3 years ago I was hugely pregnant, up every night with false labor and eating a lot of salsa to try to bring it on. I was looking through old pictures and it amazes me how quickly they have gone from itty bitty sleep deprivers to experienced and canny sleep deprivers.
It’s that kind of day. Fiona is painting quietly in the other room while I sit in a beaten heap.
Really, life with toddlers is rather like bailing a leaky boat with one hand while rowing towards shore with the other. You don’t make any noticeable progress but you can’t slow down or you’ll sink.
I hear her say, “I painted my toenails, like yours!” And, sure enough. She had. James quickly followed suit.
I already wrote it once. http://www.stacieturnerphotography.com/2009/twins-on-vacation/
Whatcha talkin’ about, guys?
or
What are you guys talkin’ about?
James:
Fiona:
I am scheduling 15-minute mini-sessions to benefit Kali Mae Holderfield. All sessions are on July 5th at Westmoor Park in West Hartford. Your $50 15-minute session includes a mini-session, 5 proofs from which to choose and 1 8X10 print. All of your session fee will be donated to Team Kali. You can order more prints from your session if you desire and 50% of those sales will be donated to Team Kali.
Kali’s Story
Kali was born June 22, 2006. She was perfect in every way. Then, when she was 4 months old, she had her first seizure. She stopped smiling and cooing immediately, would constantly jerk, her eyes would roll into the back of her head and she was unable to hold her head up.
The diagnosis was infantile spasms, the most catastrophic epilepsy diagnosis for a neurologist to give any parent.
Determined to provide a future for their child, the Holderfields have been to over five neurologists and two neurosurgeons. Kali has been on over 18 seizure medicines, the keto diet and they have considered the VNS. Her EEG’s have shown that she can have over 200 seizures on any given day. She may also suffer from cortical vision impairment. She is fed via g-tube and bottle, receives physical and occupational therapy and and will soon add speech and developmental therapy to her regimen.
Dr. Chugani, at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, has agreed to do a new test, a FMZ-PET scan, free of charge. This scan will not only determine if she is a candidate for surgical treatment but will help the research in progress to develop treatments for other children suffering from this devastating form of epilepsy.
Much of Kali’s care is covered by insurance, but it will not cover out of state visits. Although the main scan is being donated by Dr, Chugani the family has to pay for all other tests, the hospital stay, monitoring and the consultation.
[quote]The researchers found that twins at age 7 had I.Q.’s an average of 6.6 points lower than those of their singleton brothers and sisters, and that by age 9 their average I.Q. was 6.9 points lower.
Sex, the number of siblings, the mother’s age and the father’s social class did not explain the difference. However, when the researchers adjusted for birth weight and gestational age, the differences in I.Q. were reduced substantially.[/quote]
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/29/health/29twin.html
We took the kids mini-golfing for the first time this morning. Both had a great time. James had a meltdown when we had to leave - he wanted to play another round. He was quite good, actually, and got a hole in one on one hole and a hole in two on another, plus multiple holes in three. Of course, he played each hole about 5 times. There was no one behind us.
Fiona memorizes books and then “reads” them out loud. She’ll say “I know all the words!”
James says to me “You’re my friend.” Then, when he’s mad, “You’re not my friend.”
I think Fiona is basically weaned. She has only nursed a few times in the past two weeks and those were because James was doing it in front of her. When prodded by James that “Fiona hasn’t had her tissy yet” yesterday she ignored him. This morning she came into bed and asked to snuggle. I think she may be done.
35 months, if anyone is counting.
James has taken to dipping his gummi vitamin and chewable probiotic into ketchup.
So far Fiona has sung happy birthday to herself and played “this little piggy is going to market” with her toes. Now she is playing the tickle monster game with herself (”Tickle Monster is coming to get Fiona” followed by giggling.)
It’s adorable but she has to get up by 7:15. Arrghhhh
—
She just told me her foot is kicking her. I suggested she tell it to stop.
