Tuesday, September 8, 2009

the wagon series

may 2008 - newborn


august 2008 - 3 months


november 2008 - 6 months


february 2009 - 9 months

march 2009 - 10 months

september 2009 - sweet sixteen months


My daughter has been shoved in a wagon every couple months since her birth, it's been an interesting way to chart her growth as well as the seasons. I think this will be the end of the series as she wants to move and do her own thing now. :) My girl has attitude.

Monday, September 7, 2009

bright yellow sink


We have no less than a half dozen friends mid move, and a few have said that our housing perils make them feel better about,say,ugly wallpaper. So a quick update.

Our current home: this old house
-After some stern words and a early morning visit to our insurance company, an adjuster came out from the big D just to see us and voila, and our insurance will completely cover a new roof for the house and the garage. Woohoo!
- The roofers come in just a few hours, we are planning a day out to avoid the hammering.
- Closing got moves back on the buyers realization that the closing date was Labor Day. So we got an extra week to get things worked out without asking for it. God provides.

The new house: the money pit
-I am just waiting to hear our closing has been moved back because there is a surprising lack of little orange flags on the property meaning no survey has been done yet. But, as Hubs say... there are 3.5 more working days left until we close.
-We have met our new neighbors, all very nice and helpful, and discovered that the small side yard we had slated is really... well... not ours. It's quite confusing since the 2 properties have always shared the lot in the middle even though neither of the homeowners own the lot.
- The spending has already begun, a new dishwasher, freezer, and 15 gallons of premium white paint, and $1400 later.... Home Depot and Lowes are our new date spots. Sad, but true.

* yes, I will soon be the lucky owner of that lovely yellow sink and the even lovelier faux blue marble countertops. I am a lucky girl!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

he is ok.


Last night was a typical night around our house. Hubs went off to work, I entertained the kiddos until bedtime finally and mercifully arrived and enjoyed a couple hours of editing and then headed off the bed to watch snl. It was a rerun, so I flipped it off and fell asleep.

ding-dong

11:30pm

Agh. I HATE it when our drunk neighbors randomly ring our doorbell in the middle of the night. I peek out our bedroom window and see what every firefighters wife dreads.

A big red engine, no lights on. Quiet.

My heart started racing as fumbled around to get to the door. Please God no.

I opened the door and there stood the rest of my husbands crew, without him.

No, no, no.

Thankfully, his lieutenant was quick to say "Your husband is ok. He is ok. He is in the ER, but it's minor... he just overheated after a fire."

They reassured me they would check on him, offered to find someone to help with the kids, gave me hug and went off the hospital to check on him with a promise to call me with an update. They would have called rather than scaring me to death, but they didn't have my number.

I just stood there shaking for a few minutes. So thankful to God he was ok, but so shaken by how quickly my world could have flipped upside down.

I looked around my house... total disarray. Boxes half packed, dirty sippy cubs in the sink, random toys and other kid stuff strewn all over the house. A mountain of folded laundry and a mountain of dirty laundry. My kids are sound asleep. Can you even take kids to the ER? I have no idea, the only reason we ever go to the ER is because of the kids. I scan the list of people on facebook chat. Several who live out of town, a single mom on the other side of town, and a photographer I barely know but whom lives very close. We don't have family in town, and only have a few close friends who I would unashamedly ask to come sleep on my couch in my messy house. Most of them are out of town for the weekend or have guests or would have to leave their own kids alone to come help. So, I called a friend, no answer..... but come on it's nearly midnight by now, we should all be asleep! So I prayed for peace, for an update, for his safety.

Within 5 minutes, the phone rang. It was my husband. He said he was fine, he sounded fine, he said not to worry, and not to come to the hospital, and not to wake the kids up. Thankfully, he really was fine and was home a couple hours later. He had been running on the treadmill at work for an hour (or more) when they got called to a fire. It wasn't a very big fire, but it still required them to do a bunch of physical hose dragging and whatever else they do on scene. He started feeling lousy, took a break, tried to go back to fighting the fire, but still felt lousy, got dizzy, and possibly blacked out a little. So, they took him to the hospital, ambulance and all, to get checked out. 2 bags of fluid later he was good to go. No big deal to him. He was just mad he had to take the rest of the shift off, he would have loved to go back to work.

I am ashamed my response was to worry about inconviencing others or what they would think of my less than tidy house rather than saying I need to be with my husband no matter what. Sometimes living life with other people means they see the messy side of your life. It might mean waking up a friend and seeing them stumble over to your house to watch your kids or letting go of the little stuff.

Anyways. He is ok. He slept till 10:30am (the kids and I snuck out to church) and looked like he had a bad hangover combined with the flu but is just tired. Another day and he will be back to normal.

*sorry, that was really long. if you read all of that you deserve a treat!

simply family.













I have had the pleasure of knowing this family for years and the last couple years counting them among my friends. The more time I spend with this family, the more I like them. :) Their session was filled with laughter and silliness, with only the occasional complaint (when is dinner? is it now?) and only one little tiff between the boys. I think that is pretty good for a late evening session! The youngest had to do a little impromptu roll in the grass to celebrate the end of the session and DINNER. :)

fresh

get ready: photo overload is coming!












Little O is just the sweetest little ball of perfect baby. He was so easy to photograph, scarcely woke up, and put up with all kinds of wrangling from me and my lovely assistants. ;) He is the precious little baby of my dear friend and roommate during my college years (oh, we had a blast!) and it has just been the coolest thing to watch her fall in love first with her husband and now with her tiny little guy. It makes me a little mushy to watch it...