related

Everyone always tells us who they think Zane looks like, whether it's me because of the big brown eyes or Pat because of the hair and facial features. When Pat and I were looking at these we were laughing because of the similar faces these two have in each of these photos. The top one cracks me up...very serious two there!


And both of them have a very curious look here. Zane gives me faces all the time and I stop and say, "That is your Daddy's face! Don't give me that face I already know how to deal with that one!"

cuts. bruises. gashes. more cuts.

This is a simple little gash here, but I feel like Zane's forehead is a perpetual showing of the klutziness I have passed onto him.

He can't seem to figure out that when I'm unloading a car and the door is open, to look up and your head won't go straight into it. Or that walking around looking at your shadow is not always the best choice when door frames, corners and other hidden obstacles jump out at you! That dogs don't always see you coming, most things have sharp corners and pavement does leave a nice mark on any part of your body that hits it. Trust me, my forehead has hit pavement in recent years and I remember! (Long story on that one!)

But then I think there's something to all these cuts, bruises and gashes. He's exploring and it shows. Though the majority of the exploring is with his head down watching his shadow, the way the lines in the pavement go or the bugs on the ground, he's still exploring.

Check out other Best Shots over at Melody Slurping Life.

leap

I sit here looking for some photo ideas on other photography blogs and I'm judging my talent. And then my husband reminds me that some of these people have been doing this for years and look how far I've come in just a few short months completely devoting myself to this. And then I look over to my desk and see a signed wedding contract to scan and send to the awesome bride and groom and right on top of it is the card I cutout that the hospital gave us of Zane's foot prints that I want to scan as well.

I then I remember, I don't need to be making tons of money at this, I need to be doing this because I want to tell him I followed my dream, no matter how hard it might get at times. That judging myself against others was a waste of time and that I focused on my talent, my special things I'm good at, and though I have flaws, it makes me who I am, writer and photographer, mother and wife, all mixed up in one person.

And then I look at photos I took while Zane and I waited for his Grandma L. at Starbucks. He got to sit in the front seat (we were parked - calm down!) and he got to chew on a straw and was completely happy. And then I turn away from the other photography blogs, and laugh at these photos. Perfect or imperfect, it's thanks to him and hopefully future children that I'm taking this leap.

16 Months

Stats (at 15 months!)
Weight: 22 Pounds
Height: 31 inches
You are in the 20% now baby!!!

Zane,

Well at least I kept up with the monthly letters for your first year! My goal was to do these every other month after your first birthday, so let's just start here and hope that happens. Give me a bit of a break, I'm trying to keep up with you!

I am not even sure where to start. Since you turned one it's like all of these things just clicked and you change each and every day. On Mommy's birthday dinner night it clicked that you could walk for more than a few steps. You walked up and down Grandma and Grandpa's hallway and were clapping the whole time you were so excited! You took a few weeks of a break and went back to crawling but came back to the whole walking thing. Now nothing stops you. You can back down steps, although you do start the backing down process far away from the step, you walk over most things, although you have your Mommy's tendency to bump and/or trip over things, and you can turn your walk into a sprint.

We took you to the pet store for the first time. You laughed and laughed at the dogs jumping around. You could not believe how many birds were in one place and your mouth was open while you starred at all of them. You thought the hamsters were cool too, but the deal is none of those in our house! Sorry they smell! The fish were pretty exciting too and Daddy ran by the snakes and Mommy ran by the tarantula...yes your parents are wimps!

Your use of words seems to come and go. We were reading to you one night and you pointed to a cow and said Cow! Of course you wouldn't repeat it but you for sure said it. Since then you've said dog, teddy and seem to whisper thank you sometimes. I want down is another favorite that you choose to use once and awhile. I keep waiting for you to just start blurting out things but I know you're taking your time. You are picking up new signs weekly and seem to enjoy the process of learning a new sign. Your favorite is dog and bird right now...imagine that! Oh and of course eat, which I think you would say all day long if it resulted in yogurt or milk given to you each time you asked!


Mommy and Daddy's bed has always been fun for you but now it is your adventure land. You no longer need our help to get up on the bed and generally can make it off the bed pretty safely. You love playing with our alarm clock which has messed us up a couple of times in the mornings! Truman is always laying on our bed and you just climb right on up and start petting him. We're hoping once you move into a big boy bed that he'll decide to sleep with you so we have some space!

You have discovered a love for music and we are so proud! You dance to all music and love to turn up your stereo in your room. As I type this your Daddy and you are out in the family room jamming to some Michael Jackson...Billy Jean! We'll tell you later, but Michael used to be normal. Oh we have so much to teach you!


