Baby's first photos

I am so excited Ethan is finally