Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas!

On Tuesday whilst we were braving the less that ideal road conditions on our way to Saginaw, many of my family members were serenading my beautiful grandmother :) Check out the story here: http://www.mlive.com/saginawnews/news/index.ssf/2008/12/theodora_d_medels_family_carri.html

And, I also was fortunate to have her blessing in taking a few portraits of her with my new Christmas present. She tries to be shy....but I think she knows her beauty :) She turns a riley 87 years young on the 31st. Te Quiero Mucho Grams!! See the full set HERE at FLICKR.

2008-12-26 Saginaw 01

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

So. very. tired.

But I must stay awake. I've got more photos to edit :) Right now though, my back is killing me. I can't decide what its from though. It could be:

a. Yoga
b. Blow drying the window insulator thingy
c. Crafting on the floor because I don't have a table
d. Spending to much time sitting at the cafe table on the computer without a proper chair
e. I'm getting old

Take any combination of the above and you've got an achy back.

What I wanted to report today, quickly, is that it was Liam's first time playing in the snow. He's seen it before, touched it even - but it was his first time getting all geared up in snowpants, boots and everything. Oh, I didn't mention that he's actually sick right now. Yes, he's sick and I took him outside. Hey man, all the sites I looked at online say to spend some time in the chilly cold air to reduce swelling and irritation in his throat and lungs. So that's what I did. He didn't cough really the rest of the evening, either.

I don't know what was more fun, watching Liam play or watching Pat play with him. I've said it time and time again - he's such an amazing father. Its so intuitive to him! I very much enjoy watching the two of them together. OK, enough mushy mushy talk. Here's some pics :)






Monday, December 15, 2008

Liam update

Well, I think the little stinker is transitioning to one nap a day. I suppose, like with most of his other milestones, that I'm just not quite ready. I enjoy his nap time. I get a lot done during nap time. Or, well, sometimes I don't :) if I choose. I'm hoping it will still be a 2-3 hour chunk though, but we'll have to wait and see. Despite the loss of naps during the day, he's become a champ at sleeping through the night *FINALLY*. We had three days in a row where he didn't wake up....one where it was past 7:30 before he made any noise! I could definitely get used to that trend continuing!

Little man is just a wee bit sick right now, and getting more teeth I think too (how much more can he get?! I mean, reallY!?) which means stuffed up noses and an extreme disdain for the binky. So we might just take this opportunity to remove that completely. Which is a bummer because we were down to one, and I just bought two more that were SOO cute. I'm pretty sure one said "Stud Muffin" which I find HILARIOUS. But, he's been pretty clear when he was ready to give up his bottle, so I'm hoping this will be just as easy as that. Makes our life easier, for sure.

Lets see, what else. Oh, he's also becoming pretty verbal. He's saying Night Night and Kitty now, along with the mainstays of Uh Oh and WOW! Lots more babbling than in the past too. Mobility wise he's running around like a crazy man, finding things to climb, push around, or jump off of. Yeah, lots of fun for Mommy for sure! We're having oodles of fun trying to keep him from destroying the ornaments on the Christmas Tree.....so far so good with that. Well, mostly.

I think he's grown a few inches since our last doctor's appointment, but we'll find out for sure on Friday. He'll have his 15 month appointment....he's getting so big! All in all, things are going pretty smoothly, and I think I love him more every day :)

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Photographic Christmas Cards

Can I just say, quickly, that I LOVE photographic Christmas cards? Best thing ever invented. Regular cards are nice, but I love seeing pics of people and their lives. Its just nice....

AND EVEN BETTER when they're taken by me :) 8 out of the 12 photos currently on our wall were taken by me! Makes me really REALLY happy to see that, actually. Like they (friends and family) feel like my work is good enough to share with the world....and I'm so happy to be part of capturing their lives.

*sigh*

I'm just feeling all proud of myself at the moment....and that is a good place to be!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Birthday Madness!

