Mom's Little Monster

That's what Mikey's shirt says. We got him this shirt, a monster truck shirt that simply says "Monster" and some monster p.j.s. Are we noticing a pattern?



He's the cutest thing.

Trampoline!

Christmas Trampoline clip #1 from Phillip Hintze on Vimeo.

Hintze Christmas - 2nd batch of pictures

So here are a few more pictures from today. We might have some video up eventually. The first two pictures were taken with my new (used) Canon G7. I'm not sure if she will stick around just yet. We might decide to send her back and just get a little video camera. The jury is still out.

There are a couple of interesting Phillip faces. He's very photogenic.

The last two of are of my new cool ring. It's from Nelle & Lizzy. I really like it!

Hintze Christmas morning - 1st batch of pictures

I don't have time to caption all of these. I'm sure you can figure out what's going on anyway.

First picture, Mikey about to hit Scott with a tambourine...Scott cowering in anticipation.

My new (used) camera, a Canon G7. For the times I don't want to haul my real camera around.











Last picture, Mikey throwing the ball at my camera.

My favorite Christmas picture from last year

Mikey with spots

Way back in February of 2008 (before Mikey's adoption) Mikey had a really bad reaction to penicillin. I posted a couple of pictures of his belly and back but I couldn't post any of his face yet. I came across this a little while ago and thought it was pretty funny. Jackson was looking at the picture and he said it was making him all itchy just looking at it.



You may be wondering why I'm putting dated Mikey stuff on here. I couldn't post any pictures of him before his adoption and I have been meaning to post lots of pre-adoption pictures and just haven't gotten around to it.

Just an old Mikey picture

This is what Mikey's hair used to do all the time. It started sticking up when he was about 5 months old or so and stuck up until he was a little over a year old. He's always had great hair. I'm trying to put a couple more videos on here from when he was a baby but I'm not having much luck.

Star Wars Lullaby Video

I've been trying to post this video and I'm not sure if it's going to work. The quality of this video is pretty bad but it's really cute. This was taken when Mikey was a few weeks old. Jackson was holding him and humming Star Wars music to him. It looks like Jackson almost falls asleep there at the end. I don't think I've posted this before.

Don't go to jail.

Jackson and I got out this evening and did a little shopping. We were both pretty moody and on edge by the time we were finished. Actually I was probably moody and on edge before we even went but that's beside the point. We were leaving the Office Max parking lot and I could tell that the exit I was attempting to use was going to take forever so I decided to back up....way up....back to the parking lot. Anyway, I told Jackson that I was probably going to get pulled over by a cop for doing that. And I told Jackson that I would just have to tell that cop to back off and get back in his car and leave me alone because I am in a bad mood!...or something along those lines. Jackson said that I would get arrested if I did that. So that led into our conversation about going to jail.

I basically told him that jail isn't a cool place to hang out. I told him about the bad food, bad beds, mean people, no video games, etc, etc. And then I told him that he should plan on never going to jail. He said he was too young to go jail and that you have to be legally 10 to go to jail. I said, "Yeah, you're right."

Where does he come up with this stuff? Legally 10? Is 10 an adult to him?

The day we got Mikey

Other people talk about when they "had" their babies or possibly "having" more babies. We have to use the words "got" and "get" when we're talking about adding kids to our family. It's kind of funny to me now. When I say, "When we got Mikey....." or "If we get more children...." to someone who doesn't know he's adopted, I get some confused looks.

For some reason I've been thinking a lot lately about when we first got Mikey. Phillip and I are still in awe of him. Maybe not daily but at least weekly one of says something about how we can't believe he's really ours. It just still seems too good to be true. He was given to us almost 2 years ago. That's just so hard to believe.

We received the call at about 2:30 on January 11, 2007 that they would be bringing a newborn boy to our house. I called a friend and asked if she would pick up some newborn diapers, wipes, and pacifiers. I told her I would pay her back. She showed with half of Wal-Mart's baby department and wouldn't hear of letting me pay her anything. She brought about 4 different kind of pacifiers because "we don't know which kind he'll like."

At about 5:15 he was here. A young, handsome black man brought Mikey to our house. We sometimes joke that "the stork" is a young black man. His name was Brandon. I'll never forget his name or his face. I wanted to hug him but I didn't.

When Brandon brought him to our house, the baby was in a carrier covered with a blanket. We couldn't see him right away. We were both terrified to lift the blanket. The worker went outside to get some paperwork and when he stepped out we took a peek. All of our fears of having to love a child who wasn't as cute as we were went right out the window. We could tell right away that he was beautiful beyond measure. More beautiful than any baby had a right to be. We were amazed by his eyelashes. They just looked too long to even be real. My mom was already at our house hanging out with Jackson while Brandon was making his delivery. As soon as he left, we called Phillip's parents and they came right over. I wouldn't be surprised if they were pacing by the phone when we called.

