My Nikon's BFF

I have been looking at buying a lightscoop for my camera. I finally did it a few weeks ago.

I didn't really know what to expect, but I was hoping for the best.

The verdict: In my opinion, it helped make me look like I knew what I was doing a bit more when dealing with my camera. I would recommend it for anybody who was having issues with lighting. I have a Nikon D40 and I'm very much an amatuer. I took a bunch of pictures today trying it out and i'll leave you with a handful of them!

such a happy baby.

liv loves stickers...and loves to stick them to my nose.

lily even got a photoshoot today.

My Mom

My mom had her 48th birthday yesterday, which has me thinking a lot about my family. I miss them a lot. I never imagined being so far away from them, especially with Liv. My parents are completely in love with Liv. I have to give my mom credit, because I knew nothing about raising a baby. She taught me everything I know. Having her was better than any baby book I could have read. Motherhood is very instictive, but it doesn't hurt to have a fabulous mother that loves your baby as much as you do to be able to teach you everything she knows.

Liv was an easy and happy baby, but who knows if she would have been that way without the help from my mom. I may not tell her as much as I should how thankful I am for that, but I am very very grateful. Its nice to have someone to call and talk about the little things Liv does all day that most people might not find that interesting. She is just as excited as I am about all of Liv's little milestones. With that said, I'd like to post a few tidbits about my mom that I love.

- She tells it how it is. I am slowly but surely acting more and more like my mom these days, but there's something to say about someone who is completely honest...in a tasteful way of course.

-She's a hard worker. She has spent her life (part of it as a single mom to twins), getting an education and making a life for her children.

-She was very involved in her children's lives. I strive to be the mom she was and to let Liv know the complete interest I have in her life and what she is doing. She was always very supportive and I'm sure my brother and sister would agree.

-She LOVES Halloween. She has made our costumes since forever. Not that there is anything wrong with having a store bought costume, but its a nice memory to have, all the homemade costumes my mom would come up with.

-She's a good friend. She is one of my best friends. She still holds the right to be my mom at any point, but I like how our relationship has developed to a friendship also.

-She's beautiful. She would be dissapointed if I didn't add this, ha! She is though :). She also, regularly tells me how she thinks Liv looks like her. Even though I don't usually agree, I wouldn't be dissapointed in that.

Thats just a few things that I love about my mom. So, Happy Birthday (yesterday) Mom. Love you!

reminders

I was driving in the car the other day and a song came on the radio. A country song. It made me immediately think of Shannon. As I pulled in front of the house, I waited to hear the name of the song or the artist who sang it, but nothing...

I googled and googled, but not being able to type out a single lyric didn't help my cause.

Fast forward a few weeks. I got home from the gym around 7:30 this morning. I sat on our bed waiting for Pat to get ready for work and Liv to wake up. I was trying to watch the news to get updated on the tsunami, but there was a commercial playing. After pressing the guide button to see what else I could flip between, CMT caught my eye. I used to watch CMT every morning...but not anymore because Liv prefers elmo.

I thought to myself, maybe I'll catch that song that I heard...

It was playing when I switched it over. In fact, it was at the beginning and I was able to hear the entire thing and see who was singing it and what it was called.

Wordless Wednesday

This pictures is obviously old, but how cute is it?!

nibbling on mama's sweatshirt...and lily trying to ignore liv's existence ha :)

going home

My flight home is booked!

I'm so excited. We fly out April 7th and stay until the 30th. We are flying into Chicago, which is where Dani is, and then driving to Marquette where my mom will pick Liv and I up.

I am going to be doing some major catching up with my friends and family. Everyone is so excited to see Liv. Thats what happens when you have a baby...nobody is quite as excited to see you anymore. I'm ok with that though, I'd rather show her off :).

