Ummm..... We know

Ivy

2011-06-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

Oh, how I love my Ivy. She is such a wonderful baby. Tantrums and all. And boy does she have a lot of them haha. So many times people would say they were glad they didn't have a girl because they were so dramatic. Well, Claire was never like that so I never understood what they were talking about. What was the big deal? And then I got Ivy. She'll be the happiest, best, funniest baby in the whole world and then BAM, if one tiny thing goes wrong she's banging her head on the wall, throwing herself on the floor, pinching me, or the person who's closest to her, and SCREAAAAMING her head off. And some weeks she's spending more time throwing more tantrums than she is being happy. That's usually when she's teething. However, I cannot get over how funny, sweet, smart, and happy she is when she's NOT throwing her tantrums haha. She really is the greatest baby ever.

She's HILARIOUS. She can get anyone to smile. She lifts her eyebrows, pulls faces, flirts, and smiles. And man oh man, when she smiles, she SMILES. Her whole face smiles. She can brighten up a room with one of her smiles. I get giddy just talking about it. She loves Claire so much and she gets so excited when she wakes up. She runs to her and gives her a big hug and kiss and says "Ca" for Claire. She does the same thing when Levi comes home. She hears the garage, runs to the door and says, "Dadadadada!!!" and she'll squeal with delight. She gives the most hugs of any baby I've ever known. She's so cuddly and affectionate. She tries to be just like Claire, doing everything she does and I love watching every minute of that. Her favorite thing to do is play Ring Around the Rosy. Oh man, that is the cutest thing to watch. When it's almost time to fall down she squeals, laughs and then she finally falls down and claps for joy.

She doesn't say very many words but I know one of these days it'll just explode. It's actually very hard for me to get used to because Claire was saying a TON of words by now. I keep trying to tell myself that kids are just different, because they are, but it doesn't help me much haha. I can't help worrying about it, bla bla bla. But she understands everything I'm saying and she finds her own way to communicate things with me. That's why I feel like one of these days she'll just all of a sudden start talking. She only says "Ca" for Claire, "Dad", "Mom" (over and over and over again), "Dog", "Hot", "Bye bye", "HI" (which is the cutest thing in the world, she says it to everyone she sees), and I think that might be it. I can't think of anything else. So, yeah, she doesn't say much haha. But I know she's still sooo smart just by how much she understands. She loves reading books and her favorite one is The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear (that's one book with an enormously long title. That was, and still is, my very favorite children's book so I'm so happy it's her favorite as well. I love reading it to her. As you can tell I adore my girls, just like every other parent out there (except for the awful ones who do awful things to their children who I want to strangle and send right to Hell myself). I think they're wonderful and I'm soooo glad they were sent to me. I just can't believe that Heavenly Father trusted me enough to take care of these two AMAZING little girls. I'm extremely grateful for this opportunity.

Claire

2011-06-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in a very long time. I hate uploading the pictures onto my computer. That's the main reason. Anyway, here's an update on claire.

Basically, she's awesome. She's beautiful, kind, sweet, a little sassy, smart and hilarious. Kids flock to her and they just love being around her.

She constantly tells me I'm a good mom. I don't think I ever said that to my mom when I was little haha.

She loves ivy and, even though thy have their moments, they get along so well and they love wrestling and chasing each other. Claire's such a good big sister And I hope she stays that way.

She hates change almost as much as Levi does haha. I asked her if she wanted another baby in our family and she said, "will we have to move?" I said no and she said, "then yes! I want another sister!!" she was so concerned about moving into a new house. So funny.

She's good at memory games, she has the best imagination ever, and she lives riding her bike around the neighborhood. She loves being outside and she lives going on dates with her dad. I don't know what I would do without her. She really us one of my best friends and I thoroughly enjoy hanging out with her. I'm so glad she's mine. I'm so lucky.

New Photo Blog

2011-03-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

I have a new blog for my photography. myblackbirdphotography.com/blog

My number 2

2010-12-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

this isn't a post about my poop, don't worry. It's about Ivy.

thought i should do a post about her since i haven't in a while. plus, i just took some cute pictures of her being happy the other day so i figured i could put them on here.

anyway, ivy's a super happy baby, most of the time. she has her moments, but so do all babies. as long as she's standing, though, she's guaranteed to be happy. man, she's obsessed. the other day she was SO excited to take a bath. I started the water, put her on the floor in her room and she crawled as fast as she could over to the bath tub, stood up and started jumping and squealing (the baby kind of jump, obviously). so i put her in the bath and she tried to stand up 2 minutes later. well, she's not allowed to do that, duh, so i tried to sit her down. she wanted none of that and grabbed at me to take her out. i'm just glad she can stand on her own now so i don't constantly have to be the one doing it for her.

she sleeps well, eats well, plays well and she loves claire. but what younger sibling doesn't love their big sister/brother? she just started putting phones up to her ear and that's really cute. she doesn't actually crawl, per-say but she army crawls. and it's the funniest thing ever. claire never did that so we never experienced that before and i laugh every time. she looks paralyzed from the waist down. she'll eat anything. she claps, does "so big", waves and loves it when i play, 'i'm gonna get you'. she tries to crawl away as fast as she can squealing and then loves it when i get her and tickle her.

she loves having an audience. one day i went to the mall and was holding her facing out, she just kept waving and smiling at everyone and doing "so big" for them. it was hilarious. gotta love her. she's such a great baby and makes us all very happy. i love wrestling and always try to do it with claire but she's not so much into it. i think ivy will be the one i can wrestle with, she likes to be thrown really high and all that stuff. i just have to say that having two girls is sooooo much fun. i'm hoping for another one. i'd be fine with that.

Do the Claire Bear

2010-12-06T09:12:00.000-08:00

Some funny things Claire has said recently....

"Mama! You forgot to ask me if I had any dreams!"

"Oh yeah! Sorry, did you have any dreams last night?"

"Nope."

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::Poured water on Ivy's face in the bath, made Ivy cry::

Levi: "Don't pour water on her face, she doesn't like it."

Claire: "Yes, she told me she wanted me to pour water on her face, she said, 'Claire, pour water on my face!' that's what she said."

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::Got out of the tub and put her bathrobe on and was about to come downstairs::

"Wait, daddy, I have to see if I look cute." ::Looks in the mirror:: "Yup, I look cute. Let's go!"

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She named her football Enzo. I was wondering where she got that name from, thinking she must have made it up, turns out she named it after the new boy in her nursery class.

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Me: "Claire, you need to be nice to Blake (her cousin)."

Claire: "Don't yell at me!"

Me: "I'm not yelling at you, I'm just telling you to be nice to Blake."

Claire: "Well, don't tell me like that. YOU be nice!"

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::We hardly ever have ice cream in our house. Mainly because I'd eat it all. But one day I bought some just for fun::

Me: "Claire, would you like some ice cream!?"

Claire: "No."

Me: (disappointed) "Oh, why not?"

Claire: "Um, I just don't have an owey (sp?) or anything."

Apparently I only ask her if she wants ice cream after she gets really hurt.

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::We were visiting my Grandparents this past summer and she was playing with two girl dollies::

My Mom: "Claire, where's the boy dolly? You just have two girl dollies, they can't get married."

Claire: "Um, no, it's okay, they can just be gay."

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Claire: "Mom, can I go over to Jonas' house?"

Me: "No, not today."

Claire: "But moooom, I just wanted to go over to his house and marry him!"

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"Mom, don't be such a homeshit!" (she totally made that word up, obviously. She wasn't aware there was an actual swear word in there.)

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Evan Lysacek

2010-11-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

Soooo, I just about died laughing about this. First, a little background information. I'm not bragging 'cause I don't know that it's much to brag about anyway, BUT, I went to high school and was friends with Evan Lysacek. If you don't know who he is, he was the Gold Medalist in the Mens figure skating competition in the olympics. So anyway, My other friend Mark from high school dressed up as Evan this halloween. Oh my gosh was it hilarious. I go on facebook and see his pictures and at first I wasn't quite sure what the heck he was supposed to be, but then the more I thought about it, the feathers, slicked back hair, black outfit, DUH! Who else could it be? I thought it was funny enough to share so here are some pictures, folks. Just for you.

Family Pictures

2010-11-07T09:53:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! So we got our family pictures taken a few weeks ago by my friend Stephen Phung. He's such an amazing photographer and he's going to give me some tips on how to use off-camera lighting. I'm so excited! Anyway, he still isn't finished editing them but he gave me some of his SOOC images so I could edit some of them to see how I liked my style of editing with lighting. So these are the photos I edited. His are most likely going to be a million times better but since I don't have those yet, you get to see the ones I did.

P.S. I have a ton to catch up on. TONS. St. George girls trip, Claire's birthday, Claire's playgroup, Ivy Crawling. Tons. I've been so busy lately, though, that I haven't had a chance to blog about that stuff. Hopefully that will be coming soon!

Hmm....

