Mr. Juggs

After a 4 week "gestational" period, a period involving the meticulous saving and scrubbing of every milk jug to come through our door, we are proud to welcome Mr. Juggs Peterson into our family. He stands about 4 foot tall, but weighs less than a pound- making him the member of the family with the lowest BMI.

Funny story from this week: While planning our strategy for making our milk jug skeleton, we decided it would be cute to put a black & white polka dot bow on the skeleton's head, making it a girl skeleton. The bow would be the final touch on the skeleton, and the very last part of the assembly process. However, halfway through the skeleton assembly, Laila named the skeleton Mr. Plastic. Then, she changed the name to Mr. Juggs. She forgot that we were going to add a bow and make this a girl skeleton; but, given her choices of names, it's just as well. Mrs. Plastic, Mrs. Juggs, Mrs. Plastic Juggs... I think I'm better off not reminding her about the bow...

Anyway, not much new is going on this week. Wedding season is coming to an end, and after next week my life will slow down considerably. I have quite a few bookings and individual sessions through the fall, but nothing too hectic or time-consuming. ((Praise the Lord!)) Laila still loves preschool and she has a boyfriend that she plans on marrying. Some of their common interests include playing with playdoh, Lion King figurines, and eating goldfish crackers. Logan is still doing great with his glasses- and he is starting to get a very active imagination. He is really into making funny faces and calling people the wrong names- he calls me Dad, he calls Dad a tractor, and he calls Laila Mommy. He thinks he's a riot, and I concur.

Have a great weekend! Until next time!


**We got the idea and directions for Mr. Juggs from the Halloween Special Edition of Family Fun Magazine. They have so many awesome ideas! We have a subscription to the magazine, and seriously, we find something great to make in every issue. Disney owns Family Fun, so it's no surprise at all that it has a ton of creative ideas and worthwhile content.

Don't go all "Naomi Campbell" on me!

Here is a photo I took of Logan last week, after we decided to have an impromptu shoot while Laila was at school. We had just gotten done having our morning snack when I decided we needed to have a photo shoot, right then- he just looked too cute not to. So, we drove out to some nearby farmland and stopped at a soybean field. All was going well for about 3 minutes, then Logan decided a tractor should show up since we were at a field. He shouted stop, put his hands up in the air, and refused to pose for any more pictures until his demands were met. Not surprisingly, a tractor never showed up and 8 frames into our shoot we were done. Just like a rock star that refuses to do the show without having the right sparkling water backsage, my Logan refused to be a little model without a tractor.

We came home and played tractors instead, this seemed to be satisfactory repayment for his photo shoot- which is good, because I really didn't want his agents hunting me down!

Big week!

The day that I had been dreading all summer came this week- the day that I couldn't so much as mention without being brought to tears, the day I stressed and obsessed about- Laila went to her first day of preschool. And, I'm happy to report a lot of my anxiety was completely unwarranted- she did great, and I did better than expected.

The morning started off with breakfast and cuddles. Laila was a little too excited to eat, but after much coaxing I managed to get her to eat a bit. She put on her little purple pony jumper that she said would be just "perfect" to wear, and we headed out the door. On the car ride there my eyes were able to see the road about 50% of the time. The other 50 % of the time there were in the rearview mirror looking at her or clouded with very well concealed tears.

She gripped my hand tightly as we walked into the building, but the second that we entered her classroom any apprehension disappeared- a hug, a kiss, an excited "Bye Mommy!" and she was gone. I had been worried that there may have been some anxiety or tears, as is typical with many kids her age, but I should have known better- she is such a confident and self assured kid!

I couldn't help but feel proud as I left. She didn't worry and ask if I was going to come back and get her when school was done, because she knows how much she means to me and that I've never let her down before. She didn't cry and cling to my leg, because she feels confident in my love for her. In that moment I knew that in these past 3.5 years, undoubtedly the best years of my life, that I have done something very, very right.

And, I also felt proud that I didn't have a total meltdown; Logan, however, didn't fare so well. He cried for about 10 minutes after we dropped her off and kept repeating "Laila!" ... So, I did what any other good mother would do- went to Kroger's, bought some Oreos, and we ate- Oh my goodness, did we eat! While we waited for Laila, Buddy and I sat in the car and cuddled, practiced the alphabet, worked on our shapes and sang songs. I hugged him a little tighter and held on for a little longer, because I know this time next year I won't just be leading one of my babies through these hallways, but two.

Skipping the Self Gratuitous Introduction

Good morning to you,
Good morning to you,
Good morning my sunshines,
Good morning to you!

Yes, I just sang you good morning to the tune of "Happy Birthday to You." I was a bit unsure how to start my first post on my new blog, and yes, that's the best I could come up with. ((At this point, it's completely natural to question whether you want to continue reading this post...)) I had thought about doing a "About Me" post, but it seemed so self indulgent. And, after reading a few posts of that nature, don't they all seem the same anyway?

Basically my blog will be updating friends and family on the latest in the Peterson household- photos, news, projects, etc. I always have people ask, "What do you do all day, don't you get bored?" in reference to me being a stay-at-home mom. The answers: Lots, and No. And, hopefully, I can give some insight into what we do!