When Someone Didn't Take a Nap...

The other day, someone didn't take their nap,

they decided they were too busy...

Talking on the Phone:

Climbing on the coffee table eating some snacks:

And coloring pretty pictures: 

Which gives mommy no break, and makes a tiring day. 

Matchy-Match

So for some odd reason Thomas and I always seem to be color coordinated without me meaning to, just one week I notice that I did it, I think I just "feel" like a color one day and since I pick out both of ours clothes we end up matching. I told Dustin about it, and we kind of laughed about it, well the other day I put this shirt on and I was thinking "Hey, Thomas has a shirt similar to this one, I'm going to have him wear it so we can match" because for some reason it seemed funny to me, and I showed Dustin and said, "Look we are matchy-matching!" Yes, for some reason I thought it was hilarious, looking back it's not that funny but at the time I thought I was HILARIOUS! Anyway we took some pictures to show our AWESOMENESS!

This is Our Life

Sometimes I feel like our life is crazy trying to live our dream as artists. 

A lot of people ask me how do I find the time to do art and be a stay-home mom?

Well, I don't have a lot of time to do my art that's for sure, but I try to work on it at least once a day.

So here is kinda our schedule for a normal day:

Dustin's work schedule is not always the 9-5 sometimes it's 11-7 and anything in the between. But when he's not working at SeaWorld he's working on other art jobs at home.

I'm lucky most days, Dustin will get Thomas in the morning while I get ready for the day (yes I'm one lucky girl).

After I get ready I usually take Thomas out to do something because this kid goes crazy if he doesn't get out of the house at least once a day. Usually it's SeaWorld and we go see a show or 2 and about half the animals, some days I take him to Aquatica water park, or the park, the mall, the library, and some days this is when I do my grocery shopping. 

This works great a lot of the time because Dustin is working on art and it's hard to stay focus when Thomas is at home because we don't really have a studio that Dustin can work in. 

Then we come home, have lunch, I give him milk and rock him (this is when I read), then nap time.

THAT'S when I do art. 

If  I'm lucky I get 2 hours in, and that's it, so I have to work quickly.

After Thomas wakes up, he wants to sit on my lap and watch a movie while he is still waking up. That's when I do my blogging, editing pictures, research anything about photography and editing. 

After 15 minutes Thomas is ready to play, so I play with him, but he's also good at entertaining himself so this is when I will clean, and sometimes I try to lift weights and do workouts but that's usually a fail because he thinks it's a game. This is when I will do editing if he's playing by himself.

Usually before dinner I will take Thomas for a walk, then when I prepare dinner I will have him finish his movie while he drinks some juice. 

After dinner, if Dustin is home he will play and wrestle with Thomas, give him a bath, while I pick up and do dishes. 

Then read books, prayers, bedtime. If we are on schedule he's down by 8.

We finish picking up, and Dustin is back on the computer painting. 

This is when I would read, browse online, and relax. 

Recently though we started this thing where I would read to Dustin and he would listen while he was working on art. I love doing this because we used to read books together but we kinda stopped, and also I felt like I never had time with Dustin because he was always working. We always have Friday nights be our "date night" but I'm little selfish and I want more time with my husband. So this works great for me, I love it because we talk more and we discuss about the books we are reading. Right now we are on the 3rd Hunger Games book, I've already read them last year but since the movie came out I wanted to re-read them. Next book we are going to read is Timeline from Michael Crichton, again I have read that one before but I think Dustin will like it too. 

On Dustin's day off, sometimes we do something as a family, but most days I take Thomas out of the apartment the WHOLE day so Dustin can work. Thomas loves it, I get worn out by the end, trying to entertain an 18 month-old can be tiresome. We are looking forward to the future when we have a studio so it's easier for both Dustin and I

So what are your days like? How do you and your spouse cope with crazy life and find time for each other?


*A little side note, you know how we had a fire in our complex three weeks ago, well EXACTLY 2 weeks later, same time in the morning, 1:30 to be exact, there was another fire! This time the alarm woke up Dustin, and this time Dustin was the one that said we should get out when I was thinking it was probably a prank, well it wasn't, it was another fire. This time it was about 6 doors down from us, and below us instead of 2 doors down like last time.  I was more calm this time, while Dustin was getting our external drive so we wouldn't lose all our files, this round I smelt smoke quicker because we had to pass the apartment to get to the parking lot, but this fire was WAY smaller. There was only 1 fire truck instead of 3, and we were back in our apartment in half hour. I told Dustin if there is a third fire it's time to move. Now they are saying these fires have been on purpose so they are trying to find out whose doing them, because both apartments were vacant. 

Thomas at 18 Months!

I finally got the pictures I wanted!

