two little birds

I'm not here!

2009-11-11T22:25:00.003-06:00

Did you change your subscription/google reader/bookmarks yet? I'm over here! Italy Part 1 is up now!

www.ashleighpeak.com

Making my life easier.

2009-11-08T21:49:00.002-06:00

I have so much to share with you guys. Italy photos, family stuff, etc.

Blogspot ain't cuttin' it.

I'm going to be only posting on my photo blog now. Please, no tears. I can post bigger pictures and have less headaches. Go ahead and subscribe over there-

www.ashleighpeak.com

I have already posted an Italy preview as well as Baby Jack in a Pooh costume. I'm serious- don't miss it.

www.ashleighpeak.com!!! See y'all over there!!

I'm a total Gleek. And proud of it.

2009-10-13T20:10:00.008-06:00

If you're wondering where I've been the past few weeks, you're probably thinking I've been so busy with work, photography, my kids, and an amazingly exciting jet-setting lifestyle right? Well, yes you're right, that's all true. BUT the main reason I've been an absentee lately is because of a little show on Fox called Glee.

I think it's safe to say I'm obsessed.

Paul asked me last night how much of my thoughts are consumed by this show. I told him give-or-take a point, 85%.

I've youtube'd interviews of the cast members, deleted important shows off my Tivo to make sure I can keep all episodes of Glee circulating at all times for unlimited on-demand re-watchings, downloaded the songs on iTunes, started running 3 miles a day 3 times a week to said Glee songs, taught myself the Single Ladies dance, just to name a few things. It's the Step Sing choreographer in me I guess (not that I'm still bitter, but Phi Mu Step Sing '03 totally should have won sweepstakes not first runner-up. But I'll settle for my Best Choreography trophy nonetheless).

So anyway. I've recently discovered that there are Glee forums (who knew?) and that spoiler scenes of upcoming episodes can get leaked out (gasp!). (PS-Is this not the most enthralling post I've ever done?)

Well a few minutes ago I found one of these spoilers for tomorrow's episode. Let me set the scene for you. Charlie is standing right next to me when I started playing this musical scene on my laptop. The music starts. I hear him utter this under his breath:

Guitar.

I see the wheels in his mind a-turning.

He says, "Wait mommy! Be right back!"

I pause video.

I hear him rustling around in the play room.

He comes back, dressed like this:

(Glee Spoiler alert for tomorrow's episode)

I mean, seriously. It's in the genes.

What you look like after the most amazing birthday party ever.

2009-09-28T07:32:00.002-06:00

Poor fella has been in presents/party/friend/Cars/McQueen/Cake/Excitement Overload. He's been potty-trained for what, 3 weeks now? And in that time, he's had maybe 2 accidents maybe? Let's just say that the day of his birthday party, we went through 5 pairs of underwear. Bless his heart.

Party re-cap to follow....

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

2009-09-25T09:14:00.002-06:00

September 24, 2006.

My sweet Charlie bear made his grand entrance on this day.

When I look back and think about that day 3 years ago, here's what comes to mind:
-Waking up at 2am, contracting
-Pain getting worse, contractions 8mins apart, told by Dr. to take tylenol (ha)
-Contracting on couch while watching Amazing Race reruns (thus beginning my love for that show and also my hatred for contractions)
-Heading to the hospital, Paul contacting friends and family saying that "it's time". I'm in passenger seat wanting to shoot him.
-Getting epidural, thinking this was so easy
-Chilling in bed, loving life
-Asking the nurse, "is it really this easy?"
-Realized I had just jinxed myself
-Pushing fat baby for 3 hours to no avail
-Wheeled into to surgery for emergency c-section
-Epidural went bye bye
-Paul sees them push Versed, and then sees me go night-night
-Wake up in room with beautiful baby in arms

It was all worth it. Some memories from that day:

Charles Armond Peak
9 lbs 1oz
20 3/4 inches

It's hard to believe that was just 3 years ago!

My little baby is all grown up. This year, his birthday fell on a school day. So we made cupcakes for him to take to all his friends.

We were going to bring him a "special lunch" for his birthday so we got to school a few minutes before their lunch time. Their little plates and lunches were all set out, but they were in a different room at the time. So I got a few shots of his classroom and Charlie's art work.

Paul and I were so impressed with the structure and order of their class! There are 10 little kids in his class and before lunch, the teachers have all the kids stand in a line and wait their turn to go potty and wash hands. Everyone behaved. It was really encouraging.

Once everyone had hands washed, they sat at the table and prayed and sang "God Our Father". I didn't know they did this- It made me happy.

When we asked Charlie what he wanted us to bring, he said pizza. We later were told that another mom had brought them donuts for a snack. So Charlie's meal plan that day looked like this: frosted flakes, donuts, pizza, cupcakes- all before 12 noon (Please don't tell my dietician friend Deanna. She will judge me.)

Then he passed out his cupcakes.

Then they sang happy birthday.

Success.

Happy Birthday, Charlie!!!

I got the WRONG cashier at Target.

2009-09-21T22:10:00.009-06:00

As I stated earlier, I've started doing the whole coupon thing. I never thought I was the coupon type. You know, perfect housewife with laundry done at all times, kids on perfect schedules, healthy organic gluten-free, whey-free, fat-free homecooked meal at every sitting, etc. That's who I thought was coupon-y. And that was pretty much the opposite of me.

Turns out, I'm the super-competitive-deal-hungry-not-afraid-of-any-retailer type. To me, it's a game. See, I hate injustices. I hate when things "aren't fair". And now that I know there are all these savings right before me and all I have to do is a little planning ahead, I will never go back to my non-couponing ways.

So every Sunday (well I mean this was my 2nd week but who's counting?), I plan out my meals, take inventory, and start working on my list. We just started getting the Sunday paper, so I go through and look at the ads compared to what coupons I have and start getting my stuff together in my handy Couponizer (best invention ever). These past 2 weeks have worked out great- but it's one of those things where I don't know if I'm just getting lucky or what. For example, last week I ran out of mustard. A thing of mustard lasts us about a year but whatever, we were out. Well I try to have a coupon for every item on my list, or at least the majority. So I didn't have a mustard coupon but I went to Frenchs.com and on a whim they have a $.50 off coupon, which Kroger doubles coupons always. So that's $1.00 off. My Kroger had French's mustard on sale for a dollar. AND on the mustard bottle, there was a buy one get one free Peelie sticker thing. So, I got 2 bottles of mustard for free. Crazy huh? (Did I just refer to it as my Kroger? Oh Lord I'm turning into Nana!! Help!)

Anyway, I notice in the paper that Target has some good deals so I decided to try it out with my new strategies. When I went to the coupon workshop I mentioned here, Rule #1 of couponing is always find the right cashier. The right cashier is usually young, unassuming, and high school or college-aged. We don't want any old war horses or people who hate life or their job. Unfortunately, Target this morning had 1 lone register open. She was young-ish, but it seemed she hated life, and/or her job, and/or the woman standing before her with a handful of about 20 coupons (that'd be me).

First, she tried to tell me that some of the coupons I wanted to use, I couldn't use. And when I challenged her, she just huffed and said- well I mean I'll try it but it won't work. To which, it worked. But the kicker was when she called me a liar. See, I needed some Pampers. I had a $2 off coupon, and they had theirs on sale. I was only going to get the 80-count box but then I saw the 100-count box was on sale for $28.99. I wasn't going to get them... But then, hark! Lo and behold, a tiny little ray of sunshine next to the big 28.99 numbers, a teeny tiny sign that said "gift card with purchase". So I made a mental note, and grabbed the big box of Pampers that's usually about $32.

When the cashier lady was done with all my merchandise and tells me the total and neglects to give me said gift card, I start to get a little no-you-di-int in me. I said, I think I'm supposed to get a gift card with the diapers. To which she replies, no you have to buy 2 to get the gift card.

Huh?

Did she pull that out of her butt or what?

And I said- no I'm pretty sure it didn't say that. She tells me that there is no gift card. I say ok, swipe my credit card, and head on over to guest services (the old Ashleigh would have never done this!!).

I explain the whole sitch to the guest services lady, who still doesn't really believe me and has an employee walk over to the baby dept to see if I'm lying or not because clearly I would be wasting 20 freaking minutes of my day to lie about a fake gift card sign. The employee walkie-talkies the guest services lady and says, "yeah there's a sign here."

She immediately demands her to take the sign down because it is a mistake. I say- " I still need my gift card please."

She calls the manager and wa-la, I got a $5 gift card. HA! 100 Pampers for $21!! Take that!

It made me happy.

(It also made me happy that I ran out of the 6-dollar-a-box Electrasol dish detergent and Walgreens has it on sale for 3.99 plus an extra $1 off, plus I had a $1 off coupon making it 1.99 but I got the last box at the Perkins Walgreens... just sayin')

(I'm pretty sure I'm crazy and addicted to this mess. Apologies? Never.)

Big eyes, fat thighs.

2009-09-20T11:19:00.002-06:00

Go see what I mean over here----> www.ashleighpeak.com.

(No comment on where they get either of these characteristics from.)

Ashleigh Peak Photography is famous.

2009-09-18T22:02:00.002-06:00

The highly acclaimed My Memphis Mommy has a feature on her site for APP. Check it out! She's supposed to be on the local news at 7:40 tomorrow (Saturday) am so all you early birds-aka people with small children-be sure to tune in.

In case you don't know, My Memphis Mommy is an amazing website which shares any and all deals/savings/coupons/everything specifically in Memphis, but applicable nationally. I recently attended one of her coupon workshops and, I'm not ashamed to say, am totally addicted to couponing now. I did my first shopping trip to Kroger post-coupon workshop and was amazed. I got a week's worth of groceries that was $130 pre-coupons, for $80. Eighty dollars! A family of four for 1 week for my first time couponing! In that grocery trip I got 2 boxes of cake mix, 1 bottle of mustard, 1 bottle of bbq sauce, and 2 tubes of toothpaste for a whopping $1.00 total. You should totally sign up for a workshop so you can learn all the secrets and the rules. You will be amazed at how much savings are out there!

Happy shopping!

Never a dull moment 'round here.

2009-09-17T22:58:00.004-06:00

*Edited to add: Photo added!

It's been a rainy gross mess in Memphis the past week. Here's a few shots of what my boys have been up to.

By the way, did I mention that Charlie is potty-trained? Yes, I know I am as shocked as you are. I know you all were thinking that just because he didn't walk til he was almost 18months old, that surely he would still be in diapers until at least kindergarten. O contrare, mon freres. He pretty much decided on his own one day that he "wanted to go potty" so it was an easy transition. We have had minimal accidents. And every time he puts on his (insert Disney cartoon here) underoos, I say "don't tee-tee on McQueen" or "don't poo-poo on Mater". And I kinda inforced that too much, because now every time I say I'm going to the bathroom I hear "Mommy don't tee tee on Mcqueen..." Such a funny little boy. Mmm I heart him.

And here, is where I post the cutest picture in the world. Charlie is sitting on his Go Diego Go potty with his Wall-E underoos around his ankles giving me some of the majorest eye contact ever. Mean hubby says I can't post it. However if there is a petition via commenters, I will surely be able to post it then. It's so cute and completely G rated. Let me know.

(Yay!! Hubby says I can post it but I have to deal with the consequences when Charlie's older and this picture has been stolen off the internet or something. Whatever- we'll deal with that later, right?)

Wanna go to Italy?

2009-09-17T09:12:00.003-06:00

Welp, we have 4 weeks and 5 days til we embark on our Italian adventure. I have been communicating with Luisa, my cousin who will be hosting us, via email (which is always in Italian). They are pretty much planning our trip and we could not be more thankful/excited! It's funny because people ask us, what are you going to do, or where all are you going to go? And me and Paul just say, "We have no idea!" But we totally trust Luisa and Onofrio and if we spent all 10 days in their home talking (aka- charades), it would be perfectly fine because I am SO excited just to see THEM!

Here's some background info on how we're related: Luisa's grandma, Julia, and my great-grandma Amalia (or Maria- I think she had two names, not sure why) were sisters. So Luisa and my mom and aunts are 2nd cousins, and I guess that would make them my 3rd cousins? Something like that. Confused yet?

Ok so Luisa has a sister named Lidia. I met Lidia once when I was maybe 10 years old-ish when she came to the U.S. to visit us. She was and still is so beautiful and kind. Her husband is Giancarlo (love that name) and her 2 daughters are Lucrezia and Beatrice (pronounced Be-uh-tree-chi.. isn't that cute!?) So when she emailed me yesterday with her new website, I knew I had to pass it along to the blogosphere.

Whew. I say all that to say- if you want to go to Italy and stay in a beautiful apartment in the heart of the rolling hills of Italy at the home of the sweetest people in the universe for 300 euros a week, check this out:

www.viasanmoro.org.

I can't wait to see it in person in a few short weeks!!! Start planning your trips now, people!

Renovations: Before and After!

2009-09-16T00:32:00.011-06:00

FIRST- Memphis, please sign up now for your holiday photo session! I know it's not til November but I'm about to have an ad on a very popular Memphis website and I'm afraid slots will fill up fast after that.

In case you missed this post, we bought our little old 1950s home last June of '08. We had all intentions of doing a full-out home reno but due to monetary restrictions and occupied wombs, we decided just to do what we had to do to get by. So we renovated the kitchen, painted, etc. and were ready for baby boy #2 this past January. Don't get me wrong, we did A TON (and when I say we, I mean contractors and my dad and stepmom). But there were still a lot of loose ends and a lack of cohesion in my decor.

So here we are, a year and a bit later and we are ready to do some finishing touches. Priority #1 was defining a space that could be my office/play room. I was about to go in.sane. with no definition of space, a growing business, and 2 small children. I was not pleasant to be around most of the time.

Inspiration
The more I thought about my home, the more I realized that the things I'm drawn to are warm colors, natural elements, and a rustic look... And then I realized- I wanted to do a contemporary take on a Tuscan theme (which works out great since I'm Italian).