2010-10-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

I listened to a Taylor Swift song in the car yesterday..... and.... I.... cried. I KNOW. What the heck? It was the one about her dad, "... I had the best day with you today..." something like that. I was just thinking about Levi and Claire, though. He's such an awesome dad. He dances with her and sings princess songs with her. He teachers her about the Jazz and about the Utes. She gets excited to show him things and he does a great job letting her know he's interested. I love him. She loves him. Ivy loves him (way more than Claire did at 7 months old). He's good stuff. Plus, he's extremely good looking. DUH!

Ivy

2010-10-26T21:18:00.001-07:00

Click here to read a post about Ivy. She's awesome.

Road Rage

2010-10-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, so while I'm driving I'm pretty good about not having road rage. I'll say, "Oh my gosh" every once in a while, and maybe the occasional, "Idiot" if they've almost killed me, but other than that, I'm pretty good about not lashing out. However, that doesn't mean I don't think pretty much EVERY person on the road is the dumbest person ever. Here are just a few rules I go by and expect everyone else to go by. Because, after all, everyone who's driving revolves around me, so I just thought I'd let everyone know the rules just in case they find themselves on the same highway, freeway, or neighborhood road as myself.

Rule #1- If I'm coming onto the freeway, please change lanes over to the left lane. I will need to merge onto the road you're driving on, and if you're there then I'll get pushed over into the wall and I may DIE.

Rule #2- If you know that there's an exit coming up in about a mile or so, please look to see if I have my blinker on ready to switch lanes so I can exit. I don't ever put my blinker on at the last minute, I try to get over, ready to exit, as late as a mile before the exit. If I have my blinker on and nobody lets me in, then I'll have to hurry up and switch lanes into the exit lane .2 inches before the actual exit and I may DIE.

Rule #3- If you're in the far right lane and I'm in the far left lane make sure I don't have my blinker on ready to move over into the middle lane before you do so. Don't worry, I'm staring at you making sure you're not going over as I'm switching lanes, so if by chance you miss this step, I'll be ready to swerve out of your way so I won't DIE.

Rule #4- If you're in the front of the line at a stop light, please watch the stop light. That's your only job. You're the line leader! The line leader's ONLY JOB is to watch to see when the light turns green. If you can't handle having this job, please allow someone else to be the line leader. In this case, I won't DIE but I'll be really annoyed and I may just get out of my car, kick your butt and YOU may DIE.

Rule #5- The left lane is the FAST LANE. Left lane, fast lane. Repeat this to yourself as you're driving. If you find yourself in the left lane and people are passing you on your right-hand side (that's the hand that doesn't make the L with your thumb and index finger), then please, move over to the right lane. Left lane, fast lane. MOVE IT. Or you may DIE.

Rule #6- If you're driving the speed limit, or even 5 over the speed limit, and you see a cop, there is no need to slow down. NO NEED. Cops are out there to catch people who are SPEEDING. Just because in "speed limit" there appears the word "speed" this doesn't mean you are in fact speeding. The cop may pass you, pull out his gun, shoot you for being so dang slow, and you may DIE.

Rule #7- If I have my blinker on and I need to switch into your lane, even if it's in front of you because after all, I'm probably going faster than you are in the safest way possible, please don't speed up so I can't get in. There's no need for it. There's obviously a reason I need to be in your lane. I'm not doing this to piss you off.

If you can't follow these simple 7 rules, then you, or someone around you, may DIE. No one wants that, unless you're the idiot that nobody else wants on the road.

Hi.

2010-10-18T14:40:00.001-07:00

just wanted you to go look at Jennie's pictures over on my photo blog. Her family is stunning. I'm lucky I got to take their pictures. I know most of you know her so just go on over there and admire her family. myblackbirdphotography.blogspot.com

Hey Guys!

2010-10-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry a lot of my posting has been about photography but I'm just getting it up and running and this is one of my ways of advertising it. Ya? Okay, so I'm here to let you know, so that you can let your friends and family know, about a partial giveaway I'm doing. So go to my photo blog for the details. It's over on the right of my blog. Thanks guys!

Hi

2010-10-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say how much I love these girls!

Halloween Treat

2010-09-29T17:56:00.001-07:00

Hey guys, go to the right of my blog and click on my photography blog. There's a halloween deal going on that you might be interested in. Thanks!

I ain't no holla back girl

2010-09-25T21:22:00.001-07:00

hey, i put up my photography blog again. check it out HERRRRRR. Tell all of your family, friends, enemies, cats and dogs. thanks guys!

Autumn Jane-1 Year Photos

2010-09-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

This is my friend's little girl. She's so cute. She's the perfect mix between her mom and dad so obviously they're both pretty good looking. And what makes this girl REALLY cool? She and I share the same birthday (which is this Wednesday, ahem). This was a fun shoot. I'm glad I'm getting back into this, I forgot how much I enjoy it.

P.S. These photos weren't taken with my new camera that I was talking about earlier. I should be receiving that on Wednesday or Thursday. So these aren't the BEST quality they could be but they're pretty good for the camera I used.

Back in Action

2010-09-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

hey guys! long time no talk, right? that's 'cause i've been busy. busy having no money haha. SOOO because i'm sick of THAT going on, i'm starting up my photography business again. i'm going to do $200 for families of 5 or less and $150 for children (up to 2 kids, $25 for every extra child) disc of images included in both prices. please contact me at Stephwest922@gmail.com to schedule a session. eventually i'll have my old blog up again and website, yadda, yadda, yadda. but i don't feel like doing that quite yet so everything will be posted on this here family blog for now. i'm waiting for my new AWESOME camera and lenses. i seriously can't sleep 'cause i'm so excited. i've been dreaming about this day forever and it's finally here (almost). k peace out.

I have been doing stuff. Picture overload.

2010-08-01T09:59:00.000-07:00

Pop Rocks.

Fireworks

Goofy kids.

Sleeping with daddy.

Bike rides almost every day.

neighborhood bike gang.

Can't go wrong with underwear and boots.

Ivy's blessing day.

Hanging out with Cohen.

At McDonalds with Cohen.

Fireworks with the neighbors.

Fireworks with Family.

Ivy loves the sink just like Claire did.

Hanging out with Cohen.

Hugging Cohen.

Hanging out with Cohen... again.

Best ever

2010-06-07T21:13:00.001-07:00

I'm pretty sure this photographer is the best ever. I have yet to find someone I love more than her. She's amazing, in my book. I hope to be like her someday. ::sigh::

sister photos gone wrong

2010-05-25T06:41:00.000-07:00

i tried to get some cute photos of claire and ivy together, instead i got these....

oh yeah..

2010-05-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

my friend che' and i let our girls paint on themselves and each other the other day. it was fun to watch. i'm only putting pictures of claire up 'cause i'm not sure if che' wants me putting kenna on my blog almost naked. i on the other hand don't care haha. does that make me bad?

I hate Blogging

2010-05-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

which is the reason why i haven't been blogging lately. i feel like i'm just always busy (which is a GREAT thing) lately that i don't have time to blog. or if i do have time to blog i'd rather be using that time to do other things i enjoy more haha. but, since all of you are probably SICK of seeing my last post (and the fact that only 2 people commented leads me to believe nobody thought it was quite as cute as i did) i thought i'd change it for you.

the other day i took ivy to her 2 month well-check. I KNOW! she's 2 MONTHS OLD ALREADY. geeze, before i know it i'm going to be 45 and wrinkly. crap.

ivy's stats: 95th percentile for height, 75th for weight and 50th for head. she's a big girl, which is no surprise since claire was a fatty boombalatti but i compared their stats from when claire was 2 months and ivy's way huge. granted, claire was 5 1/2 weeks early BUT STILL. ivy's what some people would call large. good thing she's so freaking cute. she's been smiling a ton lately and hates being on her tummy. she loves it when i sing to her and she loves it when i make funny faces at her. she loves taking baths and she kicks her legs wildly whenever we put her in there, that's our favorite thing. she even gets these crazy eyes while she's kicking. she's recently getting over her baby acne which is amazing 'cause that wasn't very attractive. hopefully she won't get it that bad during puberty... yikes.

being a mother has made me realize how much heavenly father loves me. but being a mother of two has confirmed that even more. he loves all of us equally and sooo much more than we love our own children. it's so amazing. even those people we look at and say, "hahaha look how ugly they are!" (just kidding) he loves them too! it's actually made me be less judgmental toward everyone which is a good thing 'cause i was pretty harsh sometimes over the stupidest things. being a mom has definitely changed me for the better in every way (except for the boobs, i've become a member of the "do your boobs hang low?" club). i love being a mom and there's nothing else i'd rather be doing. i love staying home with my girls and watching them grow, watching them mimic the things i do and watching them learn. they're so amazing.

Let's Get Married!

2010-04-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

Today we were supposed to go to the zoo but I'm glad we didn't because then I wouldn't have gone to Jenn's house and I wouldn't have taken this picture...

These two get along so well, for the most part (they have very similar personalities, probably 'cause Jenn and I parent very similarly). Claire kept running around saying, "Let's get married, Cohen!" and they started running around in circles and she then said, "This is how we get married!" She always tells me she's going to marry Cohen. It's the cutest thing ever. I love watching her and her friends play together. What a cute couple.

The Story of Ivy

2010-03-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

Okay. I'm really bad at telling stories but here it goes...

