Oh where to begin...

Time is flying. I can't stop it! I can't find time to blog but Carsyn has been keeping us in stitches. Let's see if I can recall some moments of our past week.

Last I wrote I was departing for Texas for my photography seminar! It was AWESOME! At first I felt guilty actually getting to eat a meal in a restaurant but I got over it! Carsyn got undivided attention from both grandparents and her daddy. It was good for her to be with other care takers. While I was in Dallas it made me realize I have to start doing more things for myself. I have a small list on my photo blog of goals to achieve next year.

As I was leaving I could hear Carsyn starting to get a cough. We have been fortunate to only be sick once in her 2 years and that was a quick ear infection. I prayed she would stay well while I was gone and sure enough when I returned was when it climaxed. On Thursday night she could not sleep because she could not breathe or stop coughing. I tried everything but I literally slept in the recliner holding her up right all night. On Friday we went to stat care and she had double ear infections. Friday night was also a rough night of sleep but on Saturday she was starting to get back to her old self and by Sunday she was good to go! I have one tough cookie!

On Sunday at church as the lord's supper was being passed Carsyn said "What's that?" I said "Bread" she said "Manna?" I looked at Danny and said did you hear that? I couldn't believe it. You see every night we read her book of bible stories and the story about Moses talkes about God supplying them with bread when they had nothing to eat and the bread is called Manna. Danny shook his head "Yep" as both of our jaws were open. To make sure when we were reading at bedtime I asked her what the bread was called and sure enough she said "Manna." She not only is a tough cookie but a smart one too!

Her language has now grown into sentences-all be it short ones but I have heard her say new words I had no idea she knew. She also mimics me constantly. Guess I better start watching myself more!

Carsyn is very loving to her friends and I love to see her call her friends by names and hug them goodbye. I know she will have a blast at her birthday party in a few weeks with her nearest and dearest.

Just this week she has discovered what Christmas trees are and Santa Claus. We haven't put up our decorations but I can already tell she will be briming with excitement! Getting to share in a child's excitement makes life so worthwhile!

It is amazing to see that the little baby I had just yesterday is now becoming a little person able to understand empathy, love, and excitement!

Even under the weather Carsyn was able to enjoy some baking this week....she says "BOWL BOWL Mama Shake (Stir)." It should be interesting preparing Thanksgiving meals with my little helper!

Almost 2

Today Carsyn is 23 months! One more month until the BIG 2! I thought I had her birthday party planned out like 2 months ago but then I abruptly changed my mind! Having a birthday in December is difficult when you don't know what the weather will entail! Anyway Carsyn will actual have 2 small parties- one for her buddies and one for just family. More details later!

This past month has definitely been interesting- they don't call it terrible TWOs for nothing! But luckily at this age she comes up with some hilarious tidbits that keep us laughing our way through the tantrums! I do wonder though why she can scream No No No yet when she actually says yes she only nods her head? And everything is "I don't like insert anything here from bread to book."

Carsyn LOVES to be chased and she will call your name and stick her finger up in front of her face like in a (kitchee kitchee koo) motion to tell you to come get her. While this is beyond cute and I don't mind playing chase- having to play chase at bedtime every night does get old!

Speaking of bedtime- for the most part Carsyn's sleep has regulated (for her anyway). This time change definitely threw us all for a loop but I think we are back on track. She still will wake once a night some nights and I change her diaper because it is already soaked by 1AM?! I swear I don't know if any other child teestees as much as her! But in all honesty I would rather her wake once for a few minutes and then sleep until 6:30 later than sleep straight and wake up at 5:45 which is usually the case.

When things are locked such as a gate or stuck she started yelling "TIGHT TIGHT" I thought it was hilarious the first time I heard that this month. I don't know how she associated that word with stuck but I guess it fits!

Her language is increasing and becoming more clearer every day. She sat down with me and a puzzle this week and named all of the animals and their sounds and put them in the right spot. Pretty good, huh?!