I have heavy cream in the refrigerator and James asked for it on his cereal this morning. I said no, and explained that was cream, not milk. After he ate his cereal he asked for the “little milk” and I said, “Oh, you want a little milk, OK.” And took the (llittle) container of cream out. Beaten, I poured him some. He drank it, looked at me and said, ‘This is GOOD.’
The format has changed now that the kids are in Primary rather than the Young Children’s Community. There is a whole list of skills which are marked with a E for “established”, a P for “In progress”, an I for “introduced” or a W for “needs work”.
Much of the sheets for the kids is blank as they have only been in primary since March. Everything marked was a P except:
James:
Good relationship with adults: P-E
Works with repetition: I-P
Work is neat and orderly: I
Demonstrates care of the environments: I
Shows interest in working with the bells: P!
Knows letter sounds: P (loves “ih”)
James is very exuberant. He learns very quickly and has a rel fascination for learning new language and letter sounds. He is a wonderful addition to our class. I enjoy working with James! I am working on helping James soften his voice while not wanting to curtail his contagious enthusiasm! James makes good choices for himself and usually completes his work cycle, He is very observant and interested in learning. I look forward to his development next year!
Fiona
Speaks with increasing self-confidence: I
Speaks about events with increasing detail: I
Shows understanding of numbers 1-10: I
Fiona is a sweet little girl who is obviously content in her new environment. She is friendly and relates well with others. Fiona is a great observer thus she is beginning to have a better understanding of the expectations in her classroom. Fiona enjoys having lessons and works with repetition. We are delighted she is with us!
We were reading “Pup’s Supper” this morning, about a mama otter feeding her pup, and I was pointing out the mama otter and the baby otter and Fiona asked, “But where’s the other baby?”
I explained there was only one baby and she looked and herself and James and said, “But we are one, two.”
Babies come in pairs, you see.
I gave up and joined twitter. http://twitter.com/StacieTurner
It’s “i”. Not “eye” but “ih”. They learn letters by sounds, not names, at this stage of Montessori and today he ran over to another girl who was spelling out pin with the movable type to announce that “ih” was his favorite letter.
Is that weird?
Today in the restaurant, after being told not to turn around and bother the people sitting in the booth behind her, “But I like people.”
At dinner, upon being told that her friends Owie and Kiki want her to come over to play later this week, “Oh. How very nice.”
Me: Can you pick up your puzzles, please?
James: No. I’m not a big boy. I’m a baby.
Me: Oh. Well, babies don’t need basketballs. Only big boys need basketballs.
James: (pause) I’m going to pick up my puzzles now, Mama.
I rented a lens. I want one now, and I’ve only played with it with toddlers who are not the best subjects for this particular lens.
I’m saving this one to share with her prom date!
I went grocery shopping yesterday and Whole Foods was passing out roses to all the (adult) women for Mother’s Day. Except, the clerk handed mine to Fiona and now she is convinced it is hers. It was a battle yesterday, complete with sobbing, to get the thing into some water. She loves it, though. She woke up and asked about “my rose” this morning. She held it all during breakfast. I hope she loses interest before it dies.
The school had Mother’s Day celebrations all this week. They spread them out so if you have children in multiple classes you can go to more than one.
James’ was Tuesday. All the parents were waiting in the foyer and the teacher came out to tell us the children were lined up and perfectly silent so could we please tip-toe in. We all file into the classroom and there are the students, 3-5 years old, lined up ready to sing. The teacher turns to them and praises them for being able to wait silently for all the mothers to come in and at that exact moment James pipes up with, “Hi, Mama!”
Fiona’s was Thursday. Again, the mothers filed into the classroom where adorable children were neatly standing in three lines, ready to sing their rehearsed songs. At the end of one song, just as they were all done, Fiona sneezed. It was a very cute, classic “Ah-choo” sneeze and all the mothers’ cooed at her. So she did it again and looked up for her reaction. Four times.
Later one mother, who had a camera, asked if she were shy in front of the camera. I managed not to snort when I said, “no.”
