Oh boy!!

There has been a bit of change around here, and hopefully it's for the best! I decided to put off nursing for awhile, and focus on other things. I'll finish one day, but at the moment, it's just not in my cards. I see how overwhelmed my brother is, and how much he has to study to remain at the top of his class. I can't do that with a baby whom I'm still nursing. I don't want any added stress when I'm in the program, so I've chosen to wait until Allie is a bit older and a little more self-sufficient!

In the meant time, I'm learning more and more about photography, and I LOVE it! Always have, always will! I've added a few new pieces of glass to my collection, and will shortly be getting my long-awaited Tamron! I did my first wedding (which was totally last minute and a big surprise!) a week ago! I was notified 5 days before the wedding! On top of that, I had a speedlite which I had 2 days to learn! Talk about stressful! I have a wedding I'm doing this July, so I thought I had plenty of time before my first one! Then I get hit with this! BUT, I'm very much a person who dives right in, head first - so I did. And it went great!! I had a few lighting issues, but other than that, everything turned out fine! Given the low budget of the wedding, the time I had to prepare, and how not on time everyone was that day, I think I did a great job, and I know the bride will be happy with her photos! I let my mom peek and she said I did a very good job for it being my 1st ever! And my mom is the type of person to tell it like it is, so I was happy over that!

I may be doing another one in Detroit this April, but it's not certain. I'm still contemplating! I also did a friend of mine's kiddos! 6 of them!! THAT was a treat, lemme tell ya! I'm used to 1 or 2, so posing and getting all of them to look at me that the same time was a huge challenge! I didn't get as many good shots as I would have liked, but she was happy with what we were able to come out with. It also didn't help that the lighting in her house was NOT in my favor, and the space I had to work in wasn't all that fantastic either! I told her I want to do some outdoor ones come Spring time.

I'm doing Heather's maternity photos next Saturday, and I can't wait! After that, I'm doing two more family sessions for friends, and an engagement session this Fall!

I love it all, and it's great extra money for us!

Allie hasn't had her 6mo appointment yet, but she goes on the 10th! I'm guessing she's somewhere around 16.5lbs and maybe 26-27"! We're still vaccine free, and plan to keep it that way. And guess what? She's not dead! lol. As a matter of fact, she's never been sick at all! At our last appointment, I told the pediatrician, "Look, here's my box. And in my box are my two main points. Which are..."

1* Every Dr. will recommend that we take vitamins, right? Why? Because they're good for us. BUT, every Dr. will not recommend that I vaccinate my child. Why is that? When it comes to me injecting that sort of stuff into my daughter's blood stream, I want the medical community to all agree on it. I think that's important.

2* I wouldn't feed my daughter the stuff that is in vaccines, so why in the world would I inject it into her bloodstream? Our bodies are made to metabolize what we ingest, NOT formaldehyde, thimerosal(which is 50% mercury. That doesn't make me feel better), human diploid cells (aborted fetal cells), cells from different animals, etc. that is injected into our bodies.

All she said was, "Ok." and nodded her head. I consider that somewhat of a breakthrough, as we've always had some sort of head-butting when it comes to us not vaccinating.

She's healthy, we're healthy, we practice good hygiene, use common sense, eat whole foods, take our vits, etc. While we may come off SLIGHTLY hippy-ish to some, it doesn't bother me. In fact, I quite like our way of life! :)

Allie has now tried sweet potatoes, 2 kinds of squash, sweet peas, carrots, pears, bananas, apples, applesauce, and mangos. She loves it all, but the bananas seem to back her up pretty good, so we skip those quite a bit! We're still making our own babyfood, and I still like it just as much as I did the first day I started! It's so much fun, and I love knowing that she's getting the absolute BEST nutrition!!

We've added another critter to the house! We bought Aiden a little hamster, who he named Coco! She's an adorable cream colored teddy beat hamster. She bit Allie AND I today though :(. I felt awful! I was letting Allie check her out in her little strawberry house, and she was getting so excited! It was so cute! She then grabbed at the strawberry, and before I could pull her hand away, the little shit got her! She cried for a quick second, and her finger bled for quite awhile. It wasn't a huge wound AT ALL, but she got her right on the tip of her finger, so all of that blood was expected. It was the first time my little girl has ever bled :(


She still isn't trying to crawl, and she's not yet a master at sitting up. I carry her around ALL of the time, and I need to stop, so that she can practice these things! However, the funny thing is, is that she stands quite well! So, she may skip all of that junk altogether, and go straight to walking. We shall see! Either way, I am not worried at all! She's happy, healthy, and smart. She just does things on her own time! :)

Here is her 6mo picture! I snapped this up in Aiden's bedroom when we were all up there playing one day!
And here are some of her in her new gear I just bought at the new baby boutique in town!



Now if you're wondering why I never have any photos of Aiden, it's because he's a typical 5yr old boy! He hates it, and after about 3min. he's done, lol. My goal is to get some photos of them by time Spring rolls around! We'll see!


OH!!!! And Heather finds out what she's having on Monday!! Myself and her husband are the only two people that will be finding out the sex. She doesn't want to know. She's having a scheduled c/s, so she really wants it to be a surprise! I'm so excited!!! :)

Looking forward to a great year!

Happy 2010 everyone!! Let's hope this will be a good year! I have a feeling it will be!

For starters, my awesome friend Heather, who lost her son at 37wks, just 2 months before we lost Cameron, is pregnant! She's due mid-June, and I couldn't be happier for her!! Our initial plan was to get pregnant together, but she had some troubles early on. Pay no mind to that now, because it doesn't matter anymore! She's gonna have a baby!! I'm so excited!

And of course, our little Allie will be 1 this Summer, and my little man will be 6!! I cannot belive for a single second that Aiden is going to be six years old this year! Where in the world has the time gone?! Before I know it, I'm going to be old, and they're going to be in high school! Ok, well I won't be THAT old, but I'll be pushin' 40, and that's old enough for me, lol!

Aiden is doing outstanding in school! He's made honor roll, student of the week, and got the respect award from his prinicipal! Now, my only question is why can't he be that good at home, lol ;). Nah, he's a good kid, but he's got your typical 5yr old attitude at times. Drives me crazy, but I wouldn't have him any other way!

Allie is sitting up now, but has no real interest in rolling over anymore. She still does it from time to time, but she would much rather but sitting all the way up. She's 16lbs now! I haven't been able to measure her, but will do so shortly. I would imagine she's gotta be somewhere between 25 and 26"! She's in 6 or 6-9mo clothing! We had so much 3-6, that I thought she would be in for awhile, but that wasn't the case! Ah well, just another reason to shop! :)
She's also getting her first tooth! It wasn't a fun weekend, but I think the worst is over! I just hope that they all aren't like that. I felt so bad for her! But, we're back on track now, and I'd imagine that tooth should be all the way through very shortly!

As for me? Doing good! Just surprised I'm not bald yet! My hair is still falling out, and it's the thinnest it's EVER been. I used to have such nice, super thick hair, and now I have to keep it short just so it doesn't look to stringy. I'm really hoping it'll come back once I'm done breastfeeding!
I'm starting classes again next week, and will be testing into the nursing program. I won't be entering this May, but will use my score to get in next year. I see how stressful it is on my brother, and he's single with no kids. I can't imagine having to be gone as much as him, especially with me still breastfeeding! It'll just be better for everyone if I wait one more year!