walker world

Aven's 0th Birthday

2012-01-23T20:54:00.010-06:00

I'd like to introduce to you my sweet sweet baby girl, Aven.

Now here is the story of how she got here...

The night before the induction I threw a bag together and was actually able to sleep the entire night. When the alarm went off at 4:45, I was ready to go! We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 and I wasn't nervous, just really excited.

When we got to the hospital, first of all, I wandered around trying to find labor and delivery for about 15 minutes. I couldn't find any staff to ask and I just couldn't figure it out. That's a frustrating way to get started. Plus I was by myself because Zach was parking the car. When we finally arrived at the proper location everyone was so friendly and I knew I was in good hands.

We headed to our room and the nurse asked a ton of questions. All sorts of stuff from, have you ever had an STD to did you bring a cell phone. And in case your curious the answer is no on the STD and yes on the cell phone :).

After the questions the IV was started followed shortly by pitocin and then the worst thing that happened that day, breaking my water. OH MY GOSH. I slapped the doctors arm twice because it hurt so bad. I feel like a fool, but I couldn't help myself. I do not remember it hurting that bad at all with Kylie and with Blake I already had an epidural before they broke my water. Of course after your water breaks, contractions usually heat up, so I was feeling the pain. I asked for an epidural pretty soon afterward.

Here I am texting away making sure everyone who wanted to know what was going on was in the loop. Everything took off so fast that I quit updating people, but I intended to keep on texting updates until the end.

Lucky me, my nurse anesthetist is a Red Raider! Wreck 'em! It was the best epidural I have ever had. I felt the baby moving still and most of the contractions, the head coming down, everything, but with no pain. It's just awesome to feel all of the birth, but I am so freaked out by pain that I have always been afraid to try natural birth. I have had 3 really great epidurals though, but this one was spot on.

After the epidural, I was able to chill out and relax.

My nurse was wonderful, as most l&d nurses are. The coolest thing happened right outside my room. Once a year, the chaplin does the blessing of the hands and prays over the nurses and blesses their hands. I just couldn't believe that it happened when I was there and right outside of my doorway. I felt very blessed by this.

I was getting checked every now and then and every time was progressing quickly. I went from a 4 to a 6 to a 8 to a 9 to a 10 in what seemed like 2 hours. The entire labor from water breaking to delivery was 4 hours. It went so fast, that the birth photographer that I hired missed the birth! Good thing Allison and Jeni switched off photographer duties. My mom and my 2 best friends Allison and Jeni were there to cheer me on and see Miss Aven come into this world. That was so special to share that experience with them.

It's almost go time! We were so excited to finally meet this baby!

A couple of pushes later....

And she made her debut! It took Zach a minute to see that she was a girl. Dr. Z had her faced toward my mom, Jeni and Allison and then turned her around to Zach. Zach leaned over to me with the biggest smile and said, "We have another girl!!"

It was the most amazing moment. I felt so much love the second they placed her on my chest and I am not normally the instantaneous love kind. Maybe because she is my third and the emotions of finding out that she was a girl and seeing her little face all at once just made me melt.

We are obsessed.

I had a small tear, but other than that the labor and delivery was about as smooth as it could go. I was already contracting when I got there, nothing major. The pitocin was at a 4 and then turned off once I got going. The nurse told me they normally need it up to a 20.

She was born at 11:33, 6lbs 15oz and 19 3/4 inches long. And if she didn't weigh 6 15, then she weighed 6 12. Typical third time mom, can't even remember with confidence the birth weight. What a shame. I'm sure it's written down somewhere, right?

We had some fun visitors wednesday night.

But I mostly just enjoyed my precious baby and took in all the snuggly newborn time I could get.
The only two shots I took of her in the hospital. This was waiting to go home on thursday.
And this was getting the hearing test.
Since coming home things have been insanely smooth. The girls love her and are not jealous or upset. Kylie had one day where she was really clingy to Zach, but that has since passed. Aven is great at nursing and the pain and discomfort that comes with the first few days and weeks of nursing is almost gone. She sleeps 1-3 hours at a time, when she wakes up, I feed her and she goes back to sleep. I don't feel sleep deprived and I am usually able to keep her almost all night by myself so Zach can sleep. I thought 2nd babies were easy, third babies just fit right into your life and we haven't missed a beat. I could not be more happy with how everything has gone. Our family feels complete and Aven is the perfect addition.

Here she is getting her first bath. I used some of my newborn photography soothing techniques and she didn't make a peep.
It's offical, Zach is a girl dad. He is so wonderful at it and the girls ADORE him. And so do I. It must feel great to have 4 ladies that are totally in love with you.
So that is the update. I will post the pictures that the photographer got when I get those. And once I send out Aven's birth announcement I will post the newborn shots I have been taking of her. And let me tell you, she has been terrible to take pictures of. Maybe I am expecting too much, but she has been darn near impossible to keep asleep and I have had a hard time posing her. Of course the photographer's baby would be a tricky one.

Last Day

2012-01-17T15:36:00.003-06:00

It's the day before baby's birthday. I was feeling a lot of anxiety yesterday, but not much today. Yesterday my thoughts were revolving around all the pokes and sticks I will be having to deal with as well as the major anticipation for the big gender reveal. It's going to be an exciting day to say the least.

I still need to get my hospital bag packed, camera bag packed, do our laundry, find and set up the pack n play and a few other baby items that seem to be missing.

I can hardly wait another minute to see if baby is this

or this.

Wish us luck and I will post on facebook what the baby is once it's born.

Preparation

2012-01-15T21:30:00.003-06:00

Here is what being prepared looks like at the Walker house.

Zach put the car seat in my car tonight.

Zach finished painting the doors on the baby's closet.

I have a nice stash of diapers and wipes piled up around the room thanks to some very special friends.

The room has doors. No doorknobs yet. Details.

The swing is out and ready to go. I think it's out of batteries though, but the girls always have some sort of baby or animal in it going for a ride anyway. I don't want to clutter up our already small house with a bunch of baby contraptions, so I'm hoping this is all we end up needing for a while out in the living area.

An outfit for Aven or Lennox has been purchased. This makes 2 outfits that Aven has and Lennox has 1. I still want a boy, but I have a much easier and more pleasant time shopping for girl stuff. I went around the Carter's store like 10 times on the boy side and didn't really like much of anything. I could have had 1 of each of the outfits on the girl side.
3 days to go. 2 more days of work and then the big day!

The Date is Set

2012-01-12T15:39:00.002-06:00

I am not surprised one smidgen that my cervix has not dilated or thinned out at all. The check wasn't too terrible, I think it was extra uncomfortable with Kylie because he couldn't feel if she was head down or not and was really reaching.

He asked if we want to have the baby next week. We said yes. Wednesdays are his days to induce and since I will be 39 weeks, wednesday the 18th is our day! My last photo shoot is tuesday, so this works out pretty well. I will be absolutely shocked if the baby comes before then, but there's always that chance.

I was not happy about the 4 lb weight gain in less than a week. I don't have any more office visits, so I probably won't weigh myself again this pregnancy unless I have to at the hospital. So maybe I can just count 156 as my final weight. A 34 lb total gain.

The suspense of if the baby is a boy or girl is almost over. It's been way fun!

Boy Room

2012-01-12T09:15:00.003-06:00

Of course I love the boy room just as much as the girl. Ok, maybe not just as much, but it has nothing to do with the awesome design and everything to do with how much I love girl colors, patterns and stuff. This will be a perfect little room for baby Lennox, if such a baby exists. Again Dayme, you rule. I don't think I will ever not use a decorator (specifically Dayme) again, you still get to have control and get your ideas out there and then your ideas are just made so much better by professionals.

Today I am also going in to the doctor for my 38 week exam. I will be getting checked to see if I have made any progress. I would rather skip that part altogether, but it's still interesting to know if anything is happening in there. We may be discussing a plan to induce for week 39 or we may just make another appointment for next week and wait and see if anything happens on it's own. I just have a hard time believing I will go into labor before my due date, even though it happened with Blake, it just seems unlikely. I also need to get a prescription for some ppd meds, I hate to even start thinking about that, but I have to get medicated to avoid the hell I went through with the ppd I had after having Kylie. I will update again later if there is anything worth updating.

Is it a Girl?

2012-01-10T14:55:00.002-06:00

With a nursery design like this, I would be so excited! Sooooo excited! She hasn't sent me a boy design yet, so hopefully that makes me equally as giddy, but I am just drooling over this stuff. The nursery is small and weird and is going to be a little bit of a challenge. But Dayme will make it look perfect. One wall has an enormous window on it that takes up most of the wall. It has plantation shutters. There is a skinny wall with a small window on it. On the other long wall there is a strange bookshelf thing that we are adding doors to so the baby can have a closet of sorts. The bookshelf wall is a brick wall and also has french doors and then there is one lone normal wall, but it's the other skinny wall.

The walls are light grey, which could change, but I think we are trying to work with what we have. The floor is slate, but it's painted white and looks really cool (Dayme's idea). We are recovering the rocker that I used with Kylie. There is so much to do, but I know it will come together quickly. Stay tuned for the boy design.......

My non pregnancy hospital visit

2012-01-06T18:36:00.003-06:00

Side note I forgot to add: Jeni texted me to see if I was ok somewhere in the middle of the mess, all I could think of to text back was "Bot." I never actually sent the text because I was so conflicted on if that made sense or not.

I just need to jot this nutty little story down before all the wacky details fade away.

Wednesday I had a 1 year photo session and toward the end I started seeing spots in the corners of my eyes and I started feeling really weird. I finished the session out and knew I had to go upstairs and call Dr. Z right away. By the time the clients left and I got on the phone my vision was getting worse, my hands were getting numb and sort of tingly. I assumed this was probably something related to high blood pressure. The nurse told me to go to the hospital and get evaluated right away. I threw on my flip flops and we were out the door.

After making about 7 u turns looking for the l&d entrance, we decided I could just jump out, go get evaluated in the ER and Zach would go get Blake from school and meet me up there later if I had to stay. Turns out l&d is in the exact same spot as the er, just one floor up. That was the least of my concerns though.

I got out of the car and started wandering in to the ER alone. I passed a police officer who offered me a wheel chair and I declined. This is where my memory starts getting foggy and I became very disoriented and confused. I somehow made it to the front desk area (let's just ignore the fact that I was on the wrong side of the counter) and they had me take a seat. I could sort of remember why I was there and I was telling the people that worked there that I was seeing spots and had numb hands. After one of the employees called me up and got some information from me, I went back and sat down and that is when Allison texted. She was asking a question about Neiman's and I texted her back something about how I was in the hospital. Surely she is just assuming I'm in labor, but as soon as she called me I started crying and sobbing about how I didn't know why I was there and I was alone. I told her I had been there a really long time. Allison freaked out and called Zach and in reality I had only been there like 1o minutes. I was just in my own little fantasy world of confusion.

Another nurse moved me into this little office when I was hysterically crying and she was asking me if I was scared and telling me I would be ok. She was so sweet and it's so weird because I have no idea what she looked like. I remember the nurses trying to figure out if I should go to l&d or just stay there and they went ahead and put me in a wheel chair and wheeled me to my room in the er since my symptoms weren't really related to my pregnancy. I thought so so so hard to try and remember what a wheel chair was called, I was just so out of it.

When I got to my room, (still alone), nurses and doctors were asking me all sorts of stuff and I probably humiliated myself with answering in ridiculous ways. I know they asked me to change into a gown and one nurse guy was like, "take off everything but your undies" and I just thought, "no I will not" and laid down on the table fully clothed when he left the room. The doctor asked me if I could walk and I got up, took his hand and walked around him in a circle, probably shuffling all the way. Eventually, Emily, my kind sweet caretaker for the day got me to change and somehow coerced me into an IV. I remember asking her, "what's that?", "what does it do?", "will it hurt me?", like a zillion questions a child would be asking about an IV. I told her I had never heard of an IV and I was dead serious. I know I was resistant at first, but she put it in. I think she put it in the strangest spot, it was like mid way up my forearm.

I think it was shortly after the IV that Zach made it up there. He said they were drawing blood and were about to take me for a CT scan. Zach said I was asking what the color blue was and was just so out of it. It wasn't from meds either, but it kind of felt the same way, like when you get a high dose of meds in the hospital and you can't really make sense of much. Thank God Zach was there with me after that, I was just in no position to be there by myself, answering questions and doing whatever else I was doing.

I guess after my CT scan, they cleared my brain of anything major like tumors or a stroke or something (Zach was convinced I had some kind of brain cancer or had just had a big stroke), my blood and pee looked normal, so what do you check next? Ears! A nurse came in and flooded out my ears with water. She found the hugest piece of wax she said she had ever seen in my left ear. It was at least 2 and a half inches long and just disgusting. But after that big waxy thing came out I was still mental. When they had ruled out everything but a migraine, they shot my IV up with morphine and sent me on my way. What a long 6 or 7 hours.

Migraines can start with an "aura" which is a warning sign and what was happening during the photo shoot and early on at the hospital. During and aura you see spots, wavy lines or flashing lights and have a numbness or pins and needles feeling in your hands arms in face. In my case it was just my hands.

The actual headache part didn't start until hours later. During that period before the headache started I was having, nausea, problems speaking, trouble walking and general confusion. The ER doctor pretty much nailed it right away and told us he had seen a lot of women with these symptoms and it's usually a migraine. Once the headache finally did hit, it was excruciating. The nurse told me that the morphine would work really fast and before she even finished that sentence the headache was gone and all that was left was the postdrome, which for me was mostly cognitive impairment and fatigue. I still really haven't stopped sleeping off and on since I came back from the hospital. I haven't been able to work because editing photos takes so much concentration and I just can't do that kind of work yet. My eyes still feel weak and I don't feel like myself. I'm really hoping it will all be over tomorrow, it's not going to be long before I'm right back in the hospital having a baby.

I'm not going to proofread this because that is too much right now, so if it's full of typos and other errors hopefully you can still get the gist of my lovely day at the ER.

Not so bad

2011-12-31T11:04:00.002-06:00

My 36 week appointment brought some great news!

1. I hadn't gained a single ounce since last time. And the scale was hopping back and forth between 149.something and 150 so I could even consider it a teeny tiny loss.

2. My doctor did not check me! So relieved. In my opinion, the cervical checks mean nothing, if I was at a 3 I would just go around thinking I would go into labor at any moment which is not necessarily the case and if I was at a 0 I may have been discouraged, again for no reason, because it means nothing. He said he will not check me next week either! Plus, I find those exams so painful, and if I hear the words uttered, "you are so posterior" I may pass out.

3. The girls and Zach came along to hear the baby's heart beat. They loved hearing it. Dr. Z asked if it sounded like a horse or a washing machine was in there. Kylie said, "noooooooooooo" and then on the way out she said, "my mommy did not eat any machines" so literal.

