Road Trip.

I've learned quite a few things in my twenty-eight years and lately I'm discovering how much more I have to learn about being a momma. Like lesson two hundred and eight seven: Never, never ever, take a road trip to Chicago when there is construction all along the highway and you are not equipped with a DVD player that plays Barney. Lesson learned. It was a long seven hours and twenty-four minutes and the little man was not so happy with the ride. A quick-fix? Jacob, meet your first happy meal at McDonalds. Hello, Golden Arches and hello, greasy baby hands. I cringed at the thought of how horribly unhealthy this meal was for him, laughed thinking about some of my momma friends that never thought they would see the day that I would feed this meal to my child, and adored the way my little one loved ketchup.



I mean, he really went after it.



And just when he thought it was all gone, he dug deeper.



There came a point when eating fries was not even in his agenda, he just wanted straight tomato deliciousness.



And when he thought that was gone, well.... he just went after the container.



But the best part of day one of our road trip was seeing my great friend, Samantha. Thank you, Professor Zamoff for bringing us two ladies together in your unforgettable sociology class.



And I was incredibly touched when I finally got to introduce my little man to one of my closest friends.



Other things I've learned in my life? I suppose a good, overloaded sodium meal is okay in a jam and, more importantly, never let go of dear friends... The people in your life that, no matter where you are and what you are doing, they will always be right there for you.

Just two ladies laughing hysterically like the first day we met....



More road trip fun to come....

A Wedding Day.

A day that I never want to forget. Not one single moment of it.

The moments before we saw each other...

(all photographs by Kathie Belfield)

And those perfect moments right after. Those moments where I looked into his eyes and thought, how did I get this lucky?





The moments when my dad first saw me, cried, and then strategically turned his back to the camera so his tears couldn't be captured.



Our amazing friends and family that were there throughout the whole day, even for the three hours we traveled across the entire St. Louis area in ninety degree weather for the most perfect photographs. True friendship.



I want to always remember the walk down the aisle. How I had both of my parents supporting me, and not just my weight because I was slightly fearful about having one of those traumatic incidents of tripping on my gown, but truly supporting us and our marriage. I want to remember walking down the aisle to meet him.... how I was scared before the doors opened, but seeing him, seeing his eyes, made me lose sight of everyone else in the room.



I want to remember how Philip was so nervous to step and break the glass, scared that it wouldn't actually break, that when he actually did successfully break the glass, he cheered. A full on i-just-scored-the-winning-goal cheer. And everyone cheered with him.



And the very first kiss as husband and wife....



I want to remember being introduced for the very first time as Mr. & Mrs. Cotta.



And the funny moments where Philip went right on up under my dress to remove my garter to throw to the boys...



The moment where it was my time to pass on the wedding bouquet and I secretly knew I was going to throw it to my little sister, but we still acted quite excited and surprised when it landed in her arms. And guess what? She's getting married this fall.



Our first dance. Where he whispered how much he loved me in my ear and we looked quite graceful swaying in each other's arms to Bless the Broken Road.



I want to remember the first day of the rest of our lives.... I couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to live.



Happy anniversary to my Philip, you are everything I have ever wanted. I dream bigger because of you and you make all my dreams come true. Thank you for loving me that much.

A romantic anniversary evening? We just returned from an incredible mini-vacation in Chicago.... the little one is tucked away and our frozen pizza and wedding video awaits us... Life is good.

Today was good.

I baked homemade oatmeal raison chocolate chip cookies this evening. From scratch. Minus the fact that I had no vanilla and my chocolate chips have been stashed away in my freezer for about a year, I'd say they turned out quite delightful. And if I wasn't too lazy this evening to load up the pictures on my computer, I'd share my holly homemaker treats with you. Unfortunately, momma's a little sleepy. Between a busy few days of awesome shoots and a little one that has six teeth coming through at once (and has reverted back to not sleeping through the night and wanting to come into our bed), I'm in need of a few hours of trash tv on the couch. Need a better picture? I actually stepped into the shower today with my clothes on in my hurry to get ready.

In other news, life is quite delicious.



If there is one thing I want Jacob to know, it's that there is nothing more important than family. Wherever you may go, whatever else might be going on in your life, family is always there.



And I know you can't choose your family, but I think someone might have just handpicked the best of the best when it comes to my family.