It really started with a feeling. Friday night I kept getting some butterflies in my stomach but didn't want to say anything 'cause I hate being wrong haha. So I just kept it to myself. When I'm pregnant, it's not uncommon for me to wake up starving, so usually I go downstairs and down an instant breakfast or eat a bowl of cereal. Well, in the middle of the night Friday night I woke up hungry but I said to myself, "No, don't go eat anything, I'm pretty sure this baby is going to come tomorrow." So I just dealt with the hunger and tried SO hard to go back to sleep. I woke up at 7:30a.m. feeling a little anxious. I went to the bathroom, went pee (sorry) and I thought I felt a little bit more liquid than normal. Again, I didn't want to say anything or get my hopes up so I just quickly got in the shower... Just in case (plus, I wanted to look as good as I could for any photo opps that may be coming... obviously).

I heard Levi wake up so I called him into the bathroom and said, "Don't get your hopes up, but my water may have broken." He just said, "Okay." haha. So I got out of the shower, put my body lotion on, underwear, etc. then went and sat down on my bed to put my foot lotion on. When I was finished, I stood up and WOOSH, out came a TON of water (amniotic fluid, right?). There wasn't a question this time whether or not my water had broke. I would have been really worried if it hadn't been that. Serious bladder problems. Claire said, "Mom, what'd you do?" "Well sweetie, my water broke." "Your water bottle broke?" "No, my water." After that, I went back into the bathroom and did my hair and gathered some things I felt I needed for the hospital that wasn't packed in my hospital bag (that I packed 5 weeks prior just in case). Claire then came into the bathroom and said, "Mom, clean up your pee!" At least she won't be embarrassed if she pees her pants anytime soon, she'll probably just say, "That's okay, my mom does that sometimes." and she'll say it to someone who doesn't know this story and they'll think I'm a huge weirdo.

Okay, off to the hospital we go. Don't worry, I stuffed a huge towel down my pants, that feels AWESOME. Levi's dad came to get Claire and we walked inside the hospital. They checked to make sure my water did in fact break and it had. Phew. So we waited about 2 hours 'cause there was another surgery being done and some girl came in with really bad contractions FLIPPING out and screaming so she had to get taken care of first. They also had to drain my stomach of the water I drank that morning. I don't think I've ever been so hungry in my life.

Let's back up a bit. When I had Claire my water broke as well, and she was a big 5 1/2 week early surprise. So when I had a C-section they had no idea how much I had eaten beforehand so they pumped me full of whatever it is they give you to numb your body. I was numb up to my chest and was hyperventilating 'cause your brain thinks you can't breathe. That's why I didn't eat anything Friday night when I woke up hungry, I didn't want that to happen again. SO, now that I've cleared that up. They numbed me and I was so scared it was going to go to my chest again that I started freaking out haha. So the anesthesiologist (wow I spelled that right without spell check) gave me some oxygen and I calmed down after realizing it wasn't going past my ribs. After about 15 minutes, maybe, Ivy was pulled out of my stomach! So here's where the miracle happens....

After they clean the baby up, weigh them, cut the umbilical cord, all that stuff, they draw some of the baby's blood to test for jaundice and other things. WELL, the nurse had some extra blood so she just randomly checked her blood sugar. Now, that is NOT normal procedure. They usually only check that if they know the mom had gestational diabetes, the baby's premature, or the baby's very large. I guess if the baby has low blood sugar they act a certain way, too. Ivy was not acting strange, she wasn't premature, she wasn't abnormally heavy, and we didn't know if I had gestational diabetes so the fact that the nurse checked her blood sugar was totally random and awesome. A newborn baby's blood sugar is supposed to be above 45 (whatever that means) and hers was at a 12! YIKES! So they rushed to get an iv in her and pumped her full of glucose. She had the IV most of the time we were in the hospital and I was thrilled when they took her off and she was maintaing a healthy blood sugar level on her own. So, you're probably wondering what would have happened if they hadn't caught this, right? Well, she would have been developmentally slow and we wouldn't have known it until she got older. So thank goodness they caught it! And what's even COOLER, is Levi had given me a blessing before the surgery and he had said, "The doctors and nurses will be inspired if anything goes wrong and they'll know how to fix any problems that may arise." Naturally I said, "Oh crap, what's going to happen to me." But it wasn't me it was Ivy and I'm so grateful the nurse listened!

So we're home now and we're adjusting to having 2 kids. I've quit nursing as of today because it hurt like a motha and it just wasn't for me really. A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I feel less stressed. It's awesome. I'm also amazed at how much I love Ivy as much as I love Claire. I love being with both of them and they make me so happy. Kids are good. It's also a good thing Levi grew up with all sisters, he's used to being outnumbered. He's such a good dad, too. He plays prince and princess with Claire all the time and he's so good at pretending with her. So basically we have a really cool family haha.

Ivy

2010-03-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here are just some pictures. I'll post the story later. There's quite a miracle involved and I'm not just talking about the birth of Ivy alone.

Update On Sleeping

2010-02-07T15:15:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let everyone know ('cause I know there are some of you who were so very concerned) that Claire has been sleeping again for the past week and a half or so. I'm SOOOO happy. I feel a lot better. She's decided to just stop napping but I'm hoping that's another phase she'll soon grow out of. However, I'm not upset about her not napping 'cause she goes to bed earlier and SUPER fast since she's so worn out. So good things are happening. Now let's get this baby out of me!

Don't be fooled...

2010-01-29T13:50:00.000-08:00

See this cute little girl? Yes, I see her. She's soooo cute and has a wonderful personality... and then NIGHT comes. Holy CRAP, Claire. She used to be SUCH a great sleeper. She started sleeping through the night at 2 months old. She would fall asleep on her own at 1 year old, and that's only because Levi and I thoroughly enjoyed rocking her to sleep. But NOW. She keeps waking up at night and it's driving me crazy. Last night for a full hour, without any breaks, or breaths it seemed like, she PATIENTLY said over and over again, "Come here, Mooooom." in her sweet little voice. Finally I went in there thinking, "Well there must be something wrong." There was; she had to go pee and she was hungry. She begged for milk, and I said no and she SCREAMED. (she never does that. Ever.) So I asked, "Are you hungry?" and she said, "Yes, I'm really, really hungry." So I got her some milk and she calmed down. I just laid with her for a second and she fell asleep. I snuck out of her room and 10 minutes later she realized I wasn't there and started calling for me again but with a little cry this time. Levi could see my frustration, so even though he had to go to work this morning, he offered to try and help. I knew this wouldn't work. I'm the ONLY person on this Earth she'll fall asleep for. I thought maybe, JUST MAYBE it'll work. NOPE. She SCREAMED her head off and flailed as if he were abusing her. Seriously, frightening screams were coming from this girl. So I went in, picked her up, brought her in my room and she fell asleep in there. (I was really trying to avoid bringing her into my room at all costs, but at this point I had been up for 3 hours.) I found out she's getting another molar in, but I gave her some IBuprofen before she went to bed and by the time she woke up in the middle of the night it shouldn't have worn off yet. I'm thinking maybe she's going through a growth spurt and she really IS just starving in the middle of the night, but why oh why won't she go BACK to sleep after I go in to see what she needs? If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to share. Even if you're stalking my blog and I don't know you and you have the best advice ever, please share. I guess I could try ignoring her ALL night but what if she really is hungry? I don't want to make her starve, ya know? I've also tried feeding her right before she goes to sleep, no drinks, though. We don't give her anything to drink an hour and a half before she goes to bed. And one night, I'm pretty sure she had a nightmare about someone stealing her clip out of her hair. She said, "No! Don't take my clip out! No!" I just wish I knew how to fix this because I'll be waking up with a newborn in about 6 weeks and I can't have Claire waking up as well, especially since she won't let Levi have anything to do with her in that situation. This is the part where you feel bad for me. And go.

Dance, dance do the dance

2010-01-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday Claire started her first dance class. I thought it was going to be more like gymnastics, where she would flip if the teacher tried to get her to do anything, turns out she loves it. I'm so glad, too, because it's the most fun thing to watch. I'm sure having a boy is awesome and everything, but having a girl is all I know and I LOVE every second of it. Even when she's dramatic (and lately, she's been that a lot) I just think it's hilarious. I always thought I'd want all boys since I'm more on the tomboyish side. I danced when I was really little, just like every little girl, but I ended up being more into sports, blood, and dirt. I thought I'd never know what to do with a girl if I ever had one. Then I was given one of the girliest girls I've ever met. She's definitely brought out the girl in me. I used to HATE the color pink, but it's her favorite and now I've seriously grown to love it. And no matter how hard I try to get her to play basketball with me or play catch, she'll either have nothing to do with it altogether or just amuse me for a minute and then walk away. But I love everything about her, especially her girliness.

A Few Photos of Claire

2010-01-06T19:12:00.000-08:00

I haven't done this in a while and I just took Claire out the other day and bribed her to let me take some photos of her. She was so cute but it only lasted 2 minutes haha.

