New Photography Website!!!!

Just launched my new photography website/blogsite!!  Go check it out!!


www.heidijoyphotography.com

Santa told Dillon that bananas were extinct....

Santa! I know him!! But don't like him right now!!!

On Tuesday, we took Dillon and Stella to go see Santa. We got there at the perfect time because Santa was on break, but on his way back, so hardly a line! I guess Santa has to pee too.(the mom next to us told her daughter he was parking the raindeer and sled, good one) Stella went first and did great, no tears!!  Dillon went next and had an entire range of emotions and he showed them all...first he was smiling and happy. Then he saw who was holding him and looked shocked. After that, he just stared at Santa so confused. Once Dillon turned to look back at us, he was scared and started to cry. I was laughing...bad mommy. Then for the finale, we put Stella back on Santa's lap and they were both crying and mad...I think overall it was pretty successful, haha!  They still love us and we have some funny pictures to show them when they grow up.   We bought the classic "first visit to Santa picture" which I will post once we get it scanned. Its pretty awesome.  :)

Dillon is pointing at Daddy like "you did this to me!!!"

A gift for Baby P

This was an order for cute baby Parker...his mom wanted a Christmas onsesie and a baseball letter P onesie. I love making these onesies, so much fun!(I forgot to take a picture of the P onesie). Here is the Christmas tree shirt with a matching burp cloth.

Dillon {12 months}

One year....12 months....gone!  How does the time go by so fast?!  Baby Dillon, I don't want to stop calling you my baby yet, so I wont.  :)  You are ONE!  What a great year you've had with mommy and daddy. You have had so many great experiences(and some bad ones, but we don't need to mention those!) and you have just developed into this wonderful, funny, spunky, smart, sweet, loving, strong willed boy who we hope will continue to be all these things. Here is what you have been up to lately...

Your big one year check up went great. You are still our little string bean not matter how much we feed you fat. You are just not made to be chunky and that's okay, because that's who you are! You are 20 and a half pounds and 32 inches long and on the same growth curve since birth. We will see if this string bean-ness continues! You took your shots well and you also had to get some blood drawn for allergy testing...you rocked it! Only a few tears!

You are cruising around like crazy and sometimes standing on your own without holding on. You might be thinking about walking but you prefer to crawl really fast to something that you want.

You love to sit and figure things out, you are so good at opening containers and figuring out how toys(and non toys) work. Some of your favorite toys are cars/trucks, basketball hoop, lacrosse stick, random objects found by accident, puzzles, books, the ipod and ipod dock, anything with buttons to push.

You try so hard to tell us what you want! Pointing has been your favorite way for a while now, once you figured out how to train mommy. You will point to things you want and nod your head yes or sign please. You are still signing but you love to point. You say a few words...or try to say them. Its so cute! You can say dog, daddy, cheese(this is new), hot, bye bye, up, mama, yes and hi. You will blow kisses when we say give kisses or I love you...its mommy's favorite!  You also will lay your head down and say "awwww" when we tell you to be a sweet baby...even on the kitchen floor, haha!

You have the best personality, even though you like to throw tantrums sometimes...we just ignore those. You are so happy and love to be silly and make funny faces at us. You have started rolling your eyes and making this face that says "I'm up to no good but will try to get away with it b/c I know I'm so cute."  You still love to dance and will dance to any music you hear around the house.

You eat everything mommy and daddy eats now and drink whole milk!  You are doing well with your sippy cup and you don't really need your bottle anymore, maybe once or twice a day. 

Well, little one year old...you won't be our baby for long but we enjoy watching you change and learn every day. You will soon be our little toddler!

We love you, Dillon Thomas!  :)

Dillon's First Birthday!

I know this is really late but better late than never!  Dillon won't know the difference!

