A little of this, a little of that.

Saturday morning, the girls and I posed for pictures. I remembered that I had bought a wireless remote a few months back and had never used it, so I grabbed it to take a few shots. I am choosing not to post the ones with me in them because frankly, a 35mm, somewhat wide angle lens and a 33 week pregnant mama don't exactly mix. I am glad that I have them for me to view, though, because it is a rare occasion that I actually make it into a picture. I've been thinking of this lately and would like for my children to know that I was present when they look back, so, I plan on using the remote more often, even if it yields less than desirable results for me right now.

Hannah and Sarah had a blast pushing the button on the wireless remote and hearing the shutter click. They'd dash over to the camera to see what they had captured. So cute!

Unfortunately, Saturday night resulted in a trip to L&D with me hooked up to a fetal monitor. I have been having contractions on and off since about 28 weeks, but they have become more frequent, regular, and uncomfortable over the past two weeks. Saturday evening, I had contractions anywhere from 3-5 minutes apart for an hour. After a few contractions that were 1 1/2 minutes apart, I made the decision to call the doctor. As I expected, I was instructed to head right to the hospital.

After three shots of Brethine, my contractions finally stopped and I was allowed to go home. I have to say that I hope I never need another shot of that stuff ever again. I was shaky, nauseas, and my heart rate topped off at 140+ beats per minute for a good three hours. I felt miserable, sick, and exhausted. Thankfully, though, the medicine did what it was supposed to do and Noah is still baking.;)

Sunday morning was church, then home for lunch and a nap. We finished the evening off with some ice cream from Gram and Pap.

I, of course, had to make myself the smallest cone known to man...which in turn sent my blood sugar to 160. Fabulous! It appears as though this insulin resistance persists. After a cone, Hannah followed Micah upstairs to "help" him paint Noah's room. Little did I know that she would be painting as well!

We have two more walls to be painted, then it'll be time to bring all of Noah's furniture in and start organizing his closet and drawers. We are getting so close! Seven weeks or less until we meet our little man!

Monday, we were back into our normal routine. Hannah started her third week of preschool. We learned about the letter "A", what sound it makes, and even met a new "friend" to help us remember. Alexander Alligator, the green finger puppet, has joined our family, and Hannah has not put him down since. Thank goodness I photocopied the page of her workbook. I have a feeling Alexander won't last long, and I'll be happy to have a way to replace him when he makes a trip to the trash can.

I'm happy to report that he's still intact. ;)

It's Friday.

I never promised to have a witty title for my posts. I seem to be lacking greatly in the creativity department these days. I'll chalk that up to pregnancy brain and hope that some of it returns after baby is born in a few weeks. ;) We had our retaining wall replaced, so we had a crew of men at our home for two weeks. The girls loved looking out the windows to watch them work, and I'd occasionally hear Hannah yell, "Way to go, guys! You're doing a great job!" I love that she's so encouraging! On Tuesday, we decided to bake the crew some cookies. We had learned about our eyes, ears, and nose in school that morning, so I thought it would be a great way to further illustrate what each of those body parts did through baking. We used our eyes to read the recipe, our ears to listen for the timer to go off, and our nose to smell them baking! It was a great experience, and I'm happy to report that when I reviewed everything with her today, she could recall what each body part did! I'm so proud of her! I edited this whole set a bit differently than I normally would, and I'm still not sure how I like them, but naptime isn't that long, so I left them as is.

I always let the girls lick the beaters...even though I know Micah wouldn't approve! ;)

After our cookies were done baking, and after we had each sampled one, Sarah was ready for a rest.

Wednesday, I had a doctor's appointment. My blood pressure and weight are still great, but I still need to monitor my blood sugar and watch my diet. I've been having a lot of contractions and low back pain lately, so the doctor advised me that I need to take it a bit easier to ensure baby Noah stays put for at least another 4 1/2 weeks. While it's not exactly what I wanted to hear, I will do whatever it takes to keep him safe and healthy until his birthday. Per doctor's orders, I rested while the girls napped.

Micah started painting Noah's room.

We've decided on a sage green and a grayish blue to match his nautical bedding set. I can't wait until everything comes together in there. Each stage of repurposing of that room makes me more excited to meet him! Thursday, I completely forgot to get my camera out until after dark. We had been so busy throughout the day. We had just come inside after going to inspect what had been done with our retaining wall, and I happened to see Hannah lean in for a kiss after Micah helped get their shoes off. So sweet!

And Friday... School time this morning:

Sarah doesn't have true assignments, but she loves to be a part of the action, so I find little things for her to work on as Hannah completes her school work. ;)

Two weeks of studies...we learned our colors and shapes, and parts of the body. Most of it was review, but Hannah learned how to color in the lines and trace with a crayon. :)

After school, we played and watched as the crew cleaned and packed up their equipment. Our retaining wall is finished! Although we didn't plan to replace it for another year or so, I'm glad it's done and we won't have to worry about railroad ties falling into our driveway. Sarah ran off with my lens cap and used it as a cup.

Sarah did eventually give the lens cap back. ;)

And then she ran off with the giraffe. haha

Hannah decided she needed to wear her princess nightgown. I told her she couldn't, so she took it upon herself to put it on.

Too funny!

Well, naptime will be over soon, and I suppose I should work on some wedding pics. I am pleased to report that I am finished with wedding number one, and am 3/4 of the way through wedding number two. I'm getting so close to being done! Woohoo! Happy Friday!

Catching Up...

No promises were made that I'd post everyday, just shoot everyday, so I have some catching up to do. Sunday I had a sunrise maternity shoot.

And a few from today.

