another one bites the dust...

THE BAD:

I am the next victim of the stomach funk.

Date night will likely be canceled tonight.

I feel like junk.


THE GOOD:

Shane's class was canceled last night bringing him home just before I had my
head in the toilet.

Marlie seems to be on the mend finally.

My in-laws are taking Marlie today so I can puke alone.

I dragged myself to weigh in at WW and lost 2.2 lbs for a total of 13.6 lbs lost. (say what you want but I am taking advantage of the only upside of having the stomach flu and you still have to pay if you don't go.)

All the hype about popsicles is true. They taste great when you feel sick.


a side note: The popsicles I got have jokes on the stick. How cute right? I was eating my cherry popsicle thinking how great it tasted and feeling nostalgic about childhood summers. When I got to the joke it was..

"What kind of feet are on your face?"

answer: "crows feet"

Thank you popsicle people. Thank you very much.

pukey monkey

We are slowly making our way through Marlie's first stomach bug. The poor little thing was up all night throwing up and was just a lump on my lap all day. I must confess that it is kind of nice to have a snuggly baby again, to feel her cheek against mine, but I would trade that in a second for her to feel better.

That being said if you are waiting for an email or call back from me I'll get back to you soon but give me a couple of days.

p.s - Why don't they make a clear, flavored Pedialyte? Orange seemed to be the lesser of the evils but it is still doing a number on the carpet.

storybook shoot winner!

I told Marlie she had to be completely unbiased even though her new boyfriend was up for the prize :). Here she is picking the winner out of a plastic busch stadium cup because well, thats just how we roll at 8:00 a.m. around here.


And the winner is....


Lisa Sweeney! Congratulations! Lisa has the cutest little curly headed toddler who is perfect for a storybook shoot. Can't wait Lisa! Email me and we'll talk dates.

Another new kind of shoot I am offering is a birth documentary shoot. I haven't done one of these yet but I can't wait to. I have one planned for this July. I have seen photos of photographers that I admire around the country who do these and they look amazing. You can see some examples HERE and HERE and also HERE

An incredible way to capture such an important day. If you decide to book me for a birth documentary we would get your due date on the calendar and then I would be on call around that time. Price is $250 for the shoot, and an 8"x 8" photo book containing the photos. Let me know if you have any questions or are interested.

Today we are helping friends, hangin out, layin low. I like that kind of day. Have a good one!

now announcing...

A while after Monkey Pants' 18 month photo shoot I got this idea for a great Christmas gift for Shane. What if I wrote a little story that went along with the photos and made it in to a storybook with Marlie as the main character? It was so fun to work on and I was incredibly happy with the finished product. It is hard to show it well here, but I'll try. You can click on the photos to read the writing. Here is the cover and title page...



And the pages shown as a 2 page spread...












and the back cover...



Shane was floored when he opened his gift and I loved watching him read it.

I just love this idea so I have decided to offer it as a photography package for toddlers and kiddos. A storybook shoot includes the photo shoot itself and a custom story written to go along with the photos bound in a hard bound 8" x 8" book. The cost is $250. Additional books can be purchased for $40 each.

We'll talk about your little person to give me some direction for the story. Do they have a nickname like Monkey Pants? Do they have a lovey we can incorporate in the shoot? Are they about to become a big sister or brother? There are so many different options here. I love it!

And now for the best part. Because I am so excited about this new idea I am going to give away a storybook shoot to one lucky commenter tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:00 in the morning. So, leave a comment before then and you just might win! I'll announce the winner in the morning and tell you about another kind of shoot I am now offering. Happy commenting!

hello Friday

Yesterday I had a little visitor to the studio. Meet Marissa...



She is just a week and a half old and oh so tiny. We tried out my new prop. My MIL found this incredible antique baby scale for me. I know Marissa is a little girl, but this bluish color is my favorite new color and I love how it looks with the writing on the scale. Girls can love blue too.





I love this little monogrammed hat..


And I hadn't put a baby in the cupboard for a while so we did that too.

I can't help it, I love that shot. Welcome to this world Marissa!

Its Friday again so I went to my Weight Watchers meeting. I lost another 0.8 lb bringing the total to 11.4 lost so far. I fit in to my skinny jeans last week and man does that feel good!

Today is my work day. Monkey Pants is at Gunnie and and Papa's and I am knocking out a bunch of things that have been on my list for too long.

I'm working on a big announcement for Monday so check back then! Have a great weekend!

one on one with Mista Nug

Today I had Mista Nug in the afternoon while Marlie was napping. We don't normally get one on one time together so I took this opportunity to have a little Q&A with him to catch up.

He dressed up for our interview which I thought was very nice...

E: Hello Mista Nug. Its so nice to be able to catch up with you.
MN: Yeah, thanks for having me Miss Erin.
E: Are you nervous at all?
MN: Well, a little bit. Do you mind if I loosen my tie?
E: Of course not, go ahead.

E: So tell me what you have been up to lately.
MN: Well, I can say "Uh, OH" now, I love squealing just to hear the sound of my voice, and I am making some real progress with the sippy cup.

E: Wow that's great!
MN: Why,thank you.
E: Tell me about teething, how is that going?
MN: I don't want to talk about it. Its too painful.

