Shosh at 3 months

Shoshana turned 3 months on October 13th. It's crazy to just go back and edit these now that she is 5 and half months and see how much she has changed.

Even though I haven't been writing blog posts, I have been making notes under each month heading for Shosh, so I can remember what she was up to during that month.

kindly ignore all the dog hair on my couch, please & thank you

When she was 3 months she had just recently gotten into holding her own hands. Surprise, I thought it was adorable.

She also started babbling. Surprise, I also found this to be very very cute.

She developed some light cradle cap right at her hairline. Nothing too bad and I could just pick off any that was snuck down past her hair.

She rolled from her belly onto her back for the very first time! She didn't do it often, but it happened and both Willie and I were able to witness it.

She giggled for the first time... for Willie! I didn't even get to see it, because it happened while I was giving Judah a bath. I could hear it happening though. Try as I might, I was not able to get her to giggle for me.

Her eyes were starting to show the first hints of color. She had the newborn dark grey eyes for the first couple of months and by 3 months they had flecks of brown near the iris.

She was also big enough to start sitting in her bumbo. Judah didn't get much use out of the bumbo, as he was too fat. His little legs got stuck in the leg holes. He is actually better able to sit in the bumbo now at two than he was as a baby. Shosh is not a skinny baby by any means, but her legs are significantly less rolly-polly than Judah's were.

Another major event in Shoshana's life was her very first sleepover at my parents' house. It left something to be desired. Judah did fine (he has had many a sleepover at my parent's house and Bill's parents' house), but Shosh absolutely refused to go to sleep. Instead she yelled at my mom for her attempts in the matter. My mom eventually gave up after multiple tries and Shosh stayed up with my dad watching TV until after midnight. She eventually went to sleep (a good 5 hours past her normal bedtime) and then woke back up at 5 am and was up for the day (and she is normally not an early morning riser).

We did not intend for Shosh to have an overnight so early in her young little life, but circumstances arouse that made it necessary.

A little after Shosh turned a month old, I started second shooting and assisting at weddings. This was a nice way to ease back in to working. I was able to get out and shoot, but did not have to commit to any extra work time (such as all the time that comes with editing or communicating with clients). It was a nice set-up since I never knew how much time or energy (or sleep) I would be able to put forth in those early months. Plus, weddings are most often on the weekend which meant that Bill would be able to stay home with the kids.

Ralph wins the award for being the best kid dog

However, Bill's work schedule is anything but regular and it turned out that out of the 8 wedding I worked on this year, Bill ended up working for more than half of them. Luckily, we have very supportive families who were able to step in and watch the kids (sometimes under extremely short notice as Bill's schedule can change without much notice).

I wouldn't be able to pursue my business as a professional photographer if it wasn't for them and all their help. Thank you, family! I super duper appreciate it!

Happy New Year...uhh, or Happy Halloween. Whatever.

Well, since tomorrow is NYE, I thought it was a good time to recap 2013 write about visiting the pumpkin patch and Halloween. Eh. So it goes.

We visited the pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island, just like I used to as a kid. Judah had fun seeing the animals in the barn: bunnies, chickens, goats, geese, and a llama- maybe a sheep too? It's been a while and I can't remember now. I guess that is why you should write things down right away, huh?

We then went and played in the mini hay maze and hay tower.

Then  we went to the near field (instead of riding the tractor to the far fields) and let Judah pick out his own pumpkin. The only requirement is he had to carry it himself.

We helped him find a perfectly adorable, round, orange pumpkin, but when we were walking back to pay he found what he considered an even better pumpkin.

It fit in the palms of his hands and had a bonus rotting spot in back. Well, done, Judah. Nice pick. We tried to convince him that his first pumpkin was superior, but he wasn't having it. He loved his little pumpkin.

Shosh is making the face Bill and I wanted to make about Judah's choice in pumpkin.

This was Judah's third Halloween, but the first time he has really gotten into it and understood that it is a special day. This was the first year we took him trick-or-treating, which he definitely got a kick out of.

We had some practice runs on trick-or-treating in the days leading up to Halloween. We would have him ring our own bell and say "trick-or-treat", "thank you", and "happy Halloween". One day, his Tito Kim and Auntie Katie were over, so he got practice with them, which made them and him very happy.

moments before throwing that pine duff directly at my face

When the big day arrived, he was a bit apprehensive about going trick-or-treating. There was some definite fussing going on while we were getting ready to head out. After a visiting a few houses, he started to hit his stride and realized how awesome it was to get candy.

We didn't see a lot of other people while were out, because we went so early. However, we had no problem filling up his little bat candy bag (which only held 15 pieces or so of candy).

Ralph didn't even care.

When we got home we let him pick one piece of candy to eat (he went with a bag of mini m&ms) and the rest we put away to dole out once a day (except he ended up forgetting the candy existed after 3 or 4 days).

We got him all ready for bed, but he was too psyched on having trick-or-treaters at the house to actually go to bed. We let him stay up and answer the door bell. I'm pretty sure he preferred handing out candy to actually going trick-or-treating himself.

We didn't get a ton of trick-or-treaters at the house, maybe only 20 or so. This was our first Halloween in our new house so we had no idea how many to expect. I was was hoping for more, but not surprised that we wound up with as many as we did.

Shosh is now the 3rd baby in the family to wear the panda costume for their first Halloween. The initial panda was her cousin Azalea (my brother's daughter), then Judah, and now Shosh.

Now we will have to pass it on to any future babies in the family. She was pretty ambivalent to the whole thing, which, of course, makes sense as she was only 3 and a half months old at the time.

family portrait

this is what it looks like when a triceratops is in time-out... for throwing pine duff in my face

Tis the season... For sick kiddos.

As you may have noticed, my posting has fallen far behind. Shosh is going to be 5 months on Friday, but I have yet to even post her 3 month photos. Sigh. 

I have made drafts with reminders of what to write about for each month (things like rolling over or just general adorableness), so when I have the time to write I will actually be able to remember what happened in her little life.  

It feels like lately has just been one big long bout of illness at our house. And when kids are sick, I get very little sleep (because they wake up 1,374 times a night). Then the personal blog is what gets left behind when I prioritize my to-do list. 

It's a constant struggle trying to find balance when at home with two little ones, especially two sick little ones. Hopefully this current cold will run it's course quickly and their moods and sleep patterns will improve (and then my mood & sleep will too). 

Umm, and here is a photo, because I know that is the only reason some of you even clicked on the link ;)