We have always known that we have a sweet puppy; however, it just keeps getting reinforced with each little boy that we have. After Jay was born Piper didn’t leave my side. She would follow me from room to room when I paced with Jay, she would camp out at my feet or on the side of the bed when he actually passed out and we were able to catch some sleep, she would lie down on his playmat and let him crawl over her whenever he wanted to. Even now she lets him roll cars up and down her back and bounce on her without so much as a big sigh. Now that we have Charlie she follows the two of us around like she did with Jay. She lies on his playmats, camps out on the side of the crib when he naps, follows me around with him when I am trying to get him to sleep and kisses his cheeks when he is fussy and within reach. I can’t wait until the boys are actually old enough to really play with her; I know that they will love her just as much as she has always loved them.
These are just a few of the times that I have actually caught Piper snoozin’ with Charlie although it happens daily :)
As each year comes to a close, I usually end up regretting the the things I didn’t get to finish, wondering where the time went and making grand plans regarding the new year. Not today, not this year. This year I won’t make promises I can’t keep or “resolutions” because it is what you do at new years. Instead, I will take a more gentle approach and create a list (it wouldn’t be me if it wasn’t a list) of hopes, hopes for the new year…
I hope to cherish the present and to not worry about what has yet to come.
I hope to trust more in God’s plan.
I hope to be good to my family, and to be the kind of friend my friends are to me.
I hope to enjoy the small moments with my small children who won’t be that way for long.
I hope to appreciate the moments I get with my husband and to constantly remind myself how lucky I am to have found him.
a self portrait of me and the three most important people in my life
Happy New Year everyone, here’s to a wonderful 2012!
Lately I have been quite concerned with checking things off of a “to do” list. With the holidays fast approaching, a new baby’s arrival pending (or at least it was) the white board on the fridge and lists (yes that is multiple) on my iPhone have been a revolving door of things to do. Prepare some meals for when baby arrives, stock pantry and toiletry cabinet, purchase Christmas gifts, work on the handmade gifts we are giving this year, do the laundry, clean the house, steam clean the carpets, finish photos- personal and otherwise and this isn’t even the half of it… The lists went on and on and when I or Jamie checked something off I was able to add another two or three things to replace it. To say the least it began causing me stress, I would check the lists before bed and make adjustments before my head could “shut off” for the evening and sleep. I would worry that I wouldn’t be able to get it all done and felt guilty when I didn’t end up accomplishing much during the day. Heck, I even stopped taking as many photographs of our day to day because I didn’t need (want) to add any more photos to the to be edited stack…
It has taken me a while to realize it (and I am not sure that I have fully grasped the concept yet) however I am surely working on it but those kinds of lists won’t ever end and they are not what is important. There will always be laundry to do, a house to clean, another project to be added to the to do list; what will end is the time when my children are small, a time when they want me to be there and need only my undivided attention.
Charlie came 10 days early surprising all of us and catching me with an unfinished list. Since he has arrived I have been forced to slow down, to let my list go unfinished and to focus on what really maters… my family. My time with Jay is more limited now so I am trying to be more deliberate about it and trying not to multitask while he is around. I am spending extra time reading stories, playing with cars, stopping to really listen when he talks to me or wants to show me something, helping when he asks in his sweet little voice “help me Mommy, help me”, and grabbing the extra hug or kiss when he slows down long enough to give them. I am trying to just sit back and enjoy all of the time I am getting with Charlie- to cuddle him, shower him with kisses, to enjoy the 3am and 4am feedings, to marvel at just how tiny and perfect he is. I am trying to appreciate (outwardly) all that Jamie does for me and the boys and sneak time for the two of us whenever possible. I am making an effort to pick up my camera and shoot until my heart’s content because even if I don’t get to editing all of the photos I have taken, I will some day and regardless of when I get to them I will be grateful that I took them- that I captured the tiny baby smiles or a little boy engrossed in his “fast cars”. I will want to remember those moments, the ones that only last for the blink of an eye. So while realistically my to do lists won’t be vanishing any time soon, I am not consumed by them anymore and I have started to add to do’s of another variety… like go to to the park, play cars and cuddle in the hammock ;)
And because all posts are better with a few photos, here’s a few of our little Charlie…