E: Oh, I'm sorry I brought it up.
MN: That's OK don't worry about it.
E: Well, can you at least show us the teeth you have been working on?
MN: Sure, no problem!
E: Nice!
MN: Thanks!
E: Now, I know this is a little personal, but have you managed to keep your chunky physique over the last few months?
MN: Oh yeah. I mean just look at these legs.

MN: Check out this knee roll.

MN: Let me just go ahead and flex all my chunks for ya.

E: Wow, that is impressive.
MN: I try.
E: What do you think is your best feature?
MN: Well, I am especially fond of my feet. They are as wide as they are long and that is not something you see a lot.

E: But what about your big blue eyes?
MN: Well, they are nice too.

E: So what do you think your mom and dad are going to say about me giving you this impromptu interview?
MN: Oh miss Erin, you might be in trouble.

Laney Bug

Last weekend I got to meet the cutest little 1 year old. Meet Laney...

She is so adorable. She has similar features to my Monkey Pants so of course I was in love.


You should see the chunky legs on this girl.

Looks like her parents are in love too.

Happy 1st birthday Laney!

Woo Hoo!

I've lost 10.6! Today was weight watchers weigh in day and I lost 2.4 more lbs. I am officially half way to my goal of losing 20 lbs! 10 lbs, you know what that means? Another reward from my rewards board.

So remember the big three over in the corner?


I have been wanting a big #3 to hang up in our house since that is how many of us there are in this little family. Eventually I want to get a #1, #2, and then #4 and up as we grow, but for now its 3.

I cheated a little bit on this reward and got it early. I couldn't help it! Lets just say I was planning to be successful. Thats a good thing right? When I saw this baby on ebay for $10 I had to snag it. Its from an old sign and its the perfect size and made of nice heavy metal. I hung it up in our living room over some family photos. Awwweeee. I like it.



I cannot tell you how glad I am it is Friday. This has been a totally nuts week for me. Late nights, botched projects, just crazyness. Have I ever said how helpful my family and friends are? With Shane at work during the day and at school at night I could not make it without help. I am not good at asking for help. I hate to actually, but in the last three days my mom, Shane's mom, our friend Micah, and Beth have all watched Marlie for me so that I can get work done and not lose my mind. I have been to my local photo lab 5 times in the last 3 days. 4 times for their mistake and once for my own and I have to go back tomorrow!

It is just not a place where I can take Marlie and that makes things really hard. I took her for the first trip this week and it resulted in her squirming on the floor and screaming as I tried to pry a glass frame from her hands. There were lots of stares. She does really well most places, but not there. She just goes crazy and tries to pull everything off the shelves. Perhaps she likes camera accessories as much as her mom? I don't know.

Anyways, I would not survive without help so thank you, thank you to the people that help me!

Tonight is full of more work. But tomorrow night its just me and my man and two fillet mignon. Mmm I love steak.

A photo shoot with the Days

I just finished going through my photo shoot with the Day family and picking my favorites. Get ready for a ton of photos because I like a lot of them and I like this family a lot. The have three beautiful girls, Liddy, Emma, and Lucy.


They each have their own little personality. They are different from each other, but also alike and I have never seen three little sisters that love each other so much.



Liddy is the youngest. She is quite the little stinker can't you tell by that adorable smirk? She spent the week trying to teach Marlie duck duck goose. It didn't work. But boy did she try.

Lucy is just adorable. She is a little cowgirl with a big personality.

I've known Emma since she was born and I hadn't seen in her in a while. So I show up and she's all grown up looking like a beautiful pre-teen. Man I'm old.

And the whole fam. Look at those mountains. Why do I live in Missouri again?



Thanks for a great week guys. Love you

Colorado

Our trip started off with a bang when Shane jumped up out of bed exclaiming that we had slept through the alarm. We ran around like chickens with our heads cut off and somehow made it in the car with all of the luggage and Marlie. The next hour or so involved long lines and some tears from me and Marlie, and running to our gate and making it there just in time. Phew.

I didn't get any photos of Marlie on the plane because my camera was carefully stowed and it was enough just to keep her entertained. It was cute though, she did well. Wiggly like any toddler, but she did well. We had a layover in Dallas and the funniest part of the trip was when I was leading Marlie on to the second plane of the day she took one look around and said "Heck no I'm not sittin still for another plane ride" and took off out the door and up the ramp. Smart kid. I didn't want to get on that plane either. She got her vengeance though by stinking up the whole cabin with a massive poopy diaper. Oh yeah, she was the stinky kid.

Here she is thanking the Lord that we made it to Colorado...or just looking at some ducks flying by but whatever.

The Days are the kind of friends that you can go without seeing for a year and then just take up where you left off, which is exactly what we did. We hung out in our jammies, the girls loved on Marlie. Sarah and I got some time together sans kids (thanks Chad) and of course we fit in a photo shoot one day. I'll post those tomorrow. Here are my two favorite candid shots from the trip.

Lucy reading to Monkey..

All the girls walking together. This wasn't posed people, they are just that cute...


Today is an off day. I stayed up till all hours working (thats what happens when you leave town I guess) and Marlie woke up at all hours. That is not a good combo. So we are going with the flow,trying to get some errands done today. I am resisting the urge to crawl back in bed and dying for some sort of coffee beverage. Here we go!