And so it begins!

As of Monday, June 1, I am off of maternity leave and back to shooting people. No, I'm not an assassin for hire - I just like to say "shooting people". Haha! In fact, Saturday - THIS VERY SATURDAY - kicks off my wedding season. I'm a little late in the game because I decided not to book any weddings for the first half of the year, but I'm so looking forward to all of the beautiful ceremonies ahead of me!

In the spirit of love and weddings - and DETAILS!!! - I figured I'd blog a few more from Sara and Chris's Day After session. I hadn't shared much of the details and so I thought it'd be a nice change after all of the baby pictures. ;)

Details on Sara's GORGEOUS dress...



Shoes :)



And rings . . .

Children's Choir - REDO!

I re-uploaded the video - the other one (from Flickr) cut off really early - this one "should" be the whole thing. :)

From Sunday night - Micah and Ella are in the 3-5 age choir. :) Yes, that is me laughing in the background. And the "loudest" ones you hear are Micah and his friend Emily (between Micah and Ella).

Olivia and I

Last night I had a surprise waiting for me when I returned home from church. Stacy Larsen (www.stacylarsen.com) was in her car in my driveway - YAY! I was not sure I'd get to see her because plans change - but she spent the night last night (and we stayed up WAY past my bedtime talking like we did when we were neighbors...) and this morning she spent some time taking picture of Olivia.

Well, trying to anyway. Olivia did not cooperate very well - she was not all that sleepy and she end up being REALLY gassy and therefore very uncomfortable. Thirty minutes before it was time for Stacy to head home (so sad!) Olivia passed out for about 20 good minutes. Just enough for Stacy to be able to work her magic and get a handful of beautiful newborn shots. :) AND - a few of Olivia and I. :) YAY! Stacy photographs mamas and their newborns all the time and I always ALWAYS look through her blog wishing it were a picture of me and one of my babies. :)

Now I have one!! Thank you so much Stacy - I look forward to YOUR edits of these pictures - but for now it's so nice to have them to edit myself and look at. :)

Swing, Swing, Swing...

Olivia is the first of our three kids to actually LIKE the swing. Micah did NOT care for his - he loved the bouncy chair. matthew went out and bought this particular swing after we'd been home from the hospital with Ella for about 3 hours. She cried the first 3 hours and he ran out to Target and purchased this - CERTAIN that it would make our lives so much easier. :) She HATED it. It made the crying worse.

So this swing has sat in storage for all of Ella's life - or has been used by friends' for THEIR babies who do like it . . . and finally we have Olivia - who LOVES it. :) Happy, unhappy, sleepy - whatever, she will gladly swing away. It doesn't always last for a LONG time - but Matthew is pleased that at least ONE kid likes it. (Makes him feel better about spending the money on it three and a half years ago!!)

and because she's So cute when she cries....

She's SO strong!

Olivia is such a strong baby - honestly! She was holding her head up in the hospital . . . and she continues to do it! She has never been a bobble-headed baby. I remember my other kids (and other babies that I've known) to hold their heads up early on, but their sweet little heads bob around - like bobble-heads! :) It's so funny. Olivia has been as steady as can be from day one. She turns her head and looks around. She loves to follow her brother (and try to follow her sister) when they're talking to her. If you hold her on your shoulder she'll just hold her head up and look around.

I suppose at this age she's not seeing a whole lot, but she sure is trying. :) I love her sweet baby kisses - the wide open mouth kisses . . . she turns to me and I kiss that sweet baby . . . the hollow little sounds it makes when you kiss her open mouth. :) Of course there's always the danger that she'll try to latch onto my nose or my lips - but in those cases I usually give her what she REALLY wants. ;)

Ella

OK so some funny things about Ella. :) She has called poor little Olivia "he" and "him" since day one. She KNOWS that Olivia is a girl - but for some reason she wants to know why "he" does things . . . and if she can hold "him". :)

