{The} Bischoff's: 2010

Nixon turned 1 on November 15th! I seriously cannot believe that he is already one. This past year has gone by so fast, but he has been such a blessing in our family! The day was pretty low key, I guess that is what happens when you are the second child? Even though we didn't throw a big party, the day didn't go by unnoticed. We had a special dinner that Nixon could be included in on- grilled chicken, rice & steamed veggies! Then we opened a few gifts, and had yummy muffins for dessert.

His birthday was just a few days before his eye surgery (and his first haircut)...

The favorite gift was (and still is) his Thomas train. This kid is going to be a TRAIN lover... and he LOVES Thomas! Another thing about Nixon is he is super SENSITIVE about pretty much EVERYTHING. While he loves his Thomas, he is also very scared of it when it is in the "on" position, because it can go by itself... I guess it's just a little too scary for him, so Thomas is kept off mostly.

:PART TWO:

We didn't do a traditional smash cake on his actual birthday, because I wanted a photo session for him with one and I wanted to save the session for after his surgery and a haircut. :o)

~The cake~

My friend/neighbor made the cake for us, and she did an awesome job! I couldn't be happier with it. While I LOVE the bright colors, and the fun look of a fondant frosted cake (I STILL need to post about Easton's birthday, and his AMAZING cake). I really wanted something simple and classic for Nixon's cake, and she captured my vision perfectly! I love that I have such talented friends, and that I can trade pictures for cake!

~The Birthday Boy~

(look at those BEAUTIFUL- and beautifully CLEAR eyes!)

I've noticed that people who are picky about what they eat usually have no problem with SWEETS... Nixon was no exception! This cake was a yummy gingerbread cake with a cream cheese frosting... YUMMY.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIXON!

.sad eyes

This is what my baby's eyes look like everyday... since he was a newborn.

Poor Baby...

Poor Mommy.

Every time we go to the doctor it's the usual "oh, he'll just grow out of it" and "here's some eye drops..." even though those eye drops were for the treatment of pink eye. Until I finally made an appointment with a pediatric opthamologist at Primary Children's. He was AWESOME! He told me that Nixon will not grow out of it, and if I do not treat it now it will become very difficult to treat later on in his life. The treatment is surgical probing under general anestesia... have you had any experiences with babies and anestesia? I'm seriously counting down to his surgery next month... but am also worried! I know people don't really comment on blogs anymore, but any input would be awesome!

.a right of passage

Easton was finally old enough to play fall t-ball this year and he LOVED every minute of it! I am so happy that we decided to let him do this. I think he learned a little bit about the sport, and following directions! While he wasn't the most "athletic" 3 year old on the team... Dan and I were sure proud parents! :)

Easton with his coach.

He spent a lot of his time digging in the dirt... funny kid. :)

Now... the best part of being on a t-ball team? The TrEaTs!

The Classic Team picture... except nobody was looking at my camera, so it is a little off.

This was a fun season, and I have a feeling that this is just the begining of what may be many years to come!

.anxiety

It has been almost 2 years since THIS post, and since I had first gotten my Nikon d90 to try to learn to use. It didn't take Dan too long to become just as interested, and being the go-getter that he is, it wasn't too much time after that before our hobby of taking pictures was being molded into a little side business for the both of us. We have spent many countless hours working on getting better and learning, building up a client base (just yesterday I had a session with a client that was returning for the 4th time!). We (and by we- I mean Dan) has been building our in-home studio in our basement, we have spent many hours building a portfolio and website, and we really can't forget to mention the money we have spent *ahem* on equipment! There have been many dinners in the car on the way to a session, and there have been many "pajama days" as Easton would like to call it, where I have literally spent the entire day on the computer editing photos (letting dishes, laundry & toys pile up). There have been many rewarding days... and some not quite so rewarding days!

We have taken pictures of family, friends, neighbors and complete strangers... babies, brides & grooms, seniors, large groups, etc.

NEVER UNTIL NOW... have I ever felt so nervous!
(believe me, there are always plenty of nerves)

58 three & four year olds... need I say more?

I feel sick just thinking about it.

{smile}

I'm in love.

This kid is a {riot}

I couldn't ask for anyone better to hang out with... he is such a fun kiddo.

I was up last night thinking about how I wished that I was better at blogging- you know, like the good old days! Anyway, I will try! And we shall see how we go :)

This past week, Dan's sister and her family stayed with us for a night. The nice thing about where we live, is enjoying the benefits of neighboring communities! We had a lot of fun, Thanks Chanda!

Easton's favorite part was getting dirty! We had to ditch the shorts before getting back into the car. :)

:summa: lovin'

We are loving the warm weather! Wish I could say that we have been here every week so far- so not the case, but we did manage to sneak away from responsibility a few times to party at the pool!

Easton is my cautious boy, and he is always telling us that he needs to stay "on the steps" of the pool, and never thinks of straying from there, and hates it if Dan or I hold him and take him to any deeper areas. I have a feeling that Nixon will be the brave one in the fam, and I am so nervous for that day to come! He was already trying to dive into the water while sitting in his little float... yikes!

Easton sure has a blast in the parts where he feels comfortable!

Lunch [time]

This is about all Nixon does when it is time to eat solid foods... he just smiles. We have been working on solid foods for 2 months now, and he is barely accepting to rice cereal, if it's at the perfect warmed up temperature, let alone anything else! Can I say picky?? So NOT what I was used to with Easton. I should have seen it coming though, he is the opposite of Easton when it comes to nursing, too. Nixon will only nurse when HE decides he is hungry (no planning ahead for me!) and when the milk is gone, he is out of there! :) Easton would have nursed ALL DAY LONG, regardless if there was any milk or not.

I believe he is growing and developing just fine, and I shouldn't worry that he isn't getting enough solids. And while he doesn't have that chubby look that Easton had mastered, he is actually bigger overall than Easton was...

Don't let this picture fool you, he is just chewing on the end of the cup... no drinking yummy juice for him.

moab 2010

With Dan's job right now, it's next to impossible to try to even think of planning any type of vacation this summer. So, instead of being bummed out, we made a spontaneous, and short trip to moab to go camping and hiking! We left Thursday after Dan got home from work, arrived just in time to set up camp and roast marshmallows. Which is weird when it's 90 degrees outside. We woke up Friday morning (after a very LONG night) and went hiking all day, got back to our campground to find that our tent had blown over, so we made our tin foil dinners (which, after a day of granola bars was very TASTY!) packed up camp and drove home!

Yes... we were brave for taking the kids. :)

And yes... this is me actually blogging! :)

We had only enough time (and energy) to do one hike, and we decided to go for the famous Delicate Arch hike. Easton was a real trooper, and hiked MOST of the way himself!