Well I am presently packing for my photo conference in Dallas this weekend so say a prayer that I can enjoy it and not worry constantly about my baby. And pray that Carsyn and Daddy survive- I'm sure they will do fine. :)

A picture for the fall..

Buttercup Children's Boutique

Last week I was asked to photograph some children modeling for Buttercup Children's Boutique for their Christmas television commercial. Of course they asked Carsyn Belle to be one of their models! Let me tell you it was a LOT of work photographing 6 toddlers at the same time! Here are some of my faves from Carsyn's shots. Of course I was trying to focus on the clothing not the models so not my typical photography.
She did all of these poses on her own with no direction from me...I guess she has had some practice...hee hee...

Crazy Mama and the rest of our Halloween festivus

I am sooo slacking on the blog! It is the busy time of the year and I am feeling myself pulled in multiple directions! Add the time change and and well there just aren't enough waking hours in the day!

Well to continue with where I left off on the Halloween festivities- Carsyn did a trunk or treat with friends, her first school party, a hayride with friends, pumpkin painting with Maddy, and actual trick or treating. I would definitely say that this Halloween she was more aware of the goal.....TANDY!!!!!!! Oh I just get sick of thinking about how much sugar she has consumed in the past week. Thankfully I think it is all gone now, but the damage has been done and now all I hear is "Tandy Tandy Tandy, Dum Dum, Dum" (Candy and Gum). And in all honesty my child is more interested in the actual possession of candy rather than eating it. She will sit and play with it and organize it and dump it back and forth into her pumpkin but never really consumes an entire piece. She pulls out one and says "Ope Ope Peas" and then when I open it she tastes it and hands it back and says "I don't ike" But heaven forbid if I were to tell her she didn't need to open it because she wouldn't like it. Nope she must learn for herself! Anyway I am happy to see that holiday pass as we now get ready for even more busy months!

Yesterday Danny, Carsyn, and I took a road trip to Covington, Louisiana. There was really no reason other than I thought it would be a nice afternoon trip and I have a fellow photographer acquaintance there who was going to take our family Christmas photo. The ride down was nice and Carsyn actually had to be woken up after sleeping for almost 2 hrs!! What? And I had a feeling there would probably be a park we could play at while we waited for our photo session but I had no idea it would be as awesome as the one we found. It was HUGE and looked like castles. The wood was solid and big enough for adults to run around and play on. I'm not sure who had more fun- Danny or Carsyn! It was great watching them have quality time together. Unfortunately I have no pics of this to share because I was off camera duty. Brittany took our pics and hopefully I can share some on the blog soon...in my professional opinion I think it went great! After stopping at a bite to eat at one of our fave restaurants in Hammond, Kirin, we headed home.

So that is a wrap up on what we have been doing the past few days. I am EXTREMELY busy (which is good, right?!) with photography right now. I have lots of sessions to edit and I am doing portraits for a children's boutique commercial. I get my new camera tomorrow which I am beyond ECSTATIC about! And next week I go to Dallas for a 3 day conference! This will be Danny and Carsyn's first time to be alone together overnight.

Here are some snapshots of our Halloween fun...

Carsyn and Hannah

Carsyn's funny pumpkin

Thinking about her pumpkin design?

She loves to hold Hannah's hand

Ahhh Tandy!

Our storytime friends

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pumpkins Pumpkins everywhere!!!!

Well this will be my first post about pumpkins because before the week is over we will have more pumpkin pics to post!!!! Wow I am already in Halloween overload so I don't know how Carsyn will handle all of the festivity!

To begin, last Friday Lyndsay(neighbor) and her daughter Maddy (Really do they need continuous descriptions- you know who they are) went to Hammond to the pumpkin patch. It was cute and had lots of farm animals (I also do not think I have seen so many farm animals in one month!) to pet. Had Carsyn not been overtired due to a late bedtime she probably would have enjoyed it more and allowed me to enjoy it more. She actually told me "NO pictures!" I took some anyway....