4. He squeezed around on my tummy to verify that the baby is in position, Zach said the squeezing was extreme, it sure felt extreme. He couldn't really tell so I may have to have one last sono to see. This happened with Kylie too. I think he is just having a really hard time feeling through my abs of steel :)

So next up, a 37 week check up on friday, a 38 week check up probably the following friday complete with cervical check, and then possibly an induction sometime in week 39. The home stretch is feeling a little more stretchy than homey, but I can't wait to get that baby home!

Week 36

2011-12-28T22:10:00.005-06:00

Week 36 has begun. I have been having tons of contractions for quite some time now, weeks, maybe months, some are just the tightening uterus feeling, others have me stopping what I'm doing and breathing through them. My hips and lower back are hurting really bad, I did a photo shoot today with Kylie for one of my boutique partners and I had two little attacks where I was wincing in pain. The pictures are adorable though, here are a few favorites. I am really lucky because I get contacted by boutiques and vendors all the time to see if I will photograph their product, the product comes to me for free and I am getting to be really picky about who I work with now. Then I can either use my kids or clients as the models. Just a fun little perk.

And just for the heck of it, here are a few from Blake's shoot I did the other day. I am trying to knock these shoes and bows and hats out before the baby arrives. And the best way I have figured out to do that is in sections of color. So Kylie did some of the pink stuff, Blake did some of the brown and cream stuff.

A few more pregnancy annoyances: I go from not having to pee at all, to power walking to the bathroom bent over because I have to pee so bad. I am extremely itchy, especially on my tummy and chest. My feet are hurting in the strangest spots, and it's my bones that are hurting. I got a pedicure today and it was oh so nice and I am calling tomorrow morning to see if I can get in for a prenatal massage in the next day or two. 3ish weeks seems so close, yet so far away. I'm really hoping I at least make it to the 15th which is my last day of work, if this pregnancy is anything like the last 2 that shouldn't be a problem.

My craving of the day is lemonade! In fact, my incredible husband just arrived with a nice cold lemonade for me from Raising Cane's, it's the best!

Christmas

2011-12-28T09:16:00.006-06:00

Christmas with kids gets more and more fun each year. This was Kylie's first year to really get hyped about opening gifts. She opens a gift, starts shaking with excitement and screams out what it is. It's very fun and entertaining to watch. Blake usually opens a gift and yells, "A _____! Just what I always wanted!" So obviously they are at a precious Christmas time age. Next year baby brother or sister will be messing with all their stuff and probably driving them crazy. The more, the merrier I suppose.

The girls woke up to Santa's gifts and Blake was so cute and so excited. Kylie, on the other hand, wakes up way too slow to get excited right away. Zach went and got her out of bed and she said, "I want some Reese's Puffs" in her groggiest voice. When Zach told her that Santa came, her reply was, "Ok, then I just want a new puppy or somefing" still in the most unenthusiastic sleepy head voice. I laughed so hard at that because she honestly didn't give a dang.

They each got 2 gifts, Blake got 4 Xia-xias which was her #1 thing she wanted and a critter clinic, which is a little veterinarian kit with cages for the animals. Kylie got a baby alive and sorting picnic basket thing. Their big gift had to be shared, they got a big dollhouse and tons of dolls and furniture for it. It's the fisher price loving family one and they have loved playing with it.

Here is the setup before they woke up.

Zach is in charge of the stockings every year and he does such a good job. He filled it with mini lalaloopsy's, zoobles, teeny stuffed animals, candy, a little flower pot that you add water to and grow a flower, cute little stuff like that. What a good girl dad!

This was Blake's gift to us, very symbolic since it is our last Christmas as a family of 4.

And here she comes!

But Kylie, doesn't wake up so easily. A lot of the time I go in to get her up and she will say, "I till sleeping."

But once she woke up, she was having a blast!

Blake opening her Xia-xias.

Yelling, "it's just what I always wanted!"

I love having a calm Christmas morning at home. We open gifts, I make breakfast and the kids play with their new stuff until it's time to get ready to go to my family Christmas in the afternoon.

My brother was in town from Santa Barbara for Christmas so that was really fun. The kids couldn't wait to open gifts and they got some really great stuff.

My mom's side of the fam.

Belly Comparison

2011-12-26T14:48:00.004-06:00

I've been wanting to find some pictures of me with my last pregnancies and see if my belly looks the same or different. I wasn't able to find pictures at the exact same point in the pregnancy, but close enough. So here we go. And keep the giggling to a minimum with my Blake picture.

The first picture is me pregnant with baby #3 who I really think is a boy most of the time and we have decided on a name for either sex and I am sharing it here. Right now. If baby is a boy he will be Lennox Zachary, Kylie has a strong argument for Lennox Lemonade, but I just don't think it has the same ring to it. Where did Lennox come from? Zach has liked it since we were pregnant with Blake, it is always on our boy name list. Although Blake would have been Hudson and Kylie would have been Lincoln had they been boys, it was still always in our top few.

If baby is a girl she will be Aven Hartley. Aven is a really cute and funky name I saw in an Us weekly magazine and loved immediately and Hartley is my mom's maiden name.

So there you have it. And on to the pics, here I am preg with baby 3 at 35 weeks. Love handle and back flab is definitely letting itself be known but the front part of the belly is a little pointy.

Here I am at 37 weeks with Kylie. Looking at this picture makes me feel like it was my cutest pregnancy. My belly doesn't even look that big and I don't feel like I was puffy anywhere else. My belly looks pointy here too. So maybe a 3rd girl is on the way???

Oh dear. For those of you who honestly don't believe I was a hippo whilst pregnant with Blake, the proof is below. The belly looks a little more round than it did with Kylie and 3, but who knows if that was even the actual shape of my belly with all that blubber. I can not get over my arms and my chubby chub face. Anyway, this is me at 39 weeks with Blake.
So what do you think? 99% of the people who have a guess have said boy. Only a few more weeks until we know!!

35 week check up

2011-12-23T13:23:00.003-06:00

Today I had an appointment with Dr. Z. I had mentally prepared myself for the group B strep test even though I had no idea if I would get it this time or next time. I got called back pretty quick since I was the only soul in the waiting room on Christmas Eve Eve. First up: Weigh in. Normally I am pleased with my weight, but this time I was not. I am up to 150. I just can not control my weight at the end of pregnancy, it comes flying on. When I take off my shoes and jeans my legs and feet are so puffy that I have lines and creases all over the place. My face is starting to get pretty puffy too. It's just not a good feeling even though you know most of it is baby and water weight.

Next part: pee sample. I went in to do my pee sample just like I do every time and all was normal until I went to wash my hands. I turned on the water and it was freezing, so I opted for hand sanitizer. I pumped it down and there was a goopy part covering most of the pump, so I got a large amount of gel squirted all in my hair and on my face.

Last part: doctor check up. I went into the exam room, where I did end up having to do the group B strep test this time. Ick. I need to get used to the examining stuff though because I think they start checking my cervix starting next week since my appointments are now weekly. I discussed my Baylor vs. Harris issue with Dr. Z. He is going to talk to some people with the billing department and see why it is so much more expensive and if there is any way they would price match, so there is still hope for Baylor.

Goals before baby arrives:

Finish Kylie's room (curtains, reupholster and paint chair, mirror, paint chandelier, stuff for walls, paint bookshelf, rug, eek that's a lot)

finishing painting baby's room doors

paint baby's room floor (sounds weird, but it will look cool, Dayme the decorator's idea)

make baby's closet (we have to make a closet out of this built in shelf thing since the room isn't technically a bedroom)

get a baby boy coming home from hospital outfit (I already have a girl one)

find carseat and get that all cleaned and installed and hope that it isn't totally worn out and nasty after all these years

That's about it, I think.

No Luxury After All

2011-12-21T09:43:00.002-06:00

I got a call the other day from the Baylor hospital wanting to collect their $10,000 for my labor and delivery. I've already paid my doctor thousands (again, thank God for my business) and will still owe an anesthesiologist and whatever other bills come flowing in when the baby is born. But the nice people at Baylor would only make me pay around $7,000 if I pay cash before delivery. Which is all fine and good and totally understandable, but I remember Harris only being like $4,500 or $5,000. We gave Harris a call and yes, they are way cheaper. So baby 3 will be born at the same place baby 1 and 2 were born, which I loved and had no problem with, but I was really excited about delivering at the new, fancy, beautiful Baylor that I have heard so many great things about.

I don't like to stay at the hospital long anyway, so I have my doctor release me as soon as they are allowed to, which is 24 hours after delivery. So if all goes well, I will be back home too soon to really care about the hospital stay part anyway.

All of you people with good insurance out there, specifically maternity, be so glad, this gets soooo expensive!!!!

Growing Up Fast

2011-12-20T19:12:00.002-06:00

It's all happening so fast! And I love it! Kylie in a big girl bed and being fully potty trained all within a couple of weeks of each other. All without me even trying or necessarily wanting these changes quite yet. She's just growing up and wanting to be independent and it makes my life a little better. I have 4 or 5 whole weeks of having no kids in diapers! That isn't much, but I was expecting to have 2 in diapers again for a couple of months. Kylie is very proud of herself, as she should be. Blake still gives her big hugs when she goes on the potty and they like to ask for candy to celebrate. That was ok for the first few days, but now, weeks later, is not at all necessary. But I guess they like to ask anyway.

There was 1

2011-12-20T18:49:00.004-06:00

There was one, there were two,

There were three little angels

There were four, there were five,

There were six little angels

There were seven, there were eight

There were nine little angels

Ten little angels in the band.

Oh, wasn't that a band, Christmas morning

Christmas morning, Christmas morning,

Wasn't that a band, Christmas morning

Ten little angels in the band

This was one of the 3 or 4 songs Blake sang at her Christmas program at school. This was her favorite and the only one she really participated in. She told her teachers that she would rather watch, but she overcame her stage fright and stood up there like a champ. She made me proud, as she usually does and of course she was the prettiest girl in the whole school :)

The Nesting Continues

2011-12-19T23:44:00.003-06:00

My nesting is getting really intense. At least for me. I am normally one who doesn't mind an unswept floor or laundry overflowing out of the hamper. It's just not in me to care about all things neat, tidy and organized. As much as I love it when it is that way, and as much as it stresses me out sometimes when my house is a mess, I am not one of those people that cares enough to prioritize that over other things like work, doing fun things, hanging out with the kids, or even watching reality TV or something lame like that. So it's easy for me to tell a difference in normal Paige and nesting Paige. Nesting Paige is constantly looking for something to organize, get rid of, or make better. I am the anti pack rat, always getting rid of things I don't feel like we need, but this is going to a whole new level. Frantically cleaning out toy boxes, organizing closets and drawers, redecorating entire rooms, it's noticeable. As soon as I opened the big box of Kylie's new bedding that was delivered today, I knew I couldn't wait much longer to get it all set up. After Zach got home, I sent him straight over to my parent's to pick up the bed frame and mattress they said we could have and we got to work. The crib was disassembled and moved to the baby's room, which actually has Blake's old pottery barn crib in it also, we have 2 choices for a crib now. The new bed was set up and Kylie was ecstatic to get in her big girl bed. Squeals, screams and total joy were radiating out of this kid. She did get a little territorial and wouldn't let Blake up there at first, which made Blake really upset and she went and hid in this little corner of her room between the bookshelf and the wall while she waited it out. Kylie caved and eventually said, "you can come up and snuggle wif me." So Blake got up, sat there for like 4 seconds and was ready to get down, I guess it wasn't as fun as she expected, or the battle was won so she didn't care anymore. Kylie asked us to leave and turn out her light so she could go to sleep, so we did and she is snoozing in her big bed just as precious as can be.

Here are a few pictures of her enjoying the first few moments in her big and puffy bed. Sweet dreams baby girl!

Santa

2011-12-19T23:17:00.004-06:00

We went and saw all the Christmas decorations at the Gaylord the other day. As I sit here running a card rescue recovery program on my memory cards trying to figure out where my other Gaylord pics are, I will post these. I am so used to formatting my memory card for sessions that sometimes (this has happened 3 times now) I format out of habit and then later realize I deleted pictures that I wasn't done with yet. So I run a little free card rescue program and it finds all sorts of stuff and is such a pain, but at least I can recover them.

So this is Blake's first time with Santa.

She was a little nervous to get started, but was chatting away as soon as she got up there. He was so nice and not at all threatening for a sensitive child. However, the photographer was ridiculous. Of course I would be picky about children photographers, but she was banging this crazy loud hand clapper to get the kids to look at the camera and it just wasn't working too well, not a technique I would use. Babies were crying, kids were looking, but not with happy faces, just a bad plan. She did only have about half of her teeth and obviously wasn't trying to make a career out of it though, she was just trying to get a decent shot and hurry along.

Blake asked Santa for Xia-xias which is this toy she saw on a commercial a few weeks ago and has talked about over and over ever since. I know those commercials can be annoying, but they sure are helpful around Christmas time, I was able to make a huge list for Blake and Kylie by just watching their reactions and listening to them talk during commercial breaks. Kylie started stressing out and possibly regretting her decision to not sit on Santa's knee when she realized she was unable to tell him exactly what she wanted for Christmas. She had two things to tell him, a teddy bear and a present. A present? How generic. I'm sure we can pass on the message to St. Nick.

Kylie's Room

2011-12-15T08:52:00.005-06:00

Kylie's room is coming along. All I have done is order her bedding and a new headboard, I still have to get some furniture, a rug, stuff for the walls, pretty much everything besides the bed.

Here is a picture of her bedding that I fell in love with even though it costs way too much money. Who cares. I love cute stuff.

I really loved all the texture and couldn't find anything else like it for cheaper. So then yesterday I emailed my decorator and asked her opinion if I should get an iron headboard or an upholstered one. I never heard back and I just couldn't wait so upholstered it is.

I would totally just forgo the rug, but we have wood floors and the girls are always playing on their rugs, so I have to get one. I guess the shaggy leopard one that everyone loves will be moved into the new studio.

Has anyone seen any cute stuff for little girl's walls lately that would look good with this? I think I want to do a dresser and a funky mirror on one wall, and get some curtains made for the window wall, but that still leaves the wall her bed is on and a big space on the door wall. I guess I need my decorator to come to the rescue.

Where I Am

2011-12-12T12:46:00.001-06:00

This is where I am right now. The pregnancy is seriously so uncomfortable, I feel like the baby is huge. I feel movement up in my ribs and practically all the way to the top of my thighs. Last night he/she almost kicked the ipad right off my tummy. The belly is not keeping me from sleeping, but pregnancy insomnia is. I play around on my phone or the ipad into the wee hours and then wake up at like 5:30 and have a hard time falling back to sleep. Right now most of my ipad and phone web searches are centered around Kylie's big girl room. She is potty trained now and really excited about getting a big girl bed. She tells me she is too big for her crib and is ready to make that transition. All of these transitions, (potty training, big girl room) were supposed to wait until after the baby was born, but Kylie can be a woman on a mission and she decided to take charge of her own potty training and speed up the room process.

