Wacky Weekends

Untitled-1, originally uploaded by RGonzalezPHOTOGRAPHY.

Mornings are pretty early for me right now.. still adjusting to getting up at 6am everymorning to get Max ready and off to school. The plus side to this is the little bit of quiet lull time between when Max leaves for school and when the girls get up. Coffee, email, SHOWER.... did I mention ...SHOWER?? This morning I got Katy up with me and we made homemade gingerbread cookies for her preschool class. The house smells devine....much like its occupated by a mother who normally does these kinds of things.. LOL!! (IE: baking at 6am in the morning) .. no seriously I've really enjoyed spending that one on one time with Katy. She has really started to become my big helper.

This weekend is a full one... two photoshoots each day this weekend.. including a trip to NJ (for photos)...its a long day in the car (10 hours) but I will be nice to change the scenery a bit. AND I get to meet a blogging friend Danielle and her sweet family on the way home!!

Day 3 on Max's new meds... doing better with the side effects. No belly pain and yesterday he ate more than he did the first day. Still positive words back from his teacher.. and he is still very excited to return to school. Slightly agitated around 4-6.. not half as bad as he was the first day.

off to get Katy dressed.. hugs everyone!

wrapping up the summer

I met Max's teacher yesterday... its so odd being in a public school again for the first time since i graduated high school... well... really exploring the school. The walls smell of fresh paint and the teachers have colorful media all over the rooms. Max's classroom has 20 students with a teacher and aide. Mrs. Costello is her name and she is super bubbly and sweet like imagine all kindergarten teachers should be. After some thought I think that this year will be okay for letting him ride on the bus. The bus driver keeps all the smaller students in the front.. .and the afternoon dismissal is all kindergarten students. It will ultimately work out better than trying to juggle drop offs and pick up with both Max and Katy being in school. Next week is Katy's turn to meet her teacher at first Presbyterian weekday school...Katy will be attending class 3 half days a week. Her BFF Hannah will be in her class also...im so excited for her. She also talks constantly about her ballet class coming up.

This upcoming weekend is a REALLY busy one for the r.gonzalez photos... I am full all weekend.. plus really looking forward to baby Saturday at my parents... i get to see my nephew who's been with this mom for the last 6 weeks. Yay!! Hugs everyone!

getting geared up

People mention to me that its Friday... I feel the excitement for others as I know its break from the work monotony that consumes them thru out the week. I'm lucky that I even know what day it is. Andy has got my old PDA charged up from when I worked as a paramedic. Since being a photographer requires that you actually know what day it is... I've surrounded myself with reminders, calenders, books... email notifications... Im doing my best to stay on top of it.

My mom called me this afternoon and told me that Lucy must be walking by baby Saturdays...which is tomorrow... I sent Lucy the memo... and shes walking now. WEIRD!! Max is a little speed demon on his bicycle... and I think that Katy at the ripe old age of 3 is PMSing. Good grief...can we talk more about the drama?!?! On a lighter note...here is a picture of our little princess in her favorite outfit EVER. Any doubt what her favorite color is??

Anyway... I've got get back to my milk and brownie! Goodnight!

"Dont yell at me, Im just a kid"

(this is a photo I took yesterday of my close friends sweet girls)

So its been a tough couple of days... I think a compilation of cabin fever, no structure and colds. My patience has been questionable. I try not yell... once that approach is put in motion...it seems to all landslide. Its like... they have ear plugs in... I could be standing right in front of them saying there names and they completely ignore me. ArG... Katy called me out when she told me "Mommy, don't yell at me, Im just a kid"... wow that was way bigger than her years. Definatly put me in check for the rest of the day.


We went to story time at the library today with the girls..Andy and Max had a boys day. I think it was due... Max tends to act out if he goes to long without some intense one on one... thinking of it... I tend to act out too when I don't get enough one one one :). At the library today Lucy took her first couple of steps....YAH LUCY!!!

busy busy busy

So I got a phone call from my mom tonight "BECKY, YOUR GRANDMOTHER AND I ARE GOING THRU BLOG WITH DRAWL... ITS BEEN OVER 4 DAYS!!!" lol, sorry mom.. I've been sucked into the addictive world of facebook networking! Oh my goodness!! Get me out of the zone. For those that think I've died... I also blogging daily "Here" and my fan page is "Here". The networking on facebook is incredible!! I'm suddenly in regular contact with people whom I haven't spoken with in YEARS... and I may never have again if it weren't for "friend me". So, so cool... and I can randomly chat with my family...IE my auntie and I don't have to pick up the phone. Which by the way is damn near impossible these days. My children are gluttons for torturing me while I'm on the phone. From a recent and totally random personal poll... this kind of parent torture is more common than I thought.

