A Great Day

Yesterday was a great day. Woke up and took J to his Mamma's to play. I had a meeting at a bistro downtown to discuss hanging some photography in it. The meeting went awesome and I'm totally pumped about it. After I picked J up I decided that we were going to spend the day doing fun stuff while daddyman worked. He fell asleep as soon as we got in the car so I drove down to the river and worked on some things until he woke up. Then we walked down and watched the ducks. He LOVES ducks. Then we went and played on 2 playgrounds, went for a walk, went to the library, went on another walk, picked daddy up and went out to dinner. It was definitely the best day I've had in a long time.

I even got a latte and my favorite cookie (ever had a Toffee cookie from Panera? OMG) before we went home. (I know.. coffee before bed=dumb idea... but it was perfect and I drink so much caffeine that it doesn't phase me. haha should I admit that?)

Today... less great. Jules had his 15 month check up. He's perfect, but had to get 3 shots:( breaks my heart every time...

Mom stuff...

Julien is kind of a ridiculous kid. He's done everything super early. When he was really little and doing things really early it made me a little sad because I felt like I was missing out on having a little blob of baby that was really just a little blob of baby and perfectly content to just 'be'. Julien has never been like that.... and I've found that other people don't really understand it. Maybe it's just because they aren't around him 24/7 like I am but in his short little life I've put up with a lot of "just let him be a baby" and "he can't do that yet" type of comments. Well, yes, he can do that and I am not forcing him to do anything. I have always just gone off of his cues of when he was ready to do something. Some people act like I'm a bad mom because of the things Julien has done early, but what I can't understand is why anyone would think it would be good to keep their kids from doing things (like walking or using the potty) just because they're doing it earlier than average... I don't ever want to hold my kids back from accomplishing anything that they think they can do. And I hope that no matter what it is (as long as it's not dangerous or whatever... obviously...) I hope that I am open minded enough to help and support them.

All that ramble ranting aside, Jules (who is not bow-legged from walking at 9 months) discovered his boy parts a few weeks ago. Shortly after that he started doing the whole "hide when I poop in my diaper" thing so we got him a little potty. He's doing awesome! We don't pressure him to use it and he we are no where near potty trained... but if we think he needs to go and put him on the potty most of the time he goes in it. Then of course we sing silly potty songs and give him stickers and shower him with positive reinforcement. We're just hoping that by the time he really understands he'll want to use the potty and the actual potty training will be really easy. For the last week he's peed in the potty at least once a day (sometimes more) and I think he's awesome. :)

A couple things I don't want to forget... He's decided that it's hilarious to put his pacifier in your mouth if you're singing to him. And a few days ago he informed me "cow say's moooo" and it was the cutest thing ever...

Thrifty Upcycling

Lately I've been working on stuff for an upcoming craft show. A couple days ago I found these cute vintage change purses at a thrift store and thought I might embroider something on them but decided to sew some little flowers on them instead. Hoping they'll be super cute when they're done.

Photography Update | Holly Hamrick of Amy Gentry Photography

I got to spend some time this weekend with one of my very best friends, who happens to have one of the most adorable little girls and another one any time now! Her family has a beautiful bit of land out in the country and they gave us free rein over the fields and a little pond.. we ran out of time to go to the barns and a few other places, but I got some beautiful shots and I am so excited for more shoots when #2 arrives! 

Zooombies

I try to never wish time away but there are a few things that I am so excited for... I'm excited for Jules to want to pretend and play specific things. He likes to play trains and some other things... I'm excited for when he appreciates how silly his parents are. (but not so much for when he's embarrassed by us. Maybe that wont happen...)

I think we're prematurely excited about Halloween... He didn't really care at all that he was a zombie, but he was the cutest little zombie I've ever seen!

The Big Ouch

Lately we've been trying to clean and declutter our home and it's actually coming along well so far! We decided that we would spend a conscious 15 mins a day cleaning up. Having a 1 year old really means that you spend way more time than 15 mins cleaning up every day but after basically following a 1 year old around cleaning up after him all day -- kind of makes you not care so much about everything else.... So 15 mins of cleaning up things we don't constantly clean up is really making a difference! And it's also really encouraging because when you see the difference after your 15 mins it motivates you to keep going. It's nice for the whole family to be involved too.. feels like more is getting accomplished with everyone helping.