We have been going on lots of family dates, as we like to call them. Just running errands, going to dinner, hanging out. The girls love it and they have gotten so easy to take places that me and Zach love having them out and about with us. The family dates will have to take a brief hiatus after the baby gets here though.

So basically, I'm just in that end blah stage of pregnancy. I am wearing Zach's shirt right now because even my maternity shirts are barely covering my belly and there is no point in buying anything new. I can not even fathom being 40 pounds heavier than I am right now. I don't know how I survived being pregnant with Blake. I also am having a hard time wrapping my brain around being pregnant for 6ish more weeks. I'm not even going to get my self all excited about delivering even a few days early, because I tortured myself thinking Kylie would be a little early since Blake was. Each day was like a week and it was very difficult. At least I will have Kylie's room redecorating to keep me doing something fun.

News

2011-12-06T09:25:00.003-06:00

Weeks pregnant: 33

Interesting happenings as of late: baby got hiccups for the first time last night and has had them off and on since. I am finally getting uncomfortable. I am up 20 lbs from my start weight. Last doctor visit I was only up 14 due to a nasty stomach bug that had me eating 1 cracker per day. I think I have one more 2 week appointment, then we move to once a week.

Feelings on baby's gender: I'm thinking boy. Here are the reasons, my stomach seems more out in front and pointy instead of spread out all over, I do not have the linea nigra this time like I had with both girls. That's really all I have for clues, if you even want to call them that. The girls have both decided after obsessing over having a baby sister that they would actually, in fact, prefer a baby brother. So it sounds like they will be happy either way and we won't have to look into disappointed little faces if it is a boy.

Maternity portraits: I had some pictures done with a fellow photographer friend. She is actually a competitor but I adore her and there is enough work for both of us, trust me. We had so much fun trying out poses and lighting and just doing something sort of different. They are a little risque, but if you know me, I'm not modest at all so it was a perfect way to document my 3rd pregnancy.

Those are just a few favs, they are all great and once I get all these holiday orders filled and can close that door, I will make a cute little album and maybe get a big one for my master bathroom.

Paige Walker Photography: Oh geez, I took on way too much for the holidays, but I stayed on top of it, worked mostly 12-16 hour days and did the best I could as a one woman show. I try and get the edited images for the client to choose from in under a week and as soon as they pay their invoice the order goes straight to the lab so it's a really quick turn around. That is important to me. In other business news, construction on the new studio started today. There are electricians and demolition guys all over the yard. The back house that was old and nasty is being knocked down and a big beautiful studio is being built in it's place. This is going to take my business to the next level and it will help us not to feel so squished in this house with the basement back for an extra living area.

Baby's room: No, I haven't really started, because what can I really do? Gender neutral rooms can be awesome, but I am really wanting an all boy or all girl room. So at least I picked color schemes. For a boy I like cobalt blue, black and white. Very chic and modern and not foo foo baby at all. The baby's room is right off the living room in plain site and I want it to look really great. If it's another sweet baby girl, her room will be aqua, pink and white. I found bedding I like for both and will need to post a picture, but we all know how my blogging has been.

I'm getting really excited for this new addition to the family, and although it feels strange not having a single outfit or baby item, nursery or crib, I really like not knowing what it is and feel like it will be no problem to deal with it all in february. I took the whole month off anyway.

The 30s

2011-11-16T18:02:00.002-06:00

I wouldn't have a clue what it feels like to be 30 years old, I am soooo far from being 30. Not really, only 2 short months separate me from finally meeting my mystery child and from entering the 30s. But for now my small victory is entering 30 weeks of pregnancy. 30 weeks of pregnancy sounds pretty darn far along. I could give birth anywhere from 7-10 weeks from now. I have no urge for it to hurry up yet, maybe because I am in the busy season for work, which although my to do lists for clients are out of control, I really love it, I love everything about my job. I know I will get to that antsy ending soon enough. Unless this time I don't feel that way, the last couple of weeks with Kylie were killer. I just wanted to have the baby and was almost crying every time my contractions stopped.

So at 3o weeks I have a little 3ish pounder living in there, and I am up a grand total of 17 pounds. I don't feel very big yet and I think that is helping with not being in a rush to give birth. The picture at the top was taken by my mom on our 7th anniversary. She was having a really hard time trying to figure out what to do, but she did great and we now have a cute picture of us that I love. I also had my maternity pics done with a friend the other day. I will post them on here when I get the disc, but they are pretty risque. But I love them! You may have seen a couple on facebook. I went back and forth if I should tag myself or not, but I loved them, I loved how I looked so I went ahead and tagged.

I start my 2 week appointments now. I just did my glucose screening and found out I don't have diabetes, but I do have anemia. I was starting to think I was losing my eyesight from too much computer work, but now I think it was just me practically falling asleep all the time.

We also have 2 names we like for a boy and 1 we like for a girl. Not sharing though :) I have told a few friends, but I would rather just wait.

That's all for now!

Strawberry Shortcake and the Ocolopus

2011-11-02T20:48:00.007-05:00

Look what my 2 cheese puffs were for Halloween!

Blake as Strawberry Shortcake

Kylie as an octopus, or as she says it "oc-0-lo-pus"

Here is how our Halloween went...

I went up to Blake's school for the Halloween party. I'm always afraid I'm going to be the only mom not there and it turns out every singe time I am one of the only moms who comes. I don't know if most of these people work or what, but the parties are not hoppin with parents. Either way, Blake is always really happy to see me and it's fun to take pictures of her in action with her class. Here they are doing the monster mash. Blake refused to participate and wouldn't stop staring at me, I guess it's super weird to have mom at school.

Miss Wendy mashin it up.

Blake and Miss Tracey

Blake and Miss Wendy

Blake is a highly sensitive child and she was the only one in her class crying because the pizza was too hot. Another boy, who sat next to Blake, who incidentally pinched her face (in an aggressive way) during circle time, seems to have some highly sensitive problems of his own. He hysterically screams and cries during the pre lunch prayer every single day. If you think your child might be highly sensitive, read The Highly Sensitive Child, it's a great book and really helps you to understand how their brains work.

After school Ommy came over and we did some fun Halloween activities starting with oreo spiders.

don't mind the six legs.

Next, was Halloween cookie decorating and eating.

After that we took a bunch of painting supplies into the front yard and painted pumpkins. Kylie was having the best time and kept saying, "mine is the best punkin ever!" Blake was so sweet and kept telling Kylie she was so proud of her.

I may have jazzed up a little pumpkin of my own.

Then comes the moment we've all been waiting for, trick or treating time! Our neighborhood is really busy on Halloween and besides there being a lot of kids that live here, there are a lot of people that drop off kids by the suburban load here. This was our first year to trick or treat in our neighborhood because last year Zach and I had the stomach bug and were laid out on the couch. We went around with our neighbors and Blake and Kylie enjoyed themselves, but weren't overly enthusiastic. Blake's first time to trick or treat when she was 2 was far more exciting, she was skipping and singing and squealing her way from house to house. This time they both seemed to just take it all in, ride in the wagon and get out and casually get candy from strangers like they do it every week or something. At one house, Blake went up and got her candy, the person complimented her on her costume and she screamed out in her most theatrical tone, "It worked, it worked!!! Everyone loves my costume!!!"

So here they are

Kylie's costume was awesome and she actually left the octopus head on the entire time. Blake said her wig was too itchy and opted for just the hat.

Last Halloween as a family of 4.

Blake and her best pal Ellie.

Punkins.

2011-10-31T09:38:00.008-05:00

Blake doesn't have school on tuesdays, it's really our only free day of the week unless I am working. If we want to go out and do something, tuesday is our day. My mom and I took the girls to the arboretum to see the pumpkins, they had fun for about an hour and then were ready to go back home. Kylie is not in many of these pictures because she isn't very cooperative at the moment. The title of this post is punkins, because Kylie actually pronounces pumpkins that way. She has some interesting little speech things going on.

super excited about a "pumpkin pile!"

These two are little soul mate sisters.

In cinderella's coach.

Happy fall!!

Seattle

2011-10-30T21:21:00.008-05:00

Seattle was life changing for me. Or at least career changing. Not so much the city, although a nice place to visit and check off the "places to see" list, but the priceless experience I got with Keri Meyers at her newborn workshop.

First let's start with the sights we got to see in Seattle. Zach went with me which made it so much more fun. The first day, we flew in and had plenty of time to see lots of Seattle before going to Redmond to our hotel late that night.

We started at the Public Market, you know, the place where they throw the fish around.

We walked through the market and then down to the very first Starbucks. Julie, my friend that lives in Seattle, who was with us, was telling us that you have to be the best of the best and the fastest of the fast to work at the original Starbucks, it's like a big barista promotion. We didn't have a drink there, but I thank them for perfecting the tasty Chai Tea Latte that I enjoy a couple of times a week.

On to another tourist attraction, the gum wall. I don't know much back story on it, but it is what it is, a gum wall.

We cruised, and by cruised I mean walked a really long way up and down hills, to the Puget Sound. The harbor in Seattle. It was just as I expected, overcast and gray skies, chilly, a little misty at times.

And you can't go to Seattle and not explore the space needle, so up we went.
Here are some neighborhoods you could see from up there, there was other pretty scenery but for some reason this is the spot I chose to snap a picture of.
Zach and I up at the tippy top.
Julie and Marcy, they were so awesome to show us around, we had a great time with them!

Now on to one of the best experiences ever, the newborn photography workshop. Newborns are a big part of my business, I didn't plan it that way, hell I didn't even plan to have a photography business at all. It just came together at the perfect time and roped me in, what started as a small business to make some extra money doing what I was obsessed with is now how we make ends meet. It continues to grow, almost faster than I can keep up with and I continue to improve and it is such a blessing to see what God has done with this little talent He gave me. I have been drooling over Keri's photos for a while now and I decided to go ahead and take the plunge, pay the major money to take the workshop and see what I could learn. Keri has been in the business about 3 years and is the newborn guru. Her posing is impeccable, my style differs from hers some in that I use a lot more colors in my props, fabrics, wraps, etc. I shoot with studio lighting and she uses natural light, but other than that we are very similar. I am actually in the process of building a new studio with both natural and studio lighting so I can be more versatile, but that project won't be complete for a few more months.

The first day of the workshop we went over camera settings, (shooting in raw, setting custom white balance, spot metering, finding light, stuff like that) posing, set up, working with parents, soothing techniques, lots of great stuff. We had 3 babies come in for sessions and it was a long hard day. I learned so much, so much boring stuff that no one cares about, but stuff that will help take my photography and business to the next level. Day 2, the 4 photography students got into two teams and we got to pick out all the props, fabrics, wraps, hats, etc. for the shoot, we got to pose and sooth the babies with little to no help from Keri. It felt like a whirlwind, but I had a newborn shoot the thursday after I got back and it went so well, like insanely well, the parents were taking notes on soothing techniques and they just kept telling me how fascinating it was to watch. I have stepped up my game and am so ready for all these teeny tiny little babies that are coming my way. I only do 2, maybe 3 newborn shoots a week because they take about 3 hours, so I fill up fast, I have babies on the calendar into january.

Here are some of my shots from the workshop.

The picture below is what is called a composite. It is two shots that are combined in photoshop. In the first shot someone would be holding the baby's head and in the second shot someone would be holding the baby's arms.

25

2011-10-16T20:04:00.003-05:00

I may have entered what I like to call the ice cream phase of pregnancy. I'm a bit surprised I've made it this long. There comes a time in all of my pregnancies when a nightly large bowl of ice cream becomes a necessity. With pregnancy #1 it was the ice cream trimester, which contributed no doubt to my flabalicious 60 lb weight gain and embarrassingly enough, the baby took up a mere 6 lbs of that. It seems like every time I eat a meal, I just want something sweet to follow it up with. So my night cap ice cream bowl is doing great! I am trying to keep a close watch on it for the next 4 or 5 weeks because I have maternity pictures coming up, and I am doing this pics, GASP, naked! Well, some of them. The more I learn and enjoy the art of photography, the more I like to push the boundaries, and naked pregnancy pics are pushing them pretty far. I'm not really modest, but I probably wouldn't have done nude pictures in the previous pregnancies. These will be tastefully done and I am inspired by Kourtney Kardashian's maternity portraits if you saw that episode. If not, I'm sure it's googleable.

The girls are still really wanting a baby sister, so I have decided if it is a boy we just won't tell them what it is for a few days until they fall in love with the baby. We will just say things like, "here is our new baby!" and try to not crush them right off the bat. If it's a girl, then they will be some happy big sisters ready to teach another girl the ways of toddler and preschool life.

At 25 weeks pregnant, the baby measures in at about 13.5 inches and 1.5 lbs. We have a very active little one growing in there, but I think all of my babies have been active in the belly. Next doctor appointment is the glucose test, and then I start going every 2 weeks. This is not going by slow!

Baby Carter!

2011-10-13T13:54:00.002-05:00

My BFF, Allison had her baby boy on tuesday! I was there to witness and photograph the whole thing. Minus a few scary moments when they kicked me and her mom out due to some umbilical cord complications. If you would like to see a few of the many, many photos shot that day, take a look at my work blog www.paigewalkerphotography.com/blog

I made the Gilmore's like a 20 minute long slideshow with some sweet new baby songs, but that is entirely too huge of a file to share.

I am so excited for their family and it makes me very excited about my last time to give birth.

Baylor it is

2011-10-10T15:21:00.002-05:00

Today was a pregnancy check up with Dr. Z. I weighed in at 134, so up 12ish lbs from the beginning. I'm pretty sure I started at 122. I am 24 weeks, will be 25 on Wednesday and I will try my hardest to remember to take a belly pic.

Next appointment is the glucose screening and then I start going every 2 weeks. I could have sworn my book said the third trimester starts at week 25, but I think it's more like 27 or 28, either way it is right around the corner!

So at my last appointment they asked me if I want to deliver at Harris (where I have delivered Blake and Kylie) or Baylor. I went ahead and picked Harris since I have had good experiences there before. Well today I asked the nurse which one Dr. Z likes better and she told me Baylor. So I changed my mind. I don't know much about Baylor, but I do know that it's new, very nice and has murphy beds for the dads. When looking closer at the big brochure packet I was given, I like what I see: motherhood shops, Starbucks, restaurant options, complete day spa, patient rooms designed with family visitation in mind, labor, delivery and recovery are in the same room. Then in the very back of my folder is a little card that says "Special Delivery Services" this includes comfy robe, cloth slippers, luxurious blanket, premium quality towels and spa toiletries, plus premium meal choice for you and your guest. You do have to pay $250 but since we are already self pay, what's another $250 for some awesome upgrades? At Harris, Zach and I were sharing my blah plate of spaghetti, I think this is going to be good!

