Day 31 - I Diiiiid It!

That's what he was so happily saying right before/as I took these pictures! If you weren't paying close attention you probably didn't notice that he is sitting on the toilet here! He's been "going potty" in the potty for a few weeks now, on an off. Just numero uno...still no number two. But hey, we gotta start somewhere. The funny thing about this is he demands privacy! If you notice in the picture on the left hand side its blurry...well that's the door. I've just peeked in here. I was telling my sister-in-law about his demands for privacy and how I crack the door and she said I should get a pic. By golly, it was a good idea! Problem is, now he sees the crack and gets down off the potty and slams the door shut in my face! I'm ready for him to start recpricating some of this privacy he so demands. The way I figured it, after talking to some friends about it, between him and the dog I haven't had a private moment in the bathroom in nearly a decade! :)

Day 30 - Redneck Sled

I've got two pics today. For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting the redneck sled....drumroll please...tadaaaaa! What would have been an even better picture is the picture of my big ol butt stuffed in that clothes basket holding Owen, but it was only captured on the iPhone. I don't get to share that humiliation with you. Bummer. ;) He was kind of scared of this contraption. Especially after his dad spun him out of it. I happened to actually catch that one on my camera, but thought I'd just go with this one today. It gives you the full effect. The other photo is of O on our first trip out this morning holding his dads hand. I added a texture to this that one to give an even more wintry feeling. He looks so serious! He's probably wondering what the heck we're doing out in the freezing cold making him bundle up to the point of not being able to move.

Day 29 - Snowball

We sure are getting the snow today, hooray! This is such a rare occurrence here. It started snowing this morning around 9 and has not stopped! Its now doing some sleeting. We have at least 4 inches probably and are supposed to get between 4 & 6! We took O out this morning for a little bit and his daddy helped him make this snowball. I was hiding out on the porch with the camera and told him to come show it to me so I could get a pic. I wanted to use a different picture of him close up but his nose was totally crusty. Poor guy. He's been a little under the weather today. Hopefully he's feeling better tomorrow! I'm hoping we can get out there tomorrow, its perfect snowman making snow. I know this because I pelted his dad with a few snowballs in the hottub while ago. ;) OR maybe we'll have to make a homemade sled out of a laundry basket. haha! We totally don't even own one.

Day 28 - Meet Elijah

If you follow my blog, you may remember meeting Noa around a week ago. She's my friends little newborn who is a twin that I took a photo of for one of my 365 posts. This, my friends, is her brother. Sweet Elijah. I finally got to meet him today. The twins have been home for a few days now and are doing great. But can I just say - oh...my...gosh...they are so TINY...like make me nervous tiny! We had some fun today doing some newborn shots of them. Who knew it would take 4 grown adults to take photos of 2 under 5 pounds each babies. I was so stressed. haha! It just makes me want to open a studio even more! Oh they are so precious. I can't wait to just watch them grow. Their big brother is one of my sons buddies. I'll be seeing a lot of these two in the future...and you may, too.

Day 27 - Emotionally Spot On

Today I was trying to work with Owen on some letters of the alphabet. Later this afternoon I decided to look online and see if I could find any free games on my laptop about the ABC's. I found one where you hit a letter on the keyboard and it will tell you the letter and an animal comes up with it then makes a noise, etc. He was loving it! I intended on actually trying to get a decent picture of him here, but like everything with O he lost interest quickly. However, I did get about 6 pics. Lighting is off, focus is off, they are underexposed, he's not wearing pants, there's peanut butter on his shirt, he looks to even have a crusty nose in the middle one...I love them. These images are emotionally in focus for me. They are spot on.

