{ embrace the camera : 8.30 }

Me and my two little people... one internal, one external ;] 

We had our 20 week ultrasound last night... stay tuned for an update!! :] 

{ embrace the camera : 7.26 }

Now this is an ETC picture if you've ever seen one. Sick as a dog, no make up, crazy messy hair... the works!! But Ryan and I snuggled on the couch and had a "moment" so I snagged a picture on my phone. I love my snuggle bug!! 

Linking up with Emily at The Anderson Family Crew... 

{ embrace the camera : 7.19 }

Wowza. I haven't done ETC since February. *sheepish* You can see here and here for my main reason why... and just being busy in general, too.

Ryan and I went to a parade last weekend for our town "festival." The parade is pretty much the only thing we do because everything else involves drinking... or being around intoxicated people... which doesn't happen to be on my list of favorite things to do, especially with a little one around. Anyways, we enjoyed the parade and got one good awkward photo of the two of us, in which my head looks ginormous and the angle is funky. At least Ryan is cute, as always! You can see the rest of the photos from the parade here. :]

{ embrace the camera : 2.9 }

Linking up with Emily for Embrace the Camera... 

Me and my goofy little love. This is truly an ETC photo... post shower, wet-ish hair, still in sweats... but look at how cute HE is!! :] 

{ embrace the camera : 2.2 }

Today I am embracing the camera with the love of my life :] Last week, he took time off from work and we got to spend A WHOLE WEEK together. It was wonderful! We went to the Wisconsin Dells... you can see all the pictures from that trip here. Ryan really enjoyed it, I think! I only took one picture of Jake and I the entire time, but oh well... it was a good one! I love my husband so much. In March we will have been married for 4 years... wow! I am SO blessed. Thank you, Jesus, for such a hardworking, loyal, selfless, considerate, helpful man!

{ embrace the camera : 1.19 }

No words today, just the photo. :]

<3

Embrace The Camera with Emily @ the anderson crew

{ embrace the camera : 1.12 }

I need to get better at doing this. I don't know why, but Thursdays seem to be the busiest days of the week sometimes for me! And then I don't post because I know I won't have time to write on other's ETC posts, so I don't feel like I should post my own!  

Anyway. 

One of my goals for 2012 has been to blog more, in general. As you can see... that hasn't been happening. Oops. 

I was hoping for a lot of great pictures during Christmas time, especially because it was going to be Ryan's first... but the little guy just so happened to be not feeling well for basically the entire week of Christmas. He didn't want to be more than 2" away from me all week. I liked the snuggles :] but I was sad that he didn't feel all that well. Teething plus a cold... no fun! 

So for today's ETC... this was Christmas Eve, and it was one of the many "Mama, hold me; I don't feel well!" moments that we had. 

I like it, even though he looks so sad, because snuggles are such an important thing :] You absolutely cannot snuggle too much. 

{ embrace the camera : 12.1 }

I know I say it every year around this time... but boy, December sure came up fast! In just two days my little boy will be 10 months old... this has really been one of the most fun years ever! It has also come with a lot of challenges, as any parent knows... but I am so blessed to be a mom to this little guy.

Lately we've been dealing with teething. Ryan already has his bottom two middle teeth, that he got around 7.5-8 months... but now he's working on his top two middle teeth. It's been four days of very obvious discomfort. I feel so awful for him! He's been snacking on frozen grapes a lot; that seems to help some. Other than that and just spending most of the day snuggling, I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do... it's kind of one of those things that just needs to happen, I guess. He's been sleeping with us the past few nights (and I've loved every minute of it).

Anyway, my husband Jake snapped this picture when Ryan and I were snuggling on the couch on Sunday. Ryan had just woken up from his nap, and I went in to get him... and he nuzzled into my arms and fell asleep again. We snooze on the couch for 45 minutes. I love my snuggle times with him :]

Linking up with Emily for ETC... Emily is pretty much my hero right now. She has 5 littles under the age of 7 and she's anout 39 weeks pregnant with their sixth. What a rockstar!

{ embrace the camera : 11.17 }

Linking up with Emily for Embrace the Camera...

I knew this day was coming... this month would be here before we knew it. My friend just had her baby... and 9 months ago, when she told us she was expecting, I thought to myself... "Ryan is going to be 9 months old when her baby comes! Whoa! That seems so far away..." but I knew it would be here before I realized it. Well, her baby is here... and my baby is 9 months old.

And as someone said here, he's been an outside baby as long as he was an inside baby, give or take. ;]

Thinking back over the last 9 months... and all that we've been through, or are going through, as parents... I can't help but get a little emotional at all the "growing up" my little boy has done. It makes my heart so happy to see him thriving and loving life.

He's gotten a lot more snuggly lately.

I guess, that when he was a baby and couldn't "go" anywhere, he seemed snuggly then... because I held him a lot.  

But now that he's mobile and on the go, he actually comes to me for hugs and lovin'. He lays his head on my shoulder and just looks at me with his big brown eyes.

{rubbin' my hand... "it's okay, mama, i'll be your lil' guy forever!"}

 

 

I love the sleepy, snuggly moments we have together. I really do treasure them. And I'm trying to treasure everything... even the middle-of-the-night wakings, and diaper changing battles, and when I feel like I just need 5 MINUTES ALONE... I know that one day, I'm going to miss it all. I try to remember that all of these opportunities are God-given appointments that he has blessed me with to help grow, shape and mold this little guy.

Oh, I just love him!