If you come to me hysterical about he took this toy or she took that toy I’m not going to bother getting to the bottom of it. I’m just going to take the toy away.
Fiona has gone to sleep holding her new, working, stethoscope.
It’s going to be OK, Mama. There are no spiders.
Look for updates all day!
| James | Fiona | |
| 5:30 AM | How DARE I leave him sleeping in bed with Daddy to settle Fiona back down! Soothed, somehow, by Brian | |
| 7:00 AM | How could I possibly expect him to share the tissy? All the milk belongs to him. Soothed by remembering he gets to turn on the blender. | |
| 12:45 AM | Low blood sugar leads to grabbing things off of counter and throwing them to the ground while squeaking. Application of PB&J leads to cessation. | |
| 3:45 PM | How could I not sit in his room during his entire nap. | Slight tantrum just because that much hysteria can by contagious. |
| 4:10 PM | Diaper change results in throwing things from shelves, screaming and hitting me. While he was doing this I flushed the toilet rather than let him do it, though I did offer, and this escalated the fury. | |
| 4:25 PM | Sent to room after hitting sister. This results in a tantrum aftershock. | |
| 5:30 PM | Had a fit after I threw him the football. Note: he asked me to play with him and he had brought the football to the park so I figured this was safe. |
I want to note here that from 8:30 until noon they were at school and from 1 -3:45 were napping.
I donated a photo shoot with print to the school I used to work at for their fund-raising auction and was met with deafening silence. Donation: Rejected. You know you suck when a Catholic school doesn’t want your free stuff.
Both kids have been promoted to “primary” at school. That’s preschool and kindergarten for those of you who aren’t wearing your Montessori decoder rings. James has taken to it with ease. He loves his class. He does the pink tower. It’s been a ridiculously easy transition though he still has toileting accidents daily. Fiona isn’t having the toileting accidents but she has had a rougher transition in other ways. James loves to be active, busy and doing either sensorial or practical life activities. Montessori could have been designed with him in mind. Fiona is much happier to drift around and doesn’t seem to be all that thrilled she isn’t allowed to do that.
In the ongoing moving target of Fiona’s allergies we have a positive blood test for egg allergies, though they are so mild all they do is cause GI issues. She doesn’t get a rash or go into any sort of noticeable reaction. Milk and ice cream seem to cause issues. Yogurt does not and neither does cheese or butter. We’ve tried assorted elimination diets and none of it seems to make a difference. Right now we are down to just giving her rice milk or soy milk on her cereal and keeping her away from eating straight eggs. I have no idea why her stools are not solid and neither does anyone else. It’s very frustrating.
James still doesn’t sleep through the night. I don’t actually remember when he got into bed with me last night but he wasn’t there when I went to bed and was when I woke up.
“I’ll take very good care of you because you are my best Mama ever.” It’s a direct quote.
I don’t like Daddy; I like Mama.
When I tell you that if you throw, drop or in any way put that rock in the fish pond we won’t go play on the trains I would really prefer it if you listened because the screaming “I want to go back and play on the trains” all the way home really does hurt me more than you.
If you happen to be a child who cannot have milk, eggs or gluten you get a vegan, gluten-free, imported, organic dark chocolate Easter bunny.
At 2.
I took the kids to the toy store on Friday and told them they could each pick out one toy. One child made a direct route to the balls and picked out a football. The other picked out a pink fluffy pony. It has purple hearts embroidered on its side and sparkly feet. Can you guess which child picked which toy?
When people take watermarked images I have posted on Facebook, edit the watermarks out and repost them in their own albums without giving me credit for the work.
I will finish these sooner or later…
Fiona was mad because James was removed from the bath after he hit her. That’s right, he hits her, gets (very mildly) punished and she gets mad. How DARE we scold James?
…is out of control.
I just folded 6 pairs of pink pants for Fiona. There were more in her drawer, and probably are more in the laundry basket I am bringing downstairs. If this child ever decides she doesn’t like pink I’m going to be doing a lot of emergency shopping.