We're in the process of rearranging some furniture to make room for Noah. These bookshelves were in Sarah's and Noah's room, but have since been moved to our living room to house our homeschooling books.

Excuse the mess of cords and wires. We have yet to figure out what to do about that. :/

Always love baby feet. :)

Day Two

I probably won't be posting daily, but I do have two pictures to share from our day today. Our ministry recently acquired a building to meet in. We've been meeting almost solely in homes for the past 4+ years, so this is exciting. The building has been vacant for six months or more, so there was a lot of cleaning that needed to be done. We headed out early in the afternoon and helped scrub and wipe down all that we could. The girls tagged along and even helped Pap wipe down some windows. I'm told Sarah really got into it and was doing a great job. :)

Day One

Today is Day One of my brand new 365. The plan is to bring out my camera every.single.day for an entire year, then upload my captures to this blog as a way for me to both see progress in my photography and to keep a record of our day to day lives. The girls are growing so quickly and I am simply amazed at how much they change even by the month, so I think it will be fun to compare pictures from today and the ones I'll take on this day next year. :) I have to be honest. I'm horrible with keeping up with my blogs. It's something I always want to do and wish I had, but finding and making the time to keep up with it is another story. I feel like our days are over in a blink (MOST of the time. Other days feel like they'll never end) and I, of course, want to spend my nights with Micah. That usually means me trying to catch up editing photos. Right now, I'm working my way through two weddings. Whew! What a lot of work! I had two weddings in one weekend, so I'm trying to work on both at the same time. It's fun, and I like to be creative with my editing, but it's also getting to feel like a bit of a task. Culling through and editing 1200+ pictures can be a bit daunting. I'm happy to report that I am about 1/2 way done and it's only been two weeks. I consider that a success since I'm currently 31, almost 32 weeks pregnant and have two little ones 3 and under running around. Let's begin this right. A few pictures from Wednesday first. Micah and Hannah spent some time reading while I put Sarah to bed.

Thursday, I snuck a few shots of Sarah napping. Yes, she still sleeps in our bed...but only for naps. ;)

Friday, we finished up our first official week of school with Hannah. She did wonderfully and asks to "play school" throughout the day. So sweet. Sarah brought two friends along with her as she ran through the house.

Later on, we headed upstairs so that Micah could start prepping Noah's room for paint. Hannah and Sarah followed to watch. Hannah eventually got bored, so she played on her LeapPad in the hallway.

These pics are so small, and I honestly have forgotten how to upload them any larger, so bear with me as I figure that out...again.

I'm back!

Wow, it's been so long that Blogger now has a completely new look. As I sit here completely confused as to what all of this new stuff is, I'm trying to think of something witty and exciting to say. Where do I begin? I last posted on February 17th. A lot has happened in the past, what, almost THREE months? For starters, we are now expecting baby number THREE! We are beyond thrilled and can not wait to meet our newest addition on or around October 14th. We found out at the beginning of February and have been telling the girls about the new baby in Mommy's belly. Hannah is very aware and I believe she totally understands that a new little one will be joining our family. Sarah likes to lift up my shirt and kiss my belly...when she's not violently poking it. ;) We will find out what we're having in the next few weeks, and I'll be sure to keep up with my posting to at least announce it. Life has been so busy lately, and I haven't had the motivation or the want to to keep up with the blog. When I get like that, I find it best to leave it alone until the "creative streak" returns. I've tried to force it in the past, and it ended in an abandoned space on the internet. I still refer back to it to read up on what life was like with just one baby. The memories are sweet and I'm so glad they were documented, but I do wish I had taken a break when I felt the need so as to not abandon the blog altogether when I got tired of typing. The weather has been crazy here in Pennsylvania, going from the 40's and 50's to the mid 80's within a matter of days. We take advantage of the warm days and spend time outdoors. The girls got a swingset for Christmas and Micah and my Dad recently built it in the backyard. The girls love to play on the swings and in the playhouse. They are becoming pros at climbing the steps to the slide. I can't believe how independent they are each becoming. It's happening so quickly! On the way to a friend's house a few weeks ago, we pulled over to the side of their driveway and Hannah posed for a few pictures.

Sarah is at that tough age for pictures. I feel like I have next to none of Hannah at this age and the trend is continuing with Sarah. She's too quick! She does smile and say "Cheese" when I ask, but by the time I press the shutter, she's already fifteen steps ahead of me. I take what I can get these days!

The easiest way to get a picture of Sarah these days is like this:

or this:

She is Pap's girl. Most days she wakes up calling for him and has even called his cell phone from mine. She's too smart! It's always funny when I hear her gabbing away only to find that she really has someone on the other line listening! I'll leave you all with that. I promise to try to update way more often than I have the past few months. School is almost out, so things will be settling down here for a few months! Happy Monday Eve!

Blogging Hiatus

It's been almost a month. That's a real shame.

We've had an interesting month. The day after my last post, Hannah came down with a horrific cold that resulted in fevers, snot, congestion, vomiting, sleepless nights, cranky kids, Sarah catching it a few days later...it was awful. Thankfully, that's all behind us now, and we've been enjoying good health for the last few weeks.

In the meantime, I've acquired studio lighting and have been playing around with it and loving every minute. Before I decided what I wanted, I took my speedlite off camera and used a 60" shoot-through umbrella.

Oh my, do I love this one!

After I knew I was going to like this whole studio thing, I decided to purchase studio lighting. After much debate, I decided on a "martian" pink Alienbee 800, and a giant softbox. It's a huge learning curve, but I'm having a blast torturing begging my girls to pose for pictures.

Sarah wasn't having this whole picture-taking thing. The huge softbox scared her and she just wanted to be done. :(

:)