Lensbaby!

I have been wanting this lens for a while now and I'm super excited that i finally got it! I really have to practice using it because it is a different kind of lens with manual focus and these kind of lenses take some time getting used to. They are fun for creating more artistic kinds of pictures and are super cool to play with. Gosh i really need to stop indulging myself in this type of expensive hobby cause i am thinking deep down that I really need tilt and shift lens now :) Maybe one day. For now I am perfectly satisfied with all my photography equipment and don't need anything at all. Just time to learn and become better. That's all I am really missing nowadays. I have no time for myself other than when the kids are asleep (and Noah goes to bed at 10pm). It's hard to squeeze all my interests (and God i have a lot of them recently) in this little time slot. I am desperate for some "me" time recently and can't wait for my mom to get here next week in so i can at least find time for running and meditation throughout the day :)

My first play with Lensbaby.




Leah pulling up for the first time :) I love Leah's chubby legs. They are soooo cute and squishy... I want to kiss and love all over them!!"


LOVE this!


And couple of regular pictures:

Pretty as a picture :)


Love the flare in the background.

End of Summer

I can't believe the summer is about to be over. We still have a wonderful weather here but you can definitely feel more breeze in the air, especially in the evenings. It's time for orange color, pumpkins and apple orchards :) Everybody is excited about the Fall but it happened so fast for me that I am having a hard time to part ways with Mr. Hot Sunshine until next year. I am the kind of person that thrives on sun and sun-flare. I love swimming in the pool and running half clothed (if not naked :). It's so nice to just never think of putting an additional layer of clothing for almost 5 months :) I think I would be a perfect candidate to live in Florida. As a matter of fact I'm trying to persuade Paul to move to Florida next year. We have a boat so it would be perfect for us, plus the real estate market is not going to get better for a while so we may as well rent this place here and move to sunny Florida. These are of course just my ramblings. Nothing is set in stone and we have no certain plans of moving anywhere but it sure would be nice to live by the ocean.

Anyways, kids are getting so big. Both of them. Leah has already started to crawl and now she is pulling up. Now since they do not attending Mother's Morning Out anymore I try to come up with various activities during the day so we don't get bored and always have something to do either it's a playdate or a visit to the museum. We spend a lot of our time outdoors, just running around and chasing each other (while Leah is swinging) or sliding and playing in our clubhouse. The mornings are always shot for us because there is a certain kind of routine to them. We get up late around 9am and it's time for me to make a breakfast for everybody (doggies included). After our breakfast I have to pump while Noah is watching a little show and Leah is playing on the carpet, then Leah takes her one hour nap. After Leah's nap we are free to go and do whatever we want to for the next 2 hours until kids take a nap together at 2pm. So that's basically our mornings in a nutshell. Uneventful and kind of slow but we love it! Ok i should probably go to bed now since its 12am already :) Just a few pictures to share:

Leah 7 months and 2 weeks

Moja lalka :)

Moj kochany synun :)


Ah Leah :)


I LOVE the SUN!!!



Serious Noah. He wanted me to take his "serious" picture first :)




Kochane stupenie :)

Noah washing mommy's car :)We bought new car seats for Noah and Leah so we had to clean up the inside mess first.

Oh what a week!

This past week has been awful for us! Both kids were sick and on nebulizer all week while Paul is of town until Sunday. They both had a hard time napping and needed way more attention than usually. Leah has been worse off than Noah. I took them for a checkup yesterday because Leah had a 202 degree fever but after about 3 hours of waiting, the doctor said that Leah's chest has cleared up and she is now fighting a virus. Today Leah's fever reached 203 degrees and I had to get in touch with the doctor again. Hopefully by tomorrow Leah begins to feel better. I feel so sorry for my little girl and so guilty that i sent her off to a Mother's Morning Out. No more daycares for us, at least not for a while.

On a more positive note, we had a good afternoon after-all. We went to a Mall this morning but after the kids nap, I took Noah to audit a Taekwondo class to see if he would be interested in joining the ongoing group: The Tiny Tigers. Taekwondo is a hard-style martial art which was founded in Korea. It is a defense-style martial art, combative technique, a sport, philosophy and exercise. At first Noah was very shy and didn't want to participate in a class but he warmed up by the end and kind of joined the group. We will be coming back again on Monday to make sure that he really wants to do it. I think he will like it (he loves the "Kung Fu Panda movie:) After the class, we headed to a nearby park with Noah's soccer ball to practice some soccer but Noah was more interested in playing with a soccer net than the soccer ball :) He was hilarious getting entangled in the net and running around like a maniac. He had a great time and didn't want to leave the park (what's new?). It was only after i put him on someones motorcycle that he stopped whining and put a smile on his face :)Ah my little wild man! Here are a few pictures from today i took with my cell phone:

Leah at the doctor's office yesterday.

Noah's first Starbucks: hot chocolate. He drank it in about 2 minutes.

Getting brave and joining the game. Soo Proud!


Noah playing soccer :) LOL

At one point he entangled himself so much that i couldn't untie him :)

Leah watching her caveman brother :)

So happy!

Babcia and the end of MMO!

