This and that

First of all, Maia is walking ALL OVER! It's so fun to see! What's more fun this time than with Noah, is that we now have two walking at the same time. And watching her follow him is the sweetest thing. It sometimes ends in him pushing her down, but most of the time he just eats it up. I think he feels more like the "big brother" now and feels really special when she wants to do what he is doing. He's been very "motherly" to her. It's just so fun. And I forgot how neat it is as a mommy to see Maia concentrate so hard on each step, wobble as she does it, catch herself from falling, and then falling on her bottom, getting up and then trying again. Each stage is just one reward after another. I love it and I'm eating it up, too.

Frankie just decided she wanted her picture put on my blog, so here you go, wet nose and all!


A funny. Noah is saying the sweetest things some days, and other days not. For the past two days when I say "I love you" he responds with "thank you" really sweetly. It's so cute. He's also figuring out what to say when he is doing something he shouldn't be and doesn't want me to know. I'll say "what are you doing, Noah?" and he's say "nothing" when we both know darned well that he is! He has also said the "hate" word a time or two. I cannot believe a 3-year old knows it. I think he got it from hearing other kids say it on television, cartoons, etc. (TV really is a bad influence!) And it's so hurtful. I am not sure he knows what it means, but it still feels like a dagger shooting through my heart. This afternoon they were both taking a bath. He was splashing viciously all over soaking the floor. I asked him to stop and he didn't. So I pulled him out, dried him off (as he screamed) and he suddenly and sharply screamed "I hate you!". Wow. Of course he sat on the bad boy chair for that one. But this journey as a mom with a 3-year old is quite interesting. One moment it's pure joy, other moments it's agonizing. But I'm trying to take note of the cute things he says because I know soon he'll be having gramatically correct conversations with me and I'll then be wishing for that cute toddler talk again. And here is another funny. Noah was playing with Maia's Cabbage Patch Kid today and decided to "put baby to nap with Wunnie" (his elephant). I had to snap a pic of course.

Tomorrow we head to Chicago. We're staying at Neil's dad's place up there. I really look forward to our getaways up yonder because it forces me to not do work and concentrate solely on my kids and hubby. It's really nice. And it's nice to be in a place you can call "home" but not have any sort of distractions at all. Friday Neil is going to work at the Board of Trade, so it will just be me and the kids all day. I think Friday my friend, Sara, who lives downtown, is going to come over and hang out with us. I can totally see us shopping or getting coffee because we do that so well together *wink*. Then Saturday morning I'm shooting pictures of Katie's new baby girl, Rachel. She lives on the most northern part of the city limits. We might at some point go see Jason and Jo's new digs, too. They just recently bought and moved into a brand new condo. I've seen pics, but am anxious to see it in person! So anyway, that's our weekends plans. I know I'll be thinking about all the work things that I should be doing, but it will be nice knowing that I can't do any of it and can just enjoy every aspect of our time together. And I can't wait to see and meet new baby girl, Rachel!

I just designed my Christmas cards! I am so excited about this. I just have not had time to design them, but a couple of nights ago I made time, and so they are done and I'm really happy with them. Lucky for you, I don't have any extra time on my hands, because otherwise I would probably be designing cards monthly. I just love getting my hands wet in what I went to school for. So you all should probably be receiving cards in a couple weeks. I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. It's really snuck up on us this year and I think that's because it's been so nice outside. Monday we were outside in short sleeves. How many days past Thanksgiving can you usually do that?! Not many! Anyway, expect to see cards in your mail box from us shortly. (And no, no sneak peaks!) Here's why (and when) I officially felt like Christmas may be approaching us. We saw Santa on a motorcycle!



And then, out-of-the-blue we are sorta house hunting. We stumbled upon a diamond in the rough. It's 2600 sq feet with a finished basement. It is an estate home, and so the price just keeps going down because no one wants it. It's actually quite scary when you walk into it. It's in awful condition. Just really dated. But Neil and I walked into it and at the same time had the same thought - "we can do so much with this". We look past all the 80's wallpaper, ugly brown wood work, shag carpeting, linoleum floors, and musty smells and saw a beautiful diamond in the rough. I so hope we can get this house. But to revamp it to what we want would probably cost 75k. We're seeing what we could do, though. It would work perfect for a studio as well. It just seems too perfect, but at the same time, on the positive side, maybe that's because it's meant to be? So cross your fingers for us. Our little 1200 sq foot house is getting small and smaller as the kids grow, get more toys, and as my business grows (and thank God for that!). I don't know, maybe this is another not-meant-to-be moment, but we shall see.

Happy Hump Day!