and I just made it back to the hotel. I REALLY am having a hard time figuring out this city for some reason and the Light Rail is no help. Of course, on my first try I was at the wrong platform for the wrong bus. From now on I should just go to the other one that my instinct tells me to go to. :) I recognized a guy from the class that I was in today and knew he was a local, so I asked him which train was the one I was supposed to ride. He pointed me in teh right direction, to the other platform. Thankfully.
As I was sitting there waiting for the train, a lady was standing near me waiting as well. She looked nice and normal so I finally asked her how on Earth you're supposed to tell which train goes which direction. The Light Rail train tracks are NOT labeled with East/West, North/South directions. Instead they only have labels on them as to the future stops. So if you're not from Phoenix and don't know which way Tempe is or the airport is, it's a little bit tricky to navigate. The light rail is brand new, and I think they may need to re-assess this labeling bit they have going on. Ha. I'm going to send them a letter! Right.
So as this lady was explaining everything to me about how the South Mountains look like one big flat mountain, and to the North is Camelback, this way is California and that way is Tempe... things finally started to make some more sense. When things got quiet, I asked her if she was from California then (since she said it was "that way"), and she replied, "No, I'm from the mid-west." Of course I couldn't keep my mouth shut and asked where, and she told me Council Bluffs. What a small world. So for the rest of our wait and the rest of the ride, we talked about the midwest, the frigid weather, a bit about Omaha and other sorts of things. It was very nice to talk to her and made me feel more at ease about being on the train by myself.
Ana went to Sadona today and took my camera with her. I can't wait to see her photos. In the meantime, there is a cocktail with my name on it waiting for me in the consierge lounge... and yes, I'm a bit down that I'm not at Del Frisco's for Rich's birthday party. :( I'm hoping that Nathan talks my dad into ordering Heartland Stickleback that we liked so much. Just for fun... http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1036161