Potty Training

2009-12-21T12:57:00.000-08:00

We did it! We potty trained Claire. How awesome is that? The answer is VERY awesome. I've been wanting to potty train her forever but she just hasn't ever wanted to. Well, these past 2 weeks she's been sick so we've just stayed at home all day, every day. Well, I guess she got bored and wanted something new to do so she decided she wanted to be potty trained! It started Wednesday night when she just randomly wanted to go in the potty. So then Thursday I just let her run around naked and she went pee AND poop in the potty (from what I understand, a lot of kids have a harder time pooping in the potty, not all, but a lot of kids). Well, she did really well and we even went to the store on Saturday night to test it out and she didn't have an accident there, either! I tried on Friday night (I think) to have her sleep without a diaper but she wouldn't fall asleep, she just kept asking to go pee 'cause she was frightened to death of peeing in her bed. She's the type who always wants to do things right so I think it was causing her some anxiety (I wonder where she got that from? Levi). So anyway, she wasn't falling asleep so I finally just put a diaper on her but she still would wake up wanting her diaper changed every time she peed in it. Last night, however, she refused to wear a diaper, had an accident and was very upset about it but she still refused to wear a diaper during her nap today. However, the smart person I am (thanks mom) I got those training pants. They're plastic pants that go over their underwear, sort of like those pool pants, only way thicker and HUGE... aka HOT. Not to mention they didn't have anymore girl ones so hers have cars that say, "beep, beep" on them. That'll save me (Levi) from washing a lot of sheets.

Today we went to the store again but I brought her little potty with us in the car. She's scared of the big toilets 'cause she almost fell in hers the other day, I had to help her up. Anyway, so I brought her little potty in the car and if she had to go she would just go in there. She almost pooped her pants in Target but I grabbed her and sprinted out of the store. It was awesome and very superwoman-like of me. Needless to say, she had zero accidents while we were out and about, which was a relief! I'm VERY proud of her and this is a huge accomplishment for me, I truly thought I couldn't potty train her for some reason. I just thought I'd fail in that department. But then when it came down to it, I realized it doesn't have much to do with me but A LOT to do with her. So now I don't have a change another diaper for 3 more months!!!

Christmas Recipe Group

2009-12-10T08:28:00.000-08:00

Every month for the past 4 months, my friends and I have been having a recipe group. It's been really fun and this month it was at my house. I called dibs on Christmas 'cause as everyone knows by now, I LOVE Christmas. Levi thinks I act like a little kid around Christmastime. I just can't help myself, it really is the most wonderful time of the year. Anyway, at our recipe group we had appetizers, dinner, desserts, home-made presents, and Christmas Pictionary. It was the first time we were able to have everyone there! I had a lot of fun and I hope everyone else did as well! Thanks guys for coming!

Big Girl Bed, Pigtails, and Baby's Room

2009-12-03T20:22:00.000-08:00

Claire got a new big girl bed a while ago. It's not really "new" but new to her. It was mine from when I was little, up until I was maybe 16 years old. She, Levi and I painted it white to make it look not ghetto. She loves it and always wants to show it to everyone who comes over. I thought she'd fall off of it if I didn't get one of those side guard rails, but she doesn't! She makes sure to scoot all the way over to the wall so she doesn't fall.

Dean (Levi's dad) and Levi have built a new room down in our basement for the baby. I'm really excited about it! I thought it would be a bit small but it seems perfect for a baby's room. I can't wait 'till it's all finished and I can put the furniture in there. I'll post pictures when it's finished.

Here's the closet so far.

One side of the room, the closet and the entryway are to the right of this photo.

And the other side of the room.

Now, Claire has never had very much hair but I'm showing proof that it IS growing. I can now put pigtails in the back of her hair. This is a big step and she LOVES having "two ponytails". She asks for them all the time but I rarely do it 'cause she doesn't have enough hair. Well, now she does.

New Moon

2009-11-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

I'm just going to keep doing this. Go to Jenn's blog to read what I did with friends! Yay! hahahaha I'm so lazy. I feel the same way she does about the movie, too. We were talking about it afterwards with some girls. A conversation went something similar to this (may not be exact wording): Girl- "I think Jacob is so hot, I loved it when he took his shirt off." Jenn- "Have you ever seen Sharkboy and Lavagirl? Well, Jacob's really young in it and so it's hard for me to think he's hot, it totally ruined it for me." Me: "Yeah, his face ruined it for me."

I don't think Edward's hot in the movie but I was watching an Ellen Show today that I recorded and he was super cute in the interview so maybe I do think he's a little good looking.

Oh, and P.S. I realize how horrible I look in the photo Jenn has on her blog. My face and boobs are taking over the photo and well, yuck.

Trunk/Trick-Or-Treat

2009-11-09T17:04:00.001-08:00

I know this is late. But here are some pictures of Claire on the Friday before Halloween trunk-or-treating and then on Halloween. She liked it on Friday but hated it on Saturday so I didn't get many photos of her on Halloween. Halloween... I just thought I'd say it again 'cause I said it like 6098 times. Halloween.

She sat super still while I put her makeup on. She loves makeup. What a cutie.

The result.

Claire and my mom (Claire calls her Grandma Sophie... That's her dog's name).

On Halloween

Claire with her Grandpa and Grandma Maverick (again, that's their dog's name, she came up with that to tell the difference between which grandma's house we were going to).

Halloween Party

2009-11-08T14:10:00.001-08:00

I'm so behind on blogging... because I don't feel like doing it. So go to Jenn's blog and read about a halloween party we went to. Click here. As you can tell from all the pictures of Claire, she was REALLY excited to be there. Haha, she usually would have liked it except the last time we went to church (before this party) I ditched her in nursery. So the whole time she was scared I was going to leave her.

Snow

2009-10-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

we played in the snow today. claire reallllly enjoyed it until she suddenly (and I mean very suddenly) realized that her hands were freezing. don't worry, i went out and bought her gloves afterwards.

"Gooooo insiiiidddeee!"

Claire's 2nd Birthday!

2009-10-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

Claire had two parties. A friends party and a family party. I was super excited about it the whole week before. I'm like a little kid when it comes to birthdays and Christmas, I get all giddy and can't sleep. So, having said that, the day of Claire's birthday I was completely exhausted from not getting any sleep! So, to those who did come, if I didn't seem like myself, that's why. Anyway, Claire loved the attention and had so much fun and just kept talking and talking about her "happy birthday". Thanks to everyone who came and for all the gifts. She gets so excited when she sees all her toys. She'll go downstairs and as if she's seeing everything for the first time, she excitedly yells out everything she sees. I love it.

She wasn't so sure about everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to her. She liked it way more during the family one.

I had the kids paint pumpkins. Most of the kids weren't into it. Maybe they were a little young for this. Oh well, I thought it was a good idea.

Sorry Jenn, I know your eyes are closed in this one but i liked it of Cohen haha.

Opening presents.

Playing play-doh with her grandma's.

Blake wanted to get in on some of the girly action.

Trying out her new dress up shoes, baby, baby carrier and purse.

She did really well blowing out the candle.

Monster Hat

2009-10-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

We (I) made a monster had at a craft class Claire goes to once a month. Cute, right?

She likes to wear towels on her head, like I do.

Oh, did I mention she's cute?

She can count to 6, when she's in the mood.

She talks a lot.

She has the most amazing memory I've ever seen in a kid. She remembers a scary movie she saw one time in my mom's car back in August. The little part she saw she remembers it in full detail and tells us about it often.

She's funny.

She loves playing with other kids.

She'll be 2 on the 17th and we're having a party for her. This is when I realized she has 1 girl friend and the rest are all boys. That's my girl!

What?

2009-09-16T08:41:00.001-07:00

I've been looking at the Urban Outfitters website for the past few weeks now, hoping that they come up with something awesomely awesome that I just have to have. Instead, I keep finding this crap. I mean, floral shorts? Oh, excuse me? You thought that was a skirt? Oh no, my friend, they're shorts. Did the flowiness of it fool you? Yeah, that's why THEY SUCK. And then on to the body suit. Didn't think those would come back? Why? 'Cause they're ridiculous, that's why. Going to the bathroom is a chore with those things, not to mention before doing the hibbity dibbity. Your husband wouldn't think it's worth the effort of getting it off. Yeah, I don't know what fashion is up to these days, but it's starting to suck.

It's a little early but...

2009-08-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

I decided I Couldn't wait any longer. I've told most of my friends, so I think the majority of the people who read my blog already know this but....

I'M PREGNANT! Yay for us!

Not to brag or anything, but it only took not even a month for me to get pregnant. To quote Levi's mom, Levi's a "straight shooter" and I guess I'm just extremely fertile haha. Anyway, we're excited and can't wait for it to get here (I say "it" but I'm pretty sure it's going to be another girl). My due date is March 20th which couldn't be more perfect. I'm excited I get to be pregnant during the winter so I'm not dying of heat like I was when I was pregnant with Claire.

I'm feeling alright except for being really tired and nothing ever tastes good. That lasts my whole pregnancy... I am NOT excited for that at all. However, I'm grateful I'm pregnant and I can't wait to start showing my belly off, as soon as it gets here. I love how pregnant women look! I can't believe we're going to be a family of 4!