So my first taste of Tuscany came in choosing the backsplash. The nice thing about waiting a year to do some of these touches is because my taste totally changed for the look I wanted in my home. I originally was going to choose a green glass tile, but since deciding to go all Tuscan, I chose this natural split light travertine 5/8 stone (coincidentally from Memphis' Tuscany Tile). I wanted to carry the 'Botticino' color of the countertops up the walls in my tile. And I wanted it to go alllll the way up on the ventahood wall. I also wanted more of a division between the kitchen (which has new smooth drywalled ceilings) and the dining room (which has old nasty plaster textured ceilings). It just looked unfinished (to me) so I had my favorite contractor in the world Orlando construct an arch to be the go-between. Here's what it looked like after we first installed it last year:

And here it is now: (I took these pictures at night BTW)

You'll see that we took out the ceiling fan in the dining room and got a chandelier, busted out the shelves on the back wall as a feature wall, added can lights over that wall, added the arch, and got a new dining room table (Pier 1) after selling the big black one on Craig's.

Here's the backsplash:

That arch spurred the idea to do the arch off the entryway. Here is what the original wall looked like in case you forgot:

And here's what it looks like now:

(Ignore the fact that the canvas is hung off center; there was already a nail there and I was trying to see if I liked it in the entryway. I found this canvas at Bed, Bath, & Beyond).

Then, to solve my definition of space issue, we added a wall to go between the living room and new office/playroom space for definition. Here's what it was before. Just big wide open space. It was a catch-all type room that was great for storing folded laundry and miscellaneous toys, as well as unsorted mail. No longer, my friends.

And here's what it is now:

(wider angle shot from iPhone)

closer up shot:

Doors open:

We took out 2 of the cabinets in that built-in and left it open to be my desk. The cubbies on the top left were ones I already had and I'm just embracing the dark espresso, and then the 4 cubbies on the right I found at JCPenney and I'm embracing the off-whiteness. The bottom cabinets house the toys. Except the cabinet to the right of the desk is where I have my printer and paper shredder.

The view standing in my laundry room/mudroom looking into office:

The view sitting on the couch in the office/playroom: (we have a armoire in this room as well that will hold our other tv)

My newly organized cabinets:

(Note: I had a moment of self-realization after organizing these cabinets. Remember the book Berenstein Bears' Messy Room where they organize all their toys and label boxes and containers and things? Let's just say that was probably my favorite book as a child...I had totally forgotten about it until I looked at my finished product here.)

And then we got a new front door. Here's the original:

And here's the new one:

That's all I got peeps, hope you enjoy!

Memphis Holiday Mini's- $90!!!

2009-09-14T12:54:00.003-06:00

(PS- sorry for the absentee blogging)

Hey Memphis! It's time to sign up for your holiday session. Head on over here to sign up. I've had tons of people ask me about signing up, but you need to actually sign up now!.... Only a limited number of slots!

We've been doing construction (again) in our house and it's finally done! I'm still putting the finishing touches on some decorating but will post pics soon as I'm through. Oh yeah- are you following me on Twitter? Because I *may* have posted a couple of sneak peeks of what kind of construction we've been doing as well as a super cute find that I got Charles at Target (Paul Frank!? who knew!). Don't be a twitter-hater. Follow me, I'll follow you.. or you can stalk from afar, that's cool too.

Gotta run. But I'll leave you with a little taste of Charlie's most recent antics.

Jack: [innocently playing with Charlie's train]
Charlie: Hey! That's my train, punk!!!

I mean, does he look like a punk to you?

No, but he might :) Love ya Charlie!

Atlanta people

2009-08-05T20:22:00.002-06:00

I just posted some holiday session info for the Atlanta(ish) folk, but the packages will be the same in all cities on the Ashleigh Peak Photography World Tour (of the South). T-shirts with tour dates available soon (kidding). Next week, I will post info for Memphis and Chattanooga.

www.ashleighpeak.com

PS- It's August. I don't care if it's still 900 degrees, I'm calling it Fall. My most favorite season in the world. Can't wait to bust out my Moss Uggs.

Business, and busyness.

2009-08-03T07:57:00.007-06:00

I've been busy tending to the photography side of things, which you can check out here: www.ashleighpeak.com. I have about 3 more openings for the month of August. Let me know if you need some super cool Back to School portraits of your little people!

I'm also trying to prepare for my office-organization project coming this fall. Which means, more home reno's for you to follow. We'll be adding some french doors to close off part of the main living room area and adding tons of shelves and bookcases and storage and basically a workspace. Until all that happens, I'm just trying to find a decent day planner. Why are functional things always ugly? I just want something pretty (*shocker*).

I found this great website www.seejanework.com. It's so me. I love everything about it. The name, the look, the products. If you are in need of office supplies, check here. I love these magazine holders.

And these "working woman" file folders. Kinda funny.

But they don't have a day planner. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery?

All is well in the household. Jack is crawling. Charlie is funny. Jack is back into the paci thanks to Charlie's nurturing techniques. He can't stand for Jack to cry and as soon as Jack starts fussing, Charlie rushes to get a blanket and a toy. The other day, he found a paci and shoved it in Jack's mouth. We haven't had the paci in use since Week 1, and now it's becoming a major factor in helping the wee one fall asleep. Oh well. It's the thought that counts right?

A trip to Birmingham, pretty things, and not-so-pretty things.

2009-07-27T20:05:00.007-06:00

This past Saturday my mom and I packed up the chil'rens and headed to the Ham. My friend Alison wanted me to take some pics of her new little man Gabe, and I wanted to see my sis and stuff like that. You can see the results from our amazing sesh here.

So it was just going to be a day trip and I had the diaper bag jam-packed full of ready-made bottles, formula already divided, bibs, socks in case baby's feet got cold in the car, extra outfits, the works. We finally roll outta the driveway around 8ish and head to the Wal to return a redbox dvd rental that was a week past due (oops). Valkyrie- good flick, wasn't terrible. Anyway, I go into the Wal because I needed a beverage before we got on the road and realize I forgot my dang wallet. Luckily we're only minutes from the house and I go back and get it. Whilst inside my house, I say to myself, I'm just gonna grab the whole tub of formula just in case.

So we get about 2 hours away from home and are at a gas station where Jack starts cranking up. I decided to go ahead and fix him a bottle. I go to grab the beautifully meticulously packed diaper bag and realize- oh awesome it's still at the house. Where was my brain? I left to go out of town with no wallet and no diaper bag? This is so unlike me (ha). Lucky for us the exit we stopped at was equipped with a Walmart, so I ran inside for the necessities: new bottles, diapers, and Ming Ming from the WonderPets for Charlie. I had instinctively grabbed the formula so thankfully I didn't have to drop any benjamins to pay for that powdery goodness at the Walmart.

We roll into the Ham just in time for lunch at your favorite and mine- The Tavern on the Summit. Mmmmm grilled chicken salad and sweet tea and maybe a teeny tiny bit of spinach artichoke dip. We didn't have much time, but I made certain we made a trip to my favoritest of favorites, Anthropologie. I tried on a ton of stuff and loved it all but with my amazing restraint, I walked away from the majority of items. I did get a new wallet- finally! Remember the wallet mentioned earlier? The one I forgot? Exactly, it's forgettable. It's horrendous. I've had it since college. Wallets are one of those things where you will never find the one you want if you are looking for it. It has to find you.

Here's a pic of my ghetto-fied hundred year old wallet. No it's not supposed to look "vintage," although it does look like an antique. It is nasty.

Now here's my new one. It spoke to me saying, "Ashleigh, I want to hold all your credit cards and licenses and CPR cards and expired ACLS cards and gift cards that you didn't even know you had." And so I listened. Ain't she a beaut?

It should be dually noted that: yes, I did make Charlie be my hand model for the wallet and also no, I did not put the Cousin Eddie hat on him nor do I know where he found it.

And the beautifully lined interior:

Oh and don't worry- my bag of fresh new merch kept beeping when we tried to leave Anthro which was befuddling the employees. So don't worry- they not-so-delicately proceeded to rip every single price tag off my fresh merch! My jaw was on the ground. We all know ripping the price tag is the best part of buying things. Thanks, jerks.

So then we headed to the photo shoot and then headed out of town. Here's a little excerpt from our attempt to leave town. I'm gonna do it in "that wasn't me" format. Here goes.

Nope, that was not me (or my mom).

That was not me pulling off the road into a funeral home parking lot outside of Birmingham and climbing into the backseat to feed screaming baby #1 and disgruntled toddler #2. Not me. And that was NOT me watching my 6month old have an explosion in his diaper in the carseat while feeding him. Still not me. And that was absolutely not my mom changing said baby in the front seat of the car and disposing of said diaper in a Sonic sack. Nope, not us. And that was MOST DEFINITELY not us leaving said Sonic sack filled with said explosive diaper in the funeral home parking lot. NOT US!!!

*Note- as we were driving off we yelled a big "sorry funeral home" and we feel that made it better. Please don't judge.

All in all, great trip. Can't wait to go back. Miss you my Alabamian friends. We will be reunited soon. Promise.

Photography Tip of the Day

2009-07-24T14:44:00.003-06:00

You know, I get tons of emails from loyal readers asking me various photography questions. So I thought I'd just start making it a regular thing to post some of the things I've learned over the past few years.

Today's lesson is a lesson in composition.

What is composition? Well, I'm sure there's some fancy photog jargon to explain it, but to me, it is a combination of story and balance in a photograph. There are lots of technical aspects of compostion in photography; "the rule of thirds", "the golden section rule", "the diagonal rule", to name a few. However I think that if you get too bogged down on this process, you totally miss the point of photography to begin with: capturing a moment in time.

The lesson today is geared towards taking a plain old picture vs. taking a portrait. Keep in mind, all your pictures don't need to be portraits. Sometimes the "big picture" so-to-speak is necessary.... With that being said-

All of these pictures were taken on my Canon 5D with a 50mm f/1.4 lens. Window left. These are completely unedited, straight out of the camera.

Here is the first picture I took in this series. The tips will be based off this photo:

Step 1: De-clutter

I was sitting on the couch about 4-feet away from Paul and Jack (who had each just awoken from their naps, respectively). Anyway, I was just sitting there and Jack cuts those eyes at me. I run to grab my camera and quickly snapped this shot. I love this picture. I think it captures a sweet beautiful moment. It's not very cluttered, the subject is the focus, the colors are all neutral. But while he was there acting all cute, I wanted to get another variation of this shot.

So, I moved in about 3.99 feet. And now we're framing it to be more of a portrait, rather than a picture.

Step 2: Wait for the eye contact.

The eyes are the money shot. I don't ever give up on getting eye contact from even newborns. Eventually, they WILL look at you. And it will be oh so worth it.

Step 3: Don't cut out body parts.

You need to be spacially aware of your subject. When you're looking in the viewfinder, do a quick glance- do I have all fingers, toes, arms, legs? Obviously sometimes you don't want the whole body in the picture, but when the torso is the focus try not to crop part of the head. Like I did. (This isn't a horrible example, still a cute shot, but you get the idea).

So, after waiting for the eye contact, checking to make sure everything that needed to be in the frame was in the frame, I got this.

Keep in mind, the "big picture" is the same. Paul stayed the same as in the first shot. Jack stayed the same as in the first shot. The only thing that changed was my location. Rather than being 4 feet away, I was now inches away from Jack and ON HIS LEVEL. I'm not looking down at him or looking up at him. We were eye to eye.

Was this helpful/comprehensible? Please comment and let me know if I should keep it up.

Help me pick out some Uggs.

2009-07-22T12:01:00.004-06:00

*UPDATE* Breaking news- I just bought the Moss ones. It was a last-second switch, mainly because DH said "please don't get the plum ones." No worries, got a fig-colored dolman sleeved cardigan to fill the fig void. I hope the Moss ones aren't heinous looking! Will keep you posted. Now you can go back to your lives. Thanks for all the input! (But seriously, Nordstroms sale ends August 3rd. Tons of cute stuff for great prices.)

They are on sale at Nordstrom. I need them. They want to roam the streets of Ancona, Italy with me. Do I want.....

Moss?

or

Fig?

I'm feelin fig-y. But then I like the Moss too. I don't know. Thoughts?

The latest goings-on.

2009-07-18T12:19:00.003-06:00

I am working like crazy on editing pictures, updating blogs, tending to my little birds, responding to emails, and everything else. If you're still waiting on pictures, continue to bear with me. We're getting closer.

Here's some things you need to be checking on:

1) My photo blog. I'm updating every other day or so. Sign up for the RSS feed and save hours off your life.

2) I have had tons of interest in the Atlanta sessions! I decided that I am going to gear this towards being holiday sessions, minus cheesy Christmas props. Some packages will offer custom holiday cards, or simply a cd of all images. More details will be coming soon. But right now, we are planning on the weekend of October 9-11, with that Saturday being the main day. If there continues to be more interest, I can include Sunday as well. So tell your friends!

3) A good friend of mine is recruiting my photography services for the great city of Chattanooga. So I'm going to start assessing the interest level of Chattanoogans. Looking like October 3-5 as of right now, same package deals as Atlanta sessions. More details to follow, if there is interest. Tell your friends! Spread the word! Think: Christmas presents! EDITED: Potential Chattanooga dates above are incorrect. September 30-October 2 are the correct dates.

4) Memphis, I could never forget you. Holiday session information will be coming your way as well. Looking like early November.

So, chew on that..... or if you prefer something sweeter, this:

Backyard before and after

2009-07-16T20:09:00.005-06:00

As I mentioned earlier, we had a massive storm tear through Memphis about a month ago. We had 1 huge tree come down, taking another huge tree on the other side of the yard down with it. It was a huge mess. Our shady backyard is now only 2/3 shady. But I kinda think it looks better than it did before.

Here's right after the storm. Our back fence is about 20 feet behind the debris that you see. And these were taken off my iphone and I didn't feel like trying to make them look better because it's branches people. But you get the idea.

Here's where the tree forks. The base of the tree crashed down on the left fence and is in our neighbor's yard. Awesome!!

We've had all the debris removed, fence repaired, etc. It looks like a new yard. These were taken before the pile of logs was removed. And this pile was only about 1/3 of the final pile...

Crazy huh? Now there's PLENTY of room for the bouncy blow-up thing and new cedar swingset for Charlie's 3rd Birthday. Right, Paul??

And just because he's my buddy...

Do you live in Atlanta?

2009-07-14T02:20:00.004-06:00

I wanted to throw something out there. I have some friends in Atlanta that I miss terribly and need to see, and I've had some interest from other friends who live in Atlanta wanting photo sessions. I'm thinking about killing a couple of birds with one stone so.....Would any of you Atlantians be seriously interested if I picked a weekend and did a couple of days of mini-sessions? I'm thinking late September- early Octoberish. If you are interested or know someone who might be, please leave a comment or email me and let me know (ashleighpeak@gmail.com).

