If you haven't heard...

She's here! We finally have our little peanut. Click on the link to our family blog to view some pictures. We will post more soon.
www.rasbandfam.blogspot.com
ps. if you can't get in, just e-mail me or leave me a comment and I can send you an invite.

Better option

I know it's been a long time since I posted, but life is crazy this time of year as I'm sure you all know and it has not been top priority for me while prepping for this baby and Christmas. The good news is that our Family Blog is pretty much ready to go.
I was trying to figure out whose e-mail addresses I have and don't have and thought it might just be a better idea if you send me your e-mail address in the comment section, or to my e-mail which is andrearasband@yahoo.com This is if you want to be invited to our private family blog and you haven't already sent me your e-mail address.
Searching for every single e-mail address seemed a lot more time consuming and so not appealing.
So, if you could help me out with that, it would make me very happy:) Thanks!

Funny Kids

I just thought I should record this before I forget since my memory is not very reliable these days.
We were having FHE on Monday and I was in charge of the lesson. I was teaching about reverence. I asked Eden, "What are we supposed to think about when we are trying to be reverent at church or during a prayer?"
Eden's response: "You think about Jesus. Not the park."

Another funny thing happened with when I was teaching sharing time in Junior Primary on Sunday.
I asked the question, "Why do we have Thanksgiving?"
A very anxious and excited little girl raised her hand and responded, "So we can have Christmas!!"

Ha Ha! Kids are seriously so hilarious.

By the way, while I'm thinking of it, if you haven't picked up the new nursery manual (for those of you with young children,) it is a great FHE guide. You can also print the lessons off of the church website.

Family Blog

I have been talking about doing this for a while and I am finally going to follow through with my plan to create a separate family blog. So, I will have my photo blog for my photography stuff that doesn't really have to do with our family, and then have my photo blog. I have always felt a little weird about posting personal things on a public photo blog, but wanted people to be able to see my photos so that i could get input on how to improve.
The big change is that Jeremy and I will both be contributors to the family blog. Now, I make no promises that Jeremy will post a lot. In fact I will be pleasantly surprised if or when he does, but at least he will have the option and i won't have to always feel like I need to send pics out or post.
Anyway, we will be making the new family blog private. So, if you would like to be able to view it, just comment on here and i should have your e-mail. If I don't have your e-mail (or if you're not sure if I do,) just send it to: andrearasband@yahoo.com and I will put you on the list. Ha! I feel so powerful.
We won't be sending out invites until the blog is ready to go, but we are hoping to get it all ready before baby #2 joins our family.

Giving in

I finally decided to give in and post photos from Halloween. I just kept seeing all of your posts with cute Halloween pics. and finally decided to join you. So, here are some pics of Eden in her costume. She insisted on being a pink fairy. All pink. My Mom put her costume together. She reveled in in it. Jeremy took her trick or treating on Halloween night along with my brother and his little girl (the lady-bug). There is nothing more exciting to Eden than costumes (the non-creepy kind) and candy.

Baby 'B' Preview

When it rains, it pours. I haven't had anybody ask me to take pictures for them for a while. Then, in one week, I've had 3 calls for families. Crazy! I couldn't decide at first if I was up for it, but then decided "Heck(that's right...I'm from Utah), why not?" I am very happy that I did. I learn something new every time.
The first session was with a 2-week old baby boy whose family lives in my neighborhood. We had to break it into two separate sessions because little 'B' got tired of us messing with him, then decided he was hungry. It worked out really well though and I am excited to get the rest of the shots processed. Here are a couple of previews.
By the way, does anybody out there want to give me directions on how to put text on a photo that is to be posted? I knew how to do this in Elements, but am wondering if it is possible in Lightroom. Also, when I post the coloring on the blog looks different (less vibrant) than it does in Lightroom. Does anybody know why this is? If you know how to fix either of these, please fill me in. Thanks!

Artsy-fartsy

My friend and fellow amateur photographer, Rob, put together a little "photo walk" last weekend. We walked around main street down town and just took photos of whatever we wanted. It was really good for me because I don't feel like i am naturally creative, so i have to force myself to try new things and figure out what works and doesn't work. It was great and i feel like I got a few decent shots. If you want to see all of my favorites you can go to this flickr link. You should check out Rob's page as well (click on his name above). He and his wife are both naturally creative and artistic. So, they have some really great shots that they have posted.

