Spending this Mother’s Day hanging out with my brood and couldn’t be happier.  Came inside to grab a Fresca, and now I’m heading back out. Hope all of you Mommies (and those who are practically Mommies) have an amazing day today!

Oh, and this–well, this had me in tears (both happy and wistful) this morning (from my middle child):

(Yes, that’s “Sexy Back” the song by JTL…my boys LOVE that song.)

1. I bought art. True, custom artwork, created just for my 3 little ones by the extremely talented Erika Jessop. She took my vision and translated it into these three, beautiful canvas panels.  By my request, she took quotes that I pulled from my personal journal and edged the canvases with them.  Little notes to each of my children. I love them. I love her.  She’s phenomenal and I’m so lucky to get to work with her so much.  One day, maybe we’ll actually meet in person, huh, E?

2. My voice is back. Mostly. Now I’m just plain ol’ sick.

3. This is now my wardrobe.  I’m not kidding.  I feel like I pretty much bought everything they have. The fabrics are so great…especially for me, especially for my job, especially for Texas.  They feel good.  They wear well.  But mostly I just love how I can dress like I do yoga and surf on the weekends but I’ve never done yoga or surfed in my life. ;-)

4. Thanks to this, I’m now a member of this. I’m very happy to be part of this group.

5. My middle child is obsessed with X-men lately. Okay, I’m going to share something kinda silly here: he was actually named after the character Wolverine…Logan. (I’ll bet he’s glad we didn’t go with “Wolverine.”)  Anyway, we were watching the first movie the other day and he told me that he saw “Mestinct.” He meant “Mystique.”  But then he follows it up with, “Hey mom, that’s what happened to all the dinosaurs.  They’re all ‘Mestinct.’”

6. This is what the back of my van looks like right now. I wish I could say I was heading out to some exotic vacation for Mother’s Day tomorrow.  Nope.  I’ve got a newborn session in the morning. I always love the look on dad’s face when I start hauling in all of my “luggage” for a session.  Like, “So, uh…how long are you gonna be here?”

7. I spent most of the week helping my beautiful kid sister find an apartment here in Austin.  I’m so flippin’ excited!!!  This will be the first time we’ve lived in the same city in over a decade!!!

8. Just ‘cuz she’s cute. She wanted me to tell you all “Happy Mother’s Day” and “thbbbppppppptttt!”

What a weekend! I’m getting ready to drag myself up to bed, but not before I posted a sneaky for this guys’ mama. He was SO much fun to work with…such a bright, enthusiastic, and well-spoken little boy.  I was quite impressed by him!

I hope I get to pop back on this week ‘cuz there’s LOTS to catch up on.  I’m sure you’re dying to know what Pinkle’s Pic of the Month will be for April.  I have way too many favs from April, so I’m going to make Virgil decide this one.  The Bump Mini Maternity sessions yesterday at Baby Coco were AMAZING! Can’t wait to show you those.  Oh, and our Lil’ Squirts Lemonade stand? Oh, dear. That was quite the undertaking.

Okay, let’s go get some sleep, shall we?

Nine years ago on Earth Day, Virgil and I were married. I can’t believe it’s been 9 years.  I can’t believe how much our lives have changed (for the better) in nine years.  I can’t believe we have THREE kids.  I can’t believe we got this picture yesterday (thank goodness for remotes, strollers to act as tripods, and really, really, good light)! In keeping with our annual tradition, we had dinner at Romeo’s (where we held our reception), followed by a visit to Zilker Park Botanical Gardens (where we were married).  Much to our dismay, the park was CLOSED! In nine years, we’ve never encountered that.  Bummer.  So we went to the fountain instead.  The boys were so pumped that we let them run in the fountain…with their clothes on.  It was such a beautiful evening. I feel so very thankful to my husband for giving me the gift of his companionship.  Thanks, beebee. My love you.

1. First and foremost, I’m sending every single one of a you a huge cyber hug.  I don’t even believe in cyber hugs, but I’m sending one anyway.  Why? Because you totally overwhelmed me with your support and advice and genuine love over my nursing woes with my baby girl.  I know I was having a bit of a pity party that day and in retrospect, I feel incredibly silly for going on and on about it when there are much bigger problems in the world. But you all let me get those feelings out and you didn’t judge me and in fact, you blew me away. And, I’m happy to report that “Elsie” is back in action!  I can’t decide if it was the oatmeal, this tincture, your positive thoughts, my positive thoughts, or what, but we are nursing like champs again. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Amry says thank you, too.

