there was this one time...

happy halloween!

from our little goober... who thinks she is big stuff now by standing up all the time and getting a nibble of the crust from mom's pumpkin cheesecake tonight. :)

tickle spot

We found it! Ok, well she is ticklish all over.. but here, behind the neck, she is especially ticklish. Not laugh out loud ticklish.. but shy, sweet smile ticklish. It is so stinkin cute. And she has learned to shake her head no... so when we do this to her, she shakes her head no over and over and we can't get enough. :)

(yes notice the tank top in nearly november.. it's been HOT here! :( our fall is being robbed from us!)

last weekend

we shot our last wedding booked so far. :( we just happened to have friends of friends hire us 3 times this year and it has been a blast. we totally enjoy it...especially doing it together. we definitely don't want it to end so we are looking into putting ourselves out there. when i finish proofing this last wedding, i will put a link up on the blog or something.
in other news, we had visitors!

tala came down for her bday and the kids got in their costumes! caleb wouldn't put his avatar on though, so he was spidey again. and kira's costume is in the mail, so she came up with that. :) it was so nice to see all the cousins together.
we are seeing lots of this from the schmelsie:

smooshing from the big kids and pushing away and protesting from elsie. :)

and thanks for all the kind advice on the previous post. i wanted to tell you that the last 2 nights, i gave her more solids and she slept till 6  and then 640 this morning. nice. :) i wish she were the type to snuggle in bed with us, but she doesn't like it. our first kid who doesn't like snuggles in bed. :( oh well. will be really interesting next week when the time changes. for now, from this morning..here she is waving to daddy and totally ignoring nap time. :)

need advice, need sleep.

sigh. seems like she is taking a break from her normal 11-12 hour sleeps. and i am SO SAD! ha! or at least i would like to think this is just a slight detour and that we will be back to our regular sleep schedule asap. she's been getting up at 5 am lately. and my instinct is to feed her.. which i don't feel totally comfortable with, but honestly, she's loud and we all hope she would go back to sleep. but it hasn't been working. she ends up staying up for an hour or so and then goes back to sleep. which is pointless for me to go back to sleep since i have to get the big kids up soon anyways. you would think i would just suck it up and be a big girl and get up... but momma likes her sleep.. i am the anti-morning person. i don't really know what i am asking advice for.. i guess i am just venting. oh and we have tried just leaving her there to fall back asleep-- but she just gets louder and louder and louder. again, none of our other kids slept through the night for at least a year, so we are very grateful for the sleep we do get.. but it's just hard to wake up again- she's been so good. sigh.

because

my friend jessi is so good at posting everyday updates of her cute kids on her blog.. i decided to post my everyday pics. i take pics just about everyday, i just don't post them because they aren't that great. but i guess i don't need great things to happen everyday to post.. so here i am. :)
ok so everytime i pull out my camera, i get that top face. (see her little toof?! :)- yes, we are all about our babytalk in this house haha!) that's the.. i would really like to eat that camera look.
another cute morning look. this was before i got the first top one. she just got done gnawing the baby wipe package and was spying my camera.

and her new hangout near my desk. you know she would give anything to be in my arms while i am scrapping or at my computer.. but she is starting to reach and eat the 7gypsies stickers, so down she goes. and she can pull herself up on this thing! what's with that.. barely crawling, but pulling herself up already!? and what would the fascination be with this position? staring into the cabinet... the rail and seat right up next to her?! all of my kids have been clubhouse kind of kids.. i guess she is too. :)

the favorite toy of the day behind her.. the babywipes. :) and yes, that is my USB cord for my camera that she likes to chew on... VERY SAFE! ha!!!! is she such the 4th kid or what?! eeeek.. look at that messy desk! notice computer screen is on ebay, elsie's clothes on my desk.. someone has not been scrapping lately.

ok and last.. just thought this was funny. her at her hangout... babywipes nearby... toy basket somewhat touched... yawning... she is so over this 'not being in my mom's arms' thing.

now thank you jessi stringham for making me want to share this completely random set of pictures from this morning. :)

not her favorite thing to do

some days she doesn't get the belly that high off the floor. and i am totally okay with it. i am not in a rush for her to crawl around everywhere at all.
she's getting her second tooth in... being a trooper about it.. but mommy likes to find excuses to snug and squeeze her anyways. :)

more similarities

 

grammies found these pictures of daddy yesterday and i loved seeing the blond haired blue eyed version of els! :) of course, she looks more delicate and feminine.. but those big eyes... she definitely got them from him! even the nose and lips look so similar! even the little hair flippy on the side! haha!

oh and why, yes! i DO have other children besides elsie!!!!!! :) ;)

it is so much harder to get pics of them when they are in school all day.. i just happened to get this last week. but you know it's bad when i had to go back to august to find this pic of caleb! :)

daddy's proud moment of the week: caleb is learning the sound letters make, particularly that begin words... so daddy, trying to be so tricky, says: "xylophone". caleb says: "you think it would start with Z... but it starts with X." daddy was stunned! go get em caleb! :)

a little late on the 7th mo. post

i really wish she was smiling in this pic.. but she was wondering what the heck that thing was behind her ear. ;) this is what she did soon after to the sweet little flower:

so here she is... at seven glorious months:
just starting to get her first tooth in, looks like she is done with her clogged tear duct thing (yay!), losing a bit of hair on the back right of her head from sleeping on that side alot, starting to wake up in the middle of the night for some reason (i'm hoping it's just the teething), sitting up well, doing the army man crawl.. only if she has to.. not a big fan of being anywhere but on my hip.. napping 2-3 times a day.. loving fruit to the point where i have to mix it in with her veggies just to get the veggies down.. starting to use her sippy cup..buries her head in my shoulder when it's too sunny out.. starting to gnaw at my shoulder so when i walk around in public, everyone tries not to stare at my slobbered/soaking shoulder...waves hi to people, especially her brothers and sister.. loves to play with "her laptop" -- or anything else that is not a designated elsie toy :) (notice her basket of toys beside her.. UNTOUCHED.. story of her playtime)

and just another that i loved from the other night.. this is her thing she does when she gets tired.. rubs her face, flips her hair, scratches her neck and then the 2 fingers go straight in the mouth.

and while i am at it.. making this motherlode of a post... here's for our bay area family.. your new little nephew/cousin/family member... aut's son: kainoa muelu aka cutie patootie!

oh and thanks to all you who visited the angel wars' site... and put orders through.. so sweet of you all.

thank you :)

You Could Win a Free iPOD (but probably won't)

Yes, I've resorted to using my wife's blog to plug my super dooper animated hit series (see link to incredible sweepstakes at right).  I admit, it's cheap.  But then again, you might win an iPOD with 30 gigs of memory.  Of course, you're probably thinking, "Chris, I never win anything, and everyone knows that internet sweepstakes are crap." 

True, true.  In fact, the more likely scenario is that you'll sign up, not win, and recieve periodic emails from my company telling you to buy something to do with Angel Wars. (shirt, DVD, toothbrush?) So, why bother clicking on that there banner?  Well, if you have a kid in your life that loves action adventure, appreciates a good fantasy yarn, and pretends to be a superhero on a daily basis, then this just might be for you (and there's always the remote chance you'll win the iPOD.)  And if it isn't, you might think of someone it is right for as you're watching the trailer to see if you won the iPOD (clever, no?)  If that's the case, we've got a little " send to a friend" button included on the eCard landing page (clever-er, no?)  Of course, you could always pass up on the whole affair, but then your slim chances at a free iPOD would become none.  Thanks in advance for supporting the cause!