Knox is back! :)  Happy birthday, Knox!

He is going to be Nemo for Halloween. 

 I am looking forward to trick-or-treating with him.  It will be his first time.  Tonight we are having some friends over for games and appetizers, so I've been in the kitchen cooking this afternoon (and cleaning the house), and I should be back in the kitchen cooking some more.  Once the dishes are done I'll make the Rice Crispy Treats, but I have to wait b/c the pan is dirty...sad.

Today I had an ultrasound, but sadly I wasn't able to get good pictures.  The baby kept his face cover the whole time.  :(  This was a bit disappointing to both me and Wesley, but the good news is that we are both healthy and on schedule.  

Baby Hiccups

they feel kinda like what i would imagine a belly spasm to feel like, although now that i have it in writing, it sounds painful (its not). for all of you out there who have never been pregnant (and i'm hoping the days are numbered for some of you....i won't mention any names...) it kinda is strange feeling, but really cool. i mean, really, it feels like overnight someone has surgically inserted a basketball inside of my belly, one that dances and squiggles all on its own. so, that ended up being a poor analogy, but too bad. i can't think of anything else.
tomorrow is halloween, which is subsequently knox's birthday. i cannot believe he is 2 years old already. i know, i know. you hear this sort of thing every year from every mother, but its true! where did the time go? somewhere in the past two years, between nursing, diapering, watching knox learn to talk, to walk, to run, to make complete sentences (they're getting better), to eating more and more vegetables without getting into trouble, learning the first 6 questions & answers of the catechism, learning to sit still at times, learning to be quiet at times, going to the playground, playing with chalk, seeing the chickens, going on trips, and everything else in our daily routine, i don't know where the time went! ;)
we have plans for trick-or-treating at friends' houses in his nemo suit, and possibly stopping by a fall festival if we have enough time. after we put knox down, we are having some friends over for games and appetizers (hooray for adult time!). i am looking forward to it.
saturday is knox's birthday party, again it will be at the little park, as we like to call it. i still have need of wrapping the little gifts i got for him (shhh, keep it a secret & i'll tell you what it is! a spiderman potato head, little bob-the-builder trucks, some sort of non-dripping go-diego-go bubble blower, and some cash we'll put away for his savings.) i still need to make the elmo cake i'm planning on baking, but perhaps i'll do that saturday morning so it will be fresh and so that i won't be overwhelmed with other things.
this afternoon i have a bridal shoot with robin (shoot 2). we ran out of time...and lighting...last time, so we're going at it again! i am looking forward to it. i wish i could post some of the pictures from the last shoot, but the nature of the shoot is relatively secret, so once they're safe and married, i'll try to post the pictures. :)

i think i've been having braxton-hicks contractions. they are not painful, and they are not causing labor, so it's either that or the baby feels strange every now and then.
i hear knox playing in his bed, so i assume nap time is over. :o) it is about that time.

new photography blog

ok, its set up. here's the link.
Claire Strebeck Photography

a new blog

i wanted to let you know that i am currently working on a new photography blog. i have no plans to rid myself of this blog, i just am adding a new one to the mix. i hope it will be one you will enjoy! more info on it later.

hiya.

today i imagine will be pretty low key.  wesley is off to a song writer's conference, and i am at home with knox without plans.  we got in from singing at a lock-in and visiting some friends out of town last night (or this morning, however you look at it) at about 4 a.m.  knox, who woke up at about 1 a.m. when we left town, managed to stay awake the entire trip home.  i'm not sure how he did it, but he did.   suprizingly enough, he was pleasant during the trip.  no tantrums of any kind.  perhaps it was because he was in pseudo-sleep the whole time.  i'm not sure.  and wesley and i, though very tired, had good conversation during the length of the trip, so i was pleased with the ride home so late.  wesley got up at eight this morning...after 4 hours of sleep! yikes!  i stayed in bed 'til about 9-ish...though i had plans to stay 'til 12.  perhaps i'll crawl back into the warm, cozy sheets in just a bit.  i was just too curious to see if anyone had updated.  turns out, i needed to update, myself.  i hear knox rustling in bed, and talking quietly.  he generally plays with his toys before calling out to be gotten out of bed.  sometimes he'll even get quiet again and go back to sleep.  i am hoping he does that today so that i can get a few more minutes of shut-eye. 

my only real plans for the day is to possibly see if anyone wants to do lunch (btw...holla) and perhaps make an appearance at dirt cheap.  yes, i know it is filty.  but, i believe i have mentioned in a previous post my love-hate relationship with dirt cheap.  and i got an email saying that all their halloween stuff is 90% off, and costumes are $1 (i'm not so much interested in the costumes as the halloween stuff.  i'm also hoping to have a little gathering on halloween...we'll see if it comes into fruition...).  

i have linked up my computer at work to my laptop, so now, i should be able to work some from home, 2 days a week to be exact, for the time-being.  i am hoping that it goes well.  

Balloon Races!!!

This weekend is the Annual Great Mississippi River Balloon Race, and I am excited. I love to see the balloons flying overhead in the sky, just leasurely passing the world by, floating through the air. This morning as I was getting back into my car from dropping Knox off at his friend Sam's house, I saw a big balloon gently drifting above me towards the river. It was the first balloon of the season (for me, anyway), and i always love waking up early this weekend just to see them. Its always a rainbow of bubbles floating up high in waves. Sometimes a big mass of colors, sometimes just one or two at a time. This year Knox is old enough to see it and know that it is unusual, so i hope to get him up early, also, to look at the wonder that is a hot-air balloon. I don't think he's ever seen one, not to mention in person, so this should be a real treat to show him. Wesley and I have plans to take him to the little fair that they have along side the races. I think he will love to run around and play the games with all the excitment.

i've been tagged

by brooke, so here's my random 6 things about me:

1. I love cheese. Yummy, delicious, and creamy. Melted, solid, chunks, string. Bleu, mozzarella, feta, cheddar, the sky's the limit. I don't think i've ever really met a cheese I don't like. the stinkier the better.

