Campbell

Johanna's 5th Birthday Party

2012-01-25T13:38:00.000-08:00

(I'm finishing up 2011, then private-mode hits. This leaves one more Christmas post. Please let me know if you'd like to be added to the approved viewer list if you haven't done so already)

Over the summer, we went to a friend's Birthday party that was hosted by Jurassic Parties, where the birthday girl got to hold all the animals. This left a lasting impression with my "Animal Girl", and she was begging to have that as her party. It was a little more pricey than I was willing to spend, so I pulled a "Tom Smart" and pitched the idea to them that if they would give me a discounted party, I would have all my guests sign model releases and Jurassic Parties could have the digital images to use for their marketing. They took the bait!

Unfortunately, the day before the party the weather forecast showed that the next day would be full of rain showers. I had to switch the location last minute to their Reptile Zoo, which ended up being pretty fun after all (stinky, but fun).

Chase and I are SO not reptile people, especially snakes. They totally wig me out. Johanna likes to tease us by showing us snake pictures, or by trying to rub it in our faces how pretty she thinks snakes are. Ironically, when I was in their Zoo and behind the camera lens, I didn't have a problem with it at all! It was only after the fact as I was editing the pictures that I kept getting the heebie-jeebies.

This picture reminds me so much of one of me at about this same age with my Grandpa Irv, shrinking away from a monkey in San Francisco (I think??)

The only thing Johanna said she was scared of was Tarantulas. In fact, the guy was about to stick one on her head instead of Carson (see above) when she mentioned this. The guy told her that this one was friendly and she had nothing to worry about, but then Johanna replied, "yeah, but they have a stinger in their butt that they'll stick in you if they get afraid," and the guy had to admit she was right. I turned to Chase puzzled, asking him if he had told her that and he shook his head no. I don't know where she picks this stuff up. This is him "pinkie promising" her that the Tarantula will be friendly.

Johanna showing the fangs of the Tarantula.

I can't remember if this lizard is really named "Frank" or if that's what Johanna calls him, but he's actually famous! He's the huge lizard on one of the Disney teenage shows - I can't remember what it's called right now, but we've seen him on TV since.

On a sad note, a few weeks after her birthday party, Fayden passed away. We had our babysitter Amber watching him while we were in Utah (who is a huge reptile expert and Johanna adores her). The day I was going to retrieve him, I got a call from Amber's mom saying she didn't think Fayden was going to last more than a few hours, that she thought he was dying. Great. You have to understand that everyone and their dog knows about Fayden, it's the first thing Johanna tells anyone she meets. So I picked him up and he was indeed on his last leg, in fact I thought he was dead when I got him. I softly told Johanna as I brought him through our front door that he had died, and she immediately said she wanted to hold him. I let her pick him up and I swear that's when he started breathing again. It really surprised all of us. He held on for another few hours and we buried him the next day. Chase helped her put Fayden's favorite rock above where he's buried. Chase then resumed cleaning up the backyard, and said he happened to look over at her and she had collected flower petals and was blowing them out of her hand over his grave. She saw him look and was mad at him for spying.

Anyways, I thought she would be devastated (she was very sad, and tells everyone her lizard died), but right away she started working all the angles of what animal she wants to get next to replace him. She's really stuck on a Bearded Dragon, and tells people that she might get one. Or a Chameleon, frog, guinea pig or fish. We think she's good with just Dot.

Side birthday note: Johanna got a box full of new art supplies from Nana and Grandpa, and her and Emerson have spent countless hours making every square inch of many windows into stained glass collages of art. The package included google-eyes and I put them in a zip lock bag. Awhile later, I saw Dylan carrying around a baggie while chomping on something, and thought he must have gotten ahold of someone's bag of goldfish. I squeezed his cheeks and saw a mouth-full of eyes.

Emerson's post-it drawings were all scribbles, and Chase said to him, "Emerson, why don't you draw something besides scribbles?" Emerson replied, "They're not scribbles! It's salad!" His three distinguishable drawings are 1) ghosts 2) snowballs 3) and now salad. I found a ghost drawn on the wall in pencil a few weeks back and sat the kids down and said, "we have a problem, someone drew on the walls." They both innocently looked at me, and then I said, "and it's a ghost" - Emerson's face immediately morphed into a guilty smile. He spent a good amount of time in time out for that one.

Skiing!

2012-01-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

I'm skipping ahead (out of order) to post about our day today. We have been in Utah and our vacation ends tomorrow, so my parents decided to take the kids up to Deer Valley and teach them how to ski today. Before I begin on that adventure, however, here's a little story:

As we were trying to get out of the house this morning, my Dad took Dylan outside to see the horses. I was inside getting ready, and about five minutes later my Dad came inside and asked me where Dylan was. I replied with, "ha ha, Dad, that's really funny, I know you have him" (you see, he's always joking about things like that). But instead of joking with me, he immediately turned around and ran back outside. I knew that was a bad sign. Guess where my Dad found him...??? Through TWO fences and surrounded by FIVE horses (two of them being the new baby colts). The horses were surrounding him just checking out what this new little creature was, their noses sniffing his head, while he stroked the legs of the baby colts. Oh. My. Gosh. And you want to know what the worst part is? My Dad (although freaked out as he should have been) keeps saying how cool of a picture it would have been. Apparently he got distracted by helping the other kids get buckled into the car, set Dylan down in the garage, and Dylan took off.

So now that we are all relieved that Dylan is still alive, I can go on with our ski adventure. Which was awesome. There is no snow in pretty much the entire country, but Deer Valley makes it everyday which made for a perfect springtime-like ski day. I had low expectations of how my kids would do, but it was a major success. I sat at the bottom with Dylan and the camera while my parents gave ski instructions. Johanna didn't want to get off the mountain, she could have gone all day. I was shocked at how fast she was going towards the end, and was wishing I would have brought along her helmet. Emerson was skiing by himself towards the end, which was pretty amazing for a barely-turned-three-year-old!

{ending with the "princess pose"}

Poor Dylan was stuck in this the whole day

More to come later on Christmas and our Utah trip!

(p.s. if you haven't caught wind yet, my blog is going private in the very near future - if you want "in", please leave me your email address in the "comments")

Deck the Halls / Pre-Christmas

2011-12-27T13:42:00.001-08:00

NOTE: Anther warning that I'm going private at the beginning of the year. Please don't be shy if you'd like me to add your email address to the list of approved viewers. The more the merrier, I just don't want the whole world to have access. Leave a comment with your email address or email me at scampbellphotography@gmail.com

***

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is going to visit Santa right after Thanksgiving, so I can add the new picture to my collection. This year, the older two kids were finally both excited and at this point, Dylan was undecided.

Johanna asked for a hair-styling doll head

Emerson asked for a "big bad wolf" toy

After they took the first picture, I wanted them to try and take another but Dylan FREAKED out and refused to sit back on his lap. Ever since, he's developed "stranger-danger" towards any man over age 50 or so (including both Grandpas), especially any other Santas we've happened by.

Our tradition after photos with Santa is dinner at Ruby's.

I took Johanna to the local "Nutcracker" performance that her ballet company puts on. In fact, Johanna's teacher is the director and choreographer of the whole thing.

Visiting the Fashion Island tree

The kids didn't have any Christmas performances at their school - much to my sadness :( , but instead they had "p.j. day" (what kind of a trade-off is that??) Johanna chose this little number that Grandma "Gigi" had given her for her birthday. She was in heaven.

** Another "I'm too tired and overworked" story**

I signed up in Emerson's class to bring oatmeal for some craft. It was supposed to be a "small container". My brain failed to register the "uncooked" part of the request, and I came to school in the morning with a ziplock bag full of steaming hot oatmeal (I didn't want to risk not getting back my tupperware!) The teacher gave me the strangest look and asked what it was that I was trying to give her, and I replied, "the oatmeal, of course". She had a good laugh and told me to go home and eat it for breakfast.

This is a picture of Dylan that I love, that I took while waiting to take Amanda and Mason's family picture. I told them the only time I could do it was in the morning right after I dropped Emerson off at school, at the park next door. Then I made Amanda come straight to my house and edit through the shoot with me :)

GOING PRIVATE

2011-12-21T15:36:00.000-08:00

I've tried to avoid doing this for so long, but Chase and I feel like now is the time. I am keeping this blog instead of any scrapbooking / baby books, etc., so I want to be able to post frequently and freely (without omitting details I don't want strangers to know). If you would like to continue following our blog, please leave me your email address in the comments. Once I go private, you will get an email saying that you've been invited - just click on that and you won't have to do it again. This will probably happen at the end of the year.

"But I Love Him"

2011-12-18T23:28:00.001-08:00

Oh man, I am in so much trouble with this girl. I mean, she's perfect - absolutely perfect - but watch the video and you'll see what I mean. To set it up for you, we were going over who to invite to her birthday party, and this conversation started happening so I ran and grabbed my camera and tried to hide it behind my computer so she wouldn't get distracted by it. You know the scene of "Father of the Bride" where they are all sitting at the dinner table and the Steve Martin sees his adult daughter as a 5-year-old telling him, "I met a man and I'm getting married!"? This is what I'll flash back to when that day comes.

Wait - I need to insert a disclaimer here: if you decide to watch this, please do NOT mention anything about it to Johanna. She's very shy on the matter (although not to me, obviously) and doesn't want me to tell anyone about it. Am I a bad mother for blogging it? I can't help it! So please help me out and don't say anything to her about it. Thanks :)

Here's some recent ballet pictures of her. I took her to the Nutcracker today, one that her ballet company puts on every year (her teacher is the director / choreographer of it) and she kept asking me how she could get into a performance like that. She's growing up too fast!

And here's some pictures with the puppies that I photographed back in October.

Dylan loved the puppies

Colton (his uncle)... not so much

So Thankful... and tired

2011-12-15T13:46:00.000-08:00

"If you think this is just another day in your life, it's not just another day... it's the one day that's given to you today. It's given to you. It's a gift. It's the only gift that you have right now and the only appropriate response is gratefulness. If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response, through the great gift that this unique day is... if you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life and the very last day, then you would have spent this day very well."

As I was burning the midnight oil a week or so back, I took the time to watch a video link that my Dad sent me. It was long and as you can see by my list below, I wasn't sure it was worth my time. And then I came to the part with the old man's thoughts on life (quote above) and realized it was some of the most well-spent time of the week. It's worth watching. http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxSF-Louie-Schwartzberg-Grati#.TsxH5_jEzvp.twitter

And here's the list I was working on in my spare seconds, so that in the future I can remember how crazy this time of the year was and to not overbook myself next year.

"You Know If You've Overbooked Yourself If..."

1) You can't justify the time it takes to shower

2) You don't wash your face at night, hoping some of your make up remains on for the next morning

3) When you finally DO shower, your kids can't stop telling you how pretty you look

4) The babysitter looks in the laundry room, and seeing the pile of clothes stack halfway up to the ceiling asks if your washer and dryer are broken. You inform her that those clothes are in fact CLEAN but you don't have time to fold, so everyone has to go dig for underwear and socks every morning.

