My Sweet Prince

Bryce is 4 months old and he's only now being put on a schedule. I'm trying to find his schedule. He doesn't always like the one I give him. I have to thank Christi for figuring out he's a hungry little monster when he wakes up from a nap. That has helped me out a lot. He tends to eat when he wakes up and when he goes down for a nap (not always). He's been taking 2 naps a day. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. They are both 2 hours each. Although, he just woke up and fell back to sleep while he was eating. We'll see how long this one lasts, so far 2.25 hours.

I just bought the book "Baby Wise" as my friend Mandi had recommended. I haven't had the chance to sit down and read it yet, but I will here shortly. It should help me put Bryce on a schedule. I'm excited for that. Once he's on a schedule, I can put myself on a schedule.

I'm having a hard time balancing mommy, housekeeper, and career woman. I want to focus on Bryce, as he is a high priority, but I also want to get things done on the business and around the house. At Monday night's Bible Study, I heard two things that I want to try. One woman had mentioned the fact that her mother never cleaned house while they were awake. She wanted to focus on the kids and her relationship with them. I have spent the 2 hours in between naps with Bryce, playing with him or watching a movie or at the computer (I have to get some work done). I've seen an improvement with his crankiness since I've started this (and it's only been 2 days).

Another woman mentioned www.flylady.com (you smell like bleach if you do it her way, not fun). I followed the guidance of the "fly lady" and bleached the kitchen sink. HOLY COW! It looks brand new. The old, caked on water residue that looked black is now gone, it makes the entire kitchen look better. She also advises that you give yourself a 15 minute time limit on each room every day. I don't know if I could do that. I have to finish the job if I start it. We'll see if I can do it after I'm finished with "operation gut out the house".

My plan is to clean during his first nap and work on the business during his second nap. There are very few things I have to do at the computer to work on the business. I can still read (for the most part) while he's awake.

Okay, time to go. I have some work I want to get together for tonight's business meeting with Chris.

I don't know what to title this

I have spent most of today trying to figure out a way to make my own cloth diaper wraps. My mom found some patterns online, and they helped my creative process (thanks mom!). The problem is, I don't have anything that won't melt in the dryer to keep moisture in. I was going to use the previous vinyl diapers we were using (since they're not going to fit him anyways) as a liner in the wrap, but they don't do so hot in the dryer. My next wonder is: will zip lock bags work as a liner? I will continue to think.

I watched Melissa's daughter, Chloe, yesterday. We had some fun in the studio, so I thought I'd share.

This one is probably my favorite.Mom was with me when I got this boa. Chloe just adored it.


She wanted to give the flower to mommy.



I let her give this one to mommy.

I told her there was a bug in there, she didn't believe me.We had a blast picking up all of these rose petals. They were hard getting into the tin the first time, let alone the second time. She shut the container with my hand in there. OUCH!

We had fun and Melissa loves the pictures. Which, is what it's all about. Melissa said you can't get a good, non-fake smile out of her. Here's my trick for any kid that wants to give a big "CHEESE", have them say crazy sayings like "Cheeseburgers and onion sauce" it makes them laugh while they're saying it and they can't just strike a pose. I've heard another photographer have kids say "YES!" and "CANDY!", but I find the kids look at me and wonder what they're saying yes to or they want candy. Silly phrases work for me. Use my tip if you'd like, I won't copyright it.

I applied for an evening job at Hollywood Video. They need someone for the night shift. The manager has already said he wants to hire me back. However, the McKinley store is closing so he has to hold off on hiring for right now. He's hoping the district manager will let him hire me since I've already worked there. Let's pray that she does.

Okay, off to bed. Well, actually, I watched "David" the last few nights (TNT makes long movies about Bible characters-go figure). "Solomon" is next.

One more thing, I have Christmas Eve to upload to Target's Kodak Gallery to share with everyone. Once I get that done (hopefully tomorrow or Monday), I will post a link to get to them.

Nativity Story, just for Christmas?

I found myself wanting to watch "The Nativity Story" today. I don't know why. When I was doing dishes and making dinner, I had the urge to put it in. I then realized, it's packed away with the Christmas movies. Why is it packed away in the Christmas stuff? I can't remember if Chris or myself made the notion to put it in there, but it's there. I then began to think.

A lot of times, we compartmentalize Jesus' birth to Christmas. Isn't that one of the most beautiful things about Salvation? Jesus was BORN to a virgin so that He might save our souls. The most important part, to me, is the fact that He died so that I could be saved. But, what about his birth, isn't that just as important. He was born so humbly. It really shows us, as Christians, that God is so AWESOME. He can and will do the impossible.

Instead of putting "The Nativity Story" away for Christmas or even "Passion of the Christ" (which is a debatable movie) away for Easter, why don't we watch them every so often as a reminder of what God did for us and then what Jesus did for us.

