Come Away with Me

I can't make this stuff up.

I know I complain a lot - it's part of my personality that I am trying to change and staying positive is really a challenge for me. Especially now, with everything that is going on - well, you know. So I tell you this today not because I am complaining or because I want some sort of sympathy, it's really because it is just so tragically funny that I have to tell someone, because I don't believe it myself. This is truly, pretty much a "typical" day for me lately.

Yesterday I wrote a post on the subject of clean eating and my immediate struggles with the 30 day challenge. But what I didn't tell you were the small details and obstacles I had to overcome in order to maintain a positive attitude and stay on track, just in the time span of yesterday afternoon. And trust me, I did vent, and whine, and moan and groan to 1 person, only because I couldn't contain myself and I know that she will still love me today when it is all just passing trouble. (you know who you are, and thank you, I love you!)

Yesterday, on the whole, wasn't too bad. I spent the better part of the day at a friend's house with little Port; a weekly thing she and I and one other stay at home mom have started doing in an effort to have a "work" day for us where we can get something done, still have a friend to talk to if we need it, and have a place for the wee ones to play where they will be, for the most part, out of our collective hair. ;) So far, it is working out great, and I look forward to going each week. So that part went well, and we all filed out of her house right in time to go pick up our school aged kids from school.  Port and I headed to Kiddo's school, and arrived about 8 minutes before the dismissal bell. We had to sit in line on the main road (the whole pick up procedure saga is a post for another time, but let's just say, it was not ideal), but I was hoping the wait wouldn't be too long. After about 15 minutes, the line began to move and we all eased our cars closer to the school, inch by inch.

I have found there are 3 types of drivers in traffic like this. The Few - drivers that remain a safe distance from the car in front of them and maintain pretty good focus and attention when inching their car along the way. The Annoying - those that stay 20 feet back from the car in front of them, don't pay attention when the line moves forward because they are busy fixing makeup, digging in their purse, turned around swatting at the child behind them or playing Bejeweled on their phone (which isn't supposed to be in use in the school zone anyway...). And the Impatient - those that inch their car up, literally, by the inch, and they are so close to the back of my car they practically could see my Bejeweled score on my phone...er uh, they could reach out and touch my car. The Impatient has somewhere very important to be that is not where they are, and they should have been there an hour ago, so God forbid anyone get in their way because given the chance, they will Run. You. Over.

I had an Impatient behind me in the pick up line. And even though I tried to stay a close but safe distance behind the car in front of me, and I made sure to move up at any and every opportunity, the Impatient didn't think I was going fast enough and 2 minutes after the line began to move...

She rear-ended me.

Oh yes she did.

Thankfully, she basically just tapped the luggage rack we have in the tow hitch on the back of the car, so no damage was done. But the Impatient didn't know it was there because she was trying to EAT my back bumper. So of course we had to park our cars, get out, smile apologetically at each other, inspect the damage, laugh, mumble something of concern like "are you alright?" and then back away from each other and hastily retreat to our vehicles before the line moved up enough that someone could cut in front of us.  Good times.

Two minutes after that, the a/c compressor on my car began to cut in and out rapidly, and the car started to over heat.

Day number 86 (85? 423? I've lost count) of over 100 degree temps in Austin and the time was up on my a/c usage. It was a hot ride home. Top it off with Port screaming the WHOLE way because we only picked up one boy at school. He wanted to pick up 2 boys (Kiddo and his buddy). His whole world was ending and we all got to listen to it. Can someone say tired??

Ah home, the place where you can get away from the craziness and relax with your loved ones... NOT.

We get home and soon after I discover that the soap door on the dishwasher somehow got stuck and the soap packet I had put in it didn't dissolve, leaving my dishes completely filthy. So instead of cleaning the horribly messy kitchen in preparation for the evening's dinner, I had to rerun the previous night's dish load (and try not to look at the kitchen mess that was driving me bonkers). Also, the load of laundry I had run the day before sat too long and mildewed, so I had to run it again. We had a friend over for the boys to play with and about 10 minutes in, they were running around and somehow hit the pull chain on the ceiling fan in Kiddo's room, sending it shooting up into the fan blades, ripping off the tire at the end of the chain, shooting it across the room and under the bed, and then tangling up the chain so tightly around the stem of the fan that it pulled the lights to the off position and I could NOT get it untangled. While I was trying to get it unwound from the fan, Port pulled a cup of water off a top book shelf (why was it even in the room???) and poured it all over himself and all the toys all over the floor. This dousing led to him screaming at the top of his lungs and my last frazzled nerve spontaneously combusted.

Five minutes after that, Kiddo set a chair on top of a rock he found at school (and had left on my living room floor) and then drug the chair across the floor, cutting a nice, squiggly groove in the hard wood.  At that point, I was ready to throw in the towel. I sat down to settle my head (and vent to the above mentioned friend) and I got a nose bleed. Joy.

Like I said, I just can't make this stuff up. Writing it all out feels silly - but it's just so dang funny. I felt like Niles in that crazy scene on Fraiser (I know, I am dating myself here) - remember it? The one where he tries to iron his pants, cuts his finger and ends up starting a fire?  I've shared the clip on here before, but it was a few years ago. Well, here, enjoy a thankfully much faster paced snippet from my life these days (only without the fancy apartment and snooty friends...)


Until,
D :)

Hallelujah

Geeze it feels like we skipped November entirely! I can't believe December is here already. It's time to really get moving, get stuff done and take on all the extra that comes in preparing for the holidays.

I need to trim the hedges out front so we can put up lights, clean out the house a lot more so there is room for decorations inside, and do all the extra cleaning that goes into having people come to visit. For almost 2 solid weeks around Christmas we will have family in town. It will be a crazy time for sure.

And of course I need to get on with all the baking and such that I am prone to do. I will be making several batches of home made cinnamon rolls in various flavors, coconut balls and Christmas cookies galore.  I waaaay overdo things around the holidays. It's already started; last week I made a banana pudding and this week I will be making an apple pie (due to some fruit I bought for Thanksgiving week and then accidentally left at home).  I suppose we have to work our way into the sugar frenzy.

As I mentioned yesterday, the holiday music has already made it's appearance in the house. I have loaded up my phone with my entire collection and it has brought me such joy. Something else came across my facebook feed today that I wanted to share. It brought me to tears (though I cry at everything).  This, in my opinion, is the best kind of flash mob...