5) Instead of your kids saying "goodnight" after you tuck them in, they ask if you have a photo shoot in the morning (this has been going on for weeks, now it's become a habit)

6) Going to bed at night before 1 am is an extreme luxury. When I started this list last week, my average bed time was 2 am but for the past week, I'm sad to say that it crept up to 3 am

7) You have eaten all the old cans of food in your pantry because you haven't had time to go to the store in too long

8) You have lost contact with anyone who is not a paying client

So there it is. I apologize to those of you who thought I fell off the face of the earth, but I'm happy to say I'm slowly creeping back up. I'm so tired however, that tonight at Disneyland I kept falling asleep on the rides.

On to Thanksgiving recap:

Johanna's school "Thanksgiving Celebration"

Emerson's school "Thanksgiving Celebration"

I was SO grateful that my Dad was in town for a few days during my kids school celebrations, because I put him right to work with kid duty while I ran to photo shoots and buried myself in my computer.

For Thanksgiving, we found ourselves with no family in town so our "friend family" (the Days) took us in. One of the many things I'm grateful for this year is to have one of my very best life-long friends move just across the street from me. It's been like having another sister around. And I know Emerson's grateful because Stella is like his twin separated at birth (seriously, people ask all the time if they are twins - they look and act like it). It was the yummiest Thanksgiving ever, not a single dish wasn't absolutely delicious.

Halloween Phase 4 - All the rest

2011-11-20T09:44:00.000-08:00

My in-laws other big Halloween event is the "kids" party, which is a huge fundraiser for their boys' elementary school. There is a TK Burger truck, "war of the bands" (with all the younger kids in the neighborhood who are in bands), tons of carnival games, and the haunted house in in full swing. Once again, wish I had more pictures of the actual event.

Finally finished Dylan's "Michael from Peter Pan" costume (when he's with the "lost boys"

Pumpkin patch tradition... we have gone to this same one the past few years.

(This is the day I sent Johanna to school in her Utah cheerleading uniform by accident)

Too heavy!

Mackenzie hosted a pumpkin-carving / cookie-decorating party, where Johanna proudly carved her first jack-o-lantern.

Dylan got his first taste of sugar cookies and became OBSESSED!

Stealing Emerson's cookie

More cookie!!!

Mackenzie's neighborhood is very festive and they host a kids parade around the loop. One the way, Dylan got to sit in a big kid car seat for the first time (he's still rear-facing though)

I'm finally here!!! The ACTUAL day of Halloween!!! Phew, it's been a long road. After weeks of being called "Cinderella", Johanna just wasn't in the mood to go through it again at school. I let her pick whatever she wanted from her dress up box for the school day.

{with her friend Kayley}

We trick-or-treated in Mackenzie's neighborhood. Emerson was the most polite, practically yelling "thank you!" at everyone after they gave him candy.

... but then he burnt out early and wanted to ride in the stroller.

Happy Halloween! Glad it's over!

This post wouldn't be complete without a piece of artwork from Johanna:

"A Zombie That's Bleeding From Everywhere"

Halloween Phase 3 - Adults Only

2011-11-20T08:19:00.000-08:00

My father-in-law Dewain missed his true calling in life, which was to become a set designer. His career is in commercial construction but he is so creative, and completely transforms the outside of his house every year for Halloween (and I mean all around the outside of his house, mazes and all). I really wish I had more pictures to better describe the scale of his work. The construction usually fires up in September and goes strong all the way up to the day of the events. One of their big events is the "Adult Only" party, with a live band, taco bar, drink bar - and costumes are required. Chase tried to get out of this night for the two weeks proceeding the event, but when push came to shove he swallowed his pride and put on the costume Amanda and I had gathered the day before. For lack of time and better ideas, we went as "80's / rockers". Believe it or not, our entire outfits were purchased at Forever 21.

Mom & Dad

2011-11-16T23:58:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh, I love my parents so much. I just found these pictures of the two of them that I have never seen before and they make me so happy. I would imagine they're about the same age as Chase and I now, probably younger in the first one. I am so lucky. You guys make me so proud :)

Halloween, Phase 2 (Emerson's 3rd Birthday)

2011-11-12T19:14:00.001-08:00

I'm sitting at my computer right now trying to dig myself out of a huge editing/photography hole. I need to give some serious props to Chase who has taken over the role of "Mr. Mom". The other night, he came home from work with food, fed me and kicked me out of the house with my computer and told me to go get some work done. I spend a few uninterrupted relaxing hours working in Panera, and then came home to a sparkling clean house and all kids asleep. Now he has been bringing me tea and popcorn and brownies to get me through the past few hours. Seriously, he deserves a trophy, right?? (I forgot to add when I was writing this earlier that I fell asleep on the couch today - very rare - and Chase took all the kids up to our room and let me get a good hour or so of much needed sleep.)

After that speech, you're probably wondering why I'm "wasting" precious minutes trying to blog. I watched an interview with Mark Zuckerberg (guy who started Facebook), and he said their work motto is "Better Done Than Perfect". That really rang true to me because I have so much going on right now but am a perfectionist, but there just aren't enough hours of the day. So now I have a stickie note on my computer screen that says just that. Need to get some stuff DONE!

So... Phase 2 of Halloween is dedicated to Emerson's third Birthday, which snuck up on me faster than I had time to plan anything. I literally designed this invite the night before, and Stella came with us to Disneyland the next day for his "party".

These two drew a LOT of attention.

Waiting in line for the "Peter Pan" ride. The lady who helped us load this ride was the only person in Disney Land who called Johanna "Wendy" and not "Cinderella".

Teacups (barf... especially behind a camera)

Trying to pull the "Sword in the Stone"

Trying to learn how to hold up three fingers... takes a lot of concentration.

All in all, a success. Happy Birthday buddy, we sure love you.

Halloween, Phase 1

2011-11-07T19:36:00.001-08:00

I know this may sound ridiculous (because it is) but my Halloween post is so large and intimidating that I've decided to do it in four phases. Already, you can imagine my relief that the holiday is over... right?

I started making the costumes like two months ago - it all started when we were in Utah and aunt Amanda (Starley) gave Emerson some Peter Pan accessories for his Birthday. I decided that's what he should be for Halloween. Since Johanna desperately wanted me to name Dylan "Michael" when he was born because she loved Wendy and Michael's relationship in the movie, I figured that's what the other two could be. I actually gave Jo the option of being Tinkerbell or Wendy, and she picked Wendy. Turned out to be a miscalculation on my part, because even though she loved her Wendy dress, everyone thought she was Cinderella and she got quite sick of it by the end. I had a pattern for Johanna and Dylan's but couldn't find anything decent for Peter so I got my "Project Runway" on and started cutting and experimenting - WAY harder than having a pattern. My first draft of Emerson's shirt was so big it fit me. Emerson's BFF Stella jumped in and filled out the cast as Tinkerbell.

EVENT #1: Once Mackenzie and I got the bones to the costumes put together, we decided to have a Peter Pan Movie Night so the kids could get excited.

EVENT #2: Following tradition, that weekend we went down to the Aliso Viejo celebration, where local business come together to let the kids parade through the maze and collect treats along the way. I didn't have a chance to get started on Dylan's costume so he wore Emerson's from a few years back.

{our favorite fast food joint}

{cutest two little animals on the face of the earth!!}

-side note- Amanda make Claire's costume too!! I was so proud of both Amanda and Mackenzie for making their costumes! Hopefully they've been bitten by the "bug" like I have :)

{Emerson has such a funny sweet tooth, not at all like his mother. We let him pick whatever he wanted out of his bag and he picked the apple. Later that day he picked a little laser toy out of his bag instead of candy. Huh???}

EVENT #3: That week the kids got to wear their costumes to gymnastics. Johanna picked a Snow White dress from her dress ups since her Wendy dress was way too long to be agile in (on Halloween night, I flinched every time she ran and jumped over a curb, I was convinced she would face-plant).

{Coach Lisa}

{Coach Nick}

{you should see this girl climb a rope!}

{I love watching Emerson hold his handstand. While all the other kids are going up and down and Coach Nick is trying to get them all up to hold it together, he stays in his handstand the whole time and toughs it out even when his arms start to shake}

Dylan (and Johanna's) Tooth

2011-11-07T15:31:00.000-08:00

On November 1st, Dylan got his first tooth!! Hoorah! It's about time!

This is his stud-muffin outfit that the Days got him for his Birthday :) This was a few days before the tooth popped.

Some other Dylan facts at just over one year: He's walking everywhere now, no more crawling (yay!!) I used to keep his Carhartt overalls in the shoe bin outside so every time he went out to play I'd put them on so he wouldn't burn holes through the knees. Even though he knows what a lot of hand signs mean, it's taking him forever to use them. He thinks in order to say "please" he has to bang the person's chest who's holding him (not his own). Yes, still nursing, but just morning and night (okay sometimes for a nap). I've always stopped in the past after I've gotten pregnant with my next, so now I don't know what will make me stop! Peer pressure?? He's so happy that he can finally play with the big kids, although he is referred to as "the destroyer" by them. He's a snuggle bug, he loves to rest his head on my shoulder. Just like Emerson, he LOVES his "Bear and Ball" book and we are literally going to read the poor book into the ground. He also loves "Max Dresses Up", a book that Harmony gave Emerson as a baby. He doesn't say much, just "mama, dada, dot, night night" and when he has a poop he'll say "yuck" (and seriously, he is RIGHT on that one). He's such a smiley happy little thing that so far I'm loving every minute of this stage (knock on wood, this is usually the "harder" stage for me).

On another note, when my kids went to the dentist a few weeks ago, the dentist asked me how old Jo was and when I answered "almost 5", they were really surprised because they pointed out that she has an adult tooth coming in behind her baby tooth! Crazy! It's on her bottom right, and now we have to try getting that baby tooth out so they don't have to "help" us with it in six months at her next appointment. I'm trying to teach her how to wiggle it. It was a shock to me because I'm not ready to have a child old enough to move into the Tooth Fairy world :(

Fayden & More Johanna Art (one from Emer)

2011-10-29T22:36:00.000-07:00

This is our new member of the family

{Fayden}

On the way home from school one day, Johanna literally leaped out of my moving wagon shrieking about something. She ran over to the sidewalk and picked up the tiniest lizard I have ever seen. She begged me to bring him home so we did, and I reminded her that Dot is a "lizard hunter" and loves to chase them. We were playing with the little guy in the back yard and I have to admit I was getting kind of fond of the thing (I hate reptiles, but he was so cute and tiny!) Johanna had to run inside and go to the bathroom so she put the little guy in one of her toy cups and set it on the floor, and as she ran in through the screen door, Dot seized the moment and went straight for the cup. I yelled, "watch out!" and Jo quickly turned around and we got to the little cup at the same time... but Dot got there first and the little guy was limp and lifeless. It was a pretty traumatic life and death lesson.

So, you can imagine her delight when a few days later Chase found another baby lizard outside our yard, and Fayden was adopted into the family. Not sure where she came up with the name, but I suspect one of her best buds "Aiden" or her uncle "Caden" had some inspiration. After a few days of living in a tupperware and eating ants Jo collected for him, Chase took her to Petsmart and got a little plastic cage and then later I had to go get mini baby crickets (seriously gross, gives me the heebie jeebies). Johanna, on the other hand, holds the bag of baby crickets on the way home and comments on how "cute" the babies are. It's been a few weeks and Fayden's still alive, although the other day she decided he needed a name change to "Nala", so he's known as "Fayden", "Nala", or "Fayden Nala". It's so funny how he really seems to be relaxed in Jo's hands. Every time she picks him up I get anxious that he'll scurry off her hand and Dot will get him, but he crawls right on her finger and sits. She truly is an animal whisperer.

