My Girl, 18 Months

Today Cecilia is 18 months old. She's a full fledged toddler, one who has so many teeth, so much hair and such long skinny limbs that people are always shocked to hear she's not at least 2.

So teeth. She's got them all, as far as I can tell anyway. Her top incisors are part way through and they are the last to make their grand entrance. When she smiles, you can pretty much see them all.

And hair. This is a bit of a struggle for me lately because she doesn't want to sit still; I can't blame her. I've at least figured out a method for washing her hair that is tolerable for us both and I'll keep at styling as much as she will allow.

And those long limbs. They allow her to climb on everything. And run. And grab things that aren't intended for baby hands. That's our stage right now.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty great with her (knock on wood). The epic tantrums she had been throwing all the time for a couple of months have gotten a ton better and are not really an issue at this juncture (I'm certain they'll return at some point). She just kind of wanders around, plays with things, looks at things, puts shoes on, etc. I would completely describe her as a jolly little goof when she's at home, but she is much more serious around other people. Simon has always had one personality and it follows him where ever he goes. She definitely has a shy side and has for as long as I can remember. Funny to see that trait continue as she grows up!

She has a thing about dressing and undressing. The undressing part lead to a crib full of crap the other day. It was all over her - in between her toes, on her hands, a little on her lower lip...you get the idea. Luckily she hasn't shown signs of e-coli poisoning yet and she didn't get any in her hair by some kind of miracle. These things happen I guess. All I can do is put footless footie jammies on her backwards so she can't escape and repeat the offense :)

One thing that's definitely tough with her at this age is going to friends' houses who do not have an 18 month old. Or going to parks. I hate parks right now. All of this is expected and temporary, though. Soon enough I'll be able to ignore her when we have play dates :) haha

God, I love this girl.

The Zoo with Mary Lynn

My mother in law loves the zoo. I think in part because it's nostalgic for her, in part because she likes to be on the go and do fun things with the kids, and in part because I have a zoo pass....I can't be sure which of these ranks highest :)

This year we went at 3:45 and it closed at 4:45...not my mother in law's idea of a quality trip to the zoo but we made the most of it. I'm sure we'll be going back to make up for lost time though :) Anyway, my photography business is going a little bit better than anticipated and I booked enough sessions to earn myself a camera upgrade so I brought it to the zoo to test it out. I was actually quite amazed at the difference right off the bat!

Now if only I could teach Simon how to fake smile without looking like he's literally in pain.....

Side note: I need to put it out there that if I'm going to post pictures as usual here (which I miss doing), I cannot worry about editing them because I just don't have the time or inclination. So they're going to be straight out of the camera as they used to be (except maybe a little cropping or booger removal when absolutely necessary). I feel self imposed pressure to always show only my best photos now and that sucks. So I'm taking the pressure off. Right here, right now.

:)

70.3 kind of day

On Sunday Bryan participated in his first "official" Ironman event. He's done the half Ironman distance before (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run), but never one that was put on by the Ironman company. As a spectator, I could definitely tell a difference between that and other non-Ironman events. They definitely know what they're doing! The best parts as a spectator were that we could easily cheer Bryan on several times without having to move around too much, in between cheering there was an awesome beach for the kids to play at, and they had plenty of food and drinks for sale including veggie dogs which you normally can't find anywhere outside of the grocery store. Score a few extra points for Ironman in my book :) Next year I think Bryan will be doing a full one (why I don't know), and I hope it goes just as well all around!

It was a long morning as these things tend to be, but it was a fun day with the kids and my mom. I'm going to pretend that Simon didn't have a meltdown over God knows what for about an hour. Seriously. Ignoring. It never happened. He didn't say it was "the worstest day of his life."

Moving on from that....

Here was our day in pictures:

He's just starting his run and is looking pretty good!

This was where the crabbies started. He tried to hide under a blanket for awhile...

A rare moment of sleeping in the stroller. This was of course her only nap for the day and it lasted about 20 minutes, but it was cute while it lasted. Notice the sand all over her face that I couldn't get off...

He's right about to finish and not feeling quite so happy as when he started the run...but he was done so there was something to be happy about!

I heart HP.

