Waiting....waiting.....

They're coming home today! Yay!

It's time to clean up the house one last time, finish up the laundry, poop-scoop the backyard (or the hallway, depending on how Cooper does today), and put away the cereal, pancake mix, skittles, and Haagen-Daaz in lieu of fruits and vegetables, and actual meals.

Actually, I'll probably just finish off the Haagen-Daaz....you know...so the kids don't get fat.

Just Cooper

Here he is...the flea bag, in the flesh. Definitely grown out of the roly-poly fuzzy puppy stage and is quickly entering the gangly, ridiculously awkward leggy stage of life. Like me, in 7th grade.
I thought I'd take his picture to remind myself that he is very cute and lovable, despite his many aggravating habits, like picking up fleas, pooping in my house, chewing on shoes, and stealing my bras and hiding them in his pet bed.
He's worth the aggravation, doncha think??

38 Weeks

For Emily...who has been asking for a preggo pic for awhile....this is as good as it gets, for now. Maybe one of these days I'll put up one with my face in it. :)

Labor-Inducing EggPlant Parmigiana

We're eating this this weekend.

----------------------------
Eggplant Parmigiana Alla Scalini's
From restaurant owners Bobby and John Bogino

Nearly 300 baby pictures decorate Scalini's old-fashioned Italian restaurant in Cobb County, Ga.


All of the babies pictured on the Italian restaurant wall were born after their mothers ate the Scalini's eggplant parmigiana. The $9.95 plate of breaded eggplant smothered in cheese and thick marinara sauce is "guaranteed" to induce labor, the restaurant claims.

The eggplant legend began not long after the restaurant opened 23 years ago.

"Two or three years after we began, a few people had just mentioned to us they came in when they were pregnant, and ate this eggplant and had a baby a short time after that," said John Bogino, who runs the restaurant with his son, Bobby Bogino. "One person told another, and it just grew by itself by leaps and bounds."

To date, more than 300 of the pregnant women customers who ordered the eggplant have given birth within 48 hours, and the restaurant dubs them the "eggplant babies." If it doesn't work in two days, the moms-to-be get a gift certificate for another meal.

We make no promises, but the restaurant has graciously shared the recipe.


Ingredients

3 medium sized eggplants

1 cup flour

6 eggs, beaten

4 cups fine Italian bread crumbs, seasoned

Olive oil for sauteing

8 cups of marinara sauce (recipe below)

1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 pounds of mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 cups of ricotta cheese

Directions

1. After you wash the eggplant, slice them into 1/4-inch thick slices. You may choose to peel the eggplant before you slice it. However, you may want to leave the skin on since it contains a lot of vitamins.

2. Place the eggplant slices on a layer of paper towels and sprinkle with a little salt, then cover with another layer of paper towels and hold it down with something heavy to drain the excess moisture. Let them sit for about an hour.

3. Working with one slice of eggplant at a time, dust with flour, dip in beaten eggs, then coat well with breadcrumbs.

4. Saute in preheated olive oil on both sides until golden brown.

5. In baking dish, alternate layers of marinara sauce, eggplant slices, ricotta, parmesan and Romano cheeses, until you fill the baking dish, about 1/8 inch from the top. Cover with shredded mozzarella cheese, and bake for 25 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

12 Months Pregnant

Went to the doctor this morning, and apparently I have the gestational period of an elephant (how ironically apropos, since I strongly resemble one as well). Dr. says baby's head HAS NOT dropped, cervix HAS NOT thinned, IS NOT dilated, blah, blee, blah, blah, blah, blah.

*sigh*

Looks like we're in for the long haul.....again.

Mmmmm......Gyros

Been having a MAJOR craving lately for gyros......and since we live in middle-of-nowhere-country-USA now, it's not like I can just drive my gigantic self over to Greek Town and pick myself up one to devour.

Yesterday I was practically salivating at the idea of eating one and in a very whiney and pathetic voice, I asked Casey if there was anywhere, ANYWHERE in this God-forsaken town that I could possibly get a gyro. He said that yes, there is ONE place.
(*cue Hallelujah chorus*)
So we're going there for lunch today. I hope it doesn't disappoint. I'll let you know....

Attack of the Fleas...and Where's the Tylenol?

Holy crap. What a day.

Over the last week, I've been being bitten by something in bed at night. I'll wake up with small itchy bites on my arms, but strangely, Steve was never being bitten, cruely, it was just ME (as if I needed something else to add to the miserable sleeping patterns I've been enjoying, courtesy of baby, for the last 4 weeks). Anyway, I mentioned it in passing to my friend Lisa at volleyball practice this week and she oh-so-calmly informed me it was probably fleas.

