little bits of happiness - week seven

i haven't linked up with stephanie & done one of these posts in a few weeks, so i figured i was overdue.  i got stuff to be happy about ya know, might as well share.

we got to see little man #2 last week!  the only thing almost as good as laying there & watching him squirm around & wave is taking home the ultrasound snapshots to look back at.  litte face, little feet & little hands make me happy.

some things take parker a while to adjust to.  his new flip flops?  were one of those things.  but now, thanks to a few hot days last week, he understands flip flops = playing in water.  so now he's all about them.  so much so that the other day while it was pouring rain outside, he got them out of his shoe drawer, brought them in to me, demanded his socks off & his sandals on & then said, "ok.  go outside... play water!"  i wish p-ray, i wish.

if you follow me on instagram you may have seen a similar picture in my feed already.  but this is too good not to share again... although i'm pretty unwilling to share this stuff in real life.  i made a batch of cookies sunday night & after baking two sheets, put the rest of the dough in the fridge for later.  genius, genius move.  the sad part of this story is that it's all almost gone.  booo.

and then there's this kid.  he cracks me up daily.  he's such a goof & i could just sit & watch him all day.  good thing that's basically what i do.  it's so funny to watch him react to things & learn & interact.  and by interact i mean make animal noises & roar & meow & bark at his toys.  because that's what two year olds do.

little bits of happiness - parker in the park.

big big thank you's to everyone who commented on monday's post about having two kids.  everyone had such supportive amazing things to say & i can't even tell you how many of the comments brought me to tears from the love, support & encouragement i felt.  for reals.  of course bringing me to tears seems to get easier & easier as the pregnancy hormones become more rampant, but still.  so many of you had things to say that just made me that much more excited to have two kids & i can see that although it's normal to be nervous & have some apprehension about how it's all gonna work out, it will work out & it will be great.

so thanks, guys.

today i come at ya from sunny san diego.  we arrived yesterday morning after some slept-through-our-alarm/broke-serious-speed-limits/arrived-at-the-airport-with-less-than-five-minutes-to-spare craziness.  but we made it & are already enjoying the california sun... i'm tellin ya, i could get used to this.  

i forgot the cable to connect my camera to the computer so until i pick up a card reader, i only have iPhone photos to share which will be posted on saturday's weekday recap & so far i'm not doing a great job remembering to take photos.  hopefully that changes today as we head to the san diego zoo.  yayyy!

so until then, here's something you're used to.  parker being parker.  and that makes me happy.

while at the park last week this little guy spent more time throwing sawdust into the air & giggling as it rained back down on him than playing on toys.  toys?  overrated.  bark that can be tossed up & sprinkled down like a million little pieces of confetti?  surprisingly entertaining. 

and then he cooly exits the scene.  there's nothing more to see here.

{linking up with "little bits of happiness" over at stephanie's.  you should too!}

little bits of happiness - it's all about spring.

and p-ray.  today's edition of "little bits of happiness" is all about spring & p-ray.

we had a brief few days that hit seventy degrees & it was pretty much amazing.  when you live in the seattle area & it's that nice in april you know better than to hold your breath & think it's gonna stick around, you get out & enjoy it.

here are some bits of spring from the last week that are making me a happy girl.

cherry blossoms on the occasional tree.  not everything is blooming yet so when you find something that is all poofy with pinkish-white flowers?  you take pictures & do a happy dance.

another batch of flowers from the farmer's market.  i bought a mixed dozen of tulips on saturday & they have opened up like whoa.  pretty sure i'm addicted to having fresh flowers blooming in my house.  healthy addiction?  i think so.

p-ray has gotten the whole idea behind coloring.  he picks out specific parts & runs the crayon over them {"big bird's feet!  elmo's face!"} but is only entertained by it for about five minutes.  but five minutes is long enough to get some pretty cute pictures so everybody wins.

also?  post-nap bed head.

green soggy grass.  it might be soaked in rain drops at the moment but at least it's not brown & dead.  and that means we'll be running through it with bare feet in no time... that's cup half full, my friends.

breaking in a new pair of sandals for next week's trip to san diego... nuff said.  {pedicure to come.}

and i always have to end with this guy.  because obviously.

{linking up with stephanie for my fifth week of happiness.}

little bits of happiness, week four.

this is my fourth week linking up with stephanie for the happiness meme.  have i mentioned how much i love going throughout my week trying to find things that make me happy?  i like it.

here's a few tidbits of happiness from the last week of my life.

•  the springy flower garland made out of post-it notes hanging in my entryway.  my mom made all but two of them.  i conveniently learned how to make them when we really didn't need many more made but i swear i didn't do it on purpose... i had a toddler to chase after & little time to fold flowers.  ok, there was probably lots of instagram, facebook & blogging mixed in there too.

•  p-ray & his love for trains.  although at this exact second he looks less than satisfied by them.  this little monster makes me laugh so hard.  and sometimes grit my teeth & pull my hair.  but mostly laugh.

•  the new color scheme going on in our living room.  it started with outing the dark red curtains & replacing them with yellow ones.  then went the red throw pillows & in came blue.  every new splash of color in the room gives me a whole new level of happy-face-ness.

•  i have a serious love affair with our new computer.  i daydream about it.  we spend all kinds of time together late into the wee hours of the night snuggled up on the couch, editing photos & watching csi re-runs.  it's becoming our thing.  don't tell sam.