Day 26 - Anniston Jane

Perhaps its my "aunt goggles" but I adore this photo. Omgosh. This is my sweet niece, Anniston. I took her 6-month photos today. She's such a great subject. Yes. I'm partial. :)

Day 25 - Whipped Cream

Um yea. My child is eating whipped cream. He wanted ice cream and we didn't have any so I improvised! He actually may have been talking about wanting whipped cream since his father introduced him to it over the weekend. Who really knows. He ate a few spoonfuls and I grabbed the camera. He's rotten. So rotten. His shirt says Mom's Little Angel. I need one that says Mom's Little Hellian and its Her Own Fault. :)

Day 24 - Traffic Jam

The title says it all...it took my friend and I nearly 5 hours to make what should be a 2-2.5 hour trip today. It sucked. Bad. There's only so much you can do in a car while going 2 mph. Granted we did stop to eat some lunch at Waffle House (she had never been there, can you believe it?!). But still. That's a loooong time. Here's a snap of the interestate out the window and then me in the mirror. Who knew I wrinkled up my head like that when I take pics. Funny. It's so nice to finally be home. We did have a little bit of fun with another friends camera. She left her camera there and we brought it to get back to her. Well...lets just say when she gets her camera back she's going to have about 100 photos of just random stuff from our traffic jam boredness. It was pretty comical. I wanted to see just how many pics we could take but it looked like it would hold 850 more and we weren't about to snap that many. Although we certainly had time! Traffic Jams stink.

Day 23 - Peyton

I'm a day late posting due to my girls getaway in Kentucky last night. It was a fun time. I sure do miss my friends. I did take a few pics while I was away. This is Mr. Peyton! He's one of my best friends little boys and I gotta say he is just too stinkin' cute! And so smart. I could not get over all the stuff he knows - letters, shapes, colors, etc and he's only a little over 2! You have a little smartie on your hands, Janelle! I can't wait to go back up this spring and do a session outside with him when it warms up and is pretty.

Day 23 - Night with the Ladies

I won't be posting a picture today because I am getting ready to head to Kentucky for a much needed night with my lady friends! I'm going to be taking pictures today but won't be posting until tomorrow. Day 23 - ahhh, relaxation. I can't wait!

Day 22 - He's All Boy

My son LOVES cars and trucks. He's a total boy...although he also loves to carry around my purse. hehe. We won't tell him that when he's older. One day I'll probably find him stuffing my purse full of his cars. ;) I was needing a pic for today and today is the first time ever that I was actually able to tell him to do certain poses and he would listen! I was originally messing around with my flash trying to get him eating his pretzels, with his buses, or a pic of his feet. I then had him move to the window for the natural lighting. There's just nothing like natural light. Anyway, this is what we came up with for today. Here's Mr. Owen with one of his loud, obnoxious, lighting up trucks. Gotta love little boys and their cars and trucks.

Day 21 - Brand New

My friend Courtney had twins yesterday morning, a boy and a girl. Noa and Elijah. Elijah is in the NICU so I wasn't able to get my camera on him today, but his time is coming. I did get the pleasure of meeting little Miss Noa, though. She is the smallest baby I have ever held, weighing in at right under 5 pounds. She is so itty bitty and precious! It was almost enough to give me baby fever. I said almost! Shhhh...don't tell my husband. He may try to take advantage of me during a moment of weakness.

Meet Noa. She is roughly 26 hours old here. She is beautiful.

Day 20 - Hot ham-n-cheese

Today's post is my most uninspired to date and I'm sorry. Its been a hectic day. We've been going all day today it seems! O had his 2-year checkup this morning, followed by a trip to my old place of employment to visit old work friends and have lunch. We then came back home for a few hours of rest, then it was bath time, followed by this gourmet sandwich that I fixed my little guy tonight for dinner...then back out the door to our Church small group bi-weekly meeting. Whew. I'm beat. I almost scratched this photo entirely but I don't feel like getting my camera back out and am really comitted to one a day. Tomorrow is going to be another day on the run, but my friend had her twins today and I'm going to go visit her. I hope to have a much better picture for you tomorrow. I'm hoping for some tiny fingers and toes. Oh how I love those! Stay tuned! :)

Day 19 - I'm in love...