WHAT??!?
Thank you, Lisa, for 2 sleepless nights in which I wore long sleeves, long pants, and socks pulled up over my pant legs to alleviate the anxiety I had at the thought of being attacked by fleas in my bed.

Enter in a HUGE case of paranoia and constant heebie-jeebies whenever I'm in my house or bed now and you have my life for the last 3 days. I turned my suspecting eyes on Cooper, that pee-and-poop-nonstop-in-my-house adorable birthday gift of a puppy and declare war. And hey...he sure IS scratching a lot more, now that I'm noticing that he may be infested with a flesh-biting insect. *shudder*

So this morning, I get up at 7:00 and start to work on finishing up my "little" project on the crib....which took about 3 hours. My back is hurting, I'm sweating from the blazing inferno that is summertime in south Georgia, but Cooper (and my house) MUST be completely sterilized or I will not be able to relax at all until it's done.

I break out the kiddie pool and wrestle Cooper in there and lather him up with flea-killing shampoo that I picked up at the store at midnight last night ( I told you, this is war). The directions said to let it set on there for 5-10 minutes - I set the timer for 11 (better safe than sorry). After I hosed him off and he seemed to be squeaky clean, I dried him and put him in his crate (with fresh bedding) and set off to tackle the house.

1. )I started off in our room, with our bed. Pulled the mattress and the box spring off the frame and sprayed it down with flea/tick killer (also purchased at midnight last night).
2) Then I vacummed under the bed and cleaned the wood with furniture polish.
3) Decide that while I'm at it, I should rearrange the furniture in the bedroom, so I moved the bed around....about 4 different ways until I decided I just liked it the way it was, only moved over to the left by about 6 inches, just to make myself feel like I accomplished *something* after all that manual labor.
4) Put the mattress and box spring back on the bed, and then put all our sheets, blankets, pillowcases, etc (and the boys') in the washing machine on the hottest setting.
5) Spray down all the carpet (with the flea spray) in the bedrooms and the hallway.
6) Curse loudly at all fleas in general, in existence, in the entire world.
7) THEN I steam clean all the carpet in the whole house.
8) Put up the baby gate to block off the hallway so Cooper can't go back there and (a) pee or poop on the clean carpet or (b) get any fleas on the now flea-less carpet
9) To the living room: Spray down all the furniture in the living room with flea killer, which by now is getting alarmingly low.
10) Wonder if all this hard work could make the baby come early. Decide that that wouldn't be a bad thing and return to work with gusto
11) Let Cooper out of his crate to go outside and adminster monster dosage of doggie flea killer to his fur. Chase down cat, (who, by the way, has become rather cranky since Cooper's arrival) and give her a flea treatment as well, just to be safe (also purchased at midnight last night).
12) Sit down and watch tv for 30 minutes. Eat cereal. Start to feel the effects of the day on my back and decide to lay down in bed for a nap.
13) Cooper jumps over baby gate and brings his sorry butt over to the bed. No way doggie...outta my room flea bag.
14) Put Cooper back in his crate and drive to Target. Pick up powder flea-treatment for carpet and upholstery.
15) Come home..sprinkle said powder all over carpet and furniture in the entire house.
16) Wait an hour, vacuum it up.
17) Revel in incredibly clean (and fresh-smelling!) house.
18) Notice Cooper scratching at himself in the corner.
19) Consider crying. Curse instead.

What does this mean?? How long does it take for the fleas to die??

Somebody shoot me.

Overheard

Ever heard of the website overheard in new york?
(Warning: NOT very kid friendly - some crude language.)

I'm sitting in Starbucks and just had my own "overheard" moment.

Spandex/Sports Bra Girl: "I did ok I guess. I just don't like weights-never have"
Male Companion: "Yeah, you suck at weights"
Spandex/Sports Bra Girl: "What're you calling me, a midget?"
Male Companion: "Midgets don't lift weights, they do gymnastics"
Spandex/Sports Bra Girl: "whatever."



What the ---??

While the boys are away, mom will....

Catch up on her to-do list.

