Little Man- 1 Month Old

Here are the pics I took on the 1st of my kiddos when my little man was exactly one month old.... You can tell his sissy loves him, she is definitely a big help around the help and wants to always change his diaper.

Kiddos on Halloween

Here are my kiddos this Halloween 09'

Athena wore the butterfly costume to school on Friday and a bunny Sat. night, she was so cute she looked like a mini playboy bunny :) My little man was a little dalmatian as you can see.

Kids Say the Darndest Things Part 2

I know we like our children to have a positive self image about themselves.... I mean you can't expect others to like you if you don't like yourself. But... my daughter is a little silly. I guess she hears us says she's beautiful and cute all the time. When most people say she's cute I have to remind her to say thank you because most of the time she says I know.... but this was a little silly today.

I picked her up from her music/arts class and we were going to lunch. She asked where are we going to eat again Mom? I said Long John Silvers and then here comes the kicker.... she said....

I can't go there, I'm too cute to eat there.... What the heck, I died laughing though and called her a silly bug. And then later of course she said Mom you're too cute to go in and made me feel good but humored again.

Kids say the darndest things... Part 1

So we all know that children have their own little language and own words for things they mean to say. My daughter was eating fresh pineapple the other day and she said "it's a little bit shakeable" which means it's a little sour and makes her shiver. She has used the term "shakeable" a lot when she is eating sour food. I think it's hilarious. She says and does plenty more things and I will post more as I think they are hilarious.

Home Fashion Show

My daughter has been kind of adament about doing a fashion show at the house for the last couple of days so we did it today.... I was really hoping she wasn't going to make me dress up too... well she didn't, thank gosh! I made her a new little tutu this morning to match one of the outfits she wanted to wear. There were a total of three outfits and one funky hairdo I did for her... I wanted it to be wild and this look just came to me while I was styling it.... here are just a few shots from the first outfit. I thought they turned out great and she looked adorable, like a real ballerina!

I'll post more when I edit them a bit... I still have pics to edit from my last photoshoot first.

Daughter's 5th Bday PARTY

My YUMMY cupcake I made!

Her cousin really enjoying one of my cupcakes!

Athena opening some gifts...

The birthday party went great yesterday although I was extremely exhausted afterwards. We indeed did have an outside water party. Here are a few pics from the party. I made those cupcakes the night before, chocolate and vanilla (keep in mind I've never decorated cupcakes before except for just spreading frosting). a couple of hours before the party I sat outside by the faucet and filled a whole bucket of water balloons and got soaked in the process doing it because our faucet wasn't easy to turn on and off so I had to keep it on the whole time while filling them up and so I got sprayed several times, good thing I had my mega maternity suit on (:

5 years old... WOW

Yesterday my little girl turned 5. OMG where did the time go. We are having her party this afternoon and boy is it going to be a great day to have it. It should only be about 86 degrees which is awesome considering we've been having 100+ days and that's not including the heat index. We are going to do outside water fun as the theme and have squirt guns, water balloons, kiddie pool and a sprinkler. I'm even looking forward to getting wet. I will post some pictures sometime soon from the fun day.

What's been going on...

So I actually got a little sleep last night. I did however go to bed while still light outside at 8:30. I was trying to prove a theory of mine that I could sleep easier with more light. I fell right asleep but found myself waking up around 10 when it was dark and had a sudden feeling of not being tired. After that of course I went and sat in my nightly recliner. It was hard to go back to sleep but once I turned on TV I didn't have much of a problem even though I didn't watch it at all.... What's the deal. Am I nocturnal or something now? I usually have to watch TV or get online to totally exhaust me so I can go to sleep. It sure doesn't help that I'm congested at night time and feel like I can't breathe.... anyways I am just glad to finally sleep more than 2 hours total during the night.

As some may know yesterday was my last day at the University. I gave my notice several weeks ago because my daughter needed me to stay home with her again. Frankly I was ready to be a stay at home mom again. Plus we will be having our second child in a few months... Athena be 5 in 2 weeks from today. We have yet to plan a birthday party because things have been hectic and we're kind of broke. I think we've decided to buy her a nice set of kids drums though... she is very musical and has been wanting drums for months. She actually has natural time which is crazy. Are we kidding ourselves though buying her the drums she wants and we'll be regretting it later?