So now for your regular update... Lucy is not walking yet.. in fact shes an expert speed crawler. I don't think she'll ever need to walk if she can get anywhere at light speed by crawling. She speaks regularly in baby sign language... did I mention that I recommend this to ANYONE!!! Its saved me a lot of un-nessesary tantrums figuring out what she wants...because she can...(that's tantrums from both of us)

Katy is quickly becoming queen of the house... need to nip that one in the bud. Not sure how I'm feeling the dominant personality is here to say...hmm I wonder where she gets that from???..lol. She insists on wearing her "birthday dress" and dress up clothes everywhere...I let her. I have to throw in my .2 by forcing her to wear the matching converse hightops. Girls are really a lot of drama... its definitely a different challenge...but equal to having boy.

Speaking of Boy, Max is growing up so quickly these days. Showing a lot of interest in playing with the older neighborhood boys. He desperately wants to keep up. Two weeks ago we took the training wheels off of his bicycle and he started practicing to ride like one of the "big boys". Frustrated easily, Max threw his bike down (several times) and gave it a break for a while. Today he asked to put his sneakers and helmet on and give it another try. Got on his bicycle and rode it like a pro. I'm so proud of him. I recall learning to ride my bike the same way... just got on it and went. We have decided to let Max go to kindergarten this year... we'll give it a shot...I'm sure he'll do just fine.

Andy is doing well also, its nice not to have to worry about the house. He's keeping busy tinkering with his car and playing computer games.

My photography business is growing very quickly... it amazing how much improvement 7 months will give to someones skill. Here is a photo taken when I just got started.

to this:

Im loving it!! Im already starting to book up for next month. God does answer prayers doesn't he??

Thanks for the imput!

Thanks for the input everyone... it seems that most mama's here are going or have gone thru something similar.

Its really a rather gross day today... I have a laundry list of things that need to get done, to include finding the motivation to get this stuff done. I'm letting the kids vegetate in front of the TV while I do... well... absolutely nothing. Hey, I'm entitled every now and then :)

I made Jam for the first time this week... Fresh picked strawberries, some frozen blueberries and black berries... organic raw sugar... and lemon juice. No pectin in this recipe so it was a little loose... but soooooo delicious. We put it on our pancakes yesterday instead of syrup... mmm mmm mm.

Max and Katy have been spending a lot of time playing with Lucy these days. Its really cute and they are very good with her. Katy got VERY jealous yesterday when Max told her that he wanted to play with Lucy without her :( ... didn't see this one coming.

I guess I should probably get something productive done now.

come see some of my recent projects at http://www.rgonzalezphotos.com/ I would love your feedback and suggestions.

dirty laundry...Happy Belated Easter!

Its been a very busy week... I appreciate all of your kind words about our mortgage situation. I know there are some readers that are concerned about me airing our "dirty laundry" for all to read... please remember that we aren't a secretive family... and my husband supports whatever outlet I need to get past stress in my life (and I do with every respect to him). I post what I do, to reach out... to let other women or mothers know that although they may choose not to talk about such things in public... they are not alone. Its nothing to be ashamed of... heck, we have not committed a sin... and it hasn't changed who we are as people...infact, I believe that these are the situations that strengthen us. We are not proud of the jam we are in... we certainly took great pride in our lovely home... but we made a decision 3 years ago for me to quit my job and stay home to raise my children... and I take more pride in my children than I would ever feel for a stack of bricks and mortar. I say these things like its up to me to bring in the income... I assure you I know who brings in the "bread and butter"... and I am proud of all his hard work. I rehash this because I'm sure there are other mothers who .....(hahaha I accidently just shut my computer off with my toe :)... have made the big leap to leave there jobs to stay home and raise a family and are in a similar situation. Its a tough battle between working to pay the bills and doing what you feel is right for your family. I have to find a way to get past the guilt of laying the burden of income onto my husband and facing my role as "primary parent". Its not quite as clear cut as it was 30 years ago. In all fairness to family, I post about our private lives to put all who love us in "the loop" ... we aren't very good about calling or sending emails, we want you to know that this is our way of communicating our live to you. pheuf...

With all that said... Happy Easter!!! We had a wonderful time this year, although we missed seeing some close family that normally we would have... we got to see some family that we usually don't. My fathers side of the family... My Grandpa...Auntie Melissa, Susan and Uncle Billy were in from out of town. I also got to meet new family...Josie...Ali's sister.

Easter morning the kids and I did some Easter projects. Katy LOVES to be artsy (gee I wonder where she gets that from)...so we set up shop at the kitchen table. Usually Max isn't interested in crafts... but he decided to get involved with the project. At this point in time, I realized how totally different my two oldest children are. Katy... very meticulous and careful with her painting and color matching... Max... a little reckless and thoughtless with his painting... not very interested in the overall project idea... HOWEVER, before I dismissed him from the table for "wasting paint" in the water bowl... I realized that Max's little scientist mind was more interested in mixing paint colors in the water to create new colors. And I suddenly felt a relief that although we wasn't interested in the craft... he had found his niche and got involved using the tools he hand in hand. How smart is that 4 year old little bugger. So I spent about 30 mins refreshing his water while... blue and red made purple... and yellow and green made blue. Max is much like his daddy, where Katy is very much like me. Normally I might have been frustrated that he was taking clumps of unused paint and washing it away... but I found myself happy to let him do it.... realizing that his mind is made very different than mine... although he came from me.

