Aren't we all a little tired of my baby

...I'm sure you are but its my last baby so give me some credit here!  He is so close to crawling right now...he's all over the living room with his little scoot and roll.  So it's time for more photos right?!

 "Like a Sir!"

normal...

normal....what is that?  How is normal defined?  I guess it's totally subjective...everyone's normal is different. For us...normal is chaos...maybe organized chaos on good days.  Life with 3 kids can get pretty crazy.  We got married young but waited a good 5 years before having our first kiddo.  Since then I've either had a newborn or been pregnant.  I was pregnant in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.  2013 shall be different. No more babies...no more pregnancies.  No more of these sweet babies....

I cannot claim any credit for Kenzie's pic here....Poor Alexander...his were AWFUL...Owen....well he lucked out....

'Normal' here, is a fabulous life.  There are rough mornings, and long days...but those are capped off with late night snuggles on the couch, early morning bed sharing, afternoon picnics at parks, playing superheroes, and more kisses on soft chubby cheeks than any one person should get to have.  Our normal is anything but normal....it's glamorous. :)

A little about me...

Most of my blog posts are about my photos...whether of other people, or my own family...it's pretty much all photography.  Well I decided to start doing a little blogging about my own randomness as well.  There will probably be pictures, because well...I'm a visual person.  If you couldn't tell.
Today's post...entirely random because i haven't exactly had a lot of time to think about things.  So here you go....random facts about me...

1. I love being a stay at home mommy..but sometimes...i have to escape, and get away.  That usually involves going to Target.  And I can't be blamed for that because it's the only local place where a Starbucks is.

Only the best combination EVER!

2. I am an ice queen.  I hate chick flick movies.  While watching a sappy movie, my husband is more likely to get emotional than me.  Unless it involves newborn babies or something...then i'm a big puddle of watery mashed potatoes.   (yuck)

Meh...mildly disheartening at best.

3. I hate cold ketchup.  It ruins hot food.  So we have two bottles of ketchup at my house...one in the pantry, one in the fridge.

4. The sounds of scissors opening and closing is oddly calming to me.  I cannot tell you why but i love it.  sliice sliiice sliiice.  :::ahh:::

5. I drink roughly 5 cups of iced coffee per day. oof!

I LOVE YOU!

I LOVE YOU!

6. I alternately drink water, and nothing else...but i have a weird aversion to 'old' water.  If a bottle of water has been opened for more than, say, 5 hours...i don't like to drink it.  I'm like that little girl in the movie 'Signs'...you know...that one with mel gibson and the aliens directed by M. Night Shamalamadingdong.

IT'S OLD!

7. I'm a MAJOR picker of my kids.  Eye boogers, dirty ears, specks of food.  It's a problem since my kids are pretty much always covered in some grossness.

Is there something on my face?

8. The sound of a bug getting squished is the worst sound in the world.  Give me nails on a chalkboard before you squish a bug near me.  UGG!

9. We currently have 8 chicks.  We bought 10.  One died of natural causes...he was limp and gimpy one day, died the next.  We move on.  The other one....I killed.  I did.  I admit.  I put their water trough on top of it and didn't notice.  I'm a bad chick mommy.

"Did you hear about what she did to Ethel?"  "I know, it's just AWFUL!"

10. I have no concept of the notion that i'm not 18 anymore.  I feel like I am mentally...except i have this mortgage and car payment and groceries to buy and 1 husband, 3 little people, 2 dogs, 1 cat, and 10-no 8 chickies relying on me. I still like to shop in Juniors departments...but i'm trying to get over that one.  Who entrusted me with all of this responsibility?  Surely they were mistaken...I can't handle this madness!!

11.  And since i was looking through photos and saw this...you get a #11.  For Halloween Baby Owen was still tiny, so i planned to carry him in his wrap carrier.  He needed a costume too so i got really smart and cute and made us the tortoise and the hare!  Except not one person 'got it.'  They all thought i was a playboy bunny.  Because all sexy playboy bunnies carry their babies in carriers with them.  I don't understand people.

Baby A and Baby O

We had some friends of ours come for a visit twice in the past few weeks...they stopped in on their way UP to Chicago, and on the way back DOWN.  We had a lot of fun with them and their 3 kiddos.  We had one small house with 6 children 4 and under.  'Twas a bit crazy. :) Our two youngest are really close in age...Owen is older but baby A was due first.  Hey i had to keep all of our kids older than theirs right?  Enjoy some baby cutenesses!!  While i'm partial to the bigger one, the aptly named 'Mr Tiny Pants' is pretty darn cute too...and those eyes...well....'nuff said.

