Life is Sweet

Say Cheese!

It's the moment I have been waiting for forever (it seems!). Nobody but me would think this picture is more significant than any other picture in my camera (and there are TONS of this little face in my camera). Today, though, was a very special day for me and my camera. Today was the first day in a LONG time (over a year) that I have been able to get Clay to look at the camera when I took a picture.

I take pictures most every day (and have since Clay was born) so cameras are nothing new to him. All of a sudden, though, any time he heard the camera turn on he would look in another direction. Every.single.time.

Now I have definitely learned a few little tricks for snapping pictures of him looking the direction of the camera (i.e. getting him while he's sitting down and can't run, hiding the camera and praying the shot I snap is of his face, having someone else stand behind me and distract him so he's not thinking about the picture being taken). I have also managed to get a few shots of him laughing and smiling but NEVER intentionally. I struggle every time I make a blog post or try to find a picture for a frame to find one of him actually looking at the camera and smiling.

He does the same thing for our photographer and it is so frustrating to try and choose portraits from a bunch of shots where he's not even looking at the camera. So...today when I went in to take some shots of Mike and Clay playing, Clay runs up to me, puts his hands on his legs and says, "Cheese!" I wanted to cry. Thank God!

I think it has a little something to do with a new friend he made a couple of weeks ago who loved to ham it up for my camera. Maybe a little jealousy got the best of my guy. Whatever it is- I'll take it!

And so, here's what my little boy looks like when he's actually looking at the camera and smiling for his mama:

And who wouldn't want to capture that sweet smile?

Free Snacks at My House

My day:

1) Started my day with pulling a storage drawer out of my closet to try and store under the computer desk for Clay's school stuff. It didn't fit. Way too tall.

2) Kept Carolina's screaming at tolerable levels so that the neighbors wouldn't call the police. She's teething, has a runny nose, frustrated that she can't crawl and keeps falling on her face and hasn't taken a decent nap in days.

3) Listened to a full day of Clay saying, "Daddy be home in a minute." "I go to the car. Fweese? (please)" "Daddy's in peace car" "Daddy bring me a taco". The child has serious cabin fever and missing Daddy issues today.

4) Got everyone showered, dressed (Carolina twice), bags ready and everyone excited to leave the house- only to call Mike and find out his lunch was an hour late today.

5) Spent way too long try to pin Carolina down and try to use the fabulous blue nose bulb on her to try and give her some relief. We're neither one fans of the blue bulb. And neither are the neighbors.

6) Gave up on Carolina's nap and tried multiple baby entertainment techniques to keep her calm and happy. None of them worked.

7) Got Clay up from his nap and put Carolina back down for another try. It worked.

8) Ate pretzels and read stories with Clay and enjoyed being with him (and Carolina being calm). This day had turned itself around. Finally!

9) Cringed as I heard Clay create a Pretzel Cabinet with the storage drawers that didn't fit under the computer and knew my feet wouldn't move fast enough to save the day. I've always wanted a Pretzel Cabinet. Not.


10) Started the countdown for when Mike gets home. At least then Clay and I will have someone to share our pretzels with...

Foster Parents

This summer has been a BUSY summer for us with lots of company and traveling. We had one house guest in particular, though, who stayed longer than all the rest.

We first spotted Ellie when she ran out from underneath Mike's parents car as they were leaving after July 4th. We saw her again a couple of nights later and Mike caught her. She was about 6 weeks old and clearly had no mama taking care of her. We brought her inside and locked her in the guest bath while we tried to decide what to do with her.

I called my friend, Rebecca, and she agreed to be Ellie's new mama. Well, one thing led to another and Rebecca ended up traveling, moving and just getting busy with life. We agreed to be Ellie's foster parents until her new home was ready.

Ellie was very cute but we have a little boy who became quite attached. Ellie worked out great for Mike and I, too. Any time we needed Clay to hurry to the front door and stop dawdling we'd tell him, "Let's go see Ellie." We could distract him from doing things he shouldn't by going on a hunt for Ellie. Clay asked for Ellie first thing in the morning and all day long.

Ellie also made friends with our other animals. She was the epitome of a kitten with her frisky behavior and playful nature. We really enjoyed Ellie but like all good things, her visit had to come to an end. We agreed that Ellie would go home after Rebecca and I returned from a trip to Houston.

When I talked to Clay about it, here's how it went:
B: Clay, who's kitty is Ellie?
C: Cway's kitty.
B: No, Aunt Rebecca is Ellie's mama.
C: No, Cway's kitty.
B: Ellie is going to go to her home with Aunt Rebecca.
C: No!
B: We are going to tell Ellie bye-bye.
C: No, Cway's kitty.

I started to worry that we might have a mega meltdown when Ellie had to leave since she had been with us a month. Fortunately, Ellie's leaving coincided with Clay's cousins' visit so it wasn't too noticeable.

She's been gone a couple of days now and I was pretty glad that he hadn't even mentioned her once. Clay's cousins left this morning, though, and a couple of hours later I heard him walking through the house saying, "Ew-wie. Ew-wie." Uh-oh.

An Apple a Day...

1 Hungry (and sneaky) Boy + 1 Bag of Apples + 1 Busy Mama

=6 Half-Eaten Apples