I am so bloggy behind this last month. If anyone was following a few weeks ago.. Max was crazy ill with some mystery virus that left him with migraines and a spinal tap. We thought that this was the end of it... but it seems that with his weakened immune system from the last virus he has picked up a new one... According to a nasal swab at the Peds today he and Katy both have influenza B... ICK... I am sorry if we passed it on to anyone at Easter dinner... I thought it was just a cold bug. Eeekk! I think I stopped blogging for a while because all I had on my blog agenda were whiny whiny poor me... hahaha... Its all up and up from here guys. HUGS!!!

OH... BTW, I have been having problems with my PSE again... editing raw files eats the RAM on my computer and it keeps kicking me off. So I will be slowly posting all Easter pictures on my flickr as I get them done.

rough week baby

rough week baby, originally uploaded by RGonzalezPHOTOGRAPHY.

We are slowly coming out of the sick woods...I know my past few entries have been a bit whiny...sorry... Max seemed to get hit the hardest of everyone. We spent the last night in the ER for suspicion of meningitis. Hes had high fevers, vomiting, severe headache and Sunday was the first of "sore neck" complaints. I took him in around 10pm ... it was the earliest I could get him in...Andy was held over at work until that time. They gave him an IV, drew blood, xrayed his chest... sedated him and gave him a spinal tap... this poor kid has been rung thru the ringer. He's acting a bit traumatized today...very skittish of being touched...and really jumpy if he doesn't know your going to touch him. His back is very sore from the spinal... no kidding... have you ever seen the size of the needle they use for that procedure...oh my goodness.

Anyway, I just wanted to up date you on why its been so quiet in crunchy monkey land. I have a few videos I need to upload to YouTube for Adventures in Baby sign language...hopefully I will get to those tomorrow.

Cheers to a quick recovery for us 5 crazy's. Thanks! HUGS!

Oh yeah, BTW not meningitis...turns out to just be an evil EVIL virus...and nasty ear infection.

What goes down must come up!

Okay, so...not a fun week. Never quite expierenced this much ill chaos in my house before. It started Last week with Lucy's stomach bug...then Tuesday night with Andy spiking a fever and feeling some bronchitis coming on. Then Wed night it hit me...vomiting...the whole 9 yards. So Andy and I were completely laid out Thursday ... who took care of the kids??? They are alive and well, so it seems we managed some how. Then Lucy started back up again, Katy then yesterday and Today Max. Wowza...not fun. I'm feeling better, but I feel like I have hang over.

On an up note...I may have scored my first official photography gig. A girlfriend of mine does print design and needs someone to do some product photography for a client. I am excited about the opportunity. She also discussed with me doing some firework photography and then later on down the road possibly photographing an assisted living facility. I never even thought about web photos or commercial photography as an option...but I totally think I can do it. Now only if I can figure out how to build an inexpensive DIY light box... Drea...Jenn... anyone..Ideas??

Draaaaaaaama!

(SIGH) So I have officially been introduced to living with a feisty 3 year old girl. Its almost (...almost being the key word)...almost comical. I have never in my life experienced little girl tantrums until recently...well, at least the way Katy does it. Its so extreme that I don't even have the capacity at the time to feel embarrassed about the dramatic public display. Today was the worst one yet. Perhaps she was tired, hungry, needy or all of the above... but there wasn't any warning signs to be heard before the hurricane came roaring into our peaceful world this morning. Actually it was a fantastic morning. We met some close friends for story time at the library...ran around outside a bit (today was gorgeous) picked up some lunch on the way to pick up Max from preschool. Then it started. Oh goodness... what was they key off...I don't know. But I had to park 2 blocks from the school and she started her tantrum in the middle of a busy intersection. I had to pick her up by her armpit and drag her out of the road. Then she threw herself on the ground screaming..."hold me! hold me" ...I was carrying Lucy and simply could not hold her. So I offered my hand and she started screaming louder. So I started to walk away. "We have to get max out of school, and then I will sit and hold you." ... so she took her shoes off and threw them. ... so I picked up her shoes grabbed her hand and started walking... scream, scream, scream, scream, scream....all the way into Max's classroom. The tantrum didn't stop until we got home and I put her into bed. She fell asleep fast so it obvious now it was fatigue. But holy smokes!!!! Whats a mom to do?? I don't like to compare children but Max never threw tantrums like that... frankly this is a whole new territory for me. What do you do when your kids throw tantrums...I know someone else out there has a drama queen.

