Day 36: Halloween (A Bit Late!)

Only 5 days late! Here is the little Tinkerbell. Madalyn thinks everyday is Halloween, because the kid LOVES to dress up! She constantly is pulling clothes out of her drawers and pulling them on over what she is wearing. If she spots her tutu hidden in the closet in the office (and yes I did say HIDDEN! Its for this reason exactly!) she will CRY until we put it on. No joke here. She loves to wear it around the house. And she has not one, but 2 pairs of fairy wings that I did use as props for photoshoots that she has adopted. And we wont even get into the shoe thing here!
(Girl loves to play dressup!)

I digress. Madalyn dresses up every day pretty much, so Halloween was no diffferent. She LOVED her costume, so much that she wanted to wear it in the sandbox. We didnt end up going Trick Or Treating... we made it to the neighbors next door and that was about it... she didnt really "get" it and was more interested in pulling candy out of our pumpkin than anything else. So we snapped a few quick pictures and let her play in the sandbox. How festive, huh? Maybe next year....

She can, however, SAY Tinkerbell and Cinderella and loves them both. She has Tinkerbell and her room and the way she says her name is "blah blah blah BLAH blah Bell" and Cinderella is "Blah Blah Ella". Seriously here. Just a jumble of syllables and then "Bell" or "Ella". Its hysterical. Reminds me of how Savannah used to try to pronounce "Madalyn!"

Day 35: You Made A Match!

Miss Madalyn had a toy that is an animal toy that is magnets for the fridge that you put the front and back halves of animals together and when they are matched together the thing sings "you made a match!" and then sings a song. This morning when I was doing work around the house I kept hearing the song, and didnt even realize what was happening until it hit me that Madalyn was matching the animlas up! What a big girl!

Day 32: Happy Halloween!

Short and sweet because I am off to bed. The extent of Madalyn's Trick or Treating tonight was in our home and next door... but she DID have fun in her costume handing out candy. I dont think she "got" it this year. What she DID get is that by saying "Trick or Treat" she would be handed a piece of candy.... and she LOVED that! She was Tinkerbell, and hopefully by tomorrow I will be able to upload a few photos from this evening. She really liked her costume, especially the fairy wings!3

Day 31: God Knew What He Was Doing

God knew what He was doing when He gave me a daughter. For moments like these.

Madalyn is coming to help me on a photoshoot this evening before I go in to work. So we took a shower and got dressedm and I brushed her hair. She wanted to brush mine. So I told her when I finished with hers she could do mine. She climbed on the couch next to me, and started combing through my hair. Then she turned my head towards hers, and kissed me right on the lips.

I love her.

Day 22, 23, 24: I Am A Slacker

I admit it, I have been so busy juggling everything else that I have been slacking about posting in my personal blog! It never ceases to amaze me that I can be so constantly busy that I feel like I never get anything accomplished!

This morning I had some of my coworkers over for coffee and a constructive meeting to see how to address some of the major issues at work. If nothing else it served as a forum for me to see that I am not the only one having major issues with some of the things happening at work and the way we are treated by our administration. I have spoken with my supervisor who did my evaluation and he admits that my evaluation was a bit harsh (to say the least) and he was under the impression that my firefighter had been my subordinate for a year (which I had him for 12 weeks before the evaluations were due and thus should not have been judged on his performance entirely) We will be having a meeting next week to discuss some changes to my evaluation.

Madalyn is growing bigger every day... and even more vocal! She talks constantly and is never afraid to share what is on her mind! She has become very attached to me since Shawn went back to work and is now my little shadow every day, and she is always anxious to "help" around the house. I should take a picture now to show her when she is older how badly she wanted to be able to load the dishwasher and sweep the floor!

Shawn is linking work and comes home very tired and leaves much earlier than any human should have to be awake! But the extra income is a HUGE relief and it was nice to be able to go to the grocery store and buy enough food for a week instead of doing it day by day.

We are starting back on Dave Ramsey's money management plan on November 1st. The plan is amazing and works really well when you have things to pay off, and just shows you on paper where your money is going. We would like to be debt free sometime in the next year or so (except for our mortgage and the car payments.) So we will be sticking every penny into savings that we can.

My business is really taking off which is great, and I have lots of shoots booked! I went to Orlando last weekend for some shoots and am working on editing those right now. Check out my new blog jlsphotoblog.com for some photos, and please leave comments! I will be posting several old sessions in the next few days as I got behind waiting to get the new blog up and running!

