Pasadena Engagement Photography

Just wanted to share a recent engagement session I just posted on my photography blog. You can see the rest HERE.

Belly

Today I'm showing off my belly toddler style. Eli thought it would be fun to decorate my belly with stickers.

Eli came over while I was trying to get a picture in the mirror and wanted to take the stickers off. I bent down so he could reach and got a few shots before I realized how disgustingly dirty the bottom of the mirror is from his sticky, grimy fingers!! Guess I should have cleaned it.

I am almost 6 months along right now and my pregnancy has been going very well. So far I have avoided most of the swelling and numbness I had the first time around. I have been having a little bit of pelvic pain from the ligaments stretching, but nothing too bad. Eli is very sweet to the belly - always wanting to give it hugs and kisses. We have been trying to prepare him for the arrival of his little brother and get him excited about it, but he doesn't really know what's going on.

And because I love this session so much, I had to post a couple of my favorites shots. Check out the rest of Shawn and Alisha's maternity shoot HERE or go to my photography blog.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! We had a lovely holiday visiting friends and family. And Eli really got into looking for Easter eggs this year. I'm sure he'll enjoy searching for eggs again and again over the next couple of weeks. Here are a few pictures from Eli's egg hunt.

We filled his eggs with crackers and little matchbox cars, with was perfect. Eli got really excited to open them.

We're still working on names for the next baby. The main contenders right now are Levi, Noah, Jonah, Emmett and Malakai (Kai). If you haven't left a comment and voted in the poll, please help out -->

A rose by any other name

Names... ugh! Like I said in the last post, the only problem with having a boy is coming up with a name. I don't know why, but Elijah (Eli) just seemed to fit last time. Pretty much my whole pregnancy, we knew his name would be Elijah. I keep waiting for an epiphany this pregnancy and it's just not happening. So...

We would like to hear your input on our very long and ever changing "short" list of boy names - even suggestions would be appreciated. I'm just getting so tired of looking at list after list of names and getting no inspiration. Sure, there's a lot of names we like, but can I see my next son with the name - I don't know. Feel free to vote in the poll on the right --> but please, please leave your comments below so we know why you do or don't like certain names - their connotations, etc. Here's the list (for now):

Levi
Noah
Kai
Jonah
Emmett
Isaiah
Enoch
Malakai (Kai)
Xion
Jasper



And just to keep this post interesting, here is a sneak preview of Lincoln for our good friends, the Cunninghams. Lincoln, now that's a good name...

BIG Announcement

I have been dying to know the gender of our next baby for weeks and weeks. So this morning we finally went in for our 20 week ultrasound and found out we are having...

... a BOY! The tech said he was 99% sure it was a boy. So Eli will have a little brother soon to torture. I am actually really happy to have another boy. For the last week or so, I have been imagining two brothers playing and having fun. I think it will be so nice for them to grow up together.

The only downside is now I have no idea what we will name him (I already had a girl name ready, but no boy name). And I will have to pack away the two little pink blankets I made for a future daughter. We want more kids, so I have plenty of chances for the little girl I want eventually.

Toddler Decorating

I love our sweet Eli - he just cracks me up sometimes. Life with a toddler is definitely busy, but it's also fun. For several weeks, I have noticed Eli placing some of his prized possessions carefully around our house, like he wants to leave little bits of himself everywhere. In particular, I keep noticing him hanging his little train cars off the hook in our armoire. He doesn't seem fazed that I take them off when we clean up, they are always put back up the next day. :)

In addition to the hook, he also likes to "park" some of his cars on the little shelf in the armoire.

As I was taking pictures of these little decorations, I decided to look around and see what other strange places he leaves his toys. This one is under the armoire.

And a little Fisher Price person in our door jam.

And finally, a mini board book in the mail slot. Maybe he thinks he's leaving me special treats or surprises all over the house. :)

I can't get over how cute Eli is getting. I love seeing his personality emerge. For the most part, Eli is pretty easy going and happy (except when he is teething with all four molars, like right now!!). Eli has so much energy - he loves to run and play especially at the park. He is a huge dare devil and doesn’t want my help as he goes down the slides and climbs the ladders. He loves to get dirty and play in the sand, sometimes putting it down his clothes and diaper!

