Happy Valentine’s Day!  Hope you’re having a wonderful day celebrating with your loved ones.  Sometimes when you have kids you’re home in your pjs long before most people’s dinner reservations have even started.  Lol!   

Cards

The first card is from Tiny Prints and the second one is from Shutterfly!

Valentine’s Day Thank Yous!

Joy is so lucky to have aunties who love her so much to even plan ahead and get her outfits for Valentine’s Day! Thank you Lisa Eemo for the beautiful tutu & headband!  We’ll be using them for many years to come.  

Thank you Katherine Eemo for the perfect little Valentine’s Day dress!  Joy is wearing one of the hair pins I made for myself a long time ago.  She’s sitting on an awesome chair I found at Ross for only $160!

The Sweater

It was 5 or 6 years ago and I don’t think I was even married yet.  I remember running my hands over the fabric thinking…do babies even wear cashmere?  I loved it though and imagined my future daughter wearing it.  I bought it thinking I could just give it away as a gift.  Years went by yet whenever it was time to give a gift I had to pass over this little sweater.  Deep inside I still held on to the hope that I’d have a daughter one day.  And now, to finally have my little girl and for her to wear this sweater~ words can’t express how happy it makes me. 

Impossible!

So now with 2 kiddos and a furbaby, the difficulty level of taking photos has increased dramatically.  Sometimes I just want to give up because it seems like an impossible task~ lol!  The funny thing is that the best photos usually come from the outtakes!  Here’s my favorite photo from our Valentine’s Day session.  Joy kept lifting up her tutu and covering her face.  Evan rose to the occasion and actually directed her to put her hands down.  Lol!

It used to feel like I was always trying to catch up on everything…emails, photos, projects, etc.  Lately I’ve been trying not to stress about it and just enjoy the moment.  Hope you’ve all been doing great and appreciating the beauty of little moments too! 

iPhone Blues 

My iPhone broke and I lost a lot of data.  Nothing past October 2011 was saved.  When I look at my phone it’s weird…all the settings and everything are as if it were still October.  I lost so much that I can never get back.  I’m probably the only person in the Apple world who didn’t know that syncing and backing up are two completely different things!  If I think about it too much I want to cry so I just have to move on!

Instagram 

So I have a new internet love and its name is Instagram~ a photo editing & social network app for the iPhone.  I love it so much!  Until my friend Linnet found me on Instagram I had been using it for months without knowing it was a social network too~ lol!  You can find me under skippee.

Here are some of my recent favorites~

For Joy’s Room

I recently ordered some photo projects through Shutterfly.  I’ll share them with you once I get them!  Here’s one I made to put up in Joy’s room.

Appreciating Life

There are moments in your life that just change you forever.  When I was younger I said good-bye to my best friend on life support and later saw her mom bury her only child.  Just recently a dear friend passed away and I watched as a young boy cried for his mom.  Heartbreaking and impossible to wrap your mind around events like that.  It does give me a bigger appreciation for life though.  It makes me want to hold my loved ones even closer and say prayers of thankfulness.   

B touched the lives of so many people~ through her kindness, courageous battle with cancer, recipes and photography.  She will most be remembered for her profound love of her baby boy.  Helen is making a scrapbook for J so I wanted to include a letter for him to remember his extraordinary mom.   

Dear J,

I just want you to know what an amazing person your mom is.  She touched so many people’s lives with her big heart, bravery, photography talent, cooking skills and her unconditional love for you.  Just remember that she is always with you…in your heart, in all the happy moments and sad ones too, when the sun shines brightly, when you pray, when you’re feeling scared or lonely…she will always be there.  She is going to be so proud of the incredible boy, man, husband and father you will be one day.  Always know that there are so many people who love you so much.  We will always pray for you and wish you the best.  Here’s a quote from your mom that I will always hold close to my heart:

“Cherish each and every moment and live your life like there’s no tomorrow.”

Love, Jenny Eemo

To Hold My Grandma’s Hand 

Although I never imagined I would take a trip internationally with a baby, B has inspired me to live my life to the fullest and not to have any regrets.  We are headed to Korea to see my grandparents and attend a wedding.  I know it’ll be hard but totally worth it to hold my grandma’s hand.  Luckily Evan gets to stay with his favorite people (his grandparents!) so we don’t have to worry about him at all.  However, I really need your help because I’m so nervous about the trip with Joy.  Any tips on how to take a 6 month old on a 12-13 hour flight?  Also, Korea will still be really cold when we go.  How do I go from a warm suburb to a chilly metropolitan city?!  Thanks in advance!