This is exactly what I was talking about...

This past Saturday I photographed my cousins's wedding. Since I was working, I left the decision of whether or not he came with the kids up to him because I knew I wouldn't be able to help him with them. That was just the excuse he needed because like most men, weddings aren't his idea of a fun time--especially outside weddings in the middle of a 98 degree June day. I left the house at 12:30 to head to Huntsville to start pics. The wedding was at 5:00 and I think I left around 9:45-10:00 heading home. LONG day out in the heat! At the reception I started to panic a little because my battery was on the last bar. I didn't know how much juice I had left and you can't go buy batteries for my camera. No store in Huntsville stocks them and I've been meaning to order a back-up one but just never remember until I need it you know? I managed to squeeze it out and on the way home I called Jay and asked him to remind me to get online and order one as soon as I got home. So I finally get home around 11:00 and he told me that he found my battery online and left it pulled up so I could make sure it was the right one before he ordered it for me. I was already thinking--awesome, that's really sweet of you! So I open the door to the computer armoire and this is what I saw:

He had gotten me a 32g Ipod Touch--preloaded with all of the Counting Crows albums (the love of my music life) & all the songs on his playlist, a car adapter, a little docking station so I can sit it on my desk at work and a gift card to Itunes so I can download more music. Oh--and he already had it setup through my e-mail! There was also a card with a sweet note he'd written in it.

Bryson was still awake of course and was sooo excited! He kept saying "Momma! Look at the bow! Look at the bow!!" I finally said "Yeah, that's a great bow isn't it?" and then he told me "I picked it out all by myself for you at Walmart! It's red. I paid for it all by myself." I said "Really! You paid for it? Out of your piggy bank?!" He said "Yeah! Um...no. Daddy paid for it but I picked it out all by myself!!" How sweet....my two boys!

See this exactly proves my point. He always gets amazing gifts for me and goes way over the top. You know what he got for our anniversary? I told him to go pick out some sunglasses. In my own defense, it's not quite as bad as I make it sound. He has to get them through the eye doctor so I couldn't very well know what perscription he needed now could I? Still, it's nothing compared to what he did for me of course. What I do love though, is that even though he doesn't realize it, he's teaching Bryson how a great husband treats his wife. Hopefully one day Bryson will grow up to spoil some lucky (and I hope deserving) girl just like he watched his Daddy appreciate and spoil his Momma.

So as I sit here typing while listening to "Sundays" on my new Ipod in my little purple docking station (oh I didn't mention he got my favorite color in the docking station that sweetheart) I can't help but smile because I'm definitely one lucky girl:)

ABC's of Me

I did this book for Christmas presents last year and I think it turned out cute. Some of you have already seen it but I thought I'd post it anyway because I never post pictures, just rants about mindless things so here are the ABC's of Bryson & Kynsley:

Know a good sitter?

They really don't have to be good. Just trustworthy enough to leave my kids with. You're probably thinking I'm a bad mother right now (which may be true) but I really just mean that I need someone to watch the kids for a week, feeding them, change Kynsley's diapers, make sure they don't get hurt, etc. I'm not expecting puppet shows and paper mache animals at the end of the week.

So...if anybody knows anyone that's interested please let me know! Naturally, if you know me at all you will expect nothing less than short-notice and that is exactly what you're getting:) Granny has to have knee surgery next Wednesday the 24th so I'm looking for someone from Wednesday, June 24th-Thursday, July 2nd. She said she should be fine by Monday but Granny deserves recoup time and probably a break from my two to be honest.

I have no idea what the going babysitter rate is but I'll pay whatever he/she thinks is fair or trade pics they'd rather do that--or both. Whatever-I can get-I really just need a babysitter.
Oh, and they can keep them at my house or I'll take them to them. I'm totally flexible!

Thanks everyone!!

Help!

I'm the world's WORST gift-giver. Ever. I mean, seriously bad. I have good intentions but I just can't ever seem to come up with anything good. I start thinking on ideas months in advance and still end up scrambling a week ahead of time to muster up some pitiful gift.

The worst part? Jay is the world's BEST gift-giver. No joke. I am spoiled beyond belief. He has given me so much jewelry that I could wear a different nice piece every day for probably a month. He surprised me with canvas paintings taken from photographs I'd done of the kids for mother's day once. All of my camera equipment is thanks to him. He got me the cutest leather camera bag that cost an absolute fortune and I really didn't need just because I mentioned how awesome they were. (It really is--polka dot lining and everything--I'll show you sometime). When he worked nights I would frequently wake up to fresh flowers and a sweet card on the nightstand with a long note written in it. He surprises me with trips and concert tickets to my favorite group. If he sees a pair of shoes or an outfit that he thinks I would like then he'll buy it and surprise me with it just because "I'm a good wife & mother" (he thinks--we know better). When I read Twilight I just mentioned how excited I was to start the next one and I'd have to look for it on my lunch break the next day. Well the next morning he had all 4 of the next books stacked up for me when I woke up. (He even stole the 2nd one from the Athens State Library because Walmart didn't have it but he had ordered it online and had it overnighted so I got it the next day and he could return that one). The other day he saw a lady with a cool necklace on that he thought I'd like so he asked her where she got it and then went straight there and bought me one. I could go on and on and on....

