How did I ever survive

without my camera phone? Rewind about 2 years ago and it was time for me to get a new phone. By now we had moved from Florida to South Bend to Rome back to South Bend and just bought our home in Pittsburgh. We were sure that we wouldn't be moving for awhile and I finally had finally had a job with a real 40-hour a week paycheck so I felt like I could splurge. By splurge, I mean upgrade from the free phone options. I was just out of my first trimester at that time and felt like after those weeks of feeling horrible, I deserved something nice and shiny. Since jewelry wasn't in our budget, a new phone I could manage (even though bryan who receives his blackberry from work said that we'll have to tell our unborn child "I'm sorry, you cannot have braces, mom needed a new fancy phone"-he really cracks himself up). After much deliberation, I finally decided on the phone with an actual keyboard so that I could text with much more ease. Well, my 'fancy' (i take joy in the simple things in life) keyboard was soon outranked by the camera phone I had never used before November 5, 2007. After Gio's birth, I quickly learned the real reason camera phones were created. What a great way to immediately send pictures of our little guy to our family and friends across the country.

Now, as I am at home with Gio for the 12 or so hours Bryan is at work, I have the opportunity to take, well, a few pictures of the little guy. I don't think anyone who receives a picture understands how much time goes into getting just one cute picture when he doesn't come out looking like a large blur-it is quite humorous to watch me try, though. This wastes at least 4 minutes of my day, leaving a good 11 hours and 56 minutes for me to entertain him until Bryan comes home. I find it essential to have this camera in my back pocket at all times with the hopes of capturing a silly moment. I love that I have his first visit to Chic-fil-a captured on film (as does my chic-fil-a loving family), his first Pirates game (in white sox gear, of course), first time falling asleep in his high chair, smelling the flowers at the farmers market, and other pictures that help capture the joy he brings to my life daily. I love sending a picture to a family member who needs a smile during the day or an extra pick me up. I appreciate that I can do that and I think they do as well. Although I do my fair share of complaining about being away from family right now, I know for certain that down the road, I am going to miss these precious moments just the two of us, being silly, somehow finding a way to fill those hours during the day and loving just about every minute of it. I'm so grateful that technology helps this forgetful mom share these moments with those we love.

These pictures are from that first fancy cell phone i had which is now my son's play phone as he dropped it one too many times forcing me to buy a new one. This one, however, does not have the fancy keyboard like I once 'needed'. It does, however, have a great camera!

you can click on the slideshow and see the pictures larger with captions.