She & Him

If you're friends with me on FB, you've already since this photo. But I really can't get over how similar they look. I know, he's the dad, he's supposed to look like his daughter. I guess it's the fact that these weren't taken at the same time, and they weren't told to give me that specific look. This is how they felt about me at that exact moment, with my large and obtrusive camera in their faces (again), asking them to act natural to perform some sort of practice.

Our children are true reflections of us, all of us, not just Dave & I, and I see this every single day. If I'm in a foul mood, I release that negativity into every room I enter, and it's quickly absorbed by the 2 littlest ones. I say something immature to Sylvia, and she goes and does something immature to Easton. You really don't see all parts of yourself until you have kids, then it's like a 24-hour mirror. When I'm happy and full of a rare glee, the kids breath a sigh of relief. Like 'ahhh, she's happy, now we can be joyful.' It's something I know I need to improve, but it's quite the struggle for a 33 year old woman to do. I'm stubborn, I've always been this way, it's hard to let go of mood swings and bitterness.

As for Dave? I can't speak for him directly, but he tends to come home with work weighing heavy on his shoulders. If a client passes away, he feels the sorrow of tragedy. If there are upcoming inspections, he feels the quickness of a time-restraining stress. But he can let it go quickly, allowing the 2 little ones to pick up his spirits and remind him that this is our life, this is our family. And what we give them is what we will receive. And what we, as parents, receive, is priceless.

The Warmth Ahead

The weather lately has me been glorious! Shopping at Trader Joe's last week, their tulips were a beautiful reminder of what is around the corner. It's funny how much needed the warm weather has been, how everyone starts flipping out and acting all summertime (in both good and bad ways, city dwellers know what I'm referring to). We are embarking on some life changes around our household, and this is the perfect time of year for the changes. I've stopped eating meat again (after 17 years off, I had a year back on, but am now off for good!) and am not buying any for the household. This means Dave has cut his intake to about a third of his diet, while the kids are even less, only occasionally eating it out. We are also wanting chickens, to harvest eggs and encourage our kids to learn some lessons on sustainability and food awareness. I'd like to possibly garden outside our yard this year, in search of an area that actually sees sunlight. As the kids grow up, I want them to see the circle of seed, plant, and the fruit that it bears (or vegetable, whatevs). It's such an important life lesson, and one that will hopefully encourage healthier eating habits.

Sometimes I feel like I'm coming here to post all the big things that are happening, but it's really that things are always happening. Our lives rarely see down time, and the waves are in this here ocean! So, here's to a beautiful spring ahead!

Spare Minutes

Hello friends, sorry for such long frames of silence followed by rowdy bursts of personal crazy! I've had a hell of a month (and it's only the 15th) and my head is spinning to keep up. But good news! I'm looking to hire occasional help with childcare and professionally. Wow, amazing, right? My business is really taking off and I couldn't be more thrilled, but I am still a full-time mom and in great need of some balancing. This may involve a whole day of childcare once a week and someone to help with with technology and business management mumbo-jumbo. You know I'm stressed when my hair looks how it does right now. And no, I'm not going to take a picture to show you. You can just use your pretty little imagination.

But alas, I have so many posts conjured up in my brain, all of which don't help you when I don't ever come here to write them down. Ha! It makes no sense, but I have a minutia of time to lay it out for you. So little time, in fact, that I didn't get my husband of x amount of years anything for Valentine's Day. And we didn't make any to pass out to friends. And the fact I licked the card closed for the kid's present was amazing. I don't know how to juggle very well, and my home life suffers. Sorry family and house and dog and cats. I understand that you feel abandoned, but it's the price we pay to push onward.

Which is where I'm going... onward (or upward or downward or in spirals, we'll see).

Mother's Day Preparations

Ok, I know Mother's Day is a bit away, but I'm being a planner today! I'm being proactive! I'm a winner! Ok, seriously, I'm trying to increase my business savvy and prepare for the spring weather. Because listen people, it will be warm someday! And you need a Mother's Day gift shortly after the weather gets warm! It's a win-win! Be Lovely Photography is doing a Mother's Day Portrait Promotion (wow, that's a lot of "p's"). Here is the flyer (thanks for helping, Rachel!).

click to enlarge

This is a great deal and will result in a beautiful 11x14 canvas print. What a great present, hint hint. Please email me for any other details/questions, and feel free to pass the info along to friends. I have a very busy weekend ahead (a wedding and a newborn, but not at the same time!). TTFN!

