i can almost taste summer.....

well, it's just been a whirlwind of activity & i don't know about everyone else, but i can't believe that it's already may! we've been busy, that much is probably obvious what with all the blogglessness around here & all, but good. madyn is 6 months already & much less like a newborn blob & showing us who she is. luckily, who she is is just swell; she's very laid back & content & enjoys watching kieran & andie vie for her attention. she is rolling over a lot & i can already see what will be coming soon: the dreaded crawling. i would be happy if she wants to sit up unassisted, that would be great, but crawling means a whole lot more energy exertion on my part & it's the beginning of the end as far as stationary baby-dom is concerned.

the older two are awesome, andie just finished up her Little Maroons program at Central High School & i celebrated #2 of 3 graduation events she will participate in there, as she did this last year & still has one more year before actually graduating & moving on to kindergarten. but it's great, i would be happy to attend endless grad programs if i get to hear "Five Little Hot Dogs" each time, it's a great song & the kids just love singing it :) i've posted some pictures from andie's last day below, we will most surely miss this place all summer long-andie would spend every minute of every day there & mommy will miss having andie occupied & cared for & not worrying when the house is quiet because she is holed up in her room with either 1) candy she has scaled the pantry to acquire, or 2) scissors & something valuable that is suddenly confetti. but i digress.....

kieran is in the last weeks of 1st grade right now, we are just seeing that big kid longing for the end of the school year & the start of summer from him & i'm hoping that after spending a nice long summer of playing baseball in the yard, sports camp, swimming, & playdates we will be able to convince him to return to school.....we'll see.

speaking of kieran's school, i am in the middle of work on the school's yearbook, a job that i agreed to be in charge of for two reasons, 1) i worked on pictures for it last year & thought it was something i could handle & add some creativity to, & 2) i felt guilty that i had never been to a PTA meeting & continued to go to events & activities where other moms worked their butts off & served dinners, handed out tickets, auctioned prizes, & greeted families while i simply attended events & activities, ate the dinners, bought tickets for prizes, & smiled as i was greeted. mostly i took on the yearbook for reason #2.

but you want to know the problem with me being in charge of the yearbook.....? I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING. which kind of constitutes a big problem, especially considering the fact that the end of school is mere days away & i am still working on this project that i don't know how to do. i'm going to hope none of the PTA girls read this & i can continue to pretend that everything is swell, no reason for them to worry, & that there may be an actual yearbook to hand to students before school ends.......but.........i've been doing a lot of freaking out lately. did you all know that i have three kids, one of which is a baby??? and i'm back to work & taking on photo clients again? and i'm working on marketing my business a bit so i can get even busier? did you know that i'm insane? i have this bad habit of volunteering for things i have NO BUSINESS volunteering for. aaron just loves this because often it means that he walks in the door & i hand madyn to him & before i've even verified that he has a grip on her i'm pivoting & halfway down the stairs to the basement yelling over my shoulder, "i have so much for to do & i haven't even been able to pee by myself today! i haven't eaten since monday & i'e wiped butts four times today! i'll be back up later!" and it's not like aaron's been kneeling in standing water in someone's dank drawl space for hours or working is own butt off all day plumbing, soldering, fixing, climbing, lifting. but he's a good sport & luckily he's missed his kids & is ready for some time with them & he understands how hard it can be to juggle kids, three different schools, my photo stuff, & now this yearbook task in which I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING.

but don't worry, i'm going to get some big chunks of this project done this weekend & i'm working on easing the PTA guilt. i attending my first meeting recently. i did however announce just after sitting down "is my face really red? i feel really red, i had a beergarita before i came." it was probably not my finest moment but damn, the meeting was actually quite enjoyable.

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happy

child #3

playing house

andie & friend are playing house or something similar with a baby doll. i'm washing dishes & i hear them talking.

friend: "Can I hold the baby?"
andie: "No, she died!"
friend: "But I'm big now, can I hold her?"
andie: "No, because she died! Hurry! We have to get her to the hospital!"

i wonder how this is going to play out......

