a mom and her camera

oh my sweet bailey.

Man is this kid sick.

So thank goodness she was along for the well-visit ride I had to take Gray and Parker to yesterday b/c while there she was diagnosed with early stage PNEUMONIA!

Oh yes. Pneumonia. Fluid in her lungs, awful cough, fever, the works. She's been sleeping in our bed the last two nights so her coughing doesn't keep Parker awake. Instead she's keeping us awake and Parker isn't sleeping much either so between the cries out from P and the coughing from B and the nursing from G I'm not sure we're sleeping at all.

Thank goodness sleep is over-rated around here.

Parker also is not totally well. She's had a cough/runny nose for over 2 months and they're wondering if it's not the start of asthma (she totally knocked down the chiropractor's idea of a milk allergy btw) so she's on a 3 day steroid med and 2 weeks of an inhaler... if the cough is still there in 2 weeks she gets a chest xray. Hoping the cough is gone asap!

And the little man, poor thing, he got six immunizations yesterday too so he's got a slight fever this morning and is not feeling well.

Oh, and are you imaging me dealing with all of this at the doctor's by myself? Are you crazy? After the last time I'll never do that again if I can help it. Like if I have to beg someone off the street to come with me and help corral the kids in that tiny room I will, but luckily Kelsey came to the rescue! Thanks again Kelsey!

So three co-pays and four prescriptions later (did I mention the lotion she prescribed finally for Parker's ecxema?) we're a lot poorer and hopefully will get a lot better. I'm still taking them all back to the chiropractor on Wednesday b/c I am still praying that helps with Gray's ears (which are clear btw).

What a Friday. Sucktastic Friday. Thank you.

Want an easy gift idea?

Take a photo, write on it (in PhotoShop or some other program), print it, frame it and give it! So simple!

This is for my MIL and it's a photo from our trip to Sanibel Island 2 years ago. She loves Sanibel and our room at their house is a beachy room so I can see her hanging this in there. Just an idea!

Also, want an even easier gift idea?

A Jodified Gift Certificate!

I have them printed and on their way here and they are adorable! You can spend any amount on them towards a shoot or cards or whatever! AND...

If you buy one BEFORE 1.1.09 you can lock in this year's rates! With a gift card! That's awesome!

TODAY: My sister and NIECE and bil are in town and we're headed to my mom's to hang out today. Parker, Gray and I are at least, Bailey and Daddy are staying home to get well so we have one sad little three year old on our hands but I'm not infecting Samantha. I have ONE MORE PROJECT and then I am READY for Christmas! Oh Holy Night! This is going to be a good one today, I feel it!

teacher gifts.

Due to day 4 of fever Bailey had to miss her last day of school which included her first school Christmas party and getting a chance to hand out her teacher gifts. I'm more sad than she is!  We bought our teachers yummy soy candles from Oberweis and tied one of our hand painted ornaments to it. But I wish I would have seen this idea b/c it is adorable!

Pampered Chef whisks and Hershey kisses! Great idea Kim!

and let the chaos begin.

I have photo shoots to share still, design work to post, my painting to show you and of course the ever growing number of my own kids photos. However Christmas is here and the parties have begun. We have something every night, every SINGLE night, starting last night and going until the 29th. I don't say this out loud much and I hide the calendar b/c this much craziness gives Chris heart palpitations but I really love it. Aside from the fact that things in blogland get a bit left behind.

So I will be back shortly with photos from all three kids on Santa's lap (we took Bailey out fever and all b/c if we didn't go last night it wasn't going to happen!) but right now I have a house to clean and laundry to put away before the kids wake up. If they ever actually go to sleep. We have a doctor's appointment this afternoon and the Kuhn Const. Christmas Party at my parents tonight, sans kids. Busy day!

unsolicited advice.

I got an email last week from a client+friend and the subject was "unsolicited advice."  It made me smile and the advice, as it turns out, was completely welcome and appreciated.

She emailed in response to me mentioning that Grayson is on his third ear infection in less than 2 months and was starting his third round of antibiotics. Now, I am all for listening to our pediatrician. My kids are current on their immunizations and I've never balked when they've mentioned medication or surgery. I trust her. She's the doctor and knows more than me. Until this last does of antibiotics I've never even thought to question her. This dose just seemed like a lot. Three rounds of antibiotics, each lasting 10 days, for a little person just turning 6 months. That's a lot of medication and I started to wonder if he'd be able to fight infection on his own after all that medicine.