Enjoy!

Until,
D :)

Simple

I am trying to keep up the momentum on the house clean out. I haven't really done much more, but the wheels in my head are still turning and plans are being made.  My goal is to try to donate as much as I can and preferably do it to places other than Goodwill.  I do think Goodwill is a good organization and it is very easy to make donations there, but I kind of want to do something more - I want some of there things to go directly to people in need, rather than into a store where anyone can walk in and buy it.

For example, one of the local dry cleaning companies is collecting coats for kids, so I am planning on cleaning out our coat closet and donating our old coats there. I want our unnused clothes and baby items to go to a shelter or a children's home.  Of course, I will try to sell a few things too if I can, because in this process of purging one of my goals is to turn our spare room back into an office for Hubby. Part of our office clutter problem is that we don't really have any shelving or storage solutions for all our office supplies and equipment. If I can make a few bucks selling some of our stuff, that money will go toward a few shelving units and some boxes and organizational items.

Another area that needs a good purging is the boys room. I really need to get in there and clean out all the outgrown clothes and toys. There is so much stuff just piling up because there is no where to put it out of the way.

Of course I could say that about all the rooms.

I am trying to keep my eyes open for a place to recycle magazines and phone books. I will try to sell some of the trade magazines we have to Half Price Books, but I am pretty sure they won't want back copies of Rachel Ray and Real Simple. ;-) So those will have to go to recycling.  I read online that you can actually compost old phone books as long as you remove the pages with colored ink and plastic covers.  I am not sure how I feel about the yellow paper though - surely there is some sort of dye in that, right? I really don't want all that being infused into my vegetable garden. I am sure that the ink isn't much better either.

There really just isn't any way to get away from all the chemicals in everything. But that is a discussion for another time.

Until,
D :)

Throwing It All Away

So today I tossed out 419 pieces of paper that the kids have drawn on. Most of it was Kiddo's drawings.  I kept about 30 that were really great/unusual/memorable and tossed the rest. Several coloring books were tossed as well.

419. Yes, I counted.

It's not that I intentionally counted, but I just kept a running tally in my head, counting as each piece went into the trash bag, much like I counts the steps I take or measures in music.

What you don't count your steps everywhere you go? Oh, must just be me then.

The music measures, well that would be the result of years and years of training.

Anyway, the pages filled a 33 gallon trash bag.  Please don't get onto me about recycling them or shredding them or all that - if I waited until I got around to shredding, it would never happen.  If I could figure out all the rules for recycling paper and then had to sort all the pages based on whether it was colored paper or marked on with marker, crayon or pencil, or if I had to sort based on the presence of glue or staples or whatnot.... yeah, the stacks would still be sitting there.

I try to be as "green" as I possibly can, most of the time. But right now I am just going with the momentum I am feeling and getting rid of stuff.

Baby steps.

I also cleaned out a fully packed-to-the-gills-running-over 13 gallon trash can full of plastic shopping bags and took them all to the recycling bin at HEB.  I completely filled their bin. My apologies to HEB.  At least I was able to do the right thing with those. Of course, then we got home and Port had a poop-tastic diaper. A plastic bag would have come in handy to dispose it. Thankfully I had a plastic bag full of onions, fresh from the store.  It worked just fine.

Aren't you glad I talk about poopy diapers?

The weirdest thing happened today when I was at the grocery store with Port. We were in the frozen food section and he was babbling away, making no sense but just happy as a clam, when out of the blue he screams, "My ear!! My ear!!" He whined in pain and laid his head down on the cart. I looked at him and rubbed his head and didn't see anything alarming or unusual. Almost as quickly he sat up and was fine. I thought he may have had a brief ear ache or something; he's had a lot of sinus drainage lately.  I had pretty much forgotten the whole thing until we got out to the car and I put him in his car seat. That was when I noticed his ear was swollen and red.  Upon closer inspection, I discovered a spot that looked like a pin hole.  It was as if someone had poked him with a needle.

I have no idea what got him. There wasn't anyone else in the isle that I can recall and I certainly didn't see any flying insects. My best guess is that he was bit by a spider, but the hole was really big.  I can't imagine what kind of spider could leave that large of a puncture wound and not be seen in the process.

Ahh the mysteries of HEB...

I shall leave you with the mental jukebox song of the day. A friend introduced me to the tune, and now I can't get it out of my head.

Until,
D :)

Dear John, Taylor Swift

House of Cards

I really have nothing to blog about today.

Well, I take that back, I have lots to blog about, but I made the mistake of waiting until the evening to open this thing up and frankly, my brain started turning off the lights and shutting things down about an hour ago. The doors are locked, the windows have been checked, the dog has been fed, the cat has been put out and my little brain is dreaming of it's warm pajamas and ratty old robe, washing it's face and drinking a big glass of water before snuggling down into the deep recesses of the many blankets on it's bed.

Oh wait, no, that's just me. Except for the part about having everything shut down and done.

I still need to make a school lunch and turn off everything in the house. The dog is snoring and I have no idea where the cat is. Hubby of course, is already in bed, leaving me to shut it all down by myself.

Such is life.

Anyway, I spent most of the day today (when I wasn't editing photo sessions) thinking about what I need to do to like my house again.

Yes, I hate my house. Hate it. Hate every square inch.

You know why?

Because I can't see a square inch because of all the crap we have around here.

It has officially taken over. I am so sick of it all that I hate just sitting here. I hate looking at it. I just want to move and leave everything behind. We keep stuff for the most rediculous reasons! Sometimes we don't even have a reason for keeping it.  For example, today I threw out a pair of jeans.  They ripped right in the middle of the derriere about 6 months ago and I have been holding on to them. WHY!?!?!?!?!? What on Earth could I possibly do with a pair of jeans that allows my rear to hang out?? Seriously. I don't know what "logic" told me to wash, fold and put them back in my closet. I pulled them out on Halloween and didn't even remember that there was he huge tear! Thankfully my Hubby pointed it out before I left the house and mortified myself once again.

So anyway, I threw them out. Good riddance. There is SO. MUCH. STUFF in this house that is just like those jeans - broken, unusable, unfixable, and yet we hang on to it for some strange reason.

Part of me feels guilty for filling up a landfill with all of this stuff, but I finally realized that my house was turning into a landfill! I can't live like this!! Pretty soon my friends will be calling the producers of Hoarders.