Sounds great, right? WRONG!!! It's awful. Don't get me wrong, I realize how extremely lucky I am and I am ever so grateful to have such an amazing husband but the thing is ...this makes for a miserable partnership. He always gets me amazing gifts and puts so much thought into them and I always feel like an idiot because I have some awful gift for him. Sometimes, I'm almost ashamed to admit (notice I say almost because clearly if you've read my blog then you know I have no shame) I've even just not gotten him anything at all because I figured what's the point? Why should I spend money on something he really doesn't want, need and probably won't ever use? How does he come up with so many great ideas when I can't come up with one for him?!

I've almost come to the conclusion that it's his own fault. Any time he wants something he buys it. The only great ideas I can come up with are the ones too expensive for him to go buy which also means I can't exactly go get them either. So I need your help. Father's Day is Sunday and our anniversary is Monday--Double Whammy!! Bryson thinks he needs a remote control (typical male, huh?) and Kynsley wants to get him "Peeeeejamas" so I figured I'd let the kids get their own gifts for him but he deserves a real one too. Any suggestions??

Nana & Pawpaw are leaving :(

Jay's dad recently took a job in North Carolina and they will be leaving us this week. It still seems very surreal. We've always talked about how lucky we were to have both are families living so close. Then for a while we were worried about my folks moving--they were even to the point of packing--but we prayed every night that they wouldn't have to go. Turns out we should have been praying for Nana & Pawpaw too because it worked out for Granny & Poppy but now they're having to move. If it was just me & Jay it wouldn't be a big deal but now that we have the kids I'm just heart-broken. My kids ADORE Nana & Pawpaw. They are always so excited when we go over there and beg to spend the night. I just don't know how I'm going to break it to them that we won't be seeing them very often anymore. I know we'll be traveling back and forth a lot but it still won't be the same.

On a selfish note...(oh come on, you knew it was coming)...Nana & Pawpaw are our go-to babysitters. If we ever want a date night or if I have pictures and Jay's working too then they were our sitters. They're the only people who the kids spend the night with. My parents would let them but they keep them all week so I really don't like to ask them to do overnight or Saturday duty. They usually only kept them overnight maybe once every 4-5 months but since they found out they were moving they've wanted to see them as much as possible so the kids have spent the night the last 3 Fridays in a row which I'm afraid will make this move all the worse. Bryson & Kynsley have gotten accustomed to seeing them so much & staying over that I'm sure there will be many fits over this.

I was going to include the going away festivites in this post but after re-thinking it I'm going to devote an entire post to that. You all know I tend to be a bit long-winded or handed...whatever you'd say in the blog world.

Not so grand news it turns out...

I fully intended to do an entire blog post about the pacifier fairy coming a couple of weeks ago and taking Bryson's pacy leaving him a Mickey Mouse watch (Sidenote: The watch happened to be mine when I was 7 and doesn't work but while we may think Bryson is brilliant he is in fact not a genious and can't tell time yet so doesn't seem to notice). Then Anna Beth had to show him up and ditch hers before age 2 so it really doesn't seem that grand anymore. La-de-da Anna Beth. Thanks for stealing my boy's thunder.

I'm kidding of course. Well done Anna Beth! Kynsley refused to suck a pacy even though I tried to cram one down her throat for the first 6 months of her life before finally giving up and just letting her have her thumb. My mother secretly thinks I'm a failure because of this, I know. She hasn't come right our and said it but when I started to wain in my forcing it she gave me those "tsk-tsk" looks and I knew. So yes, I will have to somehow break her of the thumb. I don't really think I'll be able to swing a "thumb fairy" so I'll have to concoct some other way. Don't bother with the dipping her thumb in something gross method because that child will eat anything. She'll even try to lick the bug wipes which are beyond gross. I'll come up with something though. I think I'm gonna make a go at potty training first though. My goal is to have her trained by Disney World and I think that's doable. We'll worry about the thumb after that. She just looks so sweet rubbing her little nose while she sucks her thumb...I'm not quite ready to give up my baby just yet:)

Back by popular demand...

Random thoughts for the day!! (Okay, so maybe it's not by popular demand but that just sounded better)

1. Today is one of those days that you just wish you could slip away and not tell anyone where you were. Just leave, you know for a day or so to just collect yourself. Problem is that does not exist and even if I could do that it wouldn't work. My mind never shuts off. Even when Jay gets me spa packages for a "relaxation" day (which I REALLY appreciate, don't get me wrong) all I can think about while I'm getting a massage or a facial is everything that I should be doing while I'm wasting time on myself. No matter how many hours I work and how little I sleep, I think I will always be 3 steps behind. Remember the movie Multiplicity? I haven't seen that in years but I've been thinking about it a lot lately. If I could just clone a couple more of me, even if each was dumber than the last I think they could still do a lot of the things I need to get done. Oh well, just daydreaming and my luck since they'd be clones of me then they would probably take on about 12 more obligations each and then I'd be in even worse shape! Before you start thinking well, if I'm that busy then why do I waste time blogging--I'm technically on the clock. Shocking...I know. I'm completely abusing my employer. I'm actually on hold listening to elevator music waiting on the barely engish-speaking person to get back on the phone so I can sort out a work related issue. Multi-tasking at its finest:)

