10 things I should like, but I don't

I got this from Holly! Lotsa fun :)

1. Puppies

Puppies are cute, adorable, and even have cute-ish smelling breath. But, after owning one 2 years ago, I have swore UP and DOWN to never EVER own a puppy AGAIN. Honey was adorable, yes, but she destroyed our carpet (GETTING LAMINATE WOOD FLOORS ON SUNDAY!!! WHOOO HOOOO!), was a pain to train, and was just insane. She still is. Maybe I should change #1 to "all dogs in general except middle aged poodles".


2. Affliction Shirts

Ugh. Do I really need to elaborate on this one?  Never liked them, never will.


3. New Houses

Old houses are where it's at. If I have my way, we will NEVER build another house. Yes, I know our house now is about as craptastic as new houses go, and I have seen some REALLY awesome new houses built to look like old homes in the Carmel area...but give me gravel alleyways, a good 30's bungalow, and the craftmanship of another era that took pride in homebuilding!

4. Diaper Bags

Ohhhh, how I loathe diaper bags. What is wrong with just buying a big, stylish bag? I just don't see the point. For the most part, too, they are ugly.

5. "Hooter Hiders"

Nursing in public can be daunting, but these things are again, to me, a waste of money. Much like the diaper bag, they are something you can easily do without! I nurse in public and have rarely even needed a blanket. All it takes is strategic placement of your top layer of clothing (against baby's cheek) and simply pulling down your tank top underneath. Then, baby is happy and can breathe! I know the "Hooter Hiders" allow for more air flow than just throwing a blanket over their heads, but as an extremely claustrophobic person, the thought of me being in the baby's position, freaks me out!

6. Any baby thing with Winnie the Pooh.

Besides a good vintage 80's Pooh stuffed animal, I'm 100% anti-Pooh. I think the style came out around the time Brynn was a baby, and I just always hated it!

7. iPhones

I'm a BlackBerry woman all the way!

8. TLC Shows

As a mom, I suppose I should like those mom-shows, I have never and will never like Jon & Kate Plus 8, Bringing Home Baby, What Not to Wear, etc. I have tried tried tried to get into them, but I just can't. I live every day with kids of my own, thankyouverymuch. I'd much rather watch The Office :)


9. Ringback Tones

They are SO loud! SO much louder than normal ones! Plus, some are just downright annoying, and I'm forced to listen to them until whoever I'm calling picks up. Ugh.


10. High Heels

Besides the fact that they would make me 6 foot 3, I will never EVER wear heels. I have YET to wear any that didn't hurt my feet so bad I wanted to cut them off. I'll just keep wearing my flip flops, knockoff Uggs, and ballet flats!


In other news...my sister will be here TOMORROW!! I can't wait :) We have a busy few days...tomorrow evening she'll be watching the kids as I got to my FIRST foster parenting class (again, more on this later!), then Friday morning Sara will be watching the kids so Karis can come to a newborn session with me. Then Friday at 1:00 I have a hair appointment....I'll be MAJORLY changing it! Yay!

Saturday is Brynn's big birthday party!

Sunday morning I have another session at the Lilly House, I normally wouldn't have done it with Karis here, but it's a client who lives in Pennsylvania, and she's driving through Indianapolis Sunday morning and it was obviously the only available time! ALSO Sunday morning we're putting in the new floors! Yay! Then Nick has a football game at 3 that we'll take the kids to, and then I have another session after THAT!

Whew!

Then Monday we're going to take the little kids to the Children's Museum while Brynn is at school, then head over to the Incredible Pizza Company for dinner!

Hopefully Tuesday won't be so busy!

Six years of Brynn at OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Lickolis

How do you discipline the world's cutest boy?

Seriously, do you know how hard it is to try to get after a kid this cute? And the worst part is, he knows it. Like REALLY knows it. He thinks is 100% confident that he can get away with murder as long as he flashes mommy that gnarly smile and says in a super squeaky voice, "I'm Lick-o-lis...dis is Lick-o-lis sucker!"

And no, he's not being cute with the Lickolis thing...he really thinks that's his name...