It's Been Forever

2009-08-17T12:16:00.001-07:00

I suck at blogging. I haven't wanted to do it for a while, but I think that's pretty obvious. I just got back from my good ol' home town of Naperville, Illinois and it was good to see my brother and his new wifey and to hang out with the fam. The below pictures is of my brother Paul and his wife Joslyn.

Levi wasn't there most of the time, though, and I sure did miss him. My mom even noticed that I got in a better mood when he came around. Aw, it's true love, that's for sure. I was thinking about that while I was watching the movie 500 days of Summer (great soundtrack, hated the ending, BOO but I sure do love me some Zoe). Anyway, I was thinking about how it would be nice to feel that feeling of first falling in love again. You know that feeling? Butterflies, a constant smile on your face, you walk as though you should have a soundtrack in your life of only happy, bouncy music. Not to mention every time you think about that person you get so excited your hands get sweaty, and your armpits, and your back (I'm sure that's just me, after all, I do have a sweating problem). Anyway, I thought it would be nice to feel that again, but then I was glad I don't get to feel it again. Because the feelings I have for Levi surpass all of that. If I were to go back to how I first felt about Levi, when I first realized I was in love with him, and then had the feelings I have for him now, pushed on me all of a sudden, it would be unbearable! But since it happened gradually, I'm used to the feeling. Am I making any sense? To know that I love him no matter what and he loves me no matter what, is amazing. We don't have to worry if the other person is going to change their mind, or find someone better. Nope, we have each other forever and we know it and are confident in our decision. That's a WAY better feeling. Sorry to get all mushy, but I thought it was worth blogging about.

See?

2009-07-15T08:26:00.001-07:00

I HAVE been doing stuff other than photography. Here's a real post for you guys.

I've been having a lot of fun with friends at playdates and girls nights. Yeah, I think I've lost my want to blog. So, here are some pictures that I stole from Jenn. See... I have a HUGE camera, and it's annoying taking it anywhere besides photoshoots. Because of that, I never take any pictures when I do something fun, hence, the lack of blogging about real things. Anyway, thanks Jenn for the pictures and having a small camera to carry around.

This was at girls night. We went to raging waters, cafe med to eat, and then slept over at talitha's house. Ah, you're never too old for a sleep over.

This is us at the splash pool in Daybreak. I like to mix it up a bit. One day at the beach, one day at the East Lake pool, and another day at the splash pool. I'll even throw in Seven Peaks once in a while. I know, I'm crazy like that.

Play group at the Gateway. We had such a good turnout, it was fun. Claire did NOT like me running through the water with her in my arms. I thought if I forced her into it she'd end up liking it. Turns out that's not the way to go.

Check it

2009-07-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

Check out my photo blog (click on blackbird photo, even though it's blackbird photography now) I'm doing a giveaway.

Advice?

2009-07-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

So I plan on doing two things in the very near future.

1. Starting to potty train Claire. She gets the concept, she's extremely smart, I think she'll get it pretty fast. Any advice on the best way to do this? I've thought about doing the no pants all day every day until she gets it. Is there a better way?

2. Putting her in a "big girl" bed. I'm afraid of her getting out of her bed and then crying a ton 'cause she can't get out of her room. Now, let me tell you, she's VERRRRRY stubborn when she wants to be so letting her cry on the floor in her room isn't an option. She would never stop. Trust me. So any advice on that?

I'm not sure exactly when I want to start these next big steps in her life, but I know it's going to be soon and I'd love any advice anyone has. Thank you so much!

Bridals

2009-07-02T15:47:00.001-07:00

Please check these out. I'm very excited about how these turned out. I was soooo nervous because she's using them for her wedding and tons of people will be seeing them, but now my nerves have all calmed down and now I'm just excited!

Hiya

2009-06-29T23:07:00.003-07:00

Want to see more? Click here.

Nothing Much

2009-06-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

Hi. I haven't been up to anything really, lately. But I thought I should update my blog. I'm such a lame-o. I'm sure a lot of you saw the rainbow that was beautifying the sky the other night. I took a snapshot of it because it was seriously the most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen. And then, of course, there's Claire. She's just all around beautiful. Love her. Sorry, maybe one day I'll become exciting and have exciting things to blog about and then you all will get excited to read my blog. But for now, this is what you get.

Chip off the ol' tooth

2009-06-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

Claire fell down on the playground and chipped her tooth. It was very sad. Poor little girl. They'll be able to fix it in about a year. She's too young right now. So chip's her name. Or Lloyd Christmas like SOME people like to call her....

Awww

2009-06-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day looking after Milo while his mom (Emily, Levi's sister) went to work. I get to watch him every Tuesday and Thursday from 7:30-1ish. I thought it would be really hard but it wasn't. I also thought Claire would hate every second of it, but she was SO cute with him. She would put his blanket on him, give him his pacifier, try to share her food with him, say hi to him whenever she'd come near him, and give him kisses. I loved watching her with him and it made me extremely excited to have another kid. Claire's going to be the best big sister ever. Just when I thought Claire couldn't get any cuter, she goes and does this. What an amazing little thing.

Just look at him.

She wanted to lay on the play mat with him. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Go!

2009-06-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

Go here to check out new pictures of...

...this cute boy's one-year pictures...

...and this cute girl and her twins...

Just look at her!

2009-05-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

Isn't she the best? Love her.

Piano for Sale!!!

2009-05-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, people, Let's go. Who wants a piano? I'm selling mine for 6,000.00. this is a copy and paste from what i wrote on ksl...

I'm very sad to be giving this piano away. I've only had it for 3 years and only played it a handful of times. I used to work full-time and then I had a baby and just never had the time to play. Now I have no room for it in our new house. My parents are keeping it in their very nice, finished basement and it's just sitting there being lonely. It needs a friend who will play it. Here are some of the features:
-It has a touch screen
-It has a long list of songs it will play for your listening pleasure but it also has the option to show you the composition so you may teach yourself how to play that very piece!-It also has childrens songs so if you have kids, this would be a great way to teach them how to play the piano!-It has speakers under the lid, so just like a real baby grand, you can control the volume of the music by opening or closing the lid. However, it still has a knob to adjust the volume.
-It has fun features like being able to sound like a different instrument.-You can make up different beats.
-You can compose and record your own music, onto just the piano or onto a disc.
There are many, many other great features but there are too many to name! Please call now and bring this baby grand back to life!
(there are 2 scratches on the back of the lid. No one will be able to see them unless they're standing behind the piano and looking closely at the edge of the lid. See pictures.)

Some things

2009-05-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went to another one of Emily's baby showers. I got her a book called, "Is Your Mama a Llama?". If you haven't read it, read it. It's my favorite children's book. Anyway, Emily was beautiful and glowing because she has such a wonderful little blessing in her life whom I already love. I can't wait to take care of him while Emily's at work.

Today I went to Liberty Park. Such a fun place! I wish it wasn't so far away, I'd go there every day. Claire was adorable but of course, I didn't get very many cute pictures of her. I for some reason can get great shots of everyone else BUT her. However, when I do get that great photo, it really is great.

I love my life. I get to hang out with the coolest little girl in the world every day, sometimes with fun friends and then I get to have an amazing husband come home from a wonderful job. We then get to hang out as a family, that's my favorite. I've never been happier! Ahhh, what joy.

Oh yeah..

2009-05-16T19:59:00.001-07:00

I forgot a couple of things.

We also had icecream.

And rode down a hill in a bike trailer.

I had to go first. See those two kids behind me? I almost ran them over and I had to scream, "Boys move! Boys move! Boys move!!!"

Good times.

LAST Weekend

2009-05-16T12:16:00.001-07:00

I'm not going to say much, just that last weekend was really nice.

My parents with Claire.

My parents without Claire.

The parents OF Claire. (And my very unwashed, greasy hair)

Levi w/ Claire on his shoulders.

My dad w/ Claire on his shoulders (she's a shoulder slut).

So I got Claire this new stroller and instead of pushing it around, which she does sometimes, she likes to carry it like so.

We are currently dog sitting my parents little dog. She's so cute and Claire LOVES her. She's the only dog she'll full-on touch. I want one just like her because I love seeing Claire with her.

And I just love this picture of Claire. She's so beautiful.

Ava & Cohen

2009-05-09T13:46:00.001-07:00

To see more click HERE

Dancin' in the Rain

2009-05-03T11:43:00.001-07:00

Claire and I took the opportunity to enjoy the rain Friday evening and Saturday morning. It was SO much fun seeing how happy she was playing in the puddles and running around in the rain. I love having a kid so that I can act like one as well!

Milo Photoshoot

2009-05-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

To see more, click here!

Brag Moment

2009-05-01T11:37:00.001-07:00

Hi.

Claire had her 18th month well check and you all know what that means!

BRAG MOMENT!!!! YAY!!!!

I can't remember all of her measurements, but I do know that she went from being in the 75th percentile to 89th percentile for height. Talk about a growth spurt, eh? Ohhh yeaaah.

Her head is evening out, it's now in the 60th or 70th, I can't remember, I just know it's no longer in the 93rd percentile haahaa.

