The weekend continues....

Fortunately for us, the weekend got much better than our portrait experience. Gage has still been in a slightly foul mood and hardly napped today or yesterday but we were super busy and under the circumstances it was understandable. Yesterday before it got too hot and before there were tons of people there we took our 1st visit to the neighborhood pool. Gage loved it and it was SO much warmer than the indoor pool...go figure! His favorite part were the little fountains of water. I took him in the big pool with me but I think he liked just sitting in the baby pool splashing around the best.






After the pool we went to cook out at Howard and Sherri's. Most of the big kids were outside so I didn't get very many pictures, but here is Gage hanging with Adelyn, a 10 month old cutie with HUGE blue eyes and 9 teeth!





Today was filled with LOTS of shopping. We spent way too much money, but got some things we defintely were in need of. We wore poor little Gage out in the process. Here are just a few other pictures from the last couple of days that we think are particularly cute. Btw, we're thinking of entering Gage into the Parents magazine contest for their photo contest. We have to have 6 pictures taken within the last month, so we'll definitely submit some of the professional pictures, but we need a few others with his dimples showing, since he REFUSED to show them on Saturday.

OMG...now I am really annoyed!

A) After having to make decisions on the spot of what pictures we wanted and didn't want and
B) After taking the time to scan all of the pictures
Picture People has now sent us an email with a gallery of ALL of the pictures.

Please note this if you are getting pictures through Picture People, I wish someone had told us. We probably would've made better choices, gotten pictures we wanted AND not spent so much money.

http://www.picturepeople.com/sso/publishconfirm.sso?data=b1H9we2OnDmrqR2q5G5okTmQHZvCxp8co1qFBflIu%2f7ZnWCfn6U%2bBm7XiKHFiLK0
Here's the site if you want to check them out.

Our first experience with Picture People....

....will probably be our last. Although we got some alright pictures, we were very disappointed in our whole visit. I had been warned that Picture People always ran behind, but took good pictures nonetheless. I was pleasantly surprised that we were taken quickly. However, that was the only good part of the experience...

I was then asked to put my baby down on a very DIRTY floor. Now, I'm not one of those Moms who is scared of dirt and germs and I pretty much let my baby put whatever he wants in his mouth (a little dirt never hurt). Anyway, I asked if there was a blanket and the photographer quickly said no, the floor was fine. However, this floor was so dirty that it even showed up in some of the pictures! Later I found a WHITE blanket that would've worked just fine.

Anyway, our photographer kinda sucked and she seemed to be in a rush. In saying all of this, our incredibly happy baby was incredibly serious and just about REFUSED to smile. He smiles ALL the time at home when I sing, when I talk, when Luke makes noises, etc. But today....NOTHING, not one dimple in any picture! Now of course this wasn't the photographers fault; however, just led to the frustration of the session. I think Gage was a little scared, the photographer kept yelling his name and making noises and he didn't know what to make of the whole situation.

So after laying on the dirty floor and getting a few cute pictures sitting up as well, we changed him into another outfit that was the one we REALLY wanted his picture taken in (just in case he puked/pooped the B choice went 1st). So....I explained to the photographer that although he could sit that he sometimes fell over if he reached too far, etc. and again made a comment that it would be nice to have a blanket....a comment that was subesequently ignored. She said not to worry that I could sit in arm's reach because the floor was indeed VERY HARD. Needleas to say, you all know what is coming next. Gage was sitting up facing backwards, because she was trying to get him to look over his shoulder and he looked to0 far and came tumbling backwards. Not sideways to catch himself but flat back to crack his head on the floor. Although I saw the whole thing happening in slow motion, Luke couldn't catch him in time.

Needless to say, the photo shoot was over. I had wanted a few more in the plaid outfit, but now our very SERIOUS baby was now our very UPSET screaming baby. Somehow he avoided a bump and the best thing that came of it was the precious picture in my header which is my favorite picture of the day,taken seconds before he fell.

The photographer quickly left and muttered 'sorry' under her breath and went to edit the pictures. I had never done this before so I wasn't sure how the whole process worked, but she quickly went through all the pictures with us and pressured us to tell her immediately what we wanted. Another reason I was annoyed. She could have easily let us sit and digest them for a mintue but instead stared at us as we tried to make a decision and we ended up regretting getting/not getting certain pictures. At least we had a coupon and saved about $50 overall.

So here they are, what we captured before the fall. We will not be going back to Picture People, I have gotten other good recommedations that we'll check out at the end of the summer. Guess I should have listened sooner. For now, enjoy!

Below is my 2nd favorite picture of the day!


Isn't he sweet?




**side note** the appeared scratch on Gage's cheek on the banner picture as well as some of the others is not on the originals, my scanner must have been dirty:(

Not feeling motivated...

I have been reading more and more blogs this week, some interesting and others not so much. I've decided that blogging could easily turn into an obsession to make your blog look pretty and have different fonts, and make your content more interesting than others, etc. I've been trying to Google certain things trying to impove upon mine, but learning all about it is pretty exhausting. Hopefully this summer I'll have some extra time to play. In any case, I'm not moved to write right now, but let me tell you a little about my week and maybe I'll get motivated.

