When the babies were little tiny tots I would get stopped constantly with questions. Are they twins? Yes. Are they both boys? No, one is in blue, the other is in PINK. Are they identical? No, one is a BOY and one is a GIRL, they have different parts. Are they real? By far my favorite question, and if I wouldn’t have been so stunned at the question my reply would have been much, much different. And of course the comments - hands being full, two times the trouble, etc. By far the best one yet was yesterday while shopping a man told me I took the lazy way out. Sorry, but only a man could have come up with that one!

Lazy way my ass! Being pregnant and big as a house with over 10 pounds of baby plus all the other gunk was not lazy. Carrying this around was not lazy for sure!

I’m sure having Gestational Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, and Bed Rest was not lazy (you would think bed rest would have been lazy fun, but trust me, it is not). In fact, I’m quite certain feeding, burping, bathing, changing, diapering, and all of the other torturous stuff for two newborns was not lazy. Chasing two toddlers around and trying to keep them both happy is really not lazy. Call me crazy, but I feel anything but lazy. Overworked? Yes. Tired? Yes. Busy? Yes. Overwhelmed? Sometimes. Lazy? Nope. No lazy here.

After taking over 30,000 pictures I’ve come to a few conclusions:

Conclusion #1 ¤ The age of walking to about 2 is the hardest age of children to photograph. They are everywhere, running out of the frame and they won’t sit still even if you bribe them with lollipops. Forget trying to get two toddlers to pose in a picture for you. Ain’t happenin’! Then they learn to sit and do ‘cheese face’ and all is good again (providing you are fast and you bribe them with candy at the end).

Conclusion #2 ¤ Newborns are my favorite to photograph because they are so tiny, sweet, and curly. They sleep for most of the shoot and it is near impossible to make a newborn baby look bad.

Conclusion #3 ¤ My second favorite age to photography might just be the nine month range. They are sitting up on their own and have tons of personality, but unless you have a really early walker on your hands they sit still pretty well.

Here is my niece Haylee Lynn in all of her beautiful glory. She was so fun to photograph. She is very photogenic like her Mama and even though she didn’t want to smile for me she still looked like a doll.

Isn’t she a honeybunch!

And because I get asked so much I’ll give some of my camera info.

I shoot with a Canon Xti and I love it. I mainly shoot Aperture Priority. My main lens that I use 90% of the time is a Tamron 17-50 f2.8. This lens is super fast, has a good indoor range, and great bokeh. My second in command is a Canon 50mm f1.4 which is also superduperuper fast and gives an even better bokeh. I also have a Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro, Canon 28-135mm IS f3.5-5.6 , and the kit lens, the Canon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6. Of course I can’t forget my trusty dusty Canon Speedlite 580EX. I know all the rage right now is natural light with no flash, but I must say I love me some flash. When I shoot outdoors or where there is a lot of natural light I don’t use it, but any shots with my portable black backdrop and most shots indoors I use a flash. I always bounce it off the walls, ceiling, or behind me to avoid those pesky shadows or hot spots.

My purse camera that is also my main video taker is a Canon Powershot SX100 IS. It has 10x Optical Zoom, M, Av, Tv, P, and all the Auto Zones. It has the option to take black and white, sepia, vivid, neutral, or custom color. Of course it doesn’t compare at all to my DSLR, but in a pickle it produces good shots and decent video. I love that I have a camera and a video camera all rolled into one that I can take anywhere.

This was taken in San Diego using the Powershot.

My best friends daughter Ayla the Cutie Pie.

And now I’m off to edit more photographs.

Fun at the Park Edition:

Somedays I feel like all I did all day long was clean and play. The play part is fun….the cleaning part, not so much. There is always something that needs cleaning…the floors, bathrooms, laundry, patio, playroom. You name it, it is always in need of some cleaning. BY FAR my least favorite thing to do is mopping the entire downstairs tile. UGH. I dread it. I almost don’t mind it dirty so I can relax. When it is clean I cringe every time a crumb is dropped or milk is spilled. I walk around behind the babies with a rag cleaning up. After spending precious nap time steaming the tile I want to roll around on the clean floor. I want to run barefoot and not feel a crumb beneath. Hahahaha. Two toddlers = ain’t happening! My new favorite floor cleaner upper is the Swivel Sweeper.

It cleans all hard floors as well as carpets. It picks up wet food, sand, and crumbs pretty well. It indeed does swivel it’s way under furniture and in corners. Most days after a meal this is what my floor looks like:

Swivel Sweeper to the rescue!

