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Holli Pool Photography

Photographer + Filmographer: Stuarts Draft, Augusta County, Staunton, Waynesboro, Harrisonburg VA

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December 2015 - Letters to Our Children

--After you read my letter, click the link to see Tiffany's letter to her children.  If you keep clicking from there, eventually you'll be right back here!--

My cute Mason,

Getting ready for Christmas with you has been fun so far this year.  As I write this, you’re eating your cereal with “smarshsmallows” and listening to Christmas music.  You’ve heard the Christmas story several times this past week, and you know that it’s “a different Joe-fess” who is married to Jesus’ mommy than the Joseph that has a colorful coat.  We have a few special Christmas books that I keep with the Christmas decorations so they don’t get ruined throughout the rest of the year, and you’ve already heard all of them a few times.  When we went to pick out and cut down our tree on Saturday, you enjoyed holding the saw and helping Daddy. 

This past Thursday was Thanksgiving, and you ran your first race!  It was a one mile race, and you were very excited about it…until you ran the first couple yards.  After that you mostly walked with Daddy.  You enjoyed picking up sticks and viewing the scenery during the race.  We tried to get you to run more, but it usually only worked for a couple steps.  But you still finished, and you were the youngest runner in the race!  I didn’t write down the exact time, but it was 17 minutes-something.  We are so proud of you for doing that!  Our Thanksgiving was a lot smaller than normal this year because of family being busy with different things, so I think we ended up with about fifteen people at Nonni and Poppy’s house.  Grandma had to work on Thanksgiving, so she and Pappy didn’t come down this year.  We still had lots of yummy food and had fun being with family.  You even got to play with a remote controlled helicopter from Uncle Wesley!    

You’ve been making up a lot of songs lately with everyday lyrics like “We want you to be nice to your brother.”  You love to listen to cd’s, and your favorites are your Cubbies cd, your birthday cd from Clayton and Hollie, and the songs from VBS this year; but in the car, you love to listen to the Jungle Jam cd's that we’re still borrowing from Aunt Michele and Uncle Wesley.  You still love to read, and we make trips to the library every 3 weeks to get a new bag of books.  You always make sure that we get at least one Thomas book each time we go.  There’s also usually at least one book about trains, trucks, or tools. 

Your memory is amazing.  You have usually memorized at least one of the 15 books from the library that we check out after only a week or two.  I think you can still quote one of the books that we checked out and returned about 8 weeks ago.  You remember little details about things that I have long since forgotten.  In conversation, you like to ask us what random people are doing.  Usually we have no idea what the answer is, but you have a list of about 20 people that you ask us about.  I’m not sure how else your learning-style will develop, but you are definitely an auditory learner. 

 

You and Rylan get along better some days than others.  You’re not very fond of sharing with him, though, which usually results in him biting you.  We’re still working on that.  Sometimes, though, you find something funny that you can do together that makes you both laugh.    You’ve figured out how to make a “tractor trailer” with your riding toys by hooking daddy’s plastic clip from the back of the Lightning McQueen riding toy to your toy wagon.  You have also figured out how to pull Rylan in that wagon.  It’s pretty cute until he falls out of the back. 

 

A few fun quotes from you from the past two months are:

  • You asked daddy what the “ditch pastor” said at work (aka dispatcher.) 
  • When talking about church, you said, “Well, I might try to make SPEED down the hallway and play in the nursery!!”  (If we say that we’re going to do something, you say, “Well then, I might ______” fill in the blank with something bad that you tell us you’re going to do.)
  • After reading your book from the library, "Thomas-saurus Rex," at breakfast you said, "Daddy, when did Thomas-saurus wreck?"  We were confused, and you explained, "The book says Thomas-saurus wrecks!"  We tried to explain after that, but we may have made you more confused.
  • You still pronounce a precious few words wrong, like saying the word "bathroom" like "bath-yoom."  :-D
  • When I say that something you suggested won’t work, you calmly say, “Just give it a try, Mommy.”

 

 

Thanks for being so sweet.

I love you,  Mommy

Here's the link to Tiffany's letter!

Monday 11.30.15
Posted by Holli Pool
Comments: 3
 

Baby Anahi

I was so happy to meet sweet baby Anahi and her parents last week.  As you can see, Anahi is absolutely adorable.  Her little hand was bandaged from being on an antibiotic, but that didn't seem to bother her; she barely cried the entire time I was there!  

Here's a peek into our in-hospital Fresh48 session.  Enjoy!

Saturday 11.21.15
Posted by Holli Pool
 

October 2015 - Letters to Our Children

Baby Rylan,

Yes.  You're 16 months old, but we still call you "Baby Rylan."  We really will eventually drop the "baby" part.  :)

You have been busy this past year getting cuter than ever.  You charm people with a smile and a wave wherever we go.  (On vacation, we had at least 20 people offer to kidnap you after you smiled at them).  You have also developed quite the attitude over the past few months.  When you don't get what you want, you throw your head back, and it usually propels you all the way to the floor.  Your other defiant act is to bend forward in the start of a somersault while crying, after which you collapse to the floor.  You also enjoy slamming your head back in your high chair and throwing things while making mean sounds if we offer you a food that you no longer want.  The experts say that toddlers throw fits because they can't communicate what they want in words yet, so hopefully your dramatic self-destruction won't be permanently damaging to your head while we wait for the communication piece to fall into place. ;)

You do say a few words now, even though "Dada" and "Mama" was your entire vocabulary until recently.  Here are some words you've added: "shoes," "sandals," "juice/drink," "truck," "Ppp-Ppp-Ppp" (for Poppy), "no no no no" (when Mason is starting to take something from you), and "boof" (for food- while signing the word "please").  You can also repeat a few other words on demand....sort of.  

Since birth, your hair has gone from black to very blonde.  More than one person has mentioned that you look like a little surfer.  If you've just had a bath or if it's humid or rainy outside, your hair is curly; otherwise, it's silky and pretty straight now.  You stayed at or below the 3rd percentile for weight during your first year of life, but now that you're 16 months old, I think you're finally gaining more weight.  You eat a LOT- more than Mason most days.  You aren't necessarily a picky eater until you decide mid-meal that you no longer want something.  There's no rhyme or reason to what you'll eat one day and won't eat the next.

You love steering wheels, trucks, tools, lawn mowers, climbing, and following Mason.  You want to play with whatever he's playing with and drink out of whatever cup he's drinking out of.  Sometimes you like to hear books, but your attention span is naturally very short.  You will cuddle with anyone who has your special baseball blankey from Grandma on their shoulder or lap.  You blow kisses when you are ready to go to sleep and I'm holding you.  A lot of the time, you want Daddy if he's at home, but there are certain times where Mommy is the only one you will allow to soothe you - especially at night.  I have loved these 16 months with you and have had fun watching you grow, learn, and play.  

You are wild and you are sweet.  I love you.   

Love, Mommy


Thursday 10.29.15
Posted by Holli Pool
Comments: 2
 
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