"Pee Potty"

Those are beautiful words to hear come unprompted from a 22 month old's mouth.  It's even better when it's followed by pee in the potty.  Yes, Gabrielle peed in the potty!  It was thrilling!  I started telling her last week that she gets a sticker if she pees or poos on the "mommy daddy potty" (that's what she calls it).  I've been reminding her about her sticker reward, so I'm glad she took me up on the offer!  Hopefully she continues to show interest in the potty....if only she could understand that her diaper budget could go towards her shoe/clothing budget if she went on the potty all the time, haha :) 

This week!

I got my camera out for a few minutes the other night while Gabs was playing outside.  I probably won't be blogging for at least a week....my friend Caresse is coming in from California on Wednesday she will be staying/earning her keep at our house next week :)  Gabrielle will be spending next weekend with Nick at the Grand Taylors while we go to Caresse's tasting, have her shower, and bachelorette party!!  Oh, and it's my birthday next week....yippee.  27.  Haha, I made it another year I guess! 

Then next Monday my friend Danielle is having her second son!  Danielle is much braver than I....her first little boy, Gage, is two weeks younger than Gabi and her second is about to arrive.  It's a scheduled c-section so little Ian will arrive Monday, and we will have his newborn pictures on Thursday.  Can't wait!

See you next week (with lots of pictures, obviously)! 

Spider

So, the Arnold Schwarzenegger of spiders must live in our backyard (which just thrills me....not), because this crazy web was holding about a half gallon of water on it one morning this week. 

Face Hug

It's Gabrielle's first invention.....the face hug.  She will grab my head, smoosh our faces together, and say "fees huuuuuuuug".  So precious.  Just thought I'd share :)

Busy fall

Hmm....so things have been all sorts of crazy lately.  Its fall..... so hunting, football, and State games consume Nick's life.  Which means it consumes my life.  Also, Caresse's bridal shower and bachelorette party are coming up in a couple of weeks so there are bunch of details to be covered before then!!!  I know four people (I thought it was five, but I can only think of four at the moment...hmm) that are due with babies in October, and I have newborn sessions with at least two them :)  And I also have a family shoot booked next month...... I'm excited about that!

I'm also looking forward to my baby girl turning two in less than two months.  Or course I'm not totally looking forward to it, but overall I'm excited!  Her toddler bedding is on it's way, and I have ideas for paint and wall decorating too.  She's going to have a twin bed (on the floor at first) so that will be an interesting transition!     

Gabrielle is enjoying the fall and I'm bracing myself for the impending winter months that will drive her mad.  Ugh.....I HATE winter with a toddler, but it is what it is I guess! 



Reaching for the door handle.....sometimes being short has it's benefits to us :)






It got cold so suddenly, so I had to run out to get Gabrielle fall/winter shoes (size 6!).  She got new tennies from Stride Rite, brown boots from Target (so cute), and adorable grey patent leather mary janes from Target (on sale even) that she wore in our family pictures.  Size 5 easily got her from spring-fall, so I'm guessing the 6's (that are a tad big) will last all winter. 






Nick bought these PJs for G when we were at the outlet mall. 








Watching Bubbles Guppies.  Boy, does she ever love that show.


Guess who bought this shirt for her too......hmm...Nick??


And another milestone....she's in a booster!  Nick thought it might be a good idea to try a booster instead of a highchair since our little one is getting so big and becoming more of a "person" every day.  She really likes her chair, and every time it's time to eat she runs over to it and says "eat boo chair!"  We also used a booster chair in a booth at a restaurant for the first time, and she did so well in that too!






Chillin.  I think she thinks she's a dog sometimes.....the dogs will bark, and she'll lean way over and bark back (woof woof!) at them.  Hmm...

Here are some pictures of Nick's birthday that I just now got off my phone.  Sarah and I Dave & Buster's!

Marc and Nick

Obvious.  A very grainy pic of us :)

Sarah and Marc

The view from laying in our bed at our hotel in Detroit.

And then the view actually looking out the window

At the Tigers Game!!

And the day after week got home....fall came with a vengeance all of a sudden so fall clothes it was!  First day in cords and a long sleeve shirt.  It's hard to believe my baby is in 2T tops and leggings this winter.  She's still in 18 month jeans and wide leg pants, but she doesn't wear much of those anyway.  Crazy!

Very out of order, obviously!  A few days before when it was still warm and Gabrielle swinging all by herself in a big girl swing!

Eating an apple and sitting in a cat bed at my parents'

She doesn't nap at my parents' anymore....she just goes and goes until we leave and then snoozes all the way home....

I put her kitchen up tall!  I think I'll move this to her toddler room once we have that done. 

Daddy and Gabrielle on a GREAT night!  More about that later....

Fall Family Pictures

Well, I had made the decision that I wanted to take our own family pictures because A.) I couldn't stand to go to Portrait Innovations again.  B.) Most of the photographers around were simply awful and I'd never waste our time or money on them.  C.) Any good photographers around were quite bit pricey for what we could spend right now.

So self-portraiture it was!

I got all of our outfits together (rustic-fall-chic is what I was going for) and we headed to the in-laws to use their beautiful land as our backdrop.  The weather was great, though a bit warm and humid for our perfectly selected rustic-fall-chic outfits :/

Ron and Billie drove us around in the golf cart until I found some good places to try and shoot.  There were about 8,000 mosquito nests in the fields, so we all have some lovely red bites as our photoshoot souvenir.  I didn't try to take many candids or singles of just Gabi because the bugs were so awful....we got in and out quick as we could.... 

I thought I might be able to get away with Nick sitting where we were going to be, me metering off his skin and focusing on him, him not moving a millimeter and the sun not moving in or out from any clouds, me grabbing the kid and sitting next to Nick, and us all smiling simultaneously as the shutter released.  Didn't happen.

Then we had Gabs sitting on the golf cart playing with her bear, staring at me while I get the camera ready, and her unenthusiastically saying "no pi-pehs...no pi-pehs" and shaking her head.  Ahhh!!!
Billie ended up helping and pressing the shutter for us.  We got a few pictures, which is all we really need I guess.  The exposure, focus, and composition definitely isn't ideal but it is something.  And it's better than Portrait Innovations at least.  I think.