Soapbox & Advice (totally unrelated)

After the flub of my cleanse, I've decided to become a vegetarian again. It's always something with me, am I right? I've been living in a bubble of complex denial for the past 2 years, and something sparked me to burst out of it. I don't really know what I was thinking before, but I'm glad to be back. In fact, I think I have my husband convinced of the same, which is no small vegetarian feat. Join us, won't you, in a life of meat-free bliss? Live without guilt! Don't partake in the mass production of animals forced to live in undeniably horrid conditions and be slaughtered in totally inhumane ways! Soapbox soapbox soapbox! Now here comes the hard part: tearing our kids from their beloved cheeseburgers. We haven't decided the route to pull them off meat: a)do it in total secrecy or b)show Syl the video that switched me back. I think we'll go with choice 'a' since this child is young and it would be life traumatizing to show her this video. And BTW I'm not posting it here. I can still hear the pigs squealing in my brain...

In totally other unrelated news, we are finally healthy (mostly!) and living life to our fullest! Ok, a bit dramatic. But seriously, the residual coughs and sniffles are dissipating quickly, THANK ALLAH! But what has come of this is a new language impediment with Sylvia. Since living with a clogged nasal passage for 3 weeks, she developed a strange new lisp. She no longer says her 's' words properly. I've heard this is common when kids get sick, but I thought we were past the phase of anything radical changing her speech. All her 's' words now start with 'sh.' I know we're not supposed to call it to her attention or make a big deal of it, but let's be real. It sure seems like a big deal. Especially when you notice how many words start with the letter 's.' It's like a lot. We try to simply repeat what she meant to say, which causes her to say it correctly, but I don't know if I should be concerned. Should we totally ignore it? Am I an asshole for not wanting my kid to live with a speech impediment?

So friends, what would you do?

Thanks for reading, and please consider cutting down or eliminating animals from your diet. Or if you must, research the hell out of what you buy and purchase locally raised and humanely slaughtered animals. Don't make me post that video here. Ugh.

Flush *UPDATE*

3 of the 4 members of my family have been hit hard by this year's flu. It's definetly making me reconsider getting us all shots next year, since we've been avoiding it for the past 2 years. Fevers, coughing, sneezing, blowing noses, throwing up, hacking, chills, laying around, peppered with lots of whining has made our house a fortress of the sick & tortured. I guess the crap weather has made it somewhat easier to stay in, but it seems like it's never-ending. Just today, Easton awoke with a high fever yet again, reminding me that just because they may act healthy, doesn't always mean they are.

To add to the delight that is my sick home, I'm still having issues with my delicate tummy. Though I've cut out most of my diet containing gluten, I'm haven't been 100%. I have 2 young kids that like to eat delicious snack foods, which means I cheat. On top of that, we ate out at a local Vietnamese Restaurant last week that absolutely wrecked my stomach. I know, Vietnamese food is so delicious, what gives? To attempt to figure out my problem, I'm going on the Master Cleanse. It's a 10 day fast program that seems to be rather popular, therefor it must be ok. I've been hearing about it for years, I know lots of people who have done it and seen great results. So here we go. Can you handle the crazy?

I'm hoping to clean out my system and slowly incorporate things back into my diet that will hopefully please my stomach gods. I eat too much junk, a thorough cleaning of the pipes seems like it may help, and it certainly won't hurt. I even bought a juicer, hoping to encourage us to drink our veggies. Dave is skeptical. We'll see how long it lasts.

Here is what's going down with me this week:

Day One (today): drink lots of water, eat soup for meals, consume lots of fruits and veggies

Day Two: drink only fresh squeezed juices (veggie & fruit) and water

Day Three-Eight: drink the strange concoction of fresh lemons, water, maple syrup, cayenne

Day Nine: start incorporating fresh fruit & veggie juices back into my diet

Day Ten: drink lots of water, eat soup for meals, consume lots of fruits & veggies

*perform a salt water flush every night. it's as gross as it sounds*

Doesn't sound too hard, right? Well, except for the fact that I have 2 young kids at home 24-7 still battling the whiny flu thing, and I have to cook everyone else's meals everyday. And smell it. And not eat it. Plus I'm not supposed to do the crazy exercising that I normally do, which I've been on a break from anyway due to my cold. And I have photo shoots this week and a wedding to photograph next weekend. Shit, I didn't think this through.

Anyway, it's worth a shot. Anyone with stomach issues probably can sympathize that I just want to figure out something that will work for me. I need to flush my system and attempt to solve my tummy's dilemmas. Otherwise I'll be spending the rest of my life keeled over in pain almost ever time I eat, and that doesn't sound like fun.

**UPDATE**

After a horrible first day, involving throwing up the mixture, extreme headaches and hunger, this morning started with my monthly visitor. And when that visitor hits, all I want is chocolate and/or salt. Neither which is on the cleanse. So it's halfway through the day and I've already failed. Time to go another route...