So yeah, I am a little dramatic, but seriously in need of a change. I have got to get rid of at least half the stuff in this house. It is stressing me out and depressing me.

Any ideas, helpful hints, offers to help? I am open to any and all suggestions.

Until,
D :-/

Under Pressure

I need a little happy today.

Kiddo is driving me nuts, I am PMSing, and I am having trouble controlling my anger. Because we have been cooped up in this house all week with Kiddo's punishment, I think we are getting a little stir crazy.  Add to that the fact we are looking at about $300-500 in repairs/tires for the CRV, just so it will pass inspection this month. I am trying to figure out how we are going to afford it. We *just* paid off our last credit card; I really hate to have to charge something now.

Oh yes, and quarterly taxes are due next week. Joy.

Gah, I hate feeling down like this. I have so much to be thankful for! Aside from just a couple of things, life is pretty good.

The end of summer, school starting, Kiddo's birthday, family vacation, my certification test, the holidays, holiday sessions, my pricing structure launch, client obligations, marketing strategies, scheduling everything, school clothes shopping, school supplies shopping, allergist appointments, doctor appointments, surgery for both my parents and many many more things are piling up on me right now. I can't sort through it all in my head enough to process or get anything done. And I just keep piling it on myself. Never mind the regular home stuff - laundry, cleaning, maintenance, gardening, etc. Oh yeah and I have kids and a husband that needs attention and care as well.

And it is hot outside. My word the heat. And the mosquitos. And the flies. Texas is such a buggy state. blech.

I wish I could pop my brain out of my head for a little while and give it a rest. I can feel it working overtime in there and it needs a break. It feels like it is going to bust through my skull.

There is a lovely visual.

On a good note, tonight I am going out with a couple of friends to a Grease sing-along at the downtown Alamo Draft House. It should be really fun. I am feeling a little bit anxious (the going, the parking, the finding a seat - logistics of it all kind of give me anxiety) but hopefully I will get over it. I will try to remember my camera so I can take pics.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Until,
D :)

Early in the Morning

In the past few days I have heard more people than I care to count mention that we are now not only 5 months away from Christmas, we are almost half way through the year.

Say WHAT?!?!

I am so not loving that idea.

Especially because the Christmas decorations are still sitting on the floor of the garage, waiting to be put in the attic. umm....

Yeah, so we are kind of behind on that I guess. What do we do now, just leave them there?

Hubby suddenly decided a few days ago that we were having a garage sale this Saturday, come Hell or high water.  Heh, with the way the weather has been lately, both are possible I guess. ;) I think he has finally reached the point (where I have been off and on for a couple of years now) that if we don't get some of this mess out of our house we will go insane the next time we trip on something. Which - could be any moment now...

So he has placed the add on Craigslist and we have mentally lined up all the items we want to drag out of our home bright and early tomorrow morning.  Bright. and. early.  Thank God for coffee.

And of course, the moment we make up our minds to have a garage sale, the boys miraculously pull out all the toys they haven't played with in MONTHS, if never at all, and suddenly they have all these wonderful things they can't give up. What is up with that?!? And it's not like we pulled them out to inspect them either.  They haven't moved from the pile they've been sitting in since 1894, and now I don't know how I am going to get them away from the boys.

So anyway, wish us luck on that.

I was digging through some picture files looking for some images to send to my mother in law, I came across another of Kiddo's drawings that I meant to share a while back. I thought it was pretty hilarious, as it depicts my two boys and the usual looks they give each other. lol!

I think in this picture they are dueling superheros or something. And um, that is one interesting, um, apostrophe... in the little one's britches. hmm.

Well I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful weekend. Welcome to my new followers; I am so glad to see you here!

Until,
D :)

Sea Legs

Yesterday Port had another melt down of epic proportions as we were leaving the grocery store. He wanted a bag of M&Ms and I wouldn't let him have them (the last time we were there he snagged a bag on the way out and I had to go back and pay for them). He screamed and kicked and fought me getting into the car seat and then screamed the whole way home. When we got home he cried some more and eventually calmed down enough to ask for something to eat. Before I gave him what he wanted, I got down on his level and calmly told him that all that screaming and crying and fit was wrong and that it was not nice. I told him he needed to apologize to me, and I said "say 'I'm sorry Mommy'". He looked up at me, opened his mouth, turned his head to Kiddo and said "I saw-wy {Kiddo}."

stinker

The past week or so has just been full of extreme ups and downs. Getting sick last week put my already behind self REALLY behind, and now I am struggling to even keep an organized thought in my head. Kim and I got away for a very short trip to the beach. We left Saturday morning and got back Sunday afternoon. It was so worth it, but way too short. I wasn't feeling 100% either, and so some of the time there was spent just sitting still and trying to settle my stomach. We stayed in a hotel in Rockport right on the bay, but Saturday afternoon we drove out to Port Aransas to check out the beach. Kim got to experience her first ferry ride. Thankfully for me and my unending queasiness, it was a short one. (photos courtesy of Kim, except the ones of Kim, those are courtesy of, well, me.)Walking on the beach was so nice! I just loved listening to the surf and feeling the sand on my feet. We had some silly fun too - this is in Port A near one of the many gift shops. I know, I look amazing. It's ok to say it. ;-)

We had dinner that night at the Paradise Key Island Grill. I was a little queasy. It may have had something to do with the "pink lemonade" I drank on an empty stomach while we waited 45 minutes for a table. It was so good though! They had a whole selection of great sliders that is not on the website menu. Kim had the beef and I ordered the shrimp sliders. By the time the food came I was too queasy to eat, but they were excellent the next day! The shrimp sliders were served with a very yummy remoulade/aioli that was also great on the fries.We were seated at probably the worst table available on the patio, but it was still fun. They had live music and lots of excitement with the bar patrons. Two older ladies jumped up from their seats at the their table and busted out dancing during one of the songs. Fishermen who still had sea legs tripped over themselves and almost crashed into me. A youngish guy with too many beers in his belly sang obnoxiously loud to a couple of songs and made Kim and I thankful we were no longer that age.

BUT - being out, enjoying dinner, and not having to deal with high chairs or wipies or sippies or snack cups or mac-n-cheese or screaming kids made it soooooo worth it!