So....Steve-0 bravely flew out of here on Thursday with BOTH boys to Ohio to visit his dad and grandma for about a week. Insert applause here for my brave husband, who successfully navigated 2 airplane rides, a 2 hour delay in Atlanta, and a trip through the concourse, tram, and about a half mile walk through the ATL airport with a laptop, backpack, and 2 boys in tow....his first time. Goodjob Steve-o!
After a few tears on my part after I left them at the airport (I'm blaming it on preggo hormones) and an anxiety-ridden morning until I knew they had landed safely - it's a frightening thing for me to send off the 3 most important people in the world to me into a small aircraft that will jet them 5 states away, a couple hundred thousand feet in the air - I have some control issues--I'm settling into some time to myself and preparing to tackle my ever-present to-do list.

First things first, clean our house top to bottom, which I've been putting off until Steve and the boys left. It's incredible how messy the house gets and how many more dishes there are with steve and the boys all home all day, every day now. I feel much better now that there aren't flies buzzing around the dirty dishes in the sink. Anyway....I've planned out some stuff to keep me busy for the next week, and for all you voyeurs out there, here it is:

1. Finish staining the crib and put it together
2. Find a dresser for the baby's room
3. Clean out all the cars, which have enough food, shoes, and random clothing articles in them that I could live in them for at least 48 hours.
4. Put an ad in the paper to sell the Buick
5. Send out an advertising mailing for the business
6. Submit a client order
7. Potty train Cooper....or at least prevent him from pooping and peeing in the house more than 2 times in one day.
8. Bathe Cooper
9. Nap. A Lot.
10. Watch way too much tv
11. Drink entirely too many iced chai lattes from Starbucks
12. Go see some movies


Sounds do-able, right?? I'm missing my boys, but looking forward to having some time to myself for the next week. Hoping to get out and take some pictures too, just for fun....just for me. But after tomorrow, since it's supposed to be 100 degrees here tomorrow--yuck!

Anyway....I've rambled enough. But i realized it'd been awhile since I blogged, so I thought I'd give everyone an update as to what I've been doing....or NOT doing, depending on how you look at it.

Have a great weekend!

Project 1Buck

So....there was this website called The Million Dollar Home Page (http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/), set up by this college kid who needed some funds to pay off his college debt. He set up a 1,000 x 1,000 pixel grid, and put each pixel up for sale… the price was $1 each.
Alex sold all 1 million pixels in just over 5 months.

Enter Steve's best bud from college, Scott Sadler, along with a few of his friends - who were intriqued by the theory of thousands of strangers donating a mere $1 to a certain cause. They began to wonder if the strategy of raising money one buck at a time could be used in different ways… "What if that idea, that strategy, was used to support a good cause? Could it work?"

So they started Project1Buck. The idea is simple... If enough people donate $1, good things can happen for people in need. Their current project is to buy a computer for a community center in downtown Grand Rapids. They only need 752 people to donate $1......why don't you??

Check it all out here: Project1Buck

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day first to: My own Dad (no, no...not the tall one in the middle...the short guy all the way over to the right...with Owen).



And secondly, to Steve-O, who is without a doubt, THE BEST dad I've ever had the privilege of seeing in action. No, really....he doesn't even compare to other dad's I've met and known. He is actively involved in raising our children -- and they of course, absolutely adore him. Especially being the parent of 2 young boys, I know....long gone are the baby days when only mama would do. These days I'm chopped liver and I'm always hearing, "No! I want my daddy!!"
I'm so grateful to have a husband who is so involved in the day-to-day parenting of our boys..and not because he has to, but because he wants to.
Love you babe...I'm so proud of the dad you've become and the one you continue to aspire towards.

Ahem....

I'm currently reading Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne, along with the other members of the book club that meets weekly at our house. It's making me VERY uncomfortable...but in a good way. It calls for, challenges you to a complete life change - you know it's right...you know you should....but will you??

I'm wrestling with it. Continual wrestling...it's consuming my thoughts for much of the day.

It's really incredible....more so than Velvet Elvis, more so than any book I've ever read. You really should go buy it and read it. I'll probably blog more about it when I've read more.....

The Lookout

Thomas the Tank Engine Recall

We're huge Thomas the Tank Engine fans at our house, so I thought I'd post this in case anyone else out there is too.

RC2 Corp. Recalls Various Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway Toys Due to Lead Poisoning Hazard

click above to read the entire recall and get the phone number for replacements.

Name of Products: Various Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway Toys

Units: About 1.5 million

Importer/Distributor: RC2 Corp., of Oak Brook, Ill.

Hazard: Surface paints on the recalled products contain lead. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects.

Incidents/Injuries: None.

