coop is ten months old!

Ten months is waaaayyyy too close to twelve months, Coop, and I'm just not mentally prepared to say that my baby is one. 

Instead of dwelling on it though, I will simply enjoy your little ten-month-old personality and all of your newest "tricks." These tricks include a brand new smile (which came out of NOWHERE!) and a new sound. The smile is cute, it's probably the biggest smile your little face can muster. The sound is "ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mom-mom-mom-mom" and it melts my heart because that's kind of my name :)

You still only have your two bottom teeth, but we get to see them a whole lot more now that your new smile has arrived. You've decided that it's more fun to throw your food to Weezydog than it is to actually eat it yourself. You laugh the most when Weezy kisses your face and you try to give back the love by burying your whole head into Weezy's fur. You kids really do love each other...

You wake up earlier now (7:30am) but we've gotten into a great habit of taking a two hour nap from 9:30-11:30am. That's mama's time to do her work, shower, make a plan for the day, and relax. Because you're simply not ingesting as much food as before, you take an extra bottle each day. Maybe you're just working on growing even more!

Speaking of growing, you've now outgrown a pair of 18 month jammies. This is unreasonable and it makes your mom and dad very sad. There are still a few pairs of 12-18 month jammies that fit; it totally depends on the brand. 

You're soooooo close to pulling yourself up to stand! Dad's seen you do it once but mom hasn't been so lucky. Anyway, enough updates! Here are a few photos of life at ten months :)

coop says happy valentines day!

Coop would like to wish EVERYONE a very happy Valentine's Day! It's his first one ever and he plans on spending it curled up on the couch with mom and dad, trying to get a few bites of their chocolate.  

In terms of who his Valentine will be this year, he has chosen both of his Nanas :) Something tells me they'll say yes.

our pregnancy announcement

It wouldn't be a pregnancy announcement in the Kelly Family if I didn't shed a tear or two. I always have a very clear idea of the photo I want to take, but holding a 20lb DSLR in my non-picture-taking-hand and trying to take a selfie with a happy looking baby is a recipe for disaster. 

I kept either cutting off Ryan's face, or Coop would grab the ultrasound photo from our hands and try to eat it, or I'd accidentally move the lens and the focus would change... But hey, I kind of love these photos even more because of the hint of chaos. 

That's life with a baby ;)

Coop's going to be a big brother!!

fourteen weeks pregnant

At fourteen weeks pregnant, it's starting to show. I wake up most mornings not looking pregnant but by lunch, it's game over. The baby is the size of an avocado right now! 

I've been keeping busy ticking things off my off-season goal list, like designing wedding albums, switching up the photos on my website, and making some changes to the administrative parts of my business. I wake up with a creative itch that I can't seem to scratch because by afternoon I'm too tired to do a whole lot. 

2015 is going to be an AMAZING year for my business. There are so many weddings I'm just DYING for...so many wonderful couples I get to work with. I get excited thinking about how many of them haven't even done their engagement sessions yet!

Craving this week:

CANDY. Not chocolate, candy. Sweetarts, nerds, fun-dip, I want it all. I settled for a grape freezie last night but it just didn't quite hit the spot. 

Strawberry smoothies with extra strawberry. Like, don't skimp on the strawberry, k?

Adding to the list of things I've cried about:

Ariana Grande looking so happy after her performance at the Grammys. I love when people are so overwhelmed with their own happiness. 

In barre class, we were asked to set an intention at the beginning of class. Mine was to simply enjoy the hour of "me time." At the end, during our stretches, we were asked to check in with our intention and also think of something we were grateful for. I immediately thought of Coop and was so grateful that he's a good baby who LOVES being in child care while I do class. Then I thought of the new baby too, and how I was grateful for having this pregnancy surprise me...basically started crying in class. I blame the acoustic version of "Higher Love" that played in the background. 

Looking forward to this week:

Drinks with friends downtown tomorrow, even though I can't partake. I'm going to drink orange juice like it's my profession and be a young person for an evening. 

Also, this is totally something that happened to me with my last pregnancy too, but all of my emotions and opinions are heightened. Examples:

• When I see an able bodied person waiting for a busy elevator, I feel rage. 

• When "Sledgehammer" by Fifth Harmony plays, I get goosebumps and a deep desire to make my own music video. 

• When I can't find a torrent of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 5 Episode 10, I feel personally let down by the internet community. 

• When I make a coleslaw recipe and I like it, I don't just like it...I text Ry that I would like to be buried with it.

So that's life at fourteen weeks :)

iphone photos from january

The iPhone photos from January absolutely must kick off with some shots from our week in Orlando :)

Like this one, of Coop and his dad watching the carousel at the Syracuse mall while we waited for our flight.

Virgin pina colada with the Mindy Kaling book = my happy place.

One of my FAVOURITE memories from this trip was my date night with Ry. We went to sushi dinner and followed it up with a movie. It felt like old times and we reminisced about being kids and falling in love. 

Also, the movie was Interstellar and you don't even want me to get into how much I loved this movie. Balled my eyes out, loved it.

Coop's showing off his teeth and generally loving the vacation life :)

Back home, I nursed a little cold that I must have got from the plane. 

Baby spinach?

Oh, I like this photo. This is an accurate depiction of how I get my work done during the day. The set up includes two closed doors, one Weezydog, and a multitude of random objects to entertain Coop. 

New TV stand = STORAGE DREAM!

These next few shots are from a creative project I did at the end of Jan. It filled my soul with passion and purpose and made me feel all bright and bouncy for DAYS.

I started taking classes at The Dailey Method in the Glebe and I'm completely hooked. Coop loves being in child care and I love the hour of much needed baby-free time. I've never loved a workout this much :)

Weezy celebrated his third birthday :)

Coop's current smile. Also the reason for my existence. 

Iced green tea from Panera Bread is my new guilty pleasure. I craaaaave it so bad. And if you're thinking that iced green tea can't be a guilty pleasure because it's zero cals, then I highly encourage you to read the nutritional info at Panera... 

A perfect photo to show off our little trouble maker. See how I strategically placed a plant in front of the PS4? He knows all my tricks.