What really bothered me also was that she prescribed another round for Parker, and Parker wasn't even with me. She asked if she was feeling better (after her 2nd round of meds) and I said no, same cough+runny nose... the antibiotics seemed to have no effect at all. The solution? More antibiotics.

SO it was all starting to bother me. Like a scratchy tag in the back of my shirt my brain itched at the idea of not giving Parker the medication. Which was a really hard thought for me to even admit to myself considering I am a rule follower. I would have sooner died than not listen to my teacher at school when I was a kid. The one time I had to stand facing the wall at recess it wasn't my fault and I cried the entire time. I listen to those in charge. I do what they say. I don't question them. But I was this time b/c it was my kid and something didn't feel right.

Anyway, in comes Amy's email suggesting I take them to a chiropractor. She said that it had helped her kids and why not give it a try? I'd never heard of that! Ever! My parents go weekly to a chiropractor but I never would have considered taking a child. But I like Amy and she's a great mom so rather than dismiss it, I googled it! :)  I found a ton of research on the effect of chiropractic medicine and ear infections... lots of message boards with parents talking about the ear infections just stopping completely. Then I talked to a few more people to reassure myself I wasn't off my rocker and finally made an appointment.

It was today.

And it was awesome.

All three kids were adjusted. As in they actually pop their backs! Bailey and Parker did it like adults and I couldn't have been more proud of them laying on this table with their faces on the little pillow thing with the hole in it getting adjusted! And she had me lay on my back holding Gray tummy to tummy with me so she could adjust him without freaking him out. No one cried and Bailey said it felt soooo good.

The best part of the day was that she suggested that maybe Parker has a mild milk allergy. I had one when I was a child so it's likely my kids will have some kind of allergies and she said that the constant runny nose might be caused by dairy.

Even if she's completely wrong I figure it's worth a try and better (at this point at least) than more antibiotics. SO I headed to Whole Foods to buy soy milk, soy butter spread, soy yogurt and probiotic juice+capsules. I'm so excited to see if this helps her!

So let the controversy begin! HA! I would love to hear your opinions whether you agree with me or not... all advice welcome!

Tomorrow I'm going to post photos of a gift I made for a friend of mine... a painting! I haven't painted in so long and it felt so good! Loved getting true creative energy out! We also have a birthday party for Bailey to go to, a pediatrician follow-up visit for Grayson to check his ears and possibly we'll head to see Santa in the afternoon. It'll all depend on if Bailey is better, as she came down with a cough+fever today. Can I mention that my hands can't get any more raw from the cleaning I'm doing around here? I feel like there must be germs hiding!

And speaking of Bailey, yesterday we were cleaning up and she dropped something... without skipping a beat she bent over to pick it up and said, "Accidents happen Mommy. Accidents freaking happen."

Oh my gosh I about died! Guess I need to watch my mouth more b/c I know I say that!

Here's to hoping we wake up fever free tomorrow b/c I am freaking tired of sickness! Ha!

i still craft, i just don't blog about it.

Photos have sort of taken over this blog in recent months, or in the last year, and I've been pretty bad about sharing my kid craft ideas. So I thought tonight would be a good time to show you a few of the handmade gifts the girls and I are working on this year...

1. Painted Glass Ornament

First I let the girls choose their own colors...

Please ignore the jammies and bed head my girls are sporting!

Then, I let the girls squirt their paints into clear glass ornaments I got at Michael's for $2.50 for a pack of 6! The ornaments were 50% off so it was a great deal! No photos of this stage b/c I was holding the glass ornaments while they squirted and squirting paint was not coming near my camera!

Here they are post paint:

A few things I learned... all that day I kept moving them so the paint would evenly distribute but on a few of them they eventually all mixed together and became brown. Luckily it's acrylic paint so I just washed them out and did it myself (the girls didn't notice!). Also, b/c I let them do the squirting there was a TON of paint in there... these were done on the 11th and some still aren't dry so I'm letting the paint just pool at the bottom and am hoping it will dry eventually. I COULD let the paint drip out, but I finally got a good coverage and I'm afraid if I move them again the paint will just mix together... right now they are kind of swirly.

