Jay Hess 12/16/12 Jay Hess 12/16/12

21 months young

Charlotte has hit another milestone and so have we. We are very happy parents of a full on toddler. Anyone with kids knows that a personality really starts to reveal itself right around this age and we are right in the middle of it. She can be spunky and passionate as we like to call it. She can also be very loving and gentle. She especially loves her dog Jack and hugs and kisses on him all day long. They will have a beautiful friendship someday when Charlotte tones it down a bit. As we say in the south, "bless his heart". That's how we feel when Charlotte is pawing (pun intended) all over Jack. He's a good sport about her being so spunky some times and he's just lazy enough to lay there most of the time and take it. We are learning what works and what doesn't work discipline-wise, but we try to stay consistent and try no to laugh even when it's hard not to. Parenting isn't easy, but we are loving every minute of it. She can still melt my heart with just a little pat on my arm or a kiss on the cheek or eye or lips or wherever she ends up kissing my head. She is a beautiful little girl and we're excited about her having a baby brother soon. She has taken a recent interest to any video on YouTube that involves a baby, so we're excited to see how she acts in March when she earns the title of big sister. But until then we'll share these last few months with just the three of us. I love our family and can't wait to see how Oliver changes the equation. Enjoy these pictures. They are brought to you by the James River and a little thing called back lighting. I am still learning a lot about parenting and about photography as well, so I hope you like what you see.

-jay

Jay Hess 12/2/12 Jay Hess 12/2/12

ahhh, december.

We have decided to live up our last warm December here in Va. We have picked out the perfect tree, decorated it (redecorated it after C went to bed), started new traditions like enjoying a piece of candy from Tiki's advent calendar and enjoying one fun Christmas storybook a night (thanks Jamie!). We also got to experience our first and last Christmas parade. Charlotte loved it and really enjoyed the people, tractors and treats! decorating the tree...

"good grief, I know she is just going to redo this whole thing!"

fun new traditions!

daddy and a parade, perfection.

hogs.

parade mouth...

and parade hair.

hope you are enjoying your december!

Jay Hess 11/25/12 Jay Hess 11/25/12

thanksgiving wrap up

In the 8 years that Melissa and I have lived in Virginia, I think we've traveled back to Ohio 6 of those 8. It's always a short trip because Melissa has to be back at school by Monday, but it's always a trip well worth the 16 hours of driving round trip. And this year was extra special because Melissa's parents have finally moved into their new home, a log cabin. I'm sure we'll have more pictures down the road, but this will give you an idea of how beautiful their new home is.

Even though their cabin is amazing, a toddler can still get cabin fever pretty often so we were sure to take walks every day. Here are a couple shots of Charlotte on our walks. She is such a happy little girl.

Trying on mommy's sunglasses.

The pigtails are a new thing for Charlotte and I think this shot just screams all girl.

Doing a little posing work.

As most of you know Melissa is pregnant and is due in early March. Before our 20 week ultrasound I asked Melissa if she was OK waiting few more weeks and having our families all find out at the same time at Thanksgiving whether Charlotte was going to have a brother or a sister. She agreed and I thought that having a cake made with blue or pink batter would be a great way to do that. Come to find out, its tough to find a bakery that will do that, so a big thanks goes out to Busken Bakery of Cincinnati who let me know that they could do a layer cake with blue or pink icing in between the layers. Works for me! So we invited both sides of the family over to Melissa's parents cabin and had the grand reveal. Also a big thanks to our friend Jamie in Virginia who we entrusted with a sealed envelope from the ultrasound so she could contact the bakery and let them know what color icing to use. Here's a shot of the cake. It turned out nice.

Here is a shot of the reaction when we cut into the cake...

And a quick confirmation with the actual ultrasound for extra assurance...

And as you can see below, the icing is blue so we are glad to announce that Charlotte will have a baby brother named Oliver James Hess next spring. It was a great way to share our news with the family. We took a vote before we cut into the cake and the majority said it would be a boy and they were right. So now we have to decide if we'll just dress him in all of Charlotte's pink clothes or if we'll spend some money and get some boy clothes :)

On Friday we headed over to my parents house for a a little bit of time with Grandpa, Tiki and cousin Honor. Dad went out on Thanksgiving morning to do some door-busting, which if you know him, is very strange, but he picked up a new toy for Charlotte and Honor. See below...

This is her "I'm in a biker gang" face.

Charlotte and Grandpa thoroughly enjoyed themselves. That little 4 wheeler could really haul.

And some playtime with cousin Honor thanks to a construction site nearby.

Meanwhile back at the cabin, Charlotte's other grandpa seemed to be quite smitten with Charlotte as well.

Melissa and her mom set up the Christmas tree on Saturday and the kids got to put a few ornaments on the tree. I caught Benjamin like a deer in the headlights on this one, but you get the idea.

Charlotte enjoyed the ornaments too.

I love the glow on her face in this one.

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving in 2012. Our family has had a great year and we have much to be thankful for as we head into 2013.

-jay

Jay Hess 10/31/12 Jay Hess 10/31/12

"charlotte's web" - a halloween special

Just wanted to share a couple of photos of Charlotte's second halloween, but probably the first one that's she's been able to enjoy and eat the candy she collected as well. Also included a couple shots of Charlotte painting her first pumpkin. Happy Halloween!!! Checking out all of her color options...