2. i don't like taking medicine. fortunately, i don't get sick that often, but i think i really get on my husband's nerves when i am, or when i have a headache. he's like, "have you taken anything for it?" and i'm like, "no." oh well. i hate being sick and having headaches, but i really just hate taking medicine, too. and vitamins, but i am in LOVE with the new (well, new to me) sour gummy flintstone vitamins. they really are good. and you get to eat 2 of them!

3. I am addicted to Snood. It's a total waste of time, but i can't stop once i start.

4. while i used to be more of a compulsive shopper, now-a-days, it's really hard for me to buy things....well, let me qualify this statement. It is way too easy for me to go out to eat. but what i'm really referring to is clothes, housewares, etc. fun stuff. i don't know why but everytime i go to buy something i always talk myself out of it. yes, this can be a good thing, but sometimes i try to impulse shop, and i can't! :( i dont' know if it is because i am in pregnancy clothes, and in my mind they are just temporary clothes, but i lean against that being the sole reason, because i try to buy things for the house like a new lampshade for a lamp that is sadly topless, and i couldn't do it. i have giftcards that i even haven't used for a year because i can't make up my mind on what to get. sad sad sad.

5. Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, too, but Halloween is where its at. not the creepy, murderous stuff with blood dripping and the like, but the cutsey, kitche stuff that is comical and silly is wonderful! candy and costumes and children and autumn weather and caramel apples and pumpkin pies and cheddar cheese and candles and cute little witch decorations and hay rides and bon-fires and gords and full moons and glitter and shiny things and excitement! there seems to be a magical-ness (if you'll excuse my word-making tendancy) about it!

6. if i were an extremely wealthy person, one of the luxuries i would spend on myself (beyond traveling and regular pedicures) would be fresh flower arrangements regularly. i would not be without them. beautiful, sometimes exotic, fresh flowers!

ok, that's it. i tag ashley!

i am gearing up for the busy weekend ahead, starting in about 30 minutes. Here's the to do list for the weekend. hopefully i will accomplish all...most...of it.

-run by 2 (hopefully three) banks
-eat a quick lunch
-take knox to the doctor (coughing and mucus...same as me)
-cook my share of the food for robin's shower tomorrow morning; list is as follows: ham sandwiches, cookies (1/2 sugar free, 1/2 not), mixed nuts (hooray, an easy one!), mini spanikopitas, mini blackbean cakes, tomato-basil dip with crackers, and pick up ice before the event
-visit/eat dinner with my in-laws
-attend shower tomorrow morning
-hopefully rest for a few minutes
-hopefully a bridal portrait shoot tomorrow evening, if the weather is permitting
-send wesley off to band practice tomorrow evening
-church sunday morning, including talking with the session about membership

whoow. I'm tired thinking about it all. if you want to see a blog about what i wish i were doing this weekend, go here. (although i will enjoy every bit of the current schedule)

Tristan

So, one of my friends had a baby a week ago today (happy birthday, Tristan!) and I took some pictures of them all at the hospital. Here are a few of my favorites.

(she's not disgusted with the baby. its one of the first dirty diapers!)

update

so, about the bug issue from the previous post. i ended up not having to worry about it for now. i was supposed to meet the bug man at the house at 12:30 friday, but wesley and i went to a funeral yesterday morning that went longer than we expected, thus missing the appointment. so, i'll have to reschedule with the bug man, and therefore giving me more time to research and figure out what to do about the situation.
some of our closest friends moved out of town today. it was a sad day. but, we wish them well.
mom, knox, and i went to the cathedral fall festival today (my grade school and high school) which was fun to see knox running around and playing the different games. he really enjoyed "go-fish" and the "duck pond." i think his favorite thing to do was climb on the "bad boy buggy" (if you don't know what this is, its a supe'd up, high quality hunting golf cart thing that is supposed to be amazing for hunting). i put in some tickets for the different raffles that i thought we'd enjoy (cash, liquor, and a tv) and then we headed home. i had expected the day to be much cooler, and in my anticipation i wore fleece pants and a light-weight, long sleeved shirt. gah!
so, tonight wes and i had nice plans for an evening out to see a hitchcock movie that the city was playing on a screen on a roped-off block down town, but because i didn't double check the timing, we missed it. :( talk about a bummer. i was so upset, buuuuut settled for catching up on tivo'ed survivor instead. look out gabon.

it's that time of year again

so, it's time for us to get our home sprayed for pest-control. I, with it being a bit cooler these days and looking for more of the same, and though am partial to being eco-friendly most of the time, am completely fine with doing whatever is necessary to not ever see a single insect in (or around, if i could help it) my home. however, my husband, being the wise man that he is, wants to research more green ways to keep our home bug-free. so, while i know that this is probably a really good idea, especially since we have a toddler and a newborn on the way, i am not so thrilled about the idea of it. i HATE bugs. i dont' even want to mention the type of bug that is so common here in the south that can so easily come into your home, and so, i want very badly to go ahead and have our home sprayed at the thought of it. buuuut, i guess that would not be in keeping with submitting to my husband in all things. i have spent some time this morning trying to research other methods than just toxic chemicals sprayed in & around the home, but really, the best info i can find in my area is just preventative, and doesn't even look that promising. it seems that some areas of the country have more organic companies to come and do pest-control, but nowhere near ms that i have found. PLEASE help if you know ANY information.