I had a beautiful birthday! Beginning with the sounds of a happy baby waking up, and ending with some nice warm snuggles with my Honeybuns. Pat and I went out on a nice romantic dinner to Fogo de Chao (sans Liam! Thanks Casey!) and then picked up THE most scrumptious cupcakes from Molly's Cupcakes in Lincoln Park. Seriously - they were delicious! I couldn't decide what kind of cake I wanted, so Pat ordered 6 different kinds just for me :) Does the man know me or WHAT! We had carrot cake, red velvet, vanilla, chocolate, turtle and boston creme pie. Zowie - they were all amazing, but I think my favorite was the boston creme one....soooo mouth wateringly moist and tasty. YUM-O!

I'm never patient enough to wait for my presents, so I already opened them all :) LOL. I got my sparkley beautiful Swarovski Crystal Snowflake for 2008, and a SUPER cool stainless steel trashcan that opens ALL BY ITSELF!! I know, I'm lame. I'm excited about a trashcan. BUT IT IS AWESOME!!! And a pair of beautiful cards, from Pat and Liam....one had a sticker included that displayed proudly my #1 Mom status. I LOVE cheesey crap like that. Hmmm....I feel like I got another present, but I can't quite recall what it was....

We didn't really do much else, I guess.....but that's how I like it. Low Key and Intimate :)

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Good Husband. Bad Wife.

I was amazed to wake up this morning and see the clock showing 9:00AM!!!!!!! WOW - I haven't slept in that long in ages. My wonderful, amazing, sexy, fantastic hubby let me sleep in - no strings attached :) He's great, I tell ya!

And, to top it all off, I've been fighting this sickness / allergies for the past week or so and have been quite stuffy. And, apparently I was snoring up a storm last night. So much so that I forced Pat out of bed and onto the couch.

So he slept on the couch and was still nice to me in the morning. AND had my coffee ready and waiting at the perfect temperature with cream and sugar. Did I hit the jackpot or what?!?

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Exciting news!!

My business cards came in yesterday!!! WHOOOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

I decided to do the first run in a sparkley, shiny paper called "pearl".....so pretty! But I think I'll stick to regular white in the future. I can't wait to start handing them out!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

I {heart} Christmas!!

I'm pretty sure we're done decorating for the holidays! The only thing left is to put out my Christmas Dishes...they're sitting in a box right now. Maybe this afternoon....

Saturday, we went to Gethsemane and bought our tree, and carried it home just like last year. We bought the ugly tree...its kind of lopsided, but the trunk is *kind of* straight and it was also about half the price of the other ones....and it had the perfect shape. I would love it to be more Charlie Brown-ish...but tree farm trees are always too full. Charlie Brown trees only grow in the forest.

One of my new (i.e. last three years new) favorite traditions with Pat is our Christmas Village. We buy the ones from Lowe's - Carole Towne I think its called - not super fancy schmancy, but still really cool. I've always wanted a village so I was pretty stoked to know Pat had one started. I've got this vision in my head that some day, I'll have a whole, giant long table dedicated to it.....but for now, the top of our counter will have to do. My idea this year was to add levels and snow.....much cooler than just lining them up :) I'm so happy with how it came out!






We have two light houses, general mercantile, village tailor, bistro, cigar shop, ed's tree lot and a lodge. We've got a couple trees and some people too :) We had a big ice skating rink / tree lot one that we donated to Goodwill this year - it was big, noisy, didn't work well and generally irritated me. We downsized to Ed's Tree Lot stand and I like it much better.

Now, I get a whole month of enjoying our decor! Hooray!

Monday, December 01, 2008

Desktop madness :)

Every month, I change my desktop into some new, yummy, scrappy goodness. Its a bit different than regular digital scrapbooking, where you arrange all the elements yourself. It's more similar to a "quick page". Really, its just too easy. Someone creates a free calender/desktop to promote a newly released digital kit, and I just plop my photo in. Tada!!!

You can find them all over the internet, I'm sure, but I mainly get them from Shabby Princess: http://shabbyprincess.typepad.com/shabby_princess/ Her stuff rocks. She also does a widescreen and normal screen versions, so my widescreen laptop doesn't feel left out.

Here's what mine looks like this month...one of my favorites thus far!


Makes me feel all warm and Christmasy, and the photo of Liam was PERFECT!! He's actually playing peek-a-boo in the hallway curtains, but it kinda looks like he's being naughty, doesn't it??