{ embrace the camera : 11.10 }

Cardboard boxes are so much fun, aren't they? Ryan had fun being pushed and pulled around in a diaper box the other day... of course we had to take a few pictures, because that's what good first time parents do, right? Take pictures of their first child's every moment? ;] In all seriousness though, I hope we take as many pictures of our next littles as much as we do of Ryan.

 {cat getting ready to attack ryan}

 {cat escaping. and yes, my 9 month old wears size 2 diapers. he's kind of a peanut.}

 {papa and ryan}

{"sooooooooo big!"}

Link up with Emily over at The Anderson Crew for ETC! Their adoption of Elsa was made official yesterday... yahoo!!

{ embrace the camera : 10.27 }

 

I can't believe it is already the end of October! My little guy is almost 9 months old... whoa! The past few months have been such a journey. I'm so blessed to be his mama. He is such a treasure! I pray that he will grow to be a young man who follows the Lord with all of his heart.

My sister was here while I was taking Ryan's 8 month pictures, and I asked her to snap a couple of Ryan and I together... they are now some of my favorite pictures of us!

 

Link up with Emily for ETC over at The Anderson Crew!

{ embrace the camera : 10.20 }

tickles and kisses!

Ryan loves being tickled and kissed; he squirms and giggles if I get the right spot. Love my little guy!

I think it's time for a remote for the timer on our camera...


Embrace the Camera with Emily!!

{ embrace the camera : 10.13 }

Whoa. I haven't embraced the camera in, well... like two months. We moved (wanna see our house?) ... and then just got internet last week! I've missed this!

So, here's my "embracing" photo for this week; Jake called from work. Ryan [who is 8 months now... say what? EIGHT?!] always loves "talking to his papa on the phone. My sister was here so I asked her to snap a photo of us. This makes my heart so happy!!

Ryan loves his papa. As soon as the truck turns the corner to our house, Ryan seems to understand that it's time to celebrate when I say "PAPA'S HOME!" Jake pops around the corner with a "Hi Ryan!" and we cheer and say "Yaaaay, Papa!" and Ryan claps. It just melts me to see how much this little guy loves my big guy.

I love my family. :]

{ embrace the camera : 8.4 }

i'm sick.
again.
third time this year. 
let's just say that me and my immune system will be having a little chat once i'm fully functional.

is it cheating to use old(er) pictures for ETC? ...if so, i guess i'm cheating. whoops... my bad ;) i blame being sick. i promise, next week, there WILL be a photo of me from during the week. these pictures were taken around our first year anniversary by a good friend of ours. i love them. i have three albums worth on FB. *grin*

 (yes, i'm like 6 feet tall and my husband is like... 5'6". he gets the best view, he says.)

linkin' up with emily... now back to the couch i go where my ice water, cough drops and youngin' wait for me. i hope i didn't get any of you sick :)  

{ embrace the camera : 7.28 }

I'm linking up with Emily today for ETC! You should, too. :]

Here are some photos of me and (almost) 6 month old Ryan enjoying our new swing. He loves being outside!!

{ embrace the camera : 7.21 }

I've been missing Kenya lately. A LOT. So today for ETC, I'm posting some "oldies but goodies" from our time in Kenya in 2010.

My husband and I were working at a discipleship school with another couple from our church. The discipleship program was for high school graduates. They would come to live with us on the farm for 10 months, and they would work on the farm to pay for their stay. After devotions and breakfast, the students would either work in the garden or take care of the animals. After a break or two for tea, lunch was eaten and then the classes would start. We had two 2 hour classes a day on various spiritual topics. Occasionally Jake and I were able to take the students out on mission trips. Well, they more so took US... it was obviously less of a cultural shock for them than for us!

Anyways, we had a commitment to be there for 11 months, but because I was so sick with this guy, who is now 5 months old:

[grumpy mc. grumperson]

...we had to come home early. I was very sick and we weren't sure if he was being affected in any way... we drank a lot of random water and ate a lot of food that we hadn't prepared. What else are you supposed to do on a mission trip when these people give you all that they have? You eat... you drink... and you pray!! Thankfully, our baby was not in danger... and my sickness lasted for a couple weeks before I felt sick solely from the pregnancy.

Anyways, our experience there was a blast... but it was very hard, too... and we learned so much. I miss so many things about it.

[on a mission trip in meru, kenya. 17 weeks pregnant]

 [my good friend phillister (a student leader) and I]

[all of the girls at the school; I was 25 weeks pregnant here]

 [me and one of the students, mary]

[with one of my little friends on the farm; this guy died the next day... wah!]

All of my blog entries with Kenya pictures have been tagged, so if you'd like to see some more photos, you'll be able to find them mostly under either "Africa" or "photography" in my labels or other random African-sounding labels... ha!

Remember to link up with Emily!! 

{ embrace the camera : 7.14 }

It's time to Embrace The Camera!! Here are a few pictures from last month that I just hadn't posted yet... reading/playing time with my little guy, Ryan. 

 [so intrigued by the book... wide eyed!]

["night time for little pookie"]

 [now he's intrigued by the camera... wide eyed again!]

 [a rhyming bible for toddlers... he loves the pictures!]

 [goofy grin and playing with his favorite ball]

[chewing on absolutely EVERYTHING! teething?]

[oh hi, mom...! brown eyed beauty... er, handsome]

Remember to link up with Emily!! It's her birthday tomorrow; leave her lots of love!

{ embrace the camera : 6.23 }

Jake's brother got married a couple weekends ago. I know I just recently shared some wedding pictures, but for the sake of ETC, here are some of just me, my husband and our 4 1/2 month old son, Ryan.