In other news, Nick and I had a date last night! I was good! I actually ordered off the 'healthy' part of the menu, and gave Nick my fries! Now, the 2 1/2 margaritas I'm sure did me in, but normally I would have had those plus a fatty fried something! Right? Right?

So far, I'm down a pound, maybe two. We don't have a digital scale, so it's hard to tell. I need to get a digital scale.

Tomorrow is Brynn's birthday, so after the YMCA today, Nicholas, Josie and I are going to stop by the store and get streamers/balloons/cake! I love birthdays :)

I have a wedding on Saturday up in Wabash, so I'll be MIA for a few days! I'll try to blog tomorrow night after Brynn's little family celebration, if not, have a great weekend everyone!

-Rach

Happy {almost} 6 months, Josie!

I figured I'd sneak this post in here, since technically she'll turn 6 months on Brynn's 6th's birthday!

The past 6 months have FLOWN by! Josie has made turning a family of 4 into a family of 5 super easy! She's just the happiest little thing, giving huge smiles whenever you look at her! She is really starting to crawl now...just the rough-beginning crawl! Still not sitting up yet, but that is probably due to the fact that homegirl doesn't have an ounce of fat on her body for cushion!

She's still getting up 1-4 times a night to nurse, which is just fine by me...the more she nurses, the longer we can keep this up! She eats maybe a jar of babyfood a day, and gnaws on a biter biscuit, but that's about it. She's not really crazy about food-food, much like her big sister in that aspect!

I'm definitely having a hard time watching my last baby grow up! I'm perfectly fine with the fact that she's not sitting up on her own for very long, and she could nurse forever at this point. I feel like the having babies/being pregnant stage of my life just went by in a fast blur! I mean, I'm only 26 and I'm DONE being pregnant. (Now, we're not done having kids, I'll blog about that tomorrow, maybe...but we're hoping by this time next year to add another little someone to our family) But Josie is definitely our last baby...and I totally understand why moms tend to baby their last! You want to hold on to anything that is newbornish, babyish, etc. While of course I'm estatic that Josie is thriving and growing/changing, there is a twinge of sadness for every new milestone!

Yesterday while taking the following pictures, she started babbling...and clearly (though I know not intentionally) said, "Ma ma ma ma ma!" with a huge grin on her face. I love her raspy little voice, again, SO much like her big sister. I used to joke about Brynn's voice that we were going to get her to cut back on the smokes...well Josie has the same croaky little coo!

The other day, the kids were dancing around Josie while she was in her exersaucer, and she was just squealing and so happy. It is frickin' surreal sometimes, to see them all laughing and playing together. Three little lives, three little persons!

Onto the pictures...

Joselyn Grace, only a few hours old...

My beautiful 6 month old!

Mommy was trying to see what Josie would look like with cheeks ;)

Love this one for two reasons:

1. She just looks so sweet

2. Her head looks normal sized for a baby...not teeny tiny like it really is!

This bedding is GORGEOUS, is it not? I traded a family session for it! ;)

Josie girl, I've just had the best 6 months with you! Here's to 160 more! :)

6 years of Halloween...

6 years ago, I was 20 years old, 41 weeks pregnant, a full time college student, and scared out of my mind. As Brynn's SIXTH birthday approaches, I feel like I'm standing here with wide eyes thinking "Where in the HECK did the past six years go?"

I can remember vividly feeling so unprepared to be a mother. So inadequate. I second guessed every choice I made during my pregnancy, from the type of stroller I bought to the style of maternity clothes. Being a first time mother is hard enough, you feel as though EVERYONE is judging you...being a first time mother who happens to be single, 19-20 year old without a clue in the world felt rotten. I was so insecure about being single, to the point that I bought a fake wedding ring.

Growing up, I saw my parents' example...two Christians, marrying, waiting a few years, having their first child, mom stays home, dad works. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever see myself getting pregnant at 19, having a baby at 20, living with my parents, and watching my child raised by them while I took a full load of classes and worked two jobs (at one point). It was truly heartbreaking. Anyone who knows me, knows that being a mother is so fullfilling to me, it's my calling. Way above being a photographer...way way WAY above that.