I knew he had to be somewhere. He was in the bottom of the china cabinet with the fine china plates we never use because (duh) we have toddlers.
I opened it up to pack the china away and put it in storage and turn the built in into a place to store toys and art supplies and THERE WAS JESUS!
Now, Fiona was in the mood to have her picture taken. She was cooperative and enthusiastic and happy and, well, you can see where that enthusiasm led. James, on the other hand, was only interested because if Fiona was doing it, well then, so was he.
I swear, I’ll take more pictures of the kids soon. Meanwhile…
Mommy, I went pee pee.
In the potty?
No, in my pants!
1) April is Multiple Awareness Month. I know, how aware am I supposed to be. BUT to celebrate I’m offering 20% off sessions booked for multiples in the month of April. You don’t have to actually HAVE the session in April, just book it.
2) There is a monthly contest on the business blog. In March and April subscribe to the RSS feed and be entered to win a $50 gift certificate.
3) In May only I will be offering morning mini-sessions. For $100 book a 1-hour session. These are only available at 9:30 AM. Book an urban shoot in West Hartford Center or Blue Back Square or shoot outdoors in either Elizabeth Park or Westmoor Park. Shoots in your home are available in limited areas only for these special mini-sessions. Session fee includes time and talent and a minimum of ten proofs in an online slideshow. Click here to book now!
4) There is a regular discount available to immediate families of active duty service people. Please let me know if you or your spouse is serving in the military or just returned home from a deployment.
The regular list of specials is HERE.
You know you are awfully literal when, during a yoga-esque relaxation exercise the guide says “Remember what causes rainbows” and you think “a prism breaking white light up?” only to have her continue on with some drivel about storms.
Every year we take the kids to the Sarasota Jungle Gardens which has a collection of palms, a bit of American folk art in the form of a religious display and animals. The flamingos roam freely. After reading and re-reading a story about Franny, the Dancing Flamingo James was very excited to see them again and flung his arms around the neck of the first flamingo he saw, cheerfully greeting the long-lost Franny. He was pecked on his head for his trouble but decided that maybe he would try feeding these pink birds anyway.
Click on the thumbnails to see the full image. Also, comment if you can see this. I’m troubleshooting.
Parrots and Grammy
Looking at the Parrots
Looking at the Parrots
Walking with Grandma
Flamingo!
Baba Helps with the Flamingo Feeding
Feeding Flamingos
Feeding the Birds
More Flamingos
Baba Helps Again
Grandma, Fiona and Grammy
Feeding the Koi Outside the Snack Shop
Daddy, James, Fiona and Grandma Feed the Koi
The Requisite Head in a Frame Shot
Looking at the Tortoises
Still Looking at the Tortoises
Everyone Likes Tortoises
Tired of the Tortoises
Today Fiona told me I was the best Mommy ever. Also that she was happy with me though she was not happy with Daddy (who had the gall to send James to his room for a timeout after he hit his sister.)
Yesterday James broke open his wooden lawnmower toy and flushed all but one of the little balls down the toilet. He also figured out how to unlock the front door and let himself out into the front yard. Twice. When I scolded him he spit in my face. Literally. Pbbbttttt.
More vacation shots.
Click the thumbnails for full sized images.
The First Night on the Beach
The Starlet at Poolside
On the Beach
Swinging
Push me HIGHER
Walking to Town
Backlit Boy
More to come…
James went face first into the water on the beach on vacation and afterward told everyone “I went too far.”
James is all about the nouns. It’s making me batty especially when he points to things in books, asks what they are, and then corrects you if you get it wrong. It’s not a SAILBOAT. It’s a YACHT.
We (well, everyone but me as I bore easily) went to a ball game while on vacation. Care to guess one of the team playing?
More pictures later…
There’s still milk in this tissy.
quoth Fiona upon hearing the suggestion that we stop nursing and move on to the story portion of the evening.
Eggs. And barely at that.
That’s what Fiona’s allergic to. Eggs. That is the only protein she is at all sensitive too. Only one.