Are we a perfect bunch?



Well, my nephew sure is stinking cute but, no sir, we are not perfect. Sometimes, we bicker (or, as seen here, sometimes we allow the seventeen-month-old to wrestle with the twenty-seven-month-old).



But in the end, we work it out. Life's too short to worry about little messes.



(On a side note, if you do have a mess, just call on my little one to clean it up. Loving the broom these days....he must get that from Philip.)



And I love watching my parents with the grandkiddies because it is the exact same scenes from when we were wee little ones, even down to the exact same Dr. Seuss books that were read to us...



.... only she had four of us on her lap.



Perhaps the greatest part about family is that the love that exists is truly unconditional. And I wonder if this little one knows how good we have it. How much love is really in our lives.



I'd have to believe that yes, he's taking it all in, loving on us, and loving on our whole big family, and loving this great ride...



"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one." [Dr. Seuss]

Rock & Soul.

Around this time a few years ago, the invites were out, the final touches on the big day were being planned, and Philip and I were getting ready to walk down the aisle. Oh, sweet memories....



So to celebrate our anniversary, we decided a mini-vacation, sans our little one, was in order.

Hello, Memphis.



Well, that wasn't quite our first stop. Philip insisted we take a detour to visit Shiloh, a Civil War battlefield.



Only the most romantic treatment for his sweetie.



I managed to endure the 127 minutes we spent at the site, retain some of the minute details shared to us during a small program, and regurgitate these stories back to Philip while leaving Shiloh to show him I was paying attention. True love, Baby.



And then, my friends, the real fun began... Hello, Beale Street.



It was only our second time away from Jacob for a period of three days. I managed to call home to the grandmas (who split the time) only a few times a day. And the rest of the day? I soaked up (and loved) every single moment of it with this guy...



I developed a slight fascination for these little guys... the Beale Street Flippers. These little boys that, day and night, flipped and twirled, backwards and forwards, all down a block of Beale Street.









We ate, we danced, we walked and talked, slept in, toasted a few delicious "fat ass beers" (as they call them on Beale Street), and thought about how good we have it... And the great thing about Beale Street is that, I think, everyone is thinking the same thing. It is an incredibly carefree three blocks, with live music in every restaurant and bar, dancing in the streets, and people of all ages and types enjoying the moments...



And then, of course, we visited Graceland. And my husband showed me how to rock out like Elvis and reminded me that I didn't fall in love with him for his dance moves....





Around this time of the year, I start to wonder if we are everything we were when we first said "I do." Are we still this happy?



Nah, who am I kidding? It's a thousand times better....

32 Years.

Happy Anniversary to my parents who celebrate a very special day today. Thirty-two years and four children later, they are still as in love as the day they got married.... maybe even more so than when my dad proposed to my mom near the brocoli section of the grocery store.



Thank you for always providing us with a good model for a relationship.... You continue to show us how to love, bicker, communicate, hug, laugh, cry, and do it all over again! We can only hope that we can be as fortunate as the both of you.

I love you, Mom and Dad! Enjoy your night out tonight!!

The Good Days.

Made possible by this little one. This little one that allowed me to weigh him at The Magic House and weighed in at a whopping 26 pounds and 12 ounces.



In the little village, they have mini-sized versions of everything you can imagine... mini grocery stores, libraries, research labs, restaurants, and, one of my favorites, a mini hospital with a perfectly-sized mini nursery with pretend babies. And for a moment, I saw a glimpse into the future, perhaps not long from now, where my first little one might so carefully hold a new little baby brother or sister and take on the proud role of "Big Brother."



For there is no doubt in my mind that my first born will be quite the amazing big brother to whoever may someday come into our family.



Of course, I wonder how that life will be... how it will be to share my time with another little one. Yet for right now, we just enjoy our precious little moments all to ourselves.



And while he's always been a cuddler, always been one to peacefully cling to my hip, he is slowly becoming much more independent, wanting to do more and more on things on his own, like feed himself his Dora yogurt (which results in him taking in less than half of the container), attempt to sit on the potty (which results in a little pool of pee on my kitchen floor because we can't quite time the actually event of peeing and sitting on his potty right), and here, climb up the wall of the swingset (which he does rather successfully).



These are the good days. Hot, summer days that usually ends in freeze pops.



And always end in smiles.