Harder then I thought

I have been trying like crazy to get a family picture of the four of us

But it has been more of a challenge then expected

I have been on a mission for months now

And I still have not been able to get one shot that works for me

Here are a few of my recent attempts
They aren't horrible
But they are just not what I had in mind

This ones kinda cute but Michael's face makes me laugh
And the baby points at everything
But at least she is looking in the direction of the camera
With half a smile

I think it might have something to do with
Using a 50mm lens on a tripod
And then wind sprinting back to the family
trying to get in the picture before the timer goes off
Next time I am going to bring someone along to help
Because I am not ready to give up

Through His Eyes

William has been taking a real interest in Photography

It might have something to do with me always taking his picture :)

It is hard for me to take my camera out of the bag

Without him asking to use it

At first I was a bit nervous

But after the first shot

I could see it something he truly loves

So every time we have a little photo shoot

I try to make sure he has a turn to take a picture or two

Lately I have been blown away by the results

I tend to take a few blurry, not so good, shots

Before I get the image I am looking for

But not him
With one click he has a money shot

Its crazy

I love being able to get a glimpse of how he sees the things around him

From what I can tell he has a very artistic perception of his world

I hope as he gets older his desire to create only grows

Thankful

Today I am thankful for

{Childhood Wonder}

{Warm Autumn Sunshine}

 {Changing Leaves}

{Silly Little Boys}

{This Sweet Smile}

 {The love they share}

{My Family}

Updates!

William~
The results are back from the test he had Monday
and they are about what suspected
His MRI was normal which is great
But he failed his growth hormone test
So as soon as we are approved by the insurance
We will start daily injections of growth hormone
We talked about it with William
And he is actually really excited
We told him about the shot
And he said very matter of factly,
"its just a poke"
He is just excited to start growing.

Mia~
We have court on Tuesday
We talked a lot with her mom today
And its to soon to really say anything
But I might have more to share after court

Me~
I just got my Photography Site up and running
It is still very rough around the edges
And I really need a logo
But I can't for the life of me
figure out how to make one in photoshop
{any suggestions??}
But its a start

{Anyone who is Local to PA,NJ,DE}
I am having Photo Shoots
this weekend and next weekend
FREE 45 min Photo session and 8x10 print of your choice
If you want to order others you are welcome too!
I need to expand my portfolio
All of my pictures are of my kids :)
If you are interested email at
Lightsgracephotgraphy@Gmail.com

Wordless Wednesday





The Red Balloon

Last week I had a ton of things to get  done
And Michael had the car
So the kids and I set out on foot

William had been doing such a good job
helping me get everything I needed

Keeping the baby happy while we waited in line

He didn't even complain about the crazy amount of walking we were doing

I thought he deserved a little treat for being so helpful

We were walking past the party store

So we popped in and I bought him a bright red balloon

He loved it and was about as happy as could be
We crossed the street and headed towards the park
To get a little play time in before nap
When all of a sudden the balloon slipped out of his hand
And floated up into the clouds

William watched wide eyed as the balloon driffed away
I waited for the tears
But they didn't come
After the balloon was out of sight
William looked at me and said
"Its OK mom, I know God will give us another one"

We have been talking a lot lately about how

God provides us with everything we need

And in this moment his faith was so strong

He was at peace

While I watched the balloon float away
All I could think was
There was no way I was going back to the store to get another one

But after he handled the situation with such grace

He changed my mind

As we walked out of the store for a second time
New balloon in hand
He quietly said to me
"God is so good, isn't he"

And he really is.

