playing catch-up...BIG post with LOTS of pics...

Okay...so this is what happens when I fall behind on my blog!! AH! Here are a SLEW of photos from the past month and a half. Some are edited (with watermarks), but most are not...but even look worse than they would straight out of the camera, because I did this weird re-size and sharpen thing to them, and I think they look pretty bad. But remember...I'm not putting these out here to impress (I'm reminding myself)...just to document and have memories for our family. :)

I have been pretty stressed lately. Things have been going pretty well with us...we're just super busy. And Isaac is DEFINITELY hitting his "terrible two's" which I just knew was NOT going to happen to us. HA! My head is spinning and every day I look forward to going to bed at night...and some days wish for more sleep in the morning. He's definitely giving me a run for my money. Oh wait...I don't make money at this job!! :) Hehe.

Anyway...here are the pics...in complete random order...and did I mention there are A LOT of them? :)

This kid LOVES to swing!!

These pics are from the pumpkin patch. You'll notice there are no pics of him picking out a pumpkin. And that's because a certain little boy had a MAJOR meltdown as we were waiting in line for the hayride to take us there. Boo. The Ober's left without their pumpkins!

For those curious as to what my little set-up looks like to get some of these photos...nothing too fancy. :)

MAJOR bedhead!!

costume #1

Some people say she looks like her mommy! :)

Costume #2

Okay...that's all for now! :) Hopefully I'll get better about posting more often so I don't have to do this. I have videos too, but that takes some extra time. One of these days....

just one pic...

don't know how i missed this one from the other day...

Five months old...

Sweet, sweet Naomi. You are FIVE months old today. Where has the time gone?? I feel like I just blinked and here you are...getting so big! Your name means "beautiful, pleasant, delightful," and sweetheart, you are all three! :)We get so many comments on how happy you are. You smile at everyone...all the time. You rarely fuss or cry - just when you're really hungry or if you're ready to go to sleep. In fact...when it's time to put you down for bed, we just swaddle you, put a pacifier in your mouth, and you just peacefully drift off to sleep. SO precious!! :) And so EASY!You are still a tiny little thing. Many people are surprised when they find out that you're 5 months old...they usually guess much younger because of how small you are. You're still wearing 0-3 month clothing, but I'm guessing that you'll be growing out of them within a month or so. :)We have been having First Steps therapists come out to our house every other week to work with you. Since you were born, you were VERY stiff. They call it hypertonia. Mommy has been going crazy trying to figure out WHY you are this way, but I have recently decided to just forget about the "why" of it all. You are doing MUCH better with our exercises and actually have very little stiffness now (just in your arms a little). You still struggle quite a bit with reaching out and grabbing for toys. I think it's because of the stiffness. Once we get you a little more loosened up with your arms, then I think you'll be good to go! :)You LOVE watching your big brother. And Isaac loves it when you watch him. His favorite thing is to run back and forth in front of you, laughing as your head goes from side to side to keep track of him. It's super cute. You smile and laugh at him a lot. He loves you too, but I can tell that once you do start grabbing for his toys, he's not going to be too happy. I'm working on him, though! :)Let's see...what else...we think you've started teething, as you are drooling non-stop and love putting EVERYTHING in your mouth. You are still breastfeeding and haven't started solid foods yet. I have a feeling that we'll start with that within the next month, as you have been showing LOTS of interest in our foods and drinks! You are rolling over like a champ, and have been working on sitting up on your own.We love you beyond words. And are SO thankful that the Lord has blessed us with you, sweet baby girl.

Conversations...

I had a lot of fun conversations with Isaac today...including one new exciting 'first' thing. So I just had to hop on here to document them.

This afternoon, after eating his snack, Isaac was walking around with his sippy cup when something overcame him and he decide to hurl his cup across the dining room. Immediately after it hit the sliding glass door and landed on the floor, he exclaimed, "WHOA! I too my wadow ova dayer!" (I threw my water over there!) I have no idea how, but keeping my composure, I said, "You sure did. But we don't throw cups in our home. So please go pick it up and put your cup on the table." He walked over, beaming with pride at how far he threw his cup and as he obediently put it on the table, with a bit of giddiness in his voice, said "I threw my water." I thanked him for doing what I asked. And was laughing SO hard on the inside. :)

Later on, he brought a bunch of Legos out into the living room. He was sitting on the floor working very hard building something. So I asked, "Isaac, what are you making?" Without looking up, he said, "I makey a tain...choo-choo." He kept putting more and more blocks on his train so it was larger than normal. Rolling it along the couch, he looked at me and said, "It a biiiiig tain." I have no idea when he learned the concept of BIG. But I think he's getting it. So fun!! A few moments later some of the Legos started falling off and frustrated, he said, "Oh NO! Da tain faw down." So we went to go get more blocks to keep building. Once back in his playroom, he proceeded to tell me all about how his train was going to the farm. "It go-een to da fawm." From the other room, I heard him talking to himself: "It's a sheep. It's a....horsey. It's a...wabbit. It's a....duck. It's a....GOAT! I fown (found) da COW!" I walked in to find him doing a puzzle with each of those animals in it! :) So sweet.

Then....this evening, he was sitting on a small bag of mine that resembles a purse. Here's how this conversation went:
Me: Isaac, what are you doing?
Isaac: I rye-deen da puhs. (I'm riding the purse)
Me: You are?
Isaac: I wanna puhs.
Me: But purses are for girls.
Isaac: I wanna puhs.
Me: You could have a man-bag.
Isaac: Mmm-hmm. I wanna man-bag.
LOVE it! :)

And then...for the last thing this evening...and the one that had me jump up screaming...