With these two people. With this image. With the processing. For today's post I was trying to take a bath pic of O, but it wasn't until his Daddy lifted him out of the tub and kissed him on the side of his face that I found my image. The chocolate colored wall of my bathroom actually made for a nice background in this image. And this was my first play at textures. This one will go down as one of my favorites of my two favorite people. I heart them.

Day 18 - Backlit Berries

I was wandering around outside today looking for inspiration...looking for something to take pics of...something aside from the hubs changing the oil in the car or the son playing in the car. After walking over to our landscaping I shot some pics of the berries head on with lighting behind me. I decided to move around to the other side and get down and try to do some backlit pics. I'm happy with how this turned out, although I wish I hadn't blown a few spots but I still like it. I added Pioneer Womans sunlight action to it as well. These are the berries that come out of the center of monkey grass. Or Liriope, said "larry-o-pee" by myself. Not sure it that's correct, but I think it's funny and that's how I say it. I can't wait for spring.

Day 17 - Football Outtakes

My husband is going stir crazy. He really doesn't do well being cooped up in the house. When his brother came over today to visit they decided to go outside and throw the football around. I started out with good intentions of getting a good picture of him for today's post. But once I started snapping and the outtakes were soooo funny I just couldn't stop! These are too funny not to share...especially if you know him! On the top middle pic he is headed for a tree in our yard and he was saying, "I was scared of the tree!" And I do have to add that he did in fact catch the ball on the last shot...in the whole pic you can see part of the ball at the top. This would have been a good one had the ball been more in the pic closer to his hand and I hadn't blown the sky out. Lots of things technically wrong with these, but they will forever make me chuckle. Sorry honey, thanks for being a good sport. And for giving me a good laugh. Love you!

Day 16 - Cake

Mmmmm, I have to say it was mighty tasty! We went to a good buddies birthday party today at Pump it Up! For those of you unfamiliar with Pump it Up, it's a building with several of those huge blow-ups that you can get in and jump around, etc. I have to say the blow-ups have changed since I was a child. They used to just be an open area and all you could do was jump. These days they have huge slides, walls to climb, passages to squeeze through, etc. They vary in difficulty as well and I embarassedly admit I had difficulty getting up a rather small wall inside one because my feet kept slipping off the stubs! I'm very proud of lil man though, he conquered the ginormous slide on his own this trip. Over and over again. That is nice...to not have to join him on something. For the most part myself or my husband went through the blow-ups with him, but he did the slide all by himself! After an hour and half of pumping it up the party moved on to presents and cake. I took these of little man enjoying a piece and decided to do a little storyboard. Enjoy. I sure did...my piece and the rest of his. ;)

Day 15 -Stuff It

That's how O eats his popcorn. He stuffs it in his mouth. So much in his mouth that sometimes I worry he's going to choke, but he always manages just fine. I've wondered if that's how I eat my popcorn. Maybe that's where he gets it. :) Popcorn has become a fave snack for us to share. I will pop a big ol' bag of Orville Redenbacher Tender White - it's the best - and usually we sit in the floor together with the bowl between us watching Dora (or some other annoying cartoon we have watched 100 times). Me with Diet Pepsi and him with juice or sprite. One of my favorite childhood memories is sitting between my granny & pa eating popcorn and drinking coke. My granny would make it, and still does, the old-fashioned way. You know...on the stove! Today was so pretty that I decided to bring our snack outside. Of course he only lasted sitting here eating for a few minutes before he was up arranging his toys in a line in the yard. Haha. That's a pic for another day. Eventually we ended up bringing the popcorn in and finishing it off...along with him dropping quite a bit my freshly vacuumed floor. We should have stayed outside! Oh well. Maybe some day he will look back and will have a fond memory of sharing popcorn with his momma. I sure hope.

