Little Engineer

Ford came out looking like my clone but he is so much like his daddy, it's rather hilarious. Jon grew up an only child of a single mama and became an "adult" rather quickly. His brain was always moving, exploring, and learning. Ford is nowhere near adulthood status but he has Jon's brain, a little engineer. Ford has always been the little guy at the playground who will climb all the way up to the top on his own and instead of coming down the slide, will stay up there for 5 minutes touching all the nuts, bolts, and screws, and looking through peepholes. Actually, as of last weekend he will go down ANY slide at the park, this is huge for him! He wants to figure out the best way to get somewhere, how to manuever small spaces, and making things go off and on or left and right. You can imagine one of his favorite things to do is play with light switches and appliances. We took him to an awesome children's museum when we were visiting Chicago and he could have spent 2 hours in the "light room". He gets major satisfaction from seeing a problem solved and has this determined little look on his face when he is figuring stuff out, the funniest furrowed brow. As of lately, puzzles are his favorite because he can mess them up and put them back together. He also doesn't like to get dirty, a kid after Jon's heart (no pun intended). I put leftover yogurt with the spoon in the fridge last week and tried to give it to him a couple hours later and he whined because the spoon was dirty and got his finger dirty. He finds microscopic little particles, feathers, and rug wool around our house and announces that they go in the "tash". It is hilarious because I am pretty sure I was a sassy little free spirit at his age. It's so neat to see how quickly baby's personalities shine.

Last weekend we had the pleasure of working with Mallorie Owens (who will be doing our maternity and newborn pictures so soon!), to snap some "18 month" photos of Ford. We spent the morning at Bull Creek Park and basically just followed Ford from area to area where he examined rocks, collected leafs, and ran his little heart out. Such a little boy. Mallorie and her hubby just moved to Austin from Alaska so contact her if you need spring photos of your family or little ones!

Mallorie Owens Photography

Baby Bump

I am excited to share some snapshots I took of my sister and brother in law (and their 4 legged daughter, Athena). Baby E arrives in two months from TODAY!! 

This is one excited big sister!

I am looking forward to cooler weather when E arrives....we took these at 9am and everyone was in a full sweat within 5 minutes. I am going to take pictures of E's nursery when I visit Dallas in a month, can't wait to share those with you too!

Turning off the TV

When Jon and I met, we used to spent hours and hours just talking. I think most people can say that about the beginning of their relationship. You want to spend every minute soaking up the newness and getting to know someone's inner being. But for most people that eventually wears off. Call me an optimist but for me and Jon, it has not. We still spend hours talking about everything and nothing. Getting to know each other despite being married for a year and a half. Laughing fits and tickle fights. No we are not still in the honeymoon phase, we genuinely enjoy each others company. Now I am not saying there aren't argument and struggle and disconnect at times because we are human.

Jon and I chose not to have a TV in our bedroom when we moved into our little home after we got married. We wanted our bedroom to be a sacred place where we didn't have distractions. Don't get me wrong, there were times we fell asleep on the couch in front of the TV, just not in our bedroom. Moving into our new house I requested to have a TV in our room because when Jon travels, I like to catch up on the latest trashy episode of Real Housewives and doze off to reruns of Sex and the City. It's new for me and quite fun.

But Jon and I still make it a point to try not to go to bed with the TV on. Lately we haven't watched much TV at all, with the exception of the Olympics and 30 Rock on Netflix. Being so busy, throwing multiple parties and hosting overnight guests, we have begun to really savor the free nights we have together. And why would we want to spend those moments (that come few and far between) glued to the TV. Lately we've been laying on the family room floor, throwing the ball with Ernie, laughing our little hearts out, making up songs, and planning our next vacations. It's always been a rule that we eat at the dinner table without the TV on and it will be a rule for the rest of our lives. We talk about the rose and thorn of our day. We listen to Louis Armstrong on Pandora. We take time to read the bible and pray for our friends. Spending uninterrupted time with Jon is like medicine for my soul and my sanity. 

Jon is also loving my new camera lens...

and loving his feet photo bombing

We've kinda gotten into a routine of making sure we are in our bedroom around 10pm. We talk, cuddle, do what married people do...without TV.

It's sad to think how social media has taken over our lives. I will be the first to admit I usually check Twitter and Instagram when I take Ernie out first thing in the morning. So even though we are good about turning the TV off, I'd like to work on unplugging more often. I see a tweet light up on my phone and want to answer right away. And I hate not texting people back. Does anyone else feel the same??

Now before I share more of my husband's photography, I do want to say that there are nights Jon and I spend with our butts parked on the couch catching up on our DVR (in which I am usually multitasking with crafting or blogging and Jon is catching up on work). But we have made it a big priority to spend distraction-less time together. Being married to someone you enjoy spending time with is fun :-)

& yes, most days I come home from work and put on Jon's clothes...I'm sexy and I know it

6 month bump

Two weeks ago I got the pleasure of photographing my sister and her 6.5 month baby bump. My sweet little niece will be arriving the middle of October (possibly on my birthday on the 14^th!) and we are ecstatic to meet her. She will be the first grandchild and great grandchild on both sides and is already spoiled rotten in pink. I had lots of fun playing around with my camera and look forward to taking some of her and her hubby in a few weeks. And of course when her baby girl arrives!

Her intials