An Eliot Post

I cannot believe that my little boy is almost 3! These last three years have flown by and at the same time, I cannot remember what we did before him (where did all of our spare time go?) He has changed my life in every way possible. When I was pregnant, I was (truly) scared that I wouldn't know how to love him-- how silly that seems now that I love him more than anything else.

Sad to say that my sweet 2 year old is rapidly turning into a 3 year old-- one that has tantrums and stuff. The terrible twos didn't hit until about 2 weeks ago or so. We knew it had to hit sometime!

He is still the cutest thing though. The things he says are priceless.

The other day we were over my friends house. She has a little boy who is 2 and a baby girl named Sophia. We spent the morning there and on the drive home he told me he "likes that baby."

I told him "That baby's name is Sophia."

He said "I call him digger."

I said "Well, it's a she, and her name is Sophia."

He said: "Well, I call him digger."

He won.


Of course when I finally get the quiet chance to sit down in front of the computer, all the cute and funny things he has said over the course of the last month flee me. Ted & I are always sharing cute stories of what Eliot said that day though.

A few weeks ago Eliot got in trouble for screaming. After a few minutes he said "Daddy, you stress me out and that's why I go like this <>." I thought that was hysterical.

He walks his trucks and pretends they are puppy dogs (they are all named Digger). He brings them over to me and asks me to babysit them while he goes to work. Then he goes to get his camera.

He has a great vocabulary and can hold actual back and forth conversations with you now. He's growing up so fast.

He's been potty trained since April (although we haven't even attempted the overnight yet).

He's been trying to dress himself lately too, which is great because before he didn't have any desire to try to do so. I snapped this picture yesterday of his handy-underwear-work:

(if you can't tell, his pee-hole is in the back)

The most important thing is that he is so well adjusted and sweet-natured. He's good with other kids. He's very adaptable. He's snuggly and loving. He's caring ("Mama, I take care you" when I have a headache). I am SO proud of him. So, he's a little spoiled and can't yet recite the alphabet. I'm not worried. He can name every type of truck there is and tell you what it's used for-- that's just as practical as knowing your alphabet, right?

Oh, and the most impressive thing that had Ted and I both floored is that he took us backroads to my in-laws house-- a way we had never been before. Ted & I didn't even know where we were at one point and he insisted that we were going the right way-- and we were. He definitely has a better since of direction than I do-- and I know he doesn't get it from my side of the family :)

Friendship & The Poconos

Sometimes I feel badly that Eliot doesn't get to do as many fun things or have as much social interaction as other children his age because of my anxiety, but looking back over my posts from this Summer makes me feel pretty good. I think we (Ted & I) have done a really good job at making sure he's always got something coming up; something to look forward to. I think this boy has had a really great Summer so far.

This post is really special to me.

I found out I was pregnant with Eliot on New Year's Eve 2007. In early January 2008, I had stumbled across a message board with hundreds of women who were also expecting in September of 2008. It was awesome. I visited that message board several times a day because someone was always asking/answering a question that *I* had too. At first, we were all going through the same pregnancy-related things (nausea, heart-burn, charlie horses--- I even remember one specific post asking if anyone else felt as though "tiny midgets were constantly stabbing their vagina." I responded that "Yes," unfortunately I knew exactly what she meant by that.

We all bonded so closely. After our babies were born, we asked questions about breastfeeding, babywearing, why is he/she crying?, why won't he/she sleep?

Then posts started to become about milestones... they rolled over, they sat up, they crawled, took their first step, had their first birthday, and so on...

When questions seemed to slow down about our new children (as we seemed to finally be getting the hang of it), they started to gear more towards us, mothers. We chatted and shared stories about our old lives, hurtful things, crazy things, stories of love, stories of inspiration, weight loss triumphs and goals. We supported and encouraged each other when things got tough for one of our own. We've had several moms who have miscarried (myself included), some even had late term losses. Some had lost their mothers. One Mama fought the battle of her LIFE for her unborn (and then born) baby when she found out her baby had CDH (congenital diaphragmatic hernia) and was facing very scary statistics about her babies survival (Anyone remember the story of Quinn?). We've gone through divorces, talked about sex and other TMI subjects. We've bitched and moaned about our husbands. We even rally together when one of our Mamas needs it. We've collected money for Mamas who have been through just the worst kind of pain and done something awesome with it (prepared meals, spa days, passes to theme parks, cleaning ladies).