Who Sleeps Like That?!

2011-10-10T15:19:00.003-05:00

Looks like Blake fell asleep while tending to her doll, Molly.

Barf Bag

2011-10-10T08:50:00.005-05:00

Do you know of anyone that has actually used a barf bag? I don't think it's a very common occurrence.

This past weekend was our sometimes annual (depending on our life situation at the time) trip to Lubbock for some family time and Tech football. We flew in Friday and it was a breeze. It makes a huge difference to not have to bring car seats. That is just so much bulky stuff to be carting through the airport on top of the kids you are trying to keep in order. We stayed at a hotel which was nice to have our own space, but also kind of interesting. Kylie had to sleep in a pack n play for the first time since she was like 4 months old and her head was squished at once end and her feet at the other. She referred to it as her teeny tiny crib. Blake and Zach slept in the king bed together and I slept on the pull out couch bed. I will use the term sleep loosely because I woke up every hour or more. Nights like that are not so fun.

Saturday morning we got up, went shopping at Red Raider Outfitters, my favorite Tech store and then went on over to Tom and Milynda's for some barbecue fun. They had 19 people in town, family from Pennsylvania, friends from College Station, and then all of us from Dallas and Fort Worth. It was a lot of fun just hanging out and chatting with everyone. Later that evening we went to some tailgates, which isn't as exciting as it once was. It is so weird remembering back to when I was a student at Tech and would find someone I knew every 100 feet, now I may see 2 familiar faces the entire time I am wandering around. The game was fun, I would have loved to send the Aggie's packing by beating them, but Tech is young and although they played OK, so did A&M and they managed to stay ahead the entire time and we just never caught up. It was not even close to a blow out, just a back and forth battle. I do like the fun rivalry, but since the Aggies irritate everyone so much, I think TCU will be a fine replacement. Zach and I are going to start having big parties for the TCU Tech games since we live so close to campus. Fun times ahead!!

So that night Blake and Kylie had their first ever sleepover at Gran and Pappy's house! Kylie was able to enjoy sleeping in a full size crib and Blake slept in Gran's bed with her cousin Sophia. They had the best time, but we have been paying for it, as we always do after travel. Blake has been crying all day today and telling me she "did too much" and "is too tired" hopefully it will only be another day or two until she is back to normal. Kylie is grumpier than usual also, but with her go with the flow personality you can hardly even tell. I think we will stay put for a while, maybe attempt another trip this summer or maybe not.

The plane ride home. Oh dear. This was a nightmare for 2 reasons. 1. Goofy man that sat next to me. and 2. The barf bag usage.

Let's just start with the man. He was a stereotypical West Texas, blue collar kind of guy. Rough around the edges to say the least. I would guess he was in his late 50s or early 60s, or possibly younger and just looked old from some hard living. He was decked out in his Tech polo and hat. I get annoyed with other team's "T-shirt" fans that have no ties to the university whatsoever, have probably never stepped foot on campus and definitely have not graduated from the university and share the love that us who has actually earned our diploma and have that deep pride for our school have. That being said, I'm pretty sure this dude was a Tech T shirt fan. Which of course doesn't irritate me near as bad as the plethora of UT T shirt fans and from what I hear OU t shirt fans. His first interesting act was pulling out Angry Birds on his iphone, which would normally be no big deal, but he fist pumped when he had a good move and banged his phone on the tray table when he was disappointed with his performance. Next weird thing, when the flight attendant brought me my drink and I was talking to Blake, he nudged me really hard like you would nudge someone you know really well, not a complete stranger, to alert me that my drink had arrived. Next on the list, 3 times during the flight he rubbed his hands all over his face while make a motor boat sound and shaking all around. At another point during the flight he put his hand on my leg, it only stayed there for a second, but it was long enough to be extremely uncomfortable and I can only hope it was an accident. He was constantly looking at me to see what I was looking at in the SkyMall magazine. I'm thinking, "if you like skymall so much, pick up your own skymall magazine that is identical to mine and read it!" The last weird thing that happened was pretty much Blake's fault, but still hilarious. The guy had a coughing fit and Blake leaned forward, looked his straight in the face and motioned to cover his mouth when he coughs, by giving him a proper demonstration. His response to her, "I did!" in his very hick accent.

Now on to the mother of all plane problems for us, Blake was getting really cuddly and I figured she was just worn out from little sleep and lots of activity. She did a cough and the second cough was puke everywhere. I grabbed the barf bag and she filled the whole thing up, but it still managed to get EVERYWHERE! All over Blake, Blake's hair, her clothes, the seat, the seat belt, her teddy bear, the floor. All she wanted to do was take her gross clothes off, and when I went to take her pants off I realized that Zach had gotten her dressed with no panties. So her gross leggings stayed on and I just took off her shirt. Barf smell filled the cabin and Blake was so worried that the "plane driver" would be mad at her. She was appalled by the mess. I did my best to clean it up with the 5 paper towels Zach fetched me from the bathroom but it was way beyond that. Poor cleaning crew. We stripped her down and Zach carried her through Love field wrapped in a Tech blanket. Just when you think you have reached a sort of easy traveling age...

Here is my only picture I took from the weekend. I did a photo session friday night with these lovely ladies (friends from Kappa Delta) and the one on the left's husband and son. It was really fun to catch up and we did the shoot in a junk yard which was way cool. So here is Tara, myself and Tamara and I know I haven't posted a belly pic in a while, but this is at 24 weeks. I need a side view.

Let's Chat

2011-09-22T15:23:00.004-05:00

Well hello! How is everyone? Is anyone still out there? I hope so!

Here is the latest with me-

22 weeks pregnant and in full out maternity clothes. I am still trying to do the bella band with my old jeans, but it's not nearly as comfortable. At 23 weeks the baby is moving a ton, it seems that there are definite periods of awake crazy moving around time and very still sleepy time. I'm back to feeling like my normal self with a hint of exhaustion. I am cooking, doing laundry, not moping around in pajamas every day and it feels great! I know Zach is loving having me back to normal and having yummy dinners again instead of whatever he could scrounge together. We are also loving not knowing what baby is. Not finding out is way more fun than it sounds, so much anticipation building up. I'm already having some serious cramping/possible Braxton Hicks.

We are glad to be back in a school routine. Blake loves it and would rather be there than home most of the time and Kylie asks me every time if she gets to stay wif mommy, she does not want to be dropped off at school. She will start preschool next year when she is 3. That seems to be the magic year for my kids, when they are ready to spread their wings and not be glued to mommy.

Blake had her 4 year checkup and boy is that a sad one. We had explained to Blake going in that she would be getting shots and yes they would hurt. She loved the actual check up part, the eye test, the hearing test, getting weighed and measured and other parts of the exam, but the vaccinations were just brutal. She didn't so much cry, but straight up screamed at each needle poke. AAAAAAAAAAh! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh! AAAAAAAAAAAAH! One of the nurses even stepped back from the shear volume of Blake's squeals. She weighs 38.25, putting her in the 70th percentile, she is 41.75 inches tall, 83rd percentile and her vision is 20/25. We decided to switch pediatricians since we moved and it has been a good thing. We live right in the medical district of Fort Worth so it seemed ridiculous to drive almost an hour to Southlake.

Bottom braces are on. So much worse than the top. If anyone that reads this has any orthodontic knowledge, I have bite turbos and 2 buttons making my mouth miserable. The bite turbos make me not be able to chew because the only teeth that come together and touch in my entire mouth are my top 2 and bottom 2. I have been practically swallowing things whole or just sticking to soup and peanut butter on a spoon. I know I will get used to it all, but it is just a lot going on in there. However, I am loving the way my mouth and smile are looking and how great the results are going to be, I can see the light, it may be 2 years away still, but I can see it!

My faith has really been stretched lately. My friend that I cheered on Trojans with, went to high school with, went to Texas Tech with, and was sorority sisters with, went to her wedding and baby showers, passed away from complications with pneumonia and ARDS. It is so hard to understand with our earthly minds why something like this would happen. One day she is healthy, 2 weeks later she is dead. Although my faith is stretched, I find all of my comfort in Christ and feel closer to Him than I have in a long time. Through this tragedy I have been praying very often, reading the Bible and just really reevaluating the important things. Of course family and friends are at the top of that list, but #1 is my relationship with Jesus Christ. Zach and I visited her husband Gabe tonight and his faith is rock solid and super inspiring. He has great things coming his way, but is no doubt in the darkest period of his life.

Sono Day!

2011-09-12T11:11:00.003-05:00

Today was the big day. I honestly struggled a little with the "to find out or not to find out" question. I so want to know what is living inside me, but I also very much want that fun grand finale surprise after labor. We did not find out who he or she is. What we did find out is that the baby is very healthy and everything looks great. That's all I really need to know right now anyway.

I'm up to 131, so I think that puts me up 9 lbs since the beginning. Which I am pleased with. Now if I can only stick to gaining about 20 more I will be really happy. I tend to gain quite a bit with my pregnancies. With Blake I gained 60 (gag) and with Kylie I gained about 35 (not so bad at all.)

It totally takes the pressure off figuring out what to do with the nursery and I have no reason to buy anything for the baby really since I have no idea the sex. However, I cringe at the thought of bringing a baby boy home from the hospital to no clothes and not a blue baby item in the entire house. Actually, since I've gotten rid of so many of my girl baby things I don't have any clothes for the baby so that will have to be purchased by my mom or a friend at Target or something so the baby can at least have some gender appropriate onesies and a blanket when we leave the hospital.

So on to the sono pics, I typed on them in photoshop, but the size is so small you can't really read it.

Foot

Precious profile

Face. Looks like a ghoul. Kylie saw it and said, "why is he so sad?"

He?.....hmmmmmm.

Firsts

2011-09-07T16:17:00.003-05:00

We've had a few firsts here lately.

Blake's first day of school was today. She is repeating the 3s class since she was the youngest last year. This year she is the oldest which is going to be so much better for her. She has one of the same teachers from last year and one new one, and this year she goes 3 days a week to her regular preschool and 1 day a week to zoo school at the zoo. Today she was furious with me when I picked her up for not packing a chocolate pudding in her lunch. How dare I?! and she was also complaining that one of the boys was trying to trick her. Not sure what she meant there, but it won't be the last time a boy tries to trick her. She also calls her classmates "caterpillar friends", she told me today that she just looked at her caterpillar friends and they looked at her, but no one talked. I guess they are all just checking each other out. Excuse the panties in the first day pic, it was the best one I got in a hurry.

And for another first, Kylie's first haircut. I took her to the girl who does my hair because Blake has had more botched haircuts than good ones over the last couple of years. Kylie thought Whitney was really pretty and enjoyed the experience. She still talks about it everyday and tells me how pretty her haircut is. With that bouncy, curly hair, she may not need another haircut for a really long time, but at least it is all evened up now.

A Little Catching Up

2011-09-01T10:23:00.002-05:00

All the girl's in house, minus Cricket the dog, have been sick the past few days. Kylie got hit the hardest with a pretty nasty cold. Blake managed to just have a few sniffles and not even really notice. I had one rough night and to all the mouth breathers out there, that is a very unpleasant way to sleep! I woke up tons of times with the most dry mouth and reapplied chapstick as often as I could get my hands on it. Since that one night I have taken a sudafed before bed to avoid another mouth breathing night. I also keep waking up about 4 hours after I fall asleep and just want to get up and work, or watch tv or poke around on facebook or pinterest. At first I thought it was because of my cold, but now I am concerned I am experiencing some form of pregnant lady insomnia.

Today is an exciting day because I will be getting my nance appliance removed from my braces. I doubt any of you even know what that is, but it's basically a big retainer-like thing permanently affixed to the roof of my mouth and connected to my molars. This was the biggest adjustment with getting the braces on, so I can only imagine the relief and happiness I will experience to have the roof of my mouth naked again.

Pregnancy is chugging right along, the other night in one of my late night insomnia spells I could feel baby on the outside of my tummy. Zach hasn't gotten to feel it yet, but hopefully soon. I am 19 weeks, I think my belly popped out, or so I have been told, and I haven't had a headache in about a week.

Dayme (my decorator) and I have been busy getting my house looking cute and ready for Allison's baby shower this weekend. It is kind of nice to have a date that you want things looking good for so you get your butt in gear and paint that patch on the wall that has been needing paint for over a year, or hang curtains up in the bathroom so people can't peek in. Not that they were peeking in, but who wants to use the bathroom right next to a wide open bare window. Sadly, I got used to it, but that is no reason to leave it like that. It's looking good and we have had a lot of fun working on it!

That's all for now, I think.

Birth Order

2011-08-24T10:32:00.003-05:00

Since I am pregnant with my third child, I have been looking at birth order characteristics. I think it is all very interesting.

According to parenthood.com the oldest is: responsible, conservative, doesn't make waves, follows parents' wishes, emotionally intense, authoritarian, perfectionist, driven, leader.

I am the oldest and I am pretty much all of these things. I'm pretty sure I don't fall into the perfectionist category, but everything else is just about right. I can't stand confrontation, I have only had a couple of confrontations in my lifetime and was left traumatized. I am very driven, I like being in a leadership role and although I don't cry often, when I do, it is usually intense. I can also see lots of these traits in Blake already.

Middle: Peacemaker, negotiator, highly attuned to needs of others, doesn't like to follow authority, creative, independent, peer-focused, chameleon.

This will be Kylie.

Youngest: Comical/entertaining, highly social, laid back, dependent, creative, unconventional, few expectations of self.

This will be baby #3.

I have characteristics from all three, so I'm sure most people probably do too, but it's still fun to read this kind of stuff and see how it applies to your family.

17 weeks

2011-08-17T08:48:00.003-05:00

17 weeks today! I went to the doctor yesterday and was pleased to see I have only gained 5 lbs this pregnancy, I am up to 127 and think I started somewhere near 122. I hope I can keep it up, the end is the worst for me for packing on the major lbs though.

He was able to find the baby's heart beat really fast this time. I had the option to come in and get a sono next week or just wait a month until my next check up. I decided to wait since we aren't finding out the sex, so I will get that fun sonogram at about 20 or 21 weeks.

I think most of you know this, but since Zach and I are both self employed we don't have maternity coverage on our insurance plan. It costs way more than we want to pay and would rather just self pay as we go. So, I get the joy of paying $660 every time I go to the doctor. Thank goodness for my job or we would be struggling! I only have 2 more big payments to the doctor, then we have to work out a deal with our hospital and then after it's all said and done quite a few more bills will come rolling in like the anesthesiologist and other random things from the hospital. It's so hard to spend that much, but we really have no other option. Blake is the only baby I had while having great insurance since I was still teaching, so Kylie and this baby have put a financial strain for sure.

I also did some blood test yesterday for birth defects. I have to deny all the good tests because they are expensive, but this one was like $50 so I went ahead and said yes. I'm anxious to hear the results and I am super excited to see the baby in 4 short weeks!!

