Studio Shoot

Here are some pictures from our recent studio shoot with our friend, Christia Palizzi.

If you are in the Des Moines area, give her a call!

Marie was being a typical 2 year old and did not want to participate in many shots. Thankfully Christia's little boy was willing to entertain so we could get some smiles from Marie.

(click on photos to enlarge)

Hudson Boy

We had one last summer fun weekend with the Dickes clan.

Eddie, Jess, & Hudson came to Des Moines to join us for another trip to the Iowa State Fair. It was hot and a little miserable at first, but once we all enjoyed some good fried food we were doing fine. On Sunday we enjoyed a picnic lunch at the park.

Hudson had his first adventure with a slide and swing, too! We had a blast with this kiddo...he is getting so big! Marie loves playing with him and she does a great job entertaining him.

A switch has been flipped...

We have all been here right?

The place where you are still trying to hold onto your little one and make decisions for her even though she thinks she knows what is best?
Well, that is where we are.
Marie is insisting on ONLY wearing her Dora pajamas to bed at night, she doesn't like her legs to be showing at night so she puts on any random pajama pants she can find and then asks for socks so she can put them OVER her pants to keep her pant legs from crawling up.
IF they crawl up...all heck will break loose and we will hear about it.

She has also been wearing a necklace and/or silly band bracelets to bed along with the hair tie of her choosing.
Are we giving in?
Yes, it's a battle we are not fighting.
As our parents have reminded us - choose your battles.
I think it shows great creativity and yes, independence, but it does drive us a little insane.

This little girl of ours is on the toddler roller coaster.
You know, the one where one minute she is the happiest, sweetest, funniest little thing and then 1.5 seconds later a tantrum full of screaming, kicking, and jerking around on the floor is occurring and you don't know how it started or why it is happening but you hope it will end just as quickly as it started.

So, that is why we are choosing our battles wisely and not fighting the whole Dora pajama fiasco at night.
Instead, we are asking, "what color socks tonight, Marie?"

We Enjoy the Fair....

It's that simple.

the end of summer is here

So even though we will continue to experience hot & humid Iowa days, our summer is pretty much over. Marie is officially back to daycare in her new 2 year old room, I start work on Thursday (boo), and Andy is studying for his next set of med boards. He takes a test on August 24th in Des Moines and another test in October in Philadelphia.

With the end of summer comes a few last trips to the beach & Snookies for ice cream, sleeping in, and pool parties. With the start of the school year comes a routine which we are all (secretly) grateful and ready for, packing of lunches which I know saves us time and money but I (not-so-secretly) hate doing, earlier bedtimes and earlier rise times, and the excitement at what will happen with the upcoming Nebraska football season. Ok, so the last idea isn't so much what I am looking forward to, but I do love the food at a tailgate party...

As I am de-summerizing our house with cleaning and organizing, I ran across some videos of Marie when I was still pregnant with her and right after she was born. I plopped on the couch and began watching.

Even though I have spent nearly every day with her for 2+ years I was shocked and amazed at how much she has grown and changed. I can't believe how much I take for granted and forget. I watched her on the screen as she breathed her first few breaths of air, watched her meet Charlie for the first time as he slobbered all over her, watched her grandparents wipe tears away as they held her in the hospital, watched her giggle for the first time, and so on. Before I knew it, an hour had passed and the floor still wasn't vacuumed, and the puzzle pieces still scattered, but I felt refreshed and ready to tackle another year. I am so excited to see how Marie continues to grow and where life will take us next.

Relief...

Another home project is officially done!

Even though it was way too hot on Saturday, Andy & I finished painting the garage so we could check that baby off the to-do list.

What a good feeling!

Andy did most of the hard work but it was fun to finish the project together. It's always more fun to be stuck outside painting in the heat when you can do it with someone who makes you laugh..even if it is Andy laughing at how much paint I get on myself.

Before
After