I can't keep up on EVERY little new thing she does, but here are a few of my favs.

-She tries to say EVERYTHING we say. She's even starting to put two or more words together. "Daddy's shoes" "Shoes off"

"Poop diaper", ya know, stuff like that.

-One night, Levi was looking at a book with her and there were babies wearing different colors. He would ask her to point to a color and she got all of them right! (he only asked her 4 different colors but still).

-She says "Peeeaaasssee" when she wants something.

-She likes hanging on anything she can find and lifting her legs up towards her chest. I love it, she has these muscly little arms.

-She mainly just runs everywhere in

stead of walks and she's getting better about not tripping and falling down when she does it. She has so many bruises and scabs on her knees.

-Apparently she's too big for baths 'cause she hates taking them now. She only likes taking showers with me.

-She weighs 25lbs or so. Which is funny considering my sister and I weighed 30lbs when we were 1! Talk about fat babies. (I should stop saying "talk about...")

-She has such a goofy personality now. She tries so hard to make people laugh. Like last night Levi had a couple of friends over

and Claire would throw herself onto the ground and start rolling and kicking all over the place and then get up and have this corny smile on her face.

-She gets frustrated when she can't do something on her own. She'll try FOREVER to put her own socks and shoes on and if she can't get it she'll cry a little bit. And I'm not allowed to help her until she asks for help (I wonder where she got that from? hmm...).

-She LOVES getting dressed and trying on shoes. Shopping with her is amazing! It doesn't help my shopping problem AT ALL.

-She's the best listener ever. It's rare if I have to make her stop doing something.

-She gets very distraught if things are knocked over or broken. If something's broken she always wants me to fix it and while

I'm trying to fix it she has a worried look on her face. And if anything's knocked over (garbage cans outside, usually) she says, "uh-oh" until I pick it up. People probably think I'm a GREAT neighbor, when really, Claire won't stop saying "uh-oh" and it gets kind of annoying haha.

I don't know, I can't think of anything else, but she's definitely an incredibly smart/well behaved/strong little girl.

Meet Milo

2009-04-27T19:29:00.001-07:00

Levi's sister, Emily, and her husband, Jeff, recently had the opportunity to adopt the cutest little boy EVER. I love him already. They have been waiting so long to have a child and finally their time has come. I'm so happy for them! We love you Milo!!!

Girls Trip

2009-04-27T17:30:00.001-07:00

I normally hate Vegas, but knowing I was going to be there with a bunch of girlfriends was the reason I went. It was good times. It was really nice to lay by the pool, "Woop" at everyone who walked by and see many a guy (even fat ones) in speedos. Can't ever go wrong with that.

Che' & Zac

2009-04-21T21:14:00.001-07:00

Want more? You've gotta click here!

Weekend

2009-04-19T20:51:00.001-07:00

This weekend was really fun, especially since the weather was A-MAZ-ING! On Friday my friend Che' and I went to a late showing of 17 Again. Yeah, not only was Zac Effron HOT in it, he was funny, too. Man, he's got it all. It's definitely a fun girls night movie to see. DO IT!

Saturday Levi and I worked on our yard. If you've seen our yard you're probably thinking, "Why would you need to work on that?" Not because it's naturally beautiful, but because it's the smallest yard ever. But it was still fun, I raked the grass and Levi fertilized and watered it. All the while Claire was entertaining herself running around outside. It was so simple but so much fun, seriously.

Also, Levi and I co-rented a plot in Daybreak with Zac and Che' to plant vegetables. So the boys mixed manure (sp?) in with the dirt while the girls sat and watched. I'm excited about the plot, though, it'll be interesting to see how things turn out! We then went out to eat with, can you guess? ZAC AND CHE!!!! YAY!!! We went to Mac somethin'. It's an Irish place and it was GOOOOD. Although, I don't like red meat and they had a lot of it so there wasn't much variety for me, Levi seemed to love it and wants to go back.

Sunday was just a very pleasant day. We tried putting Claire in nursery again. She screamed. HARD and cried for 45 minutes. They finally came and got me and

said, "We tried!!!" I was surprised they kept her for so long! They're very determined. But I finally got her and she didn't want to have anything to do with church the rest of the day. So we went and played outside for a long time.

Later, we went over to Levi's grandparents house and they had an Easter egg hunt.

Claire wasn't as into it as she was last weekend but she got some good stuff! It was such a nice weekend and I'm SO excited for the beautiful weather this week. It's going to rock!

And this is Claire's new thing. She lays on her stomach to look at things and to read. It's probably my favorite. I love her.

The Watkins

2009-04-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

To see more Click here!

Yes, I'm doing an Easter post too.

2009-04-13T15:01:00.001-07:00

We had a great Easter! It was so fun to have Claire actually have fun with it all. She got a little tea set that is just the cutest thing ever, a coloring book (no crayons, way to go Easter Bunny.... idiot:), some stickers, candy, and a carebear dressed up like a bunny. When we had our Easter egg hunt, she saw all the eggs all over the yard and kept saying, "Uh oh" as if someone had dropped them and she needed to pick them up. But she loved it and had so much fun, she gathered a ton of eggs and then I left them at my mom's house. I guess the Easter Bunny and I have a lot in common... hmm.....

I got her some stickers that go on her finger nails, this is me putting them on for her.

She loves her grandma. She loves the other one too but we're going to do Easter with them next weekend.

Making sure they're all there.

And we had a first on Easter Sunday! Claire went to Nursery! She screamed at the top of her lungs for about 10 minutes and then made one of the leaders hold her for 20 minutes, and then I guess she calmed down after that. Hopefully she'll get used to it soon. I hate it when she cries, it makes me sad. But it was so nice to be able to enjoy church without having to watch Claire the whole time. Although, she's extremely cute.

Kevin & Amber

2009-04-11T00:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry for how many photos I'm putting on here for my photog blog. But this is what I've been doing lately so this is what you get. Click HERE to see more!

Matix

2009-04-07T21:24:00.001-07:00

To see more, click here.

Phrases to live by

2009-04-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVggNGVGGq0

Hooray for me!!!!

2009-04-01T18:52:00.001-07:00

So my all time favorite photographer, Sheye Rosemeyer, put up MY photo on her blog!!! We're the best of flickr friends. I used some of her actions to edit one of my vintage nature photos and she loved it. See here! It's the 6th one when you start counting from the top left. I'm so excited! And here's a new one I took today with my new lens. Claire and her best friend, Kenna. They have so much fun together, especially lately!

Lenses for sale!!!

2009-03-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

So I just ordered a new lens and I won't need all of the other ones I have. So I'm selling them! I'm also trying to sell them on ebay so I'll try and keep this updated if they sell on there before someone here wants them.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8-$109.00-hardly used.

Tamron AF 28-80mm 3.5-5.6-$40.00-Used once.

New Shoes (Yes, I know I already posted today)

2009-03-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

So I realized that when I labeled my last post "Short hair" I bet most of you thought I had cut my hair. That's not going to happen until I have all my babies. Short hair+pregnant=really ugly Stephanie.

Anyway, Claire has some new shoes and I must say, they're the cutest things ever. I don't care if you people think they're ugly, I love them. They're wonderfully tacky and they have a freaking zipper on the inner side! She has a tutu that's going to look so cute with these. YES! I totally would have wanted these when I was little. Me and my 20 watches on one arm.

Short Hair

2009-03-26T09:38:00.001-07:00

Sorry, I found the picture of the short hair on MSN.com and since they're not showing that article anymore the picture is gone. Too bad, it was a really cute hair cut.

Some new - Some old

2009-03-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

So I sold the photoshop! Sorry to anyone who wanted it but some guy on Ebay decided he wanted it. And I felt bad for him 'cause he scammed a couple of times trying to buy the downloadable version. ANYWAY, I'm glad it's sold!

Moving on. Here is my new favorite picture of Claire. Click here to see more from today and others I re-edited!

Anyone?

2009-03-21T11:19:00.000-07:00

The other day I was on Ebay looking for Adobe Photoshop CS2. I kept finding ones for mac that were around $350 bucks (no thank you) and then FINALLY, I found one for $150! So I go ahead and snatch it 'cause I don't think I'll find as good of a deal as that. I'm anxiously waiting for it to come in the mail and... YAY it came! BUUUUTT..... (I hate buts, especially flat, hairy ones) it was for windows. I was too excited about the price I didn't even double check to see if it was for a Mac.

So, please, if ANYONE wants to buy this from me for $140.00 PLEASE tell me. I could just send it back to the guy but I just have a feeling I won't make it to the post office in time. I'm trying to re-sell it on Ebay but nobody seems to want it. It's a really great program and you can do all sorts of neat things with it. I can even tell you where to get some awesome actions to use along with it. So please, someone buy it!?!?!?! Even if you're a friend of a friend stalking my blog, I don't care. And I'd be happy to ship it to you if you don't live in Utah. Thank you!

Etsy

2009-03-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

I just added my vintage nature collection to my etsy shop. Visit me here. They're 8X10 standout photographs. A standout is a 1.5" thick, lightweight Gatorfoam with a lightly textured black or smooth white trim around the edges. So cute.