Dillon had such a wonderful Birthday and party with all of his family and friends. He is definitely loved by so many people!  His birthday party weekend was the weekend before his birthday and the weather turned out to be perfect...so glad it wasn't 40 degrees like now!  We had his party at Little River Park(great place for a party) with a stressful start because we were throwing things together last minute that morning and running late as usual! Ha! I probably over did myself a little, but it was worth it in the end! Thank you Evan(and Paula Deen) for pulling through on the Mac N Cheese, it was soooo good....and we ate it for about a week afterwards, haha! Besides the wind(does not go well with tissue paper pom poms and light weight decorations) everything went smoothly! We sang to Dillon and he "smashed" his smash cake with some help from mommy. He didn't know what to think but he did try it! He loved hanging out with his buddies and seeing his uncle Peter for the first time since last Christmas!
 On his actual birthday, Evan and I had off, so we spoiled him all day and let him get away with whatever he wanted...just kidding. We did start his birthday tradition(same one Evan had) of putting his presents under his bed while he was sleeping and then the next morning, he found them, pulled them out and opened them all with such excitement! NOT!  We pretty much had to do it all for him but it will be a fun tradition when he wants and can actually participate!  :) Nicole came over to give him(and mommy, lol) a birthday present, his super play yard! Thanks, Nicole!  We did some more cake smashing out in the leaves and then went shopping at Buy Buy Baby. That evening, we took him to Red Robin and then Local Yogurt for dessert. He loved his pumpkin frozen yogurt...and so did I!
  Here are some pictures from his party and birthday. Enjoy!

Dillon's Birthday Pictures

Starting a New Thanksgiving Tradition...

Baked Pumpkin French Toast for breakfast.....YUM.

 

I will post the recipe after I try it out  :)

Getting crafty for Saturday!

Bib and shirt are done!

Dillon {11 months}

Hi sweet boy, you are almost ONE!  We are so excited to celebrate your birthday with family and friends real soon. You are changing so fast before our eyes, we can hardly keep up! It seems like you learn something new every day! Here is what you have been up to the past month...


You are still about the same size and wearing the same size clothes. You, Mommy and Daddy all had a stomach bug and lost weight from being so sick. You are back to your normal self now and are making up for the weight you lost with all your eating!

You love to point to everything...lights, fans, the dog, mommy, daddy, baby and pictures in books. You are also starting to point to body parts. You can point to your nose, hair and ears.

You are cruising a lot more around furniture and will stand with out holding onto something for a few seconds. You aren't close to walking yet, but that is okay with us!

You are drinking whole milk now! Bye bye formula! You love milk and have mastered drinking from a sippy cup. You love to try new foods and are not afraid of a little spice!  You've tried some chili, spicy italian sausage and a Hot Tamale(this was all daddy's doing)!  Your all time favorite foods are bananas and yogurt.

Some of your favorite activities include...turning off the lights, opening your drawers, pulling out your clothes and then putting them back in, trying to plug anything into the wall, feeding mommy and daddy, feeding your doggie, throwing tantrums, talking back and playing with your friends and cousin.

We love you little one, thanks for making these past 11 months the best 11 months of our lives!  :)

photo contest-let your friends know!

Check out my photography page for details about a photo contest that includes cute kids, cute costumes and free photography!  If you are local or have friends in the Raleigh/Durham area, let them know they have a chance to win a free photo session!  Details are also on my Facebook page.  :)


My photography blog
My Facebook page

Pumpkin Farm

The family headed over to Ganyard Hill Farms in Durham on Sunday for a fun family day with Mormor, Aunt Megan, Uncle Mike and cousin Stella!  The babies had so much fun and were mesmerized by everything around them.
They both really enjoyed the hayride after warming up to the hay....just look at their expressions, too cute!! I also made their matching shirts...

Dillon and Stella talked to the goats and pigs too. I think Dillon has perfected his goat noise!

Everyone gets to pick a pumpkin to take home and the guys did a great job hunting for the best ones.
Next year, the babies will be old enough for the slide and corn maze! Definitely a fun place to take the family, we will be back!