We have a direct flight both ways and my only anxiety going into these flights is that Liv no longer has a bottle. I have flown with her a handful of times, including to Belfast, Northern Ireland. So...you would think I would be an expert traveller, but I still worry about what will happen on that flight. I will have to make sure the portable dvd player is charged and ready. I've also learned that having a whole arsenal of snacks is very important among coveted toys.Also, I am prepared to not eat, drink, or pee for the duration of the flight.

I can only hope that there will be an open row available because I've definitely been the woman with the baby who is kicking/prodding/grabbing ther person next to us. I've also been the person who has had to say "Oh you weren't done with that muffin? well my daughter just picked it up and took a bite".

Big Boy Week

Or big girl week, however you want to look at it.

Pat started his job today. Which means no more help during the days. Not that I haven't done it before...I just got a little too used to him being around. I'm not sure if I'll be able to go to the gym first thing in the morning like I was doing...looks like I might have to take that Jillian Michaels yoga dvd out of the wrapper now.

I have big exciting news. I am going to have a NEPHEW! I'm so excited!

I really am...even though I bugged Leslie and told her she better have a girl or else.

Now I get to tease her about having a penis growing inside of her.

We went out for dinner to celebrate on Thursday, ultrasound day. There was about 16 of us. We went to a brazillian grill called Bolero. It was very good. Kind of pricey but basically the rundown is they have a hot salad bar and cold salad bar and then bring around different meats, grilled veggies, and pineapple. They slice a piece off if you want to try it and you use tongs to put it on your plate. It was the most unique restaurant I had ever been to.

Liv behaved herself and everyone had a good time. We didn't do much else this weekend. Pat and I went to a pub last night. I came home at 10:30 because Sunday was my day to get up early. Ummm my child woke up at 4am.

Yes. 4 AM!

I put her in bed with us and she slept on and off until 6. It was torture. I thought I was coming home early to save myself from being tired today...Liv had other plans.

Here's my pretty baby, using one of her favorite toys...mama's itouch. She isn't picky though, she'll take daddy's iphone too.

loving on lily.

acting like lily?

19 months

I was doing a little counting....

5 months until Liv turns 2! Thats craziness. I feel like when Liv turns 2 there is no more baby :(. Looks like I'll just need to have another baby to compensate (don't tell Pat I said that).

This is my story about Liv's "growth". Pat, Liv, and I went to the mall yesterday. It was a newer mall and one that we've never been to. Side note: this mall had awesome car carts to rent for $5, they had a little screen that played videos...best invention ever. Anyways, after cruising around in our awesome car and doing a little shopping for an exact replica of a shirt Pat already has because it had an unfortunate incident with our dryer, we came upon the play area. It was nice and had a slide that all of the kiddies were swarming around. There were two other moms in there with me and their toddlers were playing on the slide too. One of the mom's asked us how old our kids were. Here little girl was 20 months and the little boy was almost 2. Liv towered over them. She looked like she was at least a year older then both of them. So that tells you how she's growing....like a weed.

Liv's current obsessions include: Playing with her kitchen and fabric food. Playing with her babies. Reading books. Coloring and not letting me color with her. Putting stickers on everything. Singing the happy song, whatever that is...I think its her interpretation of "if you're happy and you know it", however her lyrics include "happy happy happy...." and sometimes "happy babyy happy baby".

Liv just finished her 'moovin' and groovin' class. Her grandma carolyn takes her and told me Liv was really shy at first but started to warm up around the last week. She made friends with Mia's mom.Who is Mia's mom? I have no idea...but apparently Liv loved her.

They just started a new class 'sport ball' and its more sports oriented obviously...anyways Liv has decided that being shy is for the birds and was her normal crazy self. Another funny thing about her class: There is a little girl named Lily, like my chihuahua, and Liv apparently found that hilarious and kept saying "lala??? hahahahah". Pretty funny.

Thats what is new in Liv's life and here are some pictures...which are not easy to get. In fact she hates seeing my camera lately.

silly girl.

ignoring mom.

...and trying to escape.