•  and then there's this guy again.  t minus twenty-one days til his second birthday.  i can't wait!

little bits of happiness, week three.

i'm linking up for another week of "little bits of happiness" hosted by my very good bloggy & real life-friend stephanie.  here's what made me happy this week.

{a walk along the marina on a rare sunny day.}

{p-ray watching for fish in the water below.}

{a completely out of focus picture that i can't bring myself to delete because p-ray is obviously giving me a killer stink-eye in this shot.}

{bright tulips purchased from pike place market that help make me feel like spring really is here.  despite all the rain.}

{new curtains finally completely sewed & hung up!  thanks mom, you rock.  all that fabric probably woulda sat in my closet another six months if it weren't for you.}

and that's just a few.  it's been a pretty good week.  my mom & i went to see hunger games last night & i can't wait to talk about it!  i feel a random post with bullet points in our near future.  i have so much to talk about & it feels like zero time to type it all out.  so for now?  pretty pictures & the promise of future bullet points will have to do.

little bits of happiness, week two.

we're officially on the road for a weekend of family reunion-ing & i'm gonna leave you with my second week of playing along with stephanie's "little bits of happiness."

here's what's making me happy this week:

{one of our gender reveal cupcakes!  filled with either a pink or blue cream filling.  and umm, LOTS of chocolate.} 

{little snapshots of baby #2.  legs, face, feet... all so cute.}

{my little baby #1 combining two of his favorite things... baths & cars.}

{a VERY full calendar for the next couple months.  that's how i like it.}

{snow in march.  ok, maybe this didn't make me all that happy but it was pretty to look at.  and it was gone by noon.  so i guess that part made me happy.}

see you all back here tomorrow for a look at what's inside those cupcakes!  pink or blue!

wordless{ish} wednesday: cookie no-baking.

so i'm in the office working on some photos when i overhear sam say, "parker.  let's go make something."  next thing i know pots & pans are clanging & cupboards are opening & closing.  i knew i was missing a photo-op so i grabbed my camera & find this:

i realize this story would end much better with a picture of parker nomming down on the end result but honestly once the cookies were done, none of us was holding a camera.  our hands were too full of cookies.

i'm sure you understand.

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemon, the paper mama, jenni from the blog & a little king & i}

little bits of happiness, week one.

my friend stephanie has started a weekly link up called "little bits of happiness."  it's all about sharing little shots of things that have made you happy in the last week.  i love the idea of looking back at the happy things that have happened in my week & finding a reason to capture them on camera.

here's week one.

{shopping date with my little man at the mall.} 

{i've shared this picture already but i just love seeing my two babies in one shot.}

{we still have our valentine's cards sitting out on the entry table.  including this little cut-out of p-ray's hand with the two middle fingers folded down signing "i love you."}

{makes me so happy seeing how much parker is enjoying his new toy box sam built him.  it's his favorite place to play in the whole house.}

{listening to a recording of kid two's heartbeat from tuesday's visit to the doctor's office & buying gender-neutral newborn stuff!  only two more weeks til we know what's in my belly!}

wordless{ish} wednesday: thankful.

well, ya knew it was coming.  a thankful post.  i would be totally lame & ungrateful if i didn't touch on some of the amazing things in my life, so here it is.

i am so in love with this time of year.  and i don't know what it is but for some reason this year's holiday season feels particularly special.  maybe it's because parker is actually more aware of christmas tree lights & santa & i'm super anxious to watch his reaction christmas morning now that he actually gets excited over new toys.  and now he actually dances with me in the living room when i blast christmas music rather than sit in his bouncer watching me like a crazy person {i know right?  why would he look at me like that?} like he did last year.  to get to show these things to a little guy for the first{ish} time is pretty exciting.

and?  i'm just happy.  i'm in a good place.  i don't want anyone to think my life is perfect, that i don't have things i wish were different or that my life is all rainbows & puppies because it's not.  i just don't choose to regularly dwell on the bad things.  because i have too much to be thankful for.  i have an amazing husband who loves our little boy more than words can describe.  i have a healthy, happy little boy who surprises me every day with how much i feel love for him.  i never knew i would feel physical pit-in-the-bottom-of-my-stomach love for this little guy.  and that nearly every day, i would stop & have to choke back tears because of how amazing he is.  seriously, that happens.  i'm totally nerdy that way.

and lastly, i am grateful for all the things i've figured out about myself in this last year.  turns out i like crafts, i can sew {new development this year} & photography has become my main creative outlet.  capturing the emotions of kids & couples & families & then making it into a piece of art for them to have forever is exhilarating to me.  for reals.  i always feel this crazy "high" coming home from a shoot when i know i've gotten some good shots & totally brought my a-game.  it makes me happy.

so there it is.

we are heading out of town for the holiday so i'm not sure when i'll be posting over the weekend.  i'm not really sure when week in iphotos will be up either... i'm not gonna stress about it.  i'm gonna wear stretchy pants, eat lots of turkey & shop at crowded stores.  i'm gonna attempt to have my family's picture taken, watch parker play with babies & visit with friends & family.  i might return ten pounds heavier than when we left but that's ok... it's what new year's resolutions are for.  and who wants to look skinny in family pictures, anyways?

i hope you all have a great holiday spending time with the ones you love.  be grateful for everything you have, even if at times it doesn't feel like much.  you can always find something to be grateful for.

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemon, the paper mama, & a little king & i}