Day 14 - Baby Boys Bird Feeder

They made homemade bird feeders at school today. How stinkin cute is this? Its basically a pine cone with peanut butter smeared all over it then seeds stuck into the peanut butter. By golly I think even I could make this! I took it outside to look for somewhere to hang it and our mixed breed moose of a dog Metro was on my trail. I knew then I didn't want to set the poor birds up for an attack by him so I needed somewhere higher than what he could reach. Our little curly willow tree that is right off our deck is serving as the home for the bird feeder. A little while later I took Owen outside and was telling him I hung up his bird feeder. As I pointed it out at the tree he said something to the effect of, "The birds no there." It was so cute. Indeed the birds were "no there" but I'm hoping the birds will come tomorrow. Maybe in the morning we will see some and that can be tomorrows pic. Do birds even like peanut butter? :)

Day 13 - Finally Some Sun

It warmed up here today...above freezing for the first time in a while...and the sun was out! I decided to take O out so he could ride his 4-wheeler that Santa Claus brought him. He hasn't gotten to ride it much with this weather. In fact, the gold ribbon is still tied to the front! So when we can we do like to try to get our of the house. We're both going a little...a lot...stir crazy some days. I was trying to get a sun flare in this shot, but just ended up with some haze and those circles of colored light on his hat and chin. What is that called, lens flare? I've been inspired by some images and processing I've seen lately...but it didn't quite all come together. I don't excatly know how to get the look I'm going for so I decided to just play. I do like it, but then again I'm way partial to the subject. :) Looks like the high is supposed to be 49 tommorrow so maybe I'll try again!

Day 12 - Vegas Baby

I booked a trip to Vegas for the hubby and myself today! I am so excited. This will be our first trip anywhere alone since having Owen 2 years ago! We've done a night alone here and there and we did spend a week at home alone last summer when O went to visit his granparents, but this will be like a real getaway! I'm so totally due. I'm so totally ready. A good friend is getting married in Vegas and has asked me to come out and take some pics of her and her hubby-to-be before the ceremony at the hotel gardens, etc. She originally wanted me to do all of them but they have to use a certain photographer for the ceremony, no outside photogs allowed in. As it turns out I'm totally okay with that...less pressure...more fun! I'm excited to get some pictures of them and get some (hopefully) great shots of my own of random stuff. I was trying to think of what to take a picture of today and since Vegas is on my mind I dug out some old casino stuff. This will be my 4th trip to vegas. Ironically, The Flamingo (where the cup in the picture is from) is where we will actually be staying this trip. Never stayed there, have you? One thing I remember well about The Flamingo is they make a good pina colada! Mmmm...I can almost taste it. Come on February, I'm ready to go to Vegas Baby!

Day 11 - Bye Bye Paci

Today's nap is O's last time to have his paci. We are going to go cold turkey tonight...I think...I hope. I suppose all good things must come to an end. Although I have mixed feelings about how "good" his pacifier technically is for him. Some of the good things that I'm going to miss are its magical plugging action. You know, sticking a cork in it, so to speak. :) It makes him be quiet sometimes! It also soothes him and helps him go to sleep, and go back to sleep if he wakes. Like everything, it has its pros and cons. One major con is my dental hygenist friend said she thinks its pushing his teeth forward and that's certainly not good. Now that he's 2 and is becoming a big boy, its time for it to go. I knew this day was coming, but remarkably I find it tugging at my heart for some reason. I mean really, won't life be easier without a paci? Why do I feel sad? Its not like I'm going to go through paci-withdrawal...my poor baby boy is. Maybe that's why I'm sad, knowing its going to be so hard on him (and its going to suck for his dad and mom, too). But I think its deeper rooted...I know he's growing up. Every milestone we cross tugs at my hearstrings a bit. The last bottle he ever had I just had to give to him. His last nursing session he ever had I still remember clearly. His first birthday. His 2nd birthday. Gosh. Its all passing so quickly. I want to remember it all. I want to remember him...always. I think that's also one of the reasons I'm in love with photography. I can capture all these moments and savor them always (provided my 3 hard drives don't crash). And I can also share them. I took these top two today before putting him down for a nap, as I tried to explain this was his last time to get his paci. I snuck back in his room for the bottom one after he was asleep. He stirred just as I came and the paci, once barely hanging on to his mouth, dropped to its resting position by his chin. Enjoy Day 11's collage, a tribute to our friend/enemy, the paci. Wish us luck tonight!

