1. Our babies came to us easily. For that we are lucky and blessed. And, thankfully, ignorant when it comes to infertility. We were ignorant. Our friends Lee Ann and Dennis are fighting infertility. Fighting a long fight, a roller coaster of emotions at every high and low. I never truly understood….I mean I thought I knew a thing or two about what those who battle infertility go through, but I didn’t. Not really. Lee Ann and Dennis are amazing. And strong. And open. I know it must be so difficult to be so open about something so painful, but they do it. Jason and I have learned a lot from them reading their blog and I know our family, and many others, are praying that they will soon have the baby in their arms they so desperately long for. I asked Lee Ann if I could post about their story on my blog because they are doing everything they can to raise funds to be able to go through another round of IVF before their meds from the previous round expire. There are some amazing women in our area that are raising funds through consignment sales and garage sales for them. Dennis is working extra hours and Lee Ann is cleaning houses and painting rooms/organizing homes on the weekends. If you know of anyone in need of these services in the Austin area, drop me a note at lstradtner at mac dot com and I’ll get you in touch with her. We’re going to have her paint a few rooms in our house and I can’t wait. I also donated the proceeds of a recent session to their cause. I would also like to put it out there that they are very open to adoption so if you know of a birth mother looking for two amazing people to parent, please keep them in mind. I have every faith, that one day, not too long from now, I’ll be linking back to this post having photographed their beautiful new baby….
2. It is 74 degrees and GORGEOUS today. Just a few weeks ago, it snowed. Snow was great but I am SO happy spring is here, things are turning green and the wildflowers are just around the corner….I’m ready!! If only the hotter than hell summer wasn’t right after spring….I’ll try and forget that is looming and just enjoy the gorgeous weather while it lasts!
3. Speaking of wildflowers…..I’ve gotten quite a few emails asking if I will be doing Bluebonnet Mini Sessions this year and the answer is YES! I won’t be scheduling them until bluebonnets show up though as the timing can be a bit unpredictable. If you want to purchase a bluebonnet mini you can do so at any time, but we won’t set a date/time until they start popping up. I’ll probably only do 7-10 and they will likely go quick, so contact me soon if you think you might want one! Bluebonnets will forever remind me of the beginning of the crazy, loud, funny, beautiful friendship of my two favorite girls….
4. Awhile back we were getting rid of some furniture and sold Teagan’s dresser to Wendi Schoffstall, a photographer in Houston. At first I was a bit surprised she wanted to come all this way to pick up a used dresser but now I get it….Wendi had a vision and oh my word, I am in LOVE with what she did with it. Seriously….gorgeous! Check it out, amazing!
5. We recently received an invitation to attend the wedding of one of Jason’s dearest friends from high school named Nancy. When Jase came back from the mailbox and announced we got “Nancy’s wedding invitation today” Taryn dropped what she was doing, threw her arms up, twirled around and exclaimed “We’re going to FANCY NANCY’S wedding?!?!”
6. With our new “slackerwagon” came two TV screens and a DVD player. I’m already over the barney and sesame street videos. Can anyone recommend something educational of the non-annoying variety? And if you limit TV time for your kids and they watch TV in the car – do you count that against the time you normally give them at home? I’m just curious what other parents do….I don’t think they need to always have the TV on in the car but it sure does cut down on the bickering, so there are times I love it. I just need to figure out how to manage it and gain some balance.
7. Kindergarten registration is just around the corner. Uhm, what?! You should have seen how quickly the blood drained from Jason’s face when he heard those words come out of my mouth the other night. Can’t believe it….
8. I’m signing Taryn up for dance class tomorrow. I foresee dance pics in our future….
9. Teagan’s tongue is doing much better! He is already back on a normal diet and everything. Man that kid is tough!
10. I’m off to photograph the beautiful miss Camy this evening, daughter of the best nanny in the whole entire world!! Sneak peeks will be posted tonight!