The both of us are about to get around and get dressed to go to a yard sale in town from a friend of mine. Baby Boy clothes here I come. Honestly I'm not too good for used clothes. I love it when friends give me outgrown clothes of their kids. I of course pick through the yard sale clothes and for the most part don't get completely stained up clothes. I do know from experience that babies get dirty no matter how hard you try to keep them clean. I have about 2 tubs of girl clothes that I need to go through for myself to sell at the yard sale. Even though they tell me it's a boy I'm still hesitant about getting rid of all girl stuff. I definitely had enough to spare some though. I always had my favorite stuff Athena wore that I will probably keep and let her use for her dolls.

Anyways so for the long update, it's been awhile. I still have more to post later about my insurance meltdown...

Maternity Self Portraits

Earl Grey Tea coloring (ONE OF MY FAV shots)

Soft Dewberry Glaze coloring

Soft Strawberry Glaze coloring

Regular adjustments but I love how I accidently cut off my head :)

Regular adjustments but it accidently didn't focus completely but I like it!

Me and my girl with the Orton effect action

Here are some of my favorite self portraits I took today... I've been needing some maternity pics other than just snapshots. Let me know what you think. I just want to thank CoffeeShop's blog for some of the actions that I used.

Today at the park

So my 4 year old daughter and I went to the park today and of course I took my camera along. The picture of me is one she took with my camera. I was amazed at how good it looks considering I didn't crop it at all, I just touched up my no-make up face with pimples :)

I made a collage of all the pics I took of her. I'm trying to practice making collages so... this was really my first stab at it.

2 Week's Notice

So my husband and I decided it was time for me to stay at home again so I gave my 2 week's notice at work today. We have been trying to get to a point where I could quit anyway but we were hoping that I could work up till when I had the baby so I could have my 2nd insurance to cover the complete medical bills that I would incur. It really didn't work out as lovely as we had first planned. Here's how it all kinda started:

You see my mother in law watches my little girl everyday. Don't get me wrong I love my MIL and all but ever since school has let out and she has to keep her all day all week it seems like she started slacking in the caretaking ability. The first thing that bothered me was she was coming home EVERYDAY all banged up and damaged. She said she fell one day but she came home with a fat lip and it was purple and black all under the top lip and was fat for 2 days. When it first happened she didn't even know she hit it. Evidently she wasn't watching her very good to know it and why did it even happen in the first place. I don't like the idea of her playing outside by herself for extended periods of time without supervision. She said she checks on her about every 10 or 15 minutes but that is too long for me when she is just 4 and not fenced in... there are perverts in this world and who could snatch her up in a minute flat. I guess I think the worse but I am and have been real protective of her always and she has never got banged up like that in my supervision. She said kids get cuts and bruises... that was her defense.

I left yesterday morning and asked her to make sure she gets a bath and make sure she washes her hair and body.... specifically I asked those things. You see since it's the summer she'd rather take a shower or bath in the morning like mommy and daddy so that is why I never get a chance to do it, because I'm at work when she gets up. Well when I got home yesterday evening the shampoo wasn't in the tub and I knew she had a bath. I asked her did you not wash her hair and she said No. I flipped out... who considers a bath of just sitting in water not washing hair and body a bath? That's more like swimming and playing. Every now and then skipping a bath might be okay but she has a very sensitive area and if you don't wash it everyday it gets VERY irritated from pee and such. She has told me a few times that Grandma forgot to give her a bath... I kind of blew it off until now. I just feel like I'm the only one who can take care of her properly. She doesn't make sure she is fed right either. I hear about all the junk she eats and how she really didn't eat good that day... well I wonder why. You need to put your foot down as a caregiver and say no to things sometime and make deals with the kid, that is what we have to do.

