Advice for the day...

"If you have a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: Take two, and KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN." (hehe, I really do love my kids:)

The heart of a child...

As I have mentioned in a previous post I am a volunteer photographer for "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep," infant bereavement photography. Last night I received my first call, it was heartwrenching, to say the least, a beautiful baby girl, fullterm, stillborn. This afternoon I was editing the images from the session and my son came and sat down by me to observe what I was doing. I spend a lot of time editing images and he usually pays no attention, however this time was different, he was very curious and intrigued by what I was doing. As I am paging through all of my images the following conversation played out:
Jaden: "Mommy, those pictures are beautiful!"
Mommy: "Well thank you!"
Jaden: "Mommy, is that person crying?"
Mommy: "Yes Jaden, she is very sad"
Jaden: "Why is she so sad?"
Mommy: "Her baby died and that makes her very sad"
Jaden: "Mommy?"
Mommy: "Yes?"
Jaden: "Jesus loves us and HE died, now we can live again."
Mommy (hardly able to contain the tears): "Yes Jaden, Jesus does love us and He did die so that we can live again."
Jaden: "Mommy, these pictures are gorgeous!"

Oh my goodness! How is a mother to control her emotions at a time like this? Where did those words come from? Gorgeous?!? It amazed me that in his 4 glorious years of experience he would directly relate the death of this little child to our Savior, that we can all live a again through Him. I am in complete awe of my sweet, sweet boy and his compassion, and he was right the pictures were gorgeous, not because of me, but because of God's beautiful little creation.

A day in the life of a "Terrible Two"...

As with most mothers, my day starts out pretty ordinary, I wake up around noon while my personal chef finishes up a gourmet brunch (falling within weight watchers points specifications, of course). After brunch I relax to a deep tissue massage and aromatherapy, followed by a pedicure or manicure only as needed (I wouldn't want to be wasteful, ya know;). Once I have finished my daily ritual, I wake up and realize that it was all a dream and that my life goes a little more like this...

Any meal time usually ends with quite the mess (and Sammy is wearing most of it), I wonder how chubby her little cheeks would be if more food actually made it to her tummy?

She now needed a bath so I went to turn the bath water on and went back to clean up the "aftermath" of mealtime, well, apparently Sammy isn't much for waiting so she decided she would proceed without me... Clearly she doesn't mind bathing fully clothed (she's so modest;)

After bathtime, (without her diaper and jammies) Sammy thought she should stay in the spirit of "keeping it clean", at least that's what I'm guessing was going through her little mind when she dumped a half a bottle of shampoo on the carpet, lovely! There was so much shampoo that I had to pour water into the carpet and then scrape it into a cup, empty, rinse, repeat.

While I was cleaning the shampoo mess, she was, yet again, one step ahead of me emptying the kitchen drawers. (I could really use that massage and aromatherapy right about now:)

You really think the saga would be ending by now, but mommy left the cup of soapy water in the living room while she picked up the kitchen utensils, could any child really withstand that temptation? Is this like getting your hand caught in the cookie jar?



Are you exhausted from reading this post yet?

Terrible Two's continued...

Sammy's little nap finally allowed me to finish packing. I was supposed to be packing for our trip to Nana's house this weekend when everything unfolded as it did in the last post. Well, we finally arrived to Nana's house late last night, where the party continued. My mom is the secretary for the Chamber of Commerce in her hometown and so she is coordinating a "Mardi Gras" gala this evening. She had set aside plenty of "pretties" for her "Sammy Belle" as any great nana would and she LOVED them! She loved them so much she decided to share the joy with Ace, the family dog...

If all good dogs go to Heaven, then Ace certainly has seniority for first in line, he was such a sport through this whole charade...

Doesn't he look beautiful? (hehe) What a trooper!

Then again who could get mad at a face like this...

"You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give"

~Sir Winston Churchill
As a photographer I try not to mix my business with my personal blog, however, this is not easily done as photography is my life! I think about it all the time, I dream about it (yes, I dream about photography, strange, I know). I absolutely LOVE what I do, which is so hard to find in life. Images capture the things in life that make us happy, that make us joyous and emotional, the things that make us feel connected. The gift of photography is felt on so many levels and used for every stage of life, to capture the important moments before they are gone and forgotten. How often do you pull out an old album, can you not help but smile to see the images from the past, each one reminding us of a different story? As a photographer I am so grateful to be able to share these moments in the lives of others. Pictures document a journey, unfortunately, life's journeys are not always perfect, there are bumps in the road, detours, and unexpected moments that are unplanned and are sometimes surrounded by sadness. These are the moments I want to talk about today, because these are the moments that are tugging at my heart. I am an affiliated photographer to a non-profit organization called "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" or NILMDTS. It is an organization that was founded by a photographer, Sandy Puc, and Cheryl Haggard, a mother enduring the loss of an infant. Please read more about the personal experience that drew me to this organization and watch a special clip of a family dealing with this very sensitive matter by clicking here. Thanks for taking the time to read my daily ramblings:)

Don't you hate it when...

you wear your jeans more than once without washing them (yes, it's true, sorry if that grosses you out) although I would never wear sweats more than once, isn't that odd? Anyhow you wear your jeans more than once and you're like, hmm, I feel good, did I lose weight? Yeah! Then you wash your jeans and wear them for the first time after a washing and you're like dang!...shortlived ;)

Happy to update!

For those of you who have been reading and wondering about little Reese, it appears as though all of our many prayers have been answered. She was able to go home yesterday, the Dr.s were never able to identify what was causing her illness, but she is doing much better and is now home! Thanks so much for all your prayers, they were very greatly appreciated.