Description: The recall involves wooden vehicles, buildings and other train set components for young children listed in the chart below. The front of the packaging has the logo “Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway” on the upper left-hand corner. A manufacturing code may be located on the bottom of the product or inside the battery cover. Toys marked with codes containing “WJ” or “AZ” are not included in this recall.

LadyBug Picnic

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
Ladybugs Came
To the Ladybug Picnic

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
And they all played games
At the ladybugs' picnic

They had twelve sacks so they ran sack races
And they fell on their backs and they fell on their faces
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs' picnic

They played jump rope but the rope it broke
So they just sat around telling knock-knock jokes
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs picnic

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
And they chatted away
At the ladybugs pinic

They talked about the high price of furniture and rugs
And fire insurance for ladybugs
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs picnic
12!

(click to enlarge)

2 Little Pigs

Yesterday's Rainy-Day Art Project:

The Clown

AJ, just 20 minutes ago. This crazy kid always makes me laugh. He's such a ham.

I Am SO Annoyed

Ugh. I frequently browse ebay, and occasionally will purchase something if I think it's a good deal. So, a few weeks ago, won an auction for a book. Paid the day I won it. 2-day shipping was promised in the auction, which is why I bought the book from ebay as opposed to Amazon or something - it would get here faster, and I/we needed it fast.
Almost 2 weeks go by, and nothing...no communication from the seller (despite 3 emails). I go and re-read the seller's feedback and he/she has quite a few negative feedbacks...mostly in regards to not shipping in the time promised, and poor communication. I email seller again, asking, "Must I file a complaint in order for you to respond?" FINALLY, the seller emails back (oh! surprise, surprise!) and says, Sorry - shipping it next day air that day. All in all, the book came 10 business days late. I was annoyed. I paid for 2 day shipping -seller didn't offer to refund shipping or anything....so...I left Negative Feedback.
Then I see that he/she left THIS negative comment in MY feedback: "Unbelievably rude and ununderstanding. Tried to make nice left Negative FB"

I am SO unbelievably annoyed by this. I paid the day the auction ended, via paypal, and THEY have the nay-nays to leave ME the negative feedback because they didn't deliver on their shipping?? Seriously? Seriously!
And since I don't ebay all *that* often, it lowers my "score" and makes me look bad. Grrrr.

Ugh.

Stupid people suck.

Rainy Day

What to do on a rainy day?
What to do...
What to do....


Take a nap and dream of you
dream of you....
dream of you...

Controversial Thought for the Day

Ok...I typically have snarky ideas and largely opinionated thoughts rolling around in my mind constantly, but I never post them on my blog.
What's gotten in to me lately?? Guess I'm feeling a little cheeky as of late.
Anyway, been thinking about politics lately....and religion. And how the two are tied.
And shouldn't be.
And how many pastors use the pulpit as a political stomping ground.
And how they shouldn't.
And how the religious right associates themselves with their proclaimed "good" political candidate.
Is there any such thing??

What a mess.

My thought: When the fundamentalists joined hands with politics, they didn't make politics any more religious. It was the other way around.

And that's all I have to say about that.

For today.

Where are you standing??

Confession: I have never voted. Not once. Not ever. I know, I know.....it just never seemed that important to me...I mean, really, does my vote actually make a difference?? I used to think not, but this time around I will be voting, for a myriad of reasons.

Anyway, I find the whole shabang a little befuddling. Politics in general infuriate me, because I truly believe that not a single one of them is ever completely honest or has the best intentions for the American public. Here's a short little quiz you can take to see which candidate your views line up with most. Take it...tell me who the quiz says you're standing with.

VoteMatch Quiz

Photoshop Magic: From Good to !Shazam!

My friend Dano and I were discussing the use of photoshop yesterday and I told him I'd blog about the wonders of photoshop in the next couple of days, and all the rest of you (all 4 of you or whatever) get to be privy to this information as well. So let's get started, shall we?

Photoshop (or Paintshop pro, or fill-in-the-blank photo editing software) is a key tool in the arsenal of every digital photographer. Any photographer who tells you that they don't use photo editing software (at least to some degree) is either a) lying or b) completely antiquated and/or producing a final image far less than they are capable.
First things first, you MUST start with a good image to begin with. Correct exposure is an absolute MUST to having a killer final image. Photo editing of the image is to add the final touches to a good picture, and is not intended to "save" a bad one. A lot of beginning photographers will use photoshop as a crutch to fix everything that's wrong with their image, but it's much easier (and a true sign of your skill) if you can produce consistent, quality images SOOC (straight out of camera) FIRST and then make your photo go from Good to....WOWZA! with just a few post-processing steps.

