The Armstrong 5

Okay, Asher is officially being potty trained. We started on Tuesday, mid-morning after his bath. He did AWESOME!!! No accidents AT ALL until 7pm when we left him in his high chair a bit long while drinking his chocolate milk :) We have a 3 strikes policy though, and Wednesday morning he hit that limit. After going 2 times after waking up, he wet himself while standing over my brand new shoes after having gone only 20 minutes before. Then, the whole pooping in the potty thing did not happen. Then, another poop and pee... all within an hour or so. I was a bit hesitant about today thinking "Man, maybe it was fluke. Maybe he just can't hold it." But, only 1 accident again today! And this was after 6:30pm after a lot of water and (ashamedly) soda :)

Today, we drove out to Tracy's apartment to pick up Shannon, then out to NE Portland to drop off a check and Asher did AMAZING! We made it almost 50 minutes (part of that sleeping) on our way to Tracy's and he stayed dry the entire time! I'm so proud, and relieved!!! On the way home he slept for almost an hour and did wet then, but that's to be expected. I was super nervous about potty training but Asher seems to be understanding the concept. If he has to go and I'm not taking him, he just start to pull down his undies and say "underwear off!" until I help rush him to the bathroom. Also, he LOVES his "Cars" underwear so that motivates him to stay dry too.

Anyway, that's what I've been busy with - that, and editing, feeding, still changing boy #2's diapers, bottles, meals and everything else in-between. Tomorrow, Shannon and I are going to go out SUPER early and take a bunch of dance photos for stock stuff. Should be FUN! Not the early part, but the rest :) Stay tuned for those photos. I'll post a couple teaser wedding shots from Derek and Sarah's big day for your viewing pleasure. Thanks!

This weekend, 2 good friends got married! Derek and Sarah are so amazing and I was so blessed that they chose to hire me as their photographer!! It was a beautiful wedding, so sincere and Christ centered... and there was so much crazy dancing at the end... cracked me up!

So, my Saturday (and Tracy's) was filled with wedding stuff as we documented their day in photos. I realized early on in the day that I had misplaced my keys. I thought I had left them in my purse, then locked my purse in the car. I had to call Mark from the ranch where the wedding was at - where most of us had no cell service - which left the caller ID as "blocked" so Mark didn't answer and was not able to call me back. I told him I was locked out of the car, and if he could get our other set of keys from Paul (another long story) and bring them to the wedding when he arrived (he was planning on coming anyway, since they are dear friends). He handed me the keys and I thanked him heartily... I felt like such a dork!

After the wedding, Tracy and I headed to the car, looked in the purse... nope, no keys!! We looked EVERYWHERE! Luckily, we had only gone a few places between leaving the car initially and realizing my keys were lost so we didn't have too much ground to cover. Nothing! No one turned them in, not anywhere on the grounds and not anywhere in the car. We drove home at 10pm and I was feeling dreadful. All of Mark's other keys were on that key ring. Was he going to be upset? Would he just shrug it off? I was nervous to say the least, while praying that God would miraculously make the keys appear in the car before we got home.

After a few hellos, how are yous, tired replies, and saying hi to my family (who is visiting), I admitted that I could not find his keys anywhere. He said "What are you talking about? I have my keys." I go "Huh?" He goes "I got them out of your purse before I gave you yours. How did you think I drove home?" Oh my goodness!!! I was just so glad that Tracy and I didn't look longer! And so relieved! I didn't even think "I have my van key, so Mark must have the other key to drive the van home." Ha! It was a great ending after all :)

I'll give you more details about the amazing wedding later... just thought you'd get a kick out of that story. A few boy updates: Asher threw up (again) on the way home from the wedding with Mark. It was strange though b/c it was MILES after all the turns, on a very straight road. Asher said "Tummy hurt." Mark said "Does your tummy hurt b/c you are hungry?" Asher "No. Bleh!!!!!" You just have to laugh. Luckily, most of it was contained to the car seat. I felt bad b/c Mark had to clean it up while taking care of both boys. They ended up in the bath, which was convenient since it was "bath day" and I had forgotten to mention that to Mark :) Cole was getting cranky at the wedding so Mark fixed him a bottle and let him hold it in the car on the way home. He's been doing really well with holding it himself! He sucked it dry and then tossed it overboard - so sweet. They are getting cuter every day.

