Bermudaful vacation...

I just wanted to post a few pictures for now... Rylie is having a lovely time in Bermuda :-)

 

My First Mother's Day...

Well, I kinda celebrated last year, because I was 8 months pregnant last Mother's Day...but this year was my first REAL Mother's Day!  I received several beautiful cards from some loving family and friends, as well as numerous calls, messages, Facebook posts to make me feel loved.  If that wasn't enough, our precious little baby was full of personality and giggles today!!  (Not to mention a few temper tantrums, but it's all part of the job, right?!).  I definitely miss being able to stay home with her all the time, but I enjoy seeing how much she has learned (the good habits, not the inevitable bad habits!) after each day at "school".

This was a little something that Rylie made at "school" for me:

And then she also made this card (with the help of Daddy!)...not quite sure why it is mirrored...

And Chris planted some lovely flowers, 3 rose bushes, and a burning bush....all for me!!  One day I'll get around to taking a picture of them...it's so nice to have some color in the back yard finally!!

Overall, I'd say I had a pretty good Mother's Day thanks to my little family :-)  I hope all my other mom friends and family did as well!!  Love to all...

snap Snap SNAP!

I feel like all I have done lately is take pictures and edit them...and perhaps that is because all i have done is take pictures and edit them lately...haha!

I finally got my "studio" all set up and scheduled several sessions this weekend to get some much needed practice!  First thing Saturday, a mom friend of mine brought her newborn and, hubby, and 2 year old daughter over.  That was a fun shoot:

Then I had several mom's shuffling in and out for a Mother's Day Mini Session I set up through our Meetup group.  I basically just told my mommy friends that I would be around from about 12 - 3 and available to take photos of the mom's and their babies.  It was a great time!  I definitely got a lot of great practice trying to wrangle kids of all ages (well, all under 3!).  I don't know how, but Rylie managed to sleep through all the squealing and laughing and general ruckus just outside her bedroom.

On Saturday night, we joined some more mommy friends, their hubbies, and their babies for Fiesta Night to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  Lots of great food, fun, and laughter!  It was kind of funny, though...a few year ago we all would have spent Cinco de Mayo enjoying the largest margaritas possible...this year, with babies' in tow, we had an equally good time sipping small drinks and enjoying each other's company, sharing our "mommy stories".

I had planned to take Rylie's birthday pictures on Sunday, but by "planned" I really mean "I wanted to"...I hadn't actually done all the planning, so that meant a few shopping trips were needed before the pictures could be taken.  I did manage to take a few, spur of the moment pictures, though... We (I) have chosen a Pink Lemonade birthday theme...

We also had some wicked storms on Sunday, so shopping was postponed until late in the afternoon, after naps.  Chris and I started picking up some party essentials (cups, plates, forks, decorations) and did our regular Sunday grocery shopping.  Last night I baked and decorated Rylie's SMASH CAKE prop that I ended up using tonight to take her birthday pictures.  Rylie had a great time playing with the cake!  I'm kicking myself now for not getting it on video...but I certainly got some great photos!  And, I'm proud of the fact that we were able to keep the inevitable mess contained!  Of course, I was hoping to be able to keep these pictures a secret until her invitations go out (which have to go out asap!)...but I can't contain my self! Check out this adorableness:

What a great weekend to try out my new studio set up for the first time...here's to many more fun times in there :)

Catch up...

Looooots going on around here lately!  I've got several projects on the go...now i just need to sit down and finish them one by one...

- It took us almost a week to paint our new armoire (Habitat Restore find for $175!), but now that is all done and it holds our TV and all it's parts...looks great!

- Planning Rylie's 1st birthday party

- Thinking about photo ideas for her 1 year photos

- Crocheting - I have started on a hooded blanket (just because) and a baby cocoon (photo prop)

- My new home studio lighting and backdrop set arrived yesterday!

- Planning the numerous photo sessions I have coming up in the next few weeks!

- I had 2 photo sessions this past weekend... newborn in the hospital and 2 siblings

...it seems like there is so much more going on.  My body just can't keep up with my brain when it thinks of all these ideas, and there is never enough time in the day!  

Rylie has also been sick since Wednesday.  Oh the joys of Daycare... we knew this would happen.  She started a fever of 101.6 on Wednesday night (Daycare checked it around 5pm before i could get there), so that meant she had to stay home yesterday, even if she was feeling fine.  Unfortunately, she really wasn't feeling fine.  She has been sick several times now, but this time she was pretty grumpy and just kept kind of moaning and groaning.  Her fever has fluctuated between 101 and 103 since Wednesday night.  Chris stayed home with her yesterday morning and I worked half day, then came home around lunch so that Chris could work in the afternoon.  This morning we have a wonderful neighbor watching Rylie (although I'm still wishing I could be home with her), because Chris only has to work this morning and can come home by lunch to stay with her in the afternoon.  He may be making a doctor's visit as well, if we can't get this fever under control...  Looks like I'll be staying home with her tomorrow probably.  Poor little munchkin :-/

Anyways, there is so much going on, but I don't really have the time at the moment to fill you all in on everything... We are just looking forward to the weekend (my first "studio" shoot!, maybe dinner with some awesome friends, and Wine on the Fox at some point).

I thought I'd share a couple photos from my sessions this weekend... you can also find them on my website (click).  My new camera arrived last Thursday, so I only had a few days to play around with the settings before these shoots...There is definitely room for improvement, but I was pretty happy with these...