playdate.

what a better way to spend a rainy friday than to have your best buddy over.

parker and hunter are about 3 weeks apart in age. and after about 4 hours of this playmate it made me grateful that i didn’t have twins. holy wow. they are both balls of energy. independent. outspoken. and so.much.fun. these two knuckleheads ran and ran and ran and ran. they played with each and every toy we own. they laughed. they wrestled. they ate lunch. they might have even snuck some candy. but the bottom line. they had fun. hunter, you are welcome anytime in my home. parker is still talking about how much fun he had.

play-doh.

well. i finally busted out the play-doh. why? because. because we got 3″ of snow today and the entire city freaked out, shut down, sat in traffic, so on and so on. and because i don’t deal with the daily commute, myself and kiddos spent the entire day in our pajamas playing with play-doh. snow, feel free to stick around. i love the time i get with my children. it’s invaluable. especially the stay in our pajama snow type of days.

random.

just a few pictures of my boys. i adore them to pieces.

small tear.

i’m sitting at st. louis spine and orthopedic surgery center. doug survived his knee surgery. in january he slipped on the skid of the helicopter at work and his knee has never been the same. after months of therapy it was decided to operate. turns out he had a small meniscus tear in his left knee. he survived. he is awake. i’m simply waiting to see him. the best part? crutches for 6 weeks. should be fun.

thanks to everyone for the thoughts, the prayers and phonecalls.

xoxo

we are family.

the hunkins family shoot is posted. wanna see it? check it out here.

i work here.

Check it. Watch the video. It’s the best part.

smitten.

dear new lens, i heart you.

a new toy.

not for parker. not for doug. for me. and i am so excited. it will be on my doorstep in a few weeks and i cannot wait.

what is it you ask?

the proof will be in the pictures in just a few weeks.

stay tuned.

a new addition.

no. i am not pregnant.

doug and i have been talking for quite some time about buying a new camera. he knows how much i love photography. i have our camera on me practically at all times constantly snapping away and capturing our moments. i took photography classes in high school. in college. even after college just for fun. i love it. i adore it. and i truly wish it was something i would have hung on to. stuck with. pursued. but as time went on photography took the back seat in my life.

then out of no where we decided to purchase our first “grown up”camera. coincidentally right before we found out i was expecting. it wasn’t anything fancy. it was nice. not to mention it was a million times better than my crummy pocket point and shoot. we were in heaven. taking it everywhere. using it day and night. we captured my growing belly, the birth of parker, and his entire first year of life with that camera. but deep down i was frustrated with it. i wasn’t thrilled with the quality, the functionality, the flexibility. sure. it did the trick. but i knew i wanted more. i could do more. i was limited with this camera. after a bit of discussion we decided to sell our camera. to put whatever money we made from that camera towards a new one. a nice one. one that would bring my passion back to life.

 and that we did.

last weekend we said farewell to our old camera. the camera that has captured so many moments in our life and bought my dream camera. a canon. a beautiful canon. i know. it’s silly to love something so much, but when you have a passion for something you understand the thrill. the happiness. it’s a material object i know, but what that object produces is priceless.

with that said, here are just a few (out of hundreds) photos i have snapped the last three days. enjoy.

for sale.

my house that is.

we have a lot of great memories here. it’s going to be so bittersweet when we sell it. and the day we close the big blue and very solid front door for the last time i will more than likely cry – a lot. this is our first house. we fell in love here. we got engaged here. we came home from our honeymoon here. we found out i was pregnant here. we ran out of the front door when my water broke here. we brought our first child home here. long sleepless nights were spent here. milestones were made here. crawling. talking. walking. all here. we celebrated so many firsts here. christmas. thanksgiving. mother’s day. father’s day. many dinners were made here. cookies by the dozen have been baked here. gallons of paint have been put on the walls here. baby birds made a home in our attic here. friends and conversations have been made here. many nights bar-b-q’ing have been spent here. inside jokes were invented here. we have laughed harder than ever thought possible here. we have cried here. we have fought here. we have danced here. we have dreamed here. we have made here a home. but it is time to move on. for my family. it is the right time and the right thing to do. it is time to turn the page in this chapter and start a new. i will miss our home. but i will always have the memories.

boom-box.

a few days ago my dear, and very pregnant, friend tara brought up the baby monitor topic which reminded me to write this post. i’ve been meaning to talk about the boom-box story and my obsession with it.

boom-box. well. it came from my witty and charming husband one night. when parker was first born we would lay him in his bed all swaddled and snug. but as a first-time mom i of course was panic-stricken. was he breathing? is he choking? did he just cough? is he ok? what is he doing in there? terrible i tell you. terrible. when i finally had the opportunity to sleep while parker was sleeping i laid in bed with the monitor turned up as loud as it would go. listening. and if i couldn’t hear anything. well. you better believe i was hovering over the crib making sure my child was breathing.

so one night doug and i laid in bed. enjoying the momentary silence as parker slept. and like every night before i would say to doug “ok, hand me the monitor”. he did. and like every night before i took the monitor and placed in on my pillow as i went to sleep. on my pillow. turned up. loud. that’s when my husband said “i swear, it looks like you are carrying around a boom-box”.

that is when the commonly used phrase, boom-box, was invented to reference the baby monitor. and it was true. it did look like i was carrying around an old school boom box on my shoulder. blasted to the highest volume to top it off.

what’s even worse is that every single night since then i ask doug “can you hand me my boom-box?” and every single night he does. i still rest it on my pillow. i still get up to check on parker. i can be in a dead sleep and will sit straight up and run into his room just to hear him breathe. i still make doug get up out of bed to check on him “just one more time” before we go to sleep.

i guess i’m just a mom. one day i’ll let go of my boom-box, but for now i just can’t. and i know i’m not the only one out there so it’s good to know that there is no need to check into a boom-box rehab (just yet).

three little words.

every moment, every memory and every milestone. every regret, every decision, every high and every low.  all which have shaped me into the person that i am today. the person that i am proud of. the person that i am grateful for. every single step has been a life changing greatness.

i have decided to tell the story of my life. whether a photo, a memory, a random thought or new discovery. i will do my best to capture and share these moments. i can’t promise it will be wildly entertaining, but maybe somewhere amongst my story you too will discover the deifnition of life changing greatness.