The time I post a ton of photos.

I don't even know where to start with an update. We've been on-again, off-again sick in this household for WEEKS. Weeks, I say. It's getting a bit old and tiresome.

I am gearing up for trips to Dallas, California, back to Dallas, then Colorado all in the month of March.

Thad is loving school, and is really good at writing his name. He has even started to draw pictures lately, which is like--whoa. I never thought I'd see that day. But seriously, our refrigerator is covered with stick figure drawings of me, Tom and Charlotte. Lol. He told me, "Mommy, I never used to like drawing, but now I do. I think I just needed to get used to it."

Charlotte is just the most amazing little baby ever in the history of amazing little babies. Sometimes Tom and I will go into her room and just stare at her...until she wakes up because she's the world's lightest sleeper. Lol. But seriously, I am in awe of my daughter. She's just so damn gorgeous. I love her more each day.

I don't know what else to say. So here's a shit load of pictures!

Good things to come.

I'm running a contest on my Facebook business page for a free photo session for someone in Albuquerque.

I literally had zero fans from the area, and getting business since we moved here has been a bitch.

BUT...

It's working. I have 40 new fans, all from ABQ.

Could this be a sign of good things to come? Dear Lord, I hope so. I would love to be able to finally build my business up here.

Thaddeus is still on Christmas break. ZOMG I might go crazy. Lol. He's just no longer a late sleeper, so the early mornings are pretty draining. I have been incredibly spoiled on the mornings when I don't have anything to get done, so I can take him to the bus stop and Charlotte and I can go back to bed for a couple hours.

Of course, it would probably help if Tom and I actually went to bed before midnight. But someone tell my 5-year-old that it's way cooler to sleep in than to wake up early. Mmmkay?

And here's some pictures I took yesterday of Charlotte.

Her sweet little face kills me. Seriously.

Lol.

Happy New Year!

Well, the Jeters rang in 2013 with a bang...

...our babysitter, who had cancelled on us at the last minute, called to say, "Nevermind! I can come over!" So Tom and I rushed around to get ready for a New Year's party at a friend's house, and headed out.

The party ended at 11, when most people decided they wanted to celebrate the New Year at midnight Central time. Lol.

So we went home and toasted with champagne, just the two of us.

Well, the three of us...since Charlotte happened to be awake, playing in her crib and we could hear her giggles and squeals while we watched the ball drop. Lol.

New Years Day was filled with lots of naps, pizza, a trip to my uncle's house, dinner at the local Mexican restaurant, and then Tom passed out early because he ended up coming down with a cold.

A man cold.

Poor guy. :(

Anyways, I have re-committed to doing a 365 project for this year. I really want to stick with it, but I have to admit - I am already bored. Lol.

I feel like 90% of my photos these days are of Charlotte anyways (she is a most willing subject, after all) - but it's not like she can do a lot of stuff. So in her photos, she's either eating, sleeping, or laying on the floor. Lol.

See why I'm bored?

But I'll stick with it. I owe it to my kids, and to myself, to do another one of these projects.

1/365.

This little girl looooooves her daddy. OMG.

When I was pregnant with Charlotte, and we knew it was a girl, Tom and I would talk all the time about the difference between she and Thaddeus. I insisted to Tom that he would be a different parent - that he would become softer. That his heart would beat differently. Not that he would love her more - I don't think it's even possible to love one child more than another - but that he would love her in a completely new way.

I was right. Ha.

The two of them are so sweet together. She stares at him and smiles, while he cuddles with her and says aloud that she is, "so precious," or "my baby girl."

I have never seen Tom like this. It's amazing to watch. And oh man is it sexy. ;)


2/365.

The rest of the week will be boring ol' routine, which I am ok with. This past month or two has been insane.

I'm ready for things to slow down.

Success!

See? I told you I'd be better at blahging and here I am, 12 hours later, living up to my promise.

