My summer officially starts on Monday, but we got a little taste of summer today in the driveway. I’m totally a summer-loving girl. I can take 100*+ temps like a champ. I love them, actually. I long for them in the frigid Texas winters. I love to run in the middle of the day in Texas. I guess I’m a just a little bit crazy My kiddo seems to have inherited my love for being outdoors in Texas summers. So today, he donned his swimsuit and we took the water table to the driveway. To say he loved it would be a huge understatement. I don’t think there was one inch of his body that wasn’t soaked (or one inch of the driveway, for that matter!) I was longing for a longer lens to keep my precious camera dry But I’m so glad I braved the splashing…the pictures I got were so worth it.

And as a sidenote – get your camera out and take pictures of your kids…today. I’ve been SO bad about taking pictures of Will because I already have so much work piled up. But I’m so glad I’ve made a conscious effort to take pictures of him this week. I forgot how much I loved it.

There’s something about those dirty, pruny feet in this one that I adore!

Let the splashing begin!

I love his grin and the way his little belly sticks out. Makes my heart melt!

Sweet, sweet little boy.

Disclaimer: In this post you’re going to find some pretty crappy photography. Some horrible color casts, blown out spots, and some plain out of focus images. But they’re my boy. And I promised to take pictures of him every day this week and share them…I failed miserably at that yesterday, so I’m making up for it today. Embrace the horribleness of the photos. They may be bad, but they’re him and this is what we did today. And for that, I love them.

Disclaimer II: In this post you’re also going to see a whole lot of my unorganized garage. Yep, we’ve lived in this house for nearly a year and the garage is still unorganized. The guest bedroom closet, master bedroom closet, and the office aren’t as organized as I’d like either. I guess that’s what happens when you’re a full time mommy, small business owner, and wife. I could care less how organized my house is anymore as long as it LOOKS clean. Oh, and the green stuff on my kid’s face? It’s definitely not snot. It’s a green highlighter I gave him to draw with to keep him occupied so I could package up an order since he woke up from his nap early. Just keepin’ it real.

Today was a rather ordinary day. The boys I watch came over. Everyone ate breakfast, everyone took naps (well, everyone BUT me), everyone got snack, and everyone went outside. I remembered to grab my camera before we headed out to the front yard in hopes of catching some great shots of Will playing. I didn’t catch so many of those shots. Instead I caught a lot of the back of his head, since he’s stubbornly refusing to look at my camera now-a-days.

Example number one of the not-so-great photography. This is the closest thing to eye contact+smile that I got out of the entire hour or so we were outside. He’s shouting “da!” as a car drives down our street and turns around in the cul-de-sac. No, buddy. I’m so sorry. “Da” is at work right now and can’t come play with you. You’re stuck with boring ‘ol “ma” who has a camera glued to her face.

After shouting “da” 5,286 times, he moved on to shouting “bah.” If you’re not familiar with toddler-speak, “bah” means “ball.” And oh my heavens does my boy LOVE his “bah.” There can be a ball ten houses down and he’ll spot it with his eagle eyes and start chanting. In all actuality, it doesn’t even have to be a true ball. It could be, say, a kiwi sitting on the kitchen table. Said kiwi might just end up squished into pieces from being thrown onto the kitchen floor. So I guess “bah” really means any semi-round object good for throwing. After the 23rd time he shouted “bah” at the top of his lungs, I went in search of a “bah” in the garage. The only thing I could find was an exercise ball, so I figured…it’s round and it bounces. It’ll do. Who would’ve known exercise balls were so good for smacking?

The next one is classic Will. The side-eyed look at me for saying something stupid, I’m sure. I have a feeling I’m going to be seeing a LOT of this look in about 12 years. I’m so not ready.

And finally, probably the WORST example of photography you’ll ever see on this site. It’s totally not even in focus. But my goodness, it’s hilarious. The chubby hands desperately grasping for something to hold onto in the swing. The pulled back mouth that was laughing moments before this shot and is now starting to embrace a look of terror. I call this one, “Whoah, Mom! TOO high!”

So in case you were wondering, just because you are a professional photographer doesn’t mean you’ll always get professional-quality photos of your kid. I have many, many more photos like these stashed away on my hard drive. And sometimes when I really just need a laugh I open them up and chuckle. Hope they were able to do that for you today

It’s been just over two months since I did this photo shoot with Will on a rainy day. We recreated it this afternoon (though it wasn’t so rainy at all!) and I’m in awe at how much he’s grown. Two months. 60ish days. And in that time, my baby grew into a toddler. I think part of it is the hair…look how much it’s grown! It’s starting to turn into this adorable curl in the back and it definitely needs to be combed in the morning. The days have passed where a quick towel dry after bath suffices! And then there are the teeth. Oh, the teeth! I love that grin – 8  perfect little baby teeth. The gap in the middle. I love that even though two months have passed, this is still our after nap routine. At least if the boy has grown by leaps and bounds, the routine still stays the same.