At the moment I can hear her in Micah's room playing. She has 6 Barbie dolls and he has a couple of "spaceships" that he made out of Legos. There is also a stuffed puppy - a pink floppy eared thing that Ella has named "Luke Skywalker". Apparently the dog is a superhero because I can hear Ella saying, "Underdog has SAVED THE DAY!!!" :) (We recently watched the Underdog movie . . . )

Ella has absolutely NO fear whatsoever. She never has - and I'm afraid she never will. Last night I told her to jump off my bed (meaning that I really just wanted her off QUICKLY...) and she proceeded to take a flying leap off the end of the bed, over the bench at the end of the bed that grandma Peggy was sitting on. She sort of tucked and rolled after she landed - and Grandma Peggy turned to me and said, "Well, you DID say to jump off." :)

Ella calls Olivia "Olivia Abigail" - and she doesn't really like that I call her "Livvy" or "Liv". She has finally stopped calling her "Mama Mia". :)

She is already very sad about Micah going to school (mostly because she knows she doesn't get to go yet) - but she is VERY excited that she is now "a Cubbie". At church we participate in the AWANA program and you have to be 3 to go into the club called Cubbies. (3 and 4 years old.) Well Ella turned 3 after the club started and, just like school, she has to wait until the NEXT year. So she'll be almost 4 when she starts. For the last year she has desperately wanted to go to Cubbies but I held her back - mostly because I know 3 years in that club is a LONG time . . . and when they had their closing awards the other night she realized that she is NOW a Cubbie. Of course, this means I have to listen to her all week long talk about how on Sunday she'll go to Cubbies - she doesn't understand that we're off for the summer and will resume in the fall. :)

But she DOES tell everybody and anybody that will listen that she is a Cubbie now. :) She just walked in asking me if it was her birthday or daddy's birthday now . . . oh it would just be the BEST thing in the world if her birthday could be every day!! But she knows what she wants! She told the nurse in the hospital (when Olivia was born) that her birthday was in "No-Nem-Ber" and she would be four. And she told her she wanted a pink princess cake with princesses on it and that she would be getting a Barbie Princess bike with a pink helmet. I've got to start saving my pennies. ;)

Birth Announcement

I was playing around tonight a little and put this together - I probably will never mail one out for "real" but it was still fun to play with the pictures of her and the pretty colors. :)

Micah

In 2 short months Micah will be 6 years old. I cannot BELIEVE that my baby boy is that big. (I also can't believe that he's only about a foot & a half shorter than me already!) I remember how overwhelmed I was with being a brand new mom. And then every time I look at Olivia it all rushes back - not only because she's a baby but because she looks SO much like Micah did when he was that little!

I wish I could get to my "old" picture files (I can't find them) - because if I could, I'd share with you a picture from when Micah was a baby. :)

So Mom asked me to share some things Micah's saying and doing - I'll go ahead and do that today.

Currently, he is VERY interested in satellites and all things "outer space". He'd like to grow up and be a "satellite maker" - I suppose some sort of rocket scientist?? - and then when he's made a satellite that will do what he wants it to do, he's going to finish his career by being a monster truck driver. That's his REAL goal right now. :)

He also is very interested in petrified trees (thanks to Donald Duck!). We're looking up (later today) how trees get petrified - I do not have an answer for that unfortunately!

Today we are going to SCHOOL. The school he'll attend in August - it's orientation day. He's REALLY excited. He got a letter last week from the teacher, Mrs. Schake, and Micah and Ella spent the rest of the day playing "school" - she was Mrs. Schake and he was Mr. Schake. That's because ALL teachers are named "Schake" - didn't you know that?? ;)

He ran up to me after he read the letter and said, "Mommy! Do you konw what? I got invited to go to school with Mrs. Schake! And she said that there will be snacks and a program and probably even PRESENTS! And she said I should bring my little sister Ella and my new sister Olivia - isn't that COOL Mommy??!!" :)

I've got more but I'm goign to have to update later . . .

And Then There Were THREE . . .

. . . kids that is. All mine.