As promised, I have Alicia's twins' pictures up over on my photoblog. Super cute girls. We joke about Carly and Charlie getting married, and now I think Jack and Kate sounds like an equally good match.

I've been working through the night trying to get caught up with everything... Paul is letting me sleep in because of it bless his heart. Off to bed now, but not without a picture of me and the little birds. Goodnight....

It was time for a change....

2009-07-12T22:47:00.005-06:00

...and I was sick of my stark-white boring old blog that has been exactly the same since Day 1. And I've been feeling awfully girly lately. Not sure why. I hope I'm not running off any male readers though. Who am I kidding, we all know Paul is the only male to "read" it... and that only happens when prompted. So, hope you are more aesthetically pleased when you peruse this blog. I know I am.

In other news, I accidentally deleted my entire blogroll so if you don't see your name, don't freak out. It's all I could do by memory. Just comment me to remind me where you are.

In fun news, our super awesome friends Cameron and Alicia have a blog now! They have some gorgeous twin girls that just turned one that you can see pictures of here, in a few short days.

I'm hoping the new layout will inspire me to update as often as possible, because we all know pinks and florals and fun fonts are extremely inspiring.

Back from the beach. (ha)

2009-07-11T23:28:00.006-06:00

Yeah, so we've been back from the beach for almost 2 months now. I was on a self-imposed blogging hiatus just because I had gotten sooo busy, and it was either stop blogging or give one of the kids away. Tough call, but I kept the kids. So as I was readying myself to come off hiatus, a little gust-o-wind blew through good ole Memphis and knocked down 2 trees in my backyard, landing on my fence and power lines. We were without power for 1 week and coming off hiatus was at the bottom of the to-do list.

Since we got power back, my computer has been acting quite persnickety. I would be in the middle of editing photos and it would just shut off, amongst other things. Well the shenanigans didn't stop and all of a sudden a few days ago, it shut off and didn't come back on. I took it to my friendly neighborhood Apple store where he told me that my hard drive was gone, non-functioning, kaput, oh and did I mention erased? Perfect, right? Desperately needing a computer (I have about a million photos to edit including a wedding), we were able to get this:

We got the 13". And I'm not really sure how I've made it all these years without a laptop. It's so wonderful. And of course I had to buy a super cool awesomely rad case, right? I happened to get the girliest one I could find. Paul was less than pleased with this purchase, and I had to remind him that in a house of being the only girl with 3 boys, I never get to buy girly things so he could just deal with it.

Cute huh? I like how little bit's foot snuck in their right before I hit the shutter.

So to catch you all up, my littlest man is 5 months old, nearing 6 months in the next week and a half. He is just plain wonderful. The happiest baby ever. I'm serious, a 180 from 3 months ago. He's pushing up, scooting on his belly a little bit, and eating pureed foods. Which, I had forgotten that I absolutely hate the baby food stage. Ugh gross. I know you're not supposed to wish your kids to hurry up and grow, but I mean seriously come on and get some teeth so we can eat crackers and other non-disgusting things. He also love love loves his brother. Charlie will just give him a funny look and Jack will crack up as if he's being tickled by a thousand fingers. It's hilarious. Charlie still calls him "Babyjack" but it's slowly evolving to "JackJack" and even more recently "J-Jack." We are the nicknaminest people I tell you. Charlie just continues to crack us up. He has started picking up on all the names Paul calls me (all wonderful, of course! ha): Ash, Babe, and Sweetie. I'll get a "Thank you, babe" or "Turn the light on, sweetie." He's hilarious. He may be lily-white but he got his funny from his mama. Right?

Here's a little photo collage of the boys... Mostly Jack because I have less pics of him (obvy). I was debating on what to do... Do I merge blogs? Do I only post pics of my family on the photoblog? I was so torn. So here's the plan. I'm putting nice (not iphone) pics on both, and all fun stories will stay over here. So PLEASE continue to check both blogs and tell your friends!!! Lots and lots going on with photography so sign up on my RSS feed over there. And if you or someone you know was thinking about using my photography services in October, book asap! I'm filling up with newborns and I'm going to Italy for 10 days. So act fast.

Ok onto the pictures. I hope you all enjoy this post and I better receive a bazillion comments, good or bad. I only stayed up til 1 in the morning to post this for you. (ok and maybe to finish watching The Holiday on TBS-love that movie- and now Clueless is on... who knew such great movies were on this late?)

So, we are at the beach?

2009-05-18T19:48:00.003-06:00

On Friday we decided to go to the beach this week. . Mom got this sweet condo and the only time we could all go was this week. I'll post pics soon. Lots of funny Charlie stories. He calls the sand snow! He loves jumping in the pool- the kid has NO fear . But some of the funniest moments have come from my sister Julie. There have been lots of Julie-isms, but here's a favorite:

She and my Mom were watching a marathon of the original Brady Bunch on tv while they were waiting for us to arrive (at 3am). At the end Julie asks mom, "Is this an old show?"

Love her.

More updates to follow...

When Paul dresses the kids...

2009-05-13T12:39:00.008-06:00

...I'm always in for a treat.

I think I've figured out his method:

Rule #1- Make sure the top and bottom are exactly the same color

Rule #2- Three-month-old Jack's long pants work just as well for Charlie's shorts.

something funny.

2009-05-11T19:22:00.003-06:00

Our dear friend Cameron is a big fan of Kensucky and The Coach Who Shall Not Be Named (as he is referred to here in Memphis). Despite this character flaw, he is a pretty decent human being and he does provide me with some super hilarious you tube videos. This one, featuring the Shamwow guy and the SlapChop, is one of my new faves. Check it out, you won't regret it.

My littlest man is three months old.

2009-05-04T22:32:00.003-06:00

Sweet Baby Jack is growing like a weed and never missin a meal. Some of his recent accomplishments include the following:

-Successfully weaned off the super expensive formula (which I think is what made him chunky!) and back on normal formula
-Rolls back-to-front
-Rolls back-to-front while in the swing (yes we would put him in the swing unbuckled. Ever since I found him face down in the swing, we started buckling. Babe is strong and super advanced, what can I say?)
-Smiles, laughs, coos
-Continues to tolerate brother's antics
-Has slept through the night TWICE! Otherwise, he is only waking up once now. Praise God.
-Has been called a girl. Will someone please tell me what I should make of this conversation?:

I went to pick up Charlie from school with Jack in tow. Director of school sees Jack, who is wearing a green onesie.

Lady: Look at that baby! Charlie your little sister is so cute. It is a girl, right?
Me: Actually, it's a boy.
Lady: Well, he's pretty enough to be a girl.
Me: Thank you?

Huh?

And of course, next to the jack pillow for comparison.

There's something about Mary... Mobbs.

2009-04-25T16:07:00.002-06:00

This curly-headed wonder finally has a blog! My senior year college roommate/bff Mary can be found at inthemobb.blogspot.com.

Some points of interest about Mary:

-Yes her name is really Mary Mobbs
-Yes her hair is naturally that curly
-Yes it can be straightened, but it's not advisable (she becomes her alter-ego, Brandy the queen of the 80s, when she straightens her hair)
-Yes she was our (me, kate, kathleen) saving grace in nursing school
-Yes she unfortunately cheers for the UT vols per her husband's request/demands
-Yes she is a super smart Nurse Practitioner now
-Yes she hugs trees
-Yes I miss her dearly!

Everyone head on over to the Mobb and show Mary some love!

Gillllyyyy..... strikes again.

2009-04-23T13:36:00.003-06:00

Ughhhh. We have a repeat offender.

So, we have a new favorite movie. It's a classic- Milo and Otis. Remember that one? I thought I remembered what it was... I was thinking to myself... "Milo and Otis... isn't that the movie with Tom Hanks and he's a cop or something with the dog that's his best friend?" Well, the movie starts playing and the setting is at a barn with some chicken eggs hatching and I realized maybe this is not the movie I was thinking of. I called Paul at work and he informed me that I was thinking of Turner and Hooch, which is definitely not anything like Milo and Otis. Honest mistake, right?

Which, I have to give props to the Japanese. Some of these things in the movie are like- wow. I mean, how did they make the bear and the pug fight scene? And is it necessary to show the live birth of pug puppies being born? This movie is nuts. *Side note* whenever the bear/pug fight scene comes on, Charlie shouts at the tv: "BEAR!! BE NICE!!"

I think in one day, it gets played at least 17 times. And as soon as it ends, Charlie says, "watch Little Man?" Otis is a pug and we used to have a pug named Little Man who now lives with Meme and Pops PTL.

So anyway, he was "watching Little Man" the other day, and I was on the computer editing (which is consuming my life right now!! ahhh.) I didn't hear anything and I was thinking, man that kid LOVES him some Milo and Otis. After maybe 10ish minutes, I decide to go check on him (keep in mind my computer is 5 paces away from the Living Room) and here's what my sweet precious angel baby doll perfect sweet son has done (excuse the iPhone quality of the pics):

Why, why, why, why, and last of all, why?

Just another boring Sunday afternoon with my boys.

2009-04-19T22:53:00.003-06:00

More from my most recent newborn session

2009-04-15T11:11:00.002-06:00

Check it out.

It's been a hectic/stressful/crazy busy weekend and week. Sorry for the lack of blogging. I will make up for it, but for now I'm preparing for another newborn session this Friday with Miss Leyton Elizabeth. Don't you love that name?? Check back for more updates!

How to create a wall gallery of photos

2009-04-06T07:36:00.001-06:00

I posted on my photo blog some ideas on how to create a wall gallery of photos. Check it out, and let me know if you thought it was helpful. Thanks :)

New additions to the blogosphere...

2009-04-05T15:28:00.004-06:00

My sissy has a blog! Everyone check out "Candy Apples" by my rockin sister Julie.

And also, one of my BFF's from college! Kate is the one on the right. This was at our nursing school pinning ceremony. Don't ask.

Still awaiting blogs from the other BFFs Kathleen (blondie) and Mary (curly hair). I mean, doesn't this picture make you want to know more about those ladies or what? Come on, Georgians, get crackin'! (This was taken at my rehearsal dinner. It was a very serious, somber event.)

Newborn Session Sneak Peak!

2009-04-04T00:29:00.000-06:00

Check it out...

First Newborn Session of 2009...

2009-04-02T22:54:00.003-06:00

... is tomorrow! I'll post the sneak pic asap on the photoblog. Soo excited.

It's been a rough couple of days...

2009-04-01T08:37:00.008-06:00

Well, my basketball team is gone.

As my dad says, the University of Kentucky just bought the
naming rights to the Memphis Tigers. So when Kentucky is doing
awesome next year, just be thinking:

that's really Memphis.

Remember how no one cared about Memphis
basketball? ESPN constantly wrote us off. Little ole Memphis. Apparently,
we were extremely sought after. And now a "big school" will get all the credit.
Our program has been gutted. The one thing that brought our city together,
the one thing the we could all agree on, the one thing that distracted
from all the negativity that surrounds Memphis (racism, violence, and an
awful mayor), is gone. I'm glad Kentucky is getting what they *deserve*.
The sense of entitlement that state possesses is unreal. But, what goes around comes around.
Cal is a shady guy, that's how he got Memphis so far. So we got what we
deserved, and eventually, so will UK. Here's a great article from a wonderful writer here in lowly, little ole, unimportant Memphis. Who would ever want to in anyway ever
emmulate little ole sorry Memphis basketball? Oh, apparently everyone.

Awesome.

We will rebuild. It will be difficult. Take heed, Kentucky. And good riddance, Cal. I'm moving on.

Here's my little glimmer of sunshine in the meantime:

*Mary Cardina I know what you are thinking. No, Jack will not have anything to do with Chi Omega, except drive all the alumnae who see this picture to quickly do a google search to find this onesie in order to be the big hit at the next Alumna Brunch. He is my Phi Mu sweetheart all the way :)*

My little bird's modern nursery

2009-03-29T20:04:00.007-06:00

So, I just realized that Jack has a consistent bird-theme
going on. The cute onesie from the previous post, and pretty
much his entire nursery is (unintentionally) bird-themed. Which,
if you know me, this is incredibly ironic because I absolutely
HATE birds. Well, only the aggressive stalker birds (mockingbirds,
pigeons- you know who you are). I had a very traumatic experience in
high school where a mockingbird stalked me in and around my house
and it resulted in my dad having to buy a BB gun and kill the little
devil. And then in college, pigeons would swoop down across my head,
literally inches away from me and scare the Bejesus out of me. This
would occur on a regular basis. But all that's neither here nor there.

I wanted to put up some pics of Baby Jack's nursery. We did do some
small renovations to this bedroom and my out-of-town friends have been
asking to see some of the before and after photos.

We love our little old 1950s east Memphis home, but you kinda have to
get creative when it comes to some things. For example, storage. Our main
project in this room (and Charlie's room for that matter) was to rip out
the old ghetto sliding closet doors, put in French doors, and add a shelving
system. My dad deserves all the credit. He was the visionary and the worker bee. Here's a pic of the closet/paint colors before:

And here's the entire room, after everything:

Actually I took these pictures before the french doors were put on (which was just recently finished), but here's a pic of Charlie's closet (Charlie's room is a mod cowboy theme- navy/baby blue/choc brown) so you can see the full effect:

Now, let me just tell you. I didn't want to spend a ton of money since it WAS
Baby Boy #2, but at the same time, I wanted him to have his own "stuff". So
here's the breakdown.

All the furniture is the Malm series at Ikea.
The dresser, toybox, and nightstand. All under $400.
I decided not to spend lots of money on baby bedding (that junk is
expensive!) so I just found a crib sheet that I liked. This one is
the "Robin Motif" from Dwell and I got it at Design Public. I think
it was $30ish? And the bumper is just an organic cotton super soft
plain bumper from Babies R Us. I think it was $30ish too. The reason
I could skimp on the bedding is because I have this AMAZING crib to
showcase!! And I didn't want it to be hidden by lots of froofy bedding.
By the way, did I mention that my amazingly talented dad BUILT this
crib???? Yes, he's amazing. I bought a crib from Ikea (actually off Ebay)
for $100, and dad used those rails, but built and routed the design in the
end-boards. And put it all together. And stained and sanded. Everything.
It's my favorite thing in the house.

