Backing Up and Moving Forward

This time of year life gets a little crazy for me.  I'm so thankful for my business and my clients and most of all for my wonderful family that supports me and my work in ALL ways.  I feel incredibly blessed to do something that fulfills me, gives me room to grow, and allows me creative freedom.  However, it does leave little time for me to "extras." Keeping up with this personal blog would be considered one of the 'extras.'   This is one of the reasons why I have to back up a little before I can move forward. 

Back in May, one of my mom friends from Montana (and the rest of her beautiful family) came to Boston for some other business, but we got to spend one morning together.  We went to the Franklin Park Zoo with our families.  I've had these photos on my computer for 6 weeks and just now filtered through them. 

Zeke, their little boy was born just a day before Eliot.  With all the jet lag of coming in from Montana, he wasn't as thrilled as Eliot to have a playmate, but he did end up warming up.  We had a nice time regardless of the unseasonal cold temperatures.  This year's weather has been crazy.  From the 80* temps in March to the 50* temps in May.  We New Englanders are really finding a lot to complain about this year.  I'm good with 60's and 70's all year round. 

Speaking of weather.  Last week, we had this year's first official heat wave-- 3 days in a row over 90*.  We took advantage and brought out the Winnie the Pooh sprinkler that Linda gave to us.  Eliot had a fun time running back and forth through it quite a few times.  Even I ran through a couple times to cool off.  We didn't stay out too long-- it was HOT!

Paws in The Park

For the short time that we had Merelle, we hired a dog trainer, Kerri.  Kerri called me a couple weeks ago and asked me if I would be willing to help her out by taking some photos of her and her booth at a charity event called "Paws in The Park" raising money for homeless dogs.  After all she did to help us, and for the cause, of course I agreed.  I took along Ted and Eliot and we went to Sudbury for a Paws in The Park adventure.  It was a weird weather day-- overcast, sunny, and rainy at the same time.  Eliot was in his glory.  He was so excited to see all the pups.  There were many booths set up with things from pet portraits to dog training to nail trimmings to dog beds, adoptions, and they even had a bouncy house for kids.  Ted took Eliot to the bouncy house while I worked. 

In between shooting for Kerri, I captured some photos of Eliot.  During my busy work season, it seems I really slack on taking photos of my own son and family so this was an easy way to sneak some photos in. 

On another note, I cannot, CANNOT!!!!! believe that Eliot is almost FOUR!! I don't know where the time went.  Three was tough to take, but FOUR I feel like I CANNOT take!! Four is OLD, definitely not a baby anymore and not even a toddler, but a child! I have a real kiddo now! That kiddo is all signed up for preschool and everything-- 3 days a week!  He will be going to the Fox Hill School in Danvers 3 mornings a week come Fall and I'm not loving that either.  I feel like all of a sudden he's going to be subjected to all sorts of kids and behaviors that he was "protected" from before.  I'm worried about what this might mean for his own behavior patterns.  He is such a sweet child.  Not to mention the illnesses... OH-THE-ILLNESSES. I might need to heavily sedate myself to be able to cope with all the illnesses that come along with preschool. 

We are very excited to first enjoy our Summer though.  Eliot and I made a "pail list" the other day (instead of a "bucket list") which is a list of 25 things we want to do this Summer.  We have included things like visit Papa's grave, plant some flowers, go to Thomas day at Edaville, visit Canobie Lake Park, and buy an ice cream from the ice cream man.  Summer is definitely my favorite time of year and I can't wait to spend some quality time with my little guy!

Portraits of Eliot

It's not that often that I get to take portraits of my own child.  He actually hates the camera.  He usually won't even look at it.  Either that, or he will give the fakest "cheese" smile you ever did see.  HOWEVER, when a new truck is on the line, he will give it a good attempt. 

I did his hair, put on a sweater and jeans, and took him to a local park to shoot these on an overcast afternoon last week.  Though none of them are perfect, some of them came out really cute.  I'm happy enough with them that I won't attempt more portraits of him for a while-- maybe I'll do some more at the Cape this year. I tend to try to get some good ones of him there every year.