Since Eli is only 18 months old right now, he doesn’t really understand that he will be a big brother soon. However he is very interested in babies, and likes to sign “baby” and wave whenever he’s sees one. Eli is starting to speak and sign a lot. He loves to say his “C” words: “car”, “crash”, “cracker”, and “cat” among other things. But most of all it is so fun to see him really taking off with sign language. He signs about 40 words, mostly things that interest him: “bird”, “airplane”, “dog”, “boat”, “ball”, “water” and “siren” or to communicate his needs: “help”, “please”, “thank you”, “sorry”, “more”, “hot”, and “cold”. We also have fun asking where his different body parts are for Eli to point to: “eyes”, “ears”, “nose”, “mouth”, and “belly button”.

Eli is also starting to show affection. He will spontaneously get up from playing to give me a hug and kiss or to cuddle next to me for a few seconds. He also likes to imitate what we are doing, like pulling the covers on our laps, reading a book, or typing on the computer (no matter how much I discourage that). I love that he wants to be so helpful now, following simple directions to bring me his shoes or close the door. Eli is such a joy, I can't wait to have another one and add to our family. I hope Eli will love his new sibling. BTW: We will (hopefully) be finding out the gender in two weeks, so if you haven't voted in the poll to the right, go ahead. I'm excited to find out. :)

On an unrelated note, if you haven't had a chance to check out my photography website for a while, there are a lot of new photos and updated info. In addition, there are several new posts on my photography blog.

Lake Havasu

In January, we were able to take a short vacation to Lake Havasu. It has been a long time since we have been able to visit Lake Havasu, so when we didn't have any big plans for the holiday in January, we decided to head to Havasu for a quiet weekend. It was such a nice, relaxing weekend - we didn't even put the boat in the water. We went to the local swap meet, shopped a little and visited the island several times to let Eli play at the playground and wade in the water.

One time, we also brought some goldfish crackers and showed Eli how to feed the birds. Eli was excited when the birds came so close to him, but then he wasn't sure he wanted to share his crackers. We would throw one to the birds and then eat one: "one for you, one for me." It was pretty funny.

There always seems to be gorgeous sunsets in Havasu, so one of the nights we took a few pictures. Here's a shot from the front yard.

Update

Everyone keeps asking how my pregnancy is going, so I thought I'd post it here. I just finished my first trimester, and I can't believe how fast it's going this time around. I am already starting to show a little bit, so I will need to take some photos of my belly and post them soon. I am relieved to finally be feeling better. I don't get morning sickness too badly - just some nausea. But the worst part for me is the extreme fatigue. I just want to sleep all the time and couldn't make myself do practically anything (especially cleaning!). I'm just glad to be feeling better and able to get out of the house, which is good because Eli gets too restless at home and starts destroying our house. At first, I wanted the gender to be a surprise, but now I am not sure I can wait that long. I am already dying to know, so cast your vote in the poll on the right and I'll probably be announcing what we are having in a month or so.

And since I always like to have a photo with my posts, here is a preview of the cousin Deborah's family shoot on my photography blog. You can view the rest HERE.

BIG NEWS

Elijah is excited to announce our BIG news...

That's right, we are expecting again! We are due August 11th, four days away from Eli's second birthday (August 15th). You would have thought we planned it that way, but no, it's just what the Lord had in mind for us. So being almost at the end of my first trimester, I thought we should make our official announcement. My pregnancy has been going well so far, except for some tiredness and mild morning sickness, which has already started to pass. We couldn't ask for a better experience and are grateful for our blessings.

BTW: I bought this shirt as soon as I found out and that's how I told Brian and my mom that we were expecting. They were super excited.

Day at the Park

Okay, I know I left the poop post up way too long. So to atone for that, here are several updates, including some big news to follow in the next post...

Right before Christmas, Brian and I took Eli to the park and took some photos of him to give to our family. Half of these are Brian's photos. I can't even tell which ones are mine or his. Isn't he getting so good at taking photos? That's good because we can't afford a real photographer for our family and I shouldn't be absent from all our future photos. :)

Our goal was to get some frame-able shots. I think we got some cute ones.

This is my favorite shot of the day. We enlarged this so it could be framed.

Swing time. He really is a happy boy. He was overjoyed to play at the park with us. The only challenge is to get him to look up. He is pretty good at ignoring us.

Eli catching falling leaves.

This one cracked me up.