I feel your pain on the car DVD. It’s great and then not so much. My rule (which is often broken but I try!) is that if the car ride is less than 15 minutes, there’s no movie. That means no movie just because we’re going to the grocery store but the hour long drive to visit Maw-Maw warrants some entertainment.
It’s also great when my not-quite-three year old has to sit in car line waiting to pick up his older siblings. Just sitting there for 20-30 minutes and barely moving is tough for little ones.
Wireless headphones help a lot 🙂 If you let them watch PBS at home, what shows do they watch? As long as it’s entertaining, non-violent, and doesn’t teach them any bad habits, then I’m okay with it. We usually only have it on during those days where we are running a marathon of errands (a ton of drive time). Currently she’s into the Wiggles (she likes the dancing they do).
“Wireless Headphones” get them, they will save your sanity. You should be able to find wireless headphones for the kids to wear and you can listen to whatever you want.
I have 2 girls, 7 and 4. The rule has always been if they can watch a full movie, then they can watch it in the car. It rarely goes on. To avoid barney over and over…you can try School House Rocks, home videos (these are my girls FAVS), Baby Einstein a video to learn sign language, etc…. There are TONS of educational videos out there that are also entertaining.
I love the leapfrog letter factory DVDs. It helped Enrique learn his letters and their sounds.
I feel for your friends–I understand all too well what they’re going through, and I really hope this round is *it* for them.
Hoping that your friends’ journey will lead them to a child in their arms. I have friends who are going through the same thing. A couple of rounds of IVF, a miscarriage, and even an adoption that took them to the day of the birth that ended with them empty handed. It is such a tough road, but I have faith in good people who are meant to be great parents! And, your picture with the kids in the field is CRAZY beautiful!
I know the pain of infertility oh too well. We’ve been actively trying since 2004, so 6 yrs now. I never imagined I’d have to try for so long. Mike is working every weekend now (in addition to his weekday hours) and my mom has taken on an extra patient load in order to help us raise money for IVF, so I know the pain and struggle your friends are going through. I pray that it happens for them (and for us!!) soon. Also, we speak very highly of our adoption agency and they are nationwide, so let me know if your friends would like the information. They are in need of adoptive families right now actually and they have no rules against adopting and fertility treatments at the same time (most agencies won’t allow a couple to do both).
We have, well HAD (we got robbed last week!!!), a DVD player in the truck for Jayden and he only watches signing time videos in the truck. Very cute videos that teach sign language. On really long rides we’ll let him watch a spiderman movie. Also, Imagination Movers are great and not annoying at all, but if you want something that even you will be bobbing your head to, then you need to get They Might Be Giants, Here Comes the ABCs
http://tmbg-catalog.stores.yahoo.net/hercomabdvd.html
Seriously, it’s my favorite DVD Jayden has. It’s so fun and not annoying at all. Actually, we lost in when we moved so I ordered a new one and I’ll be stalking the mailbox for it tomorrow. Mike says I bought it for myself, and it’s true! LOL! And we get our new DVD player installed in the truck tomorrow as well so we will be watching TMBG 🙂 As far as balancing TV with home and the car, Jayden barely watches TV at home as it is, so it’s not an issue, but if you worry about too much TV use the van’s dvd as a treat and for long trips only.
Leap frog videos. LOVE, LOVE them.
Our rule is we have to drive a certain distance before we can put a video on.
L-
If you don’t have any of the Leapfrog DVDs (especially Letter Factory) get them asap. non-annoying, check. educational, triple check.
Leapfrog letter factory is really cute and definitely educational. As far as shows–I like Sid the Science Kid. My 4 year old loves it and they talk about really fun, cool things from a science angle. We do limit tv a lot. I would count screen time as screen time, no matter where it is. So far no one has told my 4 year old that our new car has a dvd player. =0) When the 9 month old gets bigger and there are bickering issues, etc, I’m sure I’ll need it more but for now I hope it doesn’t get used for a LONG time (we almost didn’t even get a dvd but since we are planning to keep the car for many years it seemed to make sense to have it for down the road.) Good luck!