Precipitation

2011-08-16T16:42:00.003-05:00

The insanely hot summer has made it hard to get outside and play much. But one random rainy day changed that. Rain boots, rain jackets and pjs!

one to the six

2011-08-10T21:30:00.003-05:00

16 weeks! I have a bump and I am choosing to do a closed mouth smile because I just look so weird with braces. I had a teeny headache today, but I haven't had a bad one in 2 days, so maybe just maybe I am in the feel good second trimester. Baby is the size of a gerbil and kicking and squirming. Actually, I don't really feel it any more often than I was, just a little stronger. I just read in my pregnancy book that I should no longer be sleeping on my back. As much as I want to sleep how I feel comfortable, now that bit of information will be in the back of my mind all night making me aware of the exact position I am in every time I wake up. No idea how much weight I've gained, I suppose that will be determined at my next appointment sometime next week. I have all my maternity clothes down, but I still don't want to wear them, just rubber banding it. We are also still in the process of clearing out my old office for the baby room. It's coming along but there is still much to be done. One major thing it needs sometime in the next couple of months is doors. It's an odd room with no closet, but will have to do until we move out of here in a few years. It's crazy for me to think that I could find out the sex of my baby at any time. I hope it isn't too hard to tell the sonographer not to tell us what it is. I'm sure it will be tempting, but I know I will regret it if I cave and find out. Keeping my eye on the prize of that exciting day when Zach and I have no idea what I'm pushing out until it's out!

Austin Weekend

2011-08-08T14:57:00.002-05:00

Shannon's bachelorette party was this past weekend in Austin. There were 5 of us from our pledge class and 3 girls from the pledge class of '01. So I was glad to know everyone there. Friday night was the big bachelorette night, luckily I had my fellow pregnant partner in crime, Allison there with me so we were the sober ones of the night. We did the whole lingerie shower, girl talk and drinking followed by the Austin bar scene. I really enjoyed being out, but those sort of situations just make me so thankful I am not single and looking for love. We started out at the W and then went to some bar that played basically every song we loved to dance to at Marley's freshman and sophomore year at Tech. That is when Allison and I headed back to the hotel and slept for about an hour until we were awoken by the hilarious return of Dayme, Jenny and Shannon from the bars.

Saturday we went to the pool. We were all pretty shocked by the amount of bachelor and bachelorette parties at our hotel. Not that Austin isn't a rad place, but we met people from LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Boston and Chicago, I just had no idea Austin was such a popular destination. After the pool we went to get pedicures and go shopping. We basically only went shopping because I grossly underpacked and had no cute dress to wear out to dinner that night. That problem was solved after about 20 minutes of shopping and we were off to get ready. We had dinner at Eddie V's and it was so good. We had to walk to the restaurant from our hotel and so I wore my flip flops to walk and then changed into Jenny's stripper heels before going into the restaurant. They were so tall and so hard to walk in, I walked in to Eddie V's about a minute and a half after everyone else, I just couldn't keep up. I looked cute though! There was still some hangover suffering so we ended the night pretty early and went to sleep at a pretty normal time.

Sunday we woke up and headed out. When I got home Blake screamed "happy birthday!!!!!", I guess that is the most exciting and nicest thing she could think to say to me. Kylie would not have anything to do with me for like an hour. She kept saying, "no, I want my daddy" and "I'm shy" I think she was mad at me for leaving her for so long. It was such a great weekend with great friends!

Why is the 2nd Trimester sucking?

2011-08-03T18:46:00.003-05:00

That glorious second trimester that is supposed to be your burst of energy and fill you with that pregnancy glow is a little fashionably late. I am 15 weeks and have had these horrible headaches for the past 2 weeks. I am popping Tylenol all the time and it barely even takes the pain away. Much like my nausea, the headaches usually start in the evening so at least I have the first part of my day to be somewhat productive. Zach keeps accusing me of not eating and drinking water, but I so am. I don't have a huge appetite like I did in the first tri, but I have been drinking lots of water in hopes that it will help the headaches.

When I was pregnant with Blake I had like no symptoms, when I was pregnant with Kylie I was so much sicker than I have been with this baby and it didn't really ease up until about 20 weeks. I may just be in for another month or so of fatigue and headaches. Thank the dear Lord for the timing of Zach's new job, he is home every night at around 5 or 5:30 and that is the biggest blessing ever. I didn't truly realize how sad it is to have no family time for 2 years and now that we have him back it is such a relief for all of us. This is so helpful when I am feeling rough, he comes home and takes over and I can't even express how awesome he is.

I'm really hoping to be feeling better soon, but it's just still dragging along. My apple-sized baby is making me crazy, I just want to feel like me again.

Blake's 4 year pictures

2011-07-27T22:01:00.005-05:00

Business could not be going better! I am booking new appointments every day (2 yesterday, 3 today, hopefully more tomorrow), I only have 2 saturdays left that aren't booked for the entire 2011 and I am having a blast with it! I have tons of newborns on the calendar into late November. I may not do the best job of documenting my family's day to day life because I am documenting so many other family's memories, but I sure am glad to be able to take awesome portraits of my kids when I want to...for free! Most of my clients spend between $600 and $1200 and it is just so nice to be able to not have to shell out major dough for awesome photography. However, I did have to book a family portrait session and maternity session this year since I obviously can't be running the camera or photo shoot, and I am really looking forward to getting in front of the camera for once! My FAVORITE time to shoot is in those beautiful golden hours about 1.5 to 2 hours before sunset. The lighting is so pretty! Some people would rather shoot earlier because of kid's bedtimes, which is ok, it just makes such a difference if it's in the evening.

I love this one! Cowboy hat, hay in the mouth, light streaming in, very country girl.

Sometimes a big dead, overgrown field can look really beautiful.

This one I let in a lot of light so it has that dreamy kind of look.

I can't believe my Babes is 4! Geez!!

Party and Gift Review

2011-07-27T21:09:00.009-05:00

Blake and Kylie's birthday party was great! It was the easiest birthday party I have ever done. We had it at Howard Moore Play Pool in Arlington, which is a shallow pool with sprayers and slides. Very toddler/preschooler friendly. We had a great turnout with lots of friends and family there, we got some unbelievably cool gifts and the girls had a great time. Well, once Blake realized she had a new Polly Pocket set all she really wanted to do was go home and start playing, but I guess that is understandable. I love the idea of combining their parties, it's cheaper and easier for mom and dad and then the girls get new stuff at the same time. Sharing can be a big issue in our house and when there is that much new stuff all at once, it's just big fun. Baby 3 will probably have to have his/her own birthday parties with a winter birthday since we didn't get all summer babies (not for lack of trying).

I got a picture of most of the kids that were there, some are highly unflattering, but I was just trying to document the crowd as best I could.

A birthday hug before cake time.

Cookie cakes from the mall. A frog on Kylie's cake and butterflies and caterpillars on Blake's.

Lindsay and Jack.

OMG I LOVE Lindsay, we met through CC5, a charity group I belong to and we were basically separated at birth. She is due with another little boy in the fall.

the dreaded wait

but so worth it

Jordan! Her dad worked with Zach at Pogue and we got to be great friends.

My sister in law, Megan and niece, Maris.

My cousin's baby, Julianne.

Brett and Karley Butler's son, Caden.

My nephew, Spencer.

Blake's favorite playmate, Ellie, they play almost every day because they live next door.

Kamdyn, looking less than thrilled.

Kate, Blake's birthday twin!

Emery

Kinsley

Cru wanted nothing to do with me. I'm not sure what freaked him out more, me or my 10 foot lens.

Jackson

Caroline in the play area

Kinsley T about to slide.

Ellie is going for it!

My niece, Sophia.

Oh and we thought for some reason that those little ice cream cups had little wooden spoons in them. They didn't. And I failed to bring any other spoons, so there was lots of messy ice cream diving.

As I said earlier, Blake and Kylie got some wonderful gifts. I definitely didn't get pictures of all the stuff, but I followed them around for a while the morning after the party and snapped some pics.

Pix-os. These are so cool! Blake loves crafts so this was right up her alley. You put the little balls on this plastic grid thing that has a picture underneath, then you spray them with water and they stick together and make the picture. Blake has made a fish so far.

Zoobles! Blake and Kylie both love them some zoobles. We have been collecting them for a while now, but this was their first big zooble set. Lots of fun, highly recommend. The little animals start out as a ball and then when they hit a magnetic thing they pop up into a cute little animal.

Kylie playing with her fish puzzle complete with a fishing pole. She really likes this. Carli and Benton got her this and they also got Tangled for the girls and they have watched it every single day without fail since I opened it up. Very good kid movie.

Oooh, these are fun. This is the color wonder paints. I am in love with this because the paints are like a gel and can't spill and they can only paint on color wonder paper. Genius.

Big ballerina doll, very fun. Blake is striking a ballerina pose off to the side.

Kylie got a little Olivia dress up set and she is totally into it.

This is Blake's beloved Polly Pocket ice cream pool. Many hours have been spent making Polly and her friends, slide, swim and flop in the pool.

Kylie got 2 little minnie mouse dress up sets. One was a birthday one and one was a swimming one. They are the perfect size for 2 year olds, she can actually change the clothes, hair bows and shoes all by herself.

We are so blessed to have such awesome friends and family and are so very thankful to everyone who came and for all the cool presents. Now if my photography stuff would slow down (not that I even want it to) I could get to those thank you notes :)

Find that Heartbeat!!

2011-07-19T10:30:00.002-05:00

I had an appointment today with Dr. Z. I have gained 2 lbs total since the beginning, which is both shocking and confusing considering I eat fast food at least once a day for the past entire trimester. But I haven't been overeating at all, so maybe I'm not taking in as many calories as I thought.

Today was the first day I would get to hear the heartbeat on the doppler. After a 1o minute conversation with me laying on the table about my business and the direction Dr. Z's business model is going, it was time to hear that sweet sound. He smooshed and smashed on my belly for a while and just couldn't get a heartbeat. I have lots of pregnancy symptoms, but of course the "oh crap, I probably miscarried" thought entered my head, followed by a quick prayer as we walked to the sono room. As soon as the sonogram thing hit my belly, I swore I didn't see a baby in there for a second and then a big ole kicking and wiggling baby popped up on the screen. Legs flopping everywhere and a big baby head and of course a strong heartbeat. It was fun to get an extra little peek in there and very cool to see how much the baby has changed over the past 4 weeks. So all is well in the womb, I will be 13 weeks tomorrow and the baby is the size of a peach!

Clues

2011-07-15T21:34:00.005-05:00

Here are a few subtle clues that perhaps young children may dwell in our home. It could possibly be mistaken as an odd decorating style, but probably not. I am sad to admit that this is the day our housekeeper came, so for, say 7-8 minutes, this place was spic and span. It's impossible to have a picked up house with 2 little kids unless all you do is pick up. And I don't do that at all. On to the clues.

Exhibit A: floral lei hanging from decorative candle holder.

Exhibit B: cozy baby doll in potpourri bowl.

Exhibit C: fake flower in sippy cup placed on living room table.

Exhibit D: Stickers on any and every loose piece of paper around the house.

Exhibit E: Makeshift nativity

Exhibit F: Nativity is part of this larger "set" as Blake calls it of all sorts of people and animals having dining experiences.

Exhibit G and H: Care a lot bear and Lots o Heart Elephant occupying 2 of my dining chairs.

Exhibit I: Bows in Kylie's potty.

Exhibit J: Stool placed on fireplace, used in this instance for climbing to get a tea that was left on the mantle earlier.

Exhibit K: Kitchen mat and bathtub mat removed from their normal spots to be used as nap mats.

Exhibit L: Toy keys in the keyhole of Blake's door.

Exhibit M: A snack left behind.

Exhibit N: A nasty smashed grape in a very visible area.

Exhibit O and P: 2 sweet little girls in their beds who will wake up and do it all again tomorrow.

Stars and Stripes

2011-07-15T21:07:00.007-05:00

It's become a tradition in my family to spend 4th of July in Horseshoe Bay. We started up some new traditions while we were there as well. It was really hot and we normally go swim at the Yacht Club but we now have a much better routine. Every morning we would get our swimming gear on and go to Escondido for a long swim. They have a great pool and great food and the atmosphere is really fun. Not to mention the service, someone walks by about every 5 minutes making sure you have everything you need. Then after lunch we would come home for Kylie's nap and then do a different activity in the evening. One evening we went back to Escondido for a kids carnival, we watched fireworks on saturday night and then took it easy a couple of nights too. The marina at Escondido offers boat rentals, so we took out a big fancy pontoon boat one day and swam in the lake, even Blake and Kylie jumped in the water and floated around. That was really fun and I miss having a boat, but at least I can rent one anytime, and the boats there are really nice. Here are some pictures from our fantastic weekend.

Lounging on the patio

Blake in the bounce house at the carnival. She isn't really that into bounce houses, but this one had no kids in it yet so it was really fun for her.

Kylie got a balloon animal.

games

They had a DJ thing all set up and the kids could play on it. Oh and that reminds me, Blake and Kylie's favorite song at the moment is Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. They love the "butterflies fly away" part.

They had their first face painting experience by Kiwi the clown.

This was the evening of the fireworks, the kids stayed up way late and we hung out on the patio most of the night.

My dad cooks the best steaks, Zach was enjoying 5th meal.

11

2011-07-12T16:27:00.002-05:00

Well, here I am at 11 weeks. I will be 12 weeks tomorrow. Not a lot to see. I'm barely showing, but it's enough to make me want to get my maternity clothes down and see what may work.

I still haven't been back to the doctor, I was supposed to go today but my mom is too busy to babysit right now so I will try and get in later this week or next week. The last thing I want to do is drag my kids to the appointment.

I am feeling sick in the evenings still and very sleepy. My cravings have slowed down a little. I am a huge fan of mexi dips and chips and muchacos. Just typing the words gets me all happy.

To be honest, hormones really mess with me. I got off my anti anxiety meds before we started trying and I had a rough patch with withdrawal symptoms and adjusting, but after about a week I was back to normal. I could feel some anxiety and major irritability creeping back up after I found out I was pregnant. Almost like a teeny, teeny tiny bit of post partum. I'm talking tiny. The post partum stuff I dealt with was INTENSE! So I guess I can add easily frustrated, irritable and grumpy at times to my list of symptoms. I must be a real joy! I know it's only temporary and to avoid ppd again I will be getting right back on lexapro the day I push out baby 3. Some of it is just because I have a lot to handle. Running a busy business, taking care of 2 kids who are not in any type of school right now, taking care of myself and my house, it just gets to be too much. So something has to give, and that something is TV watching, leisure time, laundry and any kind of major cleaning. It's all I can do to keep the house partially picked up, thank God for housekeepers.

