Sorry bout that.

I know. I've been doing some major blog-slacking. I throw myself on the mercy of the blogosphere. I don't really have a great excuse except to admit that Lucas does NOT sleep through the night. Well, any more anyway. He's not exactly what you might call, "Calm." He's needy. And pinchy. And the backs of my arms and my neck skin are crying "uncle" at the mere sight of him.

But, oh! The sight of him.


Would you believe he made his grand debut already 6 months ago? (On Friday.) And he's sitting.


And trying desperately to get his knees under him. (Note to self: get a picture of it.)

And good heavens, he loves the solid foods. We're TRYING to be good and do all the typical baby food stuffs first, but certain people (MELINDA!!!) fed him some tiny licks of ice cream! And he's nommmed on a chocolate chip cookie! And he adored the pinto beans from Betos Panchos.

And not a moment too soon. Every thing within arms reach now enters his mouth. Hair, toys, blankets, your shirt, and on and on.


What can I say, kid likes to eat! And good thing too, since he needs to bulk up a bit. But I do so love this kid. Despite his neediness. Despite his "up at night" behavior. Despite the pinching. (Please, make the pinching stop.)


Yes, I think we'll keep him.

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It's rare.

Very, very rarely, will I do one of these tagged thingies. But, like Char, I've got nothing better to post about.

2 names you go by: Alissa, Liss

2 things you are wearing right now: New maroon skirt from Target, brown shirt (also from Target)

2 things you want right now: A nap. Someone else to pick up Anna from school today.

2 things you did last night: Made white chili for dinner, zoned out after my kids went to bed.

2 things you ate today: Chicken Nuggets (Miles's birthday lunch), an apple.

2 favorite drinks: Water, and Mt. Dew

I don't tag, sorry.

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Picture Odds & Ends

Every so often, I find that I have a slew of pictures which don't actually match with anything really postable, but deserve sharing. So, let's dive in, shall we?


First, this should have gone into the post about Miles and his Weird-cutes. This is his lovey-blankie. He will literally drag it around all day long if I don't take it away and put it up where he can't get it. When he does have it, he sucks his thumb and (I'm not kidding) shoves the corners up his nose. Qualify as weird, yes?


Anna just looking so freaking pretty. We're going to be in SO much trouble later.


This would be the "why hast thou forsaken me, mama?!" look. Dad just doesn't hold a candle to the incredible draw of mom. See my awesome power?!


I'd like to think he was blowing me a kiss here, but somehow I think he had food in his mouth. Every Sunday morning, in an effort to speed up the getting-ready-for-church process, the girls shower with mom and the boys shower with dad. I really do believe it to be faster. Plus, that way I don't have to lean over a bathtub. I hate that.


Ah yes. This would be before the haircut. I was feeling kinda wired one night. I look it, eh?

Miles is explaining something to me. I'm not sure what. He has started using "adult" phrases. For example, today I was returning some library books that were overdue (oops!) but didn't want to get out of the car, so we just did the bookdrop. Miles stated that he wanted to go inside and I explained, "Sorry buddy, we're not going in today." to which he replies, "Are you serious!?" and when I stated that I was, in fact, serious!?, he said, "I can't believe you!" Earning his disappointment was heartbreaking.


We have a tradition. Every Sunday after church we (meaning the kids) have the same exact snack. Tuna fish on crackers. Yesterday, the kids discovered the joy of double-decker sandwiches. Which left them looking like this:

and this:



Oh lovely. Another picture of me. Apparently, I had a headache. It's perpetual.

And wrapping up this lovely Odds & Ends session we have the LukLuk.

He NEVER smiles for the camera. He will be SO smiley and I'll bring out the camera to capture some of the glorious grins he gives me and suddenly he's Mr. Serious. So, I was thrilled to get a couple really smiley shots today.

Oh, and this:

Ah yes, nothing tastes better than the slat blinds in the office.