Progress

Well, I'm down to the single digits now. 9 weeks left. Crazy! Although, I feel like this is about as big as I got at 9 months with Eden. I think my belly button would concur as well. Poor little thing has practically disappeared. This little peanut is just as active, if not more so, as Eden was in the womb. Of course, her most active time is when i am attempting to fall asleep in the evening. I will say that Tums are my new best friend. The heartburn has not been bad by any means, but definitely present. With my first pregnancy, I was mega paranoid about ingesting anything that you could purchase in the pharmacy section of your local grocer...don't ask why(....those crazy first time Mom's are full of all sorts of ideas). I decided to step outside of my little coo-coo box and try tums to help alleviate the minor discomfort in my throat. And guess what....it worked! Shocking, I know.
Anyway, we have been working on projects around the house to not only prepare for this new little squirt, but also to try to beat the cold weather and improve our surroundings a little at a time. Jeremy takes on the larger projects and puts up with my "suggestions" while I try to get things organized. Jeremy finished painting the nursery. Pink, of course. We weren't able to do much of a nursery when Eden was a baby because we lived in an apartment, and Jer was still in school. Back in the day, we budgeted $10 a month for "personal spending money". Needless to say, there wasn't much left over for baby decor.
So, it has been fun this time around to be able to do that. As you can see, it is going to be a very girly room. We chose Pink and White as our overall colors with a little bit of green and black for accents. We have yet to really decorate, but have made progress by finishing the painting and putting the crib together.
Jer's Mom made peanut#2 (yes, we are still trying to agree on a name) a beautiful blanket/quilt that matches the bedding perfectly. Thanks, Diane!
This picture of me is at 30 weeks. Is it just me, or do I look large? Honestly, it is hard to believe that she still has 9 more weeks to grow...I think I'm in trouble.

And it's only 9:30!

I know that most blogs out there report all of the wonderful and fun things that we do with our children and what a perfect day it's been, blah blah blah. Well, let's be honest...we all have our "bad -Mom moments" (as my sister calls them) when we are glad nobody is watching or moments that could be used as an example on Super-Nanny of "what not to do as a parent of a toddler". Today seems to be one of those days.
Why do I get sucked in to arguing with my my 3 year old about whether or not she can put "more" sugar in her cereal because she "can't see the sugar!!!!" ? Why does 'no' mean "just keep asking because you know that your mother is a major push-over. So, if you are persistent and whiny enough, then she'll eventually give in to prevent losing her mind over sugar".
I've inherited this push-over trait from my father who used to always get coerced into taking 6 kids + friends to the candy store , and upon returning home would pout to my Mom, "Why do you let them do this to me?" We knew if Mom said 'no', don't even think about asking again. If my Dad said 'no', it was just an invitation to be more convincing with your pleas until he gave in. Poor guy. I feel for you, Dad. I am completely guilty of this. It's one of those moments in time in which you're now living the wish that your own mother had for you as a child and would announce, "I hope that you have a little girl just like you someday." What does Oprah call it? A "full-circle moment".
It's been one of those days and.... crud! It's only 9:30!! I think I'll call Jer now and see if he can get off of work early.

Stuck in a moment

Lately, Eden has been finding things around the house (or in this case...the garage) that we used when she was a baby. She can't quite convince herself that being a "big girl" is the best way to go. I'm sure this has something to do with our expecting little squirt #2 in a couple of months. She will find binki's in the baby things and suck on them....which is ironic because she wouldn't have anything to do with them as a baby. She has tested out all of the baby toys and figured out all of their uses whether they were intended to be used in certain ways or not. Most recently, she found the baby swing and decided to test it out. She intended to head over to our big tree to give it a try. She never made it, seeing as she got in the swing prior to it being hung. What a goof ball!

Out of Character

Wow! I just realized that this is the third post this week. Very much out of character for me. I just figured that i should post some shots that I took of Eden while we were out with Emily. This little stink would not look at my camera though. I don't know what her deal was. I also had to fight against the "perma-grin", which is her fake smile that she pulls out when she needs to smile. Don't get me wrong, it's cute, but not a very natural look. I was only able to get a couple of decent shots of her. Oh well...that's a 3 year old for you. The last one I included just because it was kind of cool. Also, for some reason, the photos seem darker on the blog post than in Lightroom....I don't know why.

