Memories, Dreams and Reflections 2012

I participated in MDR for the first time last year, and I loved it!  I was a little bummed at first, as I didn't think I would be able to participate this year with the whole relocation to another country, but we have a lot of down time and my only outlet right now is blogging. This is definitely something I want to keep up with each year.

 

I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do!

 

1. Me 

There certainly wasn't a shortage of pictures of me this year. With all the belly progression photos, family photos and such. For once, I didn't struggle with this.

2. I love you

Without question, these kids are my world!

3. Still laughing!

Parker is such a hoot! He went from being a pretty shy and reserved, to being so funny and outgoing.

4. Winter Wonderland

I didn't take this picture, but I had to use it for this prompt. It was actually taken by E.Ulloa photography. When I think of Winter, I think of Christmas and then Santa.

5. Birthday

Well, as most of you already know, Eliana was born on Oct, 11th, 2012. She has a pretty cool birthday. After spending a month in the hospital on bedrest, she made her debut a few days after I was released, and a day shy of 37 weeks.

 

 



6. Friends I had a different series of pictures on mind for this prompt. Unfortunately, they are located on our desktop which is unavailable right now. These still show some very important people in our lives.

7. I Was Inspired

I was inspired during the pregnancy to completely re-do Parker's room. Since he is sharing his room with Eliana, not only did it have to be a room to accomodate both a toddler and baby, but it also had to be relatively gender neutral.

 

8. Spring Fever



This past spring we had just announced to the world that we were expecting baby#3. It feels like it was the only yesterday that we were telling our parents the happy news.

 

9. Travel or Vacation

We were able to take a small vacation to Idaho for my sister in laws wedding. One of the days we took Nessa fishing. I think she had a blast, I know the rest of us did.

10. Summer Days  

When I think of the summer, I think of long days spent swimming in the pool. Living in AZ, you either stay indoors, travel to cooler weather or go swimming.

 

11. A Day in My Life

I love this series of pictures. It is very close to all the faces I see on a daily basis. Unfortunately, with our move to Montreal we won't see my parents, in person, as much, but with all the technology we have, speaking to them each day is something we will make sure happens.

12. All Smiles

Eliana first smiled at me around 5 weeks. I was able to capture these first smiles on camera a few days later. Now, she smiles all the time.

13. Autumn Harvest

First picture of our complete family. I'm so happy.

 

14. Family or Home 

Love this picture of our family.

15. Celebrate  

Parker turned 2 on August 31st. We celebrated his birthday in a pirate theme. He had such a blast!

 

16/17.Let's Do It Again/I miss you





I had to combine the next two prompts using this picture. This is my absolute favorite family photo. I hope we can get a photo like this again next year. Due to our move to Montreal, I miss my parents.

18. Beautiful

  My two girls are absolutely beautiful and I don't think it's because I'm biased. When Vanessa was born with blue eyes, I was always told they would change brown and they never did. I would never guess that I would have two kids with blue eyes. That norwegian/swedish gene is sure evident in the girls.  

 

 

19. Dress Up

We were really excited to trick or treat with the kids this year. We lived in such a beautiful area, lots of young families. Little did we know that a lot of people actually drove to this area to trick or treat. It was packed!! Lines to get to the door's. They barely gave out any candy because of all the people. Lots of places ran out of candy within the first hour.

20. Macro

Eliana's hair was so light and she was born with much less than Parker or Vanessa. I think she might have a little curl to her hair too. I made sure to take pictures of all these features when she was first born. It is a little sad to think she is our last, but our amazing family is complete.

21. Holidays

Parker is known for not looking or smiling at the camera. This also wasn't taken by me, but I had to use it. I love this photo! Taken by E.Ulloa photography.

 

22. My Favorite 

This was definitely a tough one for me. I don't have just one favorite picture, I love all the pictures I take. I think what makes this one stand out for me is my husbands expression, the look of unconditional love for his child. The love my husband has for our kids make me love him more and more everyday.

 

23. Don't Ever Change

Just stay little...

24. Just Because

Sometimes, I feel the best photos are taken spur of the moment. You see that the lighting is great, the kids are happy or they are doing something super cute. You just hope, with everything, that your camera is close enough to capture the picture before it all changes.

25. Hopes and Dreams

This was a tough day, we had to say goodbye to a home we intended to live in for a long time. We had to say goodbye to friends and family that we practically grew up with. We now have a new direction for our family. A chance to grew up in a completely different country and culture. New dreams for our kids. It's exciting and I pray that this is a good step for us.

 

 

The bucket list!! Item #1...AZ State Fair

Most of you heard that we will be moving to Montreal at the beginning of the year. We are all pretty excited, but  it's also a little intimidating. Our move date is officially January 3rd, 2013...eek! That is only 6 weeks away. The move led to a conversation with my older daughter about things we want to do in Arizona before we move. We decided to make a little "Leaving AZ bucket list."