And on another clean note…..I am not impressed at all with my Dyson Vacuum. The whole ‘Never Loses Suction’ was the reason I bought it and I hate to say it, but it is indeed losing it’s suction. I busted out my old vacuum today to do the downstairs rug and it seemed to do a better job than the VERY EXPENSIVE Dyson. Go figure. And now, I’m off to clean!

When I was pregnant I always wondered how the babies would look, but I never gave much thought to hair. I was very surprised when both babies came out with lots of dark hair. Heaten was born with lots of really dark hair.

After a couple of months he started losing his hair. Oh how upset his Daddy was over the hair loss. It all started with the bald patch on the back of his head that babies get….then it migrated to the top of his head. He looked like a little old man with side hair, but no head hair.

When it grew back it was a lighter brown color, very fine and soft with the most beautiful curls in the back. And then it grew, and grew, and grew.

After trimming his bangs a couple of times I decided it was time for his first haircut. The day we were set to go (the end of April) Jeff got cold feet and decided he didn’t need his hair cut so I decided to trim it at home. BAD IDEA. I am no hair stylist, thats for sure!!!

This weekend we finally did the deed and got his first hair cut. We sat him in the booster chair and he was fine, but the minute they put then bib thingy on him he started freaking out and crying. I ended up holding him while the very nice lady cut his hair off. I told her I had tried to cut his hair and didn’t do a good job. Her comment was ‘Let’s be honest, you gave him a mullet’. I gave my poor son a Mullet! Thank goodness she rescued his hair! He looks so adorable! I love his new hair cut. He looks like such a little boy now.

When we got home Shenzie didn’t recognize him. She kept going up to him and getting right in his face saying hi. She walked around him looking closely at his hair and kept reaching out to touch it. Finally after about 10 minutes she figured out that he was ‘brudder’ and gave him a hug. So, so sweet.

Dear Shenzie and Heaten,

I swear I just finished writing your 18 month letter and it is already time for your 19 month letter. Where does the time go?!? It is getting harder and harder to write these letters. You are learning so much it is hard to keep track of it. Your personalities are so large that words can’t capture how truly funny, crazy, and fun you are. By the time the end of the month rolls around the things you were doing at the beginning of the month are replaced with new things.

At the beginning of the month you both loved to copy me while I exercised. You would do squats and try to jump up and down. That has been replaced with you both running like maniacs all around the house, garage, and park. At the beginning of the month spinny spinny was your favorite game. That has been replaced with Pat a Cake or Five Little Monkeys. At the beginning of the month you both loved Elmo. That has not been replaced! You both love Elmo. The minute you see him in a store or on TV or a toy at home you stop and point saying what I assume to be Elmo. You have tons of books but both of your favorites are the Elmo pop up books. You bring them to me every day to read.

Shenzie Bear,

You are such a little girl. This past month your gentle nurturing side has made an appearance. You give hugs and kisses. You hug anything Elmo whether it is Elmo books, dolls, or toys. You give Elmo drinks from your sippy. You even tried to give your Elmo book a drink! You also love to give food and drinks to your bear. You love to dress up bear and cry if his clothes come off. You love bear more than anything. If he is hiding and we find him your entire face lights up.

You are now Ms. Social Butterfly. You say hi to pretty much everyone. At the park you walk right up to the other kids and get your face really close to theirs and wave and say Hi. So, so sweet and cute. The sweetest thing ever is when you wave bye bye to brother at his nap and bedtime. You ask where brudder is and when I say napping you wave to the wall where his room is. You still scratch and try to bite brother. And of course you love to steal his toys. You are not content with the same exact toy he has, you want them both!

You love the park, getting dirty, and water. You are not scared at all of the water park and love to get soaking wet. You chase after me if I have the hose out trying to get your hands or legs wet. You love the slide. The minute you get to the top you come racing down and then hurry back up to do it again. I’m sure soon I’m going to start hearing again! again! You are my little dare devil. One of your favorite things to do is close your eyes and do the Frankenstein walk to find me. You stop and peek to see where I am and then close your eyes and come charging my way with your arms straight out in front of you.

You are such a silly silly girl. You love to do things for effect. The other day I said No No to you pulling books off the shelves. A couple of minutes later you went to the shelf and put your hand on a book and looked back at me. I didn’t say anything so you went to the next book. You put your hand on it and looked back at me. Again, I didn’t say anything. You did this 5 times looking for me to say No No so you could then pull the book down and run away laughing. Hahaha. I fooled you! After not getting the response you wanted you went about your merry way without pulling any books down.