I probably have close to 500+ photos that I would love to edit and post (the selects from); however, I just can’t seem to find the extra time to get through them these days. Jay is down to one nap (for the most part) and it isn’t really that long, so my productive time has been cut in half AND if you consider that I nap often (being 38 weeks pregnant and chasing Jay is kicking my booty) these days too you can pretty much say productive time has gone out the window. Along with cutting down on productive time it also feels like my list of to do’s just keeps getting longer the closer we get to having baby brother. Oh well, not much I can do about it and if I look on the bright side the only really huge thing I need to do before this second little bundle of joy comes is pack my hospital bag… It’s funny how much things change with the second kiddo- with Jay my bags were packed and ready by the door one month out, with this one I will be lucky to have them packed the night before :)
Okay, enough with the random chatter (thanks for listening by the way) and on to some pretty random photos. I let Jay eat his breakfast the other day at the “big” table. He was so darn proud of himself and thought that he was such a big boy for sitting all on his own. It was pretty darn cute to see only his little noggin’ popping up over the table :)
waiting (pretty patiently for him, I might add) for his muffin
See that face? The one that melts my heart and pushes every button that I have all at once? Well he turned 21 months old today- I know, it’s crazy isn’t it? He is the main reason that I have been such a horrible blogger lately, that and the little one growing in my tummy, the two of them plum wear me out these days!! We have been busy lately, yes it’s true, we’v been traveling, celebrating with family, preparing to add to our family, I’ve been working (I had 5 shoots this month- yay for the work but boo for the extra work) and trying to get client images up but nothing has kept me as busy as my boys.
So give me a minute and I will fill you in a bit…
Jay Bird is non-stop these days… I saw a sign the other day on pintrest that said “a Mother of boys works from Son up until Son down”; it’s true I tell you- so true…
*He runs everywhere- literally runs, as fast as his little legs will take him, all the while saying “race”, “fast” and sometimes “super fast”…
*He repeats virtually everything that comes out of our mouths- this is funny and not funny all at the same time. He also talks non-stop- about everything and nothing all at once.
*He has opinions, strong opinions, about the most random and unexpected things. A few days ago he had a complete and utter meltdown because I tried to put the truck bib on him for breakfast and NOT the fish bib like he wanted.
*He will eat everything on his highchair tray like he is starving and hasn’t been fed in days but only if it’s his idea and if it happens to be placed there in the correct order (did I mention that the order changes daily?); however, if it isn’t in the correct order it’s full on meltdown time. Some of his favorites right now include peanut butter (which he basically licks straight off of the bread and calls “butter”), waffles (he can eat 3/4 of a Belgian waffle or two eggos on his own), yogurt and black olives.
*He is funny and he knows it… he will ham it up for people if he knows that he is being watched and he will laugh this awesome laugh at things he thinks are funny. He also loves to watch himself in videos and smiles at himself the whole way through.
*He loves to dance and will start shimmying whenever he hears music. He does have some serious white-boy moves but I love them!
*He loves to be read to and has an attention span for stories that is astonishing to both Jamie and me. He will sit through lengthy story after story every night before bed and frequently throughout the day parroting his favorite parts and pointing out things he loves to see on the pages. He also makes requests for certain favorite books and will search the house until it is found.
*He knows most of his colors… with the exception of a few he can name colors when asked with very little need for correction.
*He loves to play, mostly with duplo and cars. I am pretty sure that the first word out of his mouth when he gets up in the morning is cars and aside from the kisses and request for juice at bed time it is the last word that he utters. He knows all the names of this cars (some are die casts from the Disney movie Cars and have actual names) others are the names that he has given them but either way we play with them ALL DAY LONG! They zoom around my feet while I make dinner, they “crash” and flip off of the coffee table and they race man do they race. We talk about cars non-stop when we are in the car- he can spot a “jeepie” (a jeep) from a mile away. By the way a jeepie has to be a wrangler and a rag top is preferred.
So basically, I am exhausted most days when Jamie gets home because I spend every moment chasing this little one and as you can see he keeps me pretty darn busy. However, he is precious beyond words. He gives the best big hugs around, will freely give out kisses and tells me “love you”. It is melt your heart worthy, I promise. So even though I am tired and my days are not my own, I know that it won’t be long before I have another one to split my time with so I am trying to cherish every moment that I have with him and ignore all of the things that can wait.
