Monday, September 24, 2007

Monkey is two!!!

How can it be that Amelia is already two years old? Her birthday was yesterday....
A little less than two years ago I was SO uncomfortable and so excited to have our fourth baby girl (Rainey and Grace being the first two)...I was ginormous and very whale like. Really. See for yourself...








































Two years ago yesterday I was in a hospital room with Chris and a couple of very unfortunate nurses. My head was spinning, green smoke was billowing out of my ears, and unnatural and horrifying sounds were escaping from the depths of my soul. I was cursing myself for not getting the damned epidural. I was yelling at Chris to get the annoying nurse out of my room... unfortunately she stayed. There was a shot of pain medication (maybe a spinal?) immediately before the delivery began. After 27 hours of pushing, or at least what seemed like 27 hours, Amelia was born. She wasn't breathing well and was not crying, so I didn't get to hold her for about twenty minutes. When I finally got her I was elated and relieved...and waited until the nurses were out of the room to mention to Chris that she had an uncanny resemblance to a baby baboon. And I mean that in a good way, because really, what is cuter than a baby monkey???? See for yourself.















































Now my Monkey is a funny, smart, naughty, sassy, adorable two year old. She can sing the alphabet song, Twinkle Twinkle, the happy birthday song... She has a huge vocabulary which grows each day. She runs like Phoebe from 'Friends', and has started pre-school. Yesterday we had a party...which consisted of the four of us, my mom, Libby's fiancee, and his mother Dani. We played at the park and had a picnic, which was a blast and nice and low-key.




Monday, September 17, 2007

Things I Learned on my trip to Ohio

It has been a very enlightening trip today.... I'm sharing what I learned today in hopes that it will improve your life.

1. Brandy in the sippy cup keeps the kids asleep--good when you need to get up at 4:30am for a flight.

2. If you must fly into Detroit (God forbid) do it early in the morning on a clear and sunny day, preferably from the North. When the sun hits the ground it reflects brightly off of all of the cars' reflectors and makes an amazing display of amber, red, green, and blue. It's truly incredible. It looked a giant Lite Bright game. It is the only time I've seen Detroit look beautiful. Fortunately I remembered to take my seizure meds this morning...otherwise all of that flashing would have had me doing the crappy-flop. (that's crappy like the fish, pronounced 'croppy')

3. Spending more time on the tarmac in a hot plane than you do in the air totally sucks-ass....and it's harder than one might think to work "suck-ass" into five separate conversations in one day. Even when challenged to by antagonizing co-workers.....Mr Richardson.....

4. Don't like running hills? Don't run in Akron...ever. For reals. I nearly died in my worn-out running shoes after running four miles. (even though I ran the first two miles with a charming young pilot from Idaho....which, I will admit, both made those two miles easier because of the distraction and nearly killed me due to running too fast in an effort to conceal the truth--that I'm a slow and uncoordinated runner)

5. It's acceptable (if not encouraged) to smoke marajuana at bus stops in downtown Akron. I think I only made it through the end of my run because the contact high numbed the pain.

6. Need an upgrade on your hotel room? Call the front desk and tell them that there was poop smeared on the toilet seat when you got into your room. They treat you real well after that and give you a room with a jacuzzi. Trust me, I know. And I didn't even have to lie about the poop.

7. Forget number 4? As a result your legs are not working? Easy fix. See number 6. Hot water and powerful jets cure all that aches you.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

To make you chuckle....

Since it's Sunday afternoon and a lot of people are feeling a bit blue about Monday morning hanging overhead like a dark cloud.... AND for those in Wisconsin, since the Packers are losing by three in the third quarter...I thought I'd give you a laugh. This is from a session I did yesterday at a horse farm. (there are a lot of photos from the session on the Soul Reflection blog.)

I'm off to Ohio again tomorrow morning at 6:30am. Cleveland and Akron are becoming quite familiar :)

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Off to Akron

I'm outta here again. Heading to Akron this time, then back to Cleveland and Akron again next week. Lovin' Ohio, I guess :)
We have an extra big dog this week while my newly married friend Megan is on her honeymoon. Louie rocks. Holly is in love, and there may have been a three way in the house last night..... but Chumley asked me to not tell anyone. He's embarrassed that it wasn't two females and himself, but more embarrassed that he loved it so much.
I looked at Libby after I got her ready for daycare (school) and she looked like a big kid. She was doing something or the other and I was watching her...she was facing away and I swear she looked like a 1st grader. She has sprouted up lately. And seems more mature, too. I'm amazed at what comes out of her little brain and mouth. This morning she told me to have a safe trip and that Rainey and Grace (our premie twins that we lost and would be nearly 6) will be with me and to come back soon.

Anyway, off to Akron. Later!

Saturday, September 08, 2007

A special post for my friends at West....

I was told off many times by my old coworkers, while shooting my friend's wedding last night, that I had not updated my blogs regularly enough lately and they were bored. SO I'll really give it to them and show you what they were up to last night....
Note Ashley's classic 'white man's overbite' while doing the chicken dance...and Dani's lady-like cake eating....and the cleavage cup holder....Lindsay and Ashley being the lushes they are....Dani and Ashley doing some dirty dancing....Lindsay dancing with her future husband after they caught the bouquet and garter....

So, my West friends...this is for you :)

(obviously not portraits, just snapshots during the reception...for the pretty portraits look on the Soul Reflection Blog...there are lots there)









Sunday, September 02, 2007

Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone is having a fun holiday weekend! We took a trip to the little zoo nearby yesterday and had a lot of fun, except for Libby's first bee sting. Amelia was happy to see the monkeys, since they are, after all, her next of kin. Libby said that her favorite animal at the zoo was 'all of them'. I was personally most impressed by the 1100 pound pig...yes, I said eleven hundred. He is going for the state record, which is only a hundred pounds off. Last time we saw him (last year) we thought he was huge, and he was about half his current size.
I'm still quite sick...bad cough and sinus pressure. I haven't been able to run in a week...and it doesn't look promising for the next few days, either. I have the half marathon at the end of the month, and I'm so undertrained..........

We just dropped Chris off about 45 minutes away. He's kayaking to the van which is parked at his end point, and anticipates that it will take about 6 hours. I get very nervous when he goes by himself, but I'm thrilled that he's finally getting out on the water for a good paddle.

Some photos from the zoo and of playing with bubbles are below, and on the Soul Reflection blog there are lots of fun nature images that I took yesterday when I was scouting the location of the wedding I'm shooting on Friday.