The "bird" art work is from Dwell, too. (Can you tell I'm a big fan of Dwell?)

The yellow "Jack" pillow in the chair is Dwell too. Get it? It's
a pillow with a Jack on it, and he is Jack? He was too cool for monograms
so we had to be subtle about displaying his name.

The big huge metal J over the changing table/dresser is from Anthropologie. Charlie has a
matching 'C' in his room.

We switched out the dated light fixture and added a more mod pendant
light with dimmer switch. His room is my most favorite room in the house,
by far. Well except for the kitchen. Since I took these pictures
I have added 4 yellow bins to go on the shelf under the crib for more storage.

That's all I got. Hope it was enjoyable/helpful/inspiring.

He's my little bird.

2009-03-28T07:48:00.003-06:00

My sweet Baby Jack is 2 months old! And he is "Baby Jack," because that is ALL Charlie calls him. And you have to say it like it's one word pronounced BAYbuhjack. It's pretty cute, but it gets tiring saying, "Paul, get Baby Jack's this.. or... where's Baby Jack's that...." I guess it's better than Charlie's first nickname- CharChar. I didn't think we would ever outgrow that one, and I just pictured Charlie showing up to kindergarten saying, "Hi! I'm CharChar!"

So anyway, back to Jack. He's still waking up 1-2 times per night and is still pretty colicky. It was better right when we started the soy but now it's getting bad again. We talked to the doctor about it and he's put him on this even more expensive formula. Awesome!!! He gave me a bunch of samples though, and after 1 day, I think I can already tell a difference. Here's to hoping...

He's started smiling now and cooing a whole lot! Charlie loves this kid. I just know he wants to play with Jack so bad. He will come up to me while I'm holding Jack and say,
"Jack, come see me!" It's really cute.

So here's some pics from the past few weeks, just around the house. The yellow/orange pj's are Old Navy and the little bird onesie is from Mango Street Baby. Couldn't you just eat him up? I don't think he looks like me at all, especially since his eyes look like they may end up being green (which would be gorgeous), but I can kinda see a little glimmer of me in the left middle pic... Or maybe I just wish I was that cute.

*Also* I have put my photoblog in the feed in the left column with all my friends' blogs so you can see as soon as I update it. So be sure to check it out!

Why are boys so gross?

2009-03-23T21:14:00.002-06:00

I was feeding Jack in the living room, and Charlie was playing with his toys, out of my range of sight. I hear him go into the kitchen, and open the cabinet doors under the sink. I immediately try to avert any calls to poison control and say, "CHARLIE COME HERE!"

He runs towards me, with both thumbs up. I'm thinking- aw cute he's giving me two thumbs up! He gets closer and says, with thumbs in my face,

"EWWWWW GROSS MOMMYYYY!"

There, on each thumb, lies a huge perfectly round-shaped booger. Ew, gross is right.

Turns out, he was trying to get a paper towel from the cabinet under the sink! At least he was trying to be clean, right?

Hey friends-

2009-03-22T21:02:00.003-06:00

I have a new photo blog! Check it out

ashleighpeak.squarespace.com

Thanks man.

Gilllllyyyy.....

2009-03-18T20:41:00.003-06:00

*I wrote this a few weeks ago and wasn't going to post it because of the incriminating video at the bottom. I have decided to sacrifice my pride for the funny.*

Did anyone see this on SNL? If not, it's worth watching. It's Kristen Wigg (my fave) and she's playing a character named Gilly who is in grade school. Gilly is a silent terror, always causing mischief but the teacher never sees her do it. She rarely speaks, only to say, "Sorry." in a quirky little voice. Hi-larious. Watch it (or at least the frst minute) if you want to get the most out of this post. It'll be worth it- promise.

I say all that to say, Charlie is Gilly. Literally.

See, whenever I feed Jack, Charlie sees me as weak, and himself as invincible. He spends the off-feeding hours plotting his next move. Over the past few weeks he has:

-Covered my en.ti.re. house in baby powder. No lie. Floors, walls, mirrors, shoes.

-Covered his face, the humidifier, Jack's crib, the walls in butt cream.

-Dumped out all of my not-very-cheap Laura Mercier loose powder all up in my 3x5 bathroom

-Poured out any and every drink left open and in his reach. Good thing the rug is chocolate brown. He poured out my diet Dr. Pepper the other day. Blends right in.

-Poured out all of his fancy bath bubbles/body wash/shampoo that Su-Su got him for Christmas.

-Poured out all his regular shampoo.

-Poured out the baby's shampoo.

The most memorable mommy-meltdown-causing event happened a couple of weeks ago. I packed up the kids and tackled Kroger after Charlie dumped out the baby shampoo and Jack was in DESPERATE need of a bath. It was definitely an ordeal getting out, but I was feeling very accomplished by the time I got home. I put the baby wash on the counter in the kitchen and went to feed Jack. Apparently, Charlie climbed up on a barstool (didn't know he could do that), opens the shampoo, pours it allllll out straight on my kitchen floor. Right after I had just bought it. I sobbed.

In a related story, Charlie has TOTALLY picked up on the Gilly thing. See, me and Paul watched that skit a few times because it was so hilarious. And we'll watch every now and then because it's just a good pick-me-up. So, Charlie has probably seen it a few times unintentionally (don't judge). Well, being the big SNL-quoters that we are, me and Paul started saying "Gillllyyyy" at random times, and Charlie- having heard us- will say, "Sorry" just like Gilly. Hilarious.

(ignore the no shower, no make-up, no sleep, still carrying some baby weight look i was sporting. i wasn't going to post this but i had a change of heart)

The kid, though he destroys my house, is a comic genius. Love it.

Thanks, yawll!

2009-03-17T21:59:00.003-06:00

All you people out there- listen up.

So this whole time I've been blogging, I thought I had maybe 10-15 regular checkers (parents, sister, a handful of friends, and my B-ham posse... not my husband because he does not read my blog unless I tell him too or unless someone at work tells him about something I wrote. Ridic.) Well, I decided I wanted to know how many hits I was getting a day. Because, let's face it, only about 3 of you comment, so how am I supposed to know if anyone is listening? Am I doing this all for nothing?

So I added this stat tracker 3 days ago. You'll see a little number at the bottom of this page now. It made me pick a starting number, and I thought, 10 people a day for the past 2-ish years, heck I'll just start it at 1000.

Well you people are sneaky little devils out there.

In the past 3 days alone, I have had nearly 300 hits! What??? (I know some of you are like- "NBD, I get a million hits an hour.") But I seriously thought I only had about 10 hits a day! This is crazy.

I also can see where all you people are coming from. Here's some locations that are baffling me:

Charlevoix, MI (actually this ones not baffling me. I'm pretty sure it's Molly Malaney. She probably googled Jason and found this post about how me and Jason are BFF. No worries, Moll!)

Austin, AR

Alexandria, VA

Canyon Country, CA

Makanda, IL

Pinellas Park, FL

And a handful of cities in GA that I've never heard of (Dallas, Smyrna, Covington)

Isn't that the coolest? I kinda want to give a prize to the person from the most interesting city. Hmm let's see... Canyon Country sounds pretty inticing, but I have to give it up to my girl Molly in Charlevoix, MI. Moll, if you come back to my blog please leave me a comment! I'd love to be your BFF too! (I actually don't know what city she is from but I know she is from Michigan. This is just wishful thinking, if you haven't noticed.)

Ok, or, the real person from Charlevoix, MI can comment too.

Since Charlevoix, MI is the winner of this game I just made up, here's some interesting facts about it:

-As of the 2000 census, the city population was 2,994

-Charlevoix is named after Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, a French explorer who travelled the Great Lakes

-After the 1996 murder of JonBenét Ramsey, who spent her summers in Charlevoix and had won a pageant in the town, Charlevoix became a regular haven for tabloid photographers, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Ramsey family.

(all data courtesy of Wikipedia)

Consider yourself learned. Thank you, Charlevoixian, for stopping by my blog! I hope you enjoyed your prize of receiving 3 facts about the city you live in.

Who wants to win next????

What our life looks like these days...

2009-03-15T20:11:00.000-06:00

Heaven... I'm in... Heaven!

2009-03-13T13:13:00.005-06:00

I totally called this.

Any Top Chef fans out there? Check this out. My favorite Italian-American Fabio Viviani is getting his own tv show!!! He was so cute on the show and I did not know what to do with myself when the show ended. I'm also following him on twitter (which I LOVE!! why did it take me this long to join? you can talk to all kinds of famous people! including me, of course.)

I think the reason I loved him so much is because he reminds of my favorite Italians- Onofrio and Luisa. They are my family (mom's side) that live in Ancona, Italy, where Paul and I will be traveling to this fall for our 5-year wedding anniversary. We miss them so much. I've been using my Rosetta Stone so I can somewhat communicate with them. Here's what I got so far:

La donna mangia una mela.

Translation:
The woman eats an apple.

Hopefully there are lots of women eating apples in Italy.

Anyway, they are the sweetest people in the entire universe. Can't wait to see them. LOVE!

NBD

2009-03-11T12:36:00.002-06:00

Me and Jason Mesnick are friends on facebook. No big deal.

I'm following him on Twitter, too, and totally talked to him. No big deal.

We're pretty much BFF and I love it.

What the heck?

2009-03-10T12:04:00.004-06:00

I am still in disbelief. Did anyone hear about this story?

Probably not, because the mainstream U.S. media is not reporting it.

Remember how Mr. Obama's main campaign promise was to "improve world relations?" Apparently, he meant "let's suck up to our enemies and completely diss our GREATEST allies."

Please read the link above and let me know what you think. Is it not so embarrassing for America?? Moreso than any of Bush's "Nuc-YOU-lar"'s.

I'm sorry I really wanted to give this guy a chance. I am really thinking he is in over his head. It is obvious that his ONLY leadership experience was running his very own Presidential campaign. And now, with the collapse of the economy on the brink, he decides it's high time socialize health care? Seriously? America, what were we thinking?

I am totally not trying to have a "my-guy-didn't-win-so-let's-bash-the-one-who-did" attitude. I'm just wondering if people who voted for him are still 100% happy with the action that they have seen so far? I mean, maybe things will get better. It just seems like there's mistake after mistake after mistake and this latest gaffe is the straw that broke the camel's back for me. AND if President Bush had done this, oh my dear Lord it would be ALLLL OVER CREATION!

Sorry, needed to vent.

I totally missed out.

2009-03-09T11:55:00.003-06:00

I have this sweet friend at work named Patty who is from Mexico. Last week I was asking her where in Mexico she was from, and she told me "Aguascalientes". She said it was about 6 hours from Puerto Vallarta, where me and Paul and our friends Cameron and Alicia were a couple of years ago. This is a picture of all of us after doing one of those zipline canopy tours through the mountains. It was amazing.

So anyway, I pulled up Aquascalientes on my iphone to see exactly where it was. And then it hit me. I saw Puerto Vallarta WEST of Aquascalientes on the Pacific Ocean. Wow.

Yeah, I totally thought we were on the Gulf of Mexico the whole time.

I came home from work and said "Paul I didn't know we were on the Pacific Ocean in Mexico?? Did you??" He pretty much laughed in my face and totally scoffed at me. Oh well. At least I have friends like this to relate to.

CALLING ALL PREGGERS!!

2009-03-08T10:25:00.004-06:00

Click here your NEWBORN PHOTO SESSION deal of the century.

Check this out...

2009-03-02T13:42:00.004-06:00

I don't want to get all political, but it's hard not to with what's been going on with all the dang bailouts. I can't verbalize any feelings/nor do I feel informed enough to contribute to any sort of debate, but this guy can. I found this video- this guy is pretty much my new best friend.

In a related story, I don't know if you all heard but it snowed here. On my birthday! It was glorious. Here's my favorite little stud muffin lookin all studly in the snow. He has his hat kicked to side because, well, that's how we roll.

We're exhausted.

2009-02-26T16:08:00.002-06:00

Happy 1 month birthday, Jack!

Here's what's been going on with you:

-loving that soy milk
-tolerating big brother's antics without a problem
-fake sneezes
-sleeping 3 hours at a time in the night
-weighed almost 10 pounds at your 2-week checkup!
-you love listening to music, namely Sigur Ros... it puts you right to sleep.
-unlike your brother, you LOVE the paci
-you love to rock out in your Babylegs
-you are not in to Thomas the Train, raisins, or crackers despite what your brother thinks.
-you are the most adorable, beautiful little baby and we are loving every minute of life with you!

Check out Charlie and Jack's ladies...

2009-02-19T23:16:00.002-06:00

Gotta love these twins.

I love a happy baby.

2009-02-15T13:37:00.002-06:00

Finally! We realized why Jack has been so grumpy all the time. His tummy cannot handle milk! We've switched to soy and my life is a little bit easier. I was disappointed because I tried a couple of times to get some shots of Jack all curled up asleep and naked with a black background when he was a few days old, but he would not have it. So now, he is giving me full creative control! Although, he's too old now for the little bitty baby shots but oh well. Here's a few of him and brother. Man I love these boys.

While the cat's away, the mice will... have a photo shoot?

2009-02-12T22:12:00.002-06:00

Paul was at work, Charlie was at school. What else were we supposed to do to pass the time?

Nope, that was not me.

2009-02-10T12:01:00.001-06:00

That was NOT me at Target, giving-in to a 2 year old's meltdown over "CARS" rain boots while carrying 2-week-old brother in the Baby Bjorn. Not me.

Nor was that me putting the boots on the child, and letting him out of the cart because he wanted to walk in his not-yet-paid-for boots. Still not me.

And that was NOT me, begging my child to hold my hand (still with 2-week old brother in tow) as we walked down the aisles of Target taking 3-inch long baby steps because the aforementioned rain boots were still attached to each other by the rubbery string and price tag. Nope. That must have been someone else.

My birthday wish list consists of things found on 4am info-mercials. Am I turning into Nana?

2009-02-09T13:29:00.004-06:00

Welp, my birthday is right around the corner. March 1st, but I'm sure you all knew that. (Ps- Paul's birthday is Wednesday February 11 but he doesn't have a blog so he can't announce his birthday wish list so I don't feel bad for posting mine even though his birthday is sooner.). Anyway, some nights I will stay up till 2-3am with the baby so that Paul can sleep and be rested for the 6am wake-up call courtesy of Charlie. It's worked out well so far, however I have found so many things that I need off these dang infomercials. Basically, there are 3 must-haves:

1) Strap-Perfect. Check it out here. This woman is a genius. It's gonna be like SPANX, I'm calling it.

