catching up... babies galor, c starts school!

I have been playing catch up with my photography... I think besides a wedding to edit and my pediatric clinic ongoing project I am all but caught up. Oh wait then there is print materials, etc. and oh did I mention a studio in the works for September? Click HERE to see what all I have been up to.

Cohen started school yesterday... bitter sweet. He did great minus a few bouts of tears throughout the five hours he was there. I keep telling myself its good for him to go and its good for me to have me time and work time! I will get readjusted. Hell he went to school all last year.

33 Weeks

the sparkler was a bat of course!

We are at the 33 week mark with Beach boy #2. I am feeling pretty good! With Cohen my pregnancy was so easy and this one too. I will be honest and say I am tired at the end of the day, want to nap but I just can't with Cohen home and I cannot seem to get to bed before midnight with all my photography work and household duties. We had a check up today. Baby is measuring right on track and the heartbeat was strong. Again, the doctor we saw was more interested in Cohen's advanced baseball skills... videoing him on his phone doing his pitching from the stretch, high knee kick than he was in our little bean. Oh well, next appointment I am back to see the doctor who delivered Cohen so I will have more to update then.

Cohen went and saw his first movie. Toy Story 3 (3d) and hated it. It could have been that the 3d glasses they gave us were sized for Jeremy and not a 2 year old but really I think he is just sensitive to loud noises. He hated the fireworks on the fourth yet loved watching them out his playroom window from the second floor. Jeremy almost killed him with a "kid" firework so that probably did not help either. We went to a ball game with a fireworks show after and he just tucked his head into Jeremy's neck. So Cohen is a fireworks wimp which is okay by me. It means he won't be blowing any arms or legs off or blowing things up. Our friend Tory from Minnesota came and stayed with us for a few days. He and Cohen hit is off, playing ball all weekend.

There is the recap... Off to do more more work and get caught up so I can try to relax some.

Welcome Baby Landry!

Congrats to my close friend Melissa and her husband Jeff. They welcomed their new baby girl Landy Karis Conaway into the world in the wee hours of the morning. Sure that will not be the last time they are up late with her. You two have wanted a little one for so long and I cannot think of two people more deserving or ready for that matter. Again, congrats to you both!




* sorry the images are so small. i took them from melissa facebook

Local Celeb.

So I have been extremely busy lately! Not only did I spend 10 days in Seattle where I photographed a wedding with the wonderful Jocelyn Brown as a second shooter, and had three additional photo sessions but I have been asked by a new pediatric clinic here in NWA to create a website, display portraits in their waiting area, set up email and their email server, create a peekaboo ad and newspaper ad (as shown above) and they want me to maintain their website from now until they do not need me which I hope is never. I also have two sessions this week and a boat load of editing. This is what I wanted right?

When I created their peekaboo ad (local kids mag) I gave the new practice around 7 options to choose from with the final option containing the above image of our sweet Cohen. All options were great so I really did not know which they would lean towards. But you guessed it, they selected the ad with Cohen in it. He is going to be famous. Okay not really but I think it is fun that he will be in a couple of publications! This image was his two year portrait. One of my favorites ever of him. He looks so sweet and kind... almost heaven sent.

Funny how that is since we are totally full blown into the terrible twos and have a two year old who thinks he is a 20 year old professional baseball player with a bed time of at the earliest 11pm. By the end of the day I am ready to end my life. I am so tired and he just wants to keep on truckin, even fighting the 11:00pm bed time. This kid is going to have a rude awakening come July 13th when he starts school at 8:00am and will have to be in bed again like he use to by 9pm (which I think is 2 hours too late).

Oh, have I mentioned he cusses too. (I will get it on video I am sure) Yes, my kid says damn it like it isn't anything but the kicker is he uses it right. I just look at him with the mom look and he quits but it is embarrassing when I am in a store and drop something and he says "damn it" for me. My mouth is pretty clean now that I have him saying the bad words for me. Oh yeah, he also says fuck it! That's right... I do not need to spell it out again. I just say oh "bucket? You want to play with your bucket?" and hope all the judgmental onlookers do not think they heard what they thought they heard.

I have never hated swear words so much as I do right now. I want to clean up my mouth every time I hear him say a bad word. I know it is my fault (I have a truckers mouth... sorry truckers) and a few others contribute to Cohen's potty mouth (Uncle T). So I share this post with you mom's who post to their blog about how wonderful your kids are and how much they bring joy to your life. My kid brings joy alright, accompanied by a pain in the ass and eyes that are tired of glaring at him.

Oh, baby #2 update... I am 31 weeks. Went in for a check up Monday and everything checked out great. Strong heartbeat, measuring on the small side of normal which was how I was with Cohen. I am looking forward to not being pregnant since we have a heat index of 98 degrees going on right now and it is only June. The humidity sucks... although I LOVE the warm weather. I go back every two weeks until 36 weeks where I will be going once a week after that. No name yet... we do like a few but we decided not to tell anyone. It will give you something to look forward to when we announce his arrival!

Adalie {newborn}

I just love her grin! One of my closest girlfriends from college just had her first baby and I traveled down to Little Rock to photograph little Adalie and do another newborn session (post to follow). Click HERE to view more images of this cute girl.

Obsession

This kid is freakin' obsessed! He loves baseball more than anything right now. There is no point for other toys in this house. Trucks, books, shovels, cars, puzzles, yeah not so much. Give him a bat, ball and glove and he is set for the day. He takes them all with him everywhere... even to bed. He says "play ball", "batter up", "home run", "strike three out", "got a piece of it" and "safe" all damn day. You ask him who his favorite ball player is and he will respond with certainty... "Babe Ruth". He has dirt under his nails that will never come out, bruises from head-to-toe from sliding in what he calls "baseball dirt". It can be a 2x2 inch pile of dirt on the pavement, or dirt he takes from my planter and throws onto the yard. He sees dirt or gravel and he slides, yelling "baseball dirt, safe!" He watches Sandlot 3 times a day and baseball at night on ESPN. We can even hear him on the monitor as he tosses in his sleep say "baseball".

He can throw the ball up to himself and hit it. He riffles the ball at you when you are not looking and only sitting 2 feet from him. I have heard of just 2 year olds liking things but this is an obsession. An obsession that some would welcome but not us... no we are just shaking our heads, dieing for a break from playing ball every night outside until dark. Read a book Cohen, paint, color in your coloring book, shoot some hoops for god sake... Just give us a break from baseball for a while would you?

Our Long Weekend

Our memorial weekend consisted of a surprise visit from these two...



which turned into a weekend of spending every second at the pool with this guy...



and eating entirely too much food pool side and otherwise...



when the sunset we ate some more with these two...



and uncle T showed Cohen how to dance on Dixon... he was thrilled can't you tell?



we also found some time to eat some more...



and hang out in the yard... (yes, this will be one of the few belly shots you will see. I am 27.5 weeks here)



play a ton of "pop a shot" at the fun center... (this pic was probably taken after 10pm, he is a night owl)



spend more time at the pool swimming, playing and of course eating!



Jeremy even joined us at the pool...



I think this little guy had a great weekend and a great surprise visit from T and Rachel... we know he misses them because he still saying "uncle T and Rachel" all day long!