Le ballon rouge

I had planned on share this super funny story that goes with these pictures

But I really just don't have time today

Have such a busy day ahead of us

But I couldn't leave without sharing a few of these photos with you

The story will come later with the rest

 

Right now we are off to Children's Hospital

For about a million and one tests

To see if we can finally get to the bottom

Of William Growth issues

He really hasn't grown or gained weight in 2 years 

We have been to every specialist in the city 

And still no answers

He is five and a half and 29 lbs and 36" tall

All of the time people ask me if he is two 

So today is the big day

I hope we finally get some answers

Its so stressful knowing something is going on with your child

And having no idea what it is

I'll let you guys know how it goes

Weekend Walk

After our visit with Mia's mom on Fridays

We like to take a little walk in the woods on our way home

Its such a nice break from our normal city life

William can run carefree

Its hard to believe this park is really part of the city

We are so blessed to have found this place

Before if we wanted to take a walk in nature we would have to drive at least 45 minutes

This place is like 5 minutes away

And its so beautiful

I just can't help myself from taking way too many pictures

It doesn't help that William likes nothing more then his picture taken

And I Keep telling myself this is the last one I will add to this post

But I just can't stop :)
 

Don't Leave....Please!!

Mia has recently developed a really bad case of separation anxiety
Since I stay at home with her I have never had any reason to leave her with anyone else
I am beginning to think maybe I should have
Even if it was just to get her used to saying goodbye
I first noticed this when I tried putting her in the church nursery
She cried and cried and cried when I left
After about a half hour of crying they came and got me
I kind of figured it was a one-time thing because she wasn't used to being without me
So every week I would take her there and the same thing happened
It really wasn't that big of a deal
I just put her in the ergo and we listen way in the back of church

Then fast forward to two weeks ago
Michael took her to her visit with her mom
When he came home
He told me that she cried when her mom tried to hold her
And every time he would put her down to play she would try to climb up his legs to get to him
As you can imagine this made her mom really sad

I couldn't believe this because we have had weekly visits for 7 months
And never once has she hesitated to go right with her mom
So this week I went so I could see for myself
And sure enough her mom reached out for her
She pulled away
Her mom tried again, she cried
I carried her back to the room and tried to put her down
She screamed and cried until I picked her up
I sat on the couch with her mom with Mia in between us
And she clung to me

Her mom was upset and left the visit early
I could see her heart breaking as Mia pulled away
I felt sick to my stomach it hurt so much to watch
I tried so hard to get her to open up and she just wouldn't
After her mom left she sat on the floor and played like nothing ever happened

I stay for every visit and her and her mom always have a good time together
I really don't know what’s causing her sudden change
I thought about dropping her off at the visit
Maybe if I'm not there she will adjust
But the visit is only an hour
And I know from church she will cry for 30min or more
So I think she will end up crying for most of the visit
I am sure that it will take a few weeks if not longer
For her to get used to me not being there
And I am not sure her mom can take the pain of seeing her daughter cry
Every time she sees her

I am considering getting a sitter one day a week
So she can practice being with someone else
I really am at such a loss
It seems like the more I try to leave her the worse it gets
Anyone have experience with separation anxiety?
What worked for you?

Wordless Wednesday!

Native 'Camerican

William decided about 5 minutes after last Halloween

That he would be going as a Native ‘Camerican this year

He usually is quite indecisive but this year he stuck to the plan

I was quite impressed

Mia on the other hand, we changed her costume about 15 times

I was going to make her a girl Native Camerican per Will's request

But Michael's mom got her a really cute butterfly costume

So we planed on going with that

The only issue was that she couldn't fit in her stroller with her wings on

And they weren't detachable so I decided to make a back up

I saw this Owl tutorial last year and loved it

So after we got home from church I got to work

It was really pretty easy

I already had the felt left over from something else

And the feathers were left over from William costume

I think she looked too cute for words

I am a little bias though :)

I planed on painting her face

but I had second thoughts being that she is a baby and all

She looked the part anyway

We trick or treated for a long while

Even though it was down right freezing

William would knock on the door and then say

"trick or treatin' "

It was too funny

Then he would tell them

"I hope you have a Happy Halloween"

He got a few extra pieces of candy for being so darm cute

Then we went home and played board games until bed

William is allergic to almost all candy

So we made a special basket for him

Filled with his favorite treats

He happily traded us his candy

And shared some of his Lara bar with his sister

It was a great Halloween!