It's a Long Way to the Top...

So, I'm on my computer this afternoon after a photoshoot for which I straightened my hair, AND wore a shirt other than the infamous black v-neck. I'm about to start working on edits for like, four shoots back, and I'm thinking I look like death. I got all dressed up and even applied makeup - came home and was sweaty, had frizzy hair, and am suffering from fire ant bites. I'm thinking all that work to look decent for a client, and I probably look like H-E-double-hockey-sticks. Ugh. Too lazy to go to the mirror in the bathroom oh, say, 15 feet away, to verify my suspicions - I pull up PhotoBooth on my Mac.

Now, for those of you who haven't had the delight and pleasure of crossing over into Jordan - or okay, into the Mac world - PhotoBooth is a program that takes your pic from the webcam that comes built-in to our awesome Macs. I was just gonna pull up the photobooth to see what the heck I look like right now.

What I uncovered was simply, perfection. Funnier than anything on the planet, and more descriptive of my sweet daughter Morgan, than I could ever write. I LOVE this girl. Teenagers rock because of this. I quickly assembled these stills into a slideshow and added music from her iPod. She sold me the privilege of posting this on my blog, with no fear of being hated forever, for the low, bargain basement price of $30. Yes, Dancin' Jimmy balked at my frivelous expendature, but I quickly reminded him of the many-many times he has offered Brady Lady $20 to "break it down" in public. (She still has not taken him up on it, however.)

Enjoy...my Moey-Moey-Moey-Pamoey:

Women ONLY, please...

NOTE: Men, sorry, but you are not invited to this discussion. Not that you aren't always welcome to my blog - but this one is just hard for anyone to get unless you have given birth, and not useful to those of the human race who will NEVER give birth. It may contain graphic material not suitable for that same portion of the human race who, is capable of napping on Sundays guilt-free.

Now that we have that taken care of, let's get on with it. I'm stressing about the big, daggum, FOUR-OH, that is looming ever nearer. Yesterday was just a long, sad, reminder that I am AY-GEENG! Blah. T-minus 1 month, 29 days until the day that will live in infamy. Not quite December 7, but two days later - December 9. Hint-hint: you can email me to get the address in which to send the Canon 5d Mark ii, to.

Last night, as I lay in bed, contemplating the day, I tweeted. (No, that does not involve pulling the sheets over my husband's head.):



You see, all three of my children, precious-precious children, decided that when the time was right, they just COULDN'T WAIT to get on out of my body. Morgan-5 hours labor, Bradyn-4 hours labor, Anna (induced 2 weeks early) -7 hours. Keep in mind, I went from 7 centimeters to 0 in a matter of 30 minutes with Anna...excusing her from the previous 6 hours of labor. And, let me just say the term "labor" is used loosely here. I pushed with Morgan for 30 minutes. Bradyn shot on out when the doctor made me laugh. No kidding. I didn't push, I LAUGHED THAT GIRL OUT! My mom says her Native-American name should be "Laughing Moon." And Anna, well, little Anna had to be pushed back up and held there until they could get all the crap set up to catch her in!

So, okay - I know we all LOVE to share our birthing stories, don't we? We love comparing and competing with our fellow moms as to who has the best story! But, all of that was to say, those sweet little girls RIPPED my pelvic floor right out of my body. No kidding - it shot straight across the room and hit Charlie on the back as he was gazing at his new little Peanut. They swept it up and stuffed it back in and it has never done its job quite right ever since. So what does this mean? This means that I cannot lift anything heavier than 30 pounds - without wetting myself. I cannot cough - without wetting myself. I cannot sneeze - without wetting myself. I cannot laugh - without wetting myself. Talk about SEXY! Woo hoo!

Now, I know I will be mortified the second this blog hits the internet. Did you just tell the internet you pee yourself all day? Yes, I certainly did. My hope that it is completely temporary. Already seen the doc and the good ol' Kegels are NOT gonna get it. It is at the point of requiring surgical intervention. Which, I have been assured will be successful...AS LONG AS I DO NOT LIFT ANYTHING OVER 5 POUNDS FOR 8 WEEKS! Oh, lovely. I went in, hoping to get this out of the way so I could get on with my former-young-feeling life. But, dang it, Anna is definitely not under the 5 pound limit. And, she's still in a crib, which requires SOMEONE to hoist her out after naptime. Besides? How can I not lift that sweet baby up in the air and kiss all over her "beh-buh" (belly-button)? Impossible.

