September Faves!!!

I have a lot of favs but not a lot of "days" photos.  My photos really only come from a few days that I really felt on and caught some great things.  September hasn't been a good month creatively for photography.  I have been so busy with trying to get organized for school and starting the semester off right that I just haven't taken many shots I'm really proud of.  I do have some funny videos I can upload tomorrow.

Where to start...I guess with a little mini set I did with Ava on Memorial Day weekend.

After we were done she went and played in the water from Aaron washing the car.

School started the next day and let's just say that most of my photos following that were "forced" efforts.  Apparently my creative bug doesn't like to be directed...it prefers more freedom.

The next real noteworthy photos after that were from apple-picking this weekend.  I enjoyed getting the camera out to catch the moments.

and since the memory card I used to take the photos for Sunday is the one in the computer then I guess I might as well share those too.

I used some of the apples we picked to make apple pancakes Sunday morning.

Ava really liked them...she normally doesn't eat pancakes.

I'll add some of my fave September videos tomorrow.

Kids are Resilient

Boy, do children recover quickly.  I would have sleep all day after the kind of morning Ava had.  Here she is playing after her nap.  These photos are SOOC (straight out of the camera) and with flash so excuse the quality.  The subject of course is as cute as ever.

Total Fail

Ok so I have had one of the worst mornings ever.  It was completely scary and now I am exhausted.  This morning started off normal (as normal as anything ever is).  Ava and I came up and I put on the coffee and put on her cartoons.  I got her settled in with a bowl of cereal and her water.  I came to sit and check email and a few minutes into Ava's breakfast I looked over at her and noticed she looked a little red...kind of like when skin gets cold and has goose bumps.  I went over to touch her to see if she needs a blanket and realized something else was going on.  Ava was reacting to something.

First Signs...

I took away her cereal and water and she was pissed.  I gave her a different cereal...one she has had countless times before and called my Dad to ask if he could bring us some benadryl. 

I thought back to my first aid training and other common sense things about allergic reactions and decided to wait for the benadryl before doing anything else.  She was breathing fine, the rash was not covering her whole body because her belly/back were clear, she was swallowing fine, talking fine, no fever, and her temperament other than being agitated from being itchy was normal.

Here is what she looked like just after taking benadryl.  This was the rash at it's worst point.

Here she is a half hour after taking the medicine.

This is an hour after...

and an hour and a half after.

She is now sleeping and I can finally calm down some.  I am still paranoid to give her much of anything.  The cereal was peanut butter and chocolate puffs that she has had at Nana's plenty of times without reacting.  She has also had peanut butter countless times and been fine.  I talked to a nurse at her pedi's office and they said it could still be a peanut allergy or it could be an odd coincidence.  They gave me everything I need to look for and watch out for until her 2 year appointment at which time we will discuss possible allergy testing.  For now she is OFF peanut anything.

So there went my easy day to catch up on things.  Seeing how busy and hectic things have been lately I am going to come back later and just post some of my favorite photos up to today instead of having to go back and post everything I have.  I just don't have the time and energy to take that task on today and I'd like to move forward and not get any further behind.

So for now I need to go start cooking my lunches for the week but I will be back today with my September favorites.  Then hopefully I can get back on track.  We can consider this post to be todays photos since it is definitely something I will NEVER EVER forget.

I heart faces---Week 38---Smirk Photo Challenge

This weeks challenge is a fun one for me because I have so many photos of Ava making faces.  The one I choose however is more of a true smirk.  It has that adorable, I'm gonna do something I shouldn't look to it. 

Click the button below to go to the iheartfaces website to view other entries.

Enjoying Family Time

That's what I have been doing.  My intent was to get some photos posted this weekend (remember...you were warned to not hold your breath) but life got busy.  Now my new goal is to get some posted tomorrow since I did manage to get some downloaded to the computer.  It's a step right!!!  Now speaking of life I need to get myself together and get to the grocery store because that is a must for today. 