2009-03-15T13:16:00.001-07:00

Here's another photo I took at the mentoring sessino and edited on my own afterwards. Go here to see more or click on the blackbird photo logo on the top right of my blog!

Check this out!

2009-03-13T16:34:00.002-07:00

Yeah, I'm awesome 'cause I took this shot. Eat this.

New Favorites...

2009-03-12T18:50:00.001-07:00

A few of Claire's new favorite things are:

Doing puzzles

Having me paint her toenails every single day.

Putting make-up on by herself.

Pretending she can't see me while I'm taking a picture of her.

Putting jewelry on. Well, this isn't that new but it's becoming a definite favorite.

Doing headstands. I love this one, she'll do it on command.

Doing this face....

And having us put any blanket that's in her sight on top of her.

Other news: Since she was teething for so long, having her pacifier well... pacified her (har har) so I let her have it all day and all night. Well, I was dreading the day she stopped teething when I'd have to take it away from her. It turned out to not be so bad. I just had to stick with it and let her cry when I said she couldn't have it. The first day was the worst but it wasn't even that bad. So, if anyone's trying to take their child's pacifier away from them, just be strong. Don't give in. There were times I just let her roll around on the floor crying while I ignored her for a half hour. Now she doesn't even ask for it and she'll put it in her top drawer herself after she wakes up.

Also, I bought her this little training potty just for fun and so she could get used to it come potty training time. Well, she peed into once! I'm pretty sure it was an accident but it was still exciting. She hasn't done it since. That's all. Thank you and good night (or good day depending on when you read this).

Sick Girl

2009-02-26T09:30:00.000-08:00

Claire's been sick for a while now. She had a cold for two weeks and then got over it and 3 days later got another cold from someone. I'm not mad, though, 'cause it's winter, that's what comes along with it. Plus she's cuddly and cute. So Claire always gets her shoes, brings them to me and wants me to put them on her. She always has to have shoes or socks on, it's so funny. So when she was sick she kept wanting me to put her snow boots on. Sometimes snow boots, some juice, and maybe a horse ride can make a person feel better. Also, I forgot to mention this when valentines happened but oh well. Levi was so cute and got Claire her very first flowers. She always wants to smell them.
And the other day I caught Claire sitting on the computer chair reading her book. Love it.

Doughnut

2009-02-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

I was looking at some random person's blog and there was a picture of a doughnut. I want a doughnut. Now. MMMMMM........ dough..... nut..... grgglgr...

Holla!

2009-02-14T21:00:00.001-08:00

No, I wasn't trying to say "Hola" and be all cultural, I meant "Holla", which, I guess is still being sort of cultural, right?

Anyway, two of my favorite things we did recently were:

Going to the Jazz vs Lakers game! It was SOOOO much fun, seriously, it was so loud and such a good game, I'm really glad I went. I was getting so into it.

Then on Friday we went to see Coraline. I LOVED IT! Yeah, I didn't so much know there was a book so I'm definitely going to be reading it. If you haven't seen this movie, go see it. It's really odd, scary, and wonderful. DO NOT take your children, though. It's rated PG but it's actually pretty scary! I was thinking if I had seen it when I was little.... well... I probably wouldn't have been scared but I was kind of a weird child. But a NORMAL child would be scared. It is AWESSSSOMMMMMEEEEEEEEE.

I hope everyone had a good Valentines Day! I went to the gym, so that's how awesome we are. No, we celebrated it on Friday so we could beat the huge crowds. We're smart S-M-R-T.

McKenna

2009-02-12T11:55:00.000-08:00

To see more click here!

New Website

2009-02-09T19:27:00.000-08:00

I have a new website for my photo shoots. Check it out here! And don't forget to put it on your blog for friends to see. Thanks guys!

Final Sayla

2009-02-06T14:44:00.001-08:00

Here are the rest of Sayla's pictures. I hope you like them, Sommer!

I was just experimenting with this one. Freaky huh?

And here's the proud mother.

Sayla

2009-02-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

So this is little Sayla. My sister's friend's little girl. She's so cute and there are way more that I still need to edit, just wanted to give you a little preview. Stay tuned!

Pictures

2009-02-04T07:53:00.000-08:00

I took some pictures of my nephew Blake yesterday and I love how they turned out. This is definitely the best I've ever done, that's why I'm sharing them with all of you! As soon as I get more photos of different kids/families, I'm going to start another blog. I'm also going to start charging for photo shoots so if any of you want me to take some pictures, let me know! Just leave me your e-mail and I'll send you the pricing info.

I hope this is contagious!

2009-01-31T20:40:00.000-08:00

She tried to be serious for a second...

...but then she couldn't handle it!

15-Month Brag Moment

2009-01-27T14:20:00.001-08:00

I know, I know, everyone thinks THEIR kids are the cutest kids ever. Well, so do I! (No, not yours, MINE!) So I'm going to brag a bit about Claire since I haven't done that in a while. I mean, I do here and there but haven't dedicated a whole post to it in a long time.

-She can count to 20 (okay, no she can't)

-She knows a lot of animals--Dog, Cat, Elephant, Horse, Cow, Frog, Duck, Bird, Snake, Hippo, Bear, Tiger, Lion, Bee, pig, mouse, lady bug, spider, monkey, I dunno, you get the point, she knows a lot of them.

-She can make some animal noises--Lion, Tiger (they make the same noise), Elephant (this is actually really funny considering she's learning it from me, she tries so hard. Levi and my mom can't even make the noise like I can), she tries to do pig but it just isn't happening, monkey (she makes the noise every time she sees a monkey or wants her monkey), snake, cat sometimes, owl, cow.

-She knows all of her body parts--Hair, head, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, ears, neck, arms, hands, fingers, belly button, belly (same thing), legs, feet, toes.

-She can say the following (as well as she knows how, anyway): Baby, Bread, Ball, Uh-oh, Shoes, Jesus, mom, dad, more, Sage (haha she tries), grandma (more like "ma"), Grandpa ("pa"), Jenn (yeah I know, funny), drink, juice (sounds pretty much like Jesus, so does shoes), bye-bye, she tries to say downstairs, down, up. That's all I can think of right now. She tries to say pretty much everything we say but she just can't get the words out all the way.

-If I ask her a question and the answer is "yes" she'll nod her head. If the answer is "no" she'll cover her eyes and put her head down.

-She pretends she's giving me something and then she'll quickly take it away before I grab it and go "ooooh" like she totally fooled me.

-When she drops something she grunts now, that's new as of Sunday. I wonder if I do that? I've never noticed.

-If she drops something and she's sitting on her chair, she'll pretend like she's trying hard to reach for it and grunt a lot like she's working really hard. (she's not really working hard at all).

-She likes doing Itsy-bitsy spider, pat-a-cake, row, row, row your boat, and the hokey pokey.

-If she gets something out and I want her to put it back I just say, "Can you go put it back?" and she does. She puts it back exactly where and how she found it, it's so funny.

-She knows what the garbage is so if I tell her to throw something in the garbage she does.

-She knows that if I put her shoes on that means we're leaving. So she'll bring me her shoes and say "bye-bye" and wave her hands to tell me she wants to go somewhere.

-When it's time to take a bath she'll start crawling up the stairs towards her bathroom.

-If I ask her if she wants to take a shower she goes to my bathroom.

-In books that we have that just have pictures and the flash cards we have, she can point out almost anything I name to her.

There are just so many things she can do! She's so smart and I love her. I don't even necessarily spend a TON of time on things with her, she just catches on really quickly and it makes my job so easy. If you read all of this you're amazing.

What a Great Weekend

2009-01-25T18:03:00.000-08:00

On friday night Levi and I went roller skating with our friends Che' and Zac. What great people. I thought I wouldn't be very good at it since I haven't gone roller skating since I was 12 (we had to do roller skating for gym class, awesome), but turns out it wasn't bad at all. Claire wasn't happy that we put her in her stroller but she always gets to have fun.

Che's trying to get McKenna to laugh, she's not really that hardcore... Well maybe a little.

The boys and their girls.

Che', her booty, and the kid with the FREAKING AWESOME Bill Cosby sweater!!!

Saturday night (I wish I had taken at least one picture) we went to Shandra's house with our girlfriends and brought her dinner. She just had a baby about 2 weeks ago and he is SO cute and little! I forgot how small Claire used to be. It was really fun, though. We each brought an appetizer and just ate and talked all night long. Friends are fun. Don't you think?

Friday Night Date-in-a-Car

2009-01-17T08:59:00.000-08:00

On Friday night Levi and I (mainly myself) were feeling pretty anti-social. It would have been a great night to stay in and watch movies, but we already had a babysitter and we needed the time alone. We were PLANNING on going to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but plans changed. Instead, this is what we did:

We ate Chick-Fil-A in our car. Yes, our car. We looked inside the restaurant and saw all of the people (it was really crowded) and decided to just go through the drive-thru and eat the food in our car. How awesome are we?

After we ate we drove over to Barnes & Noble and read a few books. Yeah, just a few...

After reading for a couple of hours we drove over to Cold Stone. And where did we eat it? Say it with me. IN OUR CAR!