Everything else is pretty good, we don’t have many things to complain about and the things we do have just don’t seem worth it. Hope you all can say the same :)
Here’s a few other photos to help fill you in on our happenings…
playing outside- also something that he loves right now. He always seems to get filthy regardless of the amount of time we are outhelping to blow out the candles on Jamie's birthday muffins
eating yogurt all by himself- it's a messier process but he is getting better by the day
Last weekend, Jamie, Jay and I went to a stable that was hosting a fall festival. They had all kinds of entertainment including pumpkin painting, face painting, music, pumpkins to take photos with and pony rides. Jay rode a pony, enjoyed watching the people and children that were around and carted pumpkins around most of the time that we were there. We didn’t actually pick our pumpkins here (they didn’t have many big ones) but we all enjoyed ourselves.
Watching the ponies during our pumpkin patch adventurehe wasn't so sure about the big horses in the stable- he liked them but he wanted to keep his distancepumpkin relocation project
the best "posed" photo we could get of Jay and the pumpkins- he started tossing them shortly after thisMommy and Jay- please excuse the dirty face... we were outside so he was dirtyJay's first pony ride- you can't really tell from the photos (since he is pretty serious in all of them) but he really enjoyed his ride
our second pumpkin patch adventure- the place where we got our pumpkins to carvegourds! also good tossing size...
To say that we have been busy lately would be an understatement and I know that it’s only going to get worse. We haven’t necessarily been running around like crazy going here or going there but the list of to do’s and responsibilities that have added up lately and the amount of time that we have to complete them in just doesn’t match up…
My coping method you ask?? Ignoring the list and relishing in a little bit of this from time to time…
Afternoon snuggles and stories with Daddy…
A little boy that can ask for certain books by name- Go Dog Go is one of the favorites right now :)
Random duplo pieces everywhere you look. Yes, they hurt like heck if you step on them but the joy that comes from playing with them makes up for it. Besides, he calls them his “poopy cars” (ie people cars) and if that doesn’t at least make you smile I don’t know what will…
The opportunity to spend some time as a family, just the three of us and take random self portraits that aren’t great are cherished all the same. I told him to squish in for this next photo and he poked his head in between ours and just kept saying “squish, squish!” over and over again…
Animals that are still wearing blue sweaters but that are healing, puppies that only wish they were small enough to join us on the bed and little boys (and Daddies) that love them both…
It’s been a long last few weeks with Daddies away at conferences, sick kitties to take care of and now sick little boys to mend as well; but with a few naps, a few early bedtimes, and a whole bunch of to-do’s ignored we are managing… Heck we’re thriving and making memories in the meantime :)
Jay is 20 months old today and time is flying by… Honestly what I am truly grateful for lately is that we have taken the time to slow down, to enjoy each other’s company and to live more in the moment. Yes, the floors are dirty and there is fur pretty much everywhere you look around the house (editor’s note: The fur’s omnipresence is a matter of opinion), the laundry isn’t near being done and regardless of what room you are in you can find something that hasn’t been put away- dishes, a toy, a car, a suitcase from the trip. No, this isn’t the type of house that I was raised in but it’s the house that I have come to love because while I used to wait around for everything to be perfect I realized that I have everything I need and then some, and what could be more perfect than that?
Happy Tuesday to all of you, may it be so perfectly unperfect…
We have a sick kitty at our house… one that needed to be taken to the vet on Tuesday and while we hoped that he would be able to come home tonight that isn’t the case. They will need to do further testing and an ultrasound to rule out other things and get him on his way to recovery. So, if you are so inclined to pray for furry children, Dolce could use a few prayers and I think that we could too. My heart has been pretty heavy the last few days and while he, Dolce, drives me nuts from time to time I can’t wait to have him come home.
The other animals are kind of lost right now without him, Bella especially (his pound kitty sister). She keeps wandering around looking for him and meowing- it’s really sad… Jay has noticed that something is up but isn’t quite sure and I am honestly glad that he is too young to understand. He has however, been hamming it up the best he can to keep our spirits up. Yesterday, aside from being a dancing fool he kept his crown (a pipe cleaner crown that I made to entertain him on the plane) on all day and hammed it up for the camera with his shades…
By the way, I am still working on Canada photos and will post soon as soon as I can :)
Lately it feels as though Jay is growing up before my eyes. Each and every time I look at him I see more of a little boy and less of my little baby… I know that this is going to happen but this has a way of playing with my already surging pregnancy emotions if you know what I mean. So lately I have loved most things that remind me that he’s still my little baby and his footy pajamas are no exception. They bring me back to his tiny days… the days when he wasn’t running all around the house, the days where he couldn’t speak three word sentences to me and the days in which he had no opinions on the cup he drank his juice from…
the perreault family 