Since Asher got his sandals all pukey and since they have not yet been run through the wash, we decided this morning that he need another pair of sandals. So Mark took Ash to wal-mart before church. While there, Asher picked out a really cool pair of flip-flops (that we walks surprisingly well in) and Mark found a little UV protective shirt on sale for $3. Looks like the kid is starting to really grow attached to things he likes... he wore those flip-flops ALL DAY -indoors and outside! And he cried crocodile tears when I took his shirt off for bedtime. I thought about letting him sleep in it, but I figure the sooner he knows limits on being attached to objects, the better. After all, we aren't supposed to be attached to the things of the world, might as well get that message clearly stated to him at a young age. After a little crying, he calmed down and thoroughly enjoyed reading his trucks book before bed. Gotta love it!

So, here's a cute image of the entry way at the wedding where the couple had signs posted. The wedding was at 5 Rock Ranch in Yamhill, OR. Actually, it's more like in the middle of the hillsides, miles and miles outside of Yamhill ;) It's gorgeous out there! And the staff (especially the coordinator Kelsey) was amazing!!! More pics to come, week by week!

Just went on a photo shoot to a couple spots in Carlton I'd been wanting to photograph. Dar and I agree that this was a very productive shoot for both of us... even tho I accidentally deleted all the photos of the 1st location (stupid)!! I plan to recover them tho, since I didn't format my card and realized what I had done about 2 seconds after I confirmed the delete. Worst case scenario - $15 and it's fixed.

Okay, so, after playing around with more editing, I'm curious what photo is more appealing. The wheat image is definitely more fathomable for retail purchase than the couch image from before, so tell me, if you were going to buy one, which version would it be? And which image do you think is most (if at all) "gallery worthy?" I'm also posting a 4th image just b/c it was TOTALLY drab before and I made it looked a ton better... good?? Thanks!!

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. It's been a little hectic.

Mark has been working part-time at PDR but has then been working more than part-time on SavageApps - the company him and his friends run making all their iPhone apps. They have iambeatbox, the upgraded version of iambeatbox, BeatBox Ultra, and TechnoBox Acid. They are all super fun... even if you can't keep a beat, the app keeps the rhythm for you and all you have to do is move the "gems" around to choose a different sound and beat. Asher even likes to play!

I've been keeping extremely busy with the photography stuff. Shoots, editing, driving, editing... even with taking care of the kids, trying to finish cleaning the tile floors that are covered in filth from the previous owners, figuring out how to eat gluten-free without starving myself and just doing all the other random household stuff. Yesterday, I finally put up a bunch of our frames and photos and tried to clean up our bedroom a bit. It has kind of become a storage place for items that have no place yet. Once we get our deposit from the old place back, we hope to go to Ikea and get some much needed shelving and storage items :)

As far as the gluten free stuff goes, I'm pretty sure I need to do it. I went 4 weeks without and then almost a full week with and I did alright. No digestive issues besides gas and gurgling, but man, am I feeling bad. Just achy, tired, tired and did I say tired?? My back feels bruised and strained, my head is in a fog constantly and I am just plain crabby. So, back off the wheat. It'll be worth it to feel halfway sane again.

Well, I have crying kids and it's almost naptime. I'll update again soon... well, sooner or later ;)

I went out with my friend Dar this morning to photograph some good ol' Amity landscapes. Well, the clouds weren't quite as dramatic as last week but we did photograph this cool, old, totally run-down house. I tried creating a few versions of the same image... will you please tell me, if you were to buy a photo of a nasty old chair (sure, let's pretend) which would you like best of the following... thanks!

So, reading my old blogs I realized that with Asher, I did not do the best job at telling everyone what he could do... so now, I'm going to try harder to give details - mainly so I can go back and see what the boys were doing. It's been crazy busy with moving and such, but both boys have been learning, advancing and are able to do so many new things. Here we go...

Asher - he can pretty much repeat anything :) and :( The other day Mark said "Oh crap" just in conversation, retelling something someone else was doing and Asher started saying it... in a funny, grunty type of voice. It was funny and not so funny... cute and disturbing. Asher can also put some of his clothes on by himself! One day, I was on my computer and he walks over with a shirt around his neck! It was a dirty shirt, so I got him a clean one and let him try again. It takes a bit of work but he can mostly do it himself. Pants are hit and miss... especially jeans. Asher is also singing to himself a lot. Nothing that I can understand mostly, sometimes I hear "crinkle star," but it's really cute!