Well, and milk. Not casein, which is the protein in milk, but lactose apparently. At any rate, obvious circumstantial evidence suggests that given dairy this child has GI distress. If it isn’t casein…
So we are cutting all dairy, cow, goat and sheep, out of her diet based on the “give her milk and she poops water” evidence and all eggs based on the blood test and hoping that helps.
I was hoping for something laden with a little more hope for a solution. She isn’t exactly eating a lot of eggs or dairy NOW. Bits of bits in bread is about it. We’re going back in 4 weeks to follow up.
I am officially going back to work in the fall. Not just photography, which is actually doing oddly well given that the economy is in a tailspin, but teaching. The cost of Montessori is, well, painful. It will be offset by another salary and since being home full time makes me want to hurl myself off a bridge (and, yes mother, that is hyperbole) my going back is best for all of us.
What I want to know is why do public school districts need my undergraduate GPA as part of the application process. It’s a pretty good GPA but I really fail to see how my grades as a 20-year-old have any bearing on whether I am good at teaching.
And then there is the essay. That’s right. One school district wants three professional writing samples AND they have an additional essay. “How do you ensure that teaching and learning in your classroom is rigorous (uniformly-high academic standards for all students), relevant (challenging and connected to real-world applications), and reflective of respectful relationships (respect and trust between teacher and learner)? Please include specific strategies from your teaching experiences.”
I don’t suppose they would appreciate my pointing out that good writers generally try to stay away from alliteration.
You are my best Mommy ever.
quoth Fiona
(insert hysterical laughter here)
Yeah.
The kids have been “promoted” to the next classroom at school, which is “primary” in Montessori-speak and “preschool/kindergarten” in the rest of the world. Except that you have to be fully potty trained to move up and they aren’t. And the other 4 kids moving up at the same time are younger AND fully potty trained.
I’m not sure if I suck or those mothers are far less lazy than I am.
“I am happy at you.”
As you know, F has had a long history of GI issues. Last April we got a list of foods to avoid from some admittedly woo-woo seeming testing but but it did work and the diarrhea went away. We reintroduced the problem foods one at a time and, other than milk, everything seemed OK. Then, over the summer, her diarrhea came back and hasn’t gone away since.
I took her to the pediatrician who offered the stellar advice of “some toddlers just have runny stools” but did test for parasites (negative) and gave me a slip for a blood draw.
The blood draw was hellacious. The phlebotomist didn’t have any skill with kids or compassion and dug around in both arms trying to find a vein. It was… horrible.
We put her back, rather half-heartedly, on the elimination diet. It is very hard to eliminate all cow dairy, corn, yeast, tomatoes, eggs, mangoes and strawberries from your diet and I end up feeling like the evil harpy constantly telling people (again, because they didn’t listen the first 5 times) that she can’t eat what you just fed her. Did you read the label? Did you just add milk to that?
On a side note I am really tired of how no one seems to be willing to take this seriously or believe me that food is an issue. It may not be the underlying problem but some foods CLEARLY aggravate the symptoms and I don’t understand why I have to be the food police while everyone else is free to forget and take her out for cheesecake, ketchup and eggs. And then I get to deal with the sobbing child whose burned by her own excrement.
At any rate, we took her to yet another doctor last week who took an full history, starting with the antibiotics at her birth, and her take was that elimination and challenge was giving us confusing results so let’s do a finger prick test to check for common allergens.
That’s right, not 3 VIALS of blood, a finger prick.
We’ll have a follow-up appt. next week to go over the results and see where to go from here.
Some people have tips on how to be a better parent. I have nothing for you there. But here is my Bad Parent Tip of today:
When your children are fighting over lunch and whose sandwich is whose and one sandwich is half eaten and lying on the floor just tell them that they need to figure it out and let you know when they are done because you have ice cream sandwiches for after lunch.
Suddenly they are all done. They’ll even carry their plates to the sink.