Our parents were there when we undressed him to take a look at him and change his diaper for the firsts time. I was so moved by how they loved him instantly with a reckless abandon that we were unable to muster right away. I was scared to kiss him at first, scared to say the words "I love you" to him. It felt wrong doing those things to someone else's baby. Phillip's dad was the first one I heard say those words to him. And that just opened the flood gates for him to be our son.

Against strict foster parent guidelines, Mikey slept in our bed that first night right next to me. I tried to get him to sleep in the bassinet and he wouldn't. I don't know if I slept much but he slept perfectly.

Here are some pictures of the night we got Mikey. I was noticeable fatter then.

Does your doggie need treats?

Our friend, Anna, who is 9 (I think) is making home made doggie treats to sell. She is using this money to help her older brother and sister go to Kenya on a mission trip. If you would like to help out Anna and her brother and sister by buying some special Anna's Secret Recipe doggie treats, visit.....

The Stunz Family Blog

She might even be able to get you some made before Christmas if you act quickly. Tell your friends.

Nana & Granddad

We tried to get a picture of Donald and Debbie and the boys for their Christmas card. I bought cute shirts for the boys that they'll never wear again. We managed to get one or two in their "formal wear" that are okay. Here's one. Notice the sucker in Mikey's mouth as a deterrent to freaking out.



Then after that ordeal was over (aka, we gave up), the boys stripped and started to play. I got the camera out again and took some pictures. I just love these. This is the real relationship between these four people. No tucked in shirts and sweater vests. No sitting still saying "cheese" for the camera. Just playing. Notice Donald's Underdog t-shirt. Also, very typical.








This is the card. I think it's pretty cute.

Ummm...okay

Jackson is home "sick." He has strep throat but he's acting like he feels totally fine. When he's home sick we let him play a lot of video games. I know that's probably not the best thing for him to be doing with his time but whatever. Anyway, he has conned me in to playing some Wii sports stuff with him. I just killed him in bowling and now he's wanting to take me on in tennis. I told him I was going to wipe the floor with him. And he said, "Oh, yeah, I'm gonna clean your head with a mop!"

Okay....

So, now I'm going to go crush him in tennis.

BTW, his tennis "technique" is awesome. He just waves his hand as fast as he can without stopping. And he kind of dances around all crazy while he's doing this. He totally wears himself out.

Away

We are away. We are away from our kids and our jobs. We are away from our somewhat disheveled home. We are away from laundry. We are away from road construction. We won't be away for long and we aren't very far away. But we are very glad to be away from everything else.

Just stuff

Phillip and I are running away this weekend. I wish it was today. I'm ready to go right now. We're just going to Houston Friday afternoon and coming home (maybe) Sunday afternoon. We'll be doing some Christmas shopping, eating, relaxing, and other stuff. I got a cheap hotel on priceline several weeks ago. It's a 4 star in a junkie neighborhood. Hopefully we don't get mugged or whatever.

Our driveway is done and it's so nice to have not only a driveway but a double driveway at that. This feels like such a luxury to us right now now. Weird. We're going to look into getting the house painted soon. I'll probably call a few people out for estimates once the Christmas craziness is over. We need to get some rotting boards replaced before the painting happens. I told Jackson we might be getting the house painted and asked him if he had any suggestions about the color. Without skipping a beat, he said, "Maybe palm tree green. Like the leaves of the palm tree, not the stem." I'll have to see if they have that color at Lowes.

Last night I totally freaked Jackson out. We were driving home from Philllip's parents house at about 8:30 and I told Jackson I was really tired. I told him that I thought I would just take a nap. I started fake snoring while I was driving. At first he was laughing and thought it was a joke. But then he started to get a little worried and started telling me to wake up. I ignored him and kept snoring. This went on until he finally screamed in terror for me to WAKE UP!!! Oh man, it was really funny.

We still have no Christmas decorations up. I've been too busy to push the issue and Phillip is kind of a scrooge. He will be getting the stuff down on Thursday. We'll see how that goes with Mikey. We kind of need a new tree anyway.

And the driveway was happy.

There once was a driveway and the driveway loved two little boys. And everyday they would come and draw on the driveway and eat the chalk. They would run and dance and bounce balls. And the boys loved the driveway very much. And the driveway was happy.











Inspired by The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.

'Tis the Season

This is a really busy time of year in the photography business. I think I'm almost past my busiest time of the year. It's been fun but I'm tired. We still haven't gotten out any Christmas decorations. We need to get that done this week. I second shot a wedding last night. I've been doing a few of those here and there. It's really good experience and kind of fun. I'm not sure if the wedding thing is growing on me or not. I'm proud to say that I got hit on last night at the wedding by a less than attractive man. If he had actually been cute, I might have been flattered....still unwilling and uncomfortable, but flattered none the less. Instead I was annoyed. He started calling me "Ice Queen." Nice.