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we are swell

i'm back!

this has probably been the longest blogging break i've taken, but it feels nice to be back here & while i really don't have anything very interesting to say, i thought it might be good to at least post that i'm still alive.

all is well around here, when last i wrote i was recovering from surgery. i can now say i feel awesome, i have no idea how many weeks post-op i am, so i think it's a good thing that i've stopped counting. the first couple weeks were a little rough but by six weeks i felt great & my doctor admitted he had been impressed since the day after surgery at how up-and-about i was. so go me!

kids are awesome, kieran is valedictorian of his first grade, andie discovered a cure for ear worms, & madyn is learning french.

aaron & i are starting a cult. we haven't figured out what kind yet, but if you have suggestions or want to join, let me know! it's always nice to have more followers!

i promise to post something better soon, for now i'm leaving you with the best darn family picture we have--i made the fam crouch in front of the camera right after i finished photographing a client. i set it up, set the timer & this was the only shot i got. looks so good i wish i had dressed us up & had gotten a hair trim!

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cool UK commercial

tales from the hospital

so, sometimes when you have surgery & you're under the influence of the sweet drugs they give you before you fall into unconsciousness, you get a little chatty. i can only imagine the things that pre-op nurses & doctors hear from patients. before my dad's colonoscopy i guess he discussed how cool it is they can look through your colon with a little camera. but i guess he said this about 10 times in a row, each time thinking he was saying it for the first time.

unfortunately, though i was hoping to avoid this, i just couldn't keep my mouth shut as i was about to go under the knife. as soon as the surgery was over my doctor came out to talk to aaron & immediately told him "i guess i should give joanna $80 to put in her gown!"

let me explain. i photographed my doctor, his partner, & their cute dogs for their card which i also put together. it is sooooo cute! & he ordered tons of them & then days before surgery asked if he could get more. so i put another order in for him & then had planned to invoice him (or trade him for a tummy tuck while he was cutting me open, i'm open to a little barter) but i forgot & realized i needed to collect at some point. so, of course, one of my last memories pre-surgery is telling the nurses that the doctor is my buddy & i did his holiday cards & i need to get $80 from him. that might be the last thing i remember but not the last thing i said. apparently, i proceeded to tell many nurses that my doctor owes me $80, i think they all in turn thought it was hilarious & each of them told him. by the time he talked to aaron the poor guy had been hounded by quite a few people, probably myself included!

but hey, i got my money. guess who showed up with a check right before my discharge?

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my OB is on the right, we had so much fun with these pictures:


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i made a new friend at the hospital.

the hospital staff was absolutely wonderful. they were all very caring & helpful & i really couldn't have asked for better nurses. in fact, i just loved the nurse who was first assigned to me. she was really kind & sweet & super cute. she would leave & i would whisper to aaron, "i just love her! isn't she cute? i want to fix her up!" i don't know what my problem is but i 1) love to meet new people, 2) just want everyone to be happy, & 3) i want all my various friends to be friends with one another & to be happy. that's not a bad thing.

so early on i chatted with my nurse & we made small talk. i asked her if she had a boyfriend, she didn't & not i am obsessed with fixing her up. i'm sure she thought i was crazy for saying, "so, you're from a small town near here. you're not seeing anyone? i know we've only known each other two hours but i know someone great you should meet!" but we clicked & i was insisting she come over to hang out & have pizza with our family & she loved my photography & i loved how adorable she is & single so i can make it my mission to set her up. i wanted to take her picture but that might sound crazy.

i e-mailed her when i got home from the hospital, then i was sad as i didn't hear from her. i thought we really had a connection, i thought we were going to be buddies. i told aaron i had been blown off. so sad. aaron said she probably just told me what i wanted to hear & had no intention of e-mailing me. but i told him he was wrong, we were like "you're so cool!" "no you are!" "let's hang out!" it was real.

so lo & behold she hadn't checked her e-mail & she got back to me yesterday & now i have a new nurse friend! she's coming over sometime. & then i'm going to help her find a boyfriend! listen, i'm married with three children, life has few thrills. i'm excited to have a new buddy & i can help her find happiness, is that wrong?