Another first for you was going to your first art museum. We did this for Mommy's birthday and you were in awe. You starred at each painting, pointed a ton and smiled at everyone who passed by. We took you out of your stroller and you crawled around the museum in the modern art section. At first I wondered what people would think as you crawled around and then I thought, he's not touching any art, who cares! You had an absolute blast! Hopefully it's just the beginning of an appreciation for art!

You do seem to appreciate Daddy's paint brushes. You always come into the office while Mommy's editing photos and point to Daddy's paint brushes. Once you're given one you light up and pretend to paint the floors. You're even so interested in the paints that you pick them up and try to drink them. Thank heavens for the caps on them but I'm thinking we need to move them up soon before you figure out how to take those off!

We had one freak out moment around Easter. Grandma and I were on her computer looking at something and you were right there on the floor playing. You were playing with one of those plastic Easter eggs and pulling it apart and putting it back together. No big deal, right? Not until you decided to stick it in your mouth and suck in. I heard you cough and turned around to see you turning bright red. We jumped right next to you and could see the egg suctioned to the back of your throat. I was able to pull it out but boy did it ever scare you, along with us!!! No more eggs till next year, hopefully you'll not be putting things in your mouth as much then!

We started swim lessons to get you used to being in the water with Grandma and Grandpa C's pool and Grandpa and Grandma L's lake house. You seem to like it but the timing of the lessons hasn't been the greatest. It's right at the beginning of your normal nap time so you really like to snuggle and be cuddly instead of kick like the other kids. That's okay...I figure you'll be more alert this summer when it's not nap time!


You just recently have started to tantrum at a new level than before. You know how to tell us NO and like to test us when we say NO. We're slowly learning how to deal with and to put a stop to it at the beginning but boy some days are pretty challenging. On Mother's Day you decided to have one of your worst days and half the time your Daddy and I couldn't stop laughing because it was so ridiculous! You test us sometimes and then hours later will snuggle up to me and it seems to wash away. We'll remind you of all of this of course when you have children! You still like to bite too and I still seem to be the victim most of the time. You completely understand the idea of a timeout and as we count before you get to that you choose to listen most of the time. The rest of the time I think you're just seeing if we mean business or if we're just testing you.


You have turned into a boy within the last several weeks. Cars and trucks make you gasp and you say "OH WOW!" as they pass us on the road. As the planes flew over to the track on Race Day we would run you out to see them and as they circled several times you would run to us in the house and beg to be picked up so we could run you outside to see them fly over. We would then stand outside and you'd point and gasp in complete awe. It's so fun to point dump trucks out to you as we drive and to run you outside as the mail woman and the trash truck come by our house.

You still are in love with your Teddy. Teddy now sits on the kitchen table as you eat, lays on the ground next to you as you look through your books and is in your mouth just hanging as you run around the house. It's the cutest thing but we're just praying Teddy doesn't get lost because I can't seem to find another just like him.


We have had so many times recently when Daddy and I have watched you as you get completely soaked and dirty sitting in the mud right beside a creek throwing rocks, playing with a sprinkler for the first time or throwing sand out of Grandma's sandbox. You LOVE being outside and when it rains you stand at the back door just looking out wondering when you can go play. We do play in the rain a lot but just not when it's lightening, which has been a lot recently! You are out to discover the world and no one's going to stop you! We don't really stop you from trying to eat leaves or dirt, it's good for your system! I guess we should pay attention to which ones are poisonous though!


The past few months have been particularly busy as Mommy has adjusted to a new job and pursuing photography. You have been so flexible and amazingly willing to go with the flow. I've been stressed, Daddy's been stressed and you have been at times too. But yet we've had moments of pure joy that show us there's an end to the madness and that we're headed in the right direction, it's just going to take time. I love the days I have off with you and love the fact that I can be more flexible now.

We had a friend lose their baby this past month. It rocked us to the core of how lucky we are to have you, tantrums in all. The night after the funeral I came home to just be with you, and you didn't want anything to do with me! It made me laugh that you had no clue what was going on and just wanted to be the baby boy you are and just play instead of cuddle. And that was okay, I was in tears as I watched you play with Truman. We are so blessed to have you growing into a healthy toddler who can't keep his hands off anything!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

See more 16 month photos here.

fires

We drove over to Ohio this weekend to take pregnancy photos of Pat's brother and his wife, Kristi along with some other family photos too. On our way over we came around a bend in the highway and Pat and I both saw this huge cloud of smoke. We didn't think anything about it till we got a bit closer and saw a huge ball of fire go up into the sky. As we got closer explosions kept happening and we realized it was a truck cab on fire. It was crazy! It looked like something right out of a movie. Pat of course grabbed the nearest camera (we had three in the car) and shot some pics of it. As we passed it on the opposite side of the highway our side of the car facing the fire fogged up and the windows were hot to touch. I don't know how people were still passing right next to the truck. We got very lucky because moments after we passed they blocked both sides of the highway and shut it down. I can't seem to find out the news on it but my grandpa said he heard about it and it seemed like no one was in the truck, I certainly hope not.