So, that's what's been going on in my life lately. Not a whole lot to write home about.

Today is new driveway day!!

I'm so excited! We're finally getting a new double driveway. We've been wanting to do this since we bought this old house. Jackson liked our old cracked driveway for some reason. I'll totally post pictures once they're done. I know you can't wait for that. It will be a huge canvas for the kids to color on....just what a driveway is meant for.

My truck isn't as toast as I thought

It looks like my truck only needed a new radiator, which Phillip and his dad graciously fixed for me. I am now even more indebted to Phillilp's dad. Great. Thank you both. I'm sorry I almost killed my truck.

In other news, I was directed to this website to help me with inspiration and direction for child photography. And I'm not going to comment on how I feel about that.

my truck is toast

My truck overheated this evening. I should have noticed it was overheating before I did. I'm afraid I may have driven it too long and cracked the head or something else really bad. So I guess we'll know for sure tomorrow but I'm afraid what we thought was going to be a nice shiny new driveway is going to turn into a nice shiny new head gasket. (or something else engine related) Sometimes I don't think we'll ever get ahead. Didn't actually mean for that to be a pun.

Waiting room melt down

I just got back from taking Mikey to the doctor. He's had lots of crud in his nose and has been tugging on his ears. His ears look good but Dr. B prescribed an antibiotic for his sinuses. We waited in the waiting room for about 20 minutes. I'm guessing at the length of time. It may not have been that long...could have been longer. Regardless of how long it really was, it felt like an eternity. Mikey had the biggest public meltdown of his life. He was just absolutely out of control. I wouldn't let him get down and run. I forced him to sit in my lap or on the seat next to me. He was just freaking out. He sounded possessed. He probably looked possessed. It was really bad. I'm so worn out, both physically and emotionally right now. All I want to do is cry.

So this is to anyone who has ever witnessed this kind of total meltdown in public. This is to the people in the waiting room who were gawking at me and my son.

- Don't look at my child like he's a freak. He's a brilliant little boy who has a really hard time controlling himself sometimes.
-Don't look at me with pity. There is nothing to feel sorry for. I am blessed beyond measure with this child. He is perfect to me.
-Don't whisper to each other about my child right in front of my face. Just because I'm busy at the moment doesn't mean I'm too busy to take you outside and teach you a thing or two.
-Don't suggest things to me that might calm him down. There is no calming him down when he's like that. If there were, I would be acutely aware of it and would already be doing it, thank you very much.
-Don't act visibly annoyed or irritated by his behavior. Just get over yourself, please. And if you are really unable to deal with the noise, then remove yourself from the situation. Don't expect me to miraculously make him be quiet for your benefit.
-Don't say ridiculous, trite, obvious statements like "you've got your hands full" or "wow, he's not happy is he?." Seriously??? Wow, I hadn't noticed!!! Thanks so much for pointing that out to me, astute observer!!!!!
-Don't judge us.

Things you can do that won't make me want to punch you in the face:
-Kindly ignore us. That's pretty much the safest thing to do.
-Ask if there's anything you can do to help. I will most likely say no, but I would appreciate the sentiment.
-Tell me there's hope if you have had a child like this.
-Just have some grace. We're just doing the best we can.

I'm pretty sure I'll be fighting with Mikey and for Mikey for a long, long time.

6:00 a.m.

Mikey has been waking up at 6:00 or before 6:00 a.m. almost everyday. It's really, really hard to like him that early. I know he's a gift but it's really hard to remember that at 6:00 a.m.

Too cold to live

It was so freezing yesterday at that wedding. It was outside at 3:00. We were on a little hill with no trees to block the wind. The weather made the whole thing quite miserable. The brides maids were wearing sleeveless dresses. There were little kids, babies, and elderly people out there. But we all toughed it out for them. It went pretty fast once the wedding actually started. I kind of forgot about the cold while I was shooting. The bride really wanted to do lots of shots outside at the wedding location. Thankfully she changed her mind. I've got one more wedding I'm doing solo in Feb. After that, I'm taking weddings off of my to-do list. It is not my thing.

I was supposed to do a family shoot this morning at Varner Hogg. The family has two young kids. We decided to postpone it until a couple of weeks from now. I just didn't think it was a good idea to shoot in like 40 or 50 degree weather, especially with kids. I don't think they were looking forward to freezing their butts off either.

I do not like cold weather at all. My hands and feet are cold almost all the time even when it's not cold. So when it's cold, they just get all numb and purple. Our house is pretty drafty. Anyway, I'm going to go get under a blanket and have some coffee. We'll be skipping church today because Jackson has been running a fever.