(almost)A Week in Review

So Im back, I cannot believe what a disaster my house was... yes I made myself a mommy todo list 2 pages long...and vowed that I would behave until a reasonable amount of it was done. I even put a sign on my office door to myself that said "STOP go back and work on your list" ...lol. As with many multiple child households laundry was the biggest tackle. I HATE LAUNDRY!!! But its in my "job description" as a stay at home mommy....whatever that is. Mom, I know what you're thinking... and yes my clothing situation was out of control again. Not for hoarding issues, but because all children right now are in between sizes. So we have double the clothes. This situation is coming to a close...(clothes...hahahaha get it??...I know im dumb) I tried to increase the px size so you can see the image better...didn't turn out great but here is a before and after shot of the girls room. The laundry baskets were all clean clothes that needed to be put away.

This was my sweet helper for the afternoon...

Then of course I had to remedy the dirty laundry situation and while I was at it...clean the laundry room. What a difference huh??

I still have quite a bit to do...a mommy's job is never truely done...but at least my family doesn't have to revert to nudism to get there point acrossed that something needed to happen soon.

So what happened while I was on blog vacation?? Lucy got her 4 top teeth in finally. Thank goodness!! Now onto the next Im sure.

Katy has really found an interest in sign language. She has a really REALLY uncanny knack of remembering signs after only being told once. I have to usually reference with her If I forget. I tried to do a video tonight but Katy was in a really foul mood. ICK...she is gracing 3's very much like her big brother did. Who ever came up with terrible twos must have been a spectator. 3's are FAR worse!

And Max, well....

Just kidding, hes been great! I really see a difference in his overall attitude. I think he just decided to quit and pass the baton to Katy. Thanks buddy!

Adventures in Baby Signing week 7

Yes, Yes I know...Im a paci pusher! And they are both in disposibles... Katy is almost done night training... and Lucy goes thru one diaper a day... so I saw less hassle with disposibles...and felt it wasn't that great of an impact on the enviornment.... we do still use cloth on occasion.

PreSpring fun

toenail jam, originally uploaded by bundleboo.

We couldn't help ourselves today...it was absolutely fantasticly wonderful day!!! ...lol...Yes, fantasticly is a word...my word. We went to a local park that we haven't been near since the fall. Max was itching to get his feet wet. Got into the water shoes on and everything... ended up slipping and planting his butt right into the water. So needless to say at that point I was like... "Max, are you cold... yes, well what better way to learn that mommy doesn't just tell you things for my own health.." ...(hehe)... "Mommy, I'm fine... I just want to play some more..." ... "Have at it!" They had a blast... I think kids know there limits... they have to have some freedom to grow and learn there own mistakes. We just have to be there to make sure they don't kill themselves.

BTW... no you cannot catch pneumonia from simply being wet and cold. (justifying that I'm not a bad mommy...lol)

paci fairy...I let them do what??

So, tonight I had a little talk with Katy about the paci fairy... I told her that one day when she decides that she is ready, we can mail her binky's to the paci fairy so that babies in the world who don't have paci's can use hers. In return the paci fairy will leave her a gift overnight to thank her. The catch...she won't be able to use her paci's anymore. She seemed on board...but wanted to make sure that I wasn't mailing off her paci's now because "mommy, I still need it!". In addition to the paci...she has...drum roll please... pink, green, fuzzy pink, brown (blankets) and dinosaur. Her bedtime routine usually consists of me scouring the house for her wardrobe of comfort blankets...lol. (can you tell my roburger is a princess...her bedroom is blinding me with pink.)

(lol...it looks like katy is stuck to the wall)

Yep, you guessed it...my kids are jumping on the furniture. Usually I take the cushions off of the couch and let them jump on the floor. Nope, I had a crazy bone tonight and let them go bananas!... I know, what was I thinking right?

Max has about had it with the camera in his face... He was mad at me for not pushing him on the swing.

goofing off... what not to wear

I think Katy Ro has some acting in her future. Dubbed by myself, family and close friends "the most animated toddler in history". She always has some dramatic play up her sleeve.

I was realizing when I took Max to school today ...in my pajamas... that I needed a major mommy overhaul. I never thought that I would be one of those wide butted sweat pant mommies...that never looked like she cared about herself...yet, here I am :) The truth is, I really do care about myself... and I used to take pride in the way I looked. I don't think Ive gone so far south that I cannot recover...but I certainly do look tired. I mean...giving myself the benefit of the doubt...who wouldn't look tired after just having 3 children in 4.5 years. LOL, so how does a tired mommy look fresh and youthful again? Well according to TLC, you need to contact "what not to wear" ... and get a free mommy makeover... whatya say girls.. will you nominate me???