I have begun the loooong process of revamping my business:)  I figure, by the time everything is done, Max will be over a year old and I can take on more clients, so what better time to start the ball rolling?  I’m excited.  My friends are priceless and creative and have given me great input.  If you are a creative friend of mine, and I haven’t called you yet, be ready!

Some recent, random photos:

This is Walker Sherman.  He and his wife, Amanda, have a music lesson business here in town.  They are both so fun and loving.  They are very busy and God is blessing them left and right!  Walker also plays music at local venues and is the worship pastor at Mosaic Church.

And this is Lori.  She is- dear.  She is unfiltered.  She is pregnant with her 5th baby (4th boy).  She can shake her rump and bake a cake.  We had a date the other night.  Rain killed our plans for a full maternity session, so I snapped a few of her on her porch- for good measure.

And really…. can I blog without posting a photo of my ‘chub of love’?!  No.  No, I can not.

He loves necklaces.  His legs start kicking and his eyes get wide.  He waits for his hands to respond to his brain telling him to grab the necklace and eat the necklace.  No necklace is safe.  He’s rocking on his hands and knees.  The nice immobile days will be gone very soon.  Then it’s a gear shift into my favorite baby stage- ‘I wanna get down on the grocery store floor’ combined with ‘finger swiping random grossness out of his mouth’.   Have a great week!  xoxo, AmyQ

Do you feel the life in a wild bird, the same as you feel it in a caged bird?

I don’t know.  It’s Friday night.  This is how I party.  I eat pie from Jim -n- Nick’s and zing on sugar.  Zing.  Headache?  Me too.  You’re welcome.  xoxo, AmyQ

He’s cutting teeth, so his “once upon a time” *dreamy* sleep schedule, has now changed to waking up 4 and 5 times a night.  I’m pretty sure I was begging someone to kill me at some point last night.  It wasn’t even this hard when he was newborn!  The funny thing is ( and I use the term funny loosely) that he doesn’t just wake up, eat, change diaper and doze back off, he wants to play and blow raspberries.   If he was in HIS bed, it wouldn’t be an issue, but he sleeps with us, and his idea of play is kicking us and pulling hair.  I’ll adjust him back in sleeping position and he wiggles down and turns sideways, then proceeds to kick one of us while trying to pull hair on the other one.   Good times.  I will appreciate those teeth once they make their appearance and things calm back down a bit.

So this weekend will consist of moving baby to his bed- which currently gets no use- in our room.

But if he’s anything like our others, he will coo and smile and weasel his way back in our bed and he’ll be there until he’s 2 or 7.   And to be honest, it’s usually me who pulls them in bed with me.  Even with the older ones- I love sleeping with my babies sometimes.  It’s just so cozy to fall asleep together.  Now there have been times when we’ve had 3 in bed with us at once- not fun.  Sweaty, cramped, sudden kicks in the mouth to wake you from REM sleep- no thank you.  We’d talked about putting all our beds in one room once- that idea never panned out.  Then we thought about putting all the kids’ beds in one room.  I thought it’d be cool to have one room with only beds and decorated for sleeping.  Calming colors, no other furniture in the room, fluffy pillows and cozy blankets….. it’s still something I think is cool, but haven’t done yet.  They all end up sleeping in the same room every night anyway, in sleeping bags or all piled in bed together.

On what should be a totally different blog post, take a look at this:

This is shameful.  But I don’t shame, so it’s- ummmm- in need of cleaning.  This is what my camera sensor looks like before I spend forever and a day taking all the black dust spots out.  I’ve only circled about 70% of the spots that are actually on there.  Only macro shots show it mostly, thank God.  I must find time to send it off to be cleaned!  I did attempt it once myself- with an infant nasal aspirator.  I don’t suggest that.  The end.  xoxoAmyQ

xoxo, AmyQ

He wanted to look like Thomas- so he took a blue marker (unwashable by the way) and colored his face.  We scrubbed his face for 2 days before it was all the way gone.  I’m just happy it’s off before school starts.  If he wanted to color his face for school, I wouldn’t mind, but not the first day:)  He wants to be called, “Little Wind” at school.  It’s his Indian name that he had at Montessori school.  We’ll see how that works out.  Today he’s Grumpy Care Bear.

Every year, at this time, I go into melt down mode about the kids going back to school.  I cry and stay sad and beat myself up because I know I do not have the needed patience or organization to homeschool them while tending to the baby and Noelle.   Well, school starts in less than a week and they are ready with supplies and clothes.  I believe my sadness has turned to acceptance of the situation and it is what it is.

On the positive, I’ll have lots of time to devote to kissing on the babies:)  They need kissing.  Often.

Have a great week and kiss your babies- young and old.  xoxo, AmyQ

These two were having the time of their lives before I took these shots.  The other photos of them I took, having fun, well….. I doctored one and had to share.  I was dying laughing.  And now this certain activity is a daily occurrence.  Always late in the afternoon and when they know I’m preoccupied.

I painted clothes on these wild children in Photoshop.  Naked water trampoline is all the rage over here.  I’m not sure  I’d suggest it if you have neighbors.  Unless you want  your neighbors to move.  If that’s the case- join the children in this activity.  Have a great week everyone!  xoxo, AmyQ

Yeah.  I could’ve shot this monster with a BB gun, but I didn’t.  I couldn’t even look at it to take the picture.  I just held the camera out and took lots of shots, hoping one would turn out.  Not a fan of spiders.  Well, I like the job they do, but I don’t want to see them.  Ever.

A couple hours later, I discovered this:

That little arrow is pointing to the water level inside that fixture.  A water line upstairs came undone and flooded our house.  The funny thing is, I was rocking Max to sleep and admiring the strange bubbling meadow brook noise I was hearing.  I had no idea what it was, but it was nice and I thought about letting it lull me to sleep too.  There was no sense of urgency while I was listening to it!  I just let it gurgle and trickle away.

It was after I lay him down and walked towards the noise that I discovered the source.  Then I sprang into action like a bat outta hell.  We have a pretty big mess on our hands, but it happens.  What can you do- other than smile and rock while your house floods?

I saw this yesterday afternoon.  He made a strange sound and I looked up and there he was.  He let me touch him and spread his wings out.

I came inside to show Chris, but he was sacked out.

So I went to Walmart with only Noelle.  It was kind of a big deal for us.  We never have alone time.  I go to take her out of her car seat when we get there, and wouldn’t you know she has on no panties.  And she’s wearing a dress.  We hit the panty section first, opened them babies up and put them on right there in the store.  BUT, I did wear shoes and I remembered a bra, so I’m  making progress.  Baby steps.

Have a great Wednesday:)  xoxox, AmyQ

I’m getting the hang of working on a Mac.  There’s still lots that I’m confused about, but I’ve found a round about way of getting it to do what I want.  I’ve been going through alot of our summer photos and laughing.

Noelle has very specific ideas on what she wants to wear.  I oblige.  It makes for great photos to show her when she gets older.  Hope everyone has a great week.  xoxo, AmyQ

Sometimes I kiss him so much, my lips hurt- almost like they’re getting chapped.  He loves to eat- alot.  He already devours cereal AND a small thing of baby food for dinner.  He tears it up!

He smells like milk and powder most of the time.  It’s intoxicating.  I have a habit of randomly squeezing his chunky thighs and clenching my teeth.  He loves it.  I love him.  My last dance as a mother to a baby will be over before I know it, and I’m relishing every second I can.

xoxo, AmyQ