Growing Fast

One of my best friends, Emily, was in town again for a little visit. So, of course we took advantage of that and took her little girl out for a little photo shoot. If you check this blog regularly, you'll remember her and her cute chubby cheeks. She is growing so fast now though. Walking and going going going. She is such a sweet little girl. Always so happy. It was great to have Emily it town again, especially because we were able to get together a number of times to just hang out. Thanks, Em! I hope you like the photos. By the way, my fav. is the second one down. It is very processed in Lightroom, but I love the look of it...what do you think?

Work, Schmerk

Let's see....clean the house, play with the kids? Clean the house......play? What do you think the answer is the majority of the time? It's no wonder we have so many unfinished projects around here.






This totally brings back memories of when I was a kid and my Mom would yell at us for sliding down the stairs on a sleeping bag. So, what would we do??? Wait 'till she was gone and bust out the sleeping bag. Sorry, Mom! The best mode of transport was this long, orange sleeping pad that filled up with air. We would pile on there like we were on a sled and bend the front back to hold us on, then we were off like little laughing rockets. Not much has changed I guess, except now I'm ruining my own carpet and my Mom does not get to hollar at me about it. As you can see, I'm not too attached to my carpet.
*Obviously, these photos are as straight out of the camera as they come. I'm a little too lazy right now to go get my photo program that needs to be re-loaded onto my laptop. So, this will have to do.

Recent Happenings

We have been pretty busy around here lately. I need to figure out how to do those slide-show things that people put on their blogs so that I can just do one of those with all of the pics, but as you may know, technological stuff is intimidating to me. So, this will do for now.
A couple of weeks ago, we took Eden in for a major hair-chopping. Jeremy was just "slightly" attached to her long hair. Every time I have trimmed it, he gets all anxious like I am cutting one of her fingers off. What is it with Dad's and their little girls' hair??? Anyway, I finally convinced him that we could just cut it short this one time so that it could grow out thicker and would look a lot less raggedy. So, he finally caved. I will admit though that i was nervous to do it as well. After all is said and done though, it looks adorable on her and fits her personality very well. I have yet to figure out how to do it as poofy as the hair cutter girl did, but it's cute anyway.



Another new thing is that Eden came to me one afternoon while we were outside playing chalk saying "Mommy, look....look....I wrote my name!" I turned around and looked and she had written her name perfectly on the side-walk. What? I didn't teach her that! She has been very much into letters lately and is always asking us how you spell things, like her name, but I never sat down and tried to teach her how to write her name. Yeah, she's her father's child. So, now she can write her name, as well as 'Mom' and 'Dad'. You can see in the picture below that she drew herself and her name is in the top right corner. So stinkin' cute!

This final shot is a preggy shot because we have not taken ANY thus far. I figured I better take at least one. This is me and my little basketball belly at almost 23 weeks. It was taken just before church which is why I am wearing a dress.

Other than that, we have been trying to catch up on sleep due to staying up late for two weeks watching the olympics. We loved every minute of it though (despite the crummy judging in the women's gymnastics). Eden has finished her second round of swimming lessons and has completed her level 2. She is now officially a "Sea-Horse". Although, she has tried to convince me again and again that she is part fish. That girl loves the water and can't get enough. She started up her dance classes again, and of course is very passionate about dancing as well. It is pretty entertaining and invigorating just to watch her and kind of live vicariously through her.
I am enjoying being pregnant, except for the interrupted sleep, and am very anxious to see this new little girl and try to remember how to take care of a newborn again. It has been almost 4 years!

5 years and counting

We had our 5 year anniversary last week. I remember when we first got married and the idea of being married for 5 years seemed like such a long time. Now that we're here, I feel like we've been married for much longer....in a good way. I think it's because so much has happened in the last couple of years in our lives that normally would happen over a span of 10 years or so. Another reason may be that we have grown so accustomed to each other that it is hard to imagine life before we were together.
I'm not going to go all cheesy on y'all. I save that specifically for Jeremy.:) I did post a kissy face picture of us just because I know it makes Jeremy crazy, and hey....after five years, you've got to find ways to make your "spouse" (I hate that word!) cringe so that you can get a laugh. Don't be fooled, Jeremy is the best at this, but saves it for when I'm his only audience.
Anyway, we had a great anniversary. Jeremy planned the whole thing and I was so impressed. If any of you know Jer, you know that he doesn't pride himself on planning things or on being particulary romantic. Poor guy had to marry into a family where all of the men are rediculously romantic and apparently "ruin it for the rest of us". So, when he does it, I am always so proud of him. He really does underestimate himself when it comes to planning romantic things. He is very good at it.
So, here's to you, my lover dover. "You are the best" (said like Nacho Libre). And as for the next five years +, we better hold on tight and buckle up if it is as crazy as the last 5, which, knowing us, I'm sure it will be. Here's some cheese for you: How great and incredible to be married to your best friend who is just as weird as you are and loves you more because of it.

