Barkaloungers

I have not been taking photos again. Why? Because with my good ol' Ginger Snap Photography thing I have going "on the side", I have been too busy taking photos of other people's lives than my own. It has been fantastic, exhausting, exhilarating, and I have learned a new term for the word "proud". I am honestly proud of what I have been doing; and I know I can get so much better.

Life here has been fantastic. Aryn is growing up and changing every single day, it's mind boggling. She is learning new words daily and has really taken to trying to speak real words.

The other morning, she asked for "tsht." 5 minutes and 300 "what?!"'s later, I figured it out: she wanted toast for breakfast. And when I said the words, "ohhh, you want toast!" she excitedly exclaimed "YEAH!" and hopped up and down - so happy that mommy understood her.

She asks for Neno (Nemo) 300 times a day. And good ol' Dody (Dory), of course.

Oh and don't forget snow. "Mommy! Nosh!"
Me: "Yes, Aryn - that's snow. Ssss....ssssss...SNOW."
Aryn: "Ssssss... ssssss.... ssssnosh!"
Close enough.

She wants "teeeeeea" in her "cups" every single day, and all of her "babies" have to be in attendance. Cats are now "kitty";s, rather than "meow"'s. Cows are "cows" rather than "moos." She exclaims at every "caw" (car), and "puppy" (she refuses to call Bauer by his name, and only refers to him as "puppy"), and has random names for all of her friends (Anna is "Annie", auntie Cathy is "Annie", Keegan is "Keekee", etc. You get the picture).

And my favourite:

Me: "Aryn, what's your name?"
Aryn: (pointing at herself) "I'm Baby."
Me: "Yes, Aryn, you're the baby. But what is your name?"
Aryn: (point at herself) "Baby."

So we are trying to refrain from calling her "baby" (which we have discovered we do a lot) and referring to her only as "Aryn". All the books say a kid learns to say their name first, usually. Well... if her name was Baby, that would be true for us. And no one puts Baby in a corner.

We also took our family Christmas photos last weekend in a quick 30-second photoshoot with my best friend Aleesha (or, as Aryn calls her, "Sheesha") who snapped my camera for these pictures. While I may not be so happy with how I look, the rest of the family looks perfect so that's all that matters. And, in my pregnant stance, there is no photo I would have been happy with.

Oh, by the way. Baby is doing awesome; very chill, very relaxed, the opposite of its sister. Aryn had a heartbeat of 164 and we didn't get many great photos because she was bouncing around everywhere at every ultrasound. Funny... she's still like that. This kid? It just sits there, chilling in its barkalounger, sucking its thumb, with a heartbeat of 130. Mama was nervous at that heartbeat but apparently it's very much "normal". This is going to be one chill kid. And I am hoping beyond all hope that it is a fantastic sleeper as well. Karma can hit me twice, thankyouverymuch.