Now on to some of her more recent art.

{October 2011}

Puppets

More Puppets {Dinosaur, Bat, Tiger}

{4/11/11}

"Ladybug is Crawling in the Grass"

"Batman"

(made for Emerson, who carried it around for days)

{9/3/11}

"A Colony of Animals Going to a Parade"

{9/3/11}

"Two Girlfriends Jumping to the Sky"

{August 2011}

"The Dinosaurs Ate All the People"

(I wish I could remember our exact conversation that led to this piece of art. It was something along the lines of her asking me why there are no more dinosaurs and then how humans got here. Geez, hard questions! Whatever I told her translated in her brain to this.)

{July 2011}

"Mommy Watering the Flowers"

Not dated or labeled but this is me in a dress.

{5/19/2011}

This is her "M.C. Escher" piece, but the best part is it's title:

"Mermaids Swimming in the sea looking out for their friend Flounder and dolphins and whales and fish and an octopus... and it's their Birthday."

(I write these titles word-for-word if you can't tell)

{8/29/2011}

"Sea School, The Last Class"

This was actually from preschool last year but I found it and had post. This is what inspired her new puppets above.

last but not least.... Emerson's ghosts!

{8/29/2011}

On a side note: my schedule has literally been booked to the max between photography and Sew Tiny Baby and sewing the kids Halloween costumes, oh yeah and three kids with schedules (still going to bed around 1 am every night :( so I have to give myself a little slack for sending Johanna to school the other day decked out in her U of U cheerleading outfit because I thought her school calendar said "wear your favorite sports team piece". But it turns out that was for Emerson's day and she was the only one. At least she didn't seem to care because everyone thought she was cute, but Chase thought it was so funny that it needed to go on the blog. If that's all I've screwed up so far, then I'm happy!

Dylan's First Birthday Party

2011-10-26T00:10:00.001-07:00

Since Dylan and Claire are so close they might as well be twins, we figured it would be fun to combine their Birthday parties. We did it a month early for Dylan (he was a little over 11 months). We made it a French theme, "C'est La Vie, No More Bebe". I was so happy that my Mom was able to come to town for it.

Front of the invite

More from Dylan's photo shoot (about 10 months)

Personalized party hats

Party guests

Dylan was sad because I was trying to keep my camera away from his dirty-cake hands.

More lost photos from the summer

2011-10-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

Johanna at her babysitter Amber's house holding her iguana.

no description needed, except that my Dad took this picture, not me

passed out after a long day in the sun

Dylan chillin' in his lazy boy with Dad (watching Mickey Mouse)

Kids ran to the water before I could get their suits on, so I saved their dry suits to change into when we were done. Pretty white trash....

Our amazing costume / dress up finds at the second hand store.

another trip to Zoomars

Pool shower with Uncle Carson - but Emerson looks so young in this picture that I'm wondering if it's from the year before??

Our new deck! Sooo much better than the concrete!

Summer Photos - CA and UT

2011-10-21T00:11:00.000-07:00

Trying to do a little (well okay, a lot) of catch up photos from this summer.

California fun....

Emerson's BFF and girlfriend Stella

Then in August, it was off to Utah again (we drove, as we always do now with three kids and a dog). We went for two reasons... first was to spend some quality time with Grandpa and Nana, but mostly Nicole and her girls before they took off for their new life in Germany. We had sooo much fun with them and can't WAIT to visit their new "home away from home".

Emerson was the first person to ride baby colt "Roofus"

Jo not feeling so hot... she was coming down with a 24-hour bug here

The next week, we had a Campbell Family Reunion at their house in Park City.

Boating at Jordanelle

3 kids awake...

2 kids asleep

seriously... the hair on this one

Johanna surprised me one day by showing me how she could hula hoop. I still don't know where she learned it but she's amazingly good!

Emerson golfing with the guys

Johanna's "Baywatch" shot

A lot of time was spent in the "game room"

... and on the trampoline. I surprised myself when I challenged myself to see how many old tricks I could do, and it turns out I could do pretty much everything! Front and back flips and handsprings, flips with twists, ariels, etc. Unfortunately, I only had the stamina for about 2 minutes but I loved going out there often and feeling like a kid again.

We also got to celebrate Campbell's 4th birthday with him, it was Batman themed and so much fun. Amanda put a lot of time and effort into the planning, but my favorite part were the personalized capes.

So that's all! Hopefully now I can start posting about current events :)

Dylan's Walking!

2011-10-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

This post is mainly videos of sweet Dyl-Pickle...

As of last night, I think I can officially say that Dylan is walking. He's been taking steps for a few weeks now, but last night he kept covering the distance of our open space downstairs. Yay! Hopefully this will be an end to the crawling, I'm getting sick of having his hands covered in dog hair or dirt. I've been making him wear his Carhartt overalls every time we go to the park so he won't destroy the knees to all of his pants.

This blowfish face/noise that he does cracks me up...

A few weeks ago, Johanna was showing us the new leaps she is learning in ballet and the boys wanted to join in... and I mean all the boys, including Chase. It was hilarious. I just wish that I would have been recording so we could see Chase jump.

Now a gross story... one too gross to mention but after weeks of not posting it I'm afraid I probably should just for the record. I was in the garage getting ready for a shoot and packing my car full of gear. Chase was helping me and the kids were playing in the back yard. Chase left to go check on them and a few minutes later showed up at the door holding a naked, soaking wet and screaming Dylan. He was like, "GUESS what I found him eating?" - now think of the most disgusting thing you can think of... that's right, Dot's poop! Apparently he was sitting there with a funny look on his face, gnawing away at something, while holding a piece in each hand. Seriously, doesn't get worse than that. (side note: Dot has a fenced-in area where she poops that the kids can't get in, but she was out there with them that morning so it must have been pretty fresh). It's a joke around here that Dylan will eat everything and that he's a garbage disposal, but this is taking it to a whole new level.

Snippets of late

2011-09-22T17:05:00.000-07:00

Dylan took his first step a few days ago. He takes a few quick steps and then dives to his designated catcher, saying, "yay!!!" (copying me). He still super wobbly, but is proud of himself nonetheless. So proud of himself, in fact, that he FINALLY started clapping. Seriously, not sure what took him so long! He knows exactly what I'm talking about or when I sign he understands, but refuses to do hand gestures. I guess he just wants to let Claire have the spotlight so he can look dumb, ha ha! Also not sure what's taking his teeth so long to come in. Almost 11 months old and STILL no teeth! He's such an old man gummer. That doesn't hold him back from eating though, he's a true garbage disposal. He stands at the kid table between his older siblings and eats with them. Jo and Emerson are constantly having to defend their plates. However, at his last doctor's appointment (I think 9 months?) he only weighed 16 pounds, which didn't even put him on the growth curve (so he's like a negative percentile?) We're trying to fatten him up by having food in his face at all times. We used to joke that Emerson had a tapeworm because he was little but ate so much... Dylan must have a GIANT tapeworm!

He's still got a very happy disposition, but if he's mad about something or wants attention he's LOUD. Johanna's his little mother and is "babysitting" him for me constantly. Her favorite art project right now is making paper flowers for everyone. Here is my bunch:

She still takes naps, but now gets her school days off. I think it was to the point where she didn't need a nap everyday - I would fight her on it some days where it would get ridiculous, and on one of those days I peeked in on her and found this:

Emerson thinks he can be rougher with Dyl than he should, he's always sitting on him or pushing him or squeezing him (he's kind of a bully with Dylan, we are working on that!) Emerson's preschool teacher (Mrs. Milligan) says that Emerson follows her around and sits on her lap whenever she sits on the floor. She assured me that she loves it (I was a little worried that would be bothersome!) He's the youngest in the class but seems to be doing well. He and Johanna ask me every morning who's turn it is to go to school, they both love it.

This drawing is the first one in which Emerson realized he could actually draw something on purpose. Meet: his ghosts.

Every day, I load the kids up in this big red wagon we have and walk across the street to preschool. I literally tie Dylan to the wagon (around his midsection and tie to the wagon) so he doesn't try to crawl out. We make quite the scene. I'll try to get a picture of that one of these days.

Chase started school the same week as the kids (MBA at UCI), I wanted to take a picture of him on his first day but he would have my head over it. We lost him to an intensive four-day course and it gave me a taste of what my life is going to be like for the next three years (sigh). Between preparing food and feeding kids, bathing (if we're lucky) and dressing us four, trying to keep the house decent, entertaining kids (i.e. park, play dates, etc), laundry every day, back and forth to school, 2-4 hours of photography work/editing, an hour or two of sewing... I'm lucky if I can get to bed before midnight. I'm actually proud of myself if I get to bed before midnight. But then I have to read for a little bit (I'm in two book clubs)....

I'm still nursing Dylan, and I'm not sure if it's more for the convenience of always having food on me, or that I love it so much. Really, one of my very favorite things about the whole baby experience. Good thing Dyl's good at it, 'cause he's got to hang on! I can edit, change a diaper, cook, you name it - while I'm breast feeding. However, the best part of my day is when I get to shut everything down around me (lights, noise, computer) and nurse Dylan in the rocking chair as he plays with my face. It's a constant reminder of how much I love this phase of life, even though it kicks my butt.

Emerson's FIRST Day of Preschool

2011-09-08T22:46:00.000-07:00

{think he's excited?}

Emerson's starting preschool a little early since he turns three in October, but he's SO ready! I think it's from watching Johanna go to school for a year, and acting older than he is from being around her. It also probably helps that he counts to 20 about five times a day when he has to sit in time out, and that he competes with Johanna when we quiz her on letters and numbers. He'll just go to three years of preschool so he'll be the oldest, not the youngest when starting kindergarten.

He's been wearing his backpack around the house for about two months now, and was thrilled to be able to actually put it to use.

The night before, I told Johanna that the next day way Emerson's first day of school and that he was in the same classroom. She went over to him and put her arm around his shoulder and said, "Okay buddy, so you're going to go to school and guess what... there's hermit crabs in your classroom!" and Emerson responded (like he does to everything she says) "Oh my gosh!!"

The first hour of class was the "Meet and Greet", and we had to sit for like 20 minutes and listen to the teacher introduce herself. Emerson had a little bit of a hard time with that because we were sitting right next to a car table and it was calling his name!

He's definitely one of the smallest/youngest in the class, but had no problem at all when I told him I was going to leave now and pick him up later. There were handfuls of other kids crying, clinging to their parents but to Emerson it was no big deal. When Jo and I went to pick him up (Amanda had Dylan), it was so cute to see the role reversal because Emerson came out the door and Johanna bear hugged him (Emerson used to do it to her last year when she got out of class).

So far a success!

Johanna's Firsts Day of Preschool (2nd Year)

2011-09-07T23:38:00.000-07:00

Johanna started her second year of preschool today. It's a different preschool from last year because this new one is more convenient - we just walk across the street! I LOVED the old one and am feeling a little sad that we are not there, but Johanna didn't seem to mind. I was pleasantly surprised to walk in and see that I knew four other Moms and their kids, two of which live in my neighborhood! Jo said her favorite part about her new preschool are the hermit crabs. She's in the afternoon session so I'm curious to see how she holds out without getting a nap on those days.