Dillon {10 months}

Well little cute face, the countdown has begun to your birthday! We can't believe it is coming up so fast. I wish I could push a pause button on your growing up. Here is what you have been up to the past month:

You are growing like an out of control weed and there is no slowing you down! You keep growing up but not out. You might always be skinny but maybe you will chunk up when you are a toddler. Either way, you are still perfect!

You have been waking up at night every now and then because you are teething, poor baby. You usually go back to sleep on your own at night but are fighting your naps during the day. Sometimes you take two naps, sometimes one. You still hang in there for the most part.  :)

You love to eat big boy food now like mac and cheese, hummus, peas, sweet potato fries...pretty much anything you can pick up. You have mastered your sippy cup and you love to toss it on the floor over and over again!

You love to show off your tricks like a little circus monkey. Your favorites are "Can you clap?" " "Can you say no?" "Can you dance?" Your new favorite thing is to say "up" and point up to the fan or the sky.  You are also saying "mamamama" now and "dadadada" is getting jealous. haha just kidding.

You are still your happy self 90 percent of the time but are showing your "not as cute" side with tantrums when you don't get what you want. Most of the time, we can distract you out of them...but we will see what happens when you get older! Ha!

You are crawling around like crazy and pulling up on everything. You will sometimes cruise along the couch but we don't think you are close to walking yet(which is fine by us!).

We love you, sweet boy!

A Birthday Gift

 A friend of mine has a daughter who turned the big one in July. I haven't seen her since the end of July and am now just giving her a present! Hope she still fits into it! This was fun to make and I love the large single letters on shirts. This was my first time making a headband...its a little messy but it works. I saw an idea from my friend's craft blog Something Wonderful for a fabric rosette pin and just adapted it for a headband. Here are some pictures!

This thing is cool...

Photos without the Lightscoop....

Photos with the Lightscoop....bright colors and no shadows!

New Gadget

Just ordered a Lightscoop this weekend...can't wait for it to get here! I saw it on a blog I keep up with and her indoor pictures looked really nice. I will post some before and after pictures soon. Hopefully it is as awesome as it looks!!

Sunday Night Football

GOOOOOOOO PANTHERS!!!

 

Dillon {9 months}

Dilly Dilly boo.....where to begin with you? You have blossomed so much over the past month and are turning into a little smarty pants! Here is what you have been up to...

You went to the doctor for your 9 month check up and got a "he's perfect" from the doc. You weigh 19 pounds and are 30 and 3/4 in long!!  We knew you were long but didn't expect that long! Time for a big boy car seat!

You still sleep well at night and take two naps during the day. You like to sleep with your paci and your wubbi but will go to bed without them, thank goodness.

You are on the move even more and you are getting into everything! You like to crawl around the house and explore. Sometimes you and your doggie like to play together but we have to remind you to be nice to him. You also like to open drawers and cabinets and empty them out. What a fun game! You are pulling up on everything now and have had some of your first boo boos.

You are a smart boy and understand some words without any hand gestures. You know clap, milk, eat, more, all done, "where's your doggie", night night and no. You have been really into clapping your hands and dancing to music.

You finally have some teeth! Two on the bottom and I'm sure more are coming because you always have your fingers in your mouth!

You have been eating some new foods like cottage cheese, hummus, spaghetti, and cheddar cheese. You are starting to like table foods a lot more than baby food. And you love to feed yourself! You also drink some water or juice from a sippy cup sometimes.

Some of your favorite toys are your basketball hoop, cell phones, remotes, anything that plays music, and laundry hampers.

You took your first trip to the beach with mommy and daddy. You had a blast and loved touching and eating the sand. You weren't too sure about the big waves at first but once you knew you were safe, you loved the water too!

You have such a sweet spirit and we love your big smile. It just melts mommy's and daddy's heart. You better use it to your advantage while you can still get away with stuff! ;)  We love you, Bubee!