Smitten by Smith Photo Shoot

Here is a little sampling from my first "professional" photo shoot!

Please check out my sister's website .

*I should mention that the model is my youngest sister, Margaret Leigh. Hot stuff, huh?
We make quite the family team, these days!

For Daddy (aka Reed)

Here's ChaCha hanging out in her super cool Pink Floyd shirt and playing with a huge PILE of toys. Chappell gave her dad this shirt for Christmas. She knew he'd love it since Pink Floyd is his favorite band.

One goal for tomorrow is to find a better home for these toys.

Perhaps Chappy's room... hmmm...

Christmas Recap

Merrrrry Christmas!

Or should I say, Happppy New Year!

Sorry I'm once again slackin' with my posts.

We just got back to the beach about an hour or so ago... and unpacking is proving to be a daunting task.

Our little December bebe has managed to accumulate an overwhelming amount of S-T-U-F-F over the past two weeks. I don't know where to put it all.

Chappell's toy volume has doubled. More like tripled. And it's insane.

But I promise I'm not complaining. We are so fortunate.

I don't know where to start. Chappell and I have been in P-cola for almost two weeks.

How about I just go through our pictures with you?

Chappell on Christmas Eve, 2009...

Mom and Dad on Christmas morning with the "Christmas Ring."

This was mom's solution for baby-proofing the family room (where we spend most of our time). We usually have a "kids" Christmas tree in the family room and Mom's personal tree in the formal living room. Anywho, this year, we skipped the kids tree and ended up with this:

Chappy and her favorite new toy. Creepy Elmo. He talks a lot.

I couldn't get him out fast enough.

Oh, like my snowman turtleneck? I figured I'd give it another go around on Christmas morning. Not sure if anyone else thought it was funny.

PS- Mom, check under the blanket in the guest room. You thought you had seen the last of the turtleneck...

Reedo recording Chaps with her toys...

The crazy aunts... kidding, sisters.

My new obsession. My dad's christmas present to me.

MY FAVORITE!

Now I can take pictures like this:

And this:

I didn't mean to make the flower so big, but I'm far too lazy to fix it.

Saturday I got to give my new equipment a whirl and was the photographer for a Smitten photo shoot. As usual, sister Margaret Leigh was the model.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share any of those photos yet, so I'm going to wait until I get special permission. The pictures look great. So much better than I expected!

My new lens did all the work!

I loved mom's table decorations...

Chappy wearing one of our old dresses.

Sweet moment with Auntie Smith... I'm like the paparazzi with my new lens... watch your back!

Christmas 2K9!

More later...

Back to unpacking!

Ho Ho Ho

What is it about the Holidays that makes my bum double in size?  

I mean really... carbs, carbs everywhere.  The counters are covered with cookies and pound cake and chocolate galore. Ummm, speaking of chocolate... somebody better get this bag of Betty Weber toffee away from me... fast.

I've been here with the fam since Thursday.  Reed came over for the weekend and we attended our good friend Jamie's Tacky Christmas Sweater Party with BFF Cover.

It was lots O' fun.  I borrowed a bow from Chappell.  What a first!

Since then, Reed returned to SRB, worked a long Monday, and is now on the way back to Pensacola.  

Smith arrived and got sick.  

Now Chappell is sick.  

Motrin/Tylenol seems to be keeping the fever down for now. 

Backstory...

I feel like an idiot - I didn't see it coming.  And I always see it coming!  I constantly think she's sick when she's not.  GO figure.  

Smith woke up this morning and wasn't feeling well...  Chappy seemed kind of fussy/sleepy/irritable all day.  Just thought it was teething?  

Didn't even figure it out when she threw up all over me.  

Just to be safe... I decided to take her temp "just in case."  

Fever 101.9.

Hmmmm.

I got in a little trouble (kind of) with our Ped.  Hopefully she'll forgive me because I really like her!  

I started Chaps on antibiotics before I got the 'go ahead' because Smith tested positive for Strep.  

Our doc had prescribed antibiotics earlier this week for a runny nose that ended up disappearing on its own... so... I sort of... gave them to her... 

Long story short, Ped ended up telling me to keep going w/ the antibiotics.  

Think she just wanted to know first...?

Well how about calling me back before I go into frantic mode?  Ha.

I stand by my decision!  

Hopefully Chappy will be back to her fun lil' self by Christmas.