ANYWAY. There HAS to be a better way to do this!!! I didn't look it up but I would if you want to try it. Maybe better paint? A better process? Not sure but there has to be something!

2. Hand Painted Wood Ornaments

These are way easier, although more time consuming, and right up the girl's alley.

First we bought all sorts of paint (they were more than half off!)...

I didn't worry about the colors, I just let the girls pick. It made for a fun shopping trip and they were SO proud of their choices!

Then I bought Michael's out of their wood ornaments about 2 months ago... they had just put them out (next to the Halloween items) and they were $1 each. I think I bought about 20 thinking it would be a great gift for teachers, family, etc.

The girls have been working on them for a while now (i LOVE craft projects that take lots of time and multiple steps b/c then they have lots of art time but I don't have to worry about coming up with new ideas constantly!) and we're almost done with this stage...

*our setup is simply newspaper on our kitchen table, paint on a paper plate and cheap foam paint brushes. I let the girls squeeze their own paint b/c they LOVE it and the paint is cheap so whatever!

*I used to always chose their colors so that their painting were fairly monotone (makes for good blending of colors and doesn't turn out brown!) but now I don't care and let them do whatever they want... makes it more THEIRS in my mind.

A green+pink snow flake? Sure Parker! Beautiful!

It wouldn't be art time at our house without someone covering themselves in paint!

NOW, the best part of this project is the next step, which we haven't gotten to yet but I'm going to describe it anyway b/c THIS IS A GREAT IDEA!!!

Because I let them paint the ornaments not all surfaces get covered in paint, so they look messy and unfinished in my book... not really suitable for a tree. My solution? GLITTER. But in a MUCH cleaner way than you're thinking!

I use Modge Podge, put some in a dixie cup for each kid and mix in glitter (I use a white/clear glitter so the paint shows through). They use Q-Tips for the glitter application and I come back with a brush to finish for them. What this does is makes the whole thing sparkly so you don't see the unpainted parts so much. It also adds just that extra bit of something without the usual mess of glitter! Listen to me if you've ever used glitter with toddlers... GLITTER MIXED IN MODGE PODGE IS GENIUS! Seriously! It covers PERFECTLY and leaves NO mess of glitter everywhere! Pure genius.

If we ever finish these I will post "after" photos b/c I used a sharpie post-glitter to write holiday words on them and they are SO cute!

3. Hand/Foot Print Wreath

I got this idea when talking to a friend of mine (hi Amy!) who told me she made a wreath by tracing her kid's hands, cutting them out and gluing them into a wreath form. The thought of cutting out hands made me want to die but I love the idea of immortalizing their little hands this year. SO I used paint.

SO EASY! And it literally took me 5 minutes to do this project counting the washing of hands!

All I did was take a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper and stamp Bailey+Parker's hands in a circle (B had dark green paint while P had lighter green) and then stamp Grayson's foot (in the lightest green). So simple!

When it was dry I painted a red ribbon on it (not really needed I guess), wrote their names+ages next to one of their prints, wrote the lyrics to a Christmas song around the edge to give it definition and framed it (not photographed).

Aren't Gray's little piggies at the bottom so adorable?

So anyway, it was easy and the clean-up was worse than the whole project! I think it's a cute decoration to put out each year! Grandma/GoGo... do you want one???

And that's what we've been working on!

We spend money on the kids at Christmas, our niece, and then a small amount on designed gifts like photos or coffee table books for family but other than that I really try to handcraft gifts. This year we're giving an ornament to all extended family and friends, maybe a holiday CD, maybe some hot chocolate mix with the recipe and then for some people I'm being super crafty (Angie you are getting a one-of-a-kind painting!). Last year I hand embroidered pillow cases for our parents! Anyway, I hope you all are working on something handmade this year!

Speaking of handmade... I have farmed out some of my handmade gifts! :) I have two clients hand sewing felt food in exchange for photo shoots so we can give the girls the food with their new wood kitchen Santa is bringing them! Thanks Maureen and Janel!!! I love trading work with other artists!

And that's it for tonight. I'm exhausted and heading to bed. Please share your kid holiday craft ideas in the comments so we all can be inspired!

because i know they've checked this blog a thousand times since saturday...

Hello Brandi and Jeff! I know you are dying to see the photos from Saturday and I'm sorry it's late Sunday night before I'm getting them up! Enjoy!