That night I slept very little. I had a hard time actually getting to sleep - between the group of people down at the pool laughing loudly until almost 1AM and my sad, pitiful brain thinking terribly irrational and scary thoughts, I didn't drift off to sleep until sometime after 2. Then I slept lightly; being woken every few minutes or so by the air conditioner coming on or cutting off. I am used to sleeping in a wind tunnel with constant noise all night long, so the loud to dead-silent fluctuations kept me in a very light, troubled sleep most of the night.

It was still nice not having to share blankets or space. ahhhh!

The next morning on the way out we stopped at a little bay side business and looked for a few more shells for the kids. We found much bigger ones here than the ones we found in Port A.

I wish I had just half of her hair - it is so crazy beautiful!

It was a great trip, but way too short. When we got back I was a bit disappointed that the house was trashed and I had to jump right back into cleaning and dinner duty before I had even had a chance to sit down. But, that's being a mom I guess; as soon as you are within 50 feet of the short people you have to get right back to work. ;)

At least I got about 30 hours of only having to take care of myself. It was a nice break.

The boys were pretty happy to see me when I got back, and Kiddo cried for a good 30 minutes at bed time because for some reason he wanted me to stay in the room when I put him to bed. I haven't done that in a couple of years now, so his crying was both bittersweet and slightly annoying. Port went to bed quite easily that night.

So since then I have been playing catch up and riding this bizarre roller coaster. I am tolerating the boys' antics better, but they are still pushing all my buttons. Yesterday was filled with such highs and lows. I am sort of coordinating a project with the local children's hospital here that provides photographic services to needy families with children in the ICU, critical care or hospice situations. We received our first call for a session yesterday, so I had to find a volunteer available to do the session. Just the thought of the service being needed put me in a funk. But then the boys would do something cute (like working out to Yoga Booty Ballet - oh yeah!) and my spirits would be lifted. Then my website went down (the host server crashed) and I was panicked. Then I got an awesome compliment on my work and I was giddy again. The boys would do something horrible, down I go. Another compliment on my work, right back up!

By bed time I was exhausted.

And since this is getting way long, I bet you are too. I will stop now.

Until,
D :)

Swamp

Every day I think about blogging and what I want to write about, and every day something comes in the way of that and I either feel guilty for taking the time to blog, or guilty for not blogging. So I am cramming this in with my morning coffee - since I usually sit at the computer anyway. I've been doing this blogging thing for long enough now that I know many of you are regular readers and I don't want to disappoint any of you. I have had some ideas recently for getting myself to post here more regularly, but I have yet to implement them.

Obviously.

Anyway, I am still here, and am just absolutely, positively swamped. It is to the point that half the time I sit staring at the computer trying to figure out where to start, or I am yelling at the kids to leave me along so I can get some work done. Of course, the latter makes me feel horrible, and just about every time I smack myself upside the head and get up and go play with them. Then I feel even more overwhelmed and behind on the work that needs to be done and I smack myself again for that.

There are so many bruises.

And I am not even going to talk about the house.

So yes, I am trying to get all my April sessions edited - the wedding is what is bogging me down the most. I am, for the most part, a portrait photographer. And with that, it is easy for me to be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the images I create. When there are only 40 images total to edit from a session, I can go over each one with a fine toothed comb and get them perfect for proofing. And it doesn't take me too terribly long. The problem with a wedding - well first off you start with about 3000 images! Which is about oh, 2900 more than a usual session. Then I have to narrow those down to a reasonable amount, in this case about 500, and then in the editing process they are narrowed down again to anywhere from 200-400 final images. It takes a LONG time to get through all of those! And, I can't exactly go over each one with a fine toothed comb or I would be editing well into the summer!

The boys aren't helping; for some reason the last few weeks they have been at each other's throats. I can't keep the baby out of stuff and the big kid is driving me nuts. I love them both to pieces, but dang, give a momma a break already!

So anyway, I am trying to find a happy medium between a "quick and dirty" edit and my portrait perfection edits so I can get these done. I have yet to find that solution.

And now my carpal tunnel is acting up. Ouch.

I have pain from the second knuckle in each of my fingers all the way down (up??) to my elbow. It hurts so bad! I hardly slept last night because of it.

That, and the baby waking up at 4:30.

Something is affecting him; he had 2 massively disgusting, blow out, have to clean everything in sight diapers yesterday. When he started fussing at 4:30 this morning, I jumped out of bed fearing another poop-plosion. Thankfully it was a false alarm, but we ended up on the couch anyway for the rest of the night. In my light, in-and-out sleep, I dreamed about poop everywhere.

Good times.

Today Aunt Addie is coming for a visit and Kiddo is so excited! He can hardly sit still. It will be fun having her here with us. Hopefully we can find some fun things to do.

Hope you are having a nice week!

Until,
D :)

Everybody Ought to Have a Maid

Kiddo has decided he wants the full version of a demo xbox video game we have. Since he doesn't have a birthday or a gift giving holiday coming up any time soon, he wants to earn money to buy the game himself. He and Hubby had a conversation about a week ago about how people do work to earn money and why we have jobs. Somewhere in the conversation it was discussed how Kiddo could possibly do chores to earn some extra money. So Kiddo approached me the other day asking if he could do some chores to earn money for the game.

I have very mixed feelings about giving Kiddo an allowance or paying for chores this early in his life. There are certain things that I expect him to do every day that is just part of being in a family and taking care of his things. He is required to pick up his room every night before bed, and most of the time I make him pick up all the toys in the rest of the house as well. He is responsible for putting his clothes in the hamper and wiping down the sink after he brushes his teeth (I cannot stand toothpaste in the sink! Ick!). {In case you would like to know my technique on this - Kiddo's routine is to brush his teeth and wash his face every morning. I keep a stack of baby washcloths next to the sink for him. After he brushes his teeth, he takes a clean washcloth and wets it down to wipe his face. When he is done washing his face, he uses the cloth to wipe down the sink and then puts the cloth in the dirty clothes hamper when done. viola! Clean boy AND a clean sink! yay!}

But there are other things we came up with that he doesn't necessarily have to do, but if he wants to earn some extra money, he can. I was more than happy to put sweeping, vacuuming and dusting on this list - and when I did I had no idea how wonderful it is to have him doing these things! He may not do a perfect job just yet, but it gets partially done - which is more than I can say about me doing it on a regular basis; especially when I am busy like I am right now. And the bonus is, he really LOVES doing it! At least, he loves it for now while he has a goal in mind. He actually loves it a little too much - his constant, CONSTANT asking me if he can do a chore is getting really old. I have him feeding the animals for a quarter each and clearing the plates from the dinner table for a quarter a night. Bigger things like dusting, vacuuming and sweeping are a dollar right now. As he gets more efficient at them the price will go down. He can also take out the trash and recycling, empty the smaller trash cans, pull weeds, wash the cars and put away laundry.

