See that?

Its amazing to me that we are days away from Thanksgiving! We are so incredibly excited to have all of Johnny's family in town. The Maples are actually staying with us so the kids are literally beside themselves ready to have a crazy party with their cousins. :)

I have to admit though, I have some mixed emotions! This is the first ever Thanksgiving I won't be spending with my family. My parents & my brother are in Atlanta waiting patiently for my sister's baby to be born. He/She is scheduled to come meet us tomorrow! I'm predicting a boy but I know my mom's hoping for another girl. :)

I'm not 100% sure what Nicholas' first words were... but I'm almost positive it was "See that?" I love the 2nd picture in this series because its just after he said, "See that?" Every time he wakes up he points to his toys and asks me if he's seen them... It makes me wonder if he sits in his crib and stares at them while he waits for me to come get him. :)

Houston, we have a walker!

Although he hasn't made the switch to exclusively walking Nicholas has definitely passed the first stages of learning to walk! He now regularly chooses to walk instead of crawl and can take 15 or so steps at a time! I can't believe my baby is old enough to walk. It seemed like it happened fast this time too. He went from having absolutely no interest in walking to full blown walking in about 6 weeks.

In my book, that makes him a walker. :)

Argh, Matey

On any given day you can find John Michael dressed up as a pirate. Last year for Christmas Tara & Adam bought John Michael & Addy pirate costumes and the novelty has not worn off since!

He's also my little drama child. He's the most expressive and I think the most imaginative. I'm regularly overhearing him fighting imaginary bad guys or rescuing people in distress. It warms my heart.

Fashion Hypocrite

I feel a bit like a fashion hypocrite. When I leave the house I try to look cute - I love wearing things that are in style and trendy and unique. But when I'm home, which is the majority of my life, I wear my pajamas. All. Day. Lately my pajamas are oversized t-shirts and pants that are two sizes too big so you can imagine Lucky magazine has been breaking down my door for a photo shoot and a list of my winter must haves. :)

I'm the same way with the kids. My children have been blessed with a grandma who loves to buy them clothes - so their wardrobes are nothing short of adorable. But when we're home they wear mismatched clothes or run around naked....

Which leads me to my title. I feel a bit like a hypocrite! People think I'm SO stylish and SO put together because they see me once a week in public... but then they come over to my house or see me when I'm running out to the grocery store and they look at me compassionately and ask if I'm sick. "No," I kindly reply, "I just don't usually wear make up during the week."

So you see, its out. I'm really just a lazy bum at heart.

Though I will say that if Addy has cute cotton dresses I will put those on her every day. My mom recently bought this one from Target and I happened to have tights that matched perfectly. I figured I better take advantage of the non pj moment and grab a few snappies.

Chatty Cathy... or should I say Mumbling Michelle?

Blogging is actually one of my favorite things to do. I think I've always liked to hear myself talk so having a place where nobody is doing the talking but me has to be appealing to my inner chatterbox. Its so different than being with people and always asking myself... "Am I talking to much?" In those situations you're worried because you know that person is "stuck" listening to you for the sake of being polite - even if they're bored to tears and wishing your mouth had a remote control... but in blogworld you can just click your little red dot (or that little "x" for PC users) and shut me up in an instant if you'd like.

I recently read that what makes a great photographer so great isn't necessarily her pictures... but her personality. That you aren't just selling someone your "work" you're selling them yourself... because you are pouring a part of yourself into all of your work - and especially when someone books you for their wedding you are literally sharing every minute with them for 10-12 hours! So, its important they like YOU and not just your pictures... though I promise I won't talk your ear off on your wedding day if you book me. :)

All of that to say that you can expect this blog to be a bit wordier than its been this past year. I'm feeling chatty again and I plan taking it out on you, dear Internet.

And because even I know that words simply aren't enough.... here's a peek at our Halloween this year:

If you mess with the bull...

If you mess with the bull...

you get the horns!!

But don't worry, he's a nice bull. :)

Fall is fleeting

Fall is fleeting... which means that these shots I grabbed of the older kids in the leaves might be the only leaf shots I get this year. :( I'm hoping for ONE nice day this week I can sneak Nicholas out for one too but so far its forecasted to rain every day.

At least I got these while I could!

John Michael last week: "Its too spicy."

Addy: "Here John Michael, have another."

John Michael: "I don't like it."

Addy: "Yah, you don't like too spicy."

John Michael: "Yah Addy, I don't like three spicy either."

hehe

And one more

Me, at dinner: "John Michael, stop picking your nose."

John Michael: "Mommy, I'm not picking my boogers out, I'm putting them back in."

24 Weeks

I'm 24 weeks pregnant... and my butt thinks I'm 40. Someone send it a message to STOP. GETTING. BIGGER.

Wear Mumus.

Wear Mumus. Because you can... and they make you feel fancy, even when you're not. :)

Worth coming home to.

I've been doing a lot of sessions lately. Its my busy season, what can I do? :) As much as I enjoy it though it definitely wears me out... so you can imagine how sweet it was to come home to this little guy waiting for me tonight.

Promise: Every post won't be exclusively about Nicholas. :)

The toothless wonders

My children aren't exactly concerned with "normal." They're either abnormally big or abnormally small, never right down the middle. They either do things quite advanced (okay, maybe not) or quite a bit on the tail end of normal.  Nobody walked before they were a year. As a matter of fact it was several months afterwards. :)

Teeth are no exception to this precedent. I even thought Addy might make it to her first birthday without any teeth but around 11 months she finally popped one through. Nicholas seems to be on the same boat. He's 13 months old and just has two bottom teeth... but any day now I think we'll see 3 or 4 new ones on top!

Its a good thing I think gummy smiles are so cute. :)