Day 10 - Love Baby Bumps

Today I had my 2nd ever "stranger shoot" as I like to call them. You know, a shoot where you've never met the people face to face. hehe. I was asked to do some belly pics for Tosha and Ben, and it was a lot of fun! I love doing belly pics, gotta love the baby bumps! I cherished every week of my enormous baby bump. And I have to say Tosha's looks a lot better than mine did, haha! I took this one right before we got in trouble by the security guard for taking...I can't even remember what she said...changeout photos or something? Anyway...we waited til she left and went to another part of the hotel to finish up. ;) To honor my love of the baby bump, my Day 10 photo is one of my faves from today.

Day 9 - The Canoes

We woke up this morning to find we had gotten more snow overnight, and it flurried for a while today! Once the hubby got home from work today we decided to get out of the house for a bit. We live pretty close to a state park so I wanted to drive down there and see if I could get any nice pics. There is a small lake inside the park and during warm months they rent canoes (or little boats, whatever these are) to people. I thought it was so interesting the way they were all turned upside down, stacked on top of one another, with snow on them. They just caught my attention. Its such a contrast to what they are intended for. I also happened to see someone walking out on the frozen lake...certainly not the smartest thing to do! He was about 10 feet out when someone came down there telling him to get back. Not sure what that was all about, but I had my camera ready to catch him falling through cause I just knew it was going to happen! Luckily for him it didn't, or that would have definitely been todays post!

Day 8 - I want to remember these...

My little mans first pair of cowboy boots. I think my sweet boy has finally outgrown them, but he looked so precious in them the few times he did wear them. These were a consignment find of mine (I'm a consignment sale queen) that I bought long before he was even big enough to wear them. Hard to believe how time passes and they grow up so quickly.

Day 7 - The Fence

Middle Tennessee does not get snow very often. When we do its like madness. School was closed for today, yesterday, before the first flake ever even fell! This morning I woke up to find nothing...but irritation! Today O was supposed to go back to school and I was supposed to get my break! Grrr. Well, around 10am the flurries did finally kick in. It hasn't snowed a whole lot but its enough to cancel school here for 2 days. Some of you that live in towns that get ooodles of snow will crack up at that fact. I've been very skeptical all day, but have to admit I just drove to the store and our subdivision roads really shouldn't be traveled by a school bus. In honor of middle Tennessee's "great snow", here is today's post. I'm hoping my hot tub heats up in time for a soak tonight, as it started snowing again while ago. Nothing beats sitting in the hot tub with snow falling on your head!

Day 6 - He Sleeps

Few things in this world are more precious than a sleeping child. Especially when its your own...for different reasons really. One - they just look so at peace and precious. Second - them sleeping means you aren't chasing them around. Third - them sleeping means they are still and not making a mess at the time! Fourth - you get a sanity break and some moments of time to yourself!!! I could go on and on! I took O to Pump it Up this morning with two goals--him to run off some energy and him to run off some attitude. I accomplished both. Our trip resulted in a loooooong afternoon nap that I actually had to wake him from when we were going on 4 hours. I hadn't intended to take a pic of him as my Day 6 post, but when I saw him sleeping so soundly in his crib with his little hand so delicately up by his face I couldn't resist. I also love how the blanket in the background spells Owen backwards because its inside out. He's just too precious when he sleeps...

