The Blanket Sleeper

While searching for the perfect birthday present for Sam, I browsed through the boys' section at Target. Hoping to find a Spiderman, Superman, or Batman t-shirt, I happened upon a big rack of these:

The Blanket Sleeper

There were Sam- and Toby-sized blanket sleepers...and then there were Mrs. Allison-sized blanket sleepers. No kidding.

I don't know why, but it gives me the heebie jeebies to think about anyone over the age of 5 in a blanket sleeper. When I went to the Target website, my suspicions were confirmed. Go here, click on "guest reviews," and scroll down to read the first and last reviews.

The last review sounds like something my crazy brother would write just to mess with people, but it's creepy nonetheless.

Yikes.

I Love This Boy...

Me and Littlest Lyon :)

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Sam is 5-years-old today! Can you believe it?!

I've been sick all week, so I owe the birthday boy a photo shoot and some home-made cupcakes next week. Stay tuned for new photos...

Happy Birthday, big guy! Mr. Aaron and I love you very much :)

Ugh.

Sorry for the lack of new blog entries this week.

I caught a nasty stomach virus on Monday and have been trying to recover ever since.

I'll be back in the swing of things soon. I hope.

Rock-A-Bye Baby

Rocking babies to sleep is one of my favorite activities.

There's nothing like that little head lying on my chest and those tiny hands clinging to my arms as we rock back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. So peaceful. So relaxing. So safe.

Toby doesn't need me to rock him anymore. Soon, Asher won't need me to rock him anymore, either.

I often find myself anticipating the next big step or accomplishment in the lives of the many children in my life.

Tonight, as I rocked Asher to sleep, I was reminded that always anticipating the future causes me to miss out on the present.

Live for today. Enjoy what's in front of you. Invest time in meaningful relationships today and stop putting it off until tomorrow. Rock a baby to sleep because one day he'll be bigger than you :)

Brett and Nicholas

When my friend Brett approached me about taking some photos of him and his brother as a Christmas gift for his mom, he openly admitted that he knew nothing about photography.

"We want to frame a huge photo for my mom," he told me. "How will you make the prints? In a dark room?"

Oh, boy.

After giving him a brief overview of the wonders of digital photography and online photo services, we scheduled a photo shoot for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Too bad the forecast called for rain...ALL DAY.

Instead of sticking to our original plan for a sunset shoot, I convinced them to be ready to take photos at 8am.

Somehow, the rain held off just long enough for me to get a few usable shots for their Mom's Christmas gift. This is the photo they chose to have enlarged to 24"x36" canvas print:

Here are some individual photos that I thought their mom might like, as well:

Nicholas

Brett

I'm learning a lot about photography these days. Although I'm used to shooting with a photographer who knows a lot more than I do and is always there to answer my questions, it's important for me to get experience shooting on my own.

It's good for me to make my own mistakes and learn from them.

It's good for me to learn how to make the most of gray skies and wet weather.

It's good for me to tackle obstacles on my own every now and then.

It's never fun being pushed out of my comfort zone, but it's necessary for growth and maturity.

In what areas of your life are you becoming comfortable yet stagnant? Push through your complacency into unknown territory and see how much you'll grow. I dare you :)

When It Rains, It Pours

Isn't it so true? When one thing goes wrong, new problems seem to come out of the woodwork and fall in one right behind the other. It's been that way over the past few weeks for Aaron and me.

My car has been having problems for the past few weeks. It still runs, but not very smoothly. We had it tested at AutoZone and found out that either two oxygen sensors are bad (a problem that Aaron can easily fix) or the mass air flow sensor is bad (a problem that will take big money to fix). When we have time, we'll take it to a shop and have the exact problem diagnosed. In the meantime, Aaron and I have switched cars (he only drives 5 miles each day).

Aaron has been sick for more than a week with congestion and a crazy cough. No matter how much NyQuil he takes, his cough intensifies at night and neither of us gets much sleep. It's not easy for either of us to do our best at work if we're tired and cranky.

Hobbes is sick with what we think is a urinary tract infection. He has always been the most laid-back, easygoing cat...but for the past two days he has been in a lot of pain, unable to use the litter box, and extremely grumpy. Hobbes has never been sick before, so I called my mom in tears this morning, hoping that she would be able to comfort me from 300 miles away. She has three cats of her own, so she knows how it feels to drop one of your animals off in a strange place with strange people. I got teary-eyed when I handed Hobbes over to the Vet and she assured me they would take good care of him. We're still waiting to hear exactly what's wrong with him.

When trying times like these overwhelm me, all I can do is look to the Lord and trust Him to take care of me and my family. Thank you, Lord, for taking care of us.

"Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always."
-- 1 Chronicles 16:11