Update from our corner of the world.

Hello all!

Just thought I would give you a quick update on our little family. We are doing well. Clay is working hard, as always; Mia is busy, busy, busy, as always, and I am trying my best to keep up with her! It's so hard to believe that February is already half over. I am now 24 weeks pregnant and our (still nameless) little guy is growing. This pregnancy has been just as easy and uneventful as the first one was and we are happy about that. This little guy is such a mover and is so active. Mia was quite the opposite and so laid back. I am enjoying all of his movements because I only get to feel them for a few short months.

We have done absolutely nothing to get the nursery ready. We have a few clothes for him but that is mostly because Grandma Rhonda bought him (and Mia) several things on her last trip. We have bought 2 of the much needed swaddle blankets for him and that is it. We really need to get to planning things out because the months are just flying by and he will be here before we know it!

As for the name, we have had SO many that we have tossed around. This baby is so much harder to name than Mia was for some reason. Harrison, which is also Clay's middle name, has been the one constant in our naming debates. It has gone from being the baby's middle name to finally the first name. I think I like it as a first name. Now, the debate seems to be the middle name. There are just so many choices and none of them seem to really be "clicking" for both of us at the same time!

18 Month Portrait

We shot Mia's 18 Month Portrait this weekend. Yes a couple of weeks late. I like these two but can't decide which I like best. So you get to see both of them.

Serious

Smiling

Which one do YOU like best?

18 Months Old

We can hardly believe some days that Mia is already 18 months old. The days seem to fly by and she gets smarter and cuter with each passing one. Her 18-month check-up was last Friday. She now weighs 24 1/2 pounds and is 32 inches tall. She is as healthy as they come and had to have 1 shot. She was more upset about having to lie down on the table for the shot than the actual shot. She was a big girl about it. She will have to have one more at her 2 year check-up but then she will be finished with them until 4 years. Thank goodness. That is always the worst part!

Mia is completely weaned from breastfeeding now and it went very smoothly. She is still on goat's milk but we are going to try her on cow's milk again this week. We hope her little system tolerates it better now. The goat milk is quite expensive, but she's worth it. Mia is just loving life. She is talking so much now. I was keeping track of all her words but I swear she says a new one everyday so it's hard to keep up.

We have been going to storytime at the library on Thursday mornings and she has so much fun. The first day we sat on the carpet in a circle with the rest of the mommies and little boys and girls and it took Mia all of 2 seconds to feel completely comfortable and she was in the middle of the circle checking everyone out. There really is no sitting and listening to a story at all. It's so much fun to watch her being so social. She absolutely loves being around other people, of all ages.

IR at the Park

Over the weekend, we had a picnic at the park. While there, I shot a couple of Infrared Photographs. Here are two interesting ones of Mia...

Mia walking through the Park

On the way to the parking lot I took this shot of Mia walking next to me. The solar flare is pretty bad, but it made for a cool effect... a Halo around her head! Yes, she is an angel.

Mia meets some new people...

Last night, we went to the USC Spring Preview. Mia had a lot of fun running around on the turf and meeting all kinds of new people. Here are just some of the people Mia met...

Here she is introducing herself to the USC Softball Team.

Mia got to see her favorite bird... Cocky!

Eventually she decided to join some of the Softball Players for a little autograph session.

At the end of the evening, Mia made a new friend.