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!

Slacking

Man, I'm really behind this year!! We JUST put our tree up about 3 days ago, and I have yet to buy a single gift, LOL. I'm the biggest procrastinator I know! I just haven't had the time to get away and do any shopping. This is how it is every year though, and I'll be out just a few days before Christmas, doing all of my shopping! You think I'd learn!

I also wanted to do Christmas cards this year, with the kids on there, but never was able to get around to taking any pictures of the two of them. For one, it's hard to get them together, how I want them, when Allie still needs a bit of help sitting up. By time I get back to my camera, she's about falling over! And Aiden is a typical 5yr old boy - he doesn't want any "cheesy" pictures taken of him. Sheesh!

I was able to get a few pics of Allie though. Here she is at 4.5mo





She is now on some solids, and it's working great for us! She's a big eater and I just couldn't keep up with her! I would be stuck in the house every day, on the couch, feeding her! She did great with the cereal and breastmilk! We then introduced sweet potatoes, which she loves, and the newest that we have started is bananas. She gets them for breakfast. I just mash up 1/4 banana and mix in some of her oatmeal, and we're good to go! We're making our own baby food this time around! It's easy, fun, and so much cheaper!!

She's getting better at sitting up, but obviously still needs some help! She's also found her voice! She started babbling a long time ago, but she has now learned the art of screaming, and practices perfecting it all day long. It's hilarious!! She absolutely loves Ai8den too! She just lights up at whatever it is that he's doing. He's just as smitten with her as well!

Last year

Last year at this time I knew I was pregnant, but I hadn't taken a test yet. Tomorrow will be 1yr since I found out we would be expecting Allie. It's also my Mother's birthday!

I remember taking a picture of it and sending it to her via text. I simply said, "Happy Birthday!". She was over the moon, and of course she cried!

And now here we are with our little girl who will also be turning 4 months old tomorrow!

It's so crazy to think how far we've come in a years time. There were plenty of tears shed and still a lot of heartache. The tears still come now, and the heartache is still there, but there is now a happiness that wasn't there before.

I watch my kids and I smile. Then I think of Cameron, and I smile again. I so wish he could be here with them, but I know in my heart that he's here with us everyday. Watching over all of us, making sure Aiden and Allie stay safe.

I had Allie in the office today, and on the bookshelf is Cameron's candle - the one we light every year on October 15th. Well tonight her and I were sitting in there, and hers eyes became fixated on that candle. Then, out of nowhere, she just started smiling, laughing, screaming and cooing! She's been cooing and laughing for a while now, but I have never seen her get so excited! I just smiled and told her that was big brother's candle, and she continued on with the laughing and screaming... :)

What happened to Fall?!

I can't believe Allie is going on 3 months old!! It's crazy, but I love it!

She's just growing up so fast! She can pretty much roll over on her own now. Sometimes, she still needs a bit of help from getting stuck on her side, lol. She's cooing, laughing and babbling so much now, and her newest trick is the ever-so-lovely raspberries! It's so messy, but so adorable!

We finally got both her and Aiden's Halloween costumes, and I cannot wait to get them all dressed up. We chose a little flower costume from Children's Place for Allie, and Aiden wanted to be a vampire this year. I just hope it's not too cold! Our October this year has been awful! The past few days have actually been beautiful, but the first couple of weeks were nothing but rain, super cold air, and gray, cruddy days!

I'm so not ready for Winter to be here! We're already trying not to take Allie out too much which the H1N1 crap floating around. The schools in our little town haven't closed yet, but a lot in the surrounding areas have. They haven't confirmed any cases of H1N1, but a lot of kids were getting sick, and they don't want to take any chances. One of the elementary schools here were sending out permission slips to get the vaccine there at school for their kids. The women I've spoken with aren't getting their children the vaccine. We have yet to receive such a letter from Aiden's school, but no matter. We won't be getting it.

I understand that we're more susceptible to being laid up for a bit, since we really don't have much of an immunity towards the virus, but you know...I really give our bodies more credit than others want to. We're amazing creature with amazing immune systems. I fully intend on handling things the way nature intended. I know it's scary, but I also don't think that it's something our bodies can't handle.

Ok enough about that! I'm soooo tired of hearing "H1N1" coming out of people's mouths no matter where I go! You would think the plague was going around, LOL

Anywho, we're all doing fantastic! That was my main point to this post, lol. I need to head to bed though! Allie fell asleep about 2hrs ago, and should sleep until about 5am. I'm beat, and I've gotta work in the morning, so I need to go get some rest!

10 week pic

Miss Allie and I!

Big brother Aiden took this pic! He loves my camera and is obsessed with going out with me when I take photos!

We started Allie on probiotics today, and I'm hoping to see an improvement with her tummy issues! Stuff is expensive though! It was $22 at the health food store (which I am now in love with btw!!), but if it helps, it'll be worth it!

2.5 months!

Allie had her 2 month appointment, and boy is she growing!!

Our "little" princess is now 13lb and 23". The pediatrician said my milk is definitely doing her good, lol!

She's doing great and is right on track where she should be with everything! She finally mastered rolling over a couple of days ago. Well...I shouldn't say mastered, because there are still quite a few times that she gets stuck on her side. It's so cute, lol!

The Dr. we saw this time around was pretty good about the whole delayed vaccine thing. She wasn't thrilled about it, but she let me know that she would support us and try to be as accommodating as possible. I thanked her for that, and told her that if, for whatever reason, we change our minds, we will let her know.

She's sleeping better at night now, too. She typically goes to bed around 9:30-10:00 and then wakes up about 5:00 to eat. Goes back to sleep around 6:00-6:30, get up around 8:00 to eat again, and then takes a long morning nap until around 11:30. After that, she's pretty much up the rest of the day. She'll take a couple short naps in the late afternoon, but that's about it.

She's laughing, and "talking", and smiling at us all of the time. I absolutely love it! She makes THEE most adorable noises I have ever heard in my entire life. LOL...seriously, when she does it, I just want to squeeze the crap out of her! She's also found her hands which is hilarious. She will lift them in front of her face, and her eyes get all big. Then, you can tell she's trying with everything to get them to her mouth. I'd imagine it's sort of like when a part of your body is numb (think your legs after an epidural), and you can't really feel the control you have, but you know it's there, so you're trying your damndest anyhow. That's what it looks like anyway, lol

So all is well over here! I don't have any 10wk pictures at the moment, but will have some 11wk ones up next week!