Here are the items we have so far:

1. Go to the AZ state fair...eat funnel cake.
2. Go to McCormick Railroad park.
3. Go to the Phoenix Zoo.
4. Visit  the "Cherry Street" Christmas light displays.
5. Have a Holiday/Moving/Meet Eliana party.
6. Eat at Organ Stop Pizza.
7. Take a family picture in front of a cactus in the middle of nowhere.
8. Visit the Grand Canyon.
9. Trip to Sedona.
10. Visit a couple local museums (Science museum and MIM).
11. Eat at China Village.
12. Eat at China Way.
13. Eat at the NYPD pizza by our house...was suppose to open  months ago :/
14. Take Parker on the light rail.






At the beginning of the month we attended the AZ State Fair and crossed the first item off of our list.  My brother had come into town to meet Eliana and my dad and Aunt Sharon also joined us. I thought it was funny because I have lived in AZ for most of my life and I can only remember going to the State Fair one other time.




Eliana was 3 weeks when we went. She just snuggled in the Beco carrier most if the time.





 



It was a good thing Mark decided to try the fried twinkie as he may never have another chance to eat one, lol.





One of my biggest reasons for going to the fair was to eat a funnel cake. We live only a couple blocks from the fair and the hardest thing was to leave the house and smell nothing but the food at the fair.





I'm glad we were able to kick off our bucket list with such a fun event,  it was a great day with family.

Eliana is one month old!

Current stats: 

Weight: approx 9lbs (25th percentile)

Height: approx 20.5" long (10th percentile)

Clothing size: newborn

diapers: newborn cloth diapers

At ONE month

Loves mama's milk

Loves cuddling

Loves being swaddled

Loves showers

Loves her swing

Loves to sleep

Loves to be talked and sang to

Her nicknames are Ellie, Little Miss and Miss E. 

Eliana is a great baby. She sleeps great, is always content, and makes having three kids a breeze. At least for now. Honestly, she barely cries. She makes a few squeaks here and there when she wants your attention. 

Eliana loves noise...she sleeps even better when I'm vacuuming, sewing or when Parker is running around the house laughing. Once it's too quiet, she usually starts to stir. 

Eliana eats every 2-3 hours, a little more often right before bedtime. She goes to sleep around 7pm. Eliana will get a little cranky if we try to push that to a later time. She loves her sleep. She will take up 2-3 times in the night for feeding or changing, but will wake up fully at around 7am.  

She does pretty good holding up her head when she is laying on our chest (with us sitting at an incline.) It's a little tougher for her when she is flat on the floor. Most of the time she is doing tummy time using the boppy pillow.

She will sometimes smile when I talk to her and I've heard her laughing in her sleep when Parker is singing in the background. I'm thinking she loves Parker's voice. 

It's been a wonderful month and we are looking forward to more adventures to come! 

Love you so much Eliana.

Amazing little man...Parker

I realized that I haven't posted much about Parker lately. I'm sure that is great grandma is wondering how he is doing with all the new changes.

Parker just passed the 26 month mark. Sometimes I forget that he is still so young and still needs so much of my attention. I can't tell you enough of how good of a kid he is. Sure, we have moments where he is out of control... and even that is an understatement, but he is two. He has so many more good moments, than he does bad.

Current stats:

Weight: 26 lbs

Height: approx 33" long

Clothing size: 2T pants, 3/4 shirts

Shoe size: 6/7 wide

Parker talks so much! His newest is when he finds a toy car at a store and looks at you with those big brown eyes and says, "buy it?" Followed by an ever so polite, "please?" It's pretty cute, but the repercussions that come with me having to tell him no, are pretty severe. Usually, with me winding up completely embarrassed in the middle of the store. 

Another cute little story about Parker was when I was eating breakfast, mind you Parker had eaten a BIG breakfast a few minutes prior. Parker sees that what I'm eating looks pretty good and asks me for some. I tell him that it's my breakfast and that he already ate. Parker replies with, "share...please?"

Things Parker loves to do:

 Read, read and more reading.

Watching Caillou or Thomas the Tank.

Anything with wheels...cars or trains. 

Riding the train at the park near our house. 

Playing with his train tracks. 

Favorite things to eat/drink:

Milk

PB&J

Spaghetti

Mac N Cheese

Pizza

Cookies

Parker and Vanessa are closer than ever. It's amazing that even with a 10 year age difference they are nearly inseparable when together. 

I posted this with Eliana's 2 week update post, but Parker loves his little sister. He is doing so good with being gentle and giving hugs and kisses. I hope Parker and Eliana will eventually be just as close as he is with Vanessa.

                                        

Wittle People Wednesday: Newborn cloth

Linking up with Ashley Sisk for Wittle People Wednesday. Trying to get the linky code to work, but it doesn't seem to at the moment.

Eliana will be a month on Sunday, that is crazy to think! I will have a big monthly milestone post for her on Sunday.

 I've been putting a post together for my business blog regarding newborn cloth diapering, so naturally I've had to take a lot of photos of Eliana wearing the diapers since she was born. I want my customers to get an idea of how they fit.  I'm going to share a few of the photos I took yesterday of Eliana wearing my absolute favorite cloth diaper that I made her.



Eliana is still at that stage where she will let me move her all over to take pictures without waking her up.