 I wasn't planning on taking pictures today but it worked out anyway!

The wrapping paper was still on the wall by our bed when Thomas climbed up the bed and sat there, playing and having a good time, so I saw an opportunity and took the camera out. 

Also Dustin wasn't at work yet, and when he came in the bedroom he got Thomas laughing his head off and distracted him while I was shooting like a mad women. 

So here's Thomas as 18 months:

He loves bubbles, 

I've regretted buying him a huge thing of bubbles because that's all he wants me to do.

He loves playing outside, going on walks, to the park and SeaWorld

His favorite animal in SeaWorld at the moment is Jelly Fish, he could stare at them all day.

He loves to sword fight with any kind stick or spoon.

He loves being read to.

"mom" is his favorite word, or the one he uses the most.

He likes nursery (so far).

He's not a big eater.

He's showing more interest in coloring.

Loves playing in the water.

And he is one happy boy.

Take 1 and Take 2

Thomas  will be 18 months next month so I decided to take his 18 month pictures early since next month we are going to be traveling all over the country. Well, let's just say I have been frustrated, I can't get the pictures that I want, Thomas has just been too busy being a little boy to sit down and work with me. ;)

So here are 2 failed photo shoots, but I'm not giving up just yet, I'm going to try one more time when Dustin is home, because I'm hoping Dustin will be able to distract him enough to keep him in one spot, and get him to smile, because many of these he is crying. 

The first shoot, I liked the colors a lot better, but Dustin said the pictures were weird because Thomas is licking the bubble blower, I agreed but it was the only way to make him happy. 

The second shoot I felt better prepared, I purchased 2 suckers from an AWESOME candy store near us, thinking I would have better success, ummmm nope...

silly me to think I could get those perfect pictures.  

TAKE 1:

TAKE 2:

Hopefully next time I will get better pictures, I'm kinda doubting it.

A funny side note, so Thomas hates getting his picture done (when I'm trying to pose him) but he LOVES looking at pictures of him. He points at the computer while I'm editing and he yells out of excitement " TA TE TA", translation: "It's Thomas!" 

He's All Boy

boy, n.

1. noise with dirt on it

I love my little boy, can't you tell? Is it because I take A GAZILLION (is that a word?) pictures of him, and post about him everyday?
He really is a lot of fun, I really like this stage, he's really active and loves to play, but still has cuddle time with mommy.

I really like how these pictures turned out, even though they aren't what I had in mind. That exact same day I bought him some rain boots and a umbrella so I could take "cute" pictures of him jumping in the puddles with his cute little boots and umbrella, ummm.... think again, he HATED the boots (he hates shoes as I have mentioned before) so I'm lucky to even got him to wear his flip flops, and he didn't "jump" in the puddles, he DIVED in them, what can I say he is ALL boy, and I love him for it!

Just a Few Things I Want to Remember...

I want to remember that Thomas is funny about his feet. He HATES putting shoes on, it's a battle that he usually wins. He would be happy walking around barefoot everywhere, EXCEPT on grass and sand, if I put that boy down in either of those things  he freaks out and starts crying. Also he HATES when I try to cut his toe nails (and finger nails) so they are always long, because I'm scared to cut him because he squirms so much when I try. I hoping this is a stage in his life and not a permanent thing. We will see I guess...

I want to remember when he would climb on EVERYTHING that he could. Even before he started walking he was climbing on everything. 

This is his latest thing, climbing on the recliner to look out the window, he LOVES outside so when we are inside he is  always looking out. It rains here a lot in Florida so we have a fun time watching it from the window. 

Dustin says he's our little spiderman, crawling everywhere.

A Little Preview

Here is a little preview of a project that I have been working on with Jocelyn from We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ.  If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you need to. She does AN AMAZING JOB, she talks about anything from FHE ideas to advice on teaching your children about the gospel. It's a blog I check regularly.

We are doing a book together called "God Gave Us Bodies", and it will be available to anyone for FREE! Great deal right? I'm not sure when it will be done because it's been taking me a little longer than I anticipated between being a mom and taking turns on the computer with Dustin (he too is working on a book), but I'm about half way done so it should be SOON!

Working on this book has been amazing experience thus far, it's been spiritually uplifting for me and has given me some missionary experiences (which I plan on talking about later).

This painting still has a few touches here and there but I was too excited not to share, and letting you know a head of time about this project so you can look for it when it is available!

Splish Splash I was Taking a Bath

Splish Splash I was taking a bath....

When mommy decides to take out the camera AGAIN!

This was the face I got when I first pulled out the camera...

and it's my favorite one from that night. 

It looks like it could be something Norman Rockwell would paint.

Thomas loves his bath time. I just have to say "bath?" and he start running to the bathroom with the biggest smile.