I love the help, and he loves helping. But I have got to figure out a way to get him to stop asking me so much. He wants to wash the car every day, even when it is raining, and if he pulls one little weed out of the garden he thinks he is going to get paid. And I wonder how this is all going to work once he reaches his goal and gets the game. I doubt he will keep it up.

I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts.

Until,
D :)

Can't Sleep

Happy Friday everyone!

Come on in, have a seat, please ignore the mess. It's been a weird, sleepless week and I am just too beat to pick up around here. But you understand that, right?

I replaced my poor, tired, messed up coffee maker today, so fresh coffee is on the way! Thank goodness for store credit. I returned something I was never going to use and it covered the new coffee maker I needed and supplied me with 21 cents to take home in my pocket! Yes! So, grab a cup.

I did not sleep a wink last night. After 2 nights this week of being up all night with Port, I really needed a night of rest. Amazingly, Port slept through the night and I didn't sleep at all. I hate it when that happens! It started out that I just couldn't fall asleep. My mind was racing (I think I must have OD'd on caffeine or something) and I could not shut it off. I was thinking about all the things I needed to do, emails I needed to write and then at one point I had a major panic attack. I started worrying about the "what if" of something happening to me during the day while I am alone with the kids and them not knowing what to do or how to get help. I freaked out that I haven't taught Kiddo how to dial 911 or use my phone. I was trying to figure out how to relay that information to him without scaring him. Then my mind went into all these scary scenarios about what might happen.

I. Was. Freaking. Out.

In the dark; crying, praying, scaring myself to infinity for what seemed like hours, then without notice my mind went off to something else entirely. I started drifting in and out of a light sleep, dreaming weird dreams and having scary thoughts. Hubby began to breath funny and every time he took a breath in I thought it was Port crying in his room. I laid there listening; straining to hear every sound in the house and making sure it wasn't him.

Then my stomach started to hurt (no doubt from all the crying and freaking out). Once that subsided, my allergies charged full steam ahead and I spent the rest of the night drifting in and out of sleep, waking myself up every few minutes scratching the roof of my mouth with my tongue. But I wasn't waking up enough to actually get out of bed and find the allergy meds. I woke up several times scratching the roof of my mouth and the inside of my ear at the same time. I was miserable.

So, this morning I was not the most pleasant person to be around. I hope the kids forgive me.

The roof of my mouth is raw and I can't stop sneezing today. I really, really need to get to the store and get some more oregano oil. I haven't sneezed this much in months.

Poor little Port is having allergy trouble today too. His lips and face have been red and splotchy, and he's been sneezing a lot. Our Ash trees are blooming out front, and the pollen is everywhere. I think they may be part of the problem.

In other news, I managed to get the garden all planted this week. I am starting everything from seed, so I am praying it all works. In one of the 4x8 beds I planted black beans, peas, okra, basil, cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers and dill. I have some additional pepper plants that I started in the house a few weeks ago, and when they are big enough I will transplant them there as well.

The other 4x8 already has broccoli, spinach, carrots, onion, lettuce and garlic growing, and I planted cucumbers and lima beans in the empty space.

In between the 4x8 beds I have a row of zucchini and along the fence line I have green beans and corn planted. I have individual pots containing strawberries, chives, parsley and more dill, and today I bought a few more herbs to go in their own containers as well (lemon balm, peppermint, oregano, and another mint variety). I also have my blueberry plant from last year, a new blueberry plant for it to love on, and a blackberry plant as well.

I am so excited! The soil is amazing and I am hoping everything gets a good start. I just need to find pots for the new blueberry and blackberry and one of those multi-holed herb pots for the herb plants I bought. Then I should be set! I need to also build a climbing structure for the cucumbers and the green beans (though some will hopefully climb the corn). And I need to put up cages for the tomatoes, peas and black beans when they start popping up.

I can't wait! Are you growing anything this spring? Please share your progress!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Until,
D :)

Sick and Tired

I just love this picture - took it about a week ago when Port climbed up into Kiddo's lap for a snuggle. Sweetest thing ever! And, hilariously funny since Port is almost as big as Kiddo now! And I promise, his clothes do match sometimes, apparently just not when I pull out the camera...


*cough* *hack* *snort*

Excuse me.

Here in the Fry household, 3 out of 4 are seriously sick this week. Hubby so far has been spared, but the kids and I have it bad. Real bad.

Kiddo actually is tolerating this illness relatively well. He has a nasty, phlegmy cough and lots of snot, but aside from that, and other than fever one day, has been relatively symptom free. Port and I are not so lucky. Port has had the worst of it. He's been running a fever for 4 days now, and every time it spikes I contemplate taking him to the emergency care. It makes him so lethargic; this bug, whatever it is, is kicking his little baby booty.

A dose of ibuprofen though usually will perk him up some in about 30 minutes flat.

But, he hasn't eaten much in the 4 days; he'll eat all the candy and junk he can tolerate as long as it's soft and/or cold, but he won't eat much of anything solid or remotely healthy. After not eating for a whole day, he decided that gummy bears and his toothpaste (yes, you read that right) were the most delicious things on earth. I can sometimes get him to eat a bite or 2 of mac and cheese or oatmeal. He'll drink the drinkable yogurt sometimes - actually he asks for it a lot, but usually only drinks a couple of swallows before abandoning it. His fluid intake is not up to my liking either, and I have switched to disposable diapers this week so I can tell a little better if he is peeing enough. When he coughs, it's so violent that he can't catch his breath and half the time ends up gagging him. Thankfully that is rare, but it still scares the crap out of me.

I am alternating giving him benadryl and ibuprofen or tylenol and he has some good moments throughout the day, but most of the time all he wants to do is sit with me with his head on my shoulder. He's not sleeping well at night, but most of the time I don't hear him because I am so comatose myself.

I came down with it yesterday. It was inevitable I guess; both boys have been coughing and hacking on me for days now. My shoulders and hands have been covered in snot and more than once someone has sneezed in my face.

It's really hard to be a good mom when you feel like dog poo.

I've been yelling more than I ever care too, and my timely hormones are making my temper short and my tone sarcastic.