I know you are going to be very challenging as you get more independent and I can’t wait to see it. Oh little girl, how I love you and your spunk! My little Mini Me.

I love you.
Love,
Mama

Heaten Grey,

My little trudge monster. You are so, so sweet and fun. Even when you are upset or mad you are sweet. You don’t lash out and hurt like sissy does. When you are upset you fall to the ground and slowly lie down and cry. If you are mad you will walk up to me and slowly run your hand down my face. Not really a hit, not really a push…a little of both. You love to cuddle and sit on my lap. You back up into me and wait for me to pick you up.

You are starting to say words. I’m sure to most people it sounds like mumbo jumbo, but if I listen real close I can make out what you’re saying. You say bye, book, hat, hi, Big World, Elmo, Mama, Dada, and doggie. You love to copy Shenzie. If she sits down and puts on her shoes, you sit down and put on your shoes. If she does a headstand, you do a headstand. If she throws her food, you throw your food. I’ve even noticed at the park when the older kids come around and yell and scream you start to yell and scream. Hopefully you’ll only copy the good behaviors and not the bad ones!

You love the park and love the slides, but do NOT like to get wet or dirty. The first few times your new sandbox when your hands got dirty you cried and held them out in front of you. Now the minute you get sand on them you brush them clean. You don’t run in the sprinkler and you don’t like the water park. You stand back and watch the other kids get wet, but you always come out dry.

You gave me my first kiss this month. I ask for kisses all the time and most times you shake your head no, but when you do give me one I sneak about 6 more because who knows when the next one will be! I love your kisses and hugs and cuddles. I love to watch you clomp around with your fat feet. I love to watch you laugh because it always makes me laugh to. I love to get you up in the mornings when you’re smiling and happy to see me. I love you to bits little boy.

Love,
Mama.

I wish you all a wonderful, relaxing, Mother’s Day!

Baby Stroller Edition:

We got these new baby strollers today. Shenzie LOVES to push around her new baby doll. She pushes her doll very gently in the stroller. She bends down and adjusts her doll so she is comfortable.

Heaten also LOVES his new stroller. He loves to drag it behind him, push it in the rocks, pop stroller wheelies, and push it down the driveway letting go so it rolls into the street.

For the second time I left the babies to get a much needed break and a little R&R. When I went to Hood River they were 10 months old. This time they are 18 months old and I must say leaving them this time was WAY harder. I don’t know if it is because now I feel like they know that I’m gone or because I am out of the deepest trenches that the vacation then was so much more needed. Maybe it was because now, at this age they are SO MUCH FUN. Whatever the reason I missed Jeff and the babies terribly. I actually contemplated changing my plane ticket and heading home a day early. It’s not that I didn’t have fun, I just really missed the babies. A lot. I’m surprised at how much I missed them and I feel like I didn’t enjoy my vacation as much because I just wanted to be home hanging out with my family. *Upon reflection I’ve realized that next vacation I need it to be just the girls. Hanging out with Stacey and HER family made me miss MY family. I think if it had been a girls only trip (no children) and full of ONLY me relaxing time I wouldn’t have been so anxious to get back home to my family.

Another thing that surprised me was the fact that I wasn’t able to relax. I mean really veg out and relax. I guess going a hundred miles an hour on a daily basis is the new norm so I found it very hard to change gears into slow mode. Sitting idle felt weird. Doing nothing felt……dare I say, boring? Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to do nothing. No laundry, no dishes, no cleaning, no refereeing, no bathing…nothing except worry about what I was going to stuff into my mouth. It was nice to sleep in (the one day I was actually able to sleep in since apparently I’m conditioned to waking up at the crack of dawn now). It was beautiful in San Diego, the weather was perfect, and I had a great time with my best friend. But….I was happy to head home and kiss and cuddle my little Clambinos. I was happy to be back home with the crazies and their crying, and whining, and fighting. And their kisses, and hugs, and laughs, and cuddles. I don’t think I’ll be leaving them again for a long, long time….unless I can convince Jeff to go to Hawaii with me (fat chance!). Then, maybe then, I could do it again!!

**The babies did wonderful without me here. I’m not even sure they missed me all that much. Every time I called they were doing something fun with their Daddy. They had a blast having Daddy around for 4 days straight doing all the fun things I don’t let them do….playing in the pantry, playing with the remote, getting soaking wet at the park…you know, fun Daddy things. =)

The babies new fun…pushing each other on their “cars”. Jeff pushes them so fast and flies around the corners doing wheelies. Hopefully they won’t learn how to do that with each other!