easter sunday.

just a quick post to share some photos of our little easter bunnies yesterday.

gosh, they looked so adorable in their matchy match neon shorts and soft cuddly shirts. 

these boys had such a wonderful day. fun days like these, when my children are preoccupied with all the excitement, and therefore forfeiting their usual grumpiness, give me a chance to look at them from afar and see how wonderful they truly are :) 

i loved watching little ash carrying the big wire basket of plastic eggs down the hall at my grandparents house with the most satisfied smile on his face, watching him count the eggs "one doo tee!" and lining his puppies up all in a row.

roman's pure happy laughter in the backseat while playing with my little sister olivia, and his hard core determination to find as many eggs as he could during the egg hunt at aunt paula's :)

gosh, nothing better.

hope you all had a wondeful Easter!

here's to keeping Jesus at the center of our days, every day.

for the details on their outfits and to see roman + asher on spearmint baby today, visit me here!

twenty months.

oh this photo, the definition of our ash. 

twenty months, in the same little shirt that i made for roman when he was small.

i'll let the photos speak for themselves this time, but fear not - my heart is filled with just as much gushy mushy love for this boy as usual.

some previous monthly photos:

nineteen months

eighteen months

fifteen months

teddy bear.

ok, so these are obviously old, but i think that they are too special to never share.
i have so many photos of this boy, of these boys of mine.
and they sit on my computer. or on disks. or on flashdrives. and my computer is jam stuffed FULL,
 it always is.
lightroom has 16,000 photos on it right now. as usual.
i have client sessions backed up all over the place in no particular order.
i am a disorganized mess. with random photo albums + half started projects here and there and everywhere.
with all these photos, yet none on my wall.
with visions and dreams of what to do with them, but never really doing much...
honestly it stresses me out sometimes.
 but in reality, it doesn't really matter. at all.
i kind of like being a disorganized mess - thank you very much.
and at the end of the day, it means nothing if the baby book is caught up,
or if i have a  baby book at all.
i'll get around to it, and if i don't, it's okay.
i just want to appreciate my photos for what they are - real moments in time with my blessings.

so, here are some photos from last spring to enjoy, at our last home, when asher was 10 months old.
playing in the back yard with his teddy bear that aunt hillary brought him from europe.

oh these boys, and these days. a dream come true.

p.s. how do you all organize family photos?? i would LOVE some ideas.
you know, ideas that i may never get around to doing ;)
also, do any of you have suggestions on a good external hard drive? 

 

nineteen months.

nineteen months.

oh my.

facing the reality that nineteen months has passed since asher's birth is simply unreal. just a moment ago i was folding tiny newborn gowns + reading spiritual midwifery in the sunshine on the back porch, preparing for a new little life. and now, over a year and a half later - our asher is almost a little boy. pushing his chair up to the sink so that he can grab my yesterday's coffee that sits inside. taking liberties to take his own diaper off when it's time for a change, singing the "mama" song that he composed himself, counting to three in his own little way. closer to two than one.

when the days were slower and asher was itty bitty, i often used to talk to him at night as he nursed to sleep about when he came into my life. i'd pet and kiss his sweet little head and apologize for not being there during that first week when he stayed in the nicu.  one of his doctor's told me during that week, that soon asher would be home and healthy and the time in the nicu would seem distant and brief. in a way that is not true to me. it’s true that one week is a short amount of time, but that was OUR first week. there is something so wrong about a mother and baby being separated at birth. even though i was able to spend much time with him, provide all of his milk for him, and was lucky that his stay was so short - there are still moments that we were robbed from. sometimes now at bedtime, i still go back to the beginning. i tell asher how much he means to me. nineteen months later i am still thankful that God answered my prayers and healed asher. that first week was hard, but for every first moment that was lost, i've now had nineteen months of asher in my arms each and every night to make up for it. and for that i will always be grateful.

Asher at eighteen months.

one + a half.

happy one + a half times around the sun little one!

(turned 18 months on tuesday)

brothers.

life lesson that i am still learning - don't make photography forced with your children. of course i had in my mind these amazingly cute photos of my boys wearing matching outfits but i ended up just getting so frustrated with roman because he was being persnickety and wouldn't smile. which is just hilarious because why do i expect my son to smile on command?? oh well. regardless – still happy that I got an updated shot of these brothers :)

it is so interesting to see the way that asher looks at roman. he literally admires him in the deepest sense of the word. he is constantly watching roman and doing everything that he does. i constantly catch this happening. roman laying on his back reading a book on the bedroom floor - asher grabs a book and lays next to him mimicking him. roman jumping from bed to bed fighting imaginary bad guys - asher following him, jumping and making fighting sounds as well. the other day roman left the room to grab a shirt. when he came back in, asher was right behind him holding his own shirt. he watched roman put his shirt on and brought me his shirt to put on! I DIED.

just loving, loving the chance to watch my boys grow daily into their own individuality and also watch their relationship grow as brothers.

such a blessing :)

fifteen months.

asher actually turns 18 months old tomorrow, however i really wanted to share these 15 month photos from the fall before it's way too late :)

dear asher,

                i'm sorry that i get so frustrated when you kick + kick + kick my face, grab, scream, whine, destroy and get into everything. you have a strength about you that just tests my selfishness almost every day. but there is also a poetry about you that is a gift to my soul. the way you twirl  and twirl and twirl my hair, the way you lay your head on my chest and sing with me, the way you've always given such genuine kisses + hugs since you were only months old. tonight in the bath amidst a dreary weary day, we heard "rainbow connection" come on from the muppets movie playing in the living room and we sang and danced and smiled and hugged - all in slow silky motion. your special darling smile, your warm baby butter body melting into my arms. those are the moments that make me want to scream with joy. thank you my asher, for bringing me new life each day.

love ,mama

 (taken from my journal when asher was about 14 months old)

p.s. i'm SO excited to now be writing on the spearmint baby website!
read my first post from today here :)