Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Words of Love Wednesday


To see more of my Words of Love photos & messages, go here.


I'm linking up with the following fabulous sites:

and then, she {snapped}The Paper MamaWordish WednesdayLive and Love...Out Loud








Monday, May 23, 2011

9 Months Old

Luke turned 9 months old on the 13th of this month. Geeez, where is the time going?   

He is crawling super fast & is all over the place now. He pulls himself up to a standing position every chance he gets, & can use pretty much anything to do so - even the wall. He is cruising around like a champ as well.

He still wants to eat everything we eat, & much prefers "real" food to baby food.  He's still just a little thing though, only 18 pounds.

He goes to bed at night easily, usually between 7 & 8 pm, & sleeps through the night (thank you Luke). I put him to bed awake & he puts himself to sleep - crazy, huh?  I say this because not much has ever been real easy with Luke - he had a serious case of colic that STILL lingers.  But even with the constant fuss, he's still a very smiley baby -  & oh, does he love to smile - big open mouth smiles, small shy smiles, & one-sided crooked smiles - it's seriously the sweetest smile I've ever seen (I know, I'm biased!).

He has started waving - bye bye & hello!  It's so cute. He waves at everyone too which makes it even cuter. I swear Luke has NO sense of stranger danger - he likes anyone who pays attention to him or just looks at him. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing yet. 

His new favorite book is a little board book that my sweet friend Shelley gave him - thank you Shelley! It's the song "If You're Happy & You Know It" made into a book. Oh my gosh, Luke loves loves loves it. He will sit in my lap & listen to it over & over, & if I stop (because there's only so many times I can sing that song) he will cry until I sing it again.  I love it.

He loves to play with his toys most days - his daycare teacher said that he "plays hard". I thought that was so funny & the perfect description of him. He still LOVES Sesame Street - I mean really loves it. A lot.  And so do I because it will usually calm him down pretty quickly if he's upset.

So, I could be totally imagining this, but I swear that he is copying some things I say - 2 words I can think of now are "kitty" and "uh-oh".  He doesn't say it clearly, but is really trying to say it, even using the same tone as me.  I think this means he's going to be really smart - ha!

He just started doing this thing where he scrunches up his little nose & face & makes small sniffle sounds - kind of like he's sniffing something that smells weird. We don't know where he learned it, but now we do it back & forth with him.  I think he does it when he's happy.

And I hope that he is happy forever. 

I love my baby bear.

Here are some pics taken this past weekend at a new trail on the greenbelt in our neighborhood.








Sweet little feet

Dad & Luke

Waving bye bye - look at that dirty foot from standing in the dirt

Sweet Shot Day

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Photo Challenge - Blue

The Paper Mama's photo challenge theme this week is blue. 


The Paper Mama

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Words of Love Wednesday


To see more Words of Love photos & messages, click here

Other Wednesday blogs I link to:

and then, she {snapped}The Paper MamaWordish WednesdayLive and Love...Out Loud

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Sweet Shot

Madison, my sweet three year old niece, had her first dance recital this past weekend. I took a TON of pics, but this is my favorite.


Sweet Shot Day

Monday, May 16, 2011

Photo Challenge

Photo Challenge #1
The Paper Mama's photo challenge - the theme is friend:

Luke & Bunny
2/18/2011 - Luke was 6 months old
The Paper Mama



Photo Challenge #2
Simplicity photo challenge - theme is laughter





Photo Challenge #3
Simplicity photo challenge - theme is sleep


Picture taken 2/10/2011

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Words of Love Wednesday


Picture taken 2/12/2011 at Circle C Park

To see more Words of Love photos & messages, click here.

Other Wednesday blogs I link to:
The Paper MamaWordish WednesdayLive and Love...Out Loud

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Preserve Your Memories

Bookends
Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, a time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you

This is one of my favorite songs by Simon & Garfunkel. I listen to it often. It's a somber, yet beautiful & touching song with deep meaning for me.  It makes me think of my past, as well as my present & future. It makes me think about how time goes by so fast. And life is short.

I have always loved taking pictures. And I have quite a collection - from childhood to high school to college & after - vacations, weddings, showers, birthdays, holidays, & more. 

Dear friends and family have given me wonderful memories that will always be preserved in my heart & remembered through pictures.

I take pictures to preserve my memories.

I want to remember everything about this precious time with Luke - his sweet innocence, his shy smile, his bright blue eyes, his chubby little hands and feet - his laughter & his cries, the good & the not so good - it's all so beautiful & I treasure every fleeting second of this life.










Sweet Shot Day

Monday, May 9, 2011

Happy Mother's Day

This Mother's Day was the first time that I celebrated as a mom. And although we were all a little sick with allergies, it was a wonderful day. Not because we did anything special or exciting - it was actually a pretty ordinary day - we watched tons of Sesame Street, Luke laughed & cried & crawled & played, & as usual I chased him around with my camera.

But just like any other day, it was a day full of love & happiness.



Everyday that I get to spend with Luke is a special & wonderful day. I love being his mom.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Night Night

Luke did NOT want to go to sleep tonight, but he was SO sleepy. He would laugh, then cry, smile, then lay his head down, rub his eyes, & then pop back up as if he was wide awake. Poor baby! 

He's the kind of baby that needs to sleep every 3-4 hours....or else! 

I put him in his crib & left the room thinking that he would be asleep within seconds. 10 minutes later I walked past his room & noticed his little face peeking through his crib. As soon as he saw me he stood up & demanded that I come help him go to sleep. This is what happens when he's overtired - he can't fall asleep by himself.

But that's ok because I got to rock my sweet boy to sleep.

When I saw him peeking through the crib I had to grab my camera for a few quick shots- it was too precious.


Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Words of Love Wednesday



To see more of my Words of Love photos & messages, go here.
Other Wednesday blogs to check out:

The Paper MamaWordish WednesdayLive and Love...Out Loud

Monday, May 2, 2011

Luke's 1st Photo Shoot

With my new camera. I love it!

I've wanted to make the move from my regular old point & shoot to a dslr for some time now but was a little intimidated. A few months ago I started reading photography blogs & learning how to use the manual settings of my camera. After realizing that my old p&s could only do so much, I decided to just go for it & bought my first dslr camera. I am so glad that I did.  It's so cool.

I love taking pictures of Luke and can't wait to learn more. 

Some of the pics below are cropped below the original - I love to crop pictures too.