I am a terrible mother. I sit with my children while they fall asleep. Oh GOD they’ll never learn to fall asleep on their own and I am depriving them of useful sleep skills. They crawl into bed with me at night. They aren’t learning independence.
I am a terrible mother.I take them to school. I am forcing them into unwanted separation. They should be with me all the time, they are still just babies. I am forcing independence on them before they are ready.
I am a terrible mother. I am so bad about keeping the occupied. I really should be better about having activities set up for them to do to keep them busy. And I should have them enrolled in more enrichment activities. Early advantages pay off later. I read Outliers. Or I skimmed it. Who has time to read? Oh, and they should have a consistent schedule. Toddlers thrive on doing the same thing at the same time every day. I am dooming them by not keeping them more occupied and structured.
I am a terrible mother. I really need to give them more free time to explore. They are so busy with school and art class. Kids need to be bored so they can learn to fill their time in creative ways, otherwise they become unable to entertain or motivate themselves. I am dooming them by not allowing them more unstructured play time.
I am a terrible mother. How dare I take time for myself to explore my interests? They are only little once and I should savor every moment and totally devote myself to their well being. They are going to feel insecure and unloved and be unbearable because I am not focusing on them.
I am a terrible mother. I really should take more time to explore my own interests or I will be insane. They are going to grow up thinking they are the center of the universe and be unbearable because I am overly focused on them.
I am a terrible mother. I should feed them healthier snacks. Cucumbers and strawberries and rice cakes. Ia m ruining them with treats. Children cannot live on Mac ‘n Cheese and cookies alone. They are going to grow up with unhealthy attitudes about junk food.
I am a terrible mother. Treats are a fun part of life. Treatless macrobiotic vegans are horrible bores. Plus, if I don’t feed them Mac ‘n Cheese they may starve to death right before my eyes. Right in front of me. They aren’t going to grow up because they are going to waste away.
Sometimes I really notice how insane I actually am.
J drank it all!
I’m going to take this blog private in early February. I am planning on going back to work and I don’t particularly want prospective employers (or, God forbid, students) to read here.
When I do, the login information will be:
Login: Twinkies
Password: Zade
There was a monster in F’s room. It was pink, lived in the light and made the sound “meow.” It also alternated between being a good monster who was her friend and scaring the crap out of her.
We did a “monster removal” ceremony and colored pictures of the monster, shone bright lights in the room and made loud noises to scare the monster away, then put one picture in a box, taped it up and gave it to Daddy to deal with (as Daddies know how to dispose of monsters.)
J was jealous that F had a monster in her room. He complained that he wanted one.
I also swapped the kids rooms, though this was unrelated, and that seems to have helped. When asked F will say that, no, there isn’t a monster in her room but that, yes, there is one in J’s.
When you children are experimenting with fluid dynamics and exploring the volume of different containers, well, at least the clean up of the water everywhere helps get the mystery stickiness off the floor at the same time.
(Remember that “tissy” is our word for nursing.)
J: I want tissy.
Me: OK, go get in the mama bed and we’ll have a little tissy.
J: I want big tissy.
Me: Yes, well, your father does too but little tissy is what we have.
I need a sitting baby about 6 months old for a portfolio shoot. You come to me and I shoot your child; no session fee and you get an 8X10 of your choice for your time. If you have one and are interested let me know.
Yesterday was a day all about my house and President Obama. Not that President Obama has anything to do with my house, I just like saying President Obama. I cried when the announced introduced him as President Elect. I teared up when he took the oath. Alas, I did not cry during his speech as that was spent trying to corral twins.
I was driving them home from school and he began to speak right as we turned on to the major street our block is off of. I though, “No problem. They keep saying it’s a short speech. I’ll just drive around for 20 minutes and hear it.” The moment I went past our turn off F began to scream “Not that way, that is not our house. We don’t go this way!” When I persisted in my non-home-going ways she started to just scream. Loudly. J joined in. I turned up the volume and went home and let them run around in the snow while I sat in the car in the driveway and listened to the rest of it. Well, I listened to it when I wasn’t keeping J from crawling into the “big truck” in our driveway.
