"Smile" for the camera...

Yesterday our baby / family / amazing photographer Chelsey came by the house to take pictures of the kiddos. She has been photographing Slater since he was 3 weeks old and we all LOVE her! Since her first visit he has been fascinated with her camera and she is so good about showing it to him. He was a little over zealous yesterday, so we decided to provide him with his own camera. For the next 10 minutes he imitated everything that Chelsey did. The best was her leaning over the back of the arm chair with her camera, Slater isn't that tall so he stood on tiptoe and pointed his camera over the top, clicking away at what he couldn't see.


Here he is getting a shot of Jade with Chelsey.


Obviously mom needed her picture taken too! Everyone had a camera going :)

If you want to see more of Chelsey pictures you can go to her blog: http://machcphotography.com/

A self portrait

After Slater helped Chelsey capture a few shots of sweet baby Jade he took a few of himself. Digital cameras are great.

Ice Art Alaska!

The Ice Park in Fairbanks is open for about 3 weeks every "spring" from late Feb through the middle of March and it is an event that we rarely miss. Wade and I use to enjoy going in the evenings and seeing all of the carvings light-up, but the last two years we have gone during the day and mostly hung out in the kid's park. The kids and I went twice this year, once with our friend's the Williams and a second time as a family. Slater LOVED going with the kids and was very brave trying the big slides (just like last year). We also did a wagon trip around the park and enjoyed listening to the information about all of the carvers and who won the different events.



This is Jade hanging out near the igloo watching her big brother. She loves that pacifier, I don't know how we are going to get rid of it??? Any suggestions???



This is Slater-man enjoy one of the small slides. I am not sure what he liked best, the slides were popular, but so were the ice tunnel, train, maze and all the other people. This year there was a set of 12 large slides on the slough that were long and FAST! Naturally he could have stayed there all day, he made at least 6 trips down with his dad and I failed to get even one picture. I may try to add more pictures, but the upload times tonight are epic, so for now enjoy these two ;)

Baby fresh

She is no snail

She may not be crawling yet, but she has no trouble keeping us on our toes.

The stare down

Lately Jade has become quite mobile in her buggy, much to the stress and worry of the dogs, and her older brother.

Mmmmm peas

The little man

Funny things 1001 to 1003

Lately if his sister puts anything that he likes in her mouth he instantly gets upset and insists on cleaning the object with Kleenex.

The other day I gave him a strawberry and a Cheetos Puff as a treat, now every time he gets a strawberry he asks for a Cheetos Puff?

Last summer he learned the phrase "one more" and now he holds his finger up and wiggles it while asking for "one more". He is also attempting to hold two fingers up when asked how old he is.

Feeling better

Looking at this sweet face it is hard to believe that she has been sick for almost three weeks. I am looking forward to getting out and about once everyone is 100%, just waiting a little longer since I don't want to "share" this with anyone else.

Poop

"Please get a stool sample from the baby and take it to the lab." I thought - that doesn't sound to hard. Well the sample couldn't have any urine in it and everything needed to be in a cup (never appreciated my sons plumbing before this). They suggested wrapping the baby in plastic wrap and then just re-wrapping if she peed ... yuck! The other suggestion was to put her diaper on inside out???? Apparently I had reached my quota of people with common sense for the day. Oh, the topper is that you then have to get the sample to the lab in twenty minutes (or remain in the germ infested lobby with a toddler and crying baby)!!! The lady asked how far away we lived - 10 minutes away - Oh then that shouldn't be a problem. Hmmmmm, 20 minutes to collect a sample, clean up the child, pack her and the two year old up and get in the car??? Yes, I am feeling like Super Women today!

First attempt, miserable failure. Not enough of a sample, tried the plastic wrap method so there is a horrible mess, sure I over ran the time limit and I have a screaming baby the entire way home :( Oh did I mention that she has a diaper rash now and I can't put anything on it because it will mess up the sample that they need.

Take a deep breath, I am smarter than this and I need to get it right on the next try so that I can quit torturing my poor sick child. My solution ... brilliant!! I used several buckets. When she pees in one I move her to the next one, eventually we have success!!!!! Jade thought this was hilarious and Slater kept pointing at the buckets and saying, "Oh gross!" So now I have a sample and rush to the lab, the women smiles and says, "This will work." I have never been so happy about poop in my life.

Pet Peeves about visiting the doctor with a sick child

#1 - Nurses who say stupid things like, "This baby sure doesn't look sick to me."

Hmmmm, you are right I just thought I would stop by and get the most out of my health insurance. Do they say this to make you feel stupid??? Already worried enough to bring your child to the clinic, lets imply that you are dumb and over-reacting to whatever is going on. At this point the baby starts in with her horrible rattling wet cough and I feel vindicated by the horrified looks on all their faces, then guilty because my baby is feeling awful.

#2 - Doctors who blame you for anything that is going on with your child.

Colicky? Must be something YOU ate ... Doctor is male and obviously wants to encourage and support breastfeeding mothers????

Eczema? Must be something YOU ate ... Couldn't have anything to do with the dry climate we live in and what about all those bottle feed babies that have eczema??? What did their mothers do wrong?

Spiting up a lot? YOU must not be burping him well enough. Hmmmm, burping is not exactly rocket-science the last time I checked.

Ear infection? Well you shouldn't be sleeping upright with her propped on your chest, instead you should pick her up every time her racking cough starts, hold her long enough for her to fall asleep and then lay her back down, never mind that she would then wake up every 45 minutes and you have to take care of her and a two year old the next day without losing your mind. The antibiotics from this caused more problems ...

The children have a really great doctor and I don't think that she should be allowed to take family vacations or sick days. I know that is completely crazy, but I feel crazy right now!