And I asked Athena if she wanted mama to stay home everyday with her and not go to work and she said YES... so that just melted my heart. I balled because I was so upset about her well being yesterday so my husband finally put his foot down and told me to give my notice and quit. He looked at the bills and they are definitely going to be tight for awhile, at least until he is able to get his raise after the first of the year when the freeze is up. I'm hoping that now that I can spend most of my time with my photography business that it will take off and help us out with the bills, or at least buy us food. I have recently started a myspace photography site until I can actually afford to get a real webpage. It is www.myspace.com/wendyclabornphotography so check it out if you're bored. I'm also hoping that the band my husband is trying to get together will take off and start making money soon. I offered to promote the band and try to book some of their gigs when they got a little tighter as a band once they knew all of the singer's songs. I'd get anywhere from 5-10% of the booking if I booked the show so that would help too.

WISH ME LUCK!

BTW... yesterday was my 7 year wedding anniversary and it sucked. It was extremely hot at work because the AC wasn't working right and I come home and have to cook and deal with the MIL drama. My eyes were still dry, irritated and swollen today from crying the night before. What an anniversary, and to top it off I didn't get any lovin' :(

It's a.....

So we had our Ultrasound today and we finally found out what we are having. I just want to say EVERYONE thought it was going to be a boy, including the chinese gender calendars except for my little girl. She always said it was a baby girl/baby sister. Well take a look at the pictures for yourself and tell me what you think..

IT'S A BOY! Immediately after she put the thing on my belly the first picture to pop up was of his legs spread. Usually that is the shot that is the hardest to get. He was however stubborn when it came to showing his face. The tech kept trying to look at his umbilical insertion but he was laying face down on his tummy so it made it very difficult and he would not move for anything. I think he's already being lazy and sleeping all the time. I still think my 4 year-old-daughter is still in denial. She won't admit it's a boy and still calls it her baby sister.

We already have a name picked out and it's super unique. I just want to explain the reasoning first. You see my daughter's name is Athena and it is from greek mythology. Well in mythology her brother's name is Ares pronounced like Aries the sign. I thought it was only appropriate to name him that because of the "A" name of course and the connection from the two. So his name will be Aries Orion Claborn. I love it and think it's creative. If it was going to be a girl we finally decided on Sophie but I'll name get to name a girl that because it's a boy and we are done having kids after this.

Is it a Boy or Girl?

So tomorrow is the big day, Ultrasound DAY!... Is it a boy or a girl. Everyone in my family and all of my friends think it is a boy... but my daughter is the ONLY one who thinks it's a girl. I tend to think it will be a girl because of family history but we are rooting for a little mama's boy. If someone refers to it as her little brother or a boy, she quickly corrects them and say no it's my baby sister and her name is going to be Hannah Montana. I just want to say NO it is not, if it's a girl we will probably name her Sophie (no middle name picked out yet). Wish me luck and I will post on here what it is as soon as I get home.

Father's Day on a budget

Father's Day is soon approaching and many of us are on a budget. Head on over to GO GRAHAM GO! and check out all the crafty and cheap ideas to give dad for this special day. I honestly love the pen/pencil holder made out of Popsicle sticks and customized. This idea is perfect for my 4 year-old daughter especially since my hubby can never find any pens when he needs them because she takes off with them and never brings them back or puts them back in the wrong place.

Rag Curls

I decided to try the rag curlers finally. I cut an old shirt into strips and rolled my little girls hair while damp and put a little mousse in it. She slept in it and we took it out this morning. Here are some pictures of my curly sue cutie Athena a few hours after we took them out.

Mommy Monday

My daughter said the cutest thing this morning in the car. I was talking to her about next Friday and told her that she would be going to our cousins house all day because her grandma who normally watches her will be going out of town. Here's kind of how it went:

Athena: I don't want to go to aunt Cindy's this morning
Me: She'll pick you up from basketball camp and Grandma will be home from the doctor soon after to pick you up
Athena: I want Grandma to take me to basketball camp
Me: (to take her mind off of today) Guess what, you get to go to Jenny's house next Friday
Athena: But I don't have basketball camp next week
Me: I know but Grandma won't be home to watch you, she has to take Grandma Fox to Texas
Athena: I want to go to Texas. I'll run there if you just show me which way to go :)

Silly kids... it's funny how they don't quite have a sense for time or distance yet.