Baby is the size of a fig. Since I have never seen a fig outside of Newton form, this means nothing to me. He or She is pretty much fully formed and now just needs to grow, grow, grow. I am still feeling those same little kicks, or pokes or whatever they are, just not very often. Can't wait to start feeling the big movements, it's really cool. Hoping the second trimester brings energy, happiness and no queeze!

Organic Bloom

2011-07-11T08:55:00.003-05:00

I got a question about the frame in my bedroom on the last post. These are organic bloom frames and they are my favorite out of all the frames I sell. Check out these website and let me know if you ever want prices.

www.theorganicbloom.com

www.fireflyframesanddesign.com

www.wildsorbet.com

www.obrienschridde.com

These frames can only be ordered through professional photographers and in some cases interior designers, you can't just hop on the website and buy one.

This is a 30x40 in my bedroom with a photo of my husband and I at the beach last spring.

Imaginations

2011-07-10T13:56:00.002-05:00

These 2 play so well together. I am so thankful that they are both girls and that they are so close in age. Yes that first year was hellacious, but now they are always together and I get lots of breaks as they play in their rooms for long periods of time. Some of their favorite games involve imaginative play. Here they are riding a carousel practically naked!

Maris turns 1!

2011-07-10T13:49:00.002-05:00

My baby niece, Maris had her first birthday! We celebrated with her at her party in McKinney. I rarely lug around my camera and gear anymore unless it's a very special occasion. And this was! So I was able to get a few cute shots in between food and mommy duties. Blake, Kylie and Maris should be able to enjoy playing together more and more now that Maris is getting older. Fun!

Here I was trying to get all the cousins together, but Maris and that other baby are having a serious stare off.

Mommy's Baby

2011-06-29T17:49:00.001-05:00

Kylie came up to me about an hour ago, lifted up my shirt, pinched my fat roll (but that's totally beside the point), kissed my tummy and said, "I luh you Mommy's Baby."

My heart is in a puddle of melted goo.

A Black Cloud

2011-06-28T08:23:00.002-05:00

There is a black cloud hovering over us today. I couldn't sleep last night and had an anxiety attack this morning. Why? Because this is Zach's last day at his job, he is moving on to tackle business ownership in the roof and floor truss industry. The main reason I care that he is leaving his current job is that he works for one of his best friends, who's wife is one of my best friends. I guess I'm worried it will effect our friendship, which we all swore it wouldn't, but it still gives me anxiety.

When Zach went to work for Pogue 2 years ago, he had been laid off from home building in the bad economy and Pogue was on a hiring freeze, but Ben took a chance on Zach anyway and it turned out to be a match made in Heaven. They worked so well together, became so close, traveled together and were just a great fit. Zach has made so many great friends there, grew so much spiritually through a mission trip and joining a prayer group with Ben and learned a lot about running a business while working so closely with Ben.

Zach had a couple of random offers and opportunities pop up here and there during his time at Pogue, but nothing made Zach take a second look. He was happy at Pogue and loved what he did. About a month ago a friend of our family made Zach an offer where he gets to own his own business (Zach's dream) and grow it. It is the kind of offer that seems almost too good to be true. Although it's less money at the beginning, the sky is the limit with earning potential which of course is very exciting. But just like any business owner knows, there is lots of risk as well.

I'm so excited for Zach to start this new journey, but so sad to let go of the past, the fun we had and the great experiences. I mean, not many people get to go to the company Christmas party and hang with their best friends or go on a company trip to Mexico, it's just been so fun and it's hard to say goodbye, but it's time.

Biggest Tiny News.

2011-06-27T21:22:00.002-05:00

I would like to announce, although some may think I am crazy or just ate too many refried beans (not the case, at least not the beans), that I have indeed felt the baby move.

What?!?! Well, that's just not possible, what are you like 8 weeks?

Well, not so fast naysayers! I am almost 10 weeks and have been feeling the baby for a few days. It feels the same every time and it ain't no gas bubble. It isn't very often, maybe 2 or 3 times a day.

I felt Blake move at around 16 weeks and Kylie at 11, so it only seems right that I can feel mystery baby 3 at 9.5 weeks.

(S)he is a mover and a shaker, just what we need to liven up this boring household. Ha!

Tankini Trials

2011-06-23T21:26:00.002-05:00

I am not on the tankini/one piece train. How is it that tankinis look worse than 2 pieces on me?They accentuate all the worst areas and turn me into an instafrump. I tried on a few today and all of them looked about the same and all of them made me look lumpy. So I am not retiring my bikinis for the summer quite yet. The only time I have actually looked good in tankini was when I was pregnant with Blake and huge and there were frankly no other options a month before delivering a baby. I'm really not in a swim suit enough to even care, but if you see me and my belly is out, trust me, it's better than the tankini alternative.

The 12 day week

2011-06-22T20:34:00.002-05:00

When I went to my first prenatal appointment I was pretty sure I was 8 weeks along. I still have no idea which day I ovulated or how the heck I even got pregnant the month I did because it just doesn't add up to me. Which of course makes me nervous that something may go terribly wrong, but it really doesn't cross my mind that often, especially with how yuck I have been feeling. When I look at the calendar and compare my notes to the baby's due date and when I got the positive test, it seems that either the baby implanted super late or I was horribly off with my calculations. Either way, it makes me nervous about a miscarriage which I have never had, but clearly would not like to experience.

So I thought my week changed on Fridays and when I got the ultrasound the baby measured 7 weeks 6 days making my week change on Wednesdays. So in my head I was 8 weeks pregnant for a week plus 5 days. It feels like I have been 8 weeks pregnant for 8 weeks. Finally today I am 9 weeks. I read that it will be the pinnacle of nausea this week. So far I feel nauseous every night, but never barf. The baby or "critter" is the size of a medium green olive and my uterus is the size of a grapefruit. Add a little spare bike tire to that grapefruit, from McDonald's, Mellow Mushroom and Don Pablo's cravings and you've got a pretty pregnant looking first trimester 3rd time mama. At least in the evenings. I am pulling off the rubber band jeans trick quite nicely, but definitely preferring dresses. My neighbor told me she was in full out maternity pants at 10 weeks with her 3rd, and although I don't think I will be there in 1 short week, I don't think I will be that far off.

This is the child

2011-06-22T20:08:00.004-05:00

This is the child that basically analyzed risk all day and ran from anything a hair out of her comfort zone. This summer she isn't fearless, but she will try just about anything within reason and is loving the new Little Tykes water slide that we use at Ommy and GDad's house most weekends. And Kylie is in her shy and careful phase right now. Nothing like Blake's, but she isn't very daring at 2 years old.

And, not that anyone would even probably notice, but even though I am a photographer for a living, if I tried to take portrait quality pictures at all times I would drive myself nuts and have no time for anything besides photo editing. Which is practically how my life is anyway. So this blog is just snapshots, unedited, straight out of the camera, so nothing fancy. I'm not choosing optimum lighting, I'm just snapping some pics of the fam.

Back to the slide. I read quite a few reviews before we went out and bought this thing and it has been great. Zach has been a trooper with the disassembling, but putting it up is pretty easy. Lots of fun and I love that it's good exercise for Blake with constant climbing. And yes, I have slid down the slide many a time. Blake and I like to race. And my side of the contraption gets a little more deflated, but I figure there have to be some fat little ten year olds that weigh near what I do that use these types of things.

the "cheese" face

Blake likes to yell "cowabunga!" and do high kicks, well medium to low kicks, after each daring slide.

To Train or not to Train?

2011-06-17T10:42:00.003-05:00

I'm going with not. I did my little Lora Jensen's 3 day potty training method this morning, it's only 10:42, so we have been at it for about 3 hours and I already feel like it's not good timing. Kylie seems so ready mentally, but she is dribbling little pee drips everywhere and not having much bladder control at all. I think if I hold off another 4 or 5 months we will get it done much more quickly and easily. Blake was 2 years 9 months and she really was ready on all fronts. So much for that idea. I do have to get her trained before this other baby arrives though.

Critter

2011-06-16T17:09:00.003-05:00

Here is our critter. 1.45 cm long. I forgot to ask what the heart rate was, but they said it was good and strong. I'm almost glad I don't know because Blake and Kylie's were both 164 at the first appointment. If it was one sixty something I would assume it's another girl. I am up a few lbs at 123 and although I am getting irritated by the plump little roll quickly developing on my tummy, I am way too hungry and picky to change my eating ways right now. That can come in the second trimester.

On my to do list: Get a swim suit with a bit more coverage for the remainder of the summer.

Get some zzzzzzs. Add to my roll with delicious food choices.

Big Week.

2011-06-12T15:07:00.002-05:00

This week is pretty exciting! I have 3 newborn sessions. Nothing will give you a case of baby fever like photographing them for 3 hours straight. Yes, my newborn sessions take about 3 hours, the longest and most strenuous of all of the sessions I do and probably one of my favorites. Besides newborn work, I really love pin up and boudoir, pretty much straight up opposites.

We all know I have my ob/gyn appointment on tuesday and I will be anxiously awaiting that first sonogram. I will not be anxiously awaiting stepping on the scale. I have been one hungry animal.

I start a new small group with my church on wednesday. It's all moms and it's led by an older mom, like probably my mom's age. This one is starting out new. The last one I really liked all the girls, but I got a weird feeling that they didn't really want anymore people when the leader told me they didn't have anymore books and to just look on with someone. Who wants to show up to a book study with no idea what the book is and no idea what anyone is talking about? So I emailed Christ Chapel and signed up for a new group that is just forming so no one will know each other and we will all be new together.

Next exciting thing: I get my braces tightened. Just a joke, that is not exciting, just a fact of life these days.

Next weekend I took off to potty train Kylie! She has been showing major readiness for a couple of months now and I am thinking it's go time. She is obsessed with going to the potty, she pretends to do it off and on all day. She asks if she can go all the time and I just keep telling her that we will potty train soon. She is always trying to remove her diaper and it's definitely time to bust out my 3 day potty training e book to get a refresher. Something happened last night that I am hoping is not a new trend around here. Zach went in to get Kylie this morning so we could get ready for church and there she was bare ass naked, butt in the air, sound asleep. She had taken off her pjs and diaper at some point between 7pm last night and 8am this morning. There was pee in her bed and pee on her beloved ni-night (ratty blanket that she is in love with). Even after she is day trained she will be in pull-ups at night for a while and I just hope she doesn't think she doesn't need them and take the liberty to remove the diapers herself.

So if I have the energy and I am not swamped with editing precious newborn photos, I will post all about potty training and of course the doctor visit. I have butterflies just typing about it.

8 weeks

2011-06-10T19:48:00.003-05:00

I'm 8 weeks and the only way to control my tiny bump is by majorly sucking in and standing up straight and tall. And by the end of the day, that is a tall order. I didn't get out of my pjs until about 4:00 today. I was hit with the no energy stick. I have only been able to work about 2 or 3 hours a day, which is not very much. I am used to working like 6 or 8 hours most days. I didn't think I would be one of those moms that wanted to read up on my pregnancy this third time. But I am loving reading up! I have Your Pregnancy Week by Week and Great Expectations on my nook. I think I am just really excited to be pregnant since we tried for a while and since I know it is my last one.

We have some front runners for names, but I'm not so sure I want to share. I hate the blah comments that people make. Like "Oh, I knew a Blake and he was a coke head." There is always something a name will remind you of and when you start telling people before there is an actual sweet little baby to put with the name, I feel like people pick it apart. Maybe I'm just too sensitive right now, but we have a lot of life changing things going on, and not just the pregnancy. More on that later.

Be sending us good thoughts and prayers on tuesday for my first doctor appointment. I feel like everything will be great, but there is that underlying fear that the baby will have 6 arms or that something has gone terribly wrong in these fragile few months of growth.

I have no overwhelming boy or girl vibe. I will be looking forward to finally knowing who was in there all that time when we meet face to face in January. At first I felt certain it was a boy (but I also felt certain it was a boy with Blake and Kylie at the beginning), and now the girls want a baby sister and swear it's a girl, so I may be leaning toward girl. But I have no idea, I just feel like a girl who has been eating too much fast food, but really it's never enough fast food. I'm starting to crave the same things I did with Kylie and I think Blake too: cherry candies (like cherry starburst or cherry sours), pasta with shrimp, cheeseburgers and french fries. I had Zach bring me some fettuccine with shrimp on the way home from work and he said, "this is reminding me a lot of the last pregnancy!" What can I say, I like what I like.

My thoughts are controlled

2011-06-08T10:15:00.002-05:00

My thoughts are absolutely controlled by food and cravings right now. I'm basically starving every hour or 2 and the only thing that will make me feel better is my craving du jour. Yesterday I drove about 15 minutes to get boston market for myself. Boston Market ALWAYS makes it's way into my pregnancy must haves. I mean, that mac and cheese, too good to be true. Other recent cravings, coke slurpees, cheese enchiladas with queso and this is the weirdest one, Mr. Pibb. Specifically Mr. Pibb on tap, which I haven't gotten to delight myself in yet. Allison said it's on tap at Chipotle so I will likely make my way there in the next day or two. As much as I want to stay slim, it's just probably not happening. At least not this trimester.

I am waking up many times a night to pee and sometimes I wake up starving, and always I wake up thirsty. Like that college hang over thirsty where you have to go zipping across the house to get some water asap.

We have all been sick, Blake started it, then I got it followed by Kylie and finally Zach. I need so much help around here since I feel so tired and useless but my mom can't come help because she doesn't want to get sick. My house is filthy, my work is piling up and I am just overwhelmed. Plus I have had this weird headache in my eyebrow for 2 days. It's intense.

I get to finally go to the dr. next week at 8 weeks, I am hoping and praying that all is well!

Aw Crap.

2011-06-02T21:39:00.002-05:00

Let the cravings and dry heaving begin, and a couple of other unpleasant symptoms that I prefer to not get into. Per my sketchy calculations I am 7 weeks tomorrow and the past 2 days have been wretched.

I have dry heaved twice today and was very shocked that vomit made no appearance. Especially the time I was dry heaving into the sink that had an old floppy pickle in there. I just knew that would put me over the edge. But no.

On top of that I have a sore throat and runny nose. Joy!

Right now what am I doing? Waiting on some soup that I just had to have. Zach rules!!

Some great news, this pregnancy is going to be a heck of a lot easier than pregnancy #2 because Blake is old enough and fairly responsible enough to be in charge of Kylie while I veg. Today they played library together for like an hour while I dozed off on the couch. When I was pregnant with Kylie, Blake was a mere 14 months when I started feeling the wrath of the queeze. Blake still needed me for everything including entertainment, and 2 kids (especially 2 girls close in age) are just so into playing together away from me for long periods of time. Not bad. I remember shutting the playroom doors and laying down on the floor falling asleep in hopes that if something went wrong Blake would scream and I would wake up to help. It was the best that I could do.