We were so happy to see that our little neighborhood friend Kayley is in the same class. We share a common fence in our backyard and these two girls started a friendship over a year ago, solely by talking/playing THROUGH the fence. Even though our fences back up, they are on the complete opposite side of the neighborhood so we never met them face-t0-face. Kayley speaks very little English (mostly Korean) and they have had one play date together last month, which they both enjoyed throughly. Johanna told me that Kayley wanted to stay by Jo's side the entire day, I think it's so cute! Their friendship totally trumps their language barrier.

Beach Night

2011-08-20T12:51:00.000-07:00

Last week, Chase and Mike (Mackenzie's husband) just happened to go out of town on business on the same night, so we decided to take the kids down to Emerald Bay and do a little beach BBQ (kind of). Kenz brought her little camping grill and we made hotdogs and smores, and the kids ran around on our almost private beach. Thank goodness I brought my camera because it was the BEST lighting I have EVER seen at the beach, the clouds weren't too heavy but were acting as my personal soft box. I usually dread beach shoots because I hate the harsh lighting, but this was a dream. So prepare for picture overload...

{the three amigos}

These two are best buds... on the way to pick Stella up, Johanna asked Emerson, "are you going to marry Stella?" I looked into my rear view mirror and he got this shy look on his face and said, "um, yeah". People ask Kenz and I ALL the time if they are twins, in fact one of the only other people at the beach this night asked us!

Seriously, I keep thinking that one day Dylan will want to stop eating sand.

Two years ago, Emerson stood up for the first time at this beach, after the water came up over his feet and sucked them into the sand. I was hoping to get the same shot with Dylan but apparently he didn't like the cold water too much.

This is Emerson two years ago, same beach.

More Ballerina

2011-08-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I forgot to include these photos in my "Ballerina" post! I took them right before another shoot when my set was up, so the images got lost on my card between shoots.

Morning Art

2011-08-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

This just happened, literally it is still on him as I write this because I thought it needed an immediate blog post.

I was upstairs cleaning when I heard Johanna ask, "Do you like it?" I looked over the balcony to see Emerson standing on our dining room chair looking into the big mirror. I asked, "What is it?" and Johanna said, "He wanted me to paint his face, so I did it."

Not only did she paint his face, but also his:

and his

My initial response was to scold them about where we're supposed to draw/put crayons, markers, stickers, and they sheepishly answered "paper" (we've had this lesson MANY times before). Then I started laughing because of the detail she put into it... and grabbed my camera. He said that his "big bad wolf" had come off his arm so he wanted Jo to paint more (a face painting artist at our club painted his arm a few days ago.)

Two steps forward at my house, one step back... or is it one step forward, two back??? That's probably more what it feels like these days. At least it makes me laugh along the way.

Ballerina Johanna

2011-08-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

When one of Johanna's friend's Mom asked me if Jo would like to do a week-long Princess Ballet Camp, I was a little hesitant because Johanna hasn't had any lessons and I didn't want her to feel intimidated. However, she was chomping at the bit to go so her and I went on a little date to the dance store and got ballet shoes and an outfit. The first day of camp, I spied for a few minutes and felt my heart sink when she didn't know any of the positions as the girls all warmed up, and I immediately called Chase to tell him I was worried that she'd get frustrated. When I picked her up three hours later, she said she loved it and couldn't wait to go each morning. The teachers started coming out after class to tell me that she was picking stuff up fast and loved the stage, and that I should get her into lessons. She practiced every night and then on Friday was their little performance. Jenny and the boys came to show their support. I wasn't expecting much, but was so impressed at how well she did that I was all teary (never thought I'd be one of those parents, but it's crazy how you feel watching your own child do something like this!!)

4th of July 2011

2011-07-31T22:58:00.000-07:00

Now that my parents live in Oakley, there really is no better place to be on the 4th of July than at their house. We got to sit on their deck every night leading up to the 4th and listen to the Oakley Rodeo announcers and music, and then got a front row seat for the fireworks. On the morning of the 4th, we all jumped on the tractor and rode over to the local parade where they still throw candy and Otter Pops off the hometown floats, and the Rodeo Royalty rides their horses.

Then we went to the Kids Rodeo where my kids got to run for silver dollars and then try to chase chickens with 100x other kids (if you caught the chicken, you got to keep it). Obviously I don't want a chicken, but Johanna sure did. She was in tears and heartbroken when she had to walk off the dirt without one. That kids rodeo is about as close to child abuse as legally possible... they let you sign up your kid to ride a sheep or a calf until they fall off and eat dirt. There was no way that Chase would let me sign up Emerson, but it was fun to watch!

That night, the Grandmas, Chase's Mom and Natalia, and Harmony and Devyn came to join us at the Oakley Rodeo.

One of the highlights of this trip to Utah were my parents new little colts, Roofus and Banner. Johanna LOVED them, and would sneak out of the house to go hug/pet/feed them (and they loved her). Chase caught her one day out there by herself, singing to Banner as she was stroking his mane "I loooove you" (in her new vibrato voice).

We also got to go bowling one day with the family and then I met up with some of my life-long girlfriends.

Dylan's Big Week (almost 9 months)

2011-07-23T22:52:00.001-07:00

This has been a huge week for our little "Dewey Dewey" (that's what Emerson calls him). He has been army crawling for a few weeks to a month now - nine months on the 27th - but he's finally put together the crawling motion and in the past week he's become a pro! The other week while was in the kitchen, he kept disappearing. I found him under the piano bench, then in the bathroom playing in Dot's water, and then he discovered the toy room. He was so excited, now he constantly crawls over there to see if the older kids have left the door open.

A few days after he put the crawling together, he decided to try and stand up on everything, and was SO proud of himself! When I put him to bed, he immediately stands up in his crib and gets stuck (still hasn't figured out a way to get back down safely). I need to go in there and lay him down a few times before he gives up and goes to sleep. And of course, he's always standing up in his crib after he wakes up, waiting for someone to fetch him.

{here he dropped a toy and couldn't figure out how to get down to pick it up - Emerson was standing right by me and we both started laughing at him}

He's obsessed with any food we eat, and swallows his baby food faster than you can spoon it in his mouth. He's starting to pick up on a little sign language. If I sign "eat", he freaks out and starts clawing at my chest. Still no teeth, though.

Unfortunately, he likes to eat sand, too. Seriously, handfuls and handfuls of it. I figured if I just let him go for it, he'd realize it wasn't good - but that didn't happen.

He says "da da da da" repetitively, and I swear he can say "Dot". When he's tired or hungry he does a motorboat sound with his lips. He's still the happiest kid I know, always a big dimpled grin on his face. We all love this little guy so much!

My High School Sweetheart

2011-07-11T23:11:00.000-07:00

{this is one of my favorite pictures of Chase, taken during one of our high school summers where he would leave to CA for a few months to work at Camco}

Who would have known that Junior Prom would have set in motion all that my family has become today! I remember coming home from gymnastics one evening to find roses in my room and a poster board with a poem asking me to prom, unsigned. I turned it over, heart racing, to find "Chase" signed on the back, and I let out a scream and dropped on my bed like a lovesick teenager.

We were an unlikely match, both being in separate "crowds" in high school and never really knowing each other. But one fateful night while I was on a group date with someone else who wanted to ask me to prom, my group ran into Chase at Blockbuster and I gathered up the courage and surprised myself by inviting the newly-single-hottest-guy-in-school on our group date. We hit it off that night and he ended up driving me home. A week later I got that poster in my room. I was giddier than giddy can be!

{picking me up from my house}

{Junior Prom picture}

We later compared stories about how we noticed each other from afar, all the way back to a sixth-grade mutual friend's Birthday party where we both somehow ended up laying on the trampoline together looking at the stars, not talking or touching but thoroughly aware of the other one's presence. I was shocked to realize that he remembered that moment, also. He says he remembers watching me cheer lead and dance, and also caught moments of me crying when my previous boyfriend would make me sad. I basically remember just stealing glances at him and feeling intimidated (he WAS named "best looking", after all - don't kill me Chase, I know this is probably embarrassing the crap out of you) and listening to all the other girls gossip about how cute he was. So prom was like a jackpot for me! I was on Cloud 9!

{other dance pictures}

{still in high school}

hubba hubba!

Chase took a piece of paper out of my day planner one day in college without me knowing and drew this picture... I found it the other day! I think he was poking fun at me.... he used to call me a "dreamer".

He has always made me feel so safe, secure, comfortable, loved, sexy (I can say that, right!!?), happy, proud, and so much more. He is my rock, my "other half". I remember my parents would not be happy when I used that expression in high school (and I'll be honest, Johanna better not ever use that term with anyone that young either!!) but now it is entirely true. People say you either grow together or apart, and luckily, we have most definitely grown together.

{our engagement picture}

He's exceeded my expectations as a parent, I could just sit and watch him play or wrestle with the kids all day. I have to admit, part of why I loved being pregnant so much was to watch his protective instinct take over - every pregnancy he would become a little more protective, like not letting me walk on the outside edge of the sidewalk (him on the outside, me on the inside), not carry anything too heavy, eat right, take my vitamins... and then to rub my shoulders and back all the way through labor... and watch him meet our new baby for the first time. It makes me love him all over again.

So Happy 8th Anniversary to my buddy... my love... my high school sweetheart.

We Love the Barkers!

2011-07-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

At the end of May, the whole Barker clan (Abe included!) came to visit. I miss having them close, so we try and soak up every minute we have together. Johanna and Adeline are the best of friends and it's so cute to see them connect immediately, like they are around each other on a daily basis.

(Emerson swimming on Dad's back)

Disney Land

(Even though they denied it up and down, I found out they were pregnant at Disney Land because Nicole refused to go on the best roller coaster ever, even after we had gotten her a Fast Pass to go with Abe while we watched the kids)

With all the "Smart" sisters finally together, we hit the Orange County Marketplace with our Sew Tiny Baby product.

We can't wait to visit them on their next adventure living in Germany!

Goodbye Preschool Days, Hello Summer Nights

2011-06-26T00:46:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how much I already miss Johanna's preschool, and how sad I am that it's over! Just looking at these pictures makes me a little melancholy. Next year we will be switching to a closer school, so it was bitter sweet on the last day. I can't say enough good things about Mrs. Collins and Shepard of the Hills Preschool!

The last week of school they had a "Pancakes With Pops" morning where the Dads came for pancakes before school in honor of Father's Day. Johanna was sooo excited!

Her class photo

We have definitely taken advantage of this first week of summer. We went to the pool two of the days and the beach two other days.

Tonight was awesome. We grabbed pizza and met at a park before dusk (the Waites and extended family, and the Days). The guys played Croquet, kids ran around the baseball diamond and park and girls talked and enjoyed themselves.

This is a little move that Emerson has made up. He's combined the song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and his hip shake. So he sings, "you've got the whole world....(pause) shaky shaky shaky" and he wiggles his hips. Plus, he's always got to hold his pants up when he runs because they fall off.

On a side note, Dylan's on the verge of crawling. He can already get around anywhere by dragging himself or doing the army crawl, but more and more he's getting on all fours and rocking back and forth. My favorite is the pushup position. He somehow holds himself up on his big toes.