We’ve been replacing our windows. They were original chain and counterweight windows and very cool except for that lead paint chipping off and drafty stuff. Oh, and they were very difficult to clean. The new windows are not nearly as cool architecturally but they do seem to keep the drafts away and lack that “sending flakes of toxicity to your floor and toddlers” feature which we weren’t all that fond of. We knew the back room would be an issue. It is a home-owner addition done by someone who was not quite as handy as he thought he was. To say that it “leaked” in the rain would understate the matter. The wall actually oozed water. So we knew there would be problems.
The whole back wall was rotted out. It all had to come down. OK. I was anticipating that. When the contractor told me about it I was phlegmatic. I even decided it would be a good idea, while the whole wall was down, to add a door out to the garden turning that room from the “what the hell is this weird space off the dining room” room to a nice little sun-room/breakfast nook.
Note: Amie - any decorating ideas?
Back on track…
Yesterday the electrician came to redo the wiring. Turns out the carpenters had gotten zapped by a wire that was turned off at the circuit box. Oh yeah, and whomever wired that room decided that putting current through the ground wire was a good idea. And there were no boxes around the switches or outlets. They have to take down all the paneling on all the walls in that room to totally redo all the wiring.
Now, we’ve had electrical issues before. When we had to redo the bathroom while I was pregnant because it was raining into the kitchen the electrician went to hook a new ceiling fixture up in the kitchen and I believe his exact words were “What the hell is wrong with your house?” What should have been a trivial job took almost all day as he sorted out the screwy wiring. So I know that someone lived here who was deluded into thinking he (or she) was an electrician.
Yesterday’s electrician kept reexplaining the problem to me. I was so cheerful about the whole thing I don’t think he believed I really understood what had to happen. I understood. I just wasn’t surprised. You know when they say, “Don’t try this at home, kids?” That includes wiring, people. Just don’t. Hire an electrician. Really.
President Obama. I just really like saying that.
Me: F, do you want a white pretzel? [yogurt covered]
F: Yes
Me: J, do you want one?
J: I want two.
Me: You want one too?
J: I want TWO.
iMovie played nice so here are some snapshots from Christmas. I haven’t actually loaded the movies off the movie camera - that is a painful process since it doesn’t play nice with Apples, so the looks on their faces as they came down the stairs to find their toys (a truck!) is not yet available. Alas.
J, put away your cleaning supplies so we can go watch TV.
Or not.
F in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
J in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The kids have decided they love stickers. They peel them up and stick them on cards. I have been VERY firm on the whole “stickers only go on paper - not on the floor. Not on the walls. ONLY paper” idea and that has gone over well. There was one incident. I was vocally displeased about the stickers on the floor and it hasn’t happened since. Stickers = 30+ minutes of happily busy toddler.
So, if you are thinking “What can I send those cute Twinkies?” the answer is stickers.
The kids are trying to put each other into time out in order to gain control of the broom.
I just spent 45 minutes putting together a slideshow of snapshots from the grandparent’s visit and then lost it all.
I don’t know why I bother.
I don’t when, or if, I’ll have time to do this again.
I hate iMovie.
You can find both me and Stacie Turner Photography on Facebook.
Me: Do you want to pee in the potty?
J: No, I want to pee in my underwear.
Sign up now for a Valentine’s Day Mini Session! These are available on January 17th only and include:
| Package 1 Valentine’s Day Cards |
Package 2 A Variety |
Package 3 The Bigger Picture |
Deluxe Package |
| Digital Negative 25 4X6 prints with envelopes |
Digital Negative 1 8X10 print 6 5X7 prints 1 set of 8 wallets |
Digital Negative 1 11X14 print 1 set of 8 wallets |
5 Digital Negatives 1 5X7 print of each image |
1The prints and digital negative in your package must all be the same image except in the Deluxe Package which includes a digital negative and print of each of your 5 images.
Please note that NO COUPONS will be honored for this special promotion.
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Stacie Turner Photography
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