Isaac started throwing his magnet letters off of the refridgerator (something he does frequently). From across the room, I said, "Isaac, NO THANK YOU! Please pick those up. We don't throw those on the floor." He grabbed a letter off the fridge, held it in the air and yelled, "I! I!" I looked at the letter in his hand...and you guessed it...it was the letter I! I jumped up, screaming and said, "YEEESSSSS!" You're right, buddy! That's the letter I!" He was so excited...we were all laughing and smiling. And all the while, he began picking up the rest of the letters on the floor, saying "I picky up da lettos." Once he got them all back on, I asked him where the "I" was. He grabbed it without hesitation!! So Isaac knows his first letter!! :) And how fitting that it's the first letter of his name! :)

This may not be a big deal to anyone. But to a mommy who's been teaching her child things like this for 21 months (since he was born), it's fun to finally begin seeing some of the fruit of our work!! :) He just surprises us with what he knows every day. This is SUCH a fun age.

I HAVE to get better about this...

I know, I know. It's been TOO long! Blogging was much easier before having a baby...got a little more challenging after having Isaac...and now with two...GEESH. I really do need to get better about it, though. :) Not for you who may or may not even be reading this...but for ME and our children. This is the best way to document their lives so we can look back and smile about the silly things they used to do! So I really do want to get better at this!

Since becoming a professional photographer, I have stressed about the photos I put up on this blog. It's like I have this pressure to produce amazing, nicely-edited photos every time. That's a lot of WORK! And so, with the encouragement of another photographer, I am not going to stress about it anymore. In fact...I am not even going to edit most of the photos you'll see on here. This is our family blog. Not my business blog. It is meant to document our lives and I don't have to make every stinkin picture look perfect. I don't have to prove myself to anyone on here. :) And I have to believe that including half-crappy snapshots on my family blog is NOT going to ruin my business. Hehe. So anyway...get ready for some craptastic, non-watermarked photos on here!!

For today's blogpost, I want to document some fun things that Isaac has been doing lately. I will just do it in list format, as it's easier that way...

-LOVES to play his kazoo...and does a cute little shoulder dip/dance while playing
-enjoys letting Naomi ride on his shoulders (with help from mommy, of course)
-wants to kiss EVERY animal he sees ("i wan na kees da kwirl" translated: "I want to kiss the squirrel")
-says "mmmm-hmmm" very matter-of-factly to answer "yes" to our questions
-when we ask him what color something is, it's ALWAYS "lello" (translated: yellow) He's also correctly identified things that are "geem" (green), "bue" (blue), "po-po" (purple), and red. But EVERYTHING is first "lello"
-he loves riding on everyone's back, saying, "giddee-up!" I have to be careful if I turn my back on him, because I have caught him sitting on Naomi a few times!!! (She hasn't been bothered by it yet)
-he's STILL eating crayons. YUCK. so if you come over to our house to "cullow" (color), just beware that most of our crayons are missing their tips!!
-he's started eating cereal from a bowl with a milk and a spoon...and doing VERY well at it!
-he's still a GREAT sleeper, usually waking up between 9-11am each morning, taking a 2-4 hour nap in the afternoon, and going to bed anywhere between 7:30-9:00pm, depending on what we have going on.

And here are his latest fun sayings:
-"Whoa! Look at dat, mommy!"
-"I would like (fill in the blank), peese." or "I want dis!"
-"I don't want to take a nap."
-"I wanna dink a mommy's wado" (I want a drink of mommy's water)
-"Who did it?"

He had me laughing SO hard lately. I had JUST finished packing up the diaper bag to head out with the kiddos. I set it on the couch and told Isaac to leave it alone while I ran to the bathroom real quick. He must have heard my flush the toilet, because he promptly met me on my way back from the potty. I picked him up and headed to the living room, where I found the diaper bag upside down, with it's contents strewn about the floor. I sighed as I walked toward the mess with Isaac in my arms.

He gasped and pointed at the mess, saying: "Who did dat...to ma bag?!?" The little stinker is already trying to pull things over on me! I said, "YOU did that!" He just smiled, knowingly. I can't believe that he's already being deceitful! He has done this "Who did it" trick a few times...and even once went as far as saying something along the lines of, "da baby did it." Are you kidding me!?!

We've gotten keep a tight reign on this one!! :) And without further ado...here are some recent photos...not edited in the slightest. :)

Isaac enjoys reading to Naomi...and kissing on her too!

But he's not so sure about her touching him!

Yes...she does always look a bit surprised! :)

These next few just CRACK me up!! He definitely keeps us laughing!

And while he enjoys making us laugh, he also has his moments that make me want to SCREAM. Like this mess he made last week...when he thought it would be a fun idea to throw his plate of hotdogs and ketchup on the floor...making a lovely mess on my walls! UGH. And for what it's worth...I didn't scream. I grunted and went to grab my camera. :)

4 months old...

So we had Naomi's 4-month appointment this morning. She is a healthy baby girl! Tiny...but healthy! :) After having such a HUGE baby boy, it's taking a little while to get used to having a little baby. She's still roly-poly...just a small roly-poly. Hehe. Here are her stats:

weight: 12lbs, 12oz (30th percentile)
length: 24 inches (38th percentile)
head circ: 15.75 inches (22th percentile)

So she's still got a little head, but at least it's up from under 10%!! Good news is that she's growing. And in other good news...she probably will not be in First Steps much longer, as she is progressing SO well. The only minor concern I still have (and it is minor) is that she still isn't showing any interest in reaching for toys. Could just be that she's not interested...or she may be a tiny bit delayed due to her muscle stiffness early on. Who knows!?! But like I said...just a little concern...nothing major. She's doing VERY well.

Here are some fun 4-month photos I took this past week (I think you can click it to make it larger):