I'm so proud of Eliot lately.  He's been SO good.  He's been helping out, cooperating, and he even let me rest one morning when I wasn't feeling well last week.  He still throws a good tantrum now and then, but *fingers crossed* I think the worst is behind us!  He really is such a sweet boy.  I am so blessed to be his Mom.

Gardening, Water Ballons & The Beach, Oh My!

There's no question; we've undoubtedly had one of the warmer Springs within recent memory.  This is especially awesome since this year we have a YARD to enjoy it with!  Eliot and I spend one morning last week planting some seeds and doing a little gardening.  We have not been so good with the upkeep of these plants so don't expect an update from us on these :-x

Then, one one of the warmer afternoons, I filled up some water balloons for Eliot and his new friends to play with.  At first, their plan was to bury the balloons.  I'm not sure of the purpose-- maybe to stomp on them and pop them? And made lots of mud? That sounds very Eliot-ish.  Then, they decided just to go for it!

Then, on yet another warm day, we went to the beach for a picnic.  I couldn't believe (OK, yes I could) that Eliot got into the water! It was SO cold! Even walking through it made my feet hurt.  Good thing we brought a change of clothes.... and blasted the heat in the car the whole ride home!  Last week was also April Vacation so we got the chance to see some old friends which was nice!

I also wanted to post this photo here. My Papa loved lighthouses.  So much so that they were even on his checks.  I recently purchased (a la Christmas Tree Shops) a canvas print of a lighthouse to be displayed in our guest room (having created it in the first place with him in mind), but I thought maybe I could do one better and print my own canvas.  I think that this is the photo I will print on canvas;

Easter 2012

Easter started a few days early this year with an egg hunt at my in-laws house. The 5 cousins were super excited to find their eggs (each child had a different color they had to find-- Eliot was green). Inside were treats like M&Ms, new socks, or a blow up, bouncy balloon. Just as they had fun with the egg hunt, they had fun just being together.




On Easter itself, Eliot woke up, forgetting for a minute (until I reminded him) that the Easter Bunny had come. He went from groggy to hopping out of bed in 10 seconds flat! I quick picked up my camera and managed to snap a few of Eliot seeing his Easter basket for the first time. A note from the Easter Bunny praised Eliot for being such a good and helpful boy this year, but also reminded him to try to listen better to Mom and Dad and be nicer to his pets (poor Merelle got a rock to the nose last week and Milo's been at the receiving end of Eliot's (shall we call it--) over-excitement for about 3 years now). Eliot was very excited to see that not only did the Easter Bunny leave candy, but also a bird feeder, and lots of gardening stuff like a ready-to-make pepper garden, and lots of other veggie seeds to plant. (Who are we kidding? We all know Eliot's more excited about the digging than the planting).



Later that day, we went to Ted's Aunt & Uncle's house for a VERY yummy dinner, LOTS of yummy desserts, and another Easter egg hunt for the kiddos, which was VERY well received. Eliot had such a fun day--and weekend! Happy Easter!

Eliot cleaned up house with all his egg finds-- and Daddy got to hold them all!

Sometimes I like to make little notes about things so I don't forget them. I actually have a book/journal that I usually write this stuff down in, but since we don't yet have a bookcase, our book boxes have not yet been unpacked, but I just want to remember this adorable little thing Eliot does now-- he whispers. OK, so it doesn't SOUND that cute, but it is. If someone asks him a question and he doesn't know the answer he will look at me and whisper (with his hand to his ear) "what is it?" He'll do it when he wants to keep a secret just between us so Daddy doesn't find out (sometimes about sneaking an extra piece of candy, or making a mess with whatever he's using at the time, sometimes he'll do it when I have a headache, or just before bed or naptime). I guess you have to witness it to appreciate the cuteness, but trust me, it's adorable!