I do totally perk up when I am around people. I hang out with my neighbor and her kids almost every day and I always feel pretty good when I am around her or any other friends.

The girls are pretty set on the baby being a girl. Kylie wants to name him (she doesn't understand that you say him for a boy and her for a girl quite yet) Meelk (how she pronounces milk.) And Blake wants to name her Ladybug. So they really aren't much help in the name department. This is what Kylie has been saying about "him": I feed him milk, I hold him, I put the bottle in his mouth, I love him, He cold. Blake just likes to look at my belly button, poke around at it and act like a tiny baby is actually living in my belly button. But overall, she is excited and gets it.

I keep swearing that it's twins because my waist couldn't possibly be this fat already with just one baby. I would actually be shocked if it is. That's all me and my dime sized baby have for now.

It sure is cheery!

2011-05-28T15:32:00.003-05:00

I have been writing about painting our house for a while now. The plan is about 95% complete. Last phase: awnings. The guy is coming tuesday to see if they fit and they should be put up shortly after. If you don't remember what the house looked like before, it was off white with green shutters. And even before that there was no covered front porch, the windows were tiny and it was totally unwelcoming and in need of some ramped up curb appeal.

Well here it is now!

We got some adirondack chairs from garden ridge for the front porch. Still to come, some cute b&w polka dot pillows!

Here is a new little area in the dining room. It used to be a hodge podge of too many framed pictures on an entry way table, but it was just temporary. So now........
mirror from Zgallerie, lamps from hobby lobby and buffet table is our own original creation. We bought this hideous buffet on craig's list and it had this big iron baker's rack thing attached to the top. A little sanding, spray paint and anthropologie knobs and now it's just about perfect!

Since a new little family member is coming in January, I will be losing my office. My office is filled with boxes, client orders, trash, junk, trash and junk. I can't wait to purge all this stuff and have it be a tidy little nursery-to-be. When I get it all organized and moved it will fit into this:
I will put a lot of my discs, boxes, bags and printer in the buffet table and my computer will go in the black cabinet. The cabinet also just so happens to be an ugly 90s craig's list find that was a dark ugly stained wood and had bleh hardware. Dayme found it for me and with some hard work and a lot of faith we sanded it, painted it and you guessed it, added anthropologie hardware.
I'm very happy with how things are coming along and should have more fun home updates to post in the next couple of months!

End of week 5

2011-05-26T09:56:00.001-05:00

tired. thirsty. frequent peeing. grumpy. on edge. dizzy every time I stand up. bloated. I think that about sums up week 5.

Open Book

2011-05-22T19:29:00.002-05:00

My friends know this, I am an open book. I don't hide anything, I don't disguise anything, I don't try to make things appear as they aren't. I tell it how it is when it comes to my life, I tell the truth. So here is a little story for y'all.

I believe it was monday when I was shopping around Target getting some groceries. My tummy felt fat and not like I had just had 25 chips too many at Chuy's, more like a weird bloating. So I went ahead and got 2 packs of pregnancy tests, a cheapie pack and a digital pack. I needed pregnancy tests on hand since we would be trying again of course next month. I also have an appointment made for wednesday with my OB/GYN to see if I can get any help with regulating my cycles. I came home and just had to take a test. I was 3 or 4 days late and had been getting negative tests over and over and over. But you know how hard it is to not take a test when you are late and just want some kind of answer. The test was an accuclear. Perhaps not the world's most reliable brand, it is a + if you are pregnant and a - if you aren't. Easy enough. Right?

Negative. Crap! Of course.

That is until a few minutes pass and a faint positive pops up. It wasn't so faint that I had to tilt it and hold it up to the light or anything crazy. Just not screaming blue positive. So are we pregnant? I decide to just take a test the next day.

Tuesday morning rolls around and I take the test. The digital test. Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink. Pregnant. Right there in digital letters. No guessing to be made. Hooray!

So as it stands I am 5 weeks pregnant, some would find that entirely too early to tell people and especially too early to write a blog post about it. But as I said, I'm an open book. Assuming all goes well, the baby is healthy and the pregnancy is a go, I will be due about a week before my 30th birthday at the end of January. Therefore I won't be in a Betsy Johnson dress and Jimmy Choos clinking my martini with my friends. Maybe a spa day? Maybe a tame dinner? Not sure how I will celebrate other than nursing.

We did not do anything different to get pregnant, just the same old ovulation predictors. This was just our time. I go to the doctor on June 14, please keep us in your prayers that the new baby is healthy and the pregnancy will be great. This may sound ridiculous, but I already have a pooch. My uterus knows exactly what to do and isn't wasting anytime flopping itself outward. I have been really tired. Not sick yet. I didn't ever get sick with Blake and didn't start feeling terrible with Kylie until I was 7 weeks. I will keep you all updated on how things are coming along.

Tootsie 2!

2011-05-16T14:00:00.007-05:00

Kylie, Kylie, Kylie. The wonder tot. The dream baby. OK, that being said, she has totally entered her terrible 2s. Although mild, our angelic tootsie definitely has a grumpy and temperamental side. She turned 2 years old on May 13 and we celebrated at my parent's lake house.

We went swimming at the Yacht Club. Well, the polar bears went swimming while I stayed on the dry ground. The first 2 pictures are of Kylie telling me not to take her picture and making an unhappy face.

On her actual birthday we had a very low key party with Andrea and Cole. We had pizza and cupcakes.

Blake singing to Kylie.

Blowing out the candles.

Kylie's birthday sunset.

What does Kylie do at 2?:

anything Blake wants her to, for the most part.

drops off the beginning sound of so many words.

will still sometimes snuggle.

Says, "I'm all better now." after she has calmed down from her fits.

likes to eat.

loves to swing, her birthday gift was a new swingset.

says, "I wake up now" anytime you go to get her up from her crib.

hates hair washing with a crying, shaking, frantic passion.

she is a major repeater. She may say, "are we going to Ommy's house." 25 times in the 2 minutes it takes me to get from here to there.

she loves Barney, Little Einsteins, and Mickey Mouse.

she has itchy ankles with some sort of psoriasis issue and often asks for gel (benadryl gel) which she pronounces with a hard g, like in goat. Then she either says "that tings" for that stings, or "that feels goooood"

she is so independent, "by myself" is a favorite phrase

Kylie is awesome. She is the perfect balance to Blake, they are best friends and get along so well. When I see them together having a blast it makes me so glad that we had them close together. That first year was really rough, but now they entertain themselves and are into the same things and will play for hours. Happy happy birthday to our sweet Kylie Koo!

Hot Babe Convention

2011-05-15T20:46:00.005-05:00

Some of my kappa delta besties joined me on a girl's weekend in Horseshoe bay. What a great time it was!! So much laughing, so many conversations filled with both appropriate and totally inappropriate material. I just loved spending the weekend together reliving old memories and making new ones.

Oh and let me explain the Hot Babe Convention thing, it was not made up by me although I do find it fitting :). One of the managers at the Yacht Club where we were laying out came up and said, "what is this a hot babe convention? Y'all are distracting all my runners!" We all laughed and it took us blondes a minute to realize that runners were waiters and to stop looking around for the marathoners. Seriously.

We aren't a bunch of dummies though, we are all productive members of society :)

The cast of characters, from left to right:

Michelle: I met Michelle in the dorms. Chitwood 8th floor!! She is a small town girl and now lives in Houston with her husband and almost 2 year old daughter. She is a former 1st and 2nd grade teacher.

Shannon: She is recently engaged and is an assistant principal at a high school. She was a pledge sister that I always loved hanging around with. She still owes us all a big helping of juicy gossip on herself :)

Allison: One of my nearest and dearest since 8th grade. She was my roommate in the dorms, pledge sister and we had many a wild night together in the LBK. But now of course she is a calm mother of her almost 3 year old daughter and a 5th and 6th grade teacher.

Dayme: Pledge sister and such a great girl! We have gotten really close over the last few months as she has been helping me with my house. She works for Tech and also does interior design. Fabulous interior design I might add. She has no babies except for Marcus her husband. Just kidding! Marcus is a mature man and a very serious dude. Ha!

Jenny: Pledge sister! Kindergarden teacher! Wife! Avid traveler! You know how couples always say, "we want to travel before we have kids."? Well they have and they do and they have been living it up while the rest of us have been a slave to breastfeeding and sleep schedules.

Me: Ummmm. Do I need to say a little something about myself? Probably not. If you happen to be finding this blog for the first time I am a mom of 2 girls, 2 and 3, I own a photography business, I have the best husband who was created just for me, I'm just a happy lady.

Jeni: Super close friend, pledge sister, serious partner in crime at Tech. Oh dear, the messes we got ourselves into. So hilarious!! A former 5th grade teacher, mommy of 2 kids, 3 years old and 8 months old and a wife to my husband's boss. Funny how life works out. Our husbands graduated together and we have been friends since high school and here we are in the small world all happy together.

Now that you know who everyone is, I can't tell you much more. Most everything we talked about is too juicy or hot for this blog. We did have a blast and are hoping to make it out one more time before the summer is over. Love you all!!!!

An Exceptional Easter

2011-05-02T18:56:00.009-05:00

We had lots to do for Easter. Let's jump right in shall we?

The Colonial Country Club Easter Egg Hunt. What comes to mind when you hear that sentence? Hoity Toity. Seersucker. Lilly Pulitzer. Pastels-a-plenty. Louis Vuittons every which way (guilty). Smocked outfits, oh the smocked outfits, and not only on the girls. Moms with huge cameras set on automatic. Embroidered Pottery Barn Easter baskets. You get the idea.

It was very cliche and hilarious, but we loved it. There was a pony, a petting zoo, the Easter bunny and hundreds of eggs strewn about the front lawn of the club.

We will probably make this an annual tradition, the girls really loved it and it was fun and free. We invited the Staabs along and we joked that Zach and Neal were the biggest white trash guys there since they weren't decked out in Ralph Lauren pastels and boat shoes.

On to the pictures, I don't take pictures very often since it's more of a job to me, but when I do I take quite a few.

Will you please take a look at what the humidity did to my Kylie's hair?

Mel and Em

Kylie being pulled back by Ommy, she was ready to take off for the eggs

GO!

My mom giving the Easter Bunny her friendliest smile

Blake couldn't stop jibber jabbering long enough to smile for a picture. She really felt like she hit the lottery when she saw this bunny.

That's Neal. So very Neal.

Easter Sunday was spent worshipping Jesus Christ at Christ Chapel. It was extra fun because my friend Mindy saved us a seat and we got to sit with her family.

Easter lunch was at my parent's house with the usual suspects. My grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins.

Aunt Brenda giving Blake her Easter gifts.

Kylie was excited about her new colors. The Easter Bunny brought her that Olivia. Or should I say, "Oleeva!"

The Easter bunny also made a trip to my parents house. That is a lot of goodies!

New Binoculars.

A new ball.

Grant

Blake showing Mama C her Polly Pocket.

And Papa C

Playing in the new caterpillar tunnel.

The family egg hunt was brief. They both lost interest after like 3 eggs. Which left a huge mess of plastic eggs to be cleaned up.

Family Pic. Kylie was in a bad mood that day.

Mama C, Mom, Aunt Brenda

And a few sweet ones of my grandparents!

Hellllloooo After!

2011-04-19T20:57:00.007-05:00

Here at the Walker house we are always trying to upgrade and update. The latest projects have been plantation shutters and the redecorating of my built in cabinet in the breakfast area.

Upcoming projects:

Total redo of dining which is already underway with major help from my decorator

repainting the entire exterior of the house and adding awnings

adding shades and a cushion to the breakfast area, again with decorator's help

reorganization of studio, laundry room and master closet with Simplify Your Space, a fantastic little professional organizing company.

These before shots are a little nasty and after seeing the end result you realize what a tacky situation you had.

Here is the breakfast cabinet before, in my defense this was a year ago and I just had a bunch of junk up there. It didn't look a whole lot different after I organized it but at least there wasn't a pile of smoke detectors and batteries.

And the glorious After! Thank you to my design team Dayme and Ashley! Watching you work was so fun! Much improved, very loved!

Ok now here we are moving on to the before and afters of the windows. Again, keep in mind this had been a rental property for years before we bought it and these warped, broken blinds had seen their better days. And sorry to keep apologizing for stuff that no one cares about, but since Dayme and Ashley redecorated my cabinet, there are a lot of misplaced decorative items strewn about the area around the TV. I guess I should add that to the project list.

Blinds

Shutters

Blinds

Shutters

This is the freakin' worst! Now I would not post this if I was the embarrassed type, I have no shame so here is our buck nasty master bathroom window coverings, made of paper mind you, that have been up for about a year. I know the neighborhood will miss seeing me and Zach's sexy silhouettes after the shower through that high class paper shade.

Our master still has mass amounts of work to be done, but this made a huge improvement!!!

and this is what will eventually be the baby room and is now my office/room o junk. But no baby, so no need to worry about that now!

Taking a Break

2011-04-15T08:31:00.002-05:00

It's that time again! I have taken a pregnancy test the last two mornings and have started my day looking at a single pink line. Meaning, of course, that I am likely not pregnant again. There is still a teeny weeny chance because my cycle doesn't start over until Wednesday.

So here I am again, 5 tries and still no baby. I am heavily considering taking about six months off and starting to try again around September when we had originally thought we wanted to try. My concern with that, is say we continued trying every month until then and still hadn't gotten pregnant, we could go see a doctor to figure out if there is something keeping us from getting pregnant and get it fixed and get the show on the road. I would also really like to enjoy my summer, without feeling queasy, having some drinks here and there, having lots of energy to play and swim with my precious girls.

What am I to do?

Pray. In my Beth Moore Bible study this morning I came across a great little passage.

Submit the issue to God. James 4:7 exhorts, "submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." A very important part of giving anything to God is taking everything from Satan. Perhaps you'll allow me to say it this way: Surrender the situation totally to God and ask Him to get the devil out of it!

I have already given this issue to God, after about 2 months of trying and frustration. It freed me of any and all anxiety, disappointment and stress. It's truly amazing that I don't feel any of those things, it really kind of freaks me out because I am typically an anxious person. But this morning, right there at my dining room table while Blake was playing with Easter window clings, I submitted my issue again, this time focusing more on asking Him to keep the devil out of it. Now I don't necessarily think the devil is keeping me from getting pregnant, although it may be true, I was thinking more along the lines of the devil gripping me with anxiety, depression, sadness, frustration, doubt, all of those horrid emotions that drive us farther from God. So my faith is in Him, my prayer is that He will send the perfect baby for our family at the perfect time. Whether it's a boy, a girl, twins, whatever! And I also pray that the devil will stay out of the situation and I can remain faithful in His master plan and not obsess about becoming pregnant. Praise God that I have been calm and patient!

