Katie, the elephant whisperer. Always good to have a back-up plan in case the new biz is slow to start.
We also met a 2 week old elephant who shares the same birthday as our new niece, Mabel. The similarities stop there, though, with about a 97 kg birth weight difference and mama who endures 24 months of pregnancy!
Great shots! We just love elephants. 24 months? Geeeze 
Check out Arnemann Wanderlust !
This photo represents the absolute and unflinching love in our family. This is our youngest daughter (the last of 5 children). My wife wanted this photo taken. Those are our wedding rings on her beautiful little toes. Our children are first in our lives here in Indiana. All that we do, comes with our children first and foremost in our minds and hearts. Fairytales don’t always happen in big castles with royalty. they can happen right here in rural Indiana, USA.
I couldn’t resist taking a shot of my nephews adorable little feet. Don’t you just wanna nibble on those cute little toes?
haha, yes, a little cootchie cootchie would be in order!
Check out The Scene, My Camera and Me !
Jonathan leaves for boot camp on June 4. He graduates on or around August 6, at which time he’ll be told where his school will be located. Then he’ll be sent to A School within the few weeks following boot camp. At this point I will be 4-6 weeks to my due date. Since I want to be near him during his school – which lasts 6 months – I will be moving to wherever in the United States his A School is (though I have a sneaky suspicion that it’ll be in Pensacola, FL). So we will have roughly a month after his graduation to find a place to stay, then move ourselves, our cats, our dog, and our baby things to Who-Knows-Where, USA and get our little world ready to be rocked by a new baby.
The chaos of potentially moving cross country, coupled with the fact that we’re not really going to be experiencing an excess of money till Jonathan is well into boot camp, has our hands tied to buying only the barest of the bare necessities to keep Tessa alive, healthy and happy. Not only that, but I will have to be making the majority of our purchases without Jonathan – which is why it was so important to run the big buys by him BEFORE he leaves to be a tight pantsed sailor suit military man on June 4. That way I can buy the things on our list stress free and without any unpleasant “Here’s what I did with the checkbook while you were gone, honey!” moments.
So yesterday we spent the day in Fresno at Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby with my friend Bree and her family. Bree is a supermom, who is a veritable guru of baby safety and practicality. Having her help us through the registry and the ins and outs of new parenthood was a life saver. For instance, we didn’t know we could take the jogger and baby car seat we were looking at buying out to our car for a test run. (Yeah, that thing was WAY too big. Potential disaster = averted.) And between using her children as experiments on products to practicing car seat safety on a Hello Kitty doll, Bree gave us the thorough 101 on essential baby purchases.
Halfway through our first stop at Babies R Us I got a huge stress headache. Those stores bombard you with useless crap that look so fun and indispensable. Then inadvertently adding up the price tags of the last 35 pointless diaper wipe warmers / Disney themed pacifier holders / Winnie the Pooh plushies was sending me into a financial meltdown. Again, I don’t know what I would have done without Bree there to keep me focused on the essentials!
A new baby on the way, a cross country move, yea, kind of stressful, but you shall be fine, these things have a way of turning into some of the best memories.
Check out Domestic Geek Girl !
“Wet baby toes are so super cute. In the midst of winter blues (that will hopefully be over soon), when I see this I am hopeful that spring and summer will bring fun times and smiles once again.”
Ah, cutie toes lol
Check out Broken Light: A Photography Collective !
Sometimes I ask Don to give me a prompt and I’ll draw what comes to mind: These are “cat walking” and “baby businessman.”
Very good!
Check out Little Macabre !
It was taken in a small Thai town called Kamphaeng Phet. I stayed there for a couple months through an exchange program.
Just beautiful, mother and child, universal love!
Check out The Global Drift !
Connor was born in March and diagnosed shortly afterward with tuberous sclerosis complex, a rare genetic condition that causes benign tumors to grow on organs. He spent five weeks in NICU while doctors tried to get his seizures under control. At four months old he had surgery to remove the brain tumor that was causing most of his seizures. He is doing much better now at 8 months old. He is giggly, happy and an easy baby as far as normal baby stuff goes. This was his first trip to his grandparents in Venice, Fl. He’s quite perplexed by the giant bathtub.
I’m trying to raise awareness of this disease because it shares the same neural pathways as autism, epilepsy, and many cancers. Research benefits everyone!
He’s darling. Very best wishes for him and for his family!
Check out Mixed Up Mommy for their journey with tuberous sclerosis.
“Instead of having Reagan’s party the weekend of his Birthday I planned to have it the weekend before so I could spend his actually birthday in a more intimate and personal setting. I have always found the beach to be an inspiring and calming place.I knew that was just where I wanted to spend this special day with my son.
We stayed in a tiny condo overlooking Nye Beach in Newport, Or. The views were spectacular and the smell of the ocean air was crisp and inviting. While in Newport we spent a lot of time walking the beach. It gave me a chance as a mother to clear my head and reflect on the amazing year we had been through together. The ups and the downs. The many tears and giggles shared.
My little guy had the time of his life. He would screech as each wave came and lapped up again his tiny legs. He could not get enough of the frigid ocean water. I had to pry him away from the ocean so the waves wouldn’t knock him over! I think am POSITIVE he ate his fair share of sand during our stay. I was finding it for days in the crevices of his baby rolls. We all decided he is destined to enjoy surfing when he is old enough. “
Very cute!
Check out more photos and story at Hunt + G a t h e r !
Recent Comments