It was torture that for a while, Brynn preferred my parents over me. That they knew what made her laugh the most...that they were the ones rocking her to sleep, singing special songs, etc. I wasn't absent by ANY means, but I was still losing a big chunk of my time with her.

I am SO thankful for my parents, as a parent myself, I can't imagine either of my girls coming home at 19, pregnant and most definitely single. They dove back into diaper changes, sleepless nights (since I had class at 7 am when Brynn was a newborn!), baby food, and I'm sure the embarrassment of having a pregnant teen daughter.

When Brynn's birthday rolls around, it's like I get transported in time. This doesn't happen with Nicholas, and I doubt it will with Josie. Their births were special, but simple. The place where I was in my life when Brynn was born was so...complicated. I can close my eyes and see her beautiful little newborn face looking up at me, and feeling love (of course), but an overwhelming sense of terror. I was sure in my decision that I wanted to raise her, but I had so many doubts if that was the right thing. Just as it would have been crazy a year prior to tell me I was going to be a mom in 12 months, it would have been even crazier if someone had walked into that hospital room and told me that within two years of Brynn's birth, I would be *almost* engaged to the man of my dreams.

But no one was there to tell me it was going to work out. That I would be able to give Brynn a loving daddy. That I would someday have a husband to share the responsibility of being a parent with. That I wouldn't be living with my parents, depending on them for the bulk of her support. For the majority of my hospital stay, I was left alone with this new little person...100% terrified. I cried SO much, just holding her and promising it would be okay. Looking back, I was obviously convincing myself. She was so perfect, and I just knew she deserved more than I could give her at that moment...and that was a really sucky feeling.

So yeah, I'm pretty emotional when Brynn's birthday rolls around. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was "traumatic", but it was the most hardest period of my life. The most lonely. The scariest.

I wish so bad that there could have been more joy. That when watching my parents hold her for the first time, I couldn't see that little hint of sorrow. Sure, it was their first grandchild, but it was also forcing their daughter to grow up much to early...to lose the carefree days of being a 20 year old...again, I can't imagine the mixed emotions they must have been going through.

But you know? God really had my life planned perfectly. I wouldn't trade my experiences as a single mom for anything. I grew up fast, but it certainly was more productive for me to be a mother than party my life away in Canton. Brynn was a chance to start over...she was the first meaningful gift in a long line of gifts I've been given. Without her, I never would have met Nick, since I wouldn't have moved to Florida with my parents. Even if I had met him, I wouldn't have been 'wife material' since she put a halt to my wild streak. Nick has said that seeing me be a mother was beautiful and made him fall in love with me even faster. Then came our marriage, and then Nicholas and Josie.

Man, I wish someone could have told freaking-out-20-year-old-Rachel that!

Sorry this turned into such a book! Blogs about Brynn usually do that. Like I said, the emotions are all over the place with her, and are so strong!

This blog was SUPPOSED to be about past Halloweens with her, so here are THOSE pictures :)

This first one was about a week past my due date...I kept thinking I would for sure go into labor with a big pumpkin painted on my stomach (Murphy's Law, right?).

Here is Brynn's first Halloween! I wasn't home to go Trick-or-Treating with her, but I got this picture before I left!

This year, Nick went with us. She only actually went to one house. My parents' neighbor was drunk and dressed in the scariest monster costume, and when she rang the doorbell, he jumped out and scared the everloving daylights out of her. After that, Nick and I had to carry her up to each door, where she freaked out for obvious reasons. I was convinced she would be scarred for life!

This was our first Halloween in Indiana, when we lived in the apartment in Lafayette. We had nothing, and I mean nothing. I made this costume out of a pillowcase we already had, and a halo/wing set from the dollar store...her shoes were from our wedding in February and were much too small for her. But those are the memories that everyone needs, in my opinion!

Our first year in Indy! We had a little bit more money this year...Brynn was Elena, a Barbie Rainbow fairy! We got this costume from Big Lots, since it was a costume from the previous year...but it was PERFECT because she was obsessed with Elena!

Last year she was another Barbie! She was Mariposa, the Butterfly Fairy :)

She grew SO much from last year to this year!!

