true blue baby i love you...

yes, i have ridiculous taste in music.  pretty much, i love it all.  there is always music streaming through a speaker in this house.  always!  we eat and go to sleep with music...david gray is always the pick for my girls at bedtime.  they refer to him as 'sleepy music'.  they are fast asleep in about 3 breaths once david gray is playing.  david gray also sings mine and my husband's wedding song.  i'll go ahead and admit that i am also a nickelback fan!  oh, and avenged sevenfold.  are you laughing at me yet?!  good!  hehe.  told you, i like it all.

my girls and i have a song, too.  that song would be 'true blue' by madonna.  we haven't listened to that song and danced around in the kitchen in a while.  we didn't do much of anything fun for quite some time actually.  we up and moved 4 months ago, because my husband was relocated from indy to charlotte.  this all happened in 3 weeks by the way!  we were settled in indy, so we thought.  in 3 weeks we packed up (and purged) everything we owned, to move to a city/state that i had never even visited.  my husband had been once.  i even left behind my entire career as a hair stylist, and a very hectic gogogo lifestyle!  one thing i was okay with as far as moving, was the break we were all going to get.  it was our time to get back to life as a family.  my husband and i passed each other by 6 days a week.  the 7th days was spent cleaning our house and doing the mounds of laundry that i could never keep up with.  wait, who am i kidding?  staying home, i still can't keep up with it!  i loathe laundry. ha!

so this post comes about from an awesome photographer named shalonda.  i found chubby cheeks photography when shalonda ordered some pieces from me when i first started laynie and belle.  she is ALSO a mommy of 2 gorgeous girlies, so i can connect with her in that aspect as well.  i look forward to seeing her sessions she posts on her blog and her status' on facebook, because she has a way with words.  she recently wrote a blog post that was on the personal side.  it was about missing out on living life, because you are drowning in what your mind tells you is important.  your mind's priorities push your heart's priorities aside day after day, after week, after month...

my mind's priority happened to be work.  i got over the mommy guilt, because i was used to it.  funny thing is, that i am the one who completely controlled my schedule!  i am my own boss, and always have been.  if you can relate to that, then you can relate to not being able to say no.  i had 2 solid days off a week, in which i consumed those with l&b for the past 2 years.  there were weeks that i was so busy at the salon, but couldn't tell clients no. so, i would go in on my days off, including sundays sometimes.  craziness i tell you!  so this is where it starts....

Right around this time above is when I started to get crazy busy with work!  I am so grateful, and I had the most amazing clients ever, don't get me wrong.  hair is my thing!  i was definitely drowning in my mind's priorities, though.  then you can't help but get all caught up in it.  i have oodles of pictures up until this time.  not much in between though.  yes, we had family pictures done a few times, and the i had the girls in some styled sessions.  just everyday fun times...nope, nada.  my husband getting offered a job to move us here was a complete blessing!  as much as I miss my friends and family, nothing can make up for the time I missed with my girlies.  and i don't miss our hectic schedule, that's for sure!  so, here we are today....

i know as many people here as I can count on 1 hand, and i am totally okay with it.  i am now living in my girls world.  It makes my heart hurt to think of all the growing up they did, and i missed out.  i didn't take the time to live it all out, and breathe it all in.  this would be my new motto folks.  we now sit down and eat our dinner together that i made.  yup, that was a rare occurrence in our household.  we do something almost every night, rather it's the park or sidewalk drawings.  even cuddles on the couch reading books.  i am a busy person, i will admit that (undiagnosed ad double hd is what i call that-true story).  before i was busy with work though.  now, i am just busy with my kids.  obviously l&b is in the equation, but i use nap time and bedtime hours to the max which minus' out the guilt!  i wasn't capable of that before.  i am so blessed that i had this little business in my life.  it is my 'me time' for the moment.  having l&b before never really made sense in the madness of our lives?  man oh man, am i lucky to have this little biz now.

chubby cheeks challenged her readers to write letters to their kids.  and since i'm not shy, i am sharing it all with you.  instead of a typing a 'letter' i did something for my girls that they can cherish when they are older.  my girls are polar opposites, like most siblings. oh and do they love each other, there is no denying that!  dressing up and make-up is something they both adore, and get in trouble for at least once a week ;)  i was inspired by a pin that i found on pinterest over a year ago.  it was to dress your daughter up in your wedding dress for a photo shoot idea.  so that is what we did last night, and even followed it up with the park and ice cream.  these images are going into a book, and i can't wait to share them again on my girlies wedding days. *sniff*  some of these pictures take my breath away!  i've had my camera for almost 2 years now.  my little d60 and my 35mm 1.8 is as good as it gets.  now that i feel like i can rock it out, pictures of my kids is all i do.  it's time to make-up for lost moments.

this is one of the many posts to come that will be dedicated to my girls, their lives, and the time spent breathing it all in and living it all out.  they are my world, and it is about time my heart's priorities took over and started living in it!  tonight there may be some old school madonna blaring in our house.  our neighbors are super cool, i don't think they will mind ;)  

so, here it is, the challenge!  THE first letter. who is with us?!