What I've been up to

Today I'm photographing a wedding. I think it will be pretty fun. It's outdoors somewhere in Rosenberg. I'm really wishing I had a second camera to have with me today. I don't usually feel like I need a second camera but it would be nice today. I would probably use two cameras on an ordinary shoot if I had two cameras. I might need to think about investing in another camera body soon. We'll see.

For the month of November I have this wedding that I'm doing solo and I'm second shooting a wedding for a local photographer. Second shooting is a total breeze and it's decent money for the hours. I second shot for her in October and I wore heels like an idiot. I was dying after about 3 hours and we were there for about 6 or 7. I'm thinking weddings aren't really my thing. I've got the wedding today and one more in February. At this time I don't think I'll take anymore on. I love photographing kids and families. I don't love photographing weddings. I hope I can be picky enough to do what I love.

In addition to the wedding stuff, I have 12 family shoots in November. (Assuming a couple of them send me payment for their session fees.) I also did the College day care kids. This may not be a ton of stuff for some photographers but it's an insane amount of stuff for me. The shoots themselves aren't that big of a deal but the processing, ordering, packaging, delivering is pretty overwhelming. With working at the preschool MWF mornings and being a mom to two young kids, I feel like I'm working in some way or another constantly. I've extremely happy that I'm this busy with the business. This crazy busyness will probably only last two or three months during Oct-Dec. Then things will probably slow down for a while. I've decided not to work at a preschool next school year. It's just too much right now.

So that's what I've been doing and will be doing for the rest of November and into December. I want to get in here and blog sometimes but with other stuff piling up, I just can't. Last night I actually got about 8 hours of sleep. That hasn't happened in a while. So once I have several cups of coffee I'll feel ready to take on the day.

This and that

Our street has been under construction for a while. Our half of the road is torn up now. We will finally be redoing our driveway in the next few weeks. We've been wanting to do that since we bought this house but have never been disciplined enough to save for it. We're going to be doubling it. This is a good time to do it because the price per square foot is less because of the whole street construction thing. As they're pouring the new road, they'll just take a little side trip and pour our new driveway. I've been thinking about getting out and taking some pictures of our street torn up. But who wants to see pictures of that? I've decided not to waste my time taking pictures of dirt and rubble. Maybe when the cement is wet we'll go out and put in our hand, foot, and butt prints. That might not be good for the resale value if ever we decide to sell. It will be nice to have a decent driveway and sidewalk. Since the duration of this road project we have realized that some of our neighbors are pretty much idiots.

I've been very busy lately with photography stuff. That's good and I'm glad but I feel like I'm working from the time I get up until I finally go to bed at 11:00 or 12:00. It's rare when I just sit down and do nothing anymore. I know after Christmas is over there will probably be a lull. Once I'm really in the groove with this thing and making some serious bank, I need to hire a house keeper...and a pool man.

Between Mikey and the dog, there is someone following me around and/or whining about something all day long. Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Sometimes they sleep.

Jackson has renounced toast. He claims that he never liked toast in the first place. Mikey has been on a crash diet the last couple of weeks. He doesn't appear to be loosing any weight. I think he has a stash of cookies in his room somewhere. I need to look into that.

I've encountered some potential clients lately who are pretty flaky. I'm glad they're flaking out on the front end before I spend hours of my life on them. I much prefer to weed out the flakes prior to photographing them. Post photography flakiness is one of my many pet peeves.

Phillip and I are planning a weekend getaway to Houston in the middle of December. I would like to do three nights but I don't know if we can afford that or get our parents to commit to three days of childcare. I'm still working out the details on that one.

I've been working on this post on and off since 6:20. Now I need to get my self in gear and get us ready for our day.

Decision 2008

I am not big into politics. I fully admit my ignorance on many political issues. I fully admit that is irresponsible of me. I sat last night as Barack Obama was declared the 44th President of the United States. I don't fully grasp what his presidency means for America, let alone me as an individual. Even though I did not vote for him, I still feel guilty for my ignorance and apathy. Maybe that same ignorance is what voted him in. Many people voted with their hearts and not their heads. Many people voted with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside and remained uneducated about who and what they were voting for. I am including myself in this.

I think it is truly amazing, given our history, that America voted an African American man to be the President. I think that, in and of itself, shows that were are finally abandoning some of the horrible bigotry of our past. But the more I learn about this man, the more concerned I am becoming for this country. I know God is in control. I pray that he does not remove his hand from us.

Rock Star Babes, okay, maybe not

So, this is how my teaching partner, Holly and myself dressed for Halloween this morning at the preschool. Yeah, kind of scary, I know. I think we decided that our band name was "Hearts Aflame" or something lame like that. My name was Sasha. If you think this is scary, you should have seen two of the other 4 year old teachers. They were dressed like members of the band Kiss. Seriously. At a preschool. I kind of like being a blonde.