2) This Chin-up Bar. I've always wanted to be able to do a chin-up ever since the government fitness day in gym class in elementary school. I could always dominate the sit-n-reach but I could never do 1 pull up. As soon as my 6 week post-op no activy stint is up, you guys are going to be in awe of my chin-up skills.

3) P90X. Has anyone done this? Does it work? I really want to attempt it, but not sure how that would go over with 2 small children in the room. Hmm.

"Mom, seriously?"

2009-02-09T11:04:00.004-06:00

Better get used to it, kid.

The first bath at home did not go over well with Jack.

2009-02-05T20:12:00.002-06:00

Charlie needed some attention...

2009-02-04T19:09:00.002-06:00

... and I wanted to play with my brand new Speedlite flash! LOVE IT.

Love that tush.

And then we were four... (Part 2)

2009-02-03T12:02:00.004-06:00

Right when Jack came out, Paul took pictures of him and showed me the pictures while I was right there lying on the table. Our initial reaction was "It's Charlie." Hands down. But then, after a few hours, he started looking like his own little person. Here's Charlie (who weighed 9 lbs 1 oz) for comparison:

And here's Jack:

Here's Jack getting his first bath:

This is Julie holding him right after his first bath. I love this picture of these two (Once again, props to PPP). I had all his little outfits all picked out with matching hats and blankets. It was fun. It's so fun the second time around because you know what to expect and can do things differently. I think I brought like 4 random onesies to the hospital last time for Charlie and I'm pretty sure his "going home outfit" was just the only clean thing left in the bag.

Here's one of the little blankets I got him. It's by Petunia Picklebottom and you have to get them! Even if you don't have kids, they are too cute to pass up. They are the best swaddlers out there.

Here was his day 2 outfit... Ok I realize this is turning into an infant fashion show, but I don't care! He was so fun to shop for. It was kind of like a fun challenge since "only girl clothes are cute". O contrare, that's what I say. I got this little footie from Atterdag Kids. It's by Kumquat (love that brand). I also got him burp cloths and a onesie to match. His little hat is by BabySoy and I got them at The Baby Habit. Pretty much all his stuff I got online. Anyway, here he is. I think he looks like a little Russian with the hat. Cuteness.

Here he his in his little lamb blankie. I got this at Target. It was in a little gift set for their DwellStudio for Target line. It was on clearance for $4.88. The lambiness reminds me of my dear friend, Kathleen (Lamb). Loveya Katty.

And then here's his little going home outfit from the Itsy Bitsy Baby Boutique. Love it.

That's all I can handle for now.

And then we were four... (Part 1)

2009-02-02T22:06:00.003-06:00

John "Jack" Robert Peak
8 pounds 6 ounces
19.5 inches
perfect in every way

Wow. I can't believe I have two kids. I still feel like I'm 22 years old and just graduated from college. No way I'm a mom of two. It's so crazy.

Here's some pics and how it all went down:

My surgery was scheduled for Monday 1/26 at 10:30am. We had to get there at 8:30. This is me waiting in the holding area where I got my IV and about 500 bracelets. I wanted to have a little piece of Charlie there with me so we brought this teeny tiny cow that drives Charlie insane. (We play a game where we stack all his blocks up and then I'll put the cow on top and he gets soo mad because the cow does not go with the blocks. He always ends up sneakily removing it from the scene and hiding it, usually under a pillow. It provides us with hours of laughter... Su-su invented that game).

Then, they tried to pull a fast one on me. My nurse was awesome. Love her. She gets me all hooked up and everything and then in walks the CRNA student. This is the guy who is going to give me my epidural and keep me pain free and alive during the surgery. He explains to me that he graduates in 2 weeks and he is super confident in his skills. He leaves, and I tell my nurse no thank you. I don't really want a student poking around in my spinal cord- no offense CRNA students of America. I know you have to practice on someone, but not me.

Anyway. They roll me into the OR and my real CRNA was awesome. He was the best. He saved my life. Well I mean not really. But I seriously thought I was going to die. He started my spinal and my legs went dead- success. But then I got really hot, dizzy, panicky, and I was trying to decide if I should tell him to get the Ativan ready because I was on the verge of a panic attack. I kept looking at the monitor to see my O2 levels because I did not have the sensation that I was breathing. He quickly turned the monitor away and said I was going to stress myself out more-- he was right. I told him all these feelings of dizziness, sweaty, etc and I then saw him manually squeezing my IV bag... I was like, sweet I'm dying. My BP is bottoming out. This is it. But then he gave me some magic medicine and I felt like a million bucks. But I think I counted 3 liters of fluid in the OR, 1 liter prior in the holding area, and maybe 2 liters in recovery and in my room. I was like- you guys are counter-acting my 8pound-6ounce instant weight loss!!! But I guess I needed it.

Oh PS- the doctor had a super hard time yanking Jack out of me because he was up so high! I was thinking- that kid has just made his little nest up under my rib cage and he refuses to leave! I knew it.

Paul Peak Photography was in full force for the birth, and he did an awesome job!!! I was so proud. He now knows all about f-stops and shutter speed and aperture and white balance and ISOs! We had a crash course the day before. Here are some of his shots:

All I remember the nurses saying when he came out (other than "what a big boy!") was his LIPS! They kept saying his lips were like Gerber baby lips. So cute.

His hair has some sweet patches already. The color is the exact same color that Charlie's hair was when he was born. You can't really tell the color in this pic though.

The first feeding. This was in the recovery room.

Paul snagged this one (obvy) and I love his little pinky up!

That's all I can handle for now. Part 2 coming soon, promise.

36 weeks...

2008-12-28T10:57:00.002-06:00

(SIDE NOTE: This blog will now be at ashleighpeak.blogspot.com. My photoblog is still ashleighpeakphotography.blogspot.com. I hope that's confusing enough for you!!!)

Well, we are nearing the home stretch, thank goodness! I was at the point where I was feeling pretty good, like, "I can totally handle this," I've only gained about 28 pounds, and life was pretty normal. But then this was a bad thing because I started feeling super nervous about the c-section (I'm not a fan of surgery on myself). But now, I'm super huge, I'm swelling everywhere, I've gained chins #3 and 4, numerous gray hairs, excessive fatigue (emphasis on the f-a-t) and I'm now welcoming any form of scalpel nearing my lower abdomen. I'm thinking this weight gain is fluid- I have about 0 appetite. Well ok that's a lie. I get hungry, but then I can only eat about 25% of what I want. Not much room in the old stomach these days.

So anyway. I haven't taken many belly shots this time around. Especially once the fatigue and fatness set in. But I did manage to get Paul to take some of me the other day. Just know that it takes a lot of humility to post these pictures of all my chins and swelling and huuuuge belly that's STILL gravitating towards my upper GI tract (heartburn- yess!). So I'd like to give myself a little pat on the back for that one. Way to be humble, Ash.

Compliments of Paul Peak Photography:

Then Paul got jealous of my spotlight and needed a photo shoot with the cutest kid on the planet:

Aren't they the cutest??

eat your heart out, HGTV!

2008-12-14T10:39:00.008-06:00

PREFACE
Back in June, after months of looking for a new (old) house, we finally found one. We decided to get a fixer-upper because nothing we had seen was "our style" and we wanted to make it our own. We didn't want a brand new house because a) in East Memphis that would be about a million dollars and b) we liked the old-house charm and the huge oak trees in this area, as opposed to the new developments and "subdivisions" in the burbs.
This house that we found is on a street we love, and we really really loved the backyard. The interior wasn't bad, but was pretty much a blank canvas for us to put our own touches into. Initially, we wanted to add on to the house as well as renovate the interior, but financially we decided it would be wise to only renovate the interior for now. Eventually we will need more square footage, but for now, it is perfect for the 4 of us. I hope (!).

WHAT WE DECIDED TO DO
We decided to keep the kitchen where it was, but make the flow of the house more open. Our house is a big rectangle. Originally, the left front half of the house is the front sitting room with attached dining room, and a smaller den and kitchen behind it. The front "sitting room" is huge, though! And we are not "sitting room" people. So we decided to make that our main living area, and also because it has the fireplace. The dining room was ok where it was, but we needed an office/toy storage area so decided to make that part of the living room. We decided to make the old den the dining room, because it was too tiny of a den for us. It was just an awkward space. And you'll see what we did with the kitchen.

The right side of the house is 3 bedrooms and 2 very old school baths. My dad and Karen did all the updates to that side of the house (painting, closet upgrades, trimwork, etc). They were lifesavers. I'll post that stuff later though. Paul's parents and grandparents were also lifesavers as they let us crash with them for a couple of months during this process. As well as my mom who let us stay with her, and she also was in charge of helping organize and get rid of crap I didn't need. We couldn't have done this without help from our family, so THANK YOU FAMILY!

The BEFORE

This picture was taken after one of my dear, dear "friends" tried to burn my house down. This is the side of the kitchen opposite of the kitchen sink. On the wall behind the burnt oven, is the fireplace and new living room, which was the old "formal sitting room". You'll see later. The wall left of the fridge which is separating the kitchen from the old den (which we now use as our dining room) was removed to open the space up.

This is the view standing in the old den, before the aforementioned wall was removed.

All the cabinets are original to the home, which was built in the 1950s. The tile was kind of reddish clay looking. In the back corner you see a window. This was used as a "breakfast area", and there is a door leading to the carport back here. We have since made this back corner space our mudroom/laundry room by adding a wall to separate the 2 spaces.

This side of the kitchen is where the fridge and oven were. Notice the furdowns, or "soffits" that hang down from the ceiling. We removed all of those. The doorway you see in the back corner lead to an old pantry. We decided to take out the pantry and make the cabinets wrap around this area, and then we cut a doorway which leads into the new living room. Are you confused yet?

After the demo had begun, we decided that the plaster walls were going to be nasty and a pain to deal with. So we had the walls stripped down to the studs in order to have dry wall. Little did we know that at some point in the past 60 years, our little kitchen had caught on fire, as you can see by the smoke damage. The wood however was still in good shape! This picture was taken after the wall separating the old den and the kitchen was taken down. The old den (new dining room) has wood paneling, which we kept and painted.

This is me standing in the old den looking down the kitchen to the back door (or the door leading to the carport). You can see the framing for the mudroom wall is up. And you can also see how I was near insanity for the past few months. Ahh these pictures are making my stomach churn. We also replaced all light fixtures and added recessed lighting in the kitchen and new living room.

THE AFTER

This is the view while I am standing in the new mudroom after just walking in the carport door. You can see all the way down to the new dining room (old den). The paint color in the dining room is a medium gray, and the kitchen color is one shade lighter. We will eventually have a backsplash that will be a soft greenish color so we didn't want the wall color to compete. Where the wall separating the kitchen and den was removed, we replaced with a half-wall (on the left) which serves as a 2-person bar. We added the pendant lights above it as well. Our cabinets are from Lowe's called Kaffe Cherry, our countertops are Lowe's (don't get me started) and our ventahood was a STEAL from ebay. And it works great too!

This is the view from the door. I am standing outside (in our carport) at this point. You can see half the dryer on the left, and our coat rack area straight ahead. To the right, which you can't see, is one of the original doorways, which leads to the front of the house, specifically the office area (old dining room).

This is where you can see how we wrapped the cabinets around, changing the layout from a straight galley kitchen. Remember this is where the original pantry was, which is now a butler's pantry area leading into the living room.

A better view of the wrap-around:

The wrap around leads to the living room, and this view is me standing in the living room looking at the wrapped area (which was the old pantry).

Opposite of this is our regular pantry, which is just a super-tall cabinet.

You can see the wall oven/microwave above, and right across from that is the fridge. The cabinet to the left of the fridge is one of those pull-out pantries where I have all my canned goods, etc. since we don't have an official pantry. I love it though!

This might be my favorite part. This is where the original vent was, so we went ahead and kept this as our cooking area. We knew we wanted a gas cooktop, but we were not sure of how much it would cost to add a gas line, etc. We were extremely lucky to find during the demo that there was already a gas line in place at this very spot! Eventually, this wall will be covered by the backsplash (the backsplash is a bunch of skinny rectangular pieces of tile in a muted greenish-gray color).

This is our new kitchen sink, and the huge 150 year old tree that is about 6 inches from our house. As you can see, adding on to the back of the house was not so much of an option.

Here is the view to the right of the sink. I decided on floating shelves rather than cabinets because I wanted our small kitchen area to feel as open as possible. Here you can see that the wall used to be where the wood paneling in the dining room meets the drywall.

THE NEW LIVING ROOM- BEFORE

The new living room, which was the old "sitting room" is the room at the front of the house. If you walk in our front door and turn left immediately, you will be in this room. We repainted it, painted the trim white, scraped the colonial details off the fireplace, added recessed lighting, added new vents, and added 2 doorways.

This is the view of our entry hall and front door.

Creating one of the doorways, this one leads to the new dining room.

THE NEW LIVING ROOM- THE AFTER!
My amazing dad did all the wiring to have my tv over my fireplace with all the components alll the way in the office area!! So smart!

You can see in the back the old dining room. I'm so mad that I don't have a picture. But the back wall was solid mirrors and a chandelier hanging down. The cabinet is the original, but the doors were glass. We want to use the cabinets as office storage/toys, so my dad and uncle have been constructing cabinet doors from scratch. You can see 2 doors are up right now. But eventually it will be all covered by my custom doors and hardware that matches the kitchen cabinets'. This is the only thing that the left side of the house lacks! yay!

I hope that was entertaining and not too confusing. Once we finish the nursery, I'll post pics of the right side of the house. Well, minus the pink 1950s bathroom that we haven't touched...

Christmas Card photo shoot

2008-12-09T14:09:00.003-06:00

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

Should I embrace the snot and no smile, or do a redo?

Poor thing is sick, and I'm tired. I may be embracing the snot.

Sweet Brother

2008-11-29T22:26:00.008-06:00

So, I'm 32 weeks.. Can't really believe I will be a mom of 2 in 8 weeks. Crazy. I'm doing okay though, starting to get really tired all the time (mainly due to restless sleep during the night) and the fact that Charlie decides that his new wake-up time is around 6 am. So I'm just exhausted pretty much all day. He has been the sweetest boy to Jack though. The other night, Charlie and I were sitting on the couch watching tv and out of nowhere, he reaches over, exposes my belly, kisses it, and says, "night night, Jack". I cried. It's so amazing. It's like he's already attached. Amazing. I'm so excited to meet this little one.