As the weekend went on Zane got way off his schedule...and there was the fire wrath of an off-schedule Zane! We never know what to expect when this happens. It ended up being massive tears as I took some family photos in a beautiful garden park. Pat was supposed to be second shooting with me but he ended up walking all over the park with our crying son. You could hear him as he passed us. Zane had skipped his afternoon nap and it was not pretty!

We should have known not to stop and eat dinner but we tried. After several chugs of milk Zane literally fell apart. He tantrumed like we've never seen him do before. We're talking high pitched screams, feet kicking, arms everywhere and head banging in the high chair. Pat swooped him up and took him outside just as our food arrived. I got to go boxes and we were out of there! Both of us were so embarrassed! I know it happens to everyone at some point but it's still just as embarrassing!

Check out other Best Shots at Mother May I.

the stare

We attended two graduation ceremonies this weekend and Zane was out in the hall a lot running around. During Pat's cousin's graduation he dropped a car down into the bleachers and you could hear it clang all the way down. Too funny! We had my brother's graduation also at which he held up for a bit but got extremely annoyed by having to sit. How dare we try to have an almost 16 month old sit for that long! With no flashing lights or crazy spinning things to watch!

When he was content he was usually staring at someone. Here he is walking with Pat's dad through the hallways after graduation just casually staring at everyone. And then as he was running up and down the hall with Grandpa he had to stop to flirt...not the best photo but hilarious to catch him in the act. We are in serious trouble with this boy!

Check out other best shots this week at Mother May I.

nursery tour

The nursery we designed for Zane is featured on one of our favorite blogs, Apartment Therapy's Ohdeedoh.

When they contacted me I was so excited for them to think our nursery was cool enough to feature with all the others nurseries they've covered! We love Zane's room and it just makes me happy to sit and play with him in a room created all just for him but we never thought others would think the same!

So check out the feature here...Pat had just as much to do with the design as me, kind of sounds like it was all me so just wanted to make sure everyone knew that! :)

Thanks for featuring us Alex!

one of those days...the good ones that is!

I am learning that in this thing called parenting you have some days that you don't ever want to end and then there's those other days that you're wondering if vacation could ever come soon enough...the screaming, the whining, etc. We had one of the first kind of days this weekend. How lovely is that?!!!

This is what I dreamed about when I thought of myself as a parent. I wanted to be out exploring with my kids, getting dirty with them and helping them appreciate all the beauty that surrounds them. So this is exactly what we did...we headed to the park and explored!

These photos are a mix of Pat and I's. Pat grabbed the camera and was having so much fun because I rarely let him have it anymore! Bonus to that is that I'm in the photos, that problem I keep seeming to have!

I love that we're okay with him just getting dirty and figuring things out. Kids kept going over the bridge when we were down by the creek asking their parents if they could go down there too. Their parents kept saying "No, you'll get dirty." Oops...were we supposed to worry about that?

So here are many photos...this is the norm number I show on the photography blog for sneak previews so I thought hey...time to do it here for this great day we had! And check out other Best Shots this week at Mother May I.

The park started out with some ice cream.

And then when the ice cream was all gone there were some tears.

But never fear we found a stick which made it all better!

And he might even like the taste better than ice cream.Daddy having fun with the camera.

Mommy and Zane looking for birds.And digging for worms.

Could he seriously be any happier?! And he has on our favorite new shirt. Mr. Mischief, which is one of the series of some of his favorite books.

More looking for things with Mommy.

Jackpot! He found the creek!

We head on down to see what he thinks and after holding onto Mommy for a bit he was pretty comfortable with it! Don't ask me what I'm doing...people kept walking by on the bridge and I was afraid my pants were riding too low!Seeing how cold it is.

Who needs shoes anyways?

Daddy wants to play too.

Love this shot!

I couldn't be prouder that he's so comfortable with his butt right in the mud!Throwing rocks.

Signing to us that he hears a bird.

Watching for the bird.

sunshine

We are having a lack of sunshine around here. Lots of cold and rain! So finding a photo for a sunshine theme was a bit hard!

I'm taking a bit of a different approach...here's my little sunshine. In the midst of tantrums right now the sun shines and we see Zane happy again, usually followed by more whining. These teeth need to move on through now, I'd like my sunshine son back!

Check out more sunshine pics over at Stacy's.

I'm in a photo!

One thing I'm starting to realize is that I'm not in a lot of photos with Zane. So my goal in the next couple of months is to hand the camera to Pat to make sure that starts to happen more!

I'm finally starting to go through family photos! I am so behind on them as I've been keeping up with client photos instead! I found these that Pat took a couple months ago and they just made me smile!