Sooooooooomewhhhheeeeeeeere

Over the rainbow!

Focusing in on my "Nature" assignment...check out this awesome shot I got after a little rain shower!

And yep, that's from my front yard. I live...in OZ!

Or maybe I don't but, hey, close enough.

So what's on the agenda for this week? Nothing, nothing at all. Still brainstorming on some awesome shadow shots....you know what you need to do those???? Sun.....

Know what it's been doing the past three days?????

Raining....

Mother Nature is cramping my style! She's cramping my style so much that I'm using out of date sayings like "cramping my style."

Here's a video dose of cuteness. Ignore my obnoxious kissy noises and focus on the fact that you've been hit smack in the face with a dose of just-so-cute-squishable-ness :)

Liiiiiiiiiiight Buuuuuuuuuuulb

I had an idea.

Damn, I love that movie! Three sleepy kittens ftw.

Anyway, staying on track for a moment or two. I've officially turned photography into a little more than a hobby. I finally launched the facebook page for ae photography that I created two whole years ago and I'm hosting a contest for my first official "shoot." Check it out here.

I tell you that to tell you this, I had become lazy in my photography, stagnant even. I had, what some might call, "photographers block." I used to be insanely creative but for months on end I had nothing. Ick. Then I had a BABAY! And I think that helped, because once again I see great opportunities for art all around me.

So I decided I would challenge myself. I want to master new shots, to think of something new that I personally had not done....and I thought of shadows and I thought of nature. Click the link for examples of shadow photography.

Shadow Shots


So, one thing I had never tried and another I had dabbled in but never really focused on. I'm still pondering on the perfect shadow shots..I have the one that inspired this whole "shadow train" but I'm saving it for later...I'm thinking montage babe.

So here are my "nature shots"

I had never really "tried" to take a nature pic. But it was actually pretty fun, I may have to do it more often!!!

And just so we're not losing track of my favorite subject....here's one for the road ;)

Weekly snuggle session with Nana.

Consider yourself adorabled.





30 day shred my stomach to pieces.

I started the 30 day shred.


OH MY GAWD.

That's all I'll say about it. I did take some bile inducing before pictures that, even if I ended up with the body of Jessica Alba via her "Honey" days, I would never post online....or show anybody, including my husband. Let's just say I'm currently wishing I knew how to encrypt files, or password protect a folder. Oh, and I refuse to work out in front of anybody. So this is going greeeeeeeat. I love not being able to bend down to sit without whincing in pain! [cue false enthusiasm]

Nobody tells you what a hot, flabby mess you become after baby! The jelly rolls are the only thing I can really blame on Little E, because....let's be honest, I wasn't exactly Victoria's Secret material before hand. But, hey, isn't that one of the perks of motherhood? Blaming that train wreck that resides between your neck and ankles on that adorable little monster you're carrying around?

Onto fun(ner) things. Cloth diapering is.....going. We're having trouble going to full time cloth due to me being put off work for so long, I never got a chance to complete my stash. However, I have some Sunbabies on the way and can't WAIT. The 12 I'm waiting on will  "complete" my stash, and we'll be able to go to 24/7 cloth! I say "complete" because I know I won't be able to resist some new fluff every now and then!

NOW! How's un bebe? He's hilarious. He's smiling like crazy, thinks the phrase "HEY BABAY!" from Dave Chapelle is the funniest thing ever....and well....tummy time is just a tragedy. Seriously, you would think somebody was prying his cute little nose off. But oh well, we try. He's blowing raspberries, and he's also gained some wicked head control so we've been making some great use of the Bumbo!!

I went back to work on the first and I managed to survive. Noah seems to think we have to be on the same scheduling and has since been keeping Daddio up all night. [evil laugh]

SO now you're updated! Here's some killer cuteness to reward you for reading this crap ;)

And what have you learned?? Babies smell. (In a cute way of course)

With almost 8 sweet sweet weeks gone by what's new? He's starting to smile. I don't mean those accidental, -maybe it's gas, happened to snap a picture and it looks like he's smiling-smiles; Im talking about a -real deal do something funny and he grins like a goofball- kind of smile! And, even though he's done it a billion times by now, Dustin and I still get all giggly when he does it. Yep....we're THOSE kind of parents.

So what have I learned from being a mom? The snotty teenager inside me wants to roll her eyes and say "Ummmm nothing...because I already knew eeeeverything, what-evs." Well I didn't of course so that would be  lame so here's my list:

-You don't bounce a baby within 30 minutes post meal.
-Blogging one handed is all the rage.
-Your next long relaxing shower will be at least 13 years from now.
-You now have the ability to carry on an entire one sided conversation with the only response being "ooooooh" from a very interested 7 week old.
-Babies stink. Seriously! Nobody ever told me that babies had the potential to be so smelly!
-Farts* are super funny again.**

Admit it, it's funny when babies are, shall we say, "flatulently talented." Not even the most sophisticated of souls doesn't find it hilarious when an 8 lb baby cracks one off that sounds like it came from the trunk of an elephant. My kid's got game.

Okay, I may have learned other stuff....but, let's be honest, if this was an entry about the value of burping would you actually read it? Nope.

Oh! The most important thing I've learned????

There is nothing more squishably cute than a baby in a tarzan diaper.

"Oh hai, I iz King of the Crib"

*-only baby farts
**-Okay all farts....let's be adults here.

Adventures in cloth diapering.

We had our first cloth experience yesterday! Granted it was only one cloth diaper and he only wore it on a car ride to Nana's but hey! Baby steps.