It was such a great date night. The reason I was feeling so anti-social was due to the fact that Claire woke up at 5:30 in the a.m. and just had a horrible day. She wore me out and I didn't want any innocent people to be victims of my bad attitude. So there you have it. A date in a car. How lovely.

Wow...

2009-01-13T20:07:00.000-08:00

So everyone knows Claire looks exactly like Levi. I know, I know. I wish I could take credit for the way she looks, but I just can'tl. Levi has all the good looks in the family and I'm SO glad Claire got them. Well, today I was just outside taking pictures of Claire, like always, and I snapped this picture. She looks EXACTLY like Levi here. It's so strange! I mean even the looks she gives are like his. Man oh man. This is their serious look. Plus, she's teething so it adds a little more tension to her look, as if she's trying to find the cure for cancer.

The rest of the break...

2009-01-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

So the rest of the break pretty much consisted of us all playing Rockband.

Adam really knows how to get the "crowd" going.

We did try to mix it up, though, by going bowling. Yes, I'm going to brag about how I bowled a 155. Booyah. Highest score of the night! Claire did pretty alright.

Claire couldn't understand why she couldn't pick up the balls when it was so easy for everyone else. She'd try and try and then give up but the second she'd see someone else pick one up she'd go on trying again. So determined.

Afterwards we went over to my parents house to watch the Utes

and Jazz games. Yeah, Levi and his friends got old school jerseys made from a guy who lives in not America.

Levi has this strange obsession with Thurl Bailey, he makes us listen to his Christmas CD every year. So awful. Needless to say, that's whose name he has on the back of his jersey.

Now, for New yea.... I mean, Levi's birthday, we go to Bonsai every year. It's SO good, we love it. My sister and her husband usually come with us but they couldn't this year. So Levi thought it was just going to be the two of us. WELLL... being the awesome wife that I am I told his friends to secretly meet us there to surprise Levi. It was pretty awesome because before we left I told Levi he should just call his friends to see if they should come ('cause I'm so sneaky) and he was like, "No, I'm kind of excited it'll just be the two of us!" Which was really nice and all... luckily he was really surprised his friends were there and he was glad they came. We have a picture but I need Levi to scan it. Just close your eyes and picture this: Lisa, Levi, myself and Shane are all sitting down, in that order, behind us standing are, starting from the left: Adam, Greg, and Chief. There, that's how the picture went. Now I don't have to scan it.

What a Break!

2009-01-04T20:26:00.000-08:00

Oh how I love having Levi home! He didn't have to work for almost 2 weeks and it was the greatest thing ever! We spent every day together as a family just hanging out and having fun and it's been the best almost 2 weeks ever. I'm going to miss him when he goes back to work. We had a wonderful Christmas and a great birthday (we don't celebrate New Years' Eve anymore. For those of you who don't know, Levi's birthday is on New Years' Eve. Luckily, he found someone who hates that holiday anyway). So, where do I start? I guess with Christmas, right? Well, to start off, we had a girls Christmas party slumber partaaay. We went out to eat and had the crappiest server, but we got a free somethin' so it was awesome. We decorated cookies, exchanged 5 dolla gifts and a few of us stayed up all night ('till 4 or 5 in the morning) chatting. It was a gay ol' time. The next night was Levi's friends' Christmas party (I don't have a picture of that). I bet you can just imagine the great company I was going off like, 3 hours of sleep. I pretty much stayed in the kitchen baking treats so I didn't pass my grumpiness off to anyone else. Good thing I love baking.

Next, my brother and his fiance came to visit! I haven't seen my brother in a year. I love having him around. I hope one day they decide to move here to be close to us!

They were only here for a short amount of time so we spent most of the nights over at my parents house so we could hang out with them longer at night and see them in the mornings.

On Christmas Eve we went over to Levi's parents house to exchange gifts.

Claire was really into opening presents there.

After that, we went back tomy parents house and decorated cookies and played games.

Then, Levi and I went home so we could have our own family Christmas the next morning. This is the chair Levi and I got for Claire. I was sitting in it one day and she pushed me out of it so she could sit in it. Bossy girl.

Afterwards we went over to my parents house, opened presents (I got a Dyson! Claire got this cute table and chair set from Ikea. She loves it).

Then we headed over to Levi's grandparents house to open some more presents. His grandparents got Claire this rocking horse that neighs. I don't know where to put it at the moment....

Our Christmas ended up being a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it! Tomorrow (or sometime in the near future) I'll be posting about the rest of the break. Yay!

Oh what fun it is to ride in a two man sled-aled

2008-12-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday Levi and I went to my parents house to help them wrap some presents that needed to be shipped out to relatives. I LOVE wrapping presents so if anyone needs some help, call me. Anyway, after we finished, we decided it would be fun to take Claire sledding for the first time! She LOVED it. On her way down she would go, "Weeeeeeee" and then laugh when she got to the bottom. It was the cutest thing ever.

First she went with Levi

Then me

Then my mom

Afterwards, we made some fudge. We do it every year for Christmas. It was really fun but my sister didn't get to come 'cause she was sick with the flu. :(

I love Christmas so much and I love spending it with family. It doesn't feel like Christmas when I'm not with them. I'm excited for my brother to come out next week with his new fiance! Then everything will be perfect.

Things I love right now...

2008-12-09T21:38:00.001-08:00

Oh, Christmas Tree

How lovely are thy branches!

(what? that's not how it goes?)

Claire knowing she's cute.

The squatting position.

Claire helping Levi with the laundry.

And I love my curtains but apparently there are Jurtains in the Curtains 'cause it won't let me upload the picture. Sucks to be you guys 'cause you won't be able to see how amazingly awesome they are.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2008-12-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

That title doesn't really have anything to do with my post. Levi was just singing it so it's in my head. Only his version goes a little like this, "It's a half decent time, yes a somewhat enjoyable time, of the year." Oh, what a fungi.

Anyway, here are some pictures of what Claire's been up to lately...

Pondering on Curbs. She's very deep.
Wiping food all over herself. "Uh, maybe that was a bad idea."
Looking at the ornaments and saying "Oohhh."
She likes it when I put the little hair that she has into clips/hair ties.
She carries this in her mouth all the time while she's doing other things.
She kept climbing up the ladder to help Levi put the lights up.
If she falls down, she just lays like this as if she meant to do it.
She now models for JCrew. They have a children's line now. They created it just so they could have Claire as their model.
She thinks it's "cool" to hang out in freezers. HAHAHAHA.

Stay tuned, I'll be posting pictures of our Christmas decorations and our awesome new curtains. But then again, I might not.

Claire and Jewelry-Love/Hate relationship

2008-11-25T09:33:00.000-08:00

Here's Claire having fun with the jewelry, taking it out of the box, putting it back in. Just loving it.

All of a sudden she turns on it. She hates it and wants it off. Literally, this happened in a split second. Babies are so funny with their emotions.

I know it's early but it's so funny!

2008-11-18T18:05:00.001-08:00

Pause my playlist and Turn up the volume!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Nothin' Much

2008-11-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

I don't have anything to post about really. But I thought it was time to update my blog. Say hi to Claire!

Yes, I'm going private as well!!!

2008-11-06T14:33:00.001-08:00

I'm going private a week from TODAY (maybe a week and a half. Maybe two). Leave your e-mail even if I don't know you. 'Cause you might want to stalk our family since you knew Levi from high school or something. Or you think I'm SO HOT and you like my body. Or you just think I'm the smartest person EVER and you think you'll get stupider by the day if you don't read my blog. K. The End.

Ummm..... We know

Ivy

Claire

New Photo Blog

My number 2

Do the Claire Bear

Evan Lysacek

Family Pictures

Hmm....

Ivy

Road Rage

Hi.

Hey Guys!

Hi

Halloween Treat

I ain't no holla back girl

Autumn Jane-1 Year Photos

Back in Action

I have been doing stuff. Picture overload.

Best ever

sister photos gone wrong

oh yeah..

I hate Blogging

Let's Get Married!

The Story of Ivy

Ivy

Update On Sleeping

Don't be fooled...

Dance, dance do the dance

A Few Photos of Claire

Potty Training

Christmas Recipe Group

Big Girl Bed, Pigtails, and Baby's Room

New Moon

Trunk/Trick-Or-Treat

Halloween Party

Snow

Claire's 2nd Birthday!

Monster Hat

What?

It's a little early but...

It's Been Forever

See?

Check it

Advice?

Bridals

Hiya

Nothing Much

Chip off the ol' tooth

Awww

Go!

Just look at her!

Piano for Sale!!!

Some things

Oh yeah..

LAST Weekend

Ava & Cohen

Dancin' in the Rain

Milo Photoshoot

Brag Moment

Meet Milo

Girls Trip

Che' & Zac

Weekend

The Watkins

Yes, I'm doing an Easter post too.

Kevin & Amber

Matix

Phrases to live by

Hooray for me!!!!

Lenses for sale!!!

New Shoes (Yes, I know I already posted today)

Short Hair

Some new - Some old

Anyone?

Etsy

More

Check this out!

New Favorites...

Sick Girl