Also, little Charles has started talking a whole bunch. Sometimes its 2-3 word sentences, and he can count (sort of) which sounds like this two-free-four-six-nine-TEN! And sometimes it's straight up jibber jabber. I swear. He will ask me a question that has the syntax of normal English, but the words are completely made up. It's hilarious. Tonight, Charlie was having a full-out conversation with his favorite elephant toy. This elephant, by the way, was a gift from Aunt GiGi (Julie). She took him to Build-a-Bear for his birthday and he chose the elephant, or "effunt." He also has an obsession with strollers and I ended up having to buy the $12 Build-A-Bear stroller for your new toy. This thing is like crack to him.

Anyway, tonight I am folding clothes and I hear this jibber-jabber going on behind me. After a few minutes, I turn around to see who he is talking to, and he has placed his elephant on the coffee table and is sitting next to it conversing with it. It was pretty funny. (this was taken on my cell phone).

Speaking of Charlie, I don't think I ever posted pics from Halloween? I'm awful. But here ya go:

To go along with the home renovation/construction theme that is our life right now, Charlie wanted to go as his FAVORITE Playhouse Disney character Handy Manny. If you don't know Manny, he is a Mexican-American construction worker (way to be stereotypical, Disney) played by the voice of Wilmer Valderrama. Charlie loves this show, knows all the tools' names, and received tons of Manny stuff for his b-day. So I just threw something together for his costume. Unfortunately Charlie hates Manny's hat so it was a struggle to get a decent picture of him in full Manny-gear. Oh well.

Here's a point of reference for you:

And here's Charlie's version:

This is Charlie and his fave cousin Sadie as Princess Leia. They had so much fun trick or treating! See more pics of Saders here.

FINALLY!

2008-11-08T22:05:00.002-06:00

Here's to finally...

1) The election is OVER!! And although my guy didn't win, I am looking forward to a Barack Obama administration. You gotta give him a chance, I think. I would hope Obama supporters would be the same way if McCain had won. It's frustrating at times because, it seems like I'm not allowed to be excited about Obama due to the fact that a) I'm white. and b) I didn't vote for him. Does anyone else feel that way?? I think both candidates want the same goal for our country, they just have different ideas on how to achieve that. Obama has the absolute weight of the world on his shoulders- and millions of people who are counting on him. I can't imagine having that kind of pressure. And I genuinely feel that he wants to be the best President ever, which I don't think can be done by being super-liberal. So here's to hoping...

Here's an interesting video that Paul showed me that portrays exactly how I felt on November 5. It's real short, just watch.

2) I can't believe I'm about to say this. But. THE KITCHEN IS DONE!!! We had our countertops installed yesterday. After 5 weeks of no sink, dishwasher, or cooktop (because all of the aforementioned require stabilization from the countertop), and after only 1 major meltdown that was preceded by washing my son's sippy cups in the bathtub, we FINALLLy have a fully-functioning kitchen!!! I'm not going to mention the fact that we were told it would only take 2-3 weeks for countertops, or the fact that the hole that was cut out for the cooktop was cut off-center and they are going to have to replace that entire piece. Let's focus on the positive: I boiled water last night! AND I wiped down my countertops! AND I had a place to rest my cereal bowl while I poured my milk! AND I got to rinse my cereal bowl out in the sink instead of dumping it out in the toilet!!! People you have no idea what I've been through, all while being pregnant and tending to the toddler. I'll post pictures soon, I promise.

3)The leaves turned! My street is looking so beautiful these days. And I have had 2 amazing photo shoots involving the most beautiful yellow tree. It's top secret where I found it too. Check out the latest pics here.

The Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-31T19:31:00.003-06:00

On Tuesday, we took Charlie all the way down to Hernando, MS to go to the Cedar Hill Farm Pumpkin Patch. It was so fun! It was a little chilly, and we didn't bring jackets, and there were 1.2 million school kids on a field trip, but all in all it was great fun. Luckily the kids started leaving around noon so we had the patch mostly to ourselves. It was lots of fun. Here's some pics:

He was so proud to pick out his pumpkin!

Had to get one for brother Jack, too.

The highlight of the trip was when Charlie and his new friend Olivia got to hold hands. Oh my goodness. So cute.

Such a fun day! The rest of the pictures are here.

It's Official: I have the weirdest-looking pregnant body in America.

2008-10-28T20:27:00.003-06:00

Paul and I took Charlie to the pumpkin patch today! It was so fun, I'll post all about it tomorrow. But I have to share something in the meantime. Paul managed to snag two very telling shots of my bump today. I want to discuss this because I've been receiving many comments on the ole bump. Sometimes, people say I don't even look pregnant. And other times, I hear the words "huge," "very pregnant," "whoa," and "Oh my gosh" used to describe my bump. Actually, I was working triage the other day and the patient asked if I was having twins (I'm almost 7 months pregnant, by the way). These are all things that a woman wants to hear while she is pregnant so it has been just great. Anyway! I think I've figured it out, thanks to Paul's amazing photography skills. It's all about the angle, and the clothes. I know, I know, no newsflash there. But take a look at these two pictures:

Frontal shot
-Not much bump activity. Still have some shape. Maybe it's just me, but do I really look 7 months pregnant here?

Side shot

-WHOA! I think I'm carrying either quadruplets or a 25 year old man. Why am I carrying so high? I swear Jack is in the base of my esophagus (AEB major heartburn and shortness of breath ALREADY! AND I can still wear my jeans).

Weird huh?

Charles A. Peak, CEO

2008-10-26T10:25:00.001-06:00

He's such a multi-tasker.

Baby Ebin

2008-10-21T19:41:00.002-06:00

My sweet friend Keren just had her little boy! Check out his first photos here.

It's not too late to book a holiday sesh either.. let me know :)

"The future VP? Please, no." Volume II

2008-10-16T19:57:00.002-06:00

I'm only doing this because if this were Sarah Palin, she would have been all but crucified by the mainstream media. I mean, I know that it would be bad if Obama wins because we will basically become a socialist nation what with all the "wealth-spreading", but seriously, the good side to an Obama/Biden administration is the Biden- you can always feel good about yourself when he has the microphone.

And since it's been a while, here's a pic of my sweetie in the backyard today. I love post-rain light.

I'm bringing John-Jack back. Yeah.

2008-10-08T11:23:00.003-06:00

Poor Baby #2! He is feeling so neglected. I have not mentioned him in ages!! That's right, it's a he! I can't remember if I announced it to the blog world yet. But Paul and I are super excited for Charlie to have a brother!!

So much to say about the little one. He has been so sweet to me, not causing me any more nausea and only making my total weight gain thus far 17 pounds. He is currently 24 weeks in utero, which means only 16 more to go. Thank the Lord this one is going by fast.

I just got back from my 24 week appt and here's the deats:
-No diabetes!
-No anemia
-My blood type is O neg so I had to get a RhoGam shot- ouch
-Again, only 17 pounds gained so far! This is great for me! (last time I gained 55)

And now for the fun stuff..

The Name.
As you know, Charlie's name is Charles Armond. Armond is my late grandfather's name (I love you DaddyT) and Charles is just a name we liked. And I love being able to name him for his age (Charlie) but when he is a big CEO or something he can go by Charles if he wants. We are big fans of the old-fashioned names as well, so it just all worked out.
For this baby, we wanted to name his middle name after Paul's grandfather Bob (Robert). For the first name, we both love the name Jack. But naming him Jack Robert a)sounds like Jack Rabbit to me and b)I like the formality of Charlie-Charles and you don't get that with just plain Jack. So keeping those things in mind, I started thinking about people I know named Jack. I remembered one of my old neighbors was a man named John but everyone called him Jack. Then I remembered that JFK went by Jack sometimes. And the more I asked around, the more I found that back in the day, Jack was a nickname for John. Before Jack was ever a nickname for "Jackson" it was a nickname for John. Here's a bit of history I found via google:

The name John goes all the way back to Biblical times (duh) and means "A Gift from God" or "God is Gracious". However, during medieval times, the name John was altered slightly in the Germanic tongues to Jankin or Jackin. Out of that, we get the nickname Jack.

A few famous John-Jacks for those of you who still don't believe me.
Jack Nicholson- John Joseph Nicholson
John F. Kennedy
Jack London- John Griffith London
Jack Swigert (NASA astronaut)- John Swigert
Jack White of the White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and Dwalla's weblog- John Anthony White

I'm sure there's more, but I really love the fact that it's not a common thing to do these days, despite the name Jack being pretty common. That's why I'm bringing it back.

Charlie and Jack... sounds like a pair of best buds if you ask me.

Melt my heart.

2008-10-04T16:43:00.002-06:00

I am sneezing a lot these days.

This morning, I was in the other room and I sneezed. And Charlie, hearing this, says,

"eshoo mommy". (bless you mommy)

I almost cried. Boys are the sweetest!

APP Holiday Cards

2008-10-02T14:43:00.000-06:00

Holiday card info is here!

Charlie's birthday

2008-09-25T14:32:00.006-06:00

First. Let me start off by saying that I have completely updated my flickr.com account with about 7 billion trillion pictures. I am very proud of myself. But will someone please tell me where I was in 2005? I have no pictures from that year. I'm sure a certain picture-taking machine, Tatot Royal, has the answer. Anyway, if you want you can see my life in pictures here:

http://flickr.com/photos/11835076@N08/sets/

So the birthday boy had a great day yesterday. We tried to make his entire day feel special. We woke him up with the birthday song, and then we headed to Daylight Doughnuts for some pure sugar and chocolate milk. What a treat (for me too)!

We then went to the mall and let him take his first ride on the carousel. It was hilarious- he was cracking up the whole time, and waving at the carousel-starter-lady.

Then we went to the Disney store and let him pick out whatever he wanted. I thought we were going to be toting the life-size stuffed Pooh bear home, but luckily he put it down for a Mickey Mouse car something-or-other. I was disappointed in the lack of Handy Manny stuff, but luckily he got plenty at his party.

We then went to Muddy's Bake Shop and picked up his cupcakes. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of them! Shame, shame. They were delicioso.

Then I forced him down for a nap, promising him that when he woke up, we would go get "Sizza" aka pizza.

We had the whole family meet us at Memphis Pizza Cafe, where everything was a huge success! You can view all the pics here, on my amazing updated flickr site.

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Happy Birthday, little one.

2008-09-24T13:28:00.006-06:00

My baby is 2 years old today. I can't even believe it.

I think I've shared this before, but every year on my birthday, my mom would wake me up with a reenactment of my actual birthday saying, "ohh I need to go to the hospital, I'm going to have this baby!" I would get so mad! I'm not sure why but I just would. So in honor of that, here's my reenactment. Sorry, Charlie.

About 2am on September 24, 2006, I get up to go to the bathroom. I get back in bed. About 10 minutes later, I get the same urge to go to the bathroom. I go to the bathroom, and nothing. 10 minutes later, same thing. I realize I don't need to pee, it's actually a contraction. We call my MD and she says to take some Tylenol, take a shower, and wait til the contractions are 5 minutes apart. Luckily, the Amazing Race reruns are on at this time so me and Paul head to the couch to wait this thing out.

I can't describe the feeling. I think the worst part of it all is the regularity of the contractions. The knowing that another one is about to come. And they get worse and worse and harder and stronger. Finally around 5am, we get to head to the hospital. After the nurses "inspect" me, they inform me that I "get" to stay in the hospital! I was like, um yeah if not then you were going to have carry all 200 pounds of me out of here because I sho wasn't leaving!

Everything progresses smoothly (after the drugs)and I am at 10 cm by 12:30pm. We kick everyone out of the room and I begin to push. 30 minutes goes by, an hour, 2 hours. My epidural is starting to wear off. I ask the nurse how much he has moved after all my almost 3 hours of world-champion pushing, and she replies "this" much (and holds her finger and thumb about a half a cm apart.

Now, I'm not a big surgery buff. Never had it, never wanted it, it freaks me out. I have never broken any bones, never been really sick, I hate getting blood drawn and getting my first IV at age 25 was quite traumatic. So trust me when I say that the last thing on earth I ever thought I would be begging for was a c-section. But I have never been more desperate, more helpless, more "I really think I may die" than this moment. The pain was so great and I was feeling so defeated after having pushed so much for so long to no avail.

Luckily, the decision was made that my 9 pound 1 ounce little boy would be delivered via c-section and within minutes of that decision, he was in my arms. I was very thankful for our medical system on this day.

Charlie, you have brought us more joy than I could have imagined. Our life before you is a big blur. I love you with all my heart XOXO.

The future VP?? Please, no.

2008-09-24T12:15:00.003-06:00

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.."

-Joe Biden, economic and foreign policy expert extraordinaire and super genius

The facts:

1) The stock market crashed in 1929
2) Herbert Hoover, not FDR, was President at this time
3) Even if FDR were the President in 1929, which he wasn't, there weren't any tvs yet
4) FDR was elected 3 years later, in which he started "Fireside Chats" (love that) which were broadcast via radio. no doi.

Just in case you were wondering.

SO much to say, absolutely no time.

2008-09-21T12:06:00.007-06:00

I'm so behind and have so much to blog about. Here's some blogs to look forward to:

1) Renovations are almost done in our house! Pictures to follow...

2) Holiday Card promotion coming for APP!

3) A visit from my cousins from Italy that changed my life.

4) Fun baby #2 updates coming!!

5) Baby Will's mommy and daddy have a new blog- check them out here.

In the meantime, check out these twinsies that I hung out with recently.

Baby Will

2008-09-07T18:46:00.001-06:00

Our friends Kristen and Ben just had their first little one. He is so cute. Check out all the details on photoblog.

My two cents.

2008-09-03T12:14:00.005-06:00

I'm not into politics.

Until now. I have never been more excited about a VP candidate than I am now. But the way the media is treating Sarah Palin is the most offensive, sexist thing I have ever witnessed. Women across the board- republican, democrat, independent- should be so angry and offended at this unfair treatment. The fact that because a woman has children means she shouldn't take on a specific job? Is that not the unequality that Barack himself has been talking about that still exists in America today? Oh I am so furious. And taking on her personal life- her children, future grandchild, her husband. I get so fired up.

