[akuyama]

Dream date: Ghibli movies marathon

[amandaandbabies-blog]

HI GUYS. So I've pretty much sucked at tumblr-ing for a while now.. haha.  I didn't think anyone would even notice, but I've gotten so many messages asking where I've been!  And surprisingly only like one of the anons that I got was mean (I seriously get so many mean messages from anons.. which is part of the reason that I don't use tumblr anymore).

I mostly don't post anymore because we're just so darned busy these days.  You know.. two crazy toddlers and all.  Plus I own a photography business now and spend all of my "free time" editing pictures/bookkeeping/emailing clients/designing products/etc.  I do try to come on every once in a while to say hi and catch up and see what you're all up to, but the tumblr app on my phone sucks sometimes and I hate typing on touch screens.  

I'll try to come on and post some updated photos of my babies more often, but until then, add me on facebook or instagram!  Not that I post very often on those either.  Haha.

I hope you're all doing awesome! 

[amandaandbabies-blog]

My lovely little lady, 6 1/2 months old <3

[amandaandbabies-blog]

As you can imagine, I'm a bit hesitant about posting any more photos of my sweet babies now, but I just have to share this one of my handsome boy!  Look at those big, beautiful, blue eyes <3 (sorry for the cheesy watermark, but I want to make it as inconvenient as I can for any more people to try and post my babies' photos as their own!)

[amandaandbabies-blog]

A very creepy Saturday.

Today I awoke to an e-mail from somebody who wanted to let me know that they found somebody on Facebook using my pregnancy photos that I've posted on here.  Pretty creepy.

So I posted about it on my Facebook, and was made aware that you can drag images into Google to search for those images.  Big mistake.  I searched most of my pregnancy pictures, and there wasn't a single one that wasn't on at least one other site.  Some of them were just on other people's blogs (where they claimed them to be photos of themselves) and others were on some very disgusting sites (even though I was fully clothed in all of my pregnancy photos).  I also searched some images of my babies, and again.. people have been posting them and saying that they are their babies.  Luckily I haven't found any of their pictures on any gross sites.  If I had, and if I do, I will most likely have to delete my tumblr and refrain from posting any more photos of them on Facebook, which I really don't want to have to do.

Needless to say, I'm pretty upset.  There are some really nasty people out there.  I know that when I post anything online, I am taking the risk of whatever it is getting into the hands of anyone out there, but I didn't really think much of it until it happened to me.

From now on I'll be watermarking all my photos, and checking all the photos I post occasionally to see if/where they've been posted. 

What really got to me was that I found one photo, that I only posted on my Facebook (set to "Friends only") on one of those dirty sites.  This makes me believe that either someone I'm friends with posted that image elsewhere, or that "Friends only" images aren't really only seen by your friends.

Gotta love the internet.

[thebruhnettegazette]

I haven’t done one of these in awhile, so I think it’s about time I do another one!

One yellow dress & one blue dress with a matching diaper cover

Size: 12 months

Brand: Carter’s

I just bought this set for Emberly and they are SO cute!

Rules: I will pick a winner on the morning of Friday,...

[amandaandbabies-blog]

For the late night crowd... a photo of my beautiful, almost 6 month old baby girl... <3

[amandaandbabies-blog]

Good & Bad.

I guess I'll start with the bad first... I've been seeing all your posts the past couple weeks about your little ones getting into trouble - cuts, burns, bruises, getting locked in the house - and each time I would see one of those posts, I'd be like "Oh, that is SO sad!  I can't imagine what I'd do if MY baby boy got hurt!"  Well now I don't have to imagine!

Poor Arlo, being the crazy toddler that he is, was climbing all over a chair at my parent's house.  My dad had just woken up from a nap and wanted to surprise Arlo, so he snuck out into the living room, came up behind Arlo, and said something.  Arlo was very surprised and somehow went flying off of the chair and into the wall.  Somewhere along the way he hit his eye on something, and it was bleeding and instantly swollen.  He cried and said "ouch" for a while, but he is a tough little guy and was up and running around again in no time.  Me, on the other hand... I cried just about every time I looked at him for the next day.  The next morning when he woke up it was so swollen and bruised, he could barely open it.  It didn't seem like he even noticed, but it was still sooo sad.   

Today the swelling and bruising is mostly gone, but above and below his eye is covered in what looks like a rug burn that is starting to scab.

Poor guy.  Even though there wasn't much I could have done to stop it once it was happening, I can't help but feel horribly guilty.

Now for some good news: It's my birthday!  

And some even better news: I am not pregnant!  This is the first birthday in nearly 3 years where I haven't been pregnant, so I am definitely going to enjoy a pina colada or two when we go out to dinner tonight.

And the best news: My parents called me yesterday and told me to pick out the DSLR and lens that I want!  That has got to be the best birthday present ever.  I'm still not 100% sure on which body I want, but I'm obviously getting a nifty fifty.  Best.  Birthday.  Ever.

[amandaandbabies-blog]

[amandaandbabies-blog]

Everly's first pigtails. Haha.

[amandaandbabies-blog]

It is 108 degrees here right now.

I am dying.

[amandaandbabies-blog]

Everly was 1 week old in this photo.. now she's nearly 5 months old!  I seriously can't believe it.  It seems like just yesterday I was 42 weeks pregnant and thinking I was never going to meet my baby girl, and now she's here and already almost half a year old. 

[amandaandbabies-blog]

Sweet, sleeping babies. I should do something awesome, but instead I'll probably just sit here and think about what I could/should be doing until they wake up.

[amandaandbabies-blog]

I don't think she's impressed with the ridiculous amount of zebra print going on here.

[amandaandbabies-blog]

My princess <3

[amandaandbabies-blog]

Excuse the crappy photo, I don't even know where it came from, but look at those squishy baby thighs!

[amandaandbabies-blog]

After I gave birth to Everly I had the Mirena IUD placed.  When I first starting thinking about getting an IUD, I was pretty skeptical.  But I know so many people who have and love them, and have never had any problems, and from what I'd read it sounded like the risks of anything going wrong were very small.  I haven't had very good luck with birth control pills, so I really liked how reliable the IUD is.

Well here I am almost 2 months later waiting to go see my midwife, because I'm pretty sure my IUD has moved out of place.

I've been having dull cramps and some pretty painful cramps the past couple of weeks.  I've also been pretty nauseous at times.  I had been spotting here and there, so I figured I was just about to start my period.

I was told to check the strings of my IUD periodically to make sure it is still in place.  The strings normally easy to find and hang down a couple of inches.  Until today.  I can't feel them at all.  I can only feel a small bit of what seems to be plastic or something, just barely sticking out of my cervix.

So, yeah.  I'm freaking out a lot now.  I guess at least I know it's still in my uterus since I can feel something there, but what if it punctured into my uterus or something?  Or.. what if it's just out of place but hasn't been protecting me like it should be and I'm pregnant?  My body and sanity seriously could not handle another pregnancy or baby right now, plus it's dangerous to get pregnant with an IUD. 

Hopefully I'm over reacting.  Hopefully it just slipped slightly out of place and everything is fine.