So, it looks like I will enter my 40's well-entrenched in the joys of aging. Some of us get to sail through them looking better than ever (Sheryl Crow, Courtney Cox.) No, I'm carrying my industrial sized Costco box of pantyliners with me into the next decade. Blah.

Just a little Halloween fun...

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If I could turn back time...

So, my sweet little Moey-Pamoey made a comment the other day, and it really struck me hard. She said, "I wish I had a pic like that of me in MY daddy's hands. Too late though, I don't think he could hold me like that NOW!" That girl is SOOOOO funny! I mean, she keeps me in stitches! Seriously, she is going to be great entertainment when I'm old in the nursing home. All my nursing home buddies will come to my little room whenever she comes to visit!

Anyway, the pic she is referring to is this one of Peanut in Dancin' Jimmy's hands:

It really made me think. I look at all these sweet photos of OTHER PEOPLE all the time and wish I go back in time and take those of my older girls when they were little. I wasn't into photography at this level back then. Oh how I wish I could have pics like that of them. The other thing that strikes me is, I don't have many pics of me and my girls together. I'm hardly in any GOOD ones. My goal for this next month is to get some good pics of me and my girls....our whole family for that matter.

As much as I want a good family portrait, I also really wish I had some good around-the-house-moments of us. I've gotten so busy with other people's pictures, that I don't take many of my own. If it weren't for the beautiful, wonderful, amazing, iPhone...I'd hardly have many at all!

So, anyway, this wasn't as much a blog, as it was a rambling chain of thoughts that I just felt like sharing. You guys - take your kids to get photographed. Not necessarily by me - just do it! In fact, here's a list of photographers (and my mentors) that I HIGHLY recommend!

Love-love,

Kim

MEMPHIS

Patrick Clough (www.patrickclough.com)

Allison Barker (contact me for info)

Nathan Rye (www.nathanrye.com)

Chris Morey (http://ciras-imaging.com/)

ACROSS THE NATION

Jessica Cudzillo (www.503photography.com)

Kim Pace (www.kimpacephotography.com)

Tara Kuhlow (www.tarakuhlow.com)

Julie Foskett (www.foskettphotography.com)

To my Tweeps...

Today has been a good one. Although, Peanut didn't get her nap in this morning, refused to let me Skype pleasantly with my Twitter friends and mother-in-law, and had a meltdown this afternoon about how many steps she was allowed to climb without mom.

Regardless, today is good. My life is good. My children are amazing. Breathe.

What is it that takes us into that swirling storm of emotions that make us feel like typing in all caps on some days, and over using the colon/parenthesis :) on others? What makes a day feel like this one? Today feels like sunshine, unicorns, and rainbows. Like, I totally expect that if I were to open my window right now, a pretty little blue bird will actually land on my hand, while I sing a happy melody in my operatic voice, enjoying the blue birds' friends as they decorate my hair with ribbon.

That's today. But, some days, well...some days it's as though I am Cinderella - only more so the "Cinder" part. Like, it takes every cell in my body arguing with the next to finally heave my non-jogger-exerciser-morning-person body from the bed. Everything everyone does makes me crazy. Those days when I feel like I cannot please anyone, although every move I make is for other people. Those days, you feel like crying because you just can't win.

I think that's why we Facebook, Tweet, text, email, Skype, call. To keep us sane. We need the people on the other end who are having a good day, to be there for those who are having a not-so-good day. We need to know we aren't the only ones that feel like running-screaming from the building. That we aren't crazy for THINKING about eating a gallon of ice-cream, hiding from the children in the closet, tossing every sock in the trash and buying new ones, or opening a beer at 10:00 AM. We all have those thoughts, and when we moms (and dads) communicate them to others - well, it helps us NOT do those things!

So, today - a shout out to my Twitter and Facebook buddies! You are all beautiful and you are all counted among friends. Have a great weekend!

Love,

kimjay_everyday :)