The past few days I have been a real....well, you can guess I'm sure.

My body is weak, my mind is mush and all I can do is sit here and wait it out. It is bitter cold out and I don't want to go anywhere.

I am praying that Port's version of this cold doesn't turn into something more sinister; his cough has me worried he might have bronchitis, and that freaks me out because we really can't afford another doctor's visit and prescription meds. Last month's double ear infections set us back $80, once again leaving us short for the month.

And every time I am {} this close to taking him to the doctor, he jumps up and runs laps around the house then proceeds to tell everyone he can knock-knock jokes for an hour.

You think I am kidding about the knock-knock jokes?


By the time I got a hold of the camera, he was beyond the silly stage and wasn't finishing the jokes (probably because of Hubby's over the top responses). But it is still super cute. (and his cackle is infectious!) Now he runs around the house yelling "dlock-dlock!! dlock-dlock!!" just waiting for someone to take him up on the joke.

So anyway, yup, that is where we are this week.

In other news, the Musing Mommies (that's me and Kim!) are putting up an organizational challenge of the day (on our Facebook page - go FAN us so you can join in the fun!), just to get us moving and working on our homes. Each day we post something new; and so far it's been mostly cleaning stuff - but the idea is that if you actually get up and do the challenge, it may push you to do more. If you clean off that counter top of all the mail stacks, it may promote you to file some things away....maybe....we hope!

One of my goals is to get things more organized and cleaned up this year. I am not making any huge demands on myself, because the disappointment when/if I fail is just too much for me right now. So I am keeping things slow and steady, trying to get our lives back in some sort of order.

I suppose it would help if I took down the Christmas tree...

Until,
D :)

Throw It Up

We drove back home from Houston yesterday, and walked in to our home to find a horror scene. Our cat, who usually is great with being left alone for a few days, completely destroyed our house, Linda Blaire style, by vomiting all over the living room, dining room (our office) and the bathroom. The only other room she had access to was the kitchen, and shockingly she didn't do anything in there.

And when I say she vomited everywhere, I mean everywhere! It was all over the 2 big area rugs we have in the living room, all over the hard wood floor, all over the dining room floor, Hubby's brand new office chair, my office chair, the kid's toys, the computer desks, the bathroom counter, the bathroom floor and all down the side of the cabinet. I don't know what the heck happened to her, but the house was like nothing I've ever seen. We had to pull up both rugs and a bunch of the kid's toys, throw what we could into the washing machine and hose down the rest in the driveway. It was absolutely disgusting, and totally not something anyone should ever have to come home to. We couldn't even let the kids in the house until most of it was cleaned up.

Today we decided to have a true day of rest. After 5 days on the go and the disaster we faced when we got home, Hubby and I both just wanted a day that we didn't have to worry about going anywhere or being anywhere on time. I worked on photography stuff and Hubby worked on his computer stuff. The boys played really well together most of the day. I think being away from the comforts of home and all of their toys made them appreciate everything more. They barely argued and actually played together as opposed to their usual parallel play.

Tonight I went with Kim and Shannon to see New Moon. The movie was excellent! I can't wait to see it again.

Until,
D :)

3 AM

Oh good grief I haven't blogged all week!!! Mercy! Well, actually, I started a couple of posts, but never finished them. Perhaps I shall get to that today.

Welcome Company Girls and Beloved Regulars! Today I will be serving hot coffee all day long - if you happened to check out the post at Musing Mommies, you'll know that I have been up since 3:53am, thanks to a cranky baby who decided that was the perfect time to get up. ugh. It is only 1:30 now and I am ready for bed. The baby is napping - I know, I should be too, but I drank too much caffeine to sleep now - though I am in kind of a frantic haze (if that makes any sense whatsoever).

Anywho - things around here, despite the early rising (2 Fridays in a ROW!!!), are actually going great! I am almost completely booked for the holiday season, and this week, a fabulous opportunity to possibly assist in shooting 2 destination weddings dropped in my lap. Can I get a woo-hoo?!? It is not definite yet, but I could possibly be shooting in Fredricksburg and Marathon this month with my fabulous wedding photographer friend Allen. I am stoked! It is such a great opportunity - lots of time in the car to pick his brain -haha! And, I am shooting another wedding with him in a couple of weeks. I am so excited about that too!

I even have a Houston weekend of sessions booked this season as well. Business is AWESOME.

So, I am still working on those adorable twin newborn images and planting my fall garden and chasing after the boys...the house may never look decent again (sorry Hubby). But it is all good, right?

In some sad news, I found out this week that one of my past clients had a tragedy in her family. Her 21 year old son was in a terrible car accident. Even though the doctors said he most likely wouldn't survive, he managed to make it despite a multitude of complications from his injuries for over a month. However, last week he succumbed to a blood clot in his brain. It is such a sad, terrible thing and my heart is just breaking for this family. A friend of the family (and a mutual friend of ours) contacted me regarding the portraits I took of them 3 years ago. I was thankfully able to find their images (thank goodness I saved them!) and make some prints for her to give to the family. Please keep them in your prayers during this trying time.

I hope you all are having a great Fall so far - he holidays are right around the corner! Thanks for stopping by!

Until,
D :)

Too Much Food

Happy Friday!
Come in, poor yourself a cup and have a seat (if you can find one - just shove those blocks out of the way). Ahhhh!

How was your week? The usual stuff over here; still super busy, still got lots on the "to do" list and still have a trashed house. Oh well. I did take the time on Monday (or was it Tuesday) to just get the kitchen clean. My goal was to do a room a day, but the rest of the week has gotten away from me and well.... at least I had a clean kitchen for a couple of days.

So this weekend should be busy, and sometime between Sunday and Wednesday I hope to travel to Houston to do a newborn session for my friend's twin baby girls! I am so very excited!

If you visited the Musing Mommies, you read that I suddenly have little veggies in my fall garden! I can't wait to start harvesting! I planted a lot of beans this time in the hopes of growing something that my little Port will eat. He is 17 months old now, and by far the pickiest eater I've seen. We got so lucky with Kiddo (5yrs). He would try anything and he still, to this day, eats just about anything I serve him (except tomatoes, onion and rice). Kiddo loves green veggies and will usually choose them over french fries at a restaurant. He loves all kinds of fruit too - that kid is awesome when it comes to eating.