Day 5 - The Stocking Stuffer Sucker

I finally let O break out his huge sucker that was in his stocking today. I knew this was going to be something I wanted to take pics of, so I made sure to get all the breakfast crumbs off his face beforehand. :) He was loving on the biggest sucker he's ever seen. He even drove it around in the back of his cozy coupe car for a while. I was afraid, after picking him up and getting sucker on my neck as well, that we were going to have a sticky sucker everywhere so I took it away for the day. He wasn't happy about that, but he will be happy when he realizes its so big that he can enjoy it for many days to come. This is also my first attempt at putting together a collage in photoshop. Now I need to learn how to make borders and such. :)

Day 4 - PJ Play-Doh Party

Santa brought O some play-doh for Christmas and this morning he wanted to play with it. Why not, right? I don't think he's quite figured it out and I'm sure its just a matter of time before our neatly seperated play-doh colors become one big blob of mixed colors. He was having a good time and its actually kind of fun for myself, too. Shhh, don't tell. It wasn't long though until he announced he was done and that marked the end of his pj play-doh party.

Day 3 - Antibiotics are My Friend

Wow, 2010 started with a bang for me! I hope this isn't TMI, but New years day I woke up to find my inner thighs swollen, red, painful...the next day (yesterday) they were getting worse. At that time I decided to go to a walk-in clinic (or hobble-in clinic in my case). I don't think the nurse practioner was expecting such a freak case to come in. She wasn't sure what was wrong with me and felt better just directing me to the ER! So I drove myself to the ER...something I don't want to do again...not that a hospital should feel like a scary place, but I have to say there are some strange & somewhat scary people in the ER! I was finally called back after sitting there alone, often pulling my scarf up over my nose & mouth for fear that I would pick up something more scary than the freak show going on with my legs before I left! I have to admit that I was hacking a lung right along with them because I've had a cold this week as well. Finally I was called back and seen...around this time the hubs finally arrives...and I was diagnosed with cellulitus. A bacteria infection under my skin. On my legs. My inner thigs to be exact. Talk about uncomfortable! I mean, seriously? Who gets this? How do you get this? I'm still unsure how I got it but I've been hobbly wobbly for a few days. With all that said, the doc gave me some great antibiotics and they are already working! So, to tribute the little bad boys that have caused me great relief, day 3 pics are of the generic form of my friend the antibiotic, Bactrim. My entire household is on antibiotics at the moment. My poor baby has a double ear infection, my husband has sinus funk, and me...well I'm just a freak. In 2010 I am going to try not to take feeling good forgranted. Today is the first day in a near week I have felt good and my boy is on the mend as well. Thank you antibiotics.

Day 2-The Old Radio Flyer

Our neighbor gave us this ride on toy when he couldn't sell it in his yardsale. Wonder why? haha! I have no idea how old it could possibly be, but I always think its funny that our lil man actually likes to scoot around on it from time to time. I've tried putting it in the flower bed as a decoration, but he dug it out. Feeling uninspired today and realizing that I still needed to take my day 2 pic, I looked outside and the yummy light hour was hitting my yard. Its been so long since I've seen the yummy light hour with these gloomy weeks of winter. So I put on my coat and boots and tromped out to take a pic of the old radio flyer on our patio against our rock wall. Its nothing fancy, but I like it. I may like it better in black and white, may have to give that a shot!

Day 1-The Big "Powell"

So this is what happens when your hubby lets you sleep in...the price you pay for an extra hour and 1/2 in the warm and toasty comforts of bed...off mommy duty, just snoozing alone...the price is a big "powell". A Pile, to be exact. A huge heaping pile of toys, blocks, a stool, baskets (empty now mind you), a rug, and not to forget one very excited over his "powell" little boy! The good part is I told them I was not cleaning it up. And for the most part I didn't. However, I have not been to the bonus room where the contents of the "powell" belong...so who knows what I may find up there later. I don't know about you, but I can't think of a better wait to greet 2010 than with a big powell. Happy New Year!