I have to get on to editing a wedding I shot recently, but I wanted to take the morning to hang with my babies. Thad is still battling some version of the flu, so he's been in bed watching ParaNorman, The Lorax, and now some documentary about chasing tornadoes (he's totally my kid).

Anyways, I told myself I'd wait until Charlotte was 6 months old before we tried solids...I almost managed to wait that long, lol. She will be 6 months next Friday, so why not right?

This afternoon, she tried her hand at carrots.

Later this afternoon we will move on to peas. (Vomit)

I'll get some photos of that as well, of course.

Later, I busted out the one and only toy she got for Christmas. I can't even begin to tell you what a relief it was to commit to buying our 5-month-old baby ONE THING for Christmas. Seriously, why go overboard? The grandparents took care of the rest, lol, and there is just no need. Charlotte will never remember Christmas this year, and we really only bought the one gift because we didn't want to be total scumbag parents.

But she loves it! She played with it quite a bit this afternoon, tugging at the little things that dangle, and making all the weird little sounds that she makes.

And, uh, by the way, Thad was spoiled rotten this Christmas. From Tom and me alone, he got a scooter, a few movies, a couple books, a cap gun, BeyBlades, Matchnox cars, and the punching bag that goes with his socker boppers. I'm sure there's more. He really was spoiled this Christmas.

If I'd had any sense on Christmas morning, I would have taken some pictures. Lol. But I was too busy wishing I was still in bed. ;)

I am such a slacker.

These days, I am more consumed with the photo sessions I have to edit and hanging out with my kids than blahging. I'm a total slacker.

In one month, I had 24 sessions and 2 weddings (one in the Bahamas, yeehaw!).

But Christmas is over, and my busy season is calming down.

And I need to get back to updating this thing.

So here's the start -

I was feeling a bit nostalgic this evening.

 

I can't believe how much she has changed.

She is nearly 13 pounds now, and I can't remember how long she is, lol. 

And she also has her ears pierced. What a big girl. :)

My goal for 2013 is to take lotsssss more photos of my kids. And post them. And blahg them. Maybe I'll even give my 365 another go (I think I stopped my last one at...3. Lol.)

Someone got a new hat.

Happy 4 months, Charlita!

Yesterday was Charlotte's 4-month birthday. I wasn't home all day, since I was practically in Texas doing a newborn photo shoot. But I vowed to take photos of her today, to document the occasion.

The quilt was a gift from my aunt Lori. I absolutely love it. When she asked me what I wanted, I told her something colorful - selfishly knowing that I would use it to take photos of Charlotte. Lol. She knocked it out of the park - it's perfect.

Anyways, back to the bebe...

So I know she's 4 months old, but remember she's 2 months behind. So she is the maturity of a 2 month old:

- Not yet able to hold her head up, but she's getting there!
- She is cooing constantly.
- She loves to blow raspberries.
- She seriously is the gassiest human being on the planet. It's not bothersome to her, thank goodness...but she farts like a grown man. And it's constant. Lol.
- She is officially sleeping thru the night. On the mornings I don't have to wake her, she sleeps from 8pm to 8am. On the mornings I do, she gets up at 7am.
- She naps all morning long. Lol. Then she naps most of the afternoon. What can I say? The kid can sleep.
- She was drinking 4oz of milk for the longest time. Probably over a month, maybe longer. Then suddenly she started to get really cranky after each feed. So we increased her to 5oz...she was still cranky. So we increased her to 6oz. So that was a 2oz increase in pretty much 2 days - unheard of, but she's happy. So whatever.
- She likes her paci when she's tired. This is foreign to me since Thad never took a paci.
- She has two different cries - the first one is a wailing scream. This means, "Feed me or I will seriously kill you." The second one is a long, drawn out sort of wail, with short breaks in between. This means, "Put me to bed before I do something horrible to each of your future children." She's a pretty good little communicator. ;)

End of story -- I love this kid. Like, LOVE her.

She is my light.

And a little video for your viewing pleasure....