…is his favorite time!
Archive for February, 2009
Bath time… (St. Louis wedding photographers)
February 27, 2009See daddy? (St. Louis wedding photographer)
February 26, 2009That’s what I heard all day from Mr. Aidan. Such is the life of a military family, I suppose. To say that I’m a military wife is still so odd to me because I was the active-duty soldier for so many years. I’m the “dependent” now, and I can’t tell you how excited Dan is that I have that title rather than him. Well today was our first full day without Dan. He left for Japan bright and early this morning for about 2.5 weeks for his yearly AT. I’m still waiting to hear from him, to hear that he made it safely. To say that he’s not fond of flying is a complete understatement, but I’m hoping it was a relatively comfortable, safe flight for him. Otherwise, I pitty the person sitting next to him on the plane. Hopefully I’ll have an update for you tomorrow. In the meantime, Aidan and I are trying to stay busy. Today we went to the gym (he’s finally doing well in the nursery! Not nearly as much crying…), then we started the next semester of swimming lessons, and we even made it to the park before the rain hit! I’m about to embark on something really fun and challenging, but I’ll save that post for later. I’ll give you a hint by saying I’ll get a free t-shirt out of the deal.
And what’s a post without a picture. Hope you don’t mind a few more of my little guy. He’s growing up before my very eyes. Every day I tell him, “No more growing, Aidan!” And he says, “No. No. No growing!” Cute little mocking bird that he is.
Limbo with a lightstand (St. Louis wedding photographer)
February 24, 2009Yesterday when I was doing the dishes, Aidan was supposed to be in the living room playing with his Barney guitar. Then I hear, “Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy.” And on and on until I see what he’s doing. Often it means he’s doing something he’s not supposed to. In fact, he probably thought he WAS doing something he wasn’t supposed to. But it turns out he had gone into the office, grabbed a light stand, laid it on the loveseat horizontally, and was doing the limbo. “Mommy limbo, too?” Aidan asked. Uh, no. This mommy can not get down that far. That little boy has the ability to make me laugh like no one on earth. How lucky am I?
If anybody wants to come over and limbo with Aidan, we’re ready. Anytime.We’ll provide the limbo stick/light stand.
Week 6: Aidan + Me (St. Louis portrait photographer)
February 23, 2009This is seriously the best I could get this week. Aidan wanted NOTHING to do with the camera. He kept screaming “No. No. No. No.” I had to quick sneak behind him in the bathroom while he was washing his hands. Gotta love 2-year-olds.
Flashback
February 21, 2009It’s absolutely incredible to sit back and contemplate all that has happened to my family in the past year. It’s been quite a year. Quite a good year. We’ve been so blessed in so many ways. It’s nearing the 1-year mark that Aidan and I made the difficult journey alone from Texas to St. Louis after I left the Army. I was telling Dan just today that my military life seems so far in the past. It seems decades ago – strange how that happens. Then a few months later, Dan returned from his deployment after nearly 16 months of being away. I can’t even begin to describe the feeling of having your husband/best friend/father of your child return after such a long absence. It’s been a huge adjustment for all 3 of us, but it’s definitely a welcome change.
We still cherish every single moment we have together because we understand what it is to be a family only from a distance. Aidan was a mere 6 weeks old when Dan left. He probably only weighed about 8 pounds, I would guess. Now he’s walking, talking, running, occasionally peeing on the potty (more on that later) and weighs in at a strapping 38 pounds at the age of 2. (EEK!) Dan found a job rather quickly upon arriving in St. Louis, especially considering the job market here. Then after staying with my mom and sister, we finally settled into a place of our own. We’re making a life here, and I’m incredibly grateful to have friends and family to support us. I know this next year has even better things in store for us. (Obviously! I have so many wonderful couples that I’m working with, and they’re all going to be fabulous weddings that I can’t WAIT to photograph.
And in honor of this little flashback – a sneak peek into our lives during the past year – here’s our wonderful son from a year ago. Oh how he has changed. (He has hair and teeth and that same crazy smile!) He truly is the most amazing thing to ever happen to me.
Back in business
February 21, 2009After quite a bit of confusion last night and this morning, the blog (and website!) are back! While trying to edit a few things on the blog, I managed to make a huge mess of things. The blog still isn’t quite how I had it, but it should do for now! And while I’m here, I’m going to add Sunee’s slideshow back in. Enjoy!
Under construction
February 20, 2009Please excuse the chaos of the blog at the moment. Something crazy happened, and I will have to reformat the entire thing this evening. Yipee. 
Happy Thursday
February 19, 2009Love,
Aidan
Week 5 (St. Louis wedding photographer)
February 18, 2009Well, we’re still behind, but we’re also still participating. Yay! Here’s me and my son, Aidan, reading “Blueberries for Sal.” This is part of a weekly photography project to photograph us together every week for a year. It’s actually really challenging because the weeks just fly by! And I also broke my remote. Yup. The one I JUST bought. I am so accident-prone, I tell ya. Off to order another on Amazon. Love that place. Oh, and if you have a child, too, I challenge you to participate, too. I hate having my picture taken, but I do it for Aidan. I think I might make a book at the end of the year with all our pictures.
Stay tuned tomorrow for Sunee’s slideshow!
Celebration (St. Louis photographers)
February 16, 2009A lovely family hired me to photograph an 80th birthday party at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton on Sunday. It was quite the celebration. Everything was perfect – the room, the decor, the food, the lighting. Every little detail was planned exquisitely. It was truly the most fabulous birthday party ever. I hope when I’m 80, my children throw me a party half as elegant as that one.
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80th Birthday Celebration
February 15, 2009Many more to come. Happy birthday, Sue.
One more!
February 13, 2009I’m not sure how it happened, but this little gem got left out of my post yesterday. I love when children make those first attempts at walking. It’s just too cute for words.
Week, um….????!!!!! (St. Louis wedding photographers)
February 8, 2009I think we missed a week or 2, but I’m trying! Trying counts, right? Here’s our picture of the week. We’re really looking forward to warmer weather so we can try something new with these. I think I should get Dan in some of these, too. Am I right?
Sweet Sunee (St. Louis children’s photographer)
February 7, 2009I had the enormous pleasure of photographing a friend’s 1-year-old little girl today. She has the most amazing blue eyes and such a sweet little smile. But you better watch out – she growls, too! Thanks for having me over, Sam + Joe. I can’t wait to edit the rest from our session!
What was I thinking?
February 6, 2009As many of you already know, we were recently involved in a car accident. We were all fine, but our car wasn’t. That was the car that I normally drove. Unfortunately, while it’s getting fixed, Aidan and I have been stuck at home quite a bit lately. There aren’t many places within walking distance, that is, except for my sister Michelle’s house. I was thrilled to have a beautiful, warm day, so we decided to make the walk up to her house. I was going to push Aidan up this giant hill that took us to her neighborhood. What I didn’t count on was all th snow melting and leaving mud everywhere. And you really couldn’t see it until your foot was already slipping in it. Ewwwww. (As Aidan would say.) We made it there ok, but on the way back, Aidan had to walk, holding my hand of course, and ended up losing his darn shoe. So now we’re going to have to go back up there tomorrow and search for the silly thing. No more velcro shoes for him! I took a few pictures of my lil guy on the way. Love that guy. (Come back soon because I’m photographing a gorgeous 1-year-old girl tomorrow, and I’m so excited!)