This picture cracks me up because he started to roll over onto his back but them realized that the hardwood floor would hurt, so he got stuck in this break dancing position.

Imagination

2011-06-24T23:57:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about having little kids is watching their imagination run wild. I've learned to make it benefit me because Johanna loves to clean and fold like Snow White and Cinderella do. She folds all of my rags, every time they are washed. She also helps me sweep and mop the floors! Just a few days ago, she started feeding Dylan his dinner and I think she will do it from now on. She loves it, and so do I!!! The other day Dylan woke up while I was mid-paint (painting bunk beds) so Johanna went up to his room, got in his crib and "babysat" him for 15 minutes until I could get up there.

Here is one of Johanna's restaurants... every animal/doll had their own place to sit and food to eat.

Here Johanna has paired up all the Mommy horses with their babies (I was shocked we actually had a small matching horse for every large - didn't buy that way). She did this right after Grandpa and Nana had their two new colts in Utah.

A month or so ago, as I was preparing to host book club at my house, the kids set up their own book club outside with all their animals and I caught them reading books to each one. Emerson in particular had his Woody doll on his lap, reading him a book. I know I took a picture or video, but haven't located it yet :(

This time they had created a train out of books and pillows.

Now Emerson, I don't know where he comes up with some of these things. Chase is the most private person I know, and is so NOT they stereotypical guy when it comes to being crude or gross. Needless to say, Emerson is not learning these things from anyone. He was supposed to be getting ready for bed and instead of coming down in his p.j.'s, he came down with this... if you are wondering what that is, it's his snap bracelet he got on an easter hunt somewhere.

A few weeks back, he came up to Chase whining - when asked why he was whining Emerson responded, "My junk is broken, my balls are broken...." It gave us a good laugh. Still getting used to this whole "boy" thing.

Claire and Dylan are best buddies and play together so well. I can't wait until they join in with the other two.

I swear, Dylan is the happiest kid EVER! All you have to do is look at him and he busts out in a huge grin. He draws so much attention - every time we go to Disney Land and I have him in the Bjorn, he's all smiles and he grabs the attention of everyone walking by, many people try to reach out and touch him. When we were leaving an Angels baseball game and walking up the isle, it was like a wave of people cooing and reaching out to him. He's magnetic!

Thomas Sharp Smart

2011-06-19T21:42:00.000-07:00

My Dad.... so much to say about him I don't even know where to start. So I'll begin by saying he is one of the most genuine, caring, "glass is half full" kind of person. He is a social butterfly and has so many friends that we'll run into someone he knows no matter WHERE we are (even out of state or country!) One of my favorite "caring" stories of his is when he was on assignment shooting a food bank or homeless story or something (can't remember specifics!) and a distraught woman approached him. She didn't have any money and was there to benefit, and instead had received an unfair parking ticket of $100. She noticed my Dad was from the News covering the food story and was hoping he could maybe draw attention to the parking injustice (which he couldn't). So instead he pulled out his wallet and just happened to have a $100 bill, and gave it to her! She burst out crying and I remember my Dad just telling me, "It was the right thing to do." So that's him.

When Elizabeth was kidnapped, he DID use the News and his world of connected friends as a means to immediately set the wildfire. From the minute he got the phone call in the middle of the night from his brother, to the second Elizabeth was found, he dedicated his LIFE to it. And I mean every part of his body/mind/soul. He couldn't have put an ounce more effort into it if it was one of his own daughters. To back up my "glass is half full" statement, he wholeheartedly told us the entire time that she was missing that he knew she was alive and that she would be found. I could write a whole book just on this, but he already did :)

He is an extremest. I've heard stories of him rolling down cliffs on his horse as a teenager, and those life threatening / extreme stories still seem to occur with more frequency than makes me comfortable. He is infamous for his method of teaching... he says, "watch me do it" and then will leave you at the tip top of the mountain in fresh powder, never having skied before. I've heard many of his friends recount their experience with this. But the stories go on and on, with a life-threatening week long horse backpacking trek through Desolation Canyon (read this story if you want to hear how crazy it really was), to getting lost on snowmobiles into the night handfuls of time and going over cliffs, to windsurfing some of the hairiest weather conditions. I was talking to my Mom about some of his wild stories, and we were laughing about how there are simply too many to remember! We had to cherry pick a few :) One time while skiing with a group, he went over a bump and flew head first into the snow. My Mom recalls watching his legs wiggle around, only to realize he wasn't joking and she somehow booked it back UP the mountain and dug him out right as he was about to lose consciousness. He once told me that was as close as he's come to feeling like he's about to die. The closest time he's felt like he was going to drown was when he was windsurfing in crazy weather off the Oregon Coast. He got pulled out by the riptide and crashed by huge waves, and got separated from his gear. He eventually found his board and managed to get back to shore, a mile down the coast. When we were small kids camping in remote Southern Utah, he was sure that he seen an undiscovered Indian Ruin on top of a cliff. We all begged him not to climb the cliff, but he just HAD to! Going up was no problem, but coming down was another issue. We all huddled behind a rock crying, basically covering our eyes so we wouldn't seem him drop to his death with all the rocks sliding down past him. Of course he made it down fine, admitting that there was no Indian Ruin up there but that we were all overreacting. I called him today to wish him a happy Father's Day, and told him my usual ("I love you, be safe") when he told me that he's going windsurfing at some crazy place next week and I would "freak out" if I saw it because it's so extreme. Great. It's ironic that we gave Emerson the middle name "Thomas" because I can tell he's got the same wild streak. Hopefully he won't put me through as much as my Dad put my Grandma through :)

I've learned to do many things from him the "Smart Way" (we have a saying in our family, something like "It may not be the right way but it's the 'Smart' way"). He taught me how to do my first back flip on the trampoline (he didn't know how to do one either but he learned that same day, as I was terrified he'd break his neck). He didn't teach me how to play the clarinet, but the first day I brought it home from school in 4th grade, he picked it up and proceeded to make an aweful racket, after which he handed me my brand new clarinet dripping with his spit and said, "never had one lesson!" (from Ferris Bueler) That became our joke for the next nine years that I played. He taught me how to snowboard (pretty much left me at the top of the mountain). You should seriously see him shred on his snowboard, he's one of the fastest guys on the mountain - the one you think, "that guy had better not run into me." Then he'll stop right in front of you and say, "Pretty good for an old guy" with a huge smile on his face. He taught me how to windsurf (taught me to to go out to the middle of the lake with the wind, took off on his own ride, and left me struggling with how to get back going the opposite direction of the wind). And he taught me photography. I didn't learn so much from his words, more through being at his side and soaking it in. From the developer and fixer in the darkroom to the sidelines of football and basketball games (and my FAVORITE shoot with him, the Jennifer Aniston shoot with the grizzly bears!) It used to bug all of us when he would get testy and disassociated before a big shoot, but now I completely understand. I am the same exact way, I start mentally preparing long before I'm actually at the shoot, and don't like to be bothered beforehand!

A true cowboy, he is now living his dream with his horses in his backyard. As a kid, I remember the ordeal of just capturing the horses took an hour. Now they are his babies, and they come running to him when he calls. In fact, two of them just had little baby colts (his first two boys, he likes to joke since he only had three girls). And seriously, they ARE his little boys. He was so proud when they were born that he had to have us Skype him - he had brought his laptop out to the barn to show off his new babies. The grin on his face was ear to ear.

He's called me "Goober Peas" since I was a baby. He made me memorize the line, "Eldest Daughter, Heir to the Throne" and say it to people before I even knew what it meant. I talk to my Dad at least every other day, and am beyond grateful to have such a close relationship with him. He makes me so proud. He is such a great example of living every day to the fullest, loving life and being a good person - pure and simple.

I love you from the bottom of my heart!!!

I have won the lottery with my parents.

Personalities

2011-05-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

The other day I had to set up my studio to take some pictures of our newest Sew Tiny Baby products, so I took some quick ones of my kids too.

Dylan had to pretend to be a girl for some of these :) I'm not sure he's too excited about it....

I've been working for days perfecting the Bjorn cover pattern and I finally got it to fit like a glove! I'm so excited to get these going!!

Dylan's finally starting to sit up on his own (almost 7 months), although it only lasts for a few seconds. I had to beg Amanda to come over to my house for five minutes just to spot him for this picture (otherwise, it would have ended in a face plant to the floor).

He is the happiest little guy EVER. He'll laugh at anything so we find ourselves torturing him by making him giggle until he's rubbing his eyes and whining in between each giggle. Yesterday at Disney Land he was just randomly laughing at everything while he was face-out in the Bjorn. It's infectious hearing a baby laugh! Emerson calls him "Dewey Dewey Pickle" and Johanna always nuzzles into him saying, "who's my boy? who's my boy?" I'm spoiled rotten with his sleep patterns - he goes to bed around 7 pm and sleeps solid until 8:30/9 am! Still no teeth...

This collage pretty much defines Emerson right now:

Hilarious, monster growling, mischievous, pretend super hero, sweet.

Today at Costco (pants on backwards and cowboy boots on the wrong feet), Emerson was running around like crazy in between all the clothes tables and wouldn't stick by us. He was making us lose our minds and when I told him he needed to stop, he held out his arms (palms up) and said, "I'm just funny."

Johanna is my little buddy, a huge help and still the sweetest thing ever. She randomly comes up to me all the time and tells me how much she loves me, and the I'm the best Mommy ever. Last night at Disney Land I thought Jo would finally get to go on some of the big kid rides (40" height minimum, which is what she just measured at her doctors checkup). We were all excited about it and we walked up to get in line and they stopped her to make sure she was tall enough. Turns out she's about 1/4" shy, and the employees wouldn't budge. It took over a minute to measure her because she kept standing on her tip toes and moving around trying to get taller, and when they told her she wasn't, her sweet little face just crumbled and she broke down in disappointed sobs. The employees felt horrible and gave her a pass to come back and jump in the front of the line when she's big enough.

Here's the kids in their everyday play. Jo kept getting annoyed at Emerson because he wasn't spreading his fingers far enough apart to trace.

Easter

2011-05-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

Johanna's school Easter performance

(this is how Johanna holds all the dresses she wears)

Egg hunting at the Irvine Regional Park

Dying Eggs

(Emerson's hands were stained green for days)

The actual day of Easter this year was so much fun. Chase woke up early and hid eggs all throughout the house, after which a crazy hunt ensued. Following that, we went over to our good friends' house (Mike and Mackenzie) for brunch. Which, by the way, was the best brunch ever! Kenz had put a lot of effort into it, with eggs benedict, asparagus, lemon crepes and so much more! The kids got spoiled with another egg hunt there.

(apparently he doesn't like peeps as much as his mom)

Lastly, we topped off the easter egg hunting with a big hunt at the Campbell's house, which the uncles had set up. It was so cute watching Caden and Carson help the kids search.

(my little "peep")

hangin' with the uncles

This One's For You, Mom

2011-05-05T23:19:00.000-07:00

A few days ago when the temperature creeped up into the high 80's, I found myself packing up the minivan (I know, I've given up my pride for functionality) and driving all the way to the local pool (less than 2 miles), ready to spend the day laying on the grass and swimming throughout the day. I had a flashback to my childhood when my Mom would drive us all down to Steiner Aquatics in Salt Lake (20-30 minute drive) and we would spend the majority of our summer days there.