You know, Hillary actually did a real disservice to women when her husband made a fool of her during his presidency and her response was basically-it's ok.. we're cool. She basically told women across America that it is okay for us to be treated like her husband treated her- lies, deception, infidelity, public humiliation. That's the standard, right? Well you know what? We do not deserve to be treated like that. And here we have a strong woman in Palin, who is not afraid to challenge corruption (AND WIN!), who embodies what the modern woman looks like and stands for, and yet the personal attacks are unreal. It's sickening. I cannot wait for her speech tonight. And I cannot wait to cast my vote.

Also- I will not be buying another USWeekly after this:

Which is in stark contrast to the media-darling that is B.O.:

All this says to me is the Obama camp (who thought that they had this thing WON) is f-r-e-a-k-i-n-g out and scared to death of Sarah Palin!! LOVE IT!

First day of school

2008-08-21T22:17:00.001-06:00

I posted Charlie's first day of school shots on my photoblog.. Check it.

Back to school, back to school...

2008-08-12T08:18:00.000-06:00

I love back to school shopping! Shopping for toddler clothes is so fun. Especially boy clothes. We took advantage of tax-free weekend here in Tennessee last weekend and got Charlie some pretty stylish stuff. Here's some of the loot:

The Lucky Store has these jeans that I have bought Charlie since he was 2 months old. They have a little boot cut, and I didn't think anything of it, til the sales lady informed me that they were girl jeans. I don't care- they look so cute on his little tush! And they were 50% off.. sweet.

This backpack from giggle.com. School starts in 1 week for little Charles!

This jacket from Gap...

These Pumas from milkshop.com.

And a couple of Rugby polos like this one from Gap.

Isn't he going to be such a stud at PDO? Of course, I couldn't let the new baby go empty-handed. I got this cute little monkey doll at Milkshop as well:

Sweet, sweet baby

2008-08-07T21:19:00.002-06:00

I wrote a letter to my baby. I'm sorry if this is cheesy.

Dear baby,

It’s 10:00pm on August 7, 2008. You are about 16 weeks old and have not been nearly as mean to me as your brother was. So thank you for that. I am on the computer, your daddy at work. Your brother is tucked in his bed. And I’m just sitting here, thinking about you, and all I can think of is how much I already love you. It brings me to tears. I am wondering what you will look like, what will you want to be when you grow up, what will you think is funny (your mommy of course!), what will you think about your silly brother, what fun personality trait will you contribute to our family?

I promise to be the best I can be for you. I will look out for you, protect you, love you, pray for you, make you laugh, make you cry, make sure you are well-dressed and fashion forward, take you all over the world, and most importantly, tell you about Jesus and the sacrifice He made for you and me.

I can’t wait to meet you! I can’t wait to hold you in my arms. I can’t wait to find out if you are a boy or a girl. I can’t wait to dress you and change you and bathe you and provide for you. Even though you are so comfy and cozy and warm in my belly right now, I just want you to know that you have something to look forward to in January- getting to be with your amazing family! We already love you so much. See you next Friday at the ultrasound…

PS- I hope you have been noticing Charlie’s sweet kisses to you on my belly, and ignoring his mean punches to my belly that were not directed at you.

Love,
Your MAMA

kind of a big deal...

2008-08-03T21:06:00.004-06:00

After a year of planning and preparation, practice and prayer, (that was for my friend Ko Mobbs) I am officially putting my children's photography business on the map! Check out my photoblog at ashleighpeakphotography.blogspot.com. My actual website is linked to the blog for you to see but it's www.ashleighpeakphotography.com. I am going to try to update the photo blog very very often so check it often! Please feel free to tell your friends about me!!

I need to know if it's a boy or a girl.

2008-08-03T19:55:00.005-06:00

The other day at work, we were bored and had no patients, so we decided to do an ultrasound on me. I'm only 14 or so weeks. So I didn't think they would be able to tell what it was, but I knew there was a chance. Anyway, I saw my little alien baby!! It was moving around, cuddling, waving, and even got the hiccups. The heart rate was in the 140s and everything looked good according to the US techs. They zoomed all the way in on the little private area and could not tell! I said- if you had to guess, could you? (I didn't want them to tell me bc Paul wasn't there. But I would have had them write it down or something.)They wouldn't even make a guess. But they said in 3 weeks they could probably tell. So that's cool. But it was so cute. It looked like it had some of the features that I remember from Charlie's ultrasound- like a distinct chin (which would be from Paul) and lots of personality (from me of course). So maybe it will be a mini-Charlie. I'm just glad everything is going so well with me and the baby appears to be healthy. I know a lot can still happen, and we are praying for God's protection and blessings over the little baby (as well as with a little help with raising this 2 year old!), so we would love your prayers at this fun and exciting time!

On a lighter note, I've really been thinking that it's a boy lately. I don't know if just seeing it on the ultrasound reminded me of my ultrasounds with Charlie- and he ended up being a boy? Or if it's just my motherly instinct. Although my mom, who has been known to have prophetic baby-gender dreams, dreamed I had a little girl version of.. Paul. Blond hair, green eyes. We'll see.

According to the old wives' tales and this quiz, here's what I'm having:
1)Heart rate is below 150, boy. Above 150, girl. BOY
2)Craving sweets, girl. Craving salty and sour, boy. BOTH, maybe sweets slightly more. I mean if it's edible, I'm eating it, pretty much.
3)Feet are colder than before, boy. BOY
4)Having headaches, boy. BOY
5)Carrying high-girl. Low, boy. GIRL (someone told me it looked high. i kinda feel low though)
6)carrying extra weight at hips- girl. Carrying weight in belly-boy. GIRL
7)Bad morning sickness- Girl. No sickness- boy. GIRL (although I was MUCH sicker than I am now when I was pg with Charlie)

There you have it...

What do you think it is?

Oh no.

2008-07-21T19:33:00.002-06:00

I just told Charlie,

"The kitchen is closed."

I think this means I am officially a mom.

Charlie & "Jidge"

2008-06-26T17:00:00.009-06:00

Charlie has rediscovered an old toy. I think my mom got him this toy awhile ago, and it's been buried among the rubble that is our house. It's this cute little Curious George in a firetruck. Charlie tries to say George but it comes out Jidge. It's super cute. Yesterday when we were playing in the backyard, he was entertained by George for minutes. Which is a pretty long time for a toddler. We are absolutely in love with our shady backyard and can't wait to get the rest of the house in order. Hopefully plans will be finalized next week! Yipee.

Then we decided to bust out the popsicles. I found these miniature pops at the grocery and am only letting Charlie have the flavors that coordinate with his outfits. For staining purposes. He loves them though. He wants everyone to try a bite of his pop, including Daddy and Jidge.

Happiest day of my life

2008-06-25T07:46:00.002-06:00

One of the great things about blogging is you get to keep people informed with your life's happenings, especially friends who live far away. One of the not-so-great things is the harrassment that the greedy non-bloggers dish out when you don't post a new blog every 5 minutes. I don't let it get to me though.

But finally! One of my BFFs of all time has just joined the world of blogging. Deanna and I go way back to middle school (Go Mustangs). So non-bloggers, take heed. We are taking over one by one. And soon the harrassees will become the harrassers. So consider yourselves warned.

Welcome Deanna (formerly known as DTack, presently known as DWall)! Everyone check her out! (no pressure D)

A recipe for busy people

2008-06-20T15:12:00.007-06:00

I don't know if you all know this about me, but I am pretty much the best mother out there. I breastfed for 1 year, I use only organic food and materials, we don't ever allow TV watching or video game playing, and wouldn't dream of warming things up in the (gasp) microwave.

Ok those are all lies. Honestly, the likes of La Leche and Organic-only Using Mothers Awareness Associations would probably have my face on a poster with a big red circle with a line through it. Oh well.

When you and your husband have 4+ jobs between the two of you, an almost-two-year-old, one on the way, and a 60-year-old "fixer-upper" of a house in the pre-renovation stages, the following recipe is a life saver.

Enter, Stouffer's Perfect Portions Mac and Cheese. You can find it in your grocer's freezer. It's really good homemade tasting mac and cheese, but you can warm up as much or as little as you want, which is perfect for Charlie. He doesn't always get to eat what we are having and for 2 minutes of my time, I don't have to mess with a pot, boiling water, powdery cheese mixtures, leftovers, and tupperware.

Thought I would pass that little pearl along.

In other news, I'm 2 months pregnant, and most definitely showing. I just had a little heart-to-heart with Paul about how I hate being the only one in our family who takes pictures because I am never in any and this needs to change. I gave him a brief lesson in digital SLRs and here's what we got:

"just because I'm losing... doesn't mean I'm lost..."

2008-06-19T15:40:00.006-06:00

Anybody heard Coldplay's latest album?

It's slowly but surely becoming one of my faves. I was trying to think of what I would say about it. Turns out, I'm not a music reviewer. But still. You have to give this one a chance.

When it came out 2 days ago, Paul and I sat down and hit play and listened to the whole thing without a pause. We didn't talk much about it, just took it all in. As soon as it was done, we were both kinda like, hm.

Paul immediately starts it over again. And plays it in the car on the way to dinner. And on the way home. And now, I can't seem to live without it.

It's different. It's edgy but it's pretty. It's soft, but at the same time, it's got some dark/religious undertones. I love all the juxtaposition that goes on in this album. I'm thinking the concert will probably be pretty mellow but seriously people, the music is beautiful. That's the only way I know to describe it. Beautiful. It makes me happy. I listen to Strawberry Swing and it just makes me smile. Me and Charlie clap and dance to the beat. This is probably a really girly emotional take on the album but I don't care. I love it.

I'm trying not to wear it out. Our friend Matt in B-ham is the most disciplined music listener. I'm trying to be like him right now. Lost? is my favorite today, but it's a 7-way tie for second. Of course their singles are my least favorites. I think they do that on purpose.

Here's a real review.. Paul found this weeks ago and forwarded it to me. It's the first review of the album and got our hopes up even more. It is pretty accurate, and it does Viva La Vida a little more justice than this pale attempt.

I'm trying to be a Big Loser but it's just not working out.. Can I steal Oprah's thyroid excuse?

2008-06-12T15:01:00.003-06:00

Every year around the Biggest Loser time I decide that I need to lose weight. (I know the Biggest Loser ended months ago, I'll get to the point I promise). I usually have to do some pretty harsh self-realization and get pretty down on myself in order to motivate me to go to the gym. A little background:

When I was pregnant with Charlie, I had the mindset that I could eat whatever I wanted. I was constantly starving and the #2 at Mcdonalds was beckoning me daily. So I ate and ate and ate and at 39 weeks I was tipping the scales at 199.. Unfortunately Charlie did not weigh 60 pounds, just 9 pounds 1 ounce. I have lost the majority of the weight but that last 15 pounds, I just can't shake.

So I decided to get a trainer. I have been working with him for about 2 months now. It's been great. I saw some results, lost 4 pounds the first week. But now, the weight is creeping back. I don't know why. I count my calories and hit the gym 4-5 days a week (including my 2 weekly sessions with the trainer).

Turns out, I'm pregnant.

Still, I shouldn't be gaining weight? So I'm publicly announcing and seeking accountability this go-around. I refuse to gain 60+ pounds. I am still counting calories and working out even though most days I feel about 80% what with all the "morning" sickness (that is such a lie! it's all day sickness for me!) . I'll keep you posted on my progress. Unless I fall off the wagon.

But here's the deats on the pregnancy for you:
I'm apparently 6 weeks pregnant, due in late Jan/early Feb. (I'm thinking mid-Feb). The baby's heartrate was 129 yesterday and everything on the u/s looked good! Charlie can't wait to be a big brother. I have been pointing to my belly and saying "baby" and he kissed my belly yesterday when I said to kiss the baby. It was sweet. I can tell I'm already showing a little (I know- way too early?!?!) I just would love to be able to say that I had a great pregnancy, or I enjoy being pregnant, because my first was possibly the worst experience of my life. So keep us in your prayers!

Appropriately named.

2008-05-16T14:16:00.004-06:00

Charlie has 2 names. His real name is Charles but we call him Charlie mostly. But sometimes one name is more appropriate than the other. Example:

Charlie is:
-life of the party
-rockin out in the backseat to Usher's "Love in this Club"
-Macking on all the ladies at school
-laughing histerically at school as soon as they turn out the lights for naptime
-just being fun/funny.

But Charles, however, is much more refined.

Example:

Charles has taken up piano. He comes from a family of pianists. He is already quite good too. The other day, I had him on my lap at the piano and he was just playing his little heart out. All of a sudden, Charles felt a song coming on. So as he is playing, he begins composing words to his song. It goes a little something like this:

(I think they were in the key of B. But whatever they were, they were bass and monotone and whole notes)

"Kittycaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. Mommmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Kitttycaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. Mommmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy."

It was presh. Charles is very uncommon but I do enjoy it when he emerges.

My Little Strasburg Child

2008-05-13T14:40:00.009-06:00

So I've never bought one single thing from Strasburg Children. No offense to the Strasburgians, but it is way overpriced and what I consider to be slightly frou-frou. Which is fine if a) you like that sort of thing or b) you have a little girl. I, however, am neither of those things. It's just something about smocked overalls and dainty collars for boys that just give me the heebs. But I had to break down and go in the store to get an outfit for Charlie's dedication.

And I'm kinda glad I did. I briefed the saleslady about how I do not normally dress him these clothes and do not want him to look like a girl. She totally understood. Being the good salesperson she was, she assured me that I needed at least one photo of my son in a Strasburg-esque outfit before he's too big. And she was so right. Paul still shutters at the sight of these pictures, but I think it's sweet. And now we have our "one picture" and can retire the all-white smocked peter-pan collared girlsuit.

He was dedicated at Pastor Sam's church in Tupelo, on Mother's Day (aww) with his favorite cousin Sadie. They are quite the duo. He did very well; he was only moderately squirmy backstage. Luckily we were placed on stage right next to the sign language lady so that kept him entertained.

Special thanks to Aunt Gigi for driving over from Birmingham that morning to see Charlie. He loves her. He cried when I had to take him from her. And he says her name so well!

Warning: The U.S Post Office employs incredibly high-quality individuals. If only they would take over our healthcare system.