We have a piano at the new place and Asher likes to play on that too - of course, he always has. But you can tell that he experiments with the different sounds. Sometimes he just goofs off and hits all kinds of keys, but often, he just gently plays a few keys in a row, repeats a little, plays notes high and low... we'll see what he's doing at the end of the year and maybe start to teach him a little. His language skills are improving dramatically! And so is his understanding of life in general. Mark took Ash down to Coos Bay this weekend and we prepped him on who he would see and that it would be a LONG drive. Well, then on Thursday we ran a few errands with Uncle Mark and when we got home, Asher just cried and kept saying "Grampa Boatright, Grampa Boatright!" Apparently, he thought the long trip to Newberg would eventually lead to seeing grandpa Boatright... it was very sweet. He also says a lot of phrases like "I'll sit there" "Grampa downstairs" "Want some" (as he tries to give you some of whatever he's eating) "Papa drive, Mama drive"... I wish I could remember all of them! We are really enjoying this stage of his life!!

Cole - well, after going through a cold, 2 ear infections and Fifth Disease/Slapped Cheeks Disease (simple virus) Cole is more like his happy self than he was the past month or so. He's been crawling about on his tummy for a while now but the past couple weeks he's been getting up on all fours and crawling like that... he switches back and forth, depending on how fast he wants to go. He is also pulling himself up on stuff but only to his knees. Funny, b/c he can actually "walk" on his knees while holding onto something but he puts on foot up like he'll stand up and then can't figure out what comes next. I'm sure we'll be seeing him standing up within a few weeks :) He can also get to sitting up on his own, which didn't happen for Asher until after he was walking (that darn huge head of his).

At Cole's 9 month appt he weighed 19lbs 10oz and was almost 29" long. He has 4 teeth (he's had those for a while) and was recently teething with the next 2 on top but they haven't quite broken the gums yet. He has 4 or 5 bottles a day, 3 or 4 servings of fruits and veggies, yogurt, rice cereal, yogurt melts and "puffs" as we call them - those Gerber grain puff things. I think he'll be one of those kids who eats mushed food forever!!! He gags so easy!! Oh well, he does well with lots of veggies so I'm happy with that. He hates getting his diaper changed but is also happy in an instant once it's over with.

We've been trying to get the boys to sleep in the same room at night. We had a couple nights where Cole was completely out before we put Ash to bed and that worked well. Most nights tho, Asher comes out anywhere from 2-5 times!!! Then, we go to put him back, tuck Cole back in (b/c he's usually making faces and noises at Asher) and Cole is just laughing hysterically! It's the weirdest thing! You touch him and he's just cracking up laughing and giggling... at least it helps with the frustration that neither child goes to sleep until they've been put to bed a million times an hour after we started. If it doesn't get better in another 2 weeks we might put them in separate rooms for a few more months... we'll see. Otherwise, they sleep great through the night and mornings haven't been too insanely early. During naps they sleep in separate rooms and that has been working great for me and them.

I sold my double stroller with car seat and got a double jogging stroller (we had to upgrade the carseat last month when Cole got too tall for his). I tried it out with Cole and Analeigh and it is so nice!!! It even has a speaker I can plug my phone into and play music for the kids!!! It rides smooth and the colors are so nice... I love it!!! Hopefully, it'll be great motivation for me to take a "break" and let the kids relax while I get rid of my baby fat :)

We are still unpacking boxes. We have a lot of stuff we need to buy organizational things for so hopefully, we'll get some of our deposit back from the last place and be able to use that money for shelving and such. We'll make a date of it and go to Ikea!!! We love the new place tho. It's been great having Grandma and Grandpa around - for all of us :) Asher loves having them around, he's constantly asking to go downstairs and see them. He stands at the gate we put in and will sometimes throw a toy down, then say "Go get it?" Nice try buddy!

Well, I've been doing tons of photography stuff lately... check my photography blog to stay tuned into that... www.joliphoto.wordpress.com Thanks and I'll update again soon!!