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Ch-ch-ch Changes

Hello Again Internet!  It has been awhile since I have blogged here.  Several reasons, no really good excuses.  I have been blogging a bit at the Mortal Muses blog, have had a few new senior sessions, and am working on an awesome new blog with my bloggy friend Stacy from Kids Stuff World a wealth of info on all things kid and parent centered.

Besides that, we have had a lot of changes in our house (some I can talk about on this blog, others I will keep private) that is making us seek out a new normal...new routines, new ways of getting things done and making life work.  One of these changes is that all 3 of my kids started school and activities...turned my laid back summer mentality on it's head. 6am is a butthead!  So is homework!  So are after school activities. These 3 kids happily went back to school and didn't even look back at me...excuse the photos...taken pre-coffee with my point and shoot...flash on (ugh):

She hurts my heart. When did this happen?You are looking so much like me...but so much prettier.

and you Mister...with your brown skin and green eyes...just stop! I see your Daddy when I look at you. You are killing me!

(taken with phone)...and you little guy...with your dimples and big ol bucky teeth and those long black socks you insist on wearing with shorts. You know, you can only get away with that if you are 4 or 84. You make me melt.

So they all went off to school without tears ( I cannot say the same for me). The bigs go all day, the little goes every afternoon during the week.

Someone asked me what I do with "All of your free time"?  To which I answered "Hahaha hahahaha hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!"  Seriously, it's 2.5 hours. I do appreciate the time, but it is spent working, or cleaning,or editing, or answering client emails.  Free time...hahahaha!

So we have lots of school, lots of afterschool stuff, but we still manage to have time for a little of this:

Anyway Internet, thanks for putting up with me as I squeeze into the new normal and figure out how to make things work.

XO-

Stephanie

The Tween Years

So many times throughout the day I am reminded that my daughter is a 'Tween".  She is on the verge of becoming a teenager, but still has so much of the little girl-ness that I adore.  The sighs, groans, eye rolling, or feet stomping  are daily reminders that she is involved in that internal struggle of teen vs. little kid.

Yesterday was a very tween day. There was lots of pouting and mumbling.  I do my best to ignore it unless it becomes disrespectful.  This is a huge exercise in patience.  It is the marathon of patience. At bedtime I was reminded that she is still a little girl. She had lost her tooth earlier in the day and was ready to tuck her tooth into her tooth pillow after applying her lotion and brushing her hair while humming in the mirror.  It struck me as such a tween moment. I tucked her in and she asked, "Mom, are you the tooth fairy?"  I decided it was time to be honest since this was something she hinted towards often these days. "Yes, Abby.  I am".  She gasped and her mouth opened wide.  "How do you do it?  How do you get to all the houses every night???".

Tears stung my eyes and my throat got all lumpy.  My little girl, my almost young lady...what a juxtaposition.  The tears were for the innocence of this question. The tears were for the internal struggle I know she is experiencing in wanting to be little and grown at the same time. The tears were for the humility I felt realizing that she thinks I am capable of being the tooth fairy to all.

I hugged her and told her the whole truth. I then told her how excited I was that she knew because now she can be  Junior Tooth fairy to her younger brothers.  I put her in charge of the Fairy Dust and of pumping up the excitement each time one of the boys lost a tooth.  I could see her eyes glow with pride as a beautiful smile spread across that amazing face of hers.

This morning, just before the sun came up, she crawled into bed with me.  She put her arms around me a placed a gentle kiss on my cheek. "I love you Tooth Fairy".

Sniff.

Be Still My Heart

Seriously!  Look at this baby! Look at this PERFECTION! Adorableness! Oh my, I LOVE my job.  LOOK at these babies I get to hold!!!!!  As I downloaded these from my memory card to my computer, I gasped at every single image.  She is so beautiful she made my heart ache a little bit...and my uterus too;)

Splash!

These 3 cuties showed up ready to swim and play. Big sis was a dream to shoot...ready and willing to do whatever my camera need.  Sweet as can be and independent.  The little brothers are twins but as different  as hamburgers and hotdogs (I hate using normal cliches....and I'm hungry).  One was all about the water, the other loved my umbrellas.  One was all play, the other was all business.  One was into getting pictures taken, the other ,meh, not so much.   I loved playing with both of them and it was so fun to see how different they were from each other.  I am fascinated by that, even with my own kids. R Family, you are so much fun!  Can't wait to shoot with you again!