Let's do June!

So my procrastination can hide no more -- posting a brief look at May at the end of July is proof that I am not the most timely of people. Is it my 9-5 job news job... my part-time photography work... motherhood... wifehood... my veggie garden... life... or one of the 100 other excuses I could list? Who knows... but I do know I might as well get the month of June in now before we reach August.

June started off with our entire family brought together to say goodbye to the woman who is the reason so many of our family members exist - including myself and my daughter. My maternal grandmother passed away in May following a lengthy battle with kidney cancer. On that day, I became the oldest woman in the lineage of my grandmother and grandfather. That position should have gone to my mom, but of course she lost her life to ovarian cancer about three and a half years ago. So here we are. A goodbye to the second-most influential woman in my life - her common sense wisdom and common sense lessons and common sense love will be missed.

But as seems to be the case these days, only marriage and death bring our whole family together. And while we all traveled home to the Florida Keys to mourn, we also made the most of our family time together. Georgia was thrilled (still is) to have had so much time with her cousins. It was a few days of good family times dotted with family goodbyes, regrets, loss and tears. Almost three months after my grandmother's death, I still can't find the words, nor do I yet want to, of the woman I have lost and the lessons and experiences my daughter will never learn because of that loss. I come from a line of A.M.A.Z.I.N.G women, but those women are all now left to memories, life lessons and the bits of them that live on in the women my sisters, my cousin and I are today. Father's Day found Georgia and I continuing what has become an annual gift for her daddy: In June, we also see the end of strawberry-picking, and the beginning of blueberry-picking! This was a first for Georgia and I. We also learned fresh blueberries make delicious blueberry cobbler!

Just a few of the moments I caught during the month of June.

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She Can Write!

Georgia breezed through learning to say her ABCs however long ago that was, and now, she's learning to write them. We typically practice on pieces of paper laying around or the awesome easel her Aunt Jenna gave Georgia, but today we took a more unique approach. Georgia had to write an "I'm sorry" card to our five-year-old neighbor next door. Little Addison plays with Georgia quite often, and Georgia loves Addison's company, but today Georgia decided she was not going to share ANYTHING with dear Addison. Now Addison is the middle child of three girls and is very patient. So I knew Georgia had really overstepped her bounds when Addison decided she was going home before her mom came hunting for her. That has never happened before. So Georgia and I had some lengthy "sharing" discussions, read "Llama, Llama, Time to Share" about 10 times and did this:

The creation is hers and most of the writing is hers. I helped with the "s" and "n" and "g" and "r" - but the rest is all Georgia!

She also drew this person all by herself.



I hope these lessons leave an impression on my little one, but I'll be honest, her writing and art skills left me impressed. My little is growing up quick.

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Work, Work, Work...

I've neglected my writings about my daughter and our lives. I've been a little busy...

A full-time job, a full-time mommy and what's becoming a part-time job on the side keeps me moving and shaking (and tired), but I like busy. And while I struggle daily to find that balance to keep everything flowing as it should and have none neglected - first and foremost my family - the one thing that has been knocked to the bottom of that priority list is this blog. I would like to write more, but oh, I have work to do...

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My Beautiful One

She makes me so happy... every, single day.

(and thank you, Grandma Hains, for this adorable dress!)

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I Failed My 365 Project...

... but I succeeded in building a new website!

If you read this blog with any kind of frequency, you might be wondering where the heck I've been. I haven't posted since the end of April, even though I was attempting another 365 project - a photo a day for the year. OK, so I've definitely missed quite a few days... but this is what I accomplished in the last couple of weeks:

Jaime Otero Photography

I finally decided to see what I could do with my camera at the next level. I'm curious to see where it will take me - after all - I currently work in a VERY family-unfriendly career field, and I'm not sure when (or if) I will feel I need a change. Right now spending the mornings with my daughter and working afternoons and nights is great - she only goes to daycare three hours a day. But what happens when she starts kindergarten?

So I'm doing a little pre-planning if you will. I just did my first-ever newborn shoot. Here's a little taste:

It's the top post on the website above. I loved it, and if I have a remote chance of making a career of that, well, then I believe I have found a passion.

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March 28, 2012 - Finding a Home: It's Like Finding That Needle!

After spending most of the last two weeks getting this house hunt going - searching online sights, finding a realtor, driving by more than a dozen homes, making circles and X's on my "possible" list - today Georgia and I met with our realtor for the first time and actually started going inside some homes. We'll work on narrowing down the list since we're available every morning of the week, and then the hubby, Georgia and I will look at the finalists with the realtor on Saturdays.

Georgia had her house hunting ponytails ready to go this morning!

And off we went.

We saw home...

... after home...

... after home.

No "perfect" ones today (is that even possible unless you build?), but there were definitely some that got the circle instead of the "x." We only made it through seven homes, which mean there are still eight more on the list. Rough work!

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March 23, 2012 - Beginning the Hunt...

It's actually a few months overdue, but we are beginning the house hunt in our new home town. So with house list and GPS in hand, Georgia and I set out today to look at some homes and make circles or X's on our list.

Georgia had her new house-hunting sunglasses and was ready to go!

I'd say house hunting is worse than house selling, since at least with selling people come to you. But after losing tens of thousands of dollars selling our last home is this sucky housing market, I think buying must be better, right? That is, until I look down at my first draft, 30-plus houses strong list. This is going to be a long hunt.

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March 12, 2012 - Bubbles and Chalk

Like a bubble floating on air, so high floats the dreams of our childhood.

Georgia and I found a little bit of childhood hiding in closets and cabinets this morning, and the weather was just right for it all...







My lovely, may your dreams and goals float high and be as colorful as you are.

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March 4, 2012 - Green Bean-Eating Machine

Broccoli: eww. Broccoli: OK. Peas: yuck. Corn on the cob: yum. Chicken: yipee. Beef or pork: pass. Oh wait, chicken: not tonight. Rice: woo-hoo! Sauce: no. Ketchup: yes, today. No, tomorrow... or maybe?

UHH! The indecisiveness and pickiness of a toddler. I never know what Georgia will eat today and spit out tomorrow. Even more frustrating, when she tells you she wants it and then refuses to touch it. But there is one veggie (yes, veggie) that she'll eat every, single time.

GREEN BEANS.

Really, green beans? That's what Georgia decides to love no matter what? OK, I like that. Tonight at dinner, she ate her fill. Then she climbed onto my lap and ate some more.

My dinner view tonight...



And when Georgia decided dinner would taste better from daddy's lap, my view got a whole lot sweeter.


More beans, please!

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March 3, 2012 - The Magic of a Hotel

The last time Georgia stayed in a hotel, she was 21 months old. It was when we moved to New Bern, NC, from Nebraska. But she didn't really seem to think anything of it - it was just a room with her portable crib.

But on our trip to Wilmington, NC, this weekend, my little just seemed to think our hotel room was "cool." She immediately checked the place out when we checked in and then headed for the phone.

After she called the front desk, said phone got unplugged by some evil little fairy, but that didn't stop my little from talking away on it.

And, um, how much fun are hotel beds? (minds out of the gutter, please) I mean, you have this new bed with ump-teen number of pillows and a fluffy comforter... if that doesn't scream roll around on me, jump on me and hide in my covers... then I don't know what does.


We are having too much fun on our little trip.

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