{Jenelle} – 6 months

Now that you’ve seen Noah and Erin, we have Jenelle at 6 months to round out my week of babies who are Getting SO Big!

Jenelle came over on a Sunday morning while Mia and Doug went to church. Mom and I enjoyed the stillness of quiet morning air with just one non talking/moving baby in the house *sigh* You know, the stillness like when your baby finally goes to sleep and you plop down on the couch, take a deep breath to relax and ignore all the things you need to be doing before baby wakes up? 

With no distractions, Jenelle’s eyes and smiles were on me the whole time.

Great job Dad, getting her to sit up all by herself while you were on break!

I think she's getting ready to crawl!

Just like her big sister Maya had, Jenelle’s got some silly patches of curly hair growing in!

Or “Kramer” hair as Mom would call it!

6 months is such a happy smiley baby age, I think she had a good time J

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Fall Family Portraits in Chicago

Remember back in the fall when I posted about coordinating family portrait outfits? I never showed you how my Thanksgiving cards turned out! I ordered the cards from Snapfish. Couldn't beat a buy one set get one free deal - $40 for 40 cards on heavy cardstock! (Disregard the quality below, this was scanned in.)

I asked my fellow aspiring photographer friend, Elaine (who after being online photography forum friends for over a year, finally met at Sprout), to capture our family out and about in our neighborhood. To prep Mia for the shoot, I kept saying that my friend Elaine would come to take our pictures. During the shoot I kept telling Mia to say hi to Elaine. After that, I think Mia thought Elaine’s name was “Hi Elaine!!” J

This peek-a-boo picture is one of my favorites from the session and had to include it on the back of our card.

The picture on the left is from our engagement session. I love how Elaine captured a similar image (on the right), now that we're a family of three. © Maybe I should get them both in canvases...

It was nice to actually be in pictures for once.

Walking around with my photographer eyes open got me so excited to shoot more portraits in the neighborhood! There were so many textured and colored walls that I want to take advantage of.

Check out more photos from our family session in the city at Elaine’s newly launched blog.  Also, since Elaine wants to focus on shooting sports, she has killer Bulls images...that she got signed!!!

P52 - {2} Made With Love

After seeing this week's Project 52 prompt, I knew that I wanted to photograph the baby blankies knitted/crocheted by my Grandma. I think every one of my Grandma's great grandkids, all six of them, has one or two blankies. Before I knew when I'd have kids, I was afraid that my Grandma wouldn't be around to make my babies their blankies, considering she'd be nearing 90 years old by then. But lucky for me, I had Mia shortly after I got married and Grandma was still healthy enough (at 87!) to whip up some beloved blankies.

She even gave me a blue one for my future boy. Not that I'm pregnant! Just that she knew she wouldn't be able to make one when the time does come (a few years from now!). I get most of my crafty genes from my Grandma and hope that my kids will treasure these blankies as much I we do!

Kap kuhn ka ya-tuat! My smart little Thai baby.

I'm so glad we're having an impromptu family reunion this week where all of Grandma's kids (5), grandkids (6) and great grandkids (6) can spend time together - for the first time! The baby cousins weren't born/conceived yet when we got together for Grandma's 85th birthday. I'm ready for lots of good food, late night card games where the adults try to take our money {Rummy!}, and mini cousins running around!

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{Erin} – 9 months

On Christmas Day, my niece turned 9 months old.

I can’t wait to see how these two will play together when they’re older. I think they're wondering the same thing...

Unlike chubster Noah who hasn’t changed much in the past 9 months, I think Erin has. What do you think?

Next time, she won't fit in this basket!

Ah, the wonders of the outside world...

Crawling is Erin’s big milestone this time around and instead of an army crawl, she moves more like a slug.

{Arms, butt, legs. Arms, butt, legs...} But a dainty one with hands intertwined and legs crossed!

Before my photo sessions, I tell parents to think about what makes their child naturally laugh in their day to day interactions. Erin wasn’t too amused by our tricks until the very end when Dad let loose with some tickles and I was getting ready to go!

Now there’s the big smile I’m used to!

Hard to believe that the next session will be for her dol {Korean 1^st birthday}!

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Music Themed Toddler Party

When asked what type of party Elijah wanted for his 3rd birthday, it was no doubt that he replied with a music party! Mom and dad are brave souls for getting this latest Christmas gift...

Christine from grateful for a coffee break did a great job with Elijah’s 3rd birthday party. The DIY save the dates (emailed), invites (mailed), banner, goodie bags, and Thank You coloring sheets all coordinated to a T.

In under a month, Christine designed a save the date and invitation and sewed up a Happy 3^rd Birthday Elijah banner (25 pieces!) and 15 goodie bags.

The two hour party started with a cup of coffee, thanks Christine! Elijah’s School of Music – what a great idea! The kids (5 years to 9 months) sat in a circle in the basement while Christine led a few songs that most toddlers would know (Happy Birthday, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Twinkle Twinkle, etc). They were also given various musical instruments to make lots of noise go along with the beat. Then the kids played freely downstairs for the next 30 minutes until pizza came!

After pizza and Christine’s take on Portillo’s Chopped Salad, there was cake and presents. Surprisingly, gift opening went smoothly as all the kids looked on anxiously to see what the birthday boy received.

Mia knocked out shortly after we left, complete with chocolate still on her face. Signs of a good time J

Great job Christine!

{Noah} – 9 months

Before the holidays, it was time for {Noah’s} Getting So Big - 9 month pictures.

Look at how this adorable chubby guy has grown from his one, three, six and nine month sessions! He’s not even mine, but I want to kiss and squish him all over!

As usual, Noah effortlessly gave me big gummy smiles!

What handsome boys, huh?

This past weekend was Noah’s brother’s 3^rd birthday. We celebrated with a music themed party that all the kids enjoyed.

Check back tomorrow for party details. Happy Birthday Elijah!


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P52 {1} - Resolution

Unlike most bloggers, I didn't look back at 2011, pick my favorite posts/projects (just pictures of Mia), reflect on the past year, nor write out resolutions for the next. Not that I didn't want to. Unfortunately, I just never sat down and took the time to do it (off to a great start, huh!?).

However, I plan to participate in Project 52 at my3boybarians and Project 12 at mcp actions. And by participate, I mean actually thinking about the photography challenges and really pushing myself to execute all of them.

Here's to week/month 1 - resolution.

Let's see if I can get the past three years worth of photos into albums, yikes. Just like getting my craft closet organized, sorting thousands of pictures into physical albums is a daunting task that I continually put off.  

I always gave my Mom a hard time for having my childhood photos in plastic bins in the basement. "Why is it so hard to sort and put them in albums? Ugh {eyeroll}" On more than one occasion, I'm realizing why my Mom didn't do things the way I thought she should've. Because it's not. that. easy. Just another lesson learned when you get older/have kids. Sorry, Mom!

Here's to a new year!

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