Ode to my baby

i have this baby...and he is a little ray of sunshine.  If you know me or my other two kids than you know that i love them all to the moon and back.  Kenzie is a little miss priss/attitude/shopping addict/fashionista/temper-driven/sweet as can be/singing/drawing/intelligent little girly girl.  Xander is my 100% boy/swords drawn/dirt lovin/swimming/bed-headed/hugging/passionate/quiet until he's mad little man.  But this post is about my third kid.  I have given birth to 3 children, but Owen is the first newborn that has been a 'normal' newborn.  Kenzie cried...she cried a lot.  She had the colic.  Then Xander came along and blew everything we knew about colic out of the water.  He cried for more hours of the day, then there were hours in the day...if that makes any sense.  So these are just some thoughts on my most recent baby...

Owen:
6 months ago today I woke up at 4am and knew something was different.  My water had broken and you were on your way.  Little did i know that it would be 27 hours later when you finally emerged and i would for 2 months be convinced that you were born on Monday the 20th. You came into the world at 6lbs 12oz and you were beautiful.

I didn't get to hold you very long before you were taken away to be monitored for your oxygen levels.  At the moment that you were taken I was just worried about you and wanted you to be cared for...but after seeing you in the nursery with all of those wires attached to you I wanted to hold you so badly and make it all go away. Make you able to breathe easy and be held and nursed like a new baby should be.

I finally got to hold you with all of your wires attached late that day.  I was so nervous, the alarms kept going off but the nurse assured me that you were fine.  You nursed so well and daddy and i couldn't help but stare at you.  I felt awful when i had to call the nurse to come take you back to your bed because i had to find a bathroom!!! :)  Late that night a knock came on our door and the nurse said that you were all clear to room in with us.  I was so excited to see you and be close to you all the time now.  That first night i probably should have been trying to get my rest, but instead i kept you in bed with me, surrounded by pillows, swaddled up nice and warm.  God help the nurse that tried to get me to put you in your own bed.
You came home with us on your big brother's birthday...i'm not really sure how happy he was about that but someday you guys will be best buddies.

Since the day you were born you've been such a well behaved little guy.  Sure you have your good nights and bad nights, but you sleep and eat just like you should.  You have rolls for miles, and i'm secretly very proud of them.  You are a little addicted to nursing and have yet to really enjoy any foods, so those rolls...are all me.  There is a different kind of bond that i seem to have with you.  I'm not sure if it's because you are my last baby...or if we have been successful with nursing this time after 2 failed attempts with your brother and sister.  Maybe it's because of those two things combined.  Sometimes i get frustrated when nobody else can make you happy but me...sometimes i bask in that.  I can't really leave your side for over 3 hours...because try as we may that bottle just won't do.  But i don't mind...because you're a good shopping buddy.

You've made me more sure of myself as a mom, as a woman in general.  I don't care much about makeup or looking nice anymore.  Sure i enjoy getting dressed up and all, but going out to eat after working out with no makeup and ill-fitting workout wear...why not.  Your smile can light up a room, and it often does.

I love it when you sleep-in in the morning.  Not because i get to as well, because your brother and sister make SURE that i don't...but i love walking into your room when the sun is coming up.  The soft light hits the gray walls and then i see your little happy smiling face.  I pick you up to feed you and your eyes close again, entirely focused on the issue at hand.  When you're done i burp you and your little pudgy hand plays with the curtain, letting in flashes of sunlight that wake you up for the day.  I may or may not smell your head, and take you in.  I feel your soft cool skin.  It's chubby...and i love it.  I hear the other kids playing and watching tv, but it seems to fade away, for just a moment while  i dive into the baby-ness.  I'm all too familiar with how fleeting this time is, and i plan to enjoy it.

So today...on what i still think should be your 6 month birthday...i am feeling reflective.  The seasons are changing and warm sunlight streams through our front windows almost daily...and so, i have more photos of you than is healthy for any mother to have.  i'm sure the world wide web is equally smitten by you and is sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for new photos...so i must oblige...

:::ahhh::: eyelashes on babies...there is nothing in this world so small and so perfect and so elegant.  There is also nothing else that small that I would go out and purchase a lens JUST for capturing...

uh oh he woke up....

no photos please...

Sweet baby Owen...please stop growing!

eyelashes?!?  Ain't nobody got time fo' dat!

The curse of the photographing momma

I have this curse....
when the sun hits my front double windows on a beautiful afternoon, my camera just seems to find it's way into my hands, and then i proceed to snap 356 photographs of my kids.  This time Owen absorbed most of the brunt of it, although the other kids got in on it too...sorta....

GOD SAVE ME FROM THESE ROLLS!!!!