2. I got several e-mails about the kids’ kitchen set featured here. I actually happened upon that in Craigslist last year. It’s an older Pottery Barn Kids set ($$$$), but we got a great deal on it.  Then we fixed it up a bit by adding a real faucet and a cooler sink. But yes, my kids do use it (although not always for what it was intended), and it’s definitely worth looking out for.  But I certainly wouldn’t pay full price for the new ones ;-).

3. In case you’ve missed it, we’ve had a couple more rounds of Follow the Tweets.  Somebody has got to jump in there and give Tim a run for his money ;-) (hee hee). I’m going to keep this up because I love showcasing rockin’ places in Austin, so stay tuned.

4. Speaking of Twitter, I just fell prey to another dimension in the world of cyber connections.  Facebook. It is the devil, but I’m now right there in the middle of it. You guys might actually get a kick out of me trying to keep all of my worlds from colliding.

5. Poll – If you’ve sent me an e-mail recently, you may have noticed a new auto responder.  I finally took the plunge and set up office hours.  Turns out three kids is more time consuming than two.  Who’d have thunk it?  Anyway, does the auto responder bug?  If so, let me know and if you have a better idea of how to communicate that info, I’m all ears.

6. Poll – This is for all of my clients: do you want me to sign your prints?  Is it meaningful or distracting?  I’m clueless.

7. I am looking to buy/barter photographic services for gently used children’s boutique clothing and accessories.  I’m trying to build up a wardrobe of sorts for a project I have in the works, so if you have some stuff you want to get rid of, I’m raising my hand over here.  I would like unique pieces…brand name (Matilda Jane, Tea, Boden, Zutano, etc.) and I need all sizes, boys and girls.

8. When is my hair going to quit falling out? This is gross.

9. Oh, yeah, the pictures! Let me offer some explanations for those:

- I spied T man tree-climbing the other day. Is it strange that this made me giddy?  Something about a kid doing such a kid thing filled my heart with joy.  Of course, when he realized I was taking his picture, he put on his very best “smile.” Ugh.  Why does he do that?

- I haven’t posted many pics of my middle child lately.  I don’t know why, though.  He’s just as adorable as ever (in spite of his tantrums as he still tries to find his place in our new family). There he is feeding Kona some chips (lucky dog) and again sporting his “CAUTION: EXTREME AWESOMENESS” shirt.  OMD, that shirt is so HIM! I flipped when I saw it in Old Navy and you should hear how he says it…little lisp and all.  I love it!

- There’s a random pic of everyone watching TV in there. yeah.  Kinda boring, but a true snapshot of my view when I’m working on the puter. ;-)

- Last pic on the corner: I *finally* took the time to set up this digital picture frame my MIL gave me for Christmas.  Ack!  What took me so long??? I love it!!!  I’m seriously thinking I should add this to my product line.  Who wouldn’t want to have their pictures already set up in a digital frame, ready to plug in and show off?

Okay. Baby girl is awake.  Off to go snuggle (and nurse).

1. Laundry day – these are some of my most favorite times with my baby girl. She and I have girl talk while I fold clothes. I hope we are able to do that for years to come. (And yeah, that’s my dead sexy nursing bra hanging out there.)

2. Finally, finally, finally got the hubs to hang my favorite pics up. My heart is overjoyed every time I look at them.

3. More pics (going up the stairwell) that make me smile.  These are from our annual beach trip.  I love to look at these and realize that last year on our trip, we didn’t know if we were having a baby boy or a baby girl.  I’m so excited I get to add pictures of baby sister to this display in a few months.

4. Amry finally has her own play area.  Well, it was her own until her big brothers decided it was too cool to pass up.

5. Did some re-organizing of the boys’ play area, including the rug I scored on clearance at Target.  Don’t know why they still insist on invading their sister’s haven.

6. Amry chatting with her giant caterpillar.  I just thought this was cute.

7. My MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE alternative to the $$ I dropped on hair bows a few weeks ago. That’s the liner stuff you use in kitchen drawers. Keeps the bows from slipping. I’ve got enough liner to make about 3,000 hairbows. I’m in business now. ;-)

8. T has been really into drawing and creating lately. This is our family. I bawled when I saw this hung up on the fridge the other day. Especially when I noticed the fine details…like each of our ages scrawled proudly on our bodies. (I’m 03).

9. I don’t cook. Ever. But after this little creation, I’m changing my name to Betty C:

This is Hubble. He belongs to T’s class.  He got to spend a week with us.

Hubble digs Taekwondo.