2008-05-09T20:43:00.007-06:00

Yeah so like we have a PO Box because we are incognito right now. I know that's not the right term. But I wanted to use the word incognito. Unless incognito means "inbetween houses" in which case, it would be the right term. Anyway, we have had the PO box for a solid month now. And still, the key will not unlock the box. We have to wait in line, speak to the high-quality individual behind the counter with hopes of not being verbally abused, and ask if they would please hand us our mail. Which, keep in mind, the PO is not open 24 hours. So we have to usually wait a few days to which our schedule allows us to go check our mail during business hours.

(I keep saying us and we but it's mainly Paul checking the mail. Props.)

So everytime, Paul tells the lady behind the counter that our key still will not work. And everytime, "they are working on it." I'm thinking that changing a lock on a po box is like Rocket Science 101 because they make it seem to be the most daunting task in the universe. What's the deal?

Well today, I had to go to the post office to return a dress. I bought 2 dresses from Nordstrom because I wasn't sure if the one I wanted would work and needed a backup and I had to promise and swear that I would return the bad one as soon as I realized it wouldn't work. So I filled out my return slip and put it back in the original box with a new label. Here's where the situation gets sticky. See, I needed to retape the box but I have no packing tape. And I remember seeing that tape with the US Postal Service logo at the Post Office and I'm like, well surely they will just slap a couple pieces of tape on it for me right?

I get to the Post Office. Charlie on one hip, box on the other hip. First, I am attempting to check the po box in hopes that maybe, just maybe, we would receive a little miracle. But no such luck. So then I walk over to the line to speak with our friends behind the counter. Before I speak to her, I am scanning the premises for evidence of the blue Postal Service logo'd tape. I see 2 rolly tape gun things at her cash register. I see multiple packages on the back counter that have been taped by the rolly tape gun thing. I say to the lady, "I just need to drop this off. Oh and do you mind sticking a little piece of tape on there?"

Again, I am eyeing the tapeguns as I am asking her. To which she replies,

"We don't have any tape for you. You have to purchase some tape off the wall."

Okay. Am I in the twilight zone? There are 2 tapeguns within 7 millimeters of your right hand, and you tell me, point blank, there is no tape?

My eyes keep darting to her tapeguns as if to say, "I know you are lying." And she is staring holes in my head as if to say, "I don't care that you see my tapeguns. You aint getting any."

So I give in and purchase a $4 mini tape gun. I hand it to her and she gladly tapes it for me. Isn't that precious! So then I say, you know we have had a PO Box for a month now and our key will still not work. And she says, "oh yeah I have been talking to your husband about that. We have the new lock, someone just needs to switch it out."

I give a blank stare.

She says, "Oh um, I mean, the custodian has to change it out."

There are no words. Seriously. None.

She hands me my mail. The only thing making me happy is seeing my Lucky magazine in the stack. Oh, the irony.

My kid is a billy goat (pun intended)

2008-05-05T15:29:00.003-06:00

Things I have found in Charlie's mouth in the past 2 days:

-an earring (ouch!)
-a receipt
-a wadded up piece of toilet paper
-2 triple A batteries
-a piece of fuzz
-a dog toy
-a leaf
-my arm (he's into biting now.. yay!)
-an opened highliter
-the cap to the highliter
-a baby wipe
-a piece of bread that someone gave him to feed the ducks with at Shelby Farms

It's not like I don't feed him either... Charles clocked in at the 50th percentile for height and 75th for weight this week! And it's not like he's teething- I think he has more teeth than I do. So what's the deal? Anybody know? Any parenting book readers out there wanna shed some light on the sitch. All I know is now I can't let him out of my site longer than 5 seconds for fear of my earthly possessions being tossed around in his little mouth like Teddy Grahams. Or for fear of him choking.

Second Haircut and Charlie's Dictionary

2008-04-28T17:51:00.003-06:00

Charlie got his second haircut.
It was possible thanks to the makers of tootsie pops.
His bangs are cut funny though.
Here's a picture of him in Grandma and Boots' front yard (aka our current residence).
It looks like a back-to-school photo to me.
He's my favoritest person in the universe.

A few words from Charlie's Dictionary
- WaWa= Wally the dog
- Shh= fish/goldfish
- Coy= Corrie
- Cookie
- KeyCat= kittycat, or Wally the dog
- GiGi for Aunt Gigi aka Julie
- Boot= Boots (great grandpa)
- Tick Tock = clock
- Choo Choo
- Bye Bye
- Hi
- Beep Beep= what a car says
- Ooh Ahh= what a monkey says
- Go-Go= I want to go outside or somewhere other than here.

Question

2008-04-28T17:32:00.002-06:00

Is it bad that I let my kid empty out an entire box of 400 QTips on the floor knowing that he would spend at least 15 minutes playing with them, in turn giving me 15 minutes of non-neediness?

Didn't think so.

Time for my seemingly annual blog entry...

2008-03-28T23:53:00.009-06:00

Another month has come and gone and it's time to blog again. I'm not apologizing for the inconsistency- I'm just a busy person. Glad I got that off my chest.

Now, here's what went down over the past few weeks. Pull up a chair and get comfy.

Vegas
Vegas was a bust. I spent the whole day Friday in Atlanta since the flight was delayed and I missed my connection. So I had about 3 hours of free time. About 9pm on Saturday night, I decided, well maybe I'll go to the strip. Alone. Without a map. Or a friend. Or any knowledge of the city. That surprisingly turned out to be an ok decision. I get to the strip after a 15 minute shuttle ride from my resort, step off the bus, look to my left then to my right, and get utterly and completely overwhelmed. I have NO idea where to go. I call Paul and say, "I have no idea what to do. Will you google something for me?" and he, thinking I have something in mind for him to google, says, "what do you want me to google?" and I say "I don't know. I just don't know what else to do." Luckily I decided to start walking to the right (I was at the fashion show mall which was of course closed) and found my way to the Mirage. I went in to the Mirage because there were so many sketch balls approaching me that it was more like a safehaven to me. Anyway, I walk in the Mirage and I see all these people in line for something. Turns out it was the Cirque du Soleil "LOVE" Show- which is all Beatles songs. I didn't know if it was about to start, just ending, a big joke, or what. But I was thinking- I don't know a soul here, I can't embarrass myself too bad. So I walk up to the counter and just ask for a ticket and $150 later I am on the second of row of the most incredible show ever! I loved it! Afterwards I went back to my room and was done with Vegas. I didn't spend any money gambling because I didnt know how to work the machines. I didn't shop because the stores were closed when I went. And I didn't take a single picture because, lucky for me, it rained the entire time I was there. Awesome!!!

My Birthday

My most funnest birthday! The big 2-6! (PS Paul had to correct me a couple times cause I keep thinking I'm 27. Not sure why? After 25 they just all run together I guess). Paul, Charles, and I went to ATL for the weekend to celebrate my bday and visit with college friends and celebrate Chris and Kathleen's engagement. It was so much fun. When I returned, the best husband in the world bought me the best gift in the world. I won't say what it was for fear of boasting. But it is a certain life-changing cell phone that I am currently in love with!!!

Our House
Well for those who don't know, we've had our house on the market since November. We knew we wanted to move in the next year and a house came on the market that we fell in love with so we decided to go ahead and see if we could sell. And we knew it was a buyer's market and wanted a piece of the pie. We couldn't get the house until ours sold, which was a week ago, and that house has since sold. Bummer. So now we are moving out of our house and have nowhere to go. Oh well. We're just glad we sold it.

Niece
My first niece was born on March 18!! She's so sweet. Sadie Brooklyn. This is Charlie's future BFF. They are gonna tear up this town.

Easter

Charles had the cutest little outfit for Easter. Now that he's walking, things are just cuter. Have I mentioned he's walking? Yeah he's walking. Walk, walk, walk, that's all we do!! (Sorry I have to make up for the 7-8 months of lost walking bragging time). So since he's walking now, I took him to Overton Park for his Easter portraits. Can I just say that taking portraits of your own child is very difficult to do alone? Especially when they are walking everywhere! Okay I'll quit I promise. Anyway, I found this little bridge on the golf course part of the park that was so sweet. But Charlie didn't want to pose. He just wanted to hold on to a yellow plastic Easter egg for dear life. Whatever.

,

Click here.

Vegas

2008-02-21T19:50:00.002-06:00

Welp. Tomorrow I leave for my first ever "business trip." I finally feel like a real professional. It reminds me of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion when they go to that restaurant in their dress-suits and order the "Business Women's Special." Anyway. The doctor that I work for is sending me to Las Vegas to go to a conference on one of the drug studies we are doing. I'm a little excited, but not as much as I would be if I were traveling with Paul or a friend. It's just me. But here's what I am looking forward to:

-listening to music all morning on the plane
-going somewhere I've never been
-treating myself to a massage at the resort
-taking some photos of a new, non-Memphis surrounding
-checking out a casino or two and winning a bajillion dollars
-shopping it up
-decent weather
-ordering room service and watching the biggest game ever on Saturday after the conference- #1 Memphis v. #2 UT. GO TIGERS!

I'll post some highlights from the trip when I get back... Wish me luck!

Well it's about time...

2008-02-13T00:07:00.002-06:00

I can no longer talk about Charlie as a non-walker. At a mere 16.5 months old, he has officially crossed over. We have been strongly encouraging the walking lately.. like we will put him down in stores or restaurants and hold his hand and walk him in.. that sort of thing. But tonight, during American Idol, Charlie got inspired.
We were upstairs in the playroom, which is always conducive for him to stand since it has carpet. In the past, he would stand up on his own a hundred times, and just fall down. But tonight was different. At first he stood up, and just stood there for a good 10-15 seconds, checking out the view. I thought this was odd, so I went ahead and got the video camera, just in case. He eventually sat down, which was to be expected. Then he popped right back up, looked at me, and took 3 little steps towards me!! I was freaking out. I called Paul at work. But I'm still not convinced that this wasn't a fluke.
I wanted to see if he would do it again. So I told Charlie, "Stand up! Stand up!" Which he did. And the next 6-second sequence occurred... blink and you might miss it, but I'll take it.

(I apologize for the shrill cries of excitement too, by the way)

He did this little sequence a total of 4 times tonight!!! I am so proud/happy/relieved we don't have to call Ortho/ecstatic!

he's my [guitar] hero!

2008-01-19T13:22:00.000-06:00

Well what can I say, my kid is rockin.

Charlie has officially jumped on the Guitar Hero bandwagon. See, Paul and I became borderline/full-fledged addicted to Guitar Hero II a while ago, and we had to quit cold turkey because we were just too good, it wasn't fun anymore. Luckily, we got Guitar Hero III Rock of Legends for Christmas and it is Game-On once again. But the addiction has now spread to our 16-month-old...

It's our own dang fault. (I stole that quote from KTL circa 2003 relating to not studying, more than likely). We keep the guitars in Charlie's toy bin in the playroom. And everytime we go upstairs, Charlie, let's just say, "maneuvers" his way over to the bin and pulls out the guitar, and then three-legged crawls with it in his hand. He then takes that guitar to the nearest person and puts it in their lap. Then he goes back for the other guitar, three-legged crawls towards the same person, sits down next to them, and keeps that guitar for himself. And he seriously wants to play!!

So the other night, this happens.

I know you are not going to believe this. But it's all 100% true, Paul as my witness.

We were all in the playroom, playing. The tv is off. Xbox is off. Guitars in bins. Then my son, the genius who won't walk but is a genius because he has been focusing all his energy on becoming a genius, precedes to do the unthinkable. He goes and gets the guitars- no big deal. Same routine. THEN he turns on the xbox. No big deal, he plays with the big "on" button all the time. THEN he turns on the tv. No big deal, he does that all the time. THEN he changes the Input button on the tv so that it is on the Xbox!! And you see Guitar Hero on the tv now!! And he stops and goes back to his guitar and looks at us as if to say, "You guys in, or what?"

So here's the photos from that very eye-opening experience.

Tell me that's not the cutest thing in the world.

Christmas 07

2008-01-01T09:54:00.000-06:00

Sorry I have been MIA the past few weeks. For those of you who are threatening not to check my blog anymore if I don't start keeping up with it- ie MARY MOBBS- here ya go. A blog filled with all the pictures and video footage you could ever dream of. Merry Christmas.

We had a very eventful month. Charlie reached many milestones. None of which included walking. I am not mad about it though. I know he will walk when he's ready. The thing is- he can walk- he just won't do it by himself. But enough of that.

Anyway, we were at the mall one day getting ready to see Santa and decided to run in Pottery Barn to get some Christmas presents, where, I had an epiphone at the check-out counter. The epiphone was precluded by the cashier looking at Charlie and saying to me, "Aww is that a little boy or little girl?" Ok. He's 15 months old. Not a newborn where you can't really tell what sex they are yet. And he's not wearing androgenous clothing. I guess you can see what my epiphone was? Needless to say, that day I made a haircut appointment for Charlie. After giving myself a little pep talk in my mind about how "no, ash, you're not a horrible mother," we went on to see Santa. And Charlie really loved Santa. The meeting went off without a hitch. I like my pictures better than the $20 one we had to pay for.

The haircut was the next day. It was one of those appointments where I called my haircut place and said- Can anyone cut this kid's hair like, right this second? I didn't care who it was. Luckily, we got Cassandra. She did an excellent job. Though I was fearful of my eye's getting poked out by the scissors/combs/Cassandra's fingernails, the first haircut went relatively smoothly. Charlie went through periods of being totally mellowed out, to bouncing to the beat of the music. It was fun. I love my little boy.

Christmas Day was really fun. We spent the morning at Paul's grandparents house and then headed downtown for a brunch at the Peabody Hotel with Nonnie and Gigi. It was seriously the best food ever. And the hotel was decorated so beautifully. It was a great way to do something a little different for us on Christmas. Oh and we got to see the Peabody ducks! I had never seen them before, and Charlie was obsessed with them. What a great treat!

After spending the day downtown at Nonnie's, we came back home and let Charlie open his gifts from Santa. He got a ton of books such as Charlotte's web, Dr. Seuss, Curious George, Mother Goose, Aesop, Shel Silverstein, you know all the classics. He loves to turn the pages and point to various things. But his big gift was his 4-wheeler! No boy should be without one, right? Anyway, he loves it. It is the cutest thing watching him drive it.

So my New Year's Resolution will be to blog more frequently. But only if the people who harrass me about updating my blog start blogging. So there.