Can I just say if you had asked me 5 years ago about cloth diapers I would have said
#1-Ew.
#2 Who cares?

I guess the magical thing about motherhood is that the most idiotic thing you can imagine becomes the most adorable thing you've ever seen. He looked downright ADORABLE! Straight up cute enough to pinch. I'm mobile blogging or I would post his pic. I'll post one soon though, I'm currently waiting to have my arm stabbed AGAIN! To make sure my "gestational diabetes" has gone away. Lame.

The pics are on my camera but how about a picture of his mean face to tide you over until then?





My child has anger issues.

posted from Bloggeroid

Baby E graduates to Noah James

and Im sleeeepy! Well not THAT sleepy actually.

Be patient, and do not judge me for my type-o-ness because I blog at you one-handed...as I am currently holding the King of Cuteness on my chest.

But I figured I should post my "He's here" update before he gains the ability to roll his eyes, be embarrassed by my messy hair, or drive off to hang out with his new girlfriend.

I know, I suck. But as mentioned before bebe boy has an uncanny ability to monopolize at least one arm 24 hours of the day, and Ive been too lazy to type an entire update with one hand....until NOW!

He was born May 28th 2011 at 8:33am, I'll spare you the gory details. He weighed 8lbs 12.3 ozs and he was 19 whole inches long. Short and wide...he was like a little linebacker!

It took him FOREEEEEVVVVVER to freaking cry...they had to give him a little "help" and I seriously thought I was going to die waiting to hear it....then I did, and I completely melted. Oh, and tears??? There were major tears just rolling down my face. That's right...I cried like a baby and Im damn proud of it! :)

Mad at the world

"What's this?? Nobody is squirming in pain when I kick?"

So about 3 hours after he made his appearance my blood pressure resumed it's steady climb to 'OMG yur gunna have a stroke" ness, baffling everybody and royally pissing me off.  It's refusal to go below 170/98 earned me a bonus day in the hospital....topping me off at 3 days of cabin fever.

Finally we get to go home, only to have to return two days later when it shoots back to 180/108....no that's not a type-o.

So yea, Ive been busy...but now Im healthy and baby boy is groooooowing! Ive been taken off of my blood pressure meds and no longer feel like I have the med list of an 80 year old woman. ANYWAY! Picture time!

Practicing his "stink eye"

First time in the swing

His favorite past time

"Whatchu doin lady?"

"Aww, I iz keeding you want to cuddle now?"

Hating his first real bath

"OH hello there! Im just busy being too freaking cute"

"Ahhhh! The cuteness...I cant hold it back"

Okay, consider yourself updated. He's 7 weeks old now as of yesterday...I teared up a little typing that. Why is it that becoming a mom makes you a sobbing hot mess?

~♥ A

37 Weeks, Lets wrap this up shall we?

So! I realize I haven't updated since I was put on bedrest. I was making the assumption that nobody wants to read a daily update that goes somewhere along the lines of "Today I drank 4 liters of water and propped my feet up on the coffee table, took a blood pressure pill, then later...a nap, the end!"

I did graduate to a "modified bedrest" as in "Take it easy" meaning I'm allowed to leave the house if I have to. Once again, nobody wants to read "I went to the grocery store, it was sweeeeeeeet!" hahaa. And the only real "new" thing is that I've seriously considered becoming an extreme couponer.

So what HAVE I done? I had my baby shower! And it was awwweeeessooooooome! And even though I've been at home, I'm still working on thank you cards, I suppose I should get those done some time. But thanks to the intense swelling in my hands, I have the handwriting of a 1st grader. Which is adorable, right???!??

[Nope....actually it's only cute if 1st graders do it!]

Every week I go for an ultrasound and a check up, usually I wouldn't start weekly appointments until 36 weeks, but with the BP issues I've been gettin to see my little tubbers every week since 32 weeks! And he's a fatty, he measured a whopping 8.5 pounds on the 13th.

[Just haaaaangin' out!]

People have literally told me I'm going to die giving birth, which is....sweet of them???? No, they weren't being sarcastic....please shut up! We won't go into other rude things because I'm sure they're no different than anything that any other pregnant woman hears, and I'm not interested!

Good news???? My doctor says I will NOT go past 39 weeks due to the increased risk of pre-eclampsia. So this will probably be my last blog entry before he shows up! WOOOOO! :D

So we're "ready" for him, except I still haven't packed my hospital bag or washed clothes, although they're nice and organized into sizes and ready to be washed! I'm afraid if he knows he has clothes to wear he'll take that as an acceptable reason to make an appearance, oh  yea THAT'S RIGHT, I don't want to go into labor yet! First pregnant woman in history that's just fiiiiiiiine where I'm at thanks hahaha. Except when he's ripping my stomach open from the inside...then I get a little anxious to have him out! And looking at my puffed up Shrek face in the mirror is somewhat motivational to end this pregnancy...but EH! Oh well. Although apparently I'm so excited about the prospect of not being swollen anymore that I had a dream last night about being able to wear my wedding band again! WOOOO PARTY OVER HERE! I'm really living on the edge, right?

And I know that I need to do those things so that we're really ready, BUT, HIIIIII have we met??? I'm a procrastinator....This wouldn't be the child of Dustin and Amanda Edwards is SOMETHING wasn't left until the last minute. That would be weird, hellooooooo!

Sooooo I know this one wasn't very funny, but I don't have anything funny to write, sowwwy!

So I'm signing off for probably the last time as Amanda, next time I write I'll be "mommy"

=)

♥ A