Well, that's it! Sorry for my rambling! For all of you on Facebook and saw that Miss Brynn was puking last night...she's thankfully feeling better, still home from school though, parked on the couch watching PBS :)

-Rach

Motivation Monday!

*Note: This post contains a super gross picture of myself. Continue at your own risk*

Here goes my first day in my weight loss journey!

When Nick and I got married, I was 140 lbs, a size 6 (darn near a 4), and running daily. Now I get all proud of myself for walking with the kids to the park, or joke about jumping around like a maniac at photoshoots to count towards exercise. No more of THAT! (Well, I'll still jump around like a maniac, but that won't be my only form of cardio!)

Without further ado...here I am. Looking like death. Huge hips and a big gut. I opted to not get a shower/do hair/makeup, so hopefully every picture after this one will be less-scary! ;)





Today Nick and I are going to the YMCA, where I plan on running at least a mile on the treadmill, doing a full circuit of lifting, and working on my abs. I *will* do it tomorrow as well. And Thursday and Friday. I will. I will. I will.

As far as eating...gosh, this is where I need the most motivation. So far today I've had 3 cups of coffee with my low-cal mocha mix...about 30 calories per cup. I need heathy and flavorful recipes...so let me have them!

Alright, on to nicer pictures....

We had so much fun Trick-or-Treating this year! It's the first year we've actually had friends with other kids to go with! We met Sarah and Nansie's families at their parents' house for pizza and then set off for just about TWO hours!! The kids had a blast and got a TON of candy (Lord give me willpower to keep away from it). Here are some of my favorite pictures from the night:

Our pumpkins (or punkeens as Nicholas calls them): All freehanded by yours truly and carved by my expert pumpkin carver husband!

My gorgeous little Bat-erina! I love love loved this costume!

Nicholas and Sarah's little girl Harper...he is quite smitten with her! (Who wouldn't be?!)

Nansie's son, Jake the Ninja on his way to the next house!

My little T-Rex...:)

Yesterday after church, Nick had a football game/Family picnic that we went to and had so much fun!


After Nick's game (he totally has a black eye by the way...even though it's FLAG football), Josie got some stinky, sweaty Daddy kisses!

Brynn will be 6 years old this Friday...where oh WHERE has the time gone? I am completely holding on to these last days of her being 5 years old...6 sounds SO much older than 5...

Mommy's little beatnik...

No joke, he probably ate a dozen Oreo cookies...they were just sitting out on a table and everytime I saw him, he was shoving another one in his mouth!!

Now for a quick run to the grocery store with Nicholas (I will NOT buy a donut), and then the YMCA!

-Rach

Getting back to Blogging

Okay, as the busy season is winding down, Josie is getting older (and easier!), I'm really wanting to start blogging again! SO. My goal is to blog every single day! What do you think? I also want to do those fun little "Mommy Mondays", "Fun Fridays", etc. things...any ideas??

Here's what I'm thinking:

Sunday -I'd like Sunday's blog to be something about what I got out of church...but Salvation Sunday or Savior Sunday sounds corny...any good ideas???

Monday - I'd like Monday to be Motivation Monday...I'd like to post a picture of me, my weight, what I did for exercise all week, and what my meal plan is.

Tuesday - I'd like Tuesday to have something to do with being creative with food/recipes...like "Trying it out Tuesday" (that's too long) or something like that

Wednesday - Wordless Wednesday...just my absolute favorite picture(s) from the previous week.

Thursday - "Thursday's Thoughts"...I'd like to post here my thoughts about life in general, things that are applicable to MY life, either as a photographer, wife, mom, Christian, etc.

Friday - "Family Friday"...an update of all the Vanovens!

Saturday - This I'd like to have kind of like a wild card...just to blog about whatever...any good name for Saturday? I got nuthin'


So starting with Family Friday...I'll update on the Vanoven Clan!

Nick has been keeping busy with work...working 60 hour work weeks as a conductor again. Things look really promising for him being reinstated as a Dispatcher in January, so we are definitely looking forward to that! We are so thankful that even with him being a Conductor again, he is working enough overtime so that the job move has not affected our finances. Praise God!