Days 18 and 19

Im going to have to combine these two days. Instead of posting yesterday, I made a new and improved blog for JLS Photography! The new site is www.jlsphotoblog.com. It is still a work in progress, but please update your links to the new site. I will be posting quite a few sneak peeks on there in the days to come, so stay tuned! And please leave me a comment... I love reading them, and it means so much to me!

In other news, Shawn has survived 2 weeks at his new job! YAY! He really likes it, and it seems that there is a lot of room for advancement there, which is nice. And let me tell you how wonderful it was to get paid today knowing there was another check coming in next week.... SIGH OF RELIEF! We went to Sams tonight and bought all of the things we used to be able to stock up on but have been living without, or buying when needed. It was so wonderful.

We spent the evening hanging out with our neighbors which was nice.... and Madalyn and I had lots of fun today! We spent the early morning taking pictures of my friend Lorrie's expanding belly... she is due November 5th with baby #2. (Its a surprise for Daddy... Mommy already knows.) Her daughter Kaela is turning 2 in December, so Madalyn had a wonderful time playing with her! Then we went with Lorrie and Kaela to the park, where we met up with Julie, Ben and Rosemary to play fow awhile. The girls all had fun, and Ben fell asleep in his Baby Bjorn while the Mommies talked. Then Madalyn and I went to Weecycle to sell some of her clothes, then home to clean up the messy house. We had lots of fun.... its fun to spend days like that with my daughter.

Whew what a Friday!

Day 17: Pumpkin Patch

As promised, some pictures from the pumpkin patch. This was such a lot of fun... and truly a great family evening out. Madalyn was extremely excited to see the rows and rows of pumpkins and loved running around and crawling all over them. And it was fun to have a great backdrop for a photoshoot of my own child for a change!

Day 10: Eighteen Months Old!

My dearest, darling Madalyn-
Today as I write this you have turned eighteen months. What a grown up age you have reached, and you remind me many times each day how you are your own little person and not a baby anymore. I hate to break it to you though, you will be 60 and I will still call you my baby.

Each day you amaze me in a different way. The words you speak, the phrases you put together, the games you play to amuse yourself. And of course, you are just like a typical toddler- full of the devil! But just when I want to throw my arms up in frustration, you look at me with this big toothy grin and squinty-eyed smile and I cant help but fall in love with you all over again.

You give hugs now, and let me tell you that there is no other feeling that can compare you you wrapping your arms around me. You will rub me on the arm or the back, or plant a kiss on my cheek when I least expect it and my heart will melt.

You have been a Daddy's girl from day one, there is no denying that. But there is nothing more special then me being able to see that bond develop between the two of you. You want to be like me, but you want so much to impress him. You want to dress up, wear jewelry and makeup, but you do it all so that you can flirt with your Daddy like a big girl. All those little boys better watch out because you are going to be quite the heartbreaker!

And just as soon as you get your "lipstick" (chapstick) on, you are ready to go out in the mud and show them what you are made of. For as much as you are a little girly girl, you are equally as much a little tomboy. You love to get dirty, to eat sand and play with the worms in the dirt. You love to throw balls and have even learned to kick them thanks to Daddy's little soccer lessons. And nothing brings you greater job and more laughter then chasing around Allie and Ava in the backyard.

You are quite smart, little one, and I love to see your mind work. You hear the refrains from Sesame Street come on in the mornings and you come running with the biggest smile to dance to the opening song. When we sing our A B Cs you watch my mouth as I form the letters so that you can try and sing along. Your favorite song is the one from Sesame Street this is on pretty much every other episode "Sing A Song." If that song comes on you dont hesitate to sing and dance along. And dance you will! You can shake your booty to the music, bob your head along and twirl. We leave music on all day and you love to dance to the various songs.

Right now you are curled up next to me on the couch. I know it is past your bedtime but I take comfort in cuddling with you right now, and in a few minutes you are going to resist when I try to put you to bed. This has been quite the battle lately, and it breaks my heart because as much as I need you to sleep alone in your bed, part of me misses having you curled up beside me as we sleep. There used to be a time when you loved to cuddle all the time, now you are much too independent to want to sit with Mommy all the time!

I love you Madalyn Jean, and my life has been so blessed since the moment I learned you would be a part of it. I loved you before I even met you, and there is no greater love than that of a mother for her daughter. Thank you for being the light in my life, and thank you for sharing these 18 months of joy and laughter with me and your father. '

Happy eighteen month birthday, darling!

Much Love,
Your Mommy