After Kendall was born, the first and only thing I could think upon laying eyes on him as he laid on my chest and stared right at me was, “CHEEKS!”
With Leyna, the word that shouted itself in my head as I held her 9lb 9oz rolly polly body between my hands was, “SQUISHY!” (I guess after exhausting labors my mind can only process one-word thoughts.)
While she’s remained “squishy” and has quite a bit more chub on her now than the day she was born, I know one day it will fade away. Her fat little thighs will learn to walk, and that big ol’ butt will melt away as she chases dogs and a big brother. If she takes after me, she’ll be nothing but chicken legs by the time she’s 8.

I can't even handle this picture. THAT is 10 lbs of sugar in a 5 lb bag if I ever saw it. (Love that saying!)
I wish there was some way to preserve and forever remember what it feels like to hold her right now and squish her between my hands. I want to remember what it feels like to squeeze the rolls that wrap around her tiny rib cage, to snuggle my nose in the creavices of her neck. In an effort to help me always remember this, I’m obsessed with photographing her fatness.
It’s not the same as scratch and squish pictures (must invent!), but it’s the closest I’ll get to remembering the baby pudge 20 years from now. I wish I’d documented Kendall’s a little more. He’s thinning out and looks much more like a real boy…
than a meatball these days…
All the pudge picture taking is giving me a great reason to practice with my camera, and I have to brag that I kept it on manual all weekend and sort of felt like I knew what I was doing, thanks to all I’m learning in Beyond Snapshots! I’m a few weeks in and already feel like I have a better grasp on what all those fancy buttons on my camera do. Can’t wait to make sense of Photoshop.
Kendall is 3 years 2 months, Leyna is 6 months, and I’m off to work on my scratch and squish photography prototype.