Nick has been keeping active by joining a Football League with our church and absolutely loves it! I'm so glad that he has this group of friends, and the chance to burn off some steam for a few hours every Sunday!

Here he is in action:

Speaking of church...We absolutely LOVE ours. It's the Vineyard Community Church in Greenwood, and we have just found it to be hands down the perfect church for us. I leave every service feeling like we should have PAID to hear the pastor/speaker teach. It is always so applicable and engaging. The music is awesome, and they have FREE Starbuck's coffee! :) God has just really blessed the pants off of us lately, and leading us to this church has been one of the best blessings!

Moving on to me, I've been happily S-W-A-M-P-E-D with work this season! I tentatively ventured into weddings, and have found that I love them! I will never leave family/children photography, but it's nice to switch things up!

Back to the blessings, thing...for the past nearly four years that we've been married, I haven't made too many friends. The friends I have made have been too far away (Emily) or have been at separate stages in their lives and our schedules just clash (Sara...my close friend/awesome babysitter...but also a very busy college/nursing student!). I have been praying for a Christian Mommy friend, close in age (hard to find when you have your first baby at 19), with kids the same age.

Wouldn't you know it, God delivered. But not only did he bless me with Sarah (a friend who is A) a Christian B) A mom C) The same age D) All of our kids are the same age! And not only did he bless me with Sarah...I got Candace, Nansie, Ashley, and a whole bunch of other new friends and potential new friends! I feel so incredibly lucky :)

And since I love pictures, I'll cap off the "Rachel section" with this gem that Nick snapped of me with the kids the other night playing London Bridge :)

Brynn has had some major changes since my last post...she's a KINDERGARTENER!!! Ack. When did this happen? She's lost 7 teeth, can read, thinks Hannah Montana is cool, and totally was embarrassed by me at Chuck E. Cheese when I approached her and her friend. And here I was all set to be a cool mom! ;)

She is getting so sweet/thoughtful too. Today at breakfast, she prayed a quick, "ThankyouJesusforthisfood.Amen.", and then said, "Wait, let me do that better," and prayed, "Dear Lord, thank you for my three fathers, Daddy, Ray, and You. Amen." Seriously? How precious. And I can't say how happy it makes me that she acknowledges all three of the special men in her life, and is happy and comfortable with it.

Nicholas is crazy as ever. He is the silliest 2 year old I know. Also the biggest troublemaker. I found him the other day (after nursing and laying down Josie upstairs) pouring himself shots of Children's cough medicine. Yeah. About had a heart attack. I called poison control and they said he would be fine (after I told them how much he took), but that he would probably act, "funny".

Funny was an understatement...the kid was flat out toasted. He was a bucket of giggles who had a hard time walking straight! For about 3 straight hours he amused me by hanging on to the handrail for dear life and staggering up the stairs, falling over laughing, and being all around goofy...goofier than normal. Then, like the poison control lady warned, he crashed and took a 3 hour nap...only to wake up in an extremely bad mood. That's right, my 2 year old was a happy drunk, passed out, then woke up slightly hungover.

The cough medicine (which HAD a child lock and was on the tip top shelf in the kitchen) has now been moved to a secret location.

The littlest Vanoven has been an absolute joy lately. So full of smiles and giggles! The older two LOVE getting the belly laughs out of her, and it just fills my heart with so much love/happiness (yeah yeah, rainbows and unicorns) to see the three of them...they're mine and it's amazing.

Josie has started to not only rock back and forth on her hands and knees, but she gets up in push-up position (hands and feet)! No crawling yet, but I'm sure that's not far away! *sniff* She also can't sit up for the life of her, the girl has NO fat to sit on! She's the leanest little thing, even though she eats ALL THE TIME. I exclusively breast fed her up until about a week or so ago, and now she's eating 2 jars of baby food a day. But get this - she HATES fruit/sweet things and LOVES veggies...PEAS are her favorite!!! Such a little quirky girl :)

Welp, that's it for Family Friday! I promise next time it won't be a book, since I won't have so much catching up to do!! Wish me luck on this new blogging adventure!!