Taking a deep breath

Today my friend wrote a blog all about slowing down. I thought it was appropriate on so many levels. I will confess I am very different from her in a couple ways. (She will be reading this blog, so sorry Traci, I love you!) I am very aware of how much I plan for my kids and never over plan us. Ever since I was stuck at home for a year because one of my kids was always napping I learned the value of slowing down. For me this manifests in a couple of ways. I have limited the amount of classes the boys take so they have time to just play and I never really schedule anything in the afternoon so they have a moment to themselves everyday. This means preschool and one extra class for Erik and only two classes for Elliot the entire week. We have storytime and playdates in there, but I try to keep it simple. I learned a while ago that is really what works best for all us.

We do try and do something every morning, but Elliot woke up sick yesterday so today we're stopped in our tracks. This is when reality hits, I have to entertain these two all day at my house and I am not even sure what to do. At the same time I am freaking out, I went to use my camera last night and it just stopped working. I couldn't get any power from it. My camera is an extension of me and I take pictures almost everyday so to be without a camera is to feel like a part of me is missing.

So then came the next question, what camera do I replace it with. I have been dreaming in full frames lately, but then I started doing some research on the Canon 7D. It was $800 cheaper and still had everything I need with a 1.6x cropped sensor. Since I don't shot a ton in low light and 90% of my photography is 100 ISO it seemed like the safe bet and the less expensive option, then I went to go buy it! It was sold out EVERYWHERE, I seriously could not find any deal or any place where it was sold online. I finally called a local camera store and asked why, duh! the earthquake in Japan halted the production of new cameras. So if you are looking to buy, wait is my advice, everything is overpriced right now. There will be a new camera in my future though, the bug is full force right now.

So how do the two relate, well before I got that news, I had a plan to go to four stores to find the best deal and get this camera today and my poor Elliot is sick and I need to slow down, but my obsession is over taking me. So I guess we all have our triggers that make us go crazy. The good news, is that I came to my senses and tried my second battery and my camera worked perfectly. So all the lectures from my husband about how I don't take care of my stuff was wasted because it wasn't me honey just a bad battery!

So now on to the photography part of my blog. I really wanted to stay home today, but the boys were going crazy, they just aren't use to being home in the morning. Elliot was screaming and not feeling well and Erik was bouncing off the walls because he has too much energy. Usually they get sick in reverse so I am not sure what to do when Erik is healthy and Elliot isn't. So a trip to Costco was perfect. But first we had to kill 40 minutes before it opened and opted to play outside.

When I first started taking pictures I was obsessed with clouds took them all the time. Most of the time we have crystal blue skies in Southern Calirornia like this, so I was amazed at the beautiful clouds this morning.

Here is Erik's new bald head. We shaved it yesterday to save him from himself, I keep telling myself it will grow back and am getting use to the change. I totally love rubbing his head obsessively.

Elliot loves the garbage truck and at one point this morning it stopped the boys in their tracks. Today it stopped Elliot more than once. Also its super fun to just climb the fence.

Then onto our Costco adventure. I was a bad mom today. Erik was begging me not to go to Costco, he wanted to go to the gym and play, but Elliot is sick so that isn't an option. I told him if he behaved he would get a new book. Opps, so he bahved. Also I wish Erik would get off his oral obsession and not put his mouth on shopping carts. I thought he would be finished by 3.5 years old!!

Then another bad mom moment, eating lunch at Costco. My kids always eat healthier, but today we made it an adventure since Elliot is sick and this is our only outing. Can you believe Erik ate the entire slice?

 

Last but not least, the latest obsession in our house, squeeze yogurt. We haven't had it in a while and they beg for this stuff.

 

Then my last bad mommy moment because I wanted to edit these pictures and kept thinking about what I wanted to write in my blog, but also because Elliot is sick and demands to be cuddled every couple minutes I gave them a tv break. They usually watch 0 or 30 minutes a day. The exception is when they are sick, but I am going to keep it under control today I tell myself.