You can image the disappointment when we got there and realized the pool isn't open on the weekdays yet, and had to go back home. So I pulled out the blow up pool and the kids helped fill it with hose water, which was way too cold. I spent the next hour boiling huge pots of water and dumping it in the pool to mix with the cold water, and I had another flashback of my Mom doing the same thing for us as little kids.

It got me thinking, my Mom has truly shaped me to be the Mom I have become. I know that I've always appreciated her, but for some reason the other day it just really hit me. The selflessness she exuded, and the amount of energy she invested in us to give us an ideal childhood and raise us to be capable individuals... it leaves me without words.

I started writing down many of the things that the "Mighty Heidi" did for us, and realized I am subconsciously "trying" to recreate my childhood for my kids. There are some HUGE shoes to fill...

She volunteered in all of our classes - I'm sure there were other Moms that did this too but the only one I remember is my Mom. Not only did she volunteer, but she would do major projects like mini gingerbread house decorating for each student!

She was our Girl Scout (Brownie) Troop Leader.

We had a bad experience at church camp one year, so the next year she SIGNED UP to be church camp director and made it the best ever.

She was ahead of her time in recycling. In the 80's, she would collect all of the recyclables in her own bins and then drive everything to the nearest "recycling" dump. She started designing and sewing "Smart Sacks", which were lunch bags made out of fabric that folded up into our pockets. She made them in all kinds of colors and I used them everyday. She also made the same design but larger for grocery bags.

She had little side jobs that she worked at home to make extra money, but she never let it interfere with being a Mom. I never felt like she was doing that instead of spend time with us. This is one of the things I struggle with "working from home", because I have SO much work to do but hate doing it while my kids are awake and need me. Hence, going to bed after midnight every night. (how did you do it, Mom???)

She taught me how to sew at a very early age and let me use all her scraps and sewing machine to make outfits for my dolls or various other projects. Who knows how many times a day she had to come re-thread the machine because I had gotten the threads all tangled up?

She also taught us all how to knit.

She would sew many clothes for us, but my favorites were Halloween costumes. I don't remember ever buying a pre-made costume as a kid. She would measure us and have us try on the partial costume before bed, and I was always so excited to wake up the next morning and see what progress she had made.

She taught us to love to read. Books were one thing she would always splurge on. I don't remember getting lots of random toys (although we did have tons), but she would always buy us books. Every time we would get the "Book Order" catalogs from school, she would let us pick a handful of books. I was always one of the lucky kids who had new books sitting on my desk when the orders arrived. I love passing this on to my kids.

She wouldn't let me go to certain friend's houses where she didn't know the parents well, or didn't have a good feeling about something. Those friends were always invited to come to our house. At the time it really bothered me and I didn't understand why she was being so bossy or controlling, but now I look back and realize that her gut feelings were (unfortunately) probably correct. I was so naive and spoiled with an idealistic childhood, I just assumed that's what everybody had.

The day I turned 15 I wanted to work, and the only job that would hire such a young kid was Steiner Aquatics as a lifeguard. So my Mom would drive me down to Salt Lake for my shift (making like $4.75/hr) and then pick me up again.

When we all entered into our teens, my Mom toyed with the idea of going back to work. However, she ultimately decided that those teenage years were probably some of the most crucial that she be home and available to us. One night when my first boyfriend was at our house and the "drama" was hitting the fan (I was in hormonal tears over his betrayal), her mama bear instinct took over and she point-blank kicked him out of the house. That's a whole other story!! :)

Now I wasn't as grateful about this next one when I was 16, but now I am extremely grateful... that my parents didn't buy me a car. As friends around me were getting cars for getting a GPA of a "B", I graduated with a 4.0 GPA and thought it was so unfair. But now I realize how crucial it was for me to understand that I have to work for what I want in life, and to value my things that much more. I was so proud of myself when I saved up enough money to buy my first car from my parents (which I'm pretty sure I got a good deal on :), and then each car after that (to this day) I have made sure I can buy my car up front. I think this, more than anything, instilled in me the value of money and working hard.

She did this all as like a silent spectator, so it felt like we had a sense of freedom and choice (which we definitely did, to an extent) but really she was the mastermind behind it all, slowly shaping us into what we have become.

So I want to know how after doing all this, she was still able to do ALL the yard work, house cleaning, laundry, and cooking?? Add to that snow-blowing in the winter... She never hired any help - and Dad, you know I love you - but he wasn't much help in any of THOSE categories either.

HOW did I get so lucky as to be given her as my Mom??

Now you can see why we call her "The Mighty Heidi"

Bald Buddies

2011-05-01T22:07:00.000-07:00

Claire Bear, you are my best friend and I don't want you to worry.

It turns out that mohawks aren't that cool anyway.

I couldn't let you shave your head without me.

I can't wait for your surgery to be behind you.

Love always, your Dyl-Pickle

Dylan's Six Months!

2011-04-28T00:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast the past six months has flown by, and how obsessed/in love I am with my little Dyl-Pickle. You just can't help but love him, one look at that cheeky dimpled grin and you're smitten! We all love to "tickle Pickle" because you get such a rewarding giggle (try that tongue twister aloud!) Today he turned six months and to celebrate, last night we moved him into his own room (used to be Emerson's) and into the crib. We were rewarded with 13 hours of STRAIGHT sleep from him, didn't even have to go in once for a binkie plug. It really is a crazy phenomenon to me how you can love a child so much you never think you could love another as much, and somehow you just do.

{eating my camera cord}

A little side note about Dylan: we haven't started him on solids yet but the other day I went out for ice cream with Amanda and kids and I got a dairy-free sorbet. Dylan was sitting on my lap and I gave him a little lick of it and it turned on this "attack" button in his head... he was zoning in on when the spoon got close enough to grab and then he'd use all his muscle to redirect the spoon to his mouth instead of mine. It was hilarious!

1st Quarter 2011

2011-04-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

We began the year by going to Disney Land, celebrating the fact that Johanna and Emerson quit their sucking habits (Emer - binkie, Jo - thumb). We were also celebrating Emerson's milestone of potty training (yea!!!) We have season passes so we go often, but NEVER buy anything. This time they got to choose a toy. Emerson picked "Jack, The Pumpkin King", who is one of his favorite movie characters. He walks around singing "we come home, we come home, everybody hear the pumpkin song" (it's really "in this town, we call home, everybody hail to the pumpkin song"). Johanna (of course) picked a princess doll.

We finally got to visit Pretend City, which the kids LOVED. Emerson could have stood at this sink washing dishes all day. Too bad he can't do that at home :(

We did a surprise visit to Dad's work and Emerson didn't want to leave. He fit right in.

He's definitely a Daddy's boy, and always wants to be a part of what Chase is doing. After much begging from me, Chase built a deck over our gross, stained concrete in the back yard. Here's Emerson helping...

The deck, by the way, looks AWESOME and finally makes our yard feel like it's coming together. It's also attracted the kids to play on it all day long, they've spend the past few days playing "restaurant". That alone has made the deck worth every penny!

Emerson has matured a lot in the last few months. He is very witty, sweet and caring and finally is toning down a bit in the crazy/loud category. But still, that kid is LOUD. We are constantly trying to have him take it down a few notches. If he does something he's not supposed to, he'll tell you, "I'll never ever ever do it again!" He also walks around singing to himself (besides the "pumpkin song") the Little Einsteins song that goes, "You're my best friend, I-I-I loooove you". He HAS to dress himself, which is usually pretty comical if I'm not consulted on what he will wear for the day.

One day he came out of his room wearing this.

He also has a problem staying awake when his body has decided it needs to sleep. Once his eyelids start getting heavy, it's OVER. Sometimes when we're almost to Johanna's school to pick her up and I'm trying my hardest to keep him awake, he'll literally lift his eyebrows because he's trying so hard to not fall asleep. Once he even "roared" to try to keep himself awake... and it didn't work (he loves to "roar" at things).

Emerson's BFF Stella

My boys.

Johanna's sweet as ever, a little mother to her brothers and a very good student. She loves doing puzzles (up to 100 pieces now!) When she likes something I'm wearing, she'll say "You are sooo pretty!" or "I love your dress... etc" It's like having my own little morale booster :) We're reading "James and the Giant Peach" right now and she says it's her favorite book ever, and begs me to keep reading after every chapter. I'm hoping she catches the love of reading like I've always had. (My fourth grade teacher still tells me that to this day, I hold the "Reading Wheel" record - how many books I read).

A month or so ago, she came up to me all proud with a locket of hair in her hand and said, "look! I cut my hair!" I about had a heart attack as I searched her head for where the piece came out of, and she quickly realized that it wasn't something to be proud of. Thank goodness it was only from the back of her neck, but once she realized how permanent it was she became very sad and regretful. She was embarrassed about it and wanted to make sure I didn't tell anyone. I decided that it was about time anyways to give her a haircut because her fine baby curls were getting so snarled that we could never brush them out. I have to admit that I kind of regret it now, I SO miss those curls at the end of her hair :( I guess the moral of this story is don't cut little girl's hair or you'll regret it?? At least we don't have to fight over brushing it anymore.

Messing with Dad (Emerson can't seem to keep his pants on)

Emerson is now sleeping in Johanna's room and so far it's going really well! They are the best of buddies.

Dylan, oh Dylan. The happiest little guy in the whole wide world! He smiles so hard he literally shakes :) He started rolling around about a month ago (??), probably at around five months?

These pictures are at 3 months

Claire and Dylan are as close to twins as I'm (hopefully) going to have. They are so comfortable laying next to each other, it's like an extension of themselves. They're always sharing hands or feet to suck on.

(at the beach)

These pictures are at 5 1/2 months

Christmas!

2011-03-29T22:52:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right. Part of me says, "why bother?" but the other part of me wants it to be documented rather than lost forever.

Johanna learned all about the Nativity Scene and Christmas songs through her preschool, and they had a performance for all the parents. I now understand why parents make such a fuss and feel so proud about these things! Johanna knew every song (no thanks to me) and everyone in the audience KNEW that she knew the songs because she was belting them out at the top of her lungs. Even Mrs. Collins commented to her afterwards that she was the loudest singer there :) My photographer instinct kicked into overdrive and I was running around getting photos from every angle, and it was only later that day when I was telling my sister about it and she asked if I got any video that I realized I didn't. I was so mad at myself!!

- love the bow, especially the kid in the middle with his hands spread out -

They had taken this nativity scene picture earlier and I thought it was hilarious that she and Aiden (her crush) were Mary and Joseph!

Making gingerbread houses while still in CA

We drove to Utah for Christmas but stopped in Las Vegas for the University of Utah football bowl game. Mason's brother hooked us up with the penthouse suite at Westgate Towers and I can honestly say it was the coolest place I've ever stayed (or ever will!)

Christmas Eve was so much fun because we got to go on a sleigh ride!

The traditional Chrismas Eve p.j. gift (which Johanna was extremely disappointed when she had waited weeks and weeks to open her presents only to find pajamas)

Christmas morning - this is what she REALLY wanted... a princess castle. And in retrospect, writing this blog 3+ months later, it was a great gift because she still plays in her room with it every day!

Christmas night the Smart tradition is a big gathering at Grandma Dofi's house, where the grandchildren are obligated to perform (usually a musical instrument) and also participate in the nativity scene reenactment. I love that my kids (finally) get me off the hook for this performance, and Johanna was thrilled to act as Mary yet again, and hold baby Jesus (I was crouching behind her chair, terrified that she would drop Dylan).