Then fast-forward to Monday and I took my camera to story time because I knew that Miss. Mattie would have something adorably Halloween for them to do. I was right. Here are some snapshots of them feeding the pumpkin monster Pecans and the pumpkins they made. (Not the greatest pics but hey just snapshots)

Monday night we attended Parklane Academy's fall fest. No pics from that night- there wasn't really much for a toddler to do...note to Parklane include some beanbag toss or something next year for the little ones! Carsyn did ride the pony which I didn't think she would follow thru with, but she loved it! Actually she demanded we wait in the eternal (30 min) line so she could ride him!

Today is Carsyn's school Halloween party, Tonight is Trunk or Treat, and Saturday is Hayride and Trick or Treat...... OH MY!!! She has the candy part down...she has been running around with her pumpkin treat bag saying "TANDY TANDY TANDY!" Oh Goodness!

99th Franklinton Fair

Yesterday afternoon we headed over to Washington Parish, LA for the Franklinton Fair! Last year we went with the Taylor's but we couldn't seem to get our schedules lined up. Surprisingly we found out our neighbor's the Webbs were also going the same time as us so Carsyn got to have her BFF with her!

Last year since Carsyn was only 10 months old she didn't really have a clue as to what was going on but oh what a difference a year makes!!!! She caught on quick that she needed tickets for the ride and as soon as one ride would end she would say "tick tick tick" and point to the next ride she wanted to go on. And forget the slow train and carousel- those were boring to her she wanted the rides that actually did something like go up and down or were a tad faster! My little dare-devil! One of the things I love most about having a child is getting to re-live my childhood and all that being a child entails! I think Danny and I enjoyed the rides as much as she did.

So I will let the Pictures speak for themselves since they are worth a thousand words.....

I didn't want Danny to take her on this but she LOVED it and immediately wanted to go again!

See why I didn't want her to go...look how high it was!

yeah I enjoyed the helicopter too!

Eh- the carousel is for babies....

Looking at the farm animals...this fair reminds you of Charlotte's web...nothing like the MS state fair

Webb family at the funhouse

They don't call it the FUNhouse for nothing!

Mr. Mitch is too funny....

Look Mama I am riding the truck with Maddy!

Ho Hum again- around and around boring

Now this one is more like it!

I know it is blurry but I still think it is hilarious! Photographers call this "emotionally in focus!"

Wave your arms like you just don't care!!!! (She actually started copying me...gotta watch myself!) Ha Ha!

Love this one! Life is good! :)

Words from a Babe

First, this past weekend was my 10 year High School reunion. My how time flies. I can only imagine how much more quickly the next 10 years will go by now that I have a child.

This week has been filled with fun fall activities. While I love sharing the new experiences with Carsyn and remembering the last year and how much she has changed it saddens me when I look up and see a "big girl" walking across the yard. I will admit this age is definitely the most challenging and numerous times a day we have a temper tantrum at the drop of a ketchup bottle. But when I hear her speak these words it brings a smile back to my face that "this too shall pass."

Yesterday morning at breakfast
"Mama Help me Please" - lovely use of manners

As soon as she woke up
"Heeeeeey Treeeeey, Heeeeey Treeeeey"- the family pet

Sitting on the couch early in the morning she hears a loud vehicle
"BUS? TRASH? TRUCK?"

Pointing to her pallet she has made on the floor
"Mama Sit...Mama Sit" Then crawls into my lap.

Takes her shoes off then walks across the back porch
"Ohhh Toooold Mama"

Getting dressed for school on picture day, opens her closets and pulls out a red dress "Awwwwww Tute" then does a twirl for my approval once it is on. Proceeds to pick out her shoes and bow.

Sees a baby anywhere
"Awww tute baaaabeee"

She now recognizes her friends from storytime/school and when she sees them can call them by name. She loves her friend Hannah and everytime they are at storytime wants Hannah to hold her hand as they walk to the car.

These are just a few times she has made me smile lately...

Here is her snapshot getting ready for picture day at school.
Her first school photo- before I know it she will be celebrating her 10 year High school reunion :(