I found the key to getting Simon to take a nice picture instead of putting his hands over his face and/or running away.

Set up a scene and let him climb on a desk:

I've been wanting to do this with a newborn baby, but I haven't had one quite compliant enough yet for something like this (and let's face it, I haven't known my clients quite well enough to ask them either haha).

So that was our fun yesterday. Super nerdy, I know. But it makes me super happy :)

CTFD

If you missed my facebook share, here's your chance to read the best parenting advice I've heard to date.

http://www.thedaddycomplex.com/post/55268573331/latest-parenting-trend-the-ctfd-method

Go take 90 seconds to read it. Even we don't follow this advice all the time, it serves as a good reminder to TRY. And if nothing else, you'll laugh. Unless you don't like the F word, in which case you may be offended. Sorry about it.

:)

What's going on?

Blogging has kind of taken a back burner this summer for a few reasons, but the biggest reason is that I feel like if I'm going to be sitting at my computer, it should probably be to get some work done. Then once I do a little work, I don't want to be sitting at my computer anymore. And around we go.

June turned out to be a busy month for me in regards to my photography "business" (it will be in quotes for a while, seems fake still). My goal for this whole thing was to do 2-3 sessions a month until Cecie is in school a bit. In June I met with 7 families and I'll be doing the same in July. I don't expect to continue to have that many each month so I'm just trying to roll with it for now, but it is definitely keeping me busy during the little free time I get!

Today I have a kidless day, though, and I have a lot of big plans for it. It includes editing, blogging, laundry, cleaning and going to a jewelry store to see about getting my rings separated (the diamond to my engagement ring fell out so I'm just going to rock a wedding band for the time being). Then at 5:30 tonight I meet 1 month old Nellie for photos. I think I have plenty to keep myself busy all day...I just wish I had a good book to listen to (I just finished the Scent of Rain and Lightening and my only compliant is that it was too fast of a read, rendering me bookless today).

So without further ado, here is what we've been up to lately...

Cecilia is a climber now and this is not my favorite thing (along with a good solid handful or two of other things she does that are completely age appropriate):

We went to the zoo with my friend Jessi and decided to ride the train. Both kids loved it, of course:

C could not stop smiling (and trying to jump out) the whole time:

On July 3rd, my darling daughter scratched my eyeball. Apparently it was "severe" as it was a scratch the width of her fingernail. It was about as painful as it sounds. I technically didn't have to patch it because the doctor gave me a contact bandaid, but keeping it covered helped with the discomfort. Argh.

The next day we went to a carnival where a dad and his boy played manly games and won manly prizes:

And a girl was kept busy with a cob of corn pretty much the entire time:

My mom got the kids a kit to grow butterflies and wouldn't you know it, those little caterpillars turned right into butterflies as promised. Such a cool process to watch!

Taylor Weekend Number 9

This past weekend we were up in the Eagle River area for our 9th Annual Taylor Weekend. Here are a few highlights:

-Mike Taylor shot off a water balloon with a slingshot and fell backwards into the lake. I'm pretty depressed I didn't actually see it happen, but I did see him in the lake before he got out so I could try to picture it.

-We played musical chairs. For real. This produced some of the most laughs of the weekend.

-Dan the Man got a beer bottle to the forehead during a heated game of Beersby. Not really a "highlight" but definitely a crazy moment! Along this line, we almost got knocked out by a giant branch that fell onto the picnic table we were sitting at. It hit Peggy on it's way down a little, but luckily there were no major injuries.

-Grandpa Vuolo's lecture on keeping the cabin clean was hilarious. I wish, wish, wish we had his impassioned speech recorded.

-Getting to know Chris' bride to be, Brenda, a little better. She was such an awesome addition to Taylor Weekend!

-Roasted cheese curds (thank you, Andy). This is something we get every year, but it's always a favorite and something I only eat this one weekend out of the year. If you've never put a cheese curd on a stick and roasted it marshmallow-style you are missing out.

All around it was a pleasant weekend with great friends. We mostly just relaxed, played games and had many conversations ranging from the Bible to whether Joe's friend is really a bitch or just really looks like one. Haha :)

Until next year!