An almost-6-year-old who daily makes new spaceships and robots out of legos and longs to share every SINGLE detail about what they can do with me.

A 3-and-a-half-year-old whose voice DEMANDS to be heard among the chaos. Her time is filled with princesses, dolls, ballerina tutus - and LOTS of snuggling.

And of course a three-week-old. Her voice gets a little louder every day as she is beginning to show more and more personality. She fits in really well, this new addition, and her brother and sister could not be happier.

Well, that's not true. Her brother would be happier if I would please have another baby - this time a boy - so that we would be SIX . . . three boys and three girls. Making it "even". I didn't bother trying to tell him that life isn't fair - or even. ;)

Here are my three beautiful babies . . .





. . . and this is what happened when Olivia burped (from laying on her tummy)

A Birthday, Mother's Day . . . and of course, lack of sleep!

This past weekend went by quickly. And slowly. Funny how it can be both, eh? Saturday was my birthday - and I started it out bright and early with Olivia. :) Then Ella, Olivia and I went with my mom and grandma to Grandma's church for a Mother/Daughter tea. Ella was SUCH a big girl, she sat fairly quietly, clapped politely, ate lots of grapes and cheese (complete with a breakout of hives from the cheese), and she even drank some cooled-off tea. :) Olivia slept through the entire program and woke up as we were helping to clean up - Mom got to show her off so nobody minded that!

Then later on Saturday the kids were with mom and I got to take a nap with Olivia - HURRAY FOR NAPS!! She's been rather uncomfortable and fussy the last couple of days and so our last GOOD nap was Saturday afternoon. :) (Although at this moment she is sleeping . . . but it's almost lunch time - for everybody.) In the afternoon on Saturday I ate my piece of Banana Dream cake from Too Jay's - a large piece of heavenly bliss - and celebrated 27 years of life.

Sunday morning Olivia was dedicated to God at church - and we, her parents, dedicated ourselves to teach her about God with our words and our example. Each time we've done this (with all 3 kids now) I've stood in the front of the church with our church family and real family watching - and all of them committing to pray for us and for Olivia. It really impresses on me the huge responsibility that I've been given - the treasures God has entrusted me with, these three beautiful children - and how blessed I am. It was a really nice Mother's Day. :)

Well, yesterday (and so far today) Olivia has been a bit out of sorts. I have no pictures to share because of it - and in all honesty, all I want to do right now is go to sleep. Well, maybe sit down and have a little cry and THEN go to sleep. :) Don't worry - just crazy hormones all whacked out . . . And on that note, I'm going to go downstairs and feed the hungry natives, then feed Olivia who is beginning to sound the "hungry alarm" - and MAYBE when we're all done I'll get to eat something too. ;)

Happy Tuesday!

Sweetness - PURE Sweetness :)

Isn't she?

Little Liv - 2 weeks old

She's just over 2 weeks old - I can't believe it's been that long. It seems to have flown by. Just yesterday she arrived . . . and every day she changes a little bit. I'm sad to have missed those 14 days - I'm not taking nearly as many pictures as I thought I would - but I suppose if we had a little mini session every day I'd run out of disk space REALLY fast on my computer. :)

Today I visited my doctor again (checking on that incision again) and it's taking its jolly ol' time healing. Still not completely closed so I'm still being extra careful with it. Still really sore - keeping me from walking like a normal person.

Olivia had her 2 week-ish appointment on Monday and she is doing great. She had gained almost a full pound - 8lb 1oz - so YAY for her! I told Matthew we're so blessed this time around - he has not missed a night's sleep yet and I'm sleeping more now than I was at 2 months with Micah!! She is so calm and quiet - don't get me wrong, she can wail with the best of 'em - but for the most part she is just a very content and peaceful baby. :)

Here are 4 new pictures - I have some more but I"ll spread them out over the next few days. ;)

Olivia - 10 days old

I had some energy to spare this morning and Olivia was happy - so here are a few pictures for you. :) Sorry I've been MIA - and seriously slacking with blogging, but I'll get better as time goes on . . .