Today was kind of a long day. Julien woke up in a really weird mood (he was whimper in his sleep so I woke him up) which made for a long morning.. but even though he was not happy about napping, he woke up happy...

Went for a walk this evening to get ride of some of his extra energy. It didn't last long though because he had his first big wipe out... I'm pretty sure it hurt me more watching it than it hurt him though...

So we came home and the Dad made dinner... 

I'm surprised Jules was hungry after his pavement and toe-jam appetizers but he ate a grilled cheese and a half and half of my bowl of tomato soup. 

Watching some TV and doing my 15 mins then I am going to bed... This has been an exhausting day.

Bleeehgger

To be completely honest, my life is feeling pretty monotonous right now. I guess that's what happens when summer is ending, autumn is beginning but you don't have anything changing (like school starting) to keep up with... Don't get me wrong though... my life is fun. 

Julien does something new everyday which is awesome but I think the really exciting changes are slowing down for now... maybe it's bumming me out. I don't know... but he really is so awesome I think I take it for granted sometimes... He's been walking for months now and in the last month he's started talking so much. He's almost 15 months and he's already putting words together. It's so crazy! He's got the basics ("all gone", "thank you") down and he's picking up on everyone's name now. He calls my mom "Mamma" and he says "Gabby" perfectly clear and he calls Aunt Amanda "Am-duh" which is adorable. (He's also calling me Holly still... it's the cutest little "Ha-we", but I prefer "Momma"...) And his train and pig noises... spot on! haha But I can't help but feel like he's getting bored with things too. Getting mad that he can't just say what he wants to even though he tries so hard and he really needs more stimulation. I wish there was a good program around here for his age group. (Gladly taking any ideas!)

Summer has been awesome, but I really love fall and I am really excited for it's arrival. I think I just need to play outside more often... haha

MOV Contest of Awesomeness!

So we've got an awesome contest going on at Amy Gentry Photography... if you win, your picture will be on our billboard! Check it out on Facebook and visit the blog!

(There's a really delicious recipe on the blog, too. Check it out!)

Sternwheel Festival - Pt 2 (Fireworks!)

They were awesome, as usual... Getting to them was quite a fiasco and I ended up watching them by myself because I couldn't get to the boys but I got some awesome pictures and Julien fell asleep during them anyway. Haha.. only my kid could fall asleep during fireworks... actually, he refused to sleep today. He only napped for about a half an hour so it's really not surprising.. but the craziest thing is that he woke up as soon as we got home!

So, at almost 12:30, I was just starting to get really frustrated... rocking him and singing to him... when he pulled his pacifier out of his mouth and put it in mine! I didn't think my singing was THAT bad! :/ haha..

Whenever I start to get frustrated with him he always does something hilarious that makes me feel horrible for getting annoyed. He's so funny... I love him even when he gets on my nerves... haha

Sternwheel Festival - Pt 1

It's really felt like fall around here the last week or so. One thing that always says fall to me is Sternwheel Festival, which is this weekend. We went down yesterday and pretty much spent 4 hours just walking. It's kind of cool to just be able to walk out your door and be there but at the same time it's kind of not cool to feel like the entire MOV is at your house. It's been pretty loud and crazy already but not too horribly bad. I'm sure it'll be completely crazy tonight since the fireworks show fills the streets to max capacity. We're planning on joining in on the fun. Hopefully Julien will think the fireworks are awesome...

Cake for breakfast?

Yes! Only if it's YOUR birthday cake can you eat it for breakfast, or course...
I'm officially in my late 20's, but getting older has never bothered me... Plus my birthday didn't feel at all like my birthday because a darling friend married the man of her dreams on that particular day and from the time I woke up to the time I got in my bed I was doing wedding stuff. The ceremony was beautiful. We had photos taken at The Blennerhassett Hotel, which is a beautiful old hotel in town, then I headed to the park to help finishing set up. I wish I had taken more pictures but wasn't really able being in the wedding... The ceremony was so beautiful. Short and sweet and so special. It sprinkled rain until the time of the ceremony and then it stopped until after we took more photos. The reception was a little wet but still enjoyable. Overall a fantastic  day. So happy for the bride and groom.:)

So here's to another year...

And a happy couple.