"For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish" John 3:16

Maternity Photo Shoot

My photo shoot on Saturday was a lot of fun. Amanda and Guy are very anxious for their little baby boy to come. Guy Jr. is due February 5, 2008. I remember that anticipation like it was yesterday. Here is the final product.

Don't hold the shift key!

This is not a very good idea to do. It's very hard to get it back to normal. Don't believe me, press your shift key down for 8 seconds. You will no longer be able to type in the comma key (at all) and your letters will automatically be capitalized until you put caps lock on. This is very frustrating and it makes your husband irritated when he can't figure out what you did.

Just a little fun, "life with Katie" tip. Typing that made me realize just how much of a dork I really am. But would you have me any other way. I personally love it. It makes for great laughs, sometimes. Sometimes, it can be irritating, at least I would think.

Back to reality. Bryce decided he was too tired to fight me when I put him to bed. He was wide awake when I was putting him in his crib. He fell asleep almost instantly. You would think that I was torturing him when I was clipping his nails tonight. Chris said he could hear him all the way outside when he was fixing the car (my hero). In fact, our poor neighbor kept looking outside because he was screaming so loud. Those talons had to go though. He was scratching himself and me. He likes to caress my neck when he's giving me hugs or when he's cuddling after a nap, and OUCH!, it hurts.

I want to get him into the studio tomorrow and work on some new pictures of his little turkey butt. I don't have any of him sleeping so maybe I can sneak him in there (after turning the heater on MUCH earlier) while he's napping. Every time I've tried that in the past, he's woken up while I am setting everything up. Rylee and Aden pulverized the hammock I was using for baby pics (which, I forgive them, no big deal) so now I have to come up with another solution. I want some semi naked pics too.

I noticed my diaper supply is low and here real soon I'll be going to cloth diapers. I give in, I can't afford to buy diapers. I've noticed Bryce has had rougher, redder skin since back in disposable diapers. I don't miss cleaning them after every change though. I would like to get better diaper covers, eventually. He leaks through the vinyl covers. Any tips and tricks to clean or to keep him from leaking out of them are more then welcomed.

I have a new lens on it's way. It's a 2.8 lens. YAY! Hopefully it'll be here before the wedding I'm 2nd shooting for on February 2nd. That should be fun. I'm excited, it's been 2 years since my last wedding and I'm getting anxious.

Okay, enough rambling, time for bed. Goodnight all.

Grumpy Little Boy

Today has been an eventful day with Bryce. Poor little guy has been acting miserable. He just doesn't want to stop crying. I usually have a problem with him Mondays, but this was a little bit out of the ordinary. Chris was home today and I think it threw him off. He's really grumpy. He's starting to get on a better schedule, but the weekends with his big sis sometimes throw him off.

I started to look at Corban's birthday party pictures. 402 pictures; an average of 201 per hour, 3.35 per minute. Yes, I used a calculator for the average. I really should be working on Amanda's maternity pictures. They came out better than I thought they did. I'm excited. Bryce is insisting I hold him as I type so I can't really work on any pictures.

Bryce is playing with his toes. I've figured out, for the most part, if I take his socks off when he's crying he's content with playing with his toes. Speaking of toes, his toenail are little talons. I should probably clip those and his fingernails. OUCH! He scratches when he plays.

It's time to start the bed time routine. I will work on putting the pictures from his meeting with Grandma Acorn up. Yes, I know, that was back in October. Jan, I know you've been anxious to see them. I still have to send you pictures of Josie like I said I was going to last year. Maybe I'll just load them to Target's photo gallery and everyone can order any picture they want. Don't quote me on that, I have to figure out how to do that first.

First Post

YAY! My first post. I will try to post frequently, but please bare with me. Starting a business, becoming a new mom, and managing a home is challenging at times. This should be fun.

Josie just left. Sad moment. Chris still has yet to return from dropping her off. Bryce and I watching Lion King. So far, his favorite movies are "Veggietales' King George and the Ducky" (he has a ducky so I think he identifies the two together) and "Cars".

He found his feet two weeks ago so he's laying on my feet grabbing his feet. He's upset that I won't let him have his feet exposed (he likes his toes). He fell out of his swing last Monday, so that's going back to Melissa's tomorrow when I go to Bible Study.

We had a really nice weekend with Josie. We had Corban's 4th birthday yesterday. Josie had fun, Bryce was a little upset the whole time. After that, I had a maternity photo shoot. That went pretty well. She wasn't up for everything I wanted to try, but that's fine. I was once 9 months pregnant too.

Dad and Tim delivered Grandma Landry's old entertainment system. It looks so nice in our living room. It's nice to little by little have stuff that is ours in this house.

It's been a long last couple of days. I've gutted out almost all of the rooms now. Our room, Josie's room, Bryce's room, the living room, and the studio. I have to get to the bathroom, kitchen and the office this week. I should probably do the dining room too, but we'll see how far I get. I have a lot of photos to edit.

It's time to go now. I'll post some new pictures of Bryce that I've taken recently. He's starting to play now and it's a lot of fun for me.