Lastly, later that week I took my Mom and Johanna on a girls date to the Nutcracker (one of my favorite memories/traditions). After the show, we bought tickets to go up on stage and meet the ballerinas and see the stage, props, etc. We waited in line to get this picture and when it was Jo's turn, she marched right up in the middle of the ballerinas, needing no direction from the photographer.

Thankful

2011-03-04T23:37:00.000-08:00

Life is crazy right now... three kids - four years and under, running a photography business (trying to cut back), starting a baby product line business (trying to outsource our personal sweat shop), keeping the house clean (barely), feeding the dog (only when she comes up to me and does her "hunger dance"), feeding the family (sometimes just cereal for dinner), nursing the baby (even while walking through Costco or in line at Disney Land), and running every other random little errand... but doing all of this has the tradeoff that I get to stay at home and raise my kids. I get to soak up every little minute, every smile, every quirk and get "I love you" hugs all day long. So what if I'm a little sleep deprived... I read somewhere today something along the lines of "by sheer mathematics, the more hours you are awake the more you are living". I already feel how fleeting this part of life is, and I want to hang on to it as much as possible!

{candid shots after a shoot, while my set was still up}

The Masterpiece

2011-02-27T16:46:00.001-08:00

Johanna noticed that I had posted some of my favorite drawings of hers, after which she quickly grabbed a piece of paper and came up with this number... "My Family at the Beach". I asked her where Dylan is and apparently he's still in my belly. Oh yeah, and those are sunglasses on my head (in the middle) and Johanna and I are holding hands.

Art by Johanna

2011-02-25T15:29:00.000-08:00

Johanna is a little artist (she tells me that) and I wanted to post some of my favorite things she's drawn freehand (she's amazingly good at coloring books too but I love the creativity here).

{Valentine's Spider} complete with stinger

- she learned how to cut hearts out at school

{Picture of Mommy}

{"Mommy at the Beach"}

drawn while we were getting ready to leave for the beach... I love my earrings

{Dot}

I love the tiny head, huge body, and nine legs (when she really only has three)

Daddy Day at Johanna's School, Jan 22nd

Johanna was SO excited for this day to come, Chase was worried that he wouldn't live up to her expectations.

This was the picture she had drawn of him that was hanging up in the classroom. The funny part was that it was hanging up next to her classmate's picture, which was a short squat stick figure, and her Dad is actually a retired basketball player. Not like Chase is short and squat or anything, but it sounded pretty funny :)

Dyl-Pickle's update and collages

2011-02-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

Our little Dilly-pickle threw us for a loop this Birthday/holiday weekend. Friday night Chase and I were supposed to go out for a long-time-coming date night while my Mom was here. We went to a short dinner because we were both exhausted, only to come home to Dylan having coughing attacks and crying constantly (which is SO not him). He coughed so hard that he threw up (RED FLAG for RSV) so we rushed him to the ER. Long story short, we were there from 8:30 pm - 3 am while they checked his vitals and then released us with an RSV -respiratory virus - diagnosis (but not bad enough to be admitted).

Two days later, on my big 3-0 birthday, Dylan woke up worse. Off to the ER again for my big celebration! It was just me and Dyl this time (no Mom, Chase had kids), and we were admitted to the hospital due to labored breathing. I can't tell you how grateful I was when my sister decided that she was coming at 9 pm just to get me a few essentials to get through the night. The only time I cried was when I saw her walk through the door with a pillow, food, and pj pants. I think that was the best birthday present of the day!

It wasn't a great experience, mostly due to my lovely hispanic roommate who didn't speak a lick of English. She kept calling room service asking if they spoke Spanish, and when they said "no" she'd hang up on them and then call over and over (must have thought someone else was going to answer???) Not to mention that she talked on her cell on SPEAKER PHONE the entire time so I could hear the entire conversation. Her daughter had a singing Dora doll that belted out Spanish songs the whole time. But we're home now (only had to stay one night).

And now I'm trying to catch up on my kid's monthly collages! It's going to be quite a project since I haven't done them for anyone since before Dylan's birth.

He is now almost four months old already and I can hardly stand it. I want him to stay just the way he is, so I don't have to want another baby... lol :) He's so smiley, and his large dimples are too good to be true. He smiles with his entire face and uses his tongue all the time just like Jo did. He has a natural mohawk of silky blonde hair, and a very deep voice for a baby. He likes to clear his throat when he's sick (which unfortunately has already been three times... got to love the older siblings grabbing on him with their germs). If you say "hi" to him, he tries to talk back with squeals. Ooooh, I just want to squeeze him.

Here's Dylan's as a newborn, one month and two month old.

His cousin Claire and him are best buds, they like to just stare at each other and smile (and Dylan loves to suck on her fingers)

Pillow Pets

2011-02-05T23:36:00.001-08:00

Cousins

2011-01-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

I just melt when I watch these two together. Now at 11 and 14 weeks old, they love to stare at each other and smile. Dylan especially loves to try and communicate with Claire, by gooing and gawing while pulling the silliest faces. We definitely need to get it on video!

Holiday Traditions

2010-12-19T15:01:00.000-08:00

Our 2010 Holiday Card

Every year we go see Santa Claus, and I am the mean mom that forces her kids to sit on Santa's lap no matter how terrified my kids are or how loud they scream (anyways, the harder they scream, the better the picture...) This was the first year that Johanna didn't freak out, instead she passed that on to Emerson. Johanna grasped the fact that she needed to sit on his lap in order ask for what she wants for Christmas (a princess castle). Emerson was trying to be so brave leading up to the event. We had to wait for Santa to come off his break, so when we saw him walking down the mall, Emerson stared with bug eyes. Santa came right up to us and said, "are you here to see me?" and Emerson burst into terrified tears. He was trying to be so brave, he stood by Santa and I was behind the photographer saying, "Smile!" and pointing to my cheeks (that is what Emerson's doing - copying me). When we were done he mustered up the strength to say, "Thank you Santa" and ran off.

My parents always used to take us girls to Toys 'R' Us, split us up and let us pick presents for each other. Chase and I started this year, and I took Emerson. He didn't hesitate in picking Johanna a tea set (which was quite a large box) and then wanted to lug it around the store. He was trying to find Jo so that he could show her what he picked for her. We ran into them at one point so I stashed the tea set from Johanna's view, and Emerson was running around trying to find it. He finally did find it and threw a fit when I wouldn't let him take it to her, so we created a big scene for all the shoppers.

We also decorated the tree together, and went to Disney Land to see all the Christmas decorations. We went on the Haunted Mansion ride because they change it all over to "Nightmare Before Christmas" (our favorite movie right now) and Johanna cried the entire time we were in line saying, "turn around! I don't want to do this ride anymore!"
(in line at Haunted Mansion, see Jo's face!)

Chase finally put his iPod earphones in her ears which calmed her down until we were inside, and then she was fine. Of course, when we were done she wanted to go again. We also got to see the big fireworks show and then it snowed! "It's A Small World" looked amazing with all the Christmas lights.

Emerson got this car from Papa and Gigi (they did an early Christmas since we'll be in Utah)

More random things...

My kids run up and down the hall all the time in their latest "dress up" and dance to music

Face painting at a friend's birthday party:

My sweet little Dylan

Johanna's 4th Birthday and more

2010-12-15T22:20:00.000-08:00

Technically she doesn't turn four until December 23rd, but don't try telling her that! According to her, she's been four since her birthday party (Nov. 16th). I wanted to do it at least a month early this year because it gets totally lost in the Christmas holiday and it's hard to celebrate (and plan). She's been talking about her birthday party since this summer (before we had even discussed it) and also started inviting everyone she met to her party (also before ever discussing a party). Since she refers to herself as "animal girl", we decided to have it at her favorite petting zoo. It was especially special because her best buddy/cousin Adeline happened to be in town, and also my old friend Mackenzie and her husband and daughter (who will be moving to the OC shortly... yea!!)

(Emerson's mad because he didn't get to blow out the candle... actually, he did blow it out and I quickly re-lit it before Johanna noticed, and he was STILL mad when she got to blow it)

Johanna and Aiden

Now, a little about those two.... Jo and Aiden are in the same gymnastics and preschool class, and I don't know if this is normal for an almost-four-year-old, but Johanna has the biggest crush on him! She compares herself and Aiden to the princesses and the princes (thanks Disney). She caught Chase and I hugging today and said something that made us reply "well, we are married" and she replied, "well when I grow up, I'm going to marry Aiden". It's little comments like this at least 2-3 times a day! So scary! The other day we were walking to Aiden's birthday party (their birthdays are only 8 days apart) and she was carrying his present. He came running to her and she handed him the present but he just took it and placed it on the ground and then gave her a big hug. It was so cute. Thank goodness I love Aiden and his family too :) ha ha! To top it off, for the preschool nativity scene, it turns out that Johanna was Mary and Aiden was Joseph (picture to come in later post).

Mid-November we had "Mommy and Me" day at school

Funny things she says:
- made up the mean name "moose guts" so Chase and Jo jokingly call each other that
- told me today that she wants to go on "Pirates of the Beer Can" at Disney Land
- obsessed with the movie "Nightmare Before Christmas" but calls it the "Christmas Nightmare"
- says "break my heart" jokingly with Chase
- calls the Mormon temple the "tower of Jesus"
- in regards to our favorite kids music CD "Raffi" which we listen to over and over to in the car... "Mom, is this guy ever going to get sick of singing???"

My Dad told her that we get to go on a sleigh ride in Utah, and the other day I overheard her telling Emerson about it. She said, "... and Santa's reindeer are going to pull us in his sleigh and we are going to fly!!!" I had to interrupt and bust her bubble that it would just be a horse pulling a carriage.

Not so funny things:
Yesterday when we were driving somewhere, Johanna told me that she was going to have a lot of kids. (me) yes, but when you get older (Jo) I know. Everyone gets old. Really really old (me) yes, that's right (jo) and everybody dies (me, wondering how to respond... I guess I tell the truth?) yes, everybody does die (very quiet in the car, no response from her. I look in the rearview mirror and she has a huge frown on her face with big tears in her eyes) (jo) I don't want to die!! (me) don't worry hunny, only after you get really really old in a long long time (crying doesn't stop, keeps saying she doesn't want to die and I'm all the sudden wondering what I was doing getting into this mess.) Finally I just have to tell her "you're not going to die, please don't worry about it!" Oh boy. The realities of life are hard to swallow, especially for a four year old.

Visitors and help!!

2010-12-11T23:46:00.001-08:00

My mother-in-law was here for the first week (previous post) and after she left, my Mom came. I am so spoiled!! My Mom stayed for almost two weeks and really helped ease the transition to three kids. I was able to just lay in bed every morning and cuddle and nurse Dylan while my Mom (the "mighty Heidi") ran Jo to and from school, took the kids to gymnastics and made all the meals. I wish she would just move in. My sister Nicole couldn't stand the fact that she was all the way over in Boston and had to meet her new niece (Claire) and nephew so she flew in with her two kids for a week. To top it off, my Dad was able to come out for a weekend also. We had to take advantage and do a family photo shoot.