2. Yesterday I took the young-uns to see Nicole & get their teeth cleaned. Then we ventured to the mall and as I was walking in with Kynsley holding my left hand and Bryson holding my right I just had one of those "How in the world did I get here and what am I doing with these children?" moments. I just really do not feel old enough or responsible enough to have a 2 & 3 year old. I was literally walking into the mall thinking wow...I really am an adult. I have kids and everything. It's just strange how quickly your whole life changes. I have no idea why that hit me at that moment but not much about me makes sense as you probably already have guessed.

3. Kidbop. Need I say more? I would like to get a hold of whoever had the idea to create this awfulness and then whoever decided to package them in Happy Meals! If I have to listen to Life is a Highway with 7 year olds singing in the background on repeat for one more car ride I may just intentionally run into a telephone pole. The old version was bad enough and then Rascal Flatts had to go and redo it. There are a few other songs on the happy meal kidbop cd but Bryson refuses to listen to them. As soon as it goes to another song he says "That's not my CD!!! Play my CD again!" But I can't say that I'm too upset by that because the next song is Fergie and that would just absolutely be more than I can handle.

Somehow my blogs always turn into a gripe session. I'm sorry about that...I'm generally a very peppy, optimistic person but for some reason blogging about all of my issues is theraputic. My usual therapist, a/k/a Holly, should be back in about 3 weeks so maybe my blogging will be a little more upbeat then.

Why?

Bryson has hit the "Why?" stage with full force. It's so funny to watch him trying to figure something out. He's such a little thinker it just kills me!

I have a little photo album with pictures of me & Jay when we were dating. Bryson & Kynsley like to look through it and drag it all over the house (like everything else they can get their hands on). Last night Bryson brought it to me and had it opened to a page from our Senior trip. On one page we were on the bus and on the other we were taking a nap in a hotel room (there were people in the background & everything so don't get any ideas about where this is headed...) So here's how the conversation progressed:

"Mommy, did Daddy lose me & Kynsley in this picture?" (I love that he thinks it would have to have been Daddy to lose them and not Mommy)

"No, sweetie. That was before you & Kynsley were born."

"Well...why were you on a trip? (He recognized we were in a hotel!) Why did me & Kynsley not go?"

"We were on a school trip and you and Kynsley weren't born yet. That was even before Mommy & Daddy were married."

"But why were you not married? See...you're holding hands! And you're holding hands in this picture too!" (the bus picture)

You could just see his little wheels turning in that head. Is it really possible that every single thing you say can have a "why?" Yes. Yes it is. If you don't believe me then just try to tell my son anything at all. On the way to Atlanta we had this conversation thanks to Miss Kynsley:

Kynsley: "Well...where's Anna Ba-yuff?" (because clearly we should not be going anywhere this far without her, right?)

Me: "She's at home"

Bryson: "Why is she at home"

I ignore that one--hey--take a car ride with these two before you judge...

Kynsley: "Well where's Angela?" (if Anna Beth can't come then Angela will do)

Me: "She's at home with Anna Beth"

Bryson: "Why is she at home with Anna Beth"

Me: "Because that's where they live."

Bryson: "Why is that where they live?"

Me: "Because they just do. That's where their house is."

Bryson: "Well, why do they just do?" (seriously.)

Me: "Does anybody want to watch Mary Poppins?!"

Good ole' Mary Poppins. Practically Perfect in Every Way. Circling "why" conversation over with just a little spoon full of sugar.

Jackson

So I feel a bit guilty. My very first post ever was just one big complaint with the last one being that I had to go shoot a 3 month old and 3 month sessions were the worst...gripe, moan, etc. Well, I never followed up to say that he was the best 3 month old EVER. He smiled and laughed and was just a dream. Really made me eat my words. So now the little charmer is 6 months old--actually 7 1/2 months because it took us a month and 4 rain dates to actually get a pretty day to shoot these! He's jsut as cute as ever and he has the most amazing eyes! I get the yummiest catchlights with those big eyes. On to some favorites & collages:

I had a vision of a naked baby in the bright green grass with bubbles all around...

...of course that didn't really work out as planned. We still got some cute shots though.

His daddy wasn't too happy about this outfit but I thought he looked sweet!

I didn't realize until this very minute that I didn't put the correct initials on this one. Oh well, easy fix!

www.alicialooneyphotography.com/Jackson-6month/index.html

Laura Beth & Joe

I recently shot engagment pictures for my cousin Laura Beth and her fiance Joe. It was a perfect day. We started out downtown then went out to her dad's place in West Limestone. The afternoon light was just perfect and we ended up shooting around 650 frames I think (I tend to get a little carried away) Here are some of my favorites:

The entire shoot's at www.alicialooneyphotography.com/LB-Joe/index.html

Thanks for looking!