"I like my thumb and I cannot lie"

I should have seen it coming. I saw it with my own two eyes during an ultrasound. The pictures below show that she finally figured it out. Usually the thumb is in the mouth with the other 4 fingers plastered to her cheek sideways. I try to extract thumb and insert paci whenever possible. But when she loses the paci in the middle of the night and finds her thumb its not the end of the world. And its also just too cute to boot! I pray she grows out of it and we'll deal with the issue if it continues as she gets older. Until then, I'll just laugh when I watch the fingers get close to the mouth and see the birdlike behavior until she finds the thumb just where she wants it. You'd really have to watch the process to really appreciate its cuteness!! And lately, she prefers the thumb over the paci...silly girl! Below those are just some other random pictures. *See, I really am doing better*

She LOVES her little play mat and could lay there for hours squealing at the toys that hang down. Don't you just love those cheeks?! She's such a chubby butterball!

These pictures were taken after she finished her very first bottle with cereal in it. She liked it but it didn't make her sleep any longer like everyone told us she would! She's always been a great sleeper anyway so it's not a big deal in our world. I can hardly wait to see how she enjoys some real deal baby food! Just a couple more weeks and we'll find out.

Pictures of Newbie

Here are just a couple of pictures I snapped of Newbie this morning before I came to work. He was rather hungry so he didn't want to be still (hence the blurriness). See the claws...yeah...they hurt when jabbed in your leg at 6:30 in the morning! Theresa (the animal expert) says he's part Siamese. He's a pretty kitty! :O) I'll try to get better full body pictures when he's not hungry!

Newbie

Let me be the first to say that I am not a big pet fan. Certainly not a cat fan. I have nothing against pets at all. I just feel that I already have enough to take care of so the last thing I need is an animal to feed. If I were to have a pet I would want it to be a chocolate lab like the one Jordan and I had when we were dating. However, I still have no strong desire to have one right now. A few nights ago, Jordan and I were cooking supper in the kitchen when we kept hearing a cat meowing. Jordan looked on the back deck. I checked the garage. I opened the door to the basement. We could not figure out where the sound was coming from. Jordan opened the front door and in runs this vanilla colored cat (about 8 months old). My first thought was, "Oh, no! We are not keeping that." It had obviously been an inside cat and was used to people b/c it ran straight up to Jordan. The poor little thing was starving. We put it in the garage and opened up a can of tuna fish for it to eat and gave it some water. It scarfed the tuna down in seconds. Jordan put it back outside in hopes that it would wander away and maybe find its original owner. Yet days later, its still around. So, it appears that we are now the new owners of a cat. Since it has taken up residency at our house on Freedom Lane we decided it should have a name. We don't know yet if its a male or female so we chose a non-gender specific name. We wanted it to have meaning b/c of how it just appeared on our doorstep and the fact that its a solid almost white color which represents good things to me. We agreed and settled on Newbie...short for New Beginnings. The number 8 represents New Beginnings (2008), Ava was born in August (8th month) and this year has just been full of New Beginnings for us so the name just seemed so perfect!!!!! It's a sweet little cat and for as long as it sticks around we will claim it as our very own. I never thought I would have a pet cat but here I am anyway!!! So welcome to the family Newbie--we hope you like it here!

7x7

I am a blog stalker...in a good kind of way. I could not even tell you how I have stumbled upon some of the blogs that I follow regularly. A link here, a link there and then I'm hooked. Here is a link to one of the blogs that I follow. http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/ Angie is the wife of Todd Smith who sings with the Christian group Selah. You can read about her and the story of Audrey on her blog. The 7x7 button on the right side of my page is a link to a list of 7 prayers that she prays over her children every day during certain times of the day. Click the button for more details. I am sharing the information with anyone who would love to join us in praying over our children. It is something that I have begun to do with Ava and for the times that she is awake and I speak these prayers over her she just illuminates with smiles and squeals. Call it coincidence or call it knowing her Creator's Words, either way, she LOVES it! And I know that it will begin to bloom and blossom in her life. So hop on over to the link and begin praying for your child(ren) today!!!!

Sad to say...

I am a photographer. I LOVE taking pictures. I take pictures for other people a lot. I love editing each image and seeing results that make my heart sing. When I was pregnant with my precious little girl I just "knew" that I would take a picture of my ever expanding belly month by month. I had all expectations from myself as well as others that my little girl would be the most photographed infant in the world. Yet I blog this today having only had 2 official photo sessions with her and that was at 8 days old and 4 weeks old. She is now 3 months old. Below are not even official photo session images...just some candids that I paused briefly to snap. And the images with mommy and daughter...THE FIRST of the two of us together since her birth. It's really sad...I'm not happy with myself. I'm quite disappointed and want to hang my head in shame. I believe it was yesterday when the explanation developed into my rational...no, irrational mind! I have not taken the time to do my own photo sessions with Ava b/c I've just been lazy. I have not taken pictures of the two of us together b/c of the complication of photographing myself. I have not taken pictures of her with her daddy b/c I have been lazy (and he's not thrilled about having his picture made either). I, also, have not taken pictures of her b/c I am a perfectionist. If I cannot take images that make my heart sing and follow all of the rules in my photography brain then I just do not take them. Thus I have not taken any. And I should be punished! So I have finally concluded that no longer will I not pick up my camera to just snap fun candids of my little girl to capture all of these growing and developing months. Whether they turn out to be the professional images I would hang on my wall or not, I shall capture my beautiful daughter as she grows. Because I never want to forget each stage in her life. So, I, along with everyone else who follows this blog, should EXPECT more images to come! I must change my ways and it must begin now!!! :O) So below are pictures of Miss Ava...3 months old and 13 pounds. The cutest little chunky monkey in the world!!! She has the smile that lights up my entire world!! And yes, she is strongly resembling her daddy these days. I'm unsure if I'm ok with that or if I hope she grows out of it! LOL It still will not change how adorable and beautiful she is!