Sleepy Baby

Mara fell asleep on the floor last weekend while playing and I couldn't resist snapping some precious shots of her cuddled up on the carpet. I snapped pictures for a good 10 minutes (with my flash on) and she didn't even wake up. This was one of my favorite pictures so I made a couple different "looks" with it.

Flower Child

Pictures of the Week (from last week)

Mara playing at the park. She loved the dandelions :) When the weather is nice again, we'll have to send her out in our yard to pick all of ours for us! Hahaha.



...and she saw two ducks walking through the park and chased them into a nearby wooded area. The whole time she ran after them she yelled, "Duck, duck, duck." She was out of breath by the time we picked her up to drag her away from the woods where they had escaped from Mara-the-running-tot.

Outdoor Fun

Mara loves loves the warmer weather! Aaron and I do too because it wears her out to play outside and she goes to be earlier!!! Win-win!

(Click on the slideshow to view the pictures larger.)

More Pictures of the Ballerina

You can see the rest of Mara's 1-year photos that I took in the slideshow below or you can click on an image in the slideshow to view the photos larger. Little ballerina...

Children's Museum

We visited the Children's Museum on New Year's Eve and I'm just now getting around to posting the pictures. You can click on the slide show below to view the pictures in a larger format.

A Year Ago...

A year ago today, at right about this time, the induction process was started to bring my beautiful little daughter into this world...and what a PROCESS it was. Little did I know at that time that it would take well over 24 hours of labor before I would finally get the reward of meeting my little girl. I was telling Aaron this morning that mothers always say, "You forget about the pain of labor and delivery," and let me tell you, "I have NOT forgotten." But another thing that all mothers say is, "It's all worth it," and I can completely agree with that. Those 30-some hours of labor, pushing, etc. were the most challenging and difficult hours of my life, but I can defintely say that having Mara in my life is more than worth what I went through. I am in no hurry to embark on labor and delivery again any time soon (or pregnancy for that matter since that was no piece of cake for me either) but at least I know now that every bit of discomfort is completely worth it when you can look back a year later and marvel that you made it through all of that and have this amazing little person to love for the rest of your life as a result. A friend at church today said that on your first child's first birthday you reflect back on the experience of their actual "birth day" like no other, and I have a feeling she is right. I keep having flashbacks of moments in the hospital, the wonderful people that helped me through (like Aaron, mom, Carol, nurse Misty), the ones that made it more difficult like nurse "Nazi" (the nurse that Carol and I both wanted to hit...remember her Carol?!,) but most of all, I keep thinking back to how amazing it was to know that Aaron and I created this precious, beautiful little baby and that somehow, through all of it, I was able to bring her into this world, healthy. Thank you God for this wonderful blessing you have given to us.

1 Year Photo Shoot!!!

I can't believe that my baby turns 1 year old next week!!! In honor of the occasion, I took Mara's 1 year pictures over the weekend. With Grammy's help to get Mara to smile and stay within my viewfinder I was able to get quite a few good pictures! I haven't had time to photoshop all of them yet, but I thought I would put a little "teaser" up online for everyone. More to come...

Lots of Stuff

Lots of stuff has happened since my last post...Christmas, Mara started walking, etc. etc., but I don't have time to post on all of it right now. I spent my few minutes of internet time today posting all of the Christmas cards that I created on my design website. Some of you have asked to see them, so if you want to check them out, head on over to www.InspiredDesignStudios.blogspot.com and take a peak. (You'll notice that there is no Christmas card of Aaron, Mara, and me...I didn't have time to make one of my own! LOL) I hope to have more time to post on some of the recent fun of parenting and the holidays really soon!!