My parents with all their grandkids

All the "Smart" grandkids

"Blood-only" (a phrase used by the older Smart generation when they don't let the in-laws in the picture)

My first pictures with Dylan (2 1/2 weeks old)

Dylan's first beach day at 2 1/2 weeks old:

I hate that my sister lives so far away from us, but it makes the time we get to share together so meaningful. Our little girls (Johanna and Adeline) love each other so much it's as if they are together all the time.

Ahhh, my sisters mean the world to me....

All of us with our "nursing" babies

Side note about current potty training: today Emerson and I came home in between Johanna's preschool hours to clean the house. He uses one vacuum for the couch while I was vacuuming the floor. All the sudden I noticed that his vacuum was abandoned - I turned around and he was standing outside the bathroom door without pants on, just pointing to a big poo on the floor (remember, loud vacuums going on). I turned them off and ran over to him saying, "You know you need to do that in the toilet!" and he kept saying, "poop mommy!" so I led him back to the bathroom and realized that I had put the little step stool on top of the toilet seat to vacuum the floor, and it was jamming the lid shut so he couldn't get it open. At this point he was frantic so I put him on the seat and he finished his business, but was really worried about what he had left on the floor and kept telling me, "clean it up, mommy!"

Best Buddies

2010-12-10T20:01:00.000-08:00

This week my goal is to take baby steps on catching up with my blog. I feel like every second of every day is occupied, so my time on the computer is more rare and I'm just doing the necessities to keep up with my photography business. All other computer-related things are being pushed to the wayside.

It turns out the transition from two to three kids has been a little easier than one to two, just because Jo and Emerson play so well together. I feel like I'm really being able to enjoy Dylan's newborn stage because I don't have to worry so much about entertaining the others.

It also helps that Jo's a little mommy. She loves to just sit and hold Dylan, which works perfectly for me since I'm running around all the time. She's the first one to him when he starts to cry.

The best news is that Emers is potty trained! (25 months old) Mostly. I'm still trying to gather the guts to go diaper-less in public. The biggest problem is that he insists on being naked to go to the bathroom so I cringe when we're in a dirty public restroom (did he get this trait from one of his uncles??? I won't name names....) He loves his Buzz Lightyear underwear (always "Buzz Lightyear", never just "Buzz") and all the Toy Story characters for that matter. (side story...) My parents bought him a Woody doll for Christmas and I have it at my house under my bed. The other day Chase and I were tag-teaming bath time and Emerson was plopped naked on my bed. I turned my back for just a second, only to come back to Emerson's little butt sticking out from under the bed. I pulled his legs and sure enough, out comes Emerson clutching his hidden Woody doll saying, "Look!! It's Woody!" He was so excited, I felt horrible tearing it out of his hands trying to explain that is was his Christmas present from Nana and Grandpa and he couldn't have it yet. Chase took him out of my arms (because he was heartbroken) and Emerson kept pointing at me saying, "Bad Mommy!!"

Dylan's First Photo Shoot

2010-11-16T21:39:00.000-08:00

I took Dylan's first "professional" pictures at six days old. I always think that I am going to love experimenting with my own newborns, but it is the total opposite - I am so exhausted that the last thing I want to do is put all my energy into a shoot. I forced myself to do this, and of course now I'm happy that I did!

Dylan is now three weeks old, and SOOO sweet... I'm am totally in love :) After the first few nights of endless screaming, I gave in and did the extreme "no milk" diet which I had to do with my other two kids, also. It's an all-or-nothing deal, like no butter (or anything with butter), and nothing that has the "Milk" allergy label in foods. It's brutal! I am a horrible dieter, I don't have the self control or discipline to deprive myself of things... pretty much the only thing that can motivate me to be on this diet is a screaming baby throughout the night! When Dylan starts screaming when Chase has him, Chase tells me "This baby is broken, come and fix him".

He sleeps A LOT, and just this week he has started to be awake for longer periods of time. He sleeps between 3-4 hours stretches at night, and (thank goodness) nurses for only 5-10 minutes. At his two-week checkup, he weighed 7 lbs, 3 oz so he's gaining weight like a champ!

Welcome Dylan!

2010-11-02T21:38:00.000-07:00

Beware, this is long... Since this is now my form of "journaling", I don't want to leave any details out or I will forget them forever :)

So I kept saying that I wanted to make it through Halloween before I had the baby so I could go trick-or-treating, but with each passing day I felt more and more uncomfortable to the point that it would take me a few hours each morning to be able to walk like a normal person. My ligaments were all so tight and the baby was so low that I was contracting all the time. Tuesday 10/26 was Emerson's second birthday, and I ended up throwing a last minute very small barbecue with some of our close friends. All day as I was getting prepared, I just kept thinking, "don't go into labor yet!"

The handsome Birthday Boy

The Balloon Party Attendees

Last family picture before Dylan

We got through the party, cleaned up a little, Chase went to bed and I worked my butt off editing, invoicing, packaging orders, etc until midnight when I just couldn't do another thing I was so tired. I laid down to read myself to sleep, and after the first page, I felt a little internal "pop" and then felt wet... my water had broke. I never thought that would happen, no one in my family has had their water break on it's own. With my other two babies, the second they broke my water at the hospital I went into intense contractions and had each baby less than two hours later. My doctor even told Chase when we had Emerson, "You'd better pay attention because if Sierra's water ever breaks on it's own, you might be delivering the baby". Hence, I was FREAKING out (we live 20-30 min from the hospital and we had to call Jenny to come to our house to be with the kids). I started hitting snoring-Chase, yelling "my water broke!!" as I hobble to the toilet. I was so nervous that I was shaking like a leaf and couldn't settle down.

We got out of the house at about 12:30 and arrived at the hospital around 1 am, thankfully with the baby still in-utero and my contractions still not hurting at all. It took FOUR nurses and four tries to get an IV in my arm. Then I had to be on antibiotics for four hours because I was carrying Group B with this pregnancy (doesn't effect mother, but possibly baby, anyone can carry it with any pregnancy). I was only dilated to a 1-2 when I arrived, so two hours after the IV started (around 4 am), they started me on Pitocin. Apparently my water had broken prematurely, meaning that my body wasn't in labor yet. At 5 am (one hour after Pitocin), I was still only dialated to a 2! They upped my Pitocin drip and immediately my contractions became fast and intense, only about 1.5 minutes apart.

I was trying to be tough and put off the epidural since I was only at a 2, but I came into so much pain so quickly that I was begging for the anethesiologist, who happened to be doing someone else's epidural at the time. Finally the nurse took pity on my and gave me some kind of morphine (??) pain killer through my IV and had me sit up, when I became extremely nauseated and dizzy and couldn't catch my breath. I was trying to mouth to Chase that I couldn't catch my breath so he could pass it on, and amidst my panic attack they got me an oxygen mask. Right then the anesthesiologist came in and started working on my back, got the epidural in, and everything calmed down. At this point it was 7:30 am, they checked me and I was at a 4... what!!!?? I came IN to the hospital at a 4 with Emerson in not too much pain! Apparently my sister tells me (she does more research than me) that a) your water creates a pain buffer - and mine had broken, and b) Pitocin contractions are much worse.

Anyways, I felt nice and heavy and sleepy and just wanted to take a snooze, so everyone cleared out and let me take the best little drug-induced nap ever ;) Only one hour later, 8:30, I felt pressure and the nurse wanted to check me (I would have liked another hour or two of napping) and I was complete (10). She had me do a test push and the baby was right there, I was told to lay on my side with my legs together and "hold him in there" while they called my doctor and waited for her to arrive. I literally had to do shallow breathing through each contraction to hold him in! They even had the on-call doctor waiting just in case Dr. Laughlin (my doc) didn't get there in time. But she did, and I pushed through the first contraction and got the baby right in the canal, where he had to sit and wait a minute for my next contraction to come around. His heart rate kept dropping since he was so squeezed. With the second contraction I pushed him out. The cord was wrapped around his neck, but my doctor calmly looped it right back over his head. Dylan Chase Campbell, born at 9:16 am, 6 pounds 8 ounces 19.5 inches. Scored an 8 & 9 on the Apgar test.

He's a tiny little thing with strong lungs (fondly referred to as "small and mighty"), he screamed his way into the world (and through the first two nights home :( He looks just like Johanna as a newborn and it made Chase and I reminisce. He's got double dimples, just like his new cousin Claire! His right dimple is really deep. He was foaming a lot with extra saliva at the mouth, so they took him to get his stomach pumped and got a few ounces of amniotic fluid out of his belly! Then I had them try a few hours later because he was still foaming and they got another few ounces! So the next morning when they weighed him he was 6 lbs, 4 oz, which I think is more accurate.

The delivery crew

The Campbell family all came to visit with my kids in tow a few hours after the birth, and Johanna and Emerson got to meet Dylan for the first time. Jo was really cute and had a huge grin on her face, but when we told her the name she was very disappointed. She said, "but I wanted his name to be Tennis!" She has always wanted to name him either Michael (Wendy's little brother on Peter Pan), Tennis or Sharkey. Emerson didn't want much to do with him, he just entertained everyone else in the room.

Meeting cousin Claire (three weeks older) for the first time

We only stayed in the hospital that one night, and they pretty much kicked us out the next morning (they had ten patients waiting for rooms!) They were in such a hurry to get me out that they couldn't wait for Chase to take a picture of me leaving the hospital in the wheelchair, so I made him do it while our car was in the valet circle. I was standing there with Dylan when the baby car seat fell out of the truck and tumbled across the pavement, with bystanders staring in horror. I had to yell, "the baby's not in there!" We got a good laugh out of that one.

Homecoming

We called Chase's Mom Sinda early that morning when I went into labor so that she and her daughter Natalia could drive out here from Utah and spend the first week helping us. They were so much fun to have around, and were a HUGE help with getting my kids to adjust to the new family dynamics.

Dylan's now a week old, like I said earlier he screamed the first few nights and gave Chase and I a taste of a screaming baby. I don't know how people do that!!! We figured out that he has a milk allergy, just like my other two kids, so I am now on an extremely restrictive diet where I can't eat ANYTHING that has milk in the ingredients. He also had major diaper/ball rash (poor guy) from the milk intolerance. Now he seems to be fine and is sleeping 3-5 hour stretches at night.

{sunbathing}

Johanna's totally in love with him, and is a natural nurturer. Whenever he cries, she says, "Sister's here, you're alright. Mommy will feed you. Here's your bink." etc. She's constantly holding his hand and kissing his head, and this morning she told me that she's going to have three kids and showed me by pointing to the three lines in her hand. Okay now... which one of you taught her that??? Also, when I picked her up from school on Friday (first time with the baby), the teacher came out and said, "so what's his name? Tennis?" That's what Jo had told her class! I hear her call him that from time to time.

Emerson's coming around, he's getting really into kissing the baby's head. He's most intrigued by the breast feeding part, and is always staring intently asking, "baby is eating boob now?" I've been very happy with the fact that he didn't really have any adjustment phase like Johanna did when Emerson came around. I think it's because Jo and Emers have each other so Dylan isn't too much of a bother.

So at the end of the day, I got my wish and got to go trick-or-treating with the kids, just nursing a newborn instead of being extremely pregnant (I literally nursed Dylan on the go... that's what you get with the third kid :)

So welcome to the family little Dylan, you are a perfect fit.