And for the rest of you... here are just a few more of baby Cale!

look at that sweet smile! love this one!

I love this... so Jeff and Cale were having a few sweet moments for me and Brandi had left the room, for like a SECOND, before she was peeking back in at her two men and I LOVE that I captured the true joy on her face...
And then of course she had to come join the cuddles!

And THEN I wanted to get a couple shots of Cale and dad together but I wanted some baby butt cheeks in the photo... before I could get a good shot this happened!

It was AWESOME b/c Jeff AND Brandi were totally grossed out! Get used to it you guys, it just gets worse! :)
Christmas card/birth annoucement? I bet so!

This weekend was FILLED to the brim with shoots and edits and book making and design creating and website designing and ornament painting and book reading and nap skipping (the girls! UGH!) and on and on. Trying desperately to get things done so that when my niece comes in town next weekend I will be done with the work and can focus on fun and family! This week will be busy and the blog may suffer...

six.

I was shooting baby Cale again today and his mom, my awesome and amazing friend Brandi (who gave me a QT gift card for more Mnt Dew!), said "I can't believe he's almost 2 weeks old! It's going so fast!"

I stopped and looked at her and thought "seriously."

It is going by so fast. Too fast. Seriously too fast. Six months. Can you believe my little man is six months today because I sure as heck can't.

My little cuddle-bug who grabs my face when he's tired or hungry, who giggles so hard and LOUD at his sisters, who nurses like a champ but wants to get his hands on everything that goes in my mouth too, who still sleeps the early morning hours away attached to my breast in my warm bed, who can move a Jumperoo like no one's business, who smells so good post-bath I can't stop breathing him in, who has more rolls than one baby should be allowed to have, who is trying so hard to sit-up on his own, who loves his blankie and striped lion, who pouts out his bottom lip before he starts crying to look even that much more pitiful and who has completely stolen my heart is half a year old today.

Nope. I can't believe it.

Grayson,

Thank you for coming into my life. You have brought a completeness to our family that fills my heart with peace. You are a joy little man. A serious joy. You are funny and giggly and so so good. You hate bottles but will wait patiently for me to come to your rescue when I have to work and frankly, I love that you won't take a bottle and want only me. Your hands explore my face when you feed and grab my face when you're hungry. I have scratches to prove it. I love the way your sisters care for you and love on you. You gave Parker the chance to be a big sister and she's so good to you! You look just like your daddy and what a blessing that is b/c he's one handsome guy! You are so lucky to have him in your life Grayman! He's going to teach you how to not only kick a ball but to be a team player. He's going to show you how to love life and squeeze every ounce of happiness out of it! I pray that I will be the mom that I want to be for you. I want to hold you tight and let you fly all at the same time. It's hard to say goodbye to your infancy as I will cherish your first days forever, but it's also exciting to watch you grow. You are officially a baby now headed straight into your toddlerhood and it's going to be one exciting ride little man. One exciting ride.

One exciting ride. So glad to be a part of it all!

Happy six months little man!

new banner. old photo.

Got our Christmas cards in the mail and OH MY LORD they are awesome! Can I toot my own horn like that? Truly, my design and photos aren't awesome, my screaming two year old is and she cracks me up! It will make me laugh for the rest of my life that this photo was sent out across the country! Take that you little tantrum thrower! HA!

Working away while I stick my sick husband with the kids as much as possible so no time to blog, just wanted to pop on to say a great big Happy Birthday to my dad!

I love this photo of him and Parker from last year!

Happy birthday Paw-paw! We love you!

Here's to hoping I can get these Christmas cards addressed and sent out... we only sent out A-M for Grayson's birth announcements before we gave up! (Sorry if you are family/friends and have a last name M-Z!) I also gave up on thank you cards this year. (Thank you to anyone that sent us anything in the last year and never heard from us! We loved it!) So anyway, I have to salvage my reputation by getting these cards out!

Happy Thursday! Best day of the week!

nope! not me!

I really love this "blog carnival" as Mck Mama calls it so even though I'm a few days late I'm going to do it anyway...

I did not completely freak out today when Parker climbed out of her crib for the second time and in a rush of energy take apart her entire crib, throw her mattress on the floor and threaten a daddy spanking if she didn't stay put for her nap. And you better believe that she listened to me. Of course my two year old listened to me and took an incredible nap. And no I did not finally just go up, open their door, say nothing and just point towards the stairs because I knew if I said anything about the fact that no naps occurred I would start cursing. Not me!