Other random pics I’ve been meaning to share:

Um…am I the only one who remembers back when you had to pay out the wazoo to have the Bumbo shipped in from Africa (I think that’s where it’s from)?

Last pic…an adorable gift to Miss A from the lovely Maria (can’t wait for our session, btw!).

Those are onesies.  Isn’t this the coolest packaging ever?

Did a little mini shoot at my favorite Austin baby boutique, Baby Coco, the other day. Amry got to be a model. Amry had to be a boy, though.  She’ll turn out okay in spite of this, right? Anyway, here are a few outtakes that I loved just because she’s in them ;-).

And this…well, this is a family portrait from last night.  Bedtime in the Anderson household is always an adventure.  It’s so chaotic with three kids now, but it’s still such a beautiful time. Although I will admit that this image below is not entirely accurate because I’m *not* nursing:

And just because I’m so excited I have something to play with besides pictures of my own kids, here are a few more fun shots from today’s family session:

(Sadly, I fell madly in love with my Mark II today.  Too bad I had to ship it off to Canon Repair right after this session. I think the UPS guy thought I was wacko because I kept refering to it as “my baby.”)

1. I got a new baby. My new baby is already sick. It’s going to kill me to have to pack my new baby in a box and send it to the Canon factory and leave it there for a week or two to get better. First name: 5D. Last name: Mark II.  [ETA: for those that asked, there is a burned out pixel in the video. Small, but I still can't let that go.]

2. I know the secret to 100% pain free laser hair removal.  I’m serious (and I’m not ashamed to admit I’m getting my leg hair lasered off). I started this process a year ago, but then got pregnant and had to stop.  The first time, it hurt like a–well, I can’t really say it on here. They really didn’t make that part clear when I bought into the package.  As a matter of fact, when I arrived for my first treatment, I was a little frightened when the lady tossed me a couple of stress balls and said, “Here.  You’re probably going to need these.”

Turns out, I did need them.

And probably a shot or two of something really strong.

And that was *with* the one-hour topical treatment beforehand.

So, when I scheduled my follow up last month, I literally started to shake when they told me I couldn’t use the lidocaine cream while nursing.  I furiously googled to find an alternative and it wasn’t lookin’ good.  But then, I came across a small line in a message board that talked about “icing.”  I wasn’t sure on how it was supposed to work, so I sent this complete stranger an e-mail asking her to tell me more.  She was kind enough to write back, and let me tell you, I owe this woman a HUGE thank you.

Here’s how it worked:

The night before my most recent treatment, I wet several washcloths and put them in the freezer.  The next day, I showed up at the center with my little cooler bag in hand (I’m sure they thought I was nutso). The frozen washcloths worked like a charm.  Just run one under water for a few seconds to thaw it a little, mold it to the place about to be fried, and leave it on there until you can’t feel a thing. Again, I’m serious…it worked.  At one point, I asked the tech to make sure the laser was actually on. Sweet.

3. I lost my voice yesterday. Did you know that it is nearly impossible to control a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old with no voice?  There’s been a mutiny in the Anderson household and I’ve been forced to play this against my will for hours at a time:

4. These two are just too cute together:

(He got her her own John Deere shirt for Christmas because everyone needs a John Deere shirt.)

5. I know something you don’t know….

A nice little surprise, the boys were invited to stay with their grandparents this weekend.  They packed their own suitcases:

Only the necessities.

Clothes neatly tucked away…

The hubs is going to kill me for this, and I don’t know if I shouldn’t be rather embarrassed, myself, but here is how we spent our break:

We bought two copies.  And then the series. For shame.  [At least he can claim its for school.  I have no excuses.]

Other random pics:

Why does she always look as if she’s merely tolerating me and the big black box that’s always in front of my face?

He turns five soon. His technical abilities never cease to amaze me. He’s been changing the batteries on his toys since he was two.

It was pajama day at preschool Friday. He was so proud of his Pj’s and bedhead.

Speaking of preschool, we now arrive to the point of my post.  I’m not sure how to say this, but I have some news….

I became a mother-in-law last week!!

“How?” you ask? Simple.  There was a preschool wedding that I was conspicuously NOT invited to. Yes, I had to hear about it after-the-fact from my son’s teacher who evidently is also a preschool wedding photographer…

The beautiful bride.

The wedding party.

The picture that sent me into hysterics. Priceless.

The reason for the wedding. Yes. I am also a grandmother as well.

[Note to self: Must remind my children that typically, marriage comes before baby.  Also, no need to worry about that 2009 Mother of the Year award.  It's already in the bag.]