Let's start out with my last senior session. Here is an example of a subject that is exposed correctly -- The whites of her shirt are not "blown out", meaning that they've lost all detail from being too white and the entire image has a nice range of mid-tones, highlights, and dark tones and that are accurately in focus. This image is SOOC - not sharpened, not resized, nothing has been done to it. Images from my camera come off approximately 32 inches wide and 42 inches long, so as soon as I download them to my camera, the LEAST I have to do is resize. But I want this picture to be SHAZAM....so, I tweak a few more things.

Here on the right, you can see the finished product after I finish my edits. All in all, this process takes about 3-4 minutes - but I do have to say that I've gotten into a post-processing routine that I like and that works for me so it's pretty streamlined at this point. When I was first starting out a while back, I would spend about 10-15 MINUTES per photo, which is WAY too long, but hey, a girl's gotta start somewhere, right?? Now, without giving away too many of my hard-earned (and hard-learned) secrets, the basic editing process included a slight brightening, bump in curves, slightly increased saturation, sharpen, and a simple border. It has much more impact, doncha think??
Now, this is a pretty simple, standard post processing job - luckily this beautiful client didn't have A SINGLE pimple to remove, or smear of mascara, or dirt on her arm, or minor imperfections at all - (lucky girl!), so things of that nature require a different type of editing - but that's a blog for another day. Of course after you do your basic editing, there's all sorts of other fun things you can do....make photos look like paintings, pencil sketches, add textures, selective coloring (which I personally HATE, but that's just me), or a myriad of other things. Mostly my deviance from the basics is of course, the black and white image - but even that type of editing comes in about a thousand different forms. There are TONS of ways to turn an image to black and white and many different tonal variations on a black and white photo - sepia? anyone? Or do you prefer your black and whites more cool with blue tones? Or warm and milky? May sound like Chinese to some of you, but if there's any photogs out there reading this right now, you know what I mean. See these 2 examples:The one on the left has more of a straight up black and white conversion, with a touch of a blue tone to it. The one of the right, while not being a sepia, is definitely a "warmer" conversion. I typically like the warmer conversions (but not sepia) myself, but each photographer has their own preferences and many spend quite a bit of time and trial and error developing the conversion that they like best.

Anyway....there you have it. A peek inside my brain and computer as I work on images from sessions. The magic of Photoshop....a tool I'd never do without!

Any questions??

Beware the Whale

Here's a little tidbit for ya.....Went to the doctor last week and I've gained 8 POUNDS in the last month. Which is a lot.
Pretty much the norm for me...I have low weight gain for most of the pregnancy then pack it on for the last two, so I was sortof expecting it.....stepping on that scale, watching the numbers climb, I was wanting to shout at the tiny size 2 nurse beside me, "WAIT! I need to take off my shoes and set down my keys! My keys! My bag! They're adding to the numbers! This is not an accurate assessment of my weight!" But instead I was concentrating on standing up straight to make sure that my massive behind didn't block the hallway behind me as the other preggos tried to squeeze by my massive dereirre, and before I could go into the whole shoe/key tirade, the scale had beeped out it's final number and the nurse had said, "okay" and marked it in my chart. How I wanted to snatch the pencil from her hand and hold it to her jugular. "You WILL mark a lower number, to account for my keys, shoes, and purse". But she was already walking away. Dang it.

I have a LOT of work to do in the gym after this baby gets here.

Bad Blogger

I've been a bad blogger lately. Sorry...just don't feel like there's a whole lot to say as of late.
Anyway, wanted to put SOMETHING up, so here's a picture that I took yesterday.
I was cleaning the living room when I saw this huge THING out of the corner of my eye zoom across the windows. Went outside and saw this sucka sitting in the front yard. Considering my bird thing, I was a little yucked out, but had to admit that he was pretty cool looking --- for a psychotic, red-eyed devil bird.
"What's he got?" I asked Steve
"Looks like another bird" Steve-o replied.
"I didn't know birds ate other birds"
"Me either. You'd think it'd be kindof a professional curteousy"

Guess not. Doesn't surprise me with birds.
*shudder*

So this Cable Thing.....

Last night we sat down to test out the new cable and discovered that.....
we have about 5 billion channels.

Apparently there was some mistake and we've been granted every single movie, sports, network channel that exists. HBO, Starz, I don't even know all the names, but any one that you click on...we get it.

Ironically, while most people might be thrilled (woo-hoo! All these channels for free!) I'm not so happy about it.