Port on the other hand, well dang. I am having the hardest time with him! He will eat chicken nuggets (I know, bad Mommy), mac-n-cheese (sometimes), string cheese, hot dogs, corn, beans (red only), bread, apples, pears, blueberries (sometimes) and almost any kind of muffin you feed him. NOTHING else! He used to eat pasta with both cream sauces or tomato sauces, and now it's hit and miss. Don't even THINK about putting something green in front of him. This week I made spaghetti with some tri colored pasta and he ate it all except for the green pasta. Stinker!

So I guess I am going to be baking a lot of muffins for him. I made some banana pumpkin muffins a couple of weeks ago that he loves. I keep them in the freezer and just pull one out for him when he won't eat the dinner I make. I am thinking zucchini, blueberry, apple, maybe sweet potato or carrot - I need to start searching for recipes. Oh and he will eat some crackers and the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms cereal, but I don't really count that as proper nutrition. ;)

And before you even suggest it - I refuse to mess up the holy brownie by putting beans or spinach in them. I will not do that to a brownie! lol!

So, as the experts advise, I continue to offer and offer and offer and hope that one day he will eat a piece of broccoli... any other ideas as to what might work?

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. :)

Until,
D :)

Key To My Heart

Oh man it is a busy, busy week! I am in the middle of deep cleaning my house (to the best of my ability - not expecting any miracles, but it will be company ready by Friday), processing two photo shoots, designing an album for my senior rep, processing 2 big orders (one that includes a slide show - eek! Lol!) and planning for Kiddo's birthday party on Saturday.

So, yeah, I have time to blog, sure! hee hee

Kiddo sprung a big one on me the other day; declaring that he wanted an Iron Man cake, instead of the very generic "super hero" he requested months ago. Of course, of course, there is nothing Iron Man to be found in stores these days, and it is too close to the party to order anything on line. So, I am really pulling this one out of dark places (if you know what I mean) in order to give him what he wants. To make it even more difficult, he wants a vanilla cake with vanilla icing. Ugh. But he wants what he wants...I guess I can make some German Chocolate cake cupcakes for everyone else! ;-)

So today we went on the great hunt for Iron Man stuff, and after searching 4 different stores and coming up empty, we got a hot tip from a Party City employee that the local HEB grocery store might still have some Iron Man party stuff. I took a chance on our HEB Plus, thinking since they had a bigger party section we might get lucky. We found some napkins and cups and a few little things like stickers, but that was it. I am still on the hunt for an action figure - hopefully to put on the cake so that I don't have to make the cake itself into Iron Man. I don't think I could do that with the limited time I have. Though, I have been looking for a good excuse to make that marshmallow fondant again...

So the boys are doing great. Port has had another growth spurt. The 24 month clothes he was comfortably wearing last week now ride up and are almost too small. He is on the verge of really talking; he communicates better and better every day. He does this extremely annoying screaming shriek thing when he wants something, and so I am trying to teach him a few signs in the hopes of stopping the shrieking. So now he signs "more" most of the time when he wants me to read the book again, or if he wants more of a particular food. I think it helps him by lessening his frustration. The "words" that he does say so far are, mama, daddy, kee (kitty), hey, hi, bye, nigh (night), meow, moo, and sometimes yes and no. Today Kiddo and I taught him how to hiss like a snake. Oh and his newest one is "dah" which is his version of "dude". I was changing his diaper the other day and he kept kicking and struggling to get out of my grip and in frustration I quite loudly said "DUDE!" and he thought that was THE most hilarious thing ev-vah!

I tried to capture some of the hilarity on the video, but he had already tired of it some by the time I found the Flip. Later on we recreated the event for Hubby and it was just as funny as it was the first time. Oh and that screech at the end? yeah, that's only a shortened version of what I hear about 4,378,493,246,378,204,738,956 times a day.

Kiddo has grown too; mentally and physically. He blows me away with his intelligence and his sheer size. I am worried that by the time he goes to school next year, he will look and act like a second grader! Poor kid, maybe homeschooling is the best idea. I can't believe that in just a week he will be 5 years old. It has gone so fast!

So that's the short version. I have a ton of things to do before bed tonight so I better wrap this up. Wish me luck this week - I am for sure going to need it.

Until,
D :)

Hero

If you've read my blog for any amount of time at all, you are probably aware of Kiddo's love for superheros. Just about every day he dons some sort of costume, completes the look with a cape and mask, and pretty often adds gloves and boots to the ensemble. He fights criminals, rescues those in trouble and runs around flying and fighting and being "super". Sometimes it's pretty cute, sometimes exhausting, but most of the time now it's so common I don't even really notice it. A couple of times we have been on our way out the door when I realize that he is dressed all in red with surprisingly large muscles! (and no, so far we have not actually made it out the door that way - thank goodness!)

And as far as I know Port has no interest or understanding of this kind of play; big brother is just being his silly, normal self. Occasionally Port will bring me a pair of sunglasses (I guess they remind him of Kiddo's mask) and have me put them on his head (a million times) so he can run off grinning and rip them off his face seconds later.

But for some reason the other day, when Kiddo raided the receiving blanket drawer for a fresh polka dotted cape, Port eyed me curiously as I tied the blanket around Kiddo's neck. The next thing I knew, he had vanished somewhere in the back of the house. I called him, and he came down the hallway with not only a huge grin on his face, but a little receiving blanket from the drawer. He handed it to me and then turned his back to me, in the same way Kiddo had just minutes before. Taking his cue, I tied the blanket around his neck and gave him a cape.



Obviously, he liked it! :-)

Until,
D :)

Sleep All Day

My little baby; sweet, sweet baby! He is a bright shining light in my world! But if he doesn't put the kibosh on waking up at 4am, I am going to loose it!
Two mornings in a row now he has risen at 4:15 and not gone back to sleep. He is cutting his eye-teeth and I think they are seriously bothering him. He has not been happy at all for the past 3 or 4 days. The only time we have gotten a decent amount of time out of him where he was relatively fuss free was last night when we were over at Kim's house for dinner. He was happy pretty much the entire time we were there.

Today I took him in for his 15 month well check (seriously, is a 15 month check necessary?? We were just there 3 months ago and we have to go again at 18 months. *sigh* This is wrecking our budget!). I KNEW he was growing! He weighs 29.7 pounds now! And I think she said he was about 32 inches. Overall he is in the 95th% - 3 months ago he was in the 75-90th% range. Mercy. Hopefully now that he is practically running he will slim down some. He and Kiddo like to "race" in circles around the living room and kitchen area. It is pretty much their nightly ritual.