O and guess what we did yesterday :)

Hey it's a photo and it was uploaded to the blog.  Yay!!!! 

Crap, well while I am at it I might as well leave you with a bit of Ava cuteness.  I believe this was her favorite part of the trip...hello Mr. Horse.

Way to far behind

Ugh....this blog is getting the best of me.  I am so seriously far behind again.  I feel like I am down to doing monthly posts.  School started back up and it's been hard enough to find the time to sit and get all of my homework and studying done.  I am going to do my best to set aside time this weekend to post at least some of my photos.  I would also like to take Ava apple picking this weekend so we'll see if life allows time to blog.  I can say that I will be happy when this year is over and I can just blog randomly. 

Let's see what else have I been doing since we got back from vacation.  Hmmm...well, planning Ava's party.  I am really anal about details, color schemes, food, goody bags, outfits...I think I might be a little crazy in fact.  I can't just do a theme from the store.  You know...just go buy the big party pack in whatever theme I fancy.  Instead I have to take one of those themes and make it unique.  I am a "visual" person and the explosion of color in normal party packs makes me want to puke, quite literally.  I need clean lines and balance of color.  There also has to be symetry and not just characters thrown around all willy nilly.  So as you can imagine I have been busy designing invitations, matching an outfit to the theme (yes, I'm that crazy), finding just the right goody bag fillers, and so much more.

What else have I been up to...ah, yes...SCHOOL.  The older Ava gets the harder it has become to do homework.  I am constantly being pulled away so she can show me something, give me something, take me to something, get me to get her something, and so on.  It's incredibly adorable but at the same time can be quite frustrating when your up against deadlines.  But such is life, I suppose.  It's all a part of being a Mom which is my number one priority and focus.  Gone are the days where I could focus on school and school alone.  I will say that I do enjoy school and I LOVE the massage therapy program.  It is such a gift to be a part of it.  It really has changed my life and given me new direction.

So I could go on and on about school but if you aren't in a massage program, have been in a massage program, or something along those lines I may just sound crazy.  Even though we have already established that I am just that I will not continue to provide further evidence for you.

However, speaking of school and learning new things.  We did a personality test to find out what our personality type is.  This is to help us understand our strengths and weaknesses as we work on putting together our business plans for our trends class.  I have read up on my "type" and have found it so enlightening and liberating.  It explains so much about me and my relationships with others.  I am going to get Aaron to take it this weekend.  We are both curious to see how he tests.  For any who may be wondering I am an INFJ.  Apparently I am part of a rough estimate of 1% of the population who is an INFJ.  I included a link below in case anyone wants to read more about my type.


http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html

So that's about it...I have been up to a lot and not much all at the same time.  Imagine that...

Here's to hoping I can get back on here this weekend and post some actual photos.  Keep your fingers crossed but please, whatever you do,  DO NOT hold your breath.  That could be deadly.

Vacation photo links

I took a ton of snapshots on vacation so I've uploaded them to picasa and will post the slideshow links here for anyone who feels like sorting threw them.  It would take FOREVER to post them here.

It took me a while to sort through them and decide what to post.  It was surprisingly hard to do.  They are happy memories but I'm still in that post-vacation mourning period.  Aaron and I really dislike the area we live in and the entire DC metro area for that matter.  We can't wait to move to the country and be rid of the hustle and bustle of this area.  We want to live in an area where life goes a little slower.  I mean really why rush it they way people do around here.  In a hurry to go everywhere.

This vacation was like a tease....it was a taste of what life could be like.  Where we were was a little too far in the sticks to actually live but here the sticks are too far away.  We have found a middle ground and as soon as I can get threw this last year of school we will be out of here.  Aaron is so much happier away from this mess and the masses.  Small town life awaits us.

So without further ado here are the slideshows

Thurs

thurs

Fri

fri

Sat

Sat

Sun

Sun