Goodnight Blessings

It's such a blessing for me to walk in an hour or so after bedtime to find the sweetest little man in the world, sleeping so contently in his crib. It is such a blessing to me to know our son is healthy, smart and sometimes terrible in his 2s, but even that's a blessing. Each moment as a mom, although some days are tougher than others, is such a blessing.

It is a blessing for me on the nights that Chris takes on tub-time duty, bed time duty, story time duty and vitamin and brush your teeth duty. But is is truly one of God's gifts to me to encounter this. I was a fly on the wall, enjoying story time with them and watching the different ways Chris makes Austin smile. I am so blessed. Goodnight everyone, may you realize your blessings too.

Ice Cream + Austin = Love

Well I can't get him to drink milk any more because he thinks that milk is just for babies. Ever since we took his bottles away, he won't even touch the stuff! And trust me, I try every day! The only way I can get any calcium in him is through frozen yogurt and ice cream. I know all my fellow mommies out there are thinking, "I wonder if she's tried..." cheese? yes, calcium fortified juice? yes, yogurt? yes, cottage cheese? yes! And nothing works! Accept his daily vitamins and this wonderful sugar filled creamy goodness we like to refer to as ICE CREAM! and isn't he just a doll stuffing his face with it? He was a good boy today so I added sprinkles.

Love to all, Liz

John Deere rocks!

Austin enjoyed driving Pop-pop's John Deere this weekend. I think Daddy had a little bit of fun too.

A New Little One

Laura and I headed off to my aunt Mary-Ellen's for a wonderful shower for Heather and her soon to be baby-love, Liam. It was so wonderful to see all the ladies of my mom's side of the family again. We've always been so close and this once a year bit never seems to be enough for me.

Heather got so many beautiful gifts, from adorable clothes and handmade blankets to all in one strollers and plenty of things to entertain the little man from one day to one year and beyond. The greatest part for Laura and I was seeing how excited Nathaniel was about his soon to be baby brother. He was a huge help (along with cousin Tori) delivering and unwrapping gifts. Nathaniel is such an amazing kid, so respectful and kind, I know he'll make the best big brother a baby could ask for.

It would be remiss for me not to mention how fabulous the food was, I ate so much I was full for two days after! Thanks so much for the great party ladies. I can't wait to see you all again soon. I wish I had taken more pictures of the rest of us, but I must say, I captured the most beautiful part of the party!

Love to all, Liz

At The County Fair

We all had such a blast at the County Fair last week. Austin enjoyed eating chicken fingers in the grass, screeching with delight on the rides, mooing with the cows, clucking with the chickens and oinking with the pigs. His favorite part though was the vintage tractor display.

I wish you could all see how quickly he's developing these days. He says pretty much everything, and if he can't say it, he'll babble something with the same amount of syllables. He's saying 4-5 word sentences (not always of course) and can communicate most everything with us, thank goodness.

Sorry the updates have been few and far between, I have another coming soon, pictures from our awesome weekend to Long Island. Love to all!

Liz & the crew

Welcome Football season!

We had a quick, but fun adventure at our church picnic this afternoon. Austin let us know it was time to leave by telling us he wanted to go to mama's white car... a first considering he never wants to leave fun, food and friends. Shortly after we got home, we found him in this position. Another first, he never sleeps outside his room, unless it's in his car seat. Our poor guy must have been totally wiped. Although I think he may have stayed awake had we had a game on.

Hope you're all well, sorry for the delay in updates, we've been busy.... I promise, more to come on that soon.

Love, Liz

Maine Sweet Maine

The Blog was just screaming for an update! Seeing that picture of Chris on his last day of work seems like ages ago. Things are going well with us. We'll update you on everything once plans are finalized. For now, we're taking a wonderful break in Maine! Chris and I have quickly come to realize that this is a favorite destination for all of us.

Enjoy the pictures! Miss and love to all.

xo Liz xo

The End of an Era

Some of you may not know that Chris has decided to separate from the Air Force. His terminal leave has already begun (just after his surgery 2 weeks ago) and tomorrow will mark his official farewell at a luncheon being held in his honor.

I can't speak on his behalf, but I'm pretty sure he'd agree... I believe the Air Force has given us so much more than a paycheck and great benefits. The Air Force is in no way just a job, it's a way of life, a life Chris and I have lived while dating, engaged, married, pregnant, mourning, moving, changing.... We met friends we consider our family, jobs we hated and jobs we loved. All the way we were changed for the best, we knew what and who to appreciate more, we grew closer to family while living further apart and most importantly we grew from a young couple in love into a family. We're taking away some of the greatest and some of the hardest times we will ever know. The Air Force has been good to us. We have some pretty big plans, and even bigger dreams, so get ready gang, we're gearing up for quite an adventure (more on that to come).

I am so proud of all that you have done serving our country Chris. Thank you love, I'm honored to say that you're my husband and my hero.

Taken on his last day of work.

Giggles with grammy & pop-pop

Karate kicking bubbles with Bo-be

Lovely Laura relaxing with a book

At 6'5" Bo-be's never too big for the kiddie pool, especially when Austin's around.

Horray for more birthday cake! (this was his 4th, lucky duck!) So nice of Grammy to make her specialty, Strawberry shortcake, just for the little man.

Mmmmm! Nuuummmm!

Splash time with Grammy

Splash time with Pop-pop

I remember being at the same place, at the same age with my mom. It's such a gift to be able to take Austin to all the beaches I grew up on.

Harbor-side Maidstone Beach, where I learned to swim.

The last leg of our trip last month (I know it's taken me forever to blog these wonderful memories) was to my hometown, East Hampton, to get some quality time with Grammy, Pop-pop, Bo-be and Laura. We spent a good bit of time on the beach, despite the rain and had a blast playing in the backyard with all the new toys!

Blogging Blues

I'm a tad disappointed in myself for being so relaxed with my blog posts. I honestly have been working day-in and day-out on design stuff, which is wonderful because it means I am that much closer to having my photography business up and running.

Where most professional photographers hire designers to design their sites, business cards, stationery head, logos etc, I have decided that rather than taking out a small business loan to do all this, I would take care of it myself. I am working with a wonderful artist who is helping me with my logo design for the company, she is extremely talented and a close friend of my family.

So I apologize for not posting recent pictures of the baby. I have a ton of great pictures that I will get to very soon. We had such a blast in Maine and East Hampton and I can't wait to share our memories with all of you.

Wish me luck with all of this.

A few of my favorite people

I had a chance to photograph a few of my favorite people while in Maine. Lucky me!

Miss Maddy, Jen & Matt

Miss Maddy, Jen & Matt

Mad-dog M

M#1 & M#2

Little Miss 'T'

Bouncing baby 'C'

Beautiful 'M'

Austin's Birthday Party

We had a great time entertaining friends and family at Austin's #2 Birthday celebration. The kids all had a blast getting moms and dads wet during the water fight, looks like that's going to be a tradition for us. Austin was so surprised with everyone singing to him, he just beamed with happiness.

I can't believe our little man is two already. The past few weeks have been monumental for him, he's actually begun to speak in 3-word sentences and can count as high as ten, though he usually stops around five. He's taking to family and friends much better these days, not so shy or bashful as he was.

Enjoy the pictures! Love to all, Liz

Ava and Austin

Austin enjoys having his friend Ava over for snack time. She and Austin get a long so well together and he's always pooped after an afternoon of play with a friend. Here are a few pictures I took about a month ago. Isn't she a doll? I know it's been a while since my last post. I have a ton of catching up to do, so please be patient with me....