Anyway, I wanted to keep him rear facing in the car for a while longer, but I am pretty sure the rear facing limit for his seat is 30 pounds.So this 4am thing? It has to stop. I am a walking zombie. Kim is going to boot me from Musing Mommies if I can't get my head on right. My husband might disown me if I don't get some energy to clean the house soon. My friends may stop calling... if...if...Dang, it's hard to stay mad at him. Would you look at that face?!?

Until,
D :)

Simple As That

gonna blog today gonna blog today gonna blog today...

I've had a pretty productive little day today if I do say so myself. I ordered some new vinyl lettering for the back of my car (business stuff), did a couple loads of laundry, did a massive overhaul of the kitchen (it was a total disaster!), came up with another brilliant business idea and made a purchase toward achieving that goal, developed another business idea; building it from merely a concept to a plan of action and fleshed out the details. I finished and posted my last session's gallery on my website (blog entry soon to come), started my very own Google calendar so I can get a little more organized, ran to the grocery store for some much needed items, worked in the garden for a good while, harvesting a couple of zucchini and a bowl full of green beans. I mulched the grape vine and watered everything as well.

I still have a lot on my to do list, but as usual, the more I do, the more motivated I feel so I guess it is all good. Oh yes, and on my small thing list for the house today I filled all of the soap dispensers. I am trying to do at least one small thing each day. Yesterday it was wipe down the bathroom mirrors and medicine cabinets. I figure, unless I figure out a way to make things like that less of a bother, they will never get done. right?

Kiddo has had a little goal of his own for about a week now. I'm not sure where he got this (though I suspect it has something to do with his Happy), but about 5 days ago he got out of bed, came to me and said "Mommy today I am going to be an adult. I am to brush the teeth, and wash the face and comb the hair and change the clothes." And that is exactly what he does now every morning as soon as he gets up.

It is super cute, really. But it's not so cute when I am trying to sleep and he is in my room asking me to turn on the water in the bathroom so he can "brush the teeth". ugh. He can only turn on the faucet in the kitchen by himself and one morning I actually caught him brushing 'the' teeth in there. I had to stop him when he started rinsing his tooth brush in a dirty bowl full of water...

So yeah, super cute, except for when I'm SLEEPING. *sigh* Thanks Happy. ;-)

In Walmart the other day he asked me to buy him a razor because he needed to shave too. When he brushes the teeth and washes the face and combs the hair and changes the clothes - yes, he says it just like that, every time!

In the car last week Kiddo says "My hair is a masterpiece."
Me: It is?
Him: "Yes, but some times I have to get a hair cut."


Port surprised me the other day. We had stopped at Sonic while we were out and I got Kiddo and I a drink. I decided to get another small cup of water as well, in case Port had cup envy. Sure enough, when we got home he started screaming for Kiddo's cup, so I gave him the water. He happily drank it while sitting on the floor and soon enough he pulled the straw out of the top. Once it was out he decided he wanted to drink some more so he got up and brought the cup to me. I told him, "you have to have the straw, Baby, go get it and I will put it back in the cup." And wouldn't you know it, he turned around, walked back over to the rug, picked up the straw and brought it to me?!? I was shocked!

He has also made the connection with wearing shoes and going out side. Now when he wants to go outside he will find his shoes and bring them to me. And if I sit on the floor he will turn his back to me and back up until he can sit in my lap. Then he will stick out his feet for the shoes! Soooooo cute!!! He loves to go outside and swing. I can't wait until he figures out how to get off the porch by himself!

I have been on a roll with cooking lately. I made two amazing dishes this week; a lasagna and a seared salmon with a dill cream sauce. YUM! I am soooo loving this garden!! I swear in my next life I will be a chef. I will share the method/recipe next time. :)

Until,
D :)

One In A Million

I'm starting this post early because well, it was an early wake up for me this morning. Today is my baby's 1st birthday!!! Last year, sometime after 4 AM (is it bad that i can't remember the exact time???) my sweet little Port came screaming and clawing his way into the world. He hasn't slowed down since!

Today is not starting out so great though - I woke up to a massive headache, no doubt from all the dust I stirred up cleaning yesterday. THEN, I discovered that I am

oh gosh I don't know if I can type it...

out

of

coffee.

{sob!}

Thankfully, thankfully though I found a single pot packet in my emergency stash and praise the coffee gods I have a yummy, STRONG, steaming cup in front of me.

- that 2 minutes after I poured it, got dumped in my lap when the baby bumped into me.

aaarrrrgggg!!!

But all is well. My robe soaked up most of the coffee and I now have a replacement cup. There is plenty left for my Company Girls - help yourself!

I know I promised you Art show photos today, but I have not had time to edit them all yet. I have been too busy cleaning the house from top to bottom in preparation of the family coming into town. I will get them out next week, I promise!

Yesterday I baked a couple of the cakes needed for the party Saturday. I tried to bake a butter/yellow variety, and made a terrible mistake of putting heavy whipping cream in place of milk! OOPS!! It didn't come out too well. That's ok though, I just scrapped the original plan and am making the yellow cake into cake balls. Hopefully I can run over to Hobby Lobby this morning and grab some supplies and make them into cute little cake bites. It should be fun!

Also on the agenda today... finishing up cleaning; still have to do the floors, clean/polish the table, wash a load of diapers, empty all the trash, sweep the kitchen again (I scrubbed the floor in there yesterday, but the crumbs reproduce all by themselves!). Then I have to boil a chicken, bake another yellow cake, this time with milk (tee hee), make some brownies and eventually decorate the cakes. Did I mention I made a marshmallow fondant last night? It is divine!!! Hopefully it is easy to work with, and hopefully I have enough... I also should prep the stuffed jalapeno peppers and cut up the fixins to go with the fajitas we are having Saturday. That includes making guacamole and queso as well.

Wow, I better get off the computer and get moving!

Hope you all have a splendid Friday and an awesome weekend!

And - if you find yourself with an hour of time that you need something to listen to, the 2nd episode of Musing Mommies is now available! This week's topics are photography and mommy relationships. Enjoy!

One last thing - in honor of his birthday, here is a little video of my Port. One of his favorite things to do is play with his diapers when I get them out of the dryer. He is such a cute little stinker!


And his favorite word... "meow" lol!


Until,
D :)