I think it's a test.

Joining the Ranks

Most of you who know us, know that we don't have t.v.
Well....we HAVE a t.v., but it's not hooked up to anything. And it's been that way for about 3 years now. No Grey's Anatomy, no American Idol, no Sports Center, no Brady Bunch marathons. That said, I think we're still pretty hip to American culture and media, via the internet - but we've just chosen not to have cable because in our first few years of marriage when we DID have it - we were junkies. Just like every other American in the U.S. We both grew up in homes where the tv was the nightly "family time" and it was flipped on at 7pm and stayed on until 11. The week revolved around it, everyone was excited about it. "Oh, it's Thursday night - Perry Mason comes on at 8:00. Let's get home and watch it."

And for us... Steve would walk home from work and turn on the tv to watch ESPN. 1-year old Owen would be glued to Sesame Street by 8am. I would stay up until midnight just because Leno was on...but really, did I NEED to watch Leno?? Of course not. We decided to go without tv for awhile and attempt to improve our quality of life. And it did. We went on walks, we played with our kids more, the constant noise of television was NOT a part of our life and it was nice. We would go to visit family and I'd feel like I was going to pull my hair out - people talking, kids playing, sports blasting from the tv (or worse yet, Noggin and that basted Dora the Explorer's highly annoying voice ringing out from the television). The noise overwhelmed me.

So...the past few months we've both been jones'n for some tv again. There are times in the evening where I'm burnt out from working on photo shoots, or just tired from being pregnant (and huge) and I'd think how nice it would be to sit in front of the tv with a coffee and veg out for an hour or so. And with the tornadoes that blasted through our area a few months back, it would've been nice to have been able to flip on the tv and see when would be a good time to head for the closet for safety (although the radio and the internet did ok, tv would've been easier). Steve-o, of course, has always missed ESPN -- I *haven't* missed having sportscenter on 24/7.

Anyway....the cable guy came today. Installed cable.
I think I'll enjoy it. I'm hoping I won't regret it. We'll see how it goes over the next few months....hopefully by now we can be mature enough to turn that boob tube off for most of the day and it won't become an addiction for us again. Because if so....it's outta here!!
Any addictions out there?? Must be home in time for Dancing with the Stars?? Can't live without your daily fix of Emeril? Would go into seizures if you missed a single episode of Cribs?? Fess up...tell me what's got you hooked.
So I can stay far, far away from it.

Sunday's Session

My senior session yesterday was a dream. Perfect weather, lovely breeze, gorgeous senior who chose just the right clothing ensembles, and 2 great locations. "S" and her mom came and we had a great time - they seemed to have a great relationship and our time together was laid back and fun. I have TONS of photos to go through -- they will have a LOT of proofs to choose from, that's for sure! And you'll def be seeing this beautiful girl on my future marketing materials.

Without further ado, here's a sneak peek of "S"...

Middle-of-the-Night Charlie Horses....

....are the bane of my pregnant existence.

Bits 'n Pieces

A few things floating around my head this afternoon:

*I'm tired.* Haven't been sleeping well the past few weeks. Laying or sitting in the same position for more than an hour gives me terrible lower back/pelvis pain. Not fun. I'm glad I've only got a few more weeks to go.

*It rained ALL DAY yesterday* - Hooray! We really, really needed it.

*My session yesterday was cancelled due to the rain so we redid it this morning. **shhhh** I skipped out on church to do it. Not something I'd like to make a regular habit of, but they needed to do it this weekend. Might get one or two posted tonight for a sneak peek.

*Steve-o has a new best buddy, which I'm glad for. :) And he imposes on said buddy and stays at their house WAY too late at night (think 2am last night for example). Best buddy? Are you out there?? Feel free to kick him out if you feel the need for other things...like, say, sleep.

*I have 2 really really good chick friends in Albany, which is saying something, because I usually don't have a lot of chick friends (too much drama). But these chicks are especially cool and I laugh with both of them and we get along great and drink a lot of coffee and talk about volleyball and husbands and life in general. ONE of my best chick friends moved 2 hours away over the weekend. And I'm really bumm'n about it. :(

*And my other chick friend is in Peru for 2 weeks. I need some coffee and laughs this week....any volunteers??

*Cooper pees and poops on the carpet.
A lot.
I think I am a doggie-potty-training failure. Any tips??

*I'm tired*

I know I said that already, but now I'm going to act on it and go sit on the couch with Owen and watch some Magic School Bus.

Have a great Sunday!