July 12, 2010

Dear Drew,
I can't believe how fast you're growing! You are 14 months old now and are so smart! Your granny gave you a shape sorter ball and you could literally spend hours sitting and placing the shapes in the holes! You love it! Tonight at dinner I got you to shake your head and say "Mmmm...good!" It was so cute! I love how you shake both hands and say "Gone gone!" and especially the way you yell out "Mama! Mama! Mama!" until I ask you "What?". Every time you ask me the same question..."Manema nema blah blah ball?" I so wish I knew what you were saying! I love you so much!
Mama ;)

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7/10/10

Dear Dakota,
This year, instead of soccer, you decided (with a little push from your dad) to play football. Although I enjoyed watching you play soccer, I am so excited to watch you play football! I hope that you choose to excel in football like you do in most everything you do. Always remember that no matter what you are doing, you should give 100% 100% of the time! That is all your dad and I ask of you and your brothers! Doing so makes you an excellent role model for your brothers and those around you, builds character and gives you a sense of self pride and satisfaction at the end of the day. You will never regret giving all you've got! I am so proud of you for everything you are and all you've accomplished in your 8 years!
Love you!
Mom :)

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July 7, 2010

Dear Dillon,

This summer I have been so proud of you! You have learned so much and have successfully made the transition between being a baby to a little boy! You have learned to ride your bicycle with no training wheels, tie your shoes, catch the ball in your glove and swim! Wow, have you been busy! You are constantly trying to one-up Dakota. I can't believe how you've grown.

I love you so much!

Mom :)

New idea!

I think I'm going to try a new idea...I think I am going to try to write little notes to each of the boys as often as I can, telling them what they did that was important, how it made them feel, how it made me feel....let's see how this works!

Studio 19

My idea of a small photography business is still fresh on my mind, but the idea has changed a little. I am very excited that my brother and I have decided to do this together. His wife, Kristin, came up with our business name, Studio 19 Photography, and we both fell in LOVE with it! The number 19 is very special to me because it was my number all through school in softball. When my brother made the Jr High baseball team, I was so happy that he chose to be #19 as well! Now, my son Dakota carries on the tradition of #19.

Christopher and I are very excited and anxious to get this thing off the ground. We have a wedding package price list created and standard packages put together, but not released yet. I feel confident that we will work well together and take excellent photos. We have similar styles, but not identical. I hope that we will learn from and feed off each other when we are working together!

Has it been 3 months?

I can't believe how I do this! So many things have happened since my last post in November! Thanksgiving, Christmas, new milestones for the kids, new decisions and resolutions for myself. Shame on me!

I will start by saying that January 1, 2010 I made a decision that I am going to get serious about losing this weight. It has been such a burdon since I had Dakota, but I have never been serious enough to do something about it until now. Since January 1st, I have lost about 10-12 lbs. I am very proud of myself because this is a huge accomplishment for me! I have been watching my calorie intake (NOT counting calories) and doing step aerobics for 30 minutes most nights on the Wii Fit. It's amazing what 30 minutes can do! I have had many compliments from people about just this small amound of weight lost, so I very much look forward to losing even more and getting MORE compliments!

Drew is standing alone! He has taken a few steps on his own, but is not walking alone yet. He is 9 months old now. I noticed the other day that he has 6 teeth! I had no idea! No wonder he has been biting everything and everyone in sight! 4 up top and 2 on bottom! He is SO hyper all the time! He is just everywhere! Definitely the most active of my three boys, even though Dillon was a handful himself!

Dillon has finally started wanting to learn his letters. He can write his name very well, and pretty much anything else I show him first. He is very independent though, so he always wants to do it "all my bad self". He is very excited that he will be playing rag ball this year! It is going to be so much fun to see him and his little friends out there on the baseball field learning how to play baseball! I can't wait!

Dakota had a very difficult winter. He had strep throat three times and had to have his tonsils out in December. He missed a lot of school, but has been much better since he got his tonsils out. His piano teacher had some health problems, so she had to quit teaching, but recommended a new teacher too. Dakota was apprehensive about getting a new teacher, so we decided to take a little while off. He is so busy anyway. I don't want him to have too much on him, even though I want him to be a well balanced person. He is so talented and so special already.