Sweet Kiddos

Last weekend, I did a family photo shoot with a family of 6 from my sister's neighborhood. Family photos or group photos actually scare me because I haven't had a lot of practice and therefore have a hard time getting everything in focus and everyone looking, etc.. It was good to get out and push myself again though.
The kiddos were really sweet and the 3 younger kids were quite photogenic. The funny part was that the oldest boy was the most challenging. He was not interested in looking at the camera. Oh well. You make the most of what you have to work with, right?
Thanks, Darla, for trusting me with this. I think I was lucky enough to get some great shots. Let me know what y'all think.

Fun on the Farm

We spent the 24th in with Jer's family. They actually pull off a pretty good fireworks show over Deer-Creek, in small-town, Charleston. Little Miss E had her first solo ride on one of Grandpa's horses. She LOVED it of course. This girl has a passion for everything. I love that about her.
The second shot is of my cute nephew who is full of energy. I was surprised we got him to hold still AND smile. What a handsome guy.
(Again, the exposure setting was way off...I fixed what I could, but that's what happens when you don't practice enough. Always learning.)

Motorboat

Did you ever wonder what you look like when you do your best, full-throttle motorboat mouth? Well, here is a look into a few of us at our best. Just be aware that my camera was way off on the whole exposure thing...I don't know what I was thinking with the settings, but these are too good not to share.Yes, I look like a tired horse (I was tired, and the rest is the combination of the big teeth and big lips...eau natural), but I know that I am at peace with my own self confidence when I am willing to post a shot of me looking like this. The sad part is that this is one of the very few photos of myself that you will see since I don't take pictures of myself, or post them hardly ever. It's a keeper though. Neigh! (By the way, who came up with the idea that a horse says, "Neigh". I mean, really, it's not even close. I guess you can't really spell out the noise that they really make, so that will have to do.)


This is my sister-in-law, who is just as nutty as Jeremy and I....what a good sport.

Speaking of big lips....pucker up, baby!

It's about....

time that we filled everyone in on our little semi-secret that we are expecting baby #2 in December. We are just over 18 weeks along and just went in for our ultra sound this morning. We are going have a GIRL. Yep. That's right. We are very excited , although a little surprised because we were kind of expecting it to be a boy and kind of hoping that it would be because we have a boys name picked out and cannot seem to agree on a girls name. We are excited to have another sweet girl though, especially so Eden can finally have a playmate. Everything looked normal on the ultra sound, which was a relief. It has been a rough road getting to this point (a healthy pregnancy), but we are so happy to be here and hope that everything continues to go well. We feel very blessed and will keep everyone updated from now on.
By the way, the poor little girl is due on December 23rd....we are hoping to go a kind of late so that she doesn't have to compete with Christmas, but hey, we'll take her whenever she wants to come.
We'll take another one of these any day!

Another Crazy month come and gone

So, here is my traditional monthly post. June seems to have flown by. It was a great month and we are already almost half way into July. Does anyone remember when you were a kid and the days and years seemed to creep slowly by. It seemed like we had all the time in the world. The worst was waiting for each Christmas to come. It always seemed like it would never happen. Now, as a grown-up (supposedly), it seems like I am still recovering from last Christmas and the year is half way gone. There are benefits to this though. Especially when I am waiting impatiently, of course, for a certain event. This is when it is good that time seems to have sped up, the older I have gotten.
Anyway, we had a great month. Busy of course, but great. Eden took swimming lessons for two weeks and absolutely loved every moment of it. This girl loves the water and cannot resist getting in it whether she is in a bathing suit or in her clothes. The odd thing is that lately she hates , no despises taking a bath and fights us every time. Maybe we could just let her run through the sprinkler and we can spray some soap on her in the process.....hmmm...that's a new idea.
We also had our annual Rasband Family camping trip. This was also a great time in which we were able to just relax and enjoy the out doors. This is one of the major benefits of living in Utah. There are beautiful camping places all over the state. That is something that I wondered about when I was in Texas. They didn't have mountains, so therefore the camping experience was dramatically different for me. I LOVE the mountains and the diversity that is found in this state.
Here are some pictures of some of June. There were so many other fun memories made, but this blog is already long enough.