How many people go through ALL the things mentioned above without a support system and somehow *I* was blessed enough to have found this group of women. I have tears in my eyes writing this.

I had the chance to meet some of these Mamas through the years. Some came to me for photo sessions and some actually live in New England.

I met my best friend (aside from my husband) in this group. (I love you, Nikki).

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to the Poconos in Pennsylvania to meet 17 of these women (well, 14 because I had already met 3 of them prior). These women came from Canada, Texas, Montana, California, New Mexico, and several other states to rent a house for 3 days and get to know each other in real life. There were also 6 babies there! (Not any of our September babies, but younger children). I Even got to meet Quinn-- and witness the miracle that she truly is.

Although, I didn't stay in the house (I didn't feel up to making a 4.5 hour drive alone and didn't think I wanted to leave Ted & Eliot anyway), I did have the opportunity to meet these wonderful, amazing, inspirational women.

Nikki's family owns a cabin about an hour from the meet-up house. Ted, Eliot & I stayed in a hotel a few minutes from there. We spent most of our time with Nikki and her family, but Nikki and I did drive (an hour away) to the meet up house and spent the whole day there on Saturday.

The meet up house was near Nikki's Dad and she only gets to see him a handful of times a year so she asked if I wouldn't mind tagging along while she said hello to him. The whole ride there, Nikki had me in TEARS. SOBBING. I had heard the story of her Mom (how close they were, how she was diagnosed with lung cancer, and how it ultimately took her life in 2005) over the internet, but hearing it in person was a totally different experience. The details of her story touched my heart so deeply (as I start to sob AGAIN right now writing this). As if that wasn't bad enough, we got out of the car and went in to meet her Dad. Her Dad was so happy to see Nikki and was very happy to show me all the photos of his beloved wife. Nikki says he still lives as if she passed yesterday and that is very much the impression I got as well. I tried to stay strong as he showed me photos and told me stories of his wife, but as soon as I saw a tear roll down his cheek, I lost it 100%. I feel blessed to have met him, if only briefly. There is something inspiring about meeting someone who loved his wife so much and so obviously.

Well, thanks to all of that, I arrived to the meet-up house with my make up smudged and my eyes puffy (after I had spent so much time trying to make myself look decent to meet these women!).

Nikki and I walked in and it was so... ODD! I have seen all of their photos a number of times on Facebook, etc. but to see them all in person was surreal. Once we settled in though, we had a great time.

We played games, chatted, LAUGHED A LOT, shared stories, ATE A LOT, and just got to know one another in real life. It was amazing. Again, I don't know how I got so blessed, but I am thankful I did.

A full day didn't seem long enough. Hopefully, I'll be able to make it to another meet-up in the future. It was an awesome experience.

Here's the group of us (can you tell who was photoshopped in?)


And some other photos from our stay in the Poconos:

Fun at Nikki's cabin:


Eliot giving the dogs treats (it was like his favorite thing ever):
Eliot at our hotel:


I told him to spit the skin in his dump truck (he doesn't like the skin)
We went to a zoo called "Claws & Paws"
And these were friends we saw on our way to the meet-up house:

Don't You Just Love It When Things Work Out?

I am photographing a couple's wedding next September who live out in central MA. For their engagement photos, they wanted to go to a park in Paxton, MA which is quite a drive for me (about a little less than an hour and a half). I was speaking to Ted's cousin's wife, Katie, and she told me Paxton was the next town over from them-- who knew?! They even offered to host Ted & Eliot for a few hours that evening while I went on my shoot so I didn't have to drive that far by myself (have I mentioned that I HATE driving?!). It was PERFECT. Katie & Kevin were such good hosts for my boys. They fed them and entertained them while I went along and did my job (20 minutes from their home--- MUCH, much better than 90 minutes!).

I got to spend about a half hour with them and their adorable son, Russell both before and after my session and even got to snap a few quick pics before I was out the door. So I want to again give a HUGE shout out and THANK YOU to Kevin, Katie, & Russell, for babysitting my husband and son while I worked in the town next to them! Thank you!




And a couple favorites from my session (and I ended up LOVING the location they chose too so everything really did work out well)!