Party Bow

2011-04-13T22:04:00.003-05:00

Kylie did some modeling for me today with some bows from Paisley and Posies. We refer to them as party bows. They are wild and almost Seuss-like. She loves putting on the pettirompers which she calls swimming suits and is finally to the point where she will wear a bow and not pull it off 20 seconds after it's been put on. I need to get her 2 year pictures all planned out, she will be 2 in one short month!

Flashback to 1996

2011-04-13T15:26:00.003-05:00

I actually have no idea if it was 1996, but close enough. So I have braces. Adult braces. Do I feel sexy? Um to be honest I barely even notice, nor do I care about these braces. It's not embarrassing, it's really not even very different. So if you are about my age (21) :) and are considering going for round 2 of braces, do it! It's no biggie. Embrace the brace.

Next step on my treatment plan: 2 tooth extractions. This will make me look very billy (as in hill) ask me after I have 2 gaping holes in my mouth if I still think braces are no big deal. I hope my orthodontist can close the holes up quick resulting in minimal wal mart mouth.

Oh and both my girls think I look fantastic and are begging for braces of their own.

So here is the before, just moments before leaving for Dr. Hildebrand's office

And the after. This after pic is pretty weird, but it's as good as I could do by myself with a long 24 70 lens. My arm only reaches out so far.

Vegetables in a bucket

2011-04-13T15:11:00.004-05:00

Blake and Zach planted a veggie garden (plus strawberries) in some buckets in the backyard. This was a very exciting project for my young master gardener. Blake will have to have you over for tomato, okra and jalapenos when all of her plants grow.

Want to come have a play date? This is the best little playground area all fenced off, away from the colossal mounds of dog poop. We are going to get one more big climber for Kylie for her bday.

Words to Live By

2011-04-02T14:32:00.006-05:00

Blake to Kylie:

"Kylie! NEVER snatch a bunny! OKAAAAAAAY!"

"Kylie, don't shave yourself until you're older."

"Don't ever touch a collection!"

"Only buy beads at a bead store."

"Kylie, are we friends again?" (after a 2 second argument)

"Is your bad owie on your head or on your foot? Let me kiss it better." (as if those are the only 2 areas that could possibly be injured)

"Never, never, never sleep in your crib."

"After your turn comes my turn, we take turns, remember Kylie? (wait half a second) Is it my turn yet?"

"I can't smell a stinky poo while I'm reading!" (commenting to a stinky Kylie as she is trying to get close to Blake to share a book)

"Kylie, I don't want to be called anything but Blake!!" This is a comment made as Kylie is spouting off random words not in any way directed at Blake. I was starting to crack up in the car listening to their banter.

Kylie: Color.

Blake: Kylie, do NOT call me color, my name is Blake, I do not want to be called anything but Blake!"

Kylie: sunglasses

Blake: No need to type it out, you know exactly what her response was.

The other day I told Blake I would be lost without her.

Blake's reply: Mommy, I don't want you to get lost, I would just come find you.

Thoughts and Facts

2011-03-28T21:19:00.002-05:00

This may be my last day to not have braces for 30 months. I think I get them tomorrow. I will at least get some unpleasant mouth device because I have these seriously uncomfortable blue rubber bands squeezed between my back teeth that were referred to as spacers making space for something. Chip eating has lost its joy, even a tortilla has been a little more difficult to chew up. I'm in for a looong 2 and half years.

A few things about Kylie. She is in the peak of her terrible 2s. It's really not that bad, but still she says "no!" about 2-3 times a minute and also throws out quite a few I don't want tos. She's pushing the limits, but it will never compare to Blake's tornadic 2s so I barely even notice her fits. Kylie is constantly chatting at home and repeats a lot of what we say still. She has also gotten quick and sneaky. She goes up and down stairs by herself and we stopped watching her for 5 seconds earlier today and found her downstairs in my studio. Another thing she says often is "I need to find insert food or beverage here." That is interesting to me that she think she just find this stuff. She is pretty awesome.

Since I've kept a running commentary of our conception chronicles I suppose I will continue with that. The more weeks that pass by, the less I care. I forget we are trying, have almost completely lost interest and after I finish these digital ovulation monitors over the next 2 cycles just to make sure I am indeed ovulating, we will no longer seriously try if I'm not already pregnant. I thought I would become increasingly upset by us not getting pregnant, but it's just the opposite. Thank you God for taking that disappointment from me :)

That's all for now. Good night.

Adult Braces

2011-03-22T14:44:00.003-05:00

No one really wants braces as an adult. It seems cool and almost like a rite of passage when you get braces as an adolescent. I am typing this with pain coming from my back teeth from my new bright blue spacers. I will get my second set of braces on next week. They will be on me for 30 months. THIRTY MONTHS!!!!!!! Dang that's going to be a long and dorky looking time in my life.

Dr. Hildebrand is a friend so it was kind of fun to go see him today and get my consultation. We both went in thinking it was going to be a quick fix, move a few teeth and voila- beautiful smile. Upon further examination, I have a lot of issues. My jaw being a major one. It severely pops every time I open my mouth on both sides and he compared it to a football player with a bad knee, eventually something is going to have to be done, so I am fine with taking action right away. One thing that got me totally freaked out and wanting to change my mind altogether, was the phrase "flatten your face". Ummmmmmm. That is not ok. I have to have 2 teeth pulled to make room and since there will be less teeth, my upper lip area may be a little (like milimeters) flatter. I still felt a wave of panic when I head those words and imagined my face looking like a dinner plate. Either way, my smile will be prettier, my jaw will be fixed and it beats the heck out of plan B which is $20,000 jaw surgery. Stay tuned for a brace face picture and please let me know if I have any spinach hanging from my brackets.

The TTC Continues

2011-03-21T20:35:00.003-05:00

TTC- Trying to conceive for all you non wannabe moms out there.

It's odd to think that we are going on try 5 of baby trying. It does not seem like we have been trying nearly that long. I think I have come to some kind of a conclusion as to why this just isn't working. My cycle goes like this- 24 days, 31 days, 24 days. An AB pattern. A little first grade teacher term for you there. It's just hard to tell when you're ovulating when your cycle is so weird. At least I think I see a pattern, unless this month is a different number. With every passing month I hear more people are pregnant and I want so badly to be in that club again. I have no doubt I will be, and it will be worth the wait.

I gave it to God a long time ago. And because of that I feel no sadness and really barely any major disappointment. Just a simple desire in my heart to be a mother again. Even though it's in God's hands and always was, I still have to do my part to get the baby. And my new little plan consists of a digital ovulation tester. It tells you the 2 best days to conceive, hopefully this will take the guess work out of when to try since it's so difficult for me to pinpoint ovulation with a whack cycle. This conception business really lets me see how much Blake and Kylie were meant to be here. I did an ovulation predictor with Blake and got pregnant on try one and for Kylie we weren't even trying and were surprised that I was pregnant. Sometimes I get worried that since I was 24 when I got pregnant with Blake and I'm 29 now that my fertility is just not as fantastic as it once was. But really what I think is that the right baby just isn't ready yet.

Ladybugs and Gentlemen

2011-03-15T21:33:00.002-05:00

Blake has been the ring master in many a circus lately. She starts out her show with (in her best "let's get ready to ruuummmmmmblllle!" voice) Ladybugs and gentlemen, and then she goes on to say something like this- the ladybug is about to roll all the way to the blanket! Then she plops on the ground and does the trick, stands up and takes a bow. She loves entertaining people. Kylie always follows her lead, they are best, best friends. Today I lost total control and Ky couldn't even lay down for a nap because Kylie would scream from her crib in her room with her door closed, "Daddy!", who knows why because Zach wasn't even here, and Blake would yell back "Kylie!" from the kitchen and they would die laughing. After about fifteen minutes of this, I just went in and grabbed Kylie out, there was no hope. AND Blake kept yelling to Kylie, "I'm going to save you from your criiiiiiiiib!"

We have also been playing a lot of animal charades with the girls. I highly recommend playing this game with your little ones. We pick an animal, whisper it in their ear and they act it out while the other adult(s) guess what they are. This is super funny and it really gets their little brains working. And of course this is right up Blake's alley since she likes to perform so much. Crazy kids! Now if we could just get one more. On that note, I was not pregnant last time, just late. Well either late or my cycle just changed to longer, or I just had a weird short one in there that threw me off. Either way, no baby yet. I will probably know in a week or 2 if it worked this time.

Live Theatre

2011-03-10T15:58:00.004-06:00

Sesame Street Live was worth every penny. All 20,000 of them! Yes, I splurged and spent $200 to sit on the second row at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie. Zach had a work thing come up, so I invited our beloved Rene to come with me. It's honestly like having another me around when she is with us. The girls love her so much and she knows exactly what to do without me ever having to ask or tell her. I've said this before and this probably won't be the last time I say it. When she graduated, tears will be shed.

So being on the second row meant that we could practically touch Elmo's furry feet, the girls were in musical theatre heaven. Blake did all the crowd participation stuff and sang and danced the whole time. Kylie flapped her arms like a baby bird during every song. Blake was so irritated when it was intermission. We will definitely go again if the Sesame Street Crew graces us with their presence again.

Culture Shock

2011-03-06T11:38:00.003-06:00

Canton. Wow. Have you ever gone to first monday? It is a different world. It has it's own culture, such an interesting way of life.

Allison and I ventured out there on Thursday in search for home stuff for Allison's huge and beautiful home and stuff for my studio. We both had success but not without some sore muscles from dragging stuff that weighed half of our body weight for miles.

First off, let me just say that shopping with my dog does not sound the least bit enjoyable or even feasible, I could not believe the amount of shoppers that were escorted by their furry friends.

Next, the scooters. Never in my life has it not only been accepted but practically encouraged for able bodied people to zip around on Little Rascal scooters for their shopping convenience. I couldn't get over it, they were everywhere and it was so normal. I especially noticed the women on scooters with their lap dogs in tow. I can't say it's a bad idea, just odd. Next time we go I told Allison we are renting those scooters and doing it right. When in Canton.....

Mexico!

2011-03-05T20:44:00.007-06:00

Mexico was a blast, an absolute blast. A few minor hiccups, but it was a very much needed vacation.

Let's start back before the trip. Zach and I were headed home from grocery shopping at Target when Zach got a very somber and serious phone call from him Mom. Milynda is usually so upbeat so I noticed a different tone in her voice immediately even from a few feet away from the phone. She had horrible and completely unexpected news for us. Zach's favorite cousin Brett had passed away from an unknown heart condition on the golf course about an hour before we got the call. It took my breath away and made me really think about the fragility of life. Playing golf with buddies one minute, dead the next. Not fair. Brett was the nicest guy, a groomsmen in our wedding, a Red Raider enthusiast, an engineer in Austin and only 30 years old.

We had plans to leave for our trip on Thursday, but the funeral was on Thursday so we had to rethink our travel plans. We flew in to Lubbock that morning, attended the heart breaking funeral and flew out that evening after many flight delays. We were exhausted from traveling, exhausted from crying and still hadn't even packed.

Friday morning the alarm goes off at like 4 am and we get moving. It had been about 5 years since I had stepped foot on a beach and I was getting so excited! The flight was easy and uneventful except for this one shady character on the plane. I wouldn't have even noticed this guy if I hadn't have had to take a bathroom break. He reeked of B.O., had on a tank top that hung way too low on his armpit region and was in the biggest hurry to get off the plane and start his Cancun vacay. On my way back to the bathroom, I noticed people holding their noses and then tank top guy was posted up in the middle of the aisle giving me the stare down. When I got right in front of him, he said, "where are you trying to go?" like all annoyed. I told him and he breathed a sigh of irritation and let me by. He was traveling alone and just a total weirdo.

We stayed at the Iberostar Grand in Paraiso. It was super nice, especially for an all inclusive hotel. The pool area was gorgeous, we had an ocean view from our room. Most of the food was good, the service was awesome, spa was nice and I would recommend going there.

The first day we hung out at the pool and then had a nice dinner at the steakhouse with the whole company. I totally failed to mention that this was an all expense paid company trip. That means we got to hang out with Ben and Jeni and other friends from the company, get to know everyone a little better and it was really fun having such a big group there with us.

The next day we spent a lot of time on the beach.

Being silly, having fun, soaking up the rays.

Ben hired me to take beach portraits of all the couples, so I did lots of those and so far they are coming out so good! I will post a few on my recent work blog when I get some more of them done.

We all went to the Japanese restaurant that night and had more great conversation. After dinner, we decided on some karaoke. It turned out to be quite the hilarious affair.

So tell me what you want what you really really want!

I'll tell you what I want what I really really want!

But surprisingly enough, the one who got into the song the most was my main squeeze!

WAAAAAANTEEEEEEEEEED Dead or alive......

Ben and Zach sang together and they did a great job!

Ben had to pick the perfect tune.

So here is the view from our room.
And the little swing on our patio.

A group shot of some of the girls.

The 3 Amigos, CEO, CFO and CZACHO

Aw! I love my friend!!

At the shopping center.

At dinner the last night I felt really sick. I ate like 5 bites of my Mexican buffet and went to bed pretty early. I was awoken at about 2:30 am and then every hour after that with burbles in my belly. Montezuma got a hold of me and her revenge was sweet. I don't want to even think about it, but it was a very rough night followed by a very rough day of traveling with such a condition. Not a pleasant way to end a fantastic trip.

Going to the beach is something I need to do more often, I am such a beach person and love being outside just taking in one of God's most beautiful creations. Surely it won't be another 5 years before we plan another beach trip.

WTH?!?!

2011-02-22T12:32:00.002-06:00

As you all know, we are trying to get pregnant with baby 3.

Month 1- half way attempt and no baby.

Month 2- serious attempt with ovulation predictors and no baby.

Month 3-serious attempt, no ovulation predictor and ???? a BIG FAT question mark!

What exactly does this mean? Well I don't really know, but here is what has been happening:

I am approximately 1 week late. For someone that has 24ish day cycles, that is pretty darn late.

I am having some pregnancy symptoms, the main ones being very sleepy and some cramping.

Here is the most annoying thing in the world, I have gotten at least 5 or 6 negative pregnancy tests and not a single positive. I buy the sensitive tests that are supposed to detect the faintest amount of hcg at potentially 6 days before a missed period. So I quite possibly could have gotten a positive pregnancy test 13 days ago. Can you see how this would drag on like no other? Not to mention be super confusing and irritating.

If I'm pregnant, why am I not getting a positive test? If I'm not pregnant where the heck is my period? I have never just skipped one and my cycles have been very predictable since I finished nursing Kylie.

Glimmer of hope:

Of course I have internet researched this situation and it's not super uncommon to not get a positive test (even the expensive kind) when you are pregnant until a couple of weeks or even months after your missed period. So I'm holding on to a teeny bit of hope, but not really, but kind of. Get it?

Has this happened to anyone else? If I still have no answers in a couple of weeks I am going to call the doctor and see what they think.