This week we have all been a little ill again. Another thing which is getting pretty tiring. One of us always seems to have a sore throat, a runny nose, or a cough. They come and go and one day we'll be fine and the next we'll feel crappy again. I'm thinking at this point that it's probably allergies. OR maybe something in the house making us sick...mold, dirty air filters, etc. I'll be looking into that....

Gage has been cranky this week in response to his runny nose and cough. Monday he was a wreck, barely ate anything and fell asleep at 545pm. Wednesday, we had a play date with Sarah and Sawyer but have no pictures because our camera batteries are dead and the charger no longer works. My kid is going to crawl soon so I need to get this problem rectified ASAP! Gage has been between eating TONS this week and eating hardly any solids all day long. Seems to be going through a little bit of a 'stage'. Solid foods had him a little stopped up, but nothing an oz. of prune juice didn't take care of. It has been an exhausting week at work and I'm counting down the last 20 days. The pool opens this weekend so at least I can get Gage back in the water. Weekend plans consist of our 6 month portraits tomorrow (hopefully) and cooking out with Luke's coworkers on Sunday. Speaking of... they won't be Luke's coworkers for long. Luke got a new job yesterday! It is sort of bittersweet, he'll be further away from us (back in DC) and won't get to see Gage very much at night, but at the same time it's a promotion so I guess we can't complain too much.

In addition to those plans, this weekend I need to get back to Babies R Us. It's been quite a while since I've needed anything and had to make a trip out there. However, there are a few specifics I want to get Gage. I can't wait to get him doorway jumper, he's getting more and more active these days and I'm thinking that he'll love it. Of course, having a camera would be beneficial to showing you this. Also, I need to post Gage 'flying', but I need batteries first. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on pictures, cook outs and new toys for Gage. I'm still not especially moved at the moment to write much more.

Holy Smokes....my kid can eat!

We went to the dr. on Thursday and they told Gage he was a bit underweight, or rather that he was in the 30th %ile for weight...well, I guess it gave him a bit of a complex, because tonight he ate 8 oz. of solid food before he nursed. He polished off an entire container of carrots, apples and 3 oz. of cereal! I literally thought he might pop, or vomit anyway. And that is after he ate an entire container of peaches for breakfast! That's 10 oz. of food today! That's my boy!

Pictures canceled:(

Gage didn't seem to feel well this morning and has a runny nose, so we postponed the pictures 'til next Sat. Hopefully he'll be feeling better then! Keep you posted.

Another week....

Another week has flown by since I last posted. Only 32 days 'til I get to spend the 1st summer w/ my little man. On Sunday we had Jamie and Brad over for Jamie's 32nd birthday. Gage and Jake hadn't seen each other in MONTHS so it was pretty fun to watch them interact. Gage kept wanting to touch and pet Jake and Jake was just more interested in cruising around a new place. There's only 15 weeks between them but in baby land it is an amazing difference. Jake has 2 teeth, is crawling, pulling up, cruising, and eating table food while Gage is just now deciding that he might want to try and move when on his belly. I've heard it numerous times but wasn't sure I believed it. Being mobile makes a HUGE difference in chub, check out the difference in Gage and Jake's legs. Pretty funny. Here are a few more pictures from Sunday, although we couldn't get a good one of the boys b/c Jake is constantly on the move.





This week was long and short all at the same time. SOL's have started at school so the schedule was all jacked up and the official end of school is coming quickly. I can't complain though, another week under my belt and that much closer to the summer time. We tried to make it to the pool again this week but didn't have much time.

Yesterday Gage had his 6 month dr's appt. and everything checked out great. Dr. Bauer said he was 'perfect' and of course she is right! He wasn't quite as heavy as we thought (he sure seems like he's gaining weight) but I guess what can you expect having us as parents? His head is still small and he apparently is right on track for height.

Stats:
Weight- 15lbs. 13oz. 30%ile
Height- 26.25" 50%ile
Head circumference- 17" 30%ile

We are now starting 2 meals a day, I can't believe how much he eats these days! He can start to have a larger variety of foods and start on pureed meat....sounds yummy! She says that at 8 months he can start on Cheerios and puffs...OMG, my baby will be eating real FOOD before the summer ends!! Also, she said to give him a sippy cup soon so he can get a feel for it before he actually starts using it around the end of the summer! Everyone says it and it's so cliche, but it's really true....babies grow up soo fast! We cherish every moment with Gage and thank God every day for our perfect little boy! Gage did ok w/ his shots, but seems a bit sore today. He slept alot yesterday and was a little cranky today... hoping for a better day tomorrow, BECAUSE......

Tomorrow Gage has his 1st Picture People appt. scheduled! That's right, hopefully tomorrow evening I will have some super cute new professional pictures to share! We are super excited to see how he does! As for the rest of the rainy weekend, we'll do lunch w/ Howard, Sherri and Evie on Sunday. That's all for now. Keep you updated on tomorrow's pictures!