Hubby's Birthday

Today is my hubby's birthday and my daughter did something a little special for him. We plan on making him orange and strawberry cupcakes today and making mixed ones too. I took this picture of her this morning and we put it on the front of the card we made in Publisher. Isn't she a cutie!

18 weeks

Everyone is definitely noticing my belly now. I just joke and says it's just a gut. But really I'm almost half way done. Although I've been feeling the baby since about 13 1/2 weeks on and off, I can't wait to start feeling it regularly and stronger kicking or as I call it baby karate. Also I can't wait till June 11th when I find out what it is and I can quit guessing or calling it he or she. My daughter is so assured its her baby sister. But we'll see.

Pregnancy Pizza

Since I have been pregnant I have had an extreme craving for jalapenos. I want them on my cheese fries when we go out, on my beans and potatoes, and of course on my pizza. My husband made fun of me this evening when we went to order pizza for dinner tonight and I told them I wanted mushrooms, pineapples, and jalapenos. He said that's just gross... but of course the lady at the pizza place just laughed when I ordered and told her I was pregnant. Of course she understood because she's due at the same time as I am.

Does anyone else crave jalapenos? If not what do you crave during your pregnancy?

My mother-in-law keeps telling me it's going to be a boy because I'm craving the spicey things. That's just an old wives tale but I hope it's right because we're wanting a little boy. I want a little boy who's going to be a mama's boy because my sweet little girl is no longer sweet to me, in fact she'd rather be around her grandma all the time than to be with me. She told me yesterday when I went to her awards ceremony for her class "mom I told you not to come" and was in a bad mood all after that. She was perky and dancing with the class and all before she seen that I was in her classroom. What's a mom to do?

Fire-engine Red

I just want to start off by saying that I feel like a lobster... My daughter had a birthday party to go to yesterday and it was loads of fun for her jumping on the bounce around and blowing bubbles, but us parents just sat out in the lawnchairs in the sun for 2 hours. I didn't feel any pain or burn while I was there but once I got in some shade and home, the burn was on. I am normally white as a ghost and have olive complexion so I'm sure that help contribute to my lobster-like sunburn. You can see the distinct line as my upper thigh is white as a sheet of paper and my lower thigh down is fire-engine red. Even my feet are burned and you can see my flip-flop shape.

What was I thinking? I guess I wasn't, we don't own sunscreen anymore because we don't have a pool and we never go to the lake or anywhere that requires it. Sleeping last night was the worst. If I could of slept on my back it would of made it easier because they really wouldn't have to touch much... but with the pregnancy, that is a no-no because it compresses the aorta and doesn't give you or the baby much blood flow, hence less O2. So I had to alternate from side to side because I get so stuffy I have to turn to relieve some of it and help me breathe. Once I was actually bearably comfy, I realized I couldn't breathe and once again the pain emerged when I had to switch sides again. The worst part is when the 2 hot legs touched each other. It is so hard to keep my thunder thighs from touching :) When I got up in the morning, I was in for another surprise. I couldn't hardly walk. My legs were so stiff and hurting down deep it actually felt like it burnt my muscles. As much as I wanted to call in from work, I pushed myself to not only get myself ready but to do the same for my daughter who is always slacking in the morning.

Do you remember what it is like to shower or bathe with a sunburn? It's HELL! My hubby and I shower together every morning to not only save water but to save time. I knew that couldn't happen this morning because he takes HOT HOT showers. Just thinking about it makes me hurt, OUCH! So I took a lonely shower last night and had it lukewarm or cooler. It was still too warm for my burns but too cold to almost stand it. The worst thing about taking a shower the night before is my hair is wild in the morning. That is another obstacle I had to tackle this morning, my wild short mane. Took me longer than usual.

I just want to say one last thing to everyone... don't be foolish like me, USE SUNSCREEN!