Penelope

Penelope is now 18 months and I try not to freak out daily about the fact that my baby is growing up and forcing me down the exit ramp off the freeway of babyhood. It's a crazy bumpy fast-paced ride full of accidents and many tears so you'd think I'd be happy to get off but I'm not. I'm trying to remember the feeling of a baby kicking inside me and a newborn sleeping on my chest...

I like to remember those things, and it's good to do so because then I also remember things like nausea, waddling, spit up down my shirt, sore nipples, night time feedings, and the general greasiness you feel 65% of the time when you have a new baby. So even though all those things are totally worth it, I'm trying to see myself as in the pay off stage. Like, I had the baby, trained her well, now I'm enjoying my adventurous 18 month old who will still snuggle with me whenever I need it.

I snapped this picture of Penelope a couple weeks ago. I didn't catch her like this, she climbed in face first and I caught her in there with her back towards me. So I grabbed the camera and turned her around so I could remember just how cute and little and playful my baby girl is.

I have always tried to capture the cuteness of my kids in the bath...little kids are SO cute wet all over. But I've never really been able to do it to satisfy myself. I threw caution to the wind and got way too close to water with my expensive camera but was able to get a 1...2...3... of Penelope that I think will remind me of her preciousness one day. It is special to be the baby. We're all crazy about her. I'm glad I'm getting this down now, because yesterday and today she started walking around the house yelling, "Maaa! Maaa!" I'm sure this is going to get old real quick but for now I'm scooping her up and loving her with fury.

Finally, today I took pictures of Cash for his "3 year old" photo shoot. I'm only a month late, that's pretty impressive. I put some pictures on my photography blog, but here's one I left off the "professional" site. It happened in the middle of the session...he had to pee so he dropped his drawers right there in the yard. Love it.