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The Floridian's Lament.

aka The lack of Autumn

If you don't live in Florida (or other warm areas of the country, I'm sure), you don't realize how lucky you are. Right around the beginning to mid-September, it starts to cool off. Not so hot. Just a touch cool in the mornings. Slowly it turns to long sleeves and then jacket weather and the once bright green leaves start to change in shade to yellow, orange, red, purple and other shades in between. You begin to enjoy things like socks, pumpkin pie, chili, cuddling up with a blanket and a good book.

Florida does NOT have these things. And I'm sorry, but I just can't fake it. If it's not cool outside, I can't bring myself to bake pumpkin cookies or even decorate for the season. I pretend that Halloween is a billion years away even though the stores are all bedecked in Orange and Black and I've got just over a month to figure out costumes for 4 children. Granted, it does cool off here. And November is just plain pleasant. Mid to upper 70s. But if you want fall weather, you'll have to come in February, just in time for Valentine's Day.

We've talked about how we don't have plans to stay in Florida forever. Mostly for this reason: We miss our seasons. We want them back. We've heard Portland is nice. Anyone wanna weigh in?

Gratuitous baby shot:

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Weird-cute. Whatever that means.

Miles will be turning 3 on Wednesday. I don't even want to think about how quickly the time has flown by, because it makes me start to hyperventilate.

There are a million tiny reasons why Miles is just about the cutest/strangest kid you ever met. I'll just share a couple.

First... well, there's this.

I think he was pretending to be a "bad guy." Notice the location of his thumbs? What you gratefully miss here is that about .624 of a second later, Miles unpantsed himself and went running around the house screaming hysterically, pantyhose still on head, but otherwise naked. Still not sure what that was about! And, the best part was that we had company over.


Miles has suddenly started fancying himself an artist. This is apparently our family. This also represents the very first time I've caught him drawing anything other than scribbles. That little mouthless conehead on the right end is Lucas. Or so he tells me.

And here we have Miles demonstrating how he can afford to refuse to eat the delicious dinner I made tonight. Drinking every drop of his breakfast "cerealmilk" is sure to stave off midnight hunger pangs, right?

I've said this before, but he really is quite an enjoyable little boy. Two's been good to us. Let's hope three treats us with a little respect (and less wet underpants, okay buddy?)

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The Sad-ish News

I've hemmed and hawed and agonized over this for months, but I've come to the decision to no longer do photography as a business. There are a lot of reasons behind it, but basically, my family is my most important obligation. And I was hating the time I was spending away from them.

I still love photography and I still intend to take pictures. If you are a client that has a Better School Picture Day photo shoot scheduled, we are still on. If, you're just dying without my photography services (ha!), I may be persuaded to take on a photoshoot once in a while. But I'll be pulling down my website in the next couple of weeks. Thank you to everyone who supported, encouraged and hired me to capture their family.

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From the other side of 29.

So, I had a birthday. It was fabulous. As fabulous as your first 29th birthday can be, right?

Matt stepped up and ordered the mattress topper which has been bringing me (and by default, him, the cheater) comfort and a delightful night's sleep (as delightful as it can be to be waking up twice a night to feed a kid... don't get me started on that) ever since.

We had a sweet gift card for P.F. Chang's so we splurged on babysitting and dragged ourselves to dinner (with Lucas). Yum.

We also went to Borders where I picked up Stiff, as recommended by Shelah. So far, so good. Highly recommended.

Other than that, it was a highly uneventful birthday. I'm fairly certain that's what happens when you get old. No one brings you Dora balloons or the like, for which you're immensely grateful.



29's not so bad. So far. Oh! Note the new glasses. Loving them.

Matt also went all out and ordered me a fancy bakery cake from the Cake Lady.

It was Almond Brandy flavored. My mother would have died on the spot. She loves alcohol in her baked goods. Shh... She's a righteous Mormon lady, don't tell.


And Melinda, my friend who has been to Target with me more times than my husband. She picked this up for me.

I've been dying for this platter for well over a year. I have picture plans for it. You'll have to wait and see.

I have more pictures to post... but they'll have to wait for another day since this post is all about me. Neener, neener. Yes, 29 is mature.

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