Shea has just absolutely outdone himself. He isn't much of a gift giver, unless it is something practical that he knows you can use. For Valentine's Day, he bought me a Pandora Bracelet with 3 D charms, a March, April and May birthstone charm, a Bible, and an elephant. I can't wait for the next special occasion to see what he'll get next. I am so blessed to have a husband who is my best friend. I can share my deepest darkest thoughts and secrets with him and know that he will stand by me and love me unconditionally. Not many people have that relationship with their husband or wife. This year will make 9 years that we have been married, and our relationship has only gotten better with every year. God is good and blesses those who include him in their marriage and lives.

Love!

Playing Catch-up!

Wow! What a busy, busy few weeks!

Drew Coleman is just growing and developing SO fast! In the last 2-3 weeks, he has started calling me "Mama", sitting up, crawling, eating solid foods. He has gotten a tooth, learned to clap his hands...what else? So much! He is just a busy bee! Of all three of my boys, I predict that he will be the "busiest"! As soon as he started crawling, he went directly for any cord in sight! My laptop had to move from the living room, to here on the kitchen table, out of sight. Out of sight=out of mind, right? I'm sure in the weeks to come, he will venture into the kitchen and find my cord again!

I read back over previous months posts about how bad this poor baby was the first 3 months. Those months were truly HORRID! Now, though, he is the sweetest, most lovable, huggable baby! I so love him! With Dakota and Dillon, it was like they were growing and developing before I even knew it, but with Drew, every day I see a difference in him! It's crazy! Perhaps it is because I am older now and pay more attention? Whatever the case, it is so sad and so exciting at the same time to see him grow daily! I am so blessed to be a stay at home mom. I couldn't stand the thoughts of someone else raising my kids and them witnessing all of their firsts instead of me.

Dillon had his first season of soccer! He really did great! I think he is just going to be a natural athlete! I am so disappointed though, because this season was so rainy and yucky, almost every game was a make-up game because the original game was rained out. Because of that, he only had ONE day game, which means I only have one full game full of pictures, instead of my usual 5,000 pictures of a season (no that number is not an exaggeration!). When he plays baseball this spring, I will be sure to take thousands of pictures, weather permitting! I couldn't be more proud of my Dillon. Our family joked for a long time about him being my trouble maker, because he is "different" than Dakota was. Dillon really tries hard to please everyone and it is very important to him that he is a good boy all the time. When he is sleepy, he can be a little booger, but any other time he is an absolute angel. I couldn't imagine my life without that one. I just love him so much!

And Dakota - so proud of my smart boy! He is continuing his piano and is doing great. He is becoming more dedicated and is practicing more and more. I love that he loves music. The day he was born, I said "look at these long fingers! These are piano-playing fingers!" Sure enough, mama knows best! He got his first 2nd grade report card last week. He made ALL A's! His lowest grade was a 97 in math. I was a little bit disappointed in that grade though, because he is SO smart in math, but isn't the best student and rushes through things, or half way does them. Still, though, I am a proud mama and gave him nothing but praises for his good work! He is such a special boy. I told him the day he brought his report card home that he should take it and show his Nana and Pawpaw Charlie, and maybe he would get a little bit of money for his good grades and he said "Nah, it isn't important to get money for good grades...I need to make good grades even without money!" How smart is he?

A week ago, today, our family welcomed our newest little one. Finally, a girl for my side of the family! Casey Ray is the most precious little angel! I am really so proud of my brother. If you know him, you know that Christopher is typically impatient, loud, and carefree. Seeing him hold his new daughter is just an unbelievable sight to me. He is so good and calm and patient. Never have I heard him say "sweet" and "heart" together in a sentence, but he just talks to Casey and calls her "sweetheart" and it is so sweet! And he is being so good to his wife, Kristin. She is amazing too. It is so cool to me that my brother and I both married childhood sweethearts that we have known since we were like 7 years old! We are truly blessed with wonderful spouses and children! God is Good!

My photography business is doing GREAT! I so appreciate the people who have given my new business venture a chance! I so enjoy photographing all these sweet kids, and I look forward to continuing to be a part of each family that I have photographed so far for many years! I love my life and I love my new job! I am looking forward to my first wedding in July at the BEACH! I can't wait!

Shea and I have decided to make some pretty important changes in our lives. I will discuss more in detail hopefully tomorrow, and will post plenty of pictures soon!

Thank you for reading!!!!