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fun things you can buy online

the day before my surgery was my mother's birthday. in addition to the bad timing, she was sick. so it was a small celebration but my siblings, dad, & i all had chipped in for her gift & she really likes it. my mom was the one who first told me about this fun little reading gadget & while i thought it sounded cool i didn't really look into it. then oprah had the Kindle inventor & amazon founder jeff bezos on talking about it. oprah made it clear that she was not tech savvy but was able to very easily use this electoronic reading device & download magazines, newspapers, books, etc. within seconds & this was the best invention ever. now, i'm not usually a slave to oprah's "favorite things", in fact, i've become a bit oprah-ed out over the past few years. oprah acts as if she knows what's best for all of us & aren't we silly for not jumping on the bandwagon & following along. but....this reading thing did seem pretty nifty. so i jumped online & read *tons* of glowing reviews for the Kindle & had to admit it seemed like something that was going to catch on, oprah-praised or not.

so now mom, who until recently didn't know how to create attachments in e-mails, is subscribing to USA Today on her Kindle, all of us watching from over her shoulder. it's pretty cool & now i just have to save my pennies for one of my own!



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oh my gosh, awhile ago i found the cutest handmade baby onsies, i want them all. check out this elvis one. or this one. or this one. oh my gosh, what about these for twins? love them all.

totally wish i had bought one of these for madyn for the holidays.

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there are so many awesome handmade things on www.etsy.com by so many talented artisans, it's hard to know where to start. look at this little wallet/pouch made from adorable fabric. $5!!! can't beat that. might as well get a cute key fob too. or a lovely new dog leash. stock up on your gifts here.

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aren't these awesome? cute little suitcases for the kids that they can ride on!

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have you ever thought to yourself, "gee, it's hard to water my indoor plants, even though i have plenty of water & they're only a few yards away" ? well then these are right up your alley! actually, i totally want them, even kieran remarked on how we could use them. i find it really sad that i can't keep plants alive, outdoor ones are one thing, but not even keeping up with watering indoor plants right under my nose, i have no good excuse.

now, for all of your ailments & issues, here's a website that accumulated all those awesome infomercial products in one place.

are blankets a pain in the butt for you? do you have a hard time "wearing" a blanket? do you want to look like a monk? this is the answer! it's aaron's & my new favorite as seen on TV product.

i was disappointed to find the copper tongue scraper is no longer viewable but i'm sure you can find hundreds of tempting, life-enhancing new items for you & your loved ones. start your holiday shopping now!

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on the mend

well, i am home from the hospital & recovering from surgery.

everything went well, i was admitted to the hospital wednesday mid-day & was there for two days, returning yesterday mid-day. i woke up today, in my own bed, but feeling pretty sore. in the hospital i really didn't feel all that bad, especially the first day when i didn't have to move a muscle. i had a pain pump & would dose myself but i was checking e-mails, receiving visitors, talking on the phone. then thursday i got up & walked a bit, definitely not able to walk more than a few laps around the hospital floor but not bad. they put me on oral pain meds & again i was pretty chipper & while a little uncomfortable, not in extreme pain or anything. my biggest problem was that i hadn't passed gas-isn't that lovely? in fact, the nurses had to restrict me from eating because of it & finally when it happened around 11pm thursday night i was telling everyone who would listen & calling aaron to say "i tooted!! now i can eat!" so that was a small victory.

yesterday i was discharged & given an abdominal binder, which was nice, it applies some pressure to the incision & i felt good walking & wearing it. when i got home i felt pretty good, holding madyn & walking from room to room. i've bounces back pretty well from my children's births & have been generally positive about all this, i just know this is going to be a minor setback & soon i'll be back to my regular lifestyle.

today i did wake up quite sore. don't know if things are "kicking in" more or if i did too much the past couple days but i'm typing from bed & have no big intentions of getting out of it today! i told aaron that yesterday was a "oww, i feel uncomfortable" kind of feeling, today is more like "aahhhh, don't get near me, i'm soooo tender" kind of thing.

so, i'm going to have to try to take less on i think, i got my hopes up & was feeling like wonder woman, only to find that i'm merely human & have been cut into & rearranged & can't possibly avoid all that comes with that. but that's okay, & aaron has been amazing with the kids, as well as family & friends. as much as this is hard to deal with right now, i keep feeling really happy. i know that this was a good thing for me to do & that once i'm recovered i'll be feeling better than i have in years.

so, that's what i'm up to. i'm on the laptop a lot! it's amazing what you can accomplish from bed in this day & age, love it. thanks for the support, even just getting a little message here & there has felt so great-like a hug :)

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