I also did not have this conversation tonight at dinner:

Bailey: Parter, let's do a nana cheers! (wanting to click her banana half with Parker's half)
Parker: NO!
Bailey: Come on Parter, let's do a nana cheers!
Parker: NO!
Me: Parker, do a banana cheers with Bailey.
Parker: Nooooo (whiny)
Bailey: It fun Parter! Cheers! (holding up her banana hopefully)
Me: Parker! Just click bananas with Bailey!!!
Parker: No!
Me: PARKER! DO A CHEERS WITH BAILEY! Right Now! CHEERS! DO IT!
Parker: No!
Then she definitely did not give me a look that said "are you going to seriously fight with me about banana cheering? And I certainly did not have to turn away b/c I started laughing so hard at the ridicules conversation I was having. Nope, not me. I don't laugh in the midst of trying to discipline.

And you'd better believe that I wasn't just standing in our kitchen eating Oberwies Cookies and Cream ice cream out of the carton with a baby spoon. Hell no. That's fattening and gross to double dip like that. I would never do that!

Oh man.

So Chris is still really sick and taking tomorrow off to sleep or puke or whatever. Which is fine but when he's home I expect help you know? It's going to be a long day of keeping the kids away from Daddy. But it's going to be ok b/c I have all of our Christmas art projects lined up and ready to go! Hand print wreaths? Check. Painted glass ornaments? Check. Painted+glittered wood ornaments? Check. Lots of art projects await us tomorrow. And of course I will share the mishaps+ideas with you too.

Before I get back to work (blogging is my 15 minute break. I consider it a smoke break for this non-smoking mama) I want to share some of the infant photos I took yesterday.

Baby Carter was so sweet and so big! He was over 9lbs at birth! Wowza! I met the Hill family last year when I photographed them so it was fun to see them again with a third addition in tow! Their other boys are so well behaved and cooperative, not to mention completely adorable! Thanks for having me out Hill family! Enjoy!

We started with all three boys b/c Christian had to go to school right away. They got cozy in mom and dad's bed!
Carter was WIDE awake for most of the shoot!
Cameron didn't have preschool and wanted to be a part of the action! I got so many cute ones of him and his new little brother... he was SO proud to finally be a BIG brother!
Don't you wish you looked this good less than a week after delivering? She's beautiful!
Look at that beautiful baby!

And oh no. I totally didn't get baby fever and start thinking about how sweet those first newborn days are! No way do I want more babies. Never. Not me.

maybe i am overreacting? jury's out.

A few hours ago I would have sworn this was rotavirus and now I'm not so sure. Neither kid has had another poop except Parker did have one that was semi-normal (the first time in a week). Gray is still puking a bit but it's not as much as yesterday. So I don't know. When I saw their white+foamy poop this morning my heart fell into my shoes as I looked down the long road of rotavirus, but now I'm hopeful we just have some kind of nasty stomach bug.

My sweet friend Angie ran to Walgreens for me to buy Culturelle for their tummies, hoping that helps. And my dad actually went to the grocery store for me! This is huge for him! I was desperate for bleach, Lysol and some items to keep them all on the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Apples, Toast) but didn't want to risk puke/poop in the store.

My mom is still down for the count and they still don't know what her pain is from. Chris called and is feeling awful. He actually said he will take a sick day tomorrow which he never does for himself.

I have bleached every toy I can, scrubbed the exersaucer+jumperoo, mopped the floor and cleaned the bathroom. I've called my friend Jessica and asked her to put a rush order on Arbonne hand lotion for me as my hands are actually bleeding they are so raw. And you'd better believe the Imo's guy just brought me Mnt Dew.

It truly wouldn't be that bad except that my deadline for Christmas printing is FRIDAY and I have LOTS to do for clients and for myself. I was supposed to work a ton this week and instead I'm cleaning! I'm praying to the sleep gods that I can survive until the weekend on no sleep so i can get everything done!

ANYWAY. No photos today although I took some of a little 6 day old yesterday I need to share... maybe tonight/tomorrow. Gray is sleeping and the girls are at least in their beds. Hoping I have a little time to work right now!

Oh, and check out how famous Miss Meryl is today! Go HERE to see where her photo landed! So fun!