We had a very uneventful Labor Day Weekend. We did some things around the house on Saturday and then we went on a boat on Sunday but didn't stay overnight since it was raining all day yesterday due to the Hurricane that went through Florida. Even today it is still very cloudy and it feels like Fall to me. Speaking about the Fall, i have pulled out all our Harvest and Halloween decorations yesterday and me and Noah started to decorate the house with lights and lit-up houses :) I know it's early but we love it and that's all it matters! We are going to have a wonderful Fall season. Babcia Ewa will be visiting us shortly so this will make everything even more special for us. Then we all are going to Florida for babcia's wedding on the beach! I can't believe this is really happening :) I am so happy for my mom that she finally found a man that would recognize the true beauty in her, not only the outer beauty but mostly her inner soul. My mom deserves her happiness and i couldn't be happier for her. I cannot wait to see her and Jerry getting married next month! I'm soo excited :)

On a different note now, I had to take Noah and Leah to the doctor today because they both have been having this horrible cough since Saturday. I'm glad I did because the doctor found a wheezing in Leah's chest (I know i CANNOT believe this)and Noah has a cold. They both got it in the Mother's Morning Out place. It only took two weeks for both of them to get sick. I am really surprised about Leah because she was in a class with only one more child so i had no idea she will be getting sick like that. I guess it doesn't matter if it's one child or a group of children. This place (like any daycare setting) is full of germs and I am DONE with it. I am pulling them both out of there, even though it was extremely helpful for me to have Noah somewhere for couple of hours. I could exercise, do my pictures and even tidy up the place. Oh well, if one has to choose between the convenience and the kids health, one will always choose what's best for the kids. We will just have to do more activities in the house together to keep Noah's rambunctiousness under control :) God please help me!

Chubbs at 7 months and one week and weighing 20 pounds (Noah is almost 40).




Tomatoes i picked out from our garden in just one day. How cool is that? We have been having lots of salads lately.

Leah is 7 months old!

My little butterfly is 7 months old and she is as cute as she can be! Leah can sit up like a pro now and she is starting to crawl. Noah really skipped crawling and went straight for pulling up :) Crawling is so much fun. Baby Leah is trying to crawl with all her strength now. I guess she can no longer just watch her brother hop and jump around her, she wants to be part of the fun. Her sleep is still awesome! Leah sleeps from 8pm to about 8:30am. Sometimes she wakes up earlier than 8:30am but she either falls asleep again or just lays in her crib and watches her toys. Noah used to do the same but Leah is way better sleeper than Noah ever was. Since she was 4 months old she slept through the night without any interruptions. I love it! That way i can have more time for myself and can do my morning practices including Yoga and meditation before i get Leah up and snuggle with her in her bed. Life is awesome :)

My beautiful princess :)





Just love her little fingers.

Saying mama :)

I have finally heard the magic word: mama :) Leah has been saying it since she was about 6 months of age but it's much more recognizable now :) She says mama every time she is in some kind of distress:) I guess Noah was the same. She will just keep saying ma ma ma ma and when she is really angry she will say the whole mama :) How cute and precious. I can't believe that she is 7 months old already. I want her to stay this tiny FOREVER! She has these yummy baby rolls all over hear body and just thinking that one day she won't have them anymore, just makes me really sad. But then again i should just be content with the present moment and not think about the future. This reminds me of the special quote i love from "The Kung Fu Panda" movie : "Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery but Today is a gift that's why it is called the Present". I just live for it that's why i will enjoy my baby girl NOW every second of the day without thinking of the future because today is all we have now and nothing else matters.

I snapped this picture when i put Leah down for her nap. She looked so cute that i just couldn't help myself. This is the sweetest thing I've seen recently.

Truffle Shuffle

That's the name of our beloved boat that we have been spending our summer on almost every weekend. We planned a family vacation a while back but we had so many unexpected expenses for the last 2 weeks that i seriously doubt that we will go anywhere. First of all our water pipe broke and that alone was like 2k to fix it. Then the same week, our air conditioner broke downstairs so we had to have it fixed. Couple of days later our upstairs conditioner broke so the company had to come back and fix that. As if this wasn't enough Lilly our purest lab of all got sick with Pancreatitis, which is a very serious condition for the dogs and can be fatal. It is basically inflammation of pancreas and she had to spent almost entire week in a hospital trying to recover (that costed us another 2K). She had to receive fluids for 4 days and take different types of drugs just to get this thing under control. Luckily Lilly is strong and she recovered. She now has to be on special, designer diet dog food and cannot consume any types of fat (goodbye peanut butter and cashew nuts... her favorite). As soon as we covered Lilly's expenses, our air conditioner broke again and we now have to replace it (we have already paid $700 for fixing it and we now have to pay another 1,300K to exchange the evaporator coil). God help us! When it rains, it pours. I can't believe it all happened just one week. Anyways, to get away from all these problems we decided to spent a weekend on our boat. We stayed overnight and ended up having a blast. Here are just a few pictures from our weekend escape (Noah was taking a nap while Paul took some pictures of me and Leah):

Leah almost 7 months old.

Sweet Nunie :)













Our designer dog :)

Lilly doing what she lives to do- retrieving.

Josh- mutt - we never had any problems with him.
Comparizon picture of Leah and Noah from 7 months. Noah is on the picture with the watermelon.

Gosh i look at these older pictures, i realize how much better i have become in photography :)