important stuff

Tonight as I was tucking Rowan into bed, we were talking about the day. She's been doing lots of playing with neighbors and cousins...crossing over into that age when she often prefers to be with friends than with mom or dad. I've been thoughtful about that process, and aware of the things in her life I might not know about anymore, simply because I'm not with her every minute.

Me: Rowan, you know you can tell me anything, right? And you can ask me anything. Always, anytime.

Rowan: Like what do you mean, Mom?

Me: You can always talk to me about anything. Like if you want to tell me about something that happened with a friend, like if your feelings get hurt. Or, if you want to ask me about heaven, or growing up, that kind of thing.

(She's thoughtful here for a brief moment, then perks up with this:)

Rowan: Or, if I want to know how the sewer works?

I had no words, I just smiled and laughed out loud. Exactly, Rowan. Come talk to me if you want to know how the sewer works. Save that relationship and heaven stuff for later.

I love this kid.

We have a crawler on our hands

It's official. Piper is crawling.

She's been working on it for a few weeks. That adorable thing where babies get up on all fours and rock back and forth, like the rocking just might propel them forward. She's managed to scoot around, sometimes by rolling or by going backwards, for awhile now...but in the last few days, crawling has clicked.

For proof, check out this short video on my mother-in-law's page: click here.

One might think that learning a new skill would please a developing baby. Not so for Piper. This developmental milestone has been accompanied by some serious personality changes....namely: whining, being bored, frustrated, more frequent crying, and loudly scolding us for reasons we aren't quite sure.

She still doesn't have any teeth, so it's easy to hope that it's just "teething." We'll see. I have a growing suspicion that the crawling deal has given her just a taste of freedom and control over her environment---and she wants more. NOW please. Where did my sweet, quick to smile, easy-going 6 month old who stayed in the place I set her down go?

Oh, that's right. She's crawled to the bathroom.

My Family is Famous, Sort of

I've posted before about selling some photos through istockphoto...if you haven't seen my portfolio there before, you can click here to check it out. I've sold over 400 images through istock....but you never really know where they are being used. Some in print, brochures, that kind of thing. But also on websites.

Well, we've gotten a few calls from friends this week because a few of my images that were sold through istock are being used on many different photo sites as place holders in their greeting cards, announcements, that sort of thing. We had 2 different friends who were randomly looking at making announcements or other cards see a photo of Joe and Rowan!

One picture is of Joe and Rowan...the other is just of Rowan, kind of hiding her face behind a towel.

Click here and then click on "photo cards", then scroll down just a bit, to check it out. They are using both photos in several different spots all over the "card" section.

They are using the same template and photos at Walmart, Walgreens, and Meijer. Kinda cool!

In other photo news, I've been really busy with shoots this summer. Trying to keep up with all the editing, which is a good thing! I need to post some of my most recent work...I've been really pleased with some of my new stuff this summer. Fun fun!

Hula-Hooping Rowan

For as good as I am about taking photos of my kids, I am equally bad at taking video of them. Good thing my mother-in-law is diligent about it, and apparently more technically-savvy than me, too, because she figured out how to put these little clips on Flickr!

To see Rowan and her amazing hula-hooping skills (notice the TWO hula hoops), click here.

To see a cute little video of Piper making noise, click here.

Maybe this is motivating me to catch more of their antics in live-action....we'll see!