  

Here are a few pics of Chappellina in her Christmas dress made by Emmy.

"doggie!"

I have a witness.  Eureka!  

BTW, is that how you spell "Eureka?"

The point of this post is... my mom heard Chappell say "doggie" several times today!  

I told Reed and mom several days ago about "doggie," but until now, I'm not sure if either one of them believed me.

Chaps used the word correctly... playing w/ her musical doggie toy and Trixie & Truffles (mom's crazy a** dogs).

Smart girl :)  

I love this age!  I think I say that all the time...  but I mean it!

What can Chappy do?

As you can see, I am a little overdue on jotting down what Miss Chappy can do at the ripe old age of one.

Here we go my friends.

1) We decided to go cold turkey and drop bottles (for good) yesterday morning.

That kid amazes me. How did I get so lucky? She didn't even skip a beat. To think... I was so stressed out about it. She's taking milk out of a sippy cup and we're never going back.

Easy as pie.

2) Chappell isn't walking yet. She's still crawling around -fast as heck- mind you. She pulls up and lets go to use her hands for something other than holding on. She claps, plays with toys or just stands there independently for about 5-10ish seconds... still no first steps. I think it'll be another month or so, but my parents keep insisting that she's "close."

I can wait. I'm not looking forward to the falls.

3) Verbal/Communication skills...

Wow.

She can say:

mama

dada

baba (well hopefully not anymore)

nanny (my dad)

has said "dooogeeeeeee" when playing with one of her dog car toys

"weeeeeeeeeed," we think for her daddy, Reed

shakes her head for no more

waves hello and goodbye

claps when excited

tries to sing to music (she is fascinated with music)

plays peek-a-boo (leads/follows)

She is absolutely hilarious and all things wonderful.

4) ChaCha is still sleeping from 7:20 pm to about 7:30-7:45 am.

5) Has four teeth and is cutting two more on top.

6) Eats lots of baby food and lots of table food. Chappell loves (pretty much) any chicken you can make. Loves chinese food. She loves meatloaf. Chaps will basically eat anything that I eat. Including olives and hearts of palm. Must be my baby, huh?

I haven't found any foods that she dislikes... yet.

She also loves her some H2O.

7) Chaps is wearing 12 - 18 month clothes. Some are too big and some are too small. Just depends on the brand I suppose...

8) Her favorite toys are:

Sophie the giraffe

Her new Fisher Price flip phone

Elmo & Cookie Monster dolls

BOOKS!

She hasn't had a chance to play with all of her new birthday presents, so I'm sure we'll have some new favorites as soon as she gets home to her toys!

*She's already in Pcola and her favorite toys there are the dogs... poor Trixie & Truffles.

------

Changing gears. I'm a little worn out today. Yesterday we went to Tallahassee for Reed's firm Christmas party. Reed hadn't been feeling well all day, but decided to tough it out and we went anyway. We lasted about 30 minutes at the party and hitched a ride back to our hotel.

Poor thing.

I ordered him wonton soup from a nearby Chinese restaurant.

Not exactly the fun ( & romantic?) night we envisioned... but I got to have chicken lo mein in bed...

Poor Reed had to stay home sick today, too.

Tomorrow I'm off to Pcola for Christmas. Reed will join us Friday.

Can't wait to see my babe!!

Chappell's First Birthday Party

Chappell's first birthday party was amazing!

It was exactly what we wanted:

1) First and foremost, Chappell's birthday party...

2) A fun/festive Christmas party...

and

3) A wonderful opportunity to finally host a get together for our new friends at the beach...

all in one.

We had so much fun. Probably a little too much fun. It's been a little over 48 hours since the party and I'm still exhausted. I don't have it in me to do a detailed post so I'm just going to put up a ton of pictures.

BTW, we had Chappell's 1 year appointment today and that'll have to be a separate post. Possibly tonight if I can finish packing. Chappell's going to Mimi's (my mom) tomorrow. We have Reed's firm Christmas party in Tallahassee tomorrow night... the busy busy life continues!

Last random comment... we are dropping bottles cold turkey tomorrow. Wish us luck!

See if you can recognize Santa.

That was honestly one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my entire life.

To all of our family, thank you so much for your help. AND, thank you for making the trip to Grayton Beach!

It was such a perfect day.

So many memories!