my favorite (easy + effortless) photo tool for parents

As most everyone reading this probably knows, my career before this hiatus for raising a baby and an international move was that of a wedding photographer. So to say photos are important to me would probably be the understatement of the century, but, like everyone else, the majority of my photos are not taken with a professional camera. They're taken with my phone and posted to Facebook or Instagram.

Despite so many of my photos being online, I still prefer to have hard copies. Assuming that one day, the social media of our time is replaced by things that are newer and shinier, I'd like to still have those memories. Enter Chatbooks. This awesome album service allows you to enter a hashtag (for instance, all Miles's photos are tagged on Insta as #milesalexanderglessner) or simply select favorite photos in your phone's camera roll, connect those accounts to their website, and subscribe to have albums printed once you reach 60 pages. It literally only requires the effort it takes to download the app and set up your account, and then, you have volumes of your own photo books delivered to your door. It seriously doesn't get any easier!

Even better, when you use my referral link, you get your first book free: http://invite.chatbooks.com/elizabeth8p7

I love the idea of Miles eventually having his own little collection of photo books that basically tell the story of his childhood :) Don't have kids? You can literally use these books for anything... vacations, a pet, or just everyday life!

Do you use Chatbooks? If not, what are your favorite services for printing and preserving those non-pro photos on your phone? I'd love to hear!

eleven months with miles

Gosh. Eleven months. This time last year, I was in North Carolina preparing to photograph my last wedding before baby, putting the final touches on a gender neutral nursery for our little surprise bambino, and anxiously counting down the days until Josh returned home. I was excited and nervous to welcome our child, but I had no clue how that event would change me and change our lives. More love. More work. More joy. All more than I could ever have imagined.

In the past month, Miles has become infinitely more active and infinitely more exhausting. He's curious, smart, and fearless.

He tries to have entire conversations with us, but we can't understand a thing he's saying except for mama and dada. He has some words that he repeats... it's just a matter of us learning his language to figure out what he's talking about!

He's been practicing standing up on his own and will try to take a step but hasn't quite gotten the hang of that yet. He's always on the move and has recently discovered how to climb on furniture by himself. He also enjoys diving over me or his dad if we're lying on the floor. 

He (and the whole family, unfortunately) survived his first stomach virus, though we're still trying to recover from the effects that had on sleep.

He'll mock just about anything you do and has become an expert at bye-bye and patty cake. If you tell him he's done a "good job," he'll applaud himself. This boy gives the sweetest, slobbery open mouthed kisses, but only to mommy and his stuffed animals. If you ask him "How big are you?," he'll respond by emphatically raising his arms above his head.  

He'll often fake cry if you tell him no - he has the ability to be very dramatic when he wants to be. He has begun vehemently resisting diaper changes and being put in the stroller and requires lots of distraction to get him to cooperate --- hoping he grows out of that phase quickly! 

He loves drinking water on his own out of a straw cup and continues to love all kinds of food. New, recent favorites have been clementines, butternut squash, and the roasted chicken that we had on our trip to Haarlem.

I can't believe he'll be one in only a month, and we're looking forward to celebrating with family on our upcoming trip to Nashville!

ten months with miles

With all of our visitors and just the general busyness of life, the past month just seemed to disappear, and today, our little guy is TEN months old! Double digits!! It's becoming increasingly difficult each month to wrangle the dude for photos - he's always on the move!

He's still continuing to change and learn new things daily, and here are a few of the milestones and happenings from the past month:

• still loves food... new favorites have included meatballs, anything dipped in marinara sauce, cheerios, and cottage cheese with fruit
• will try to feed mommy and daddy his food or teething toys
• knows how to help put his arms in shirts and will try to dress himself if you give him a piece of clothing
• FINALLY said "mama" - usually only says it when he wants to be gotten out of his crib
• babbles constantly and will "sing" along with music - so stinkin' cute!
• has started identifying things when we ask him where something is, such as one of his toys
• sprouted three (!!) new teeth, bringing his grand total to five
• loves to "read" his books by himself and will entertain himself forever just flipping through them
• has developed an interesting hybrid crawl/scoot with one foot on the floor to propel himself and is getting braver by the day in terms of cruising/walking and standing up without holding onto something... likes to practice trying to take steps between the furniture. I have a feeling our days before this one masters walking are numbered!
• loves to flirt with the ladies - he'll find the nearest girl next to us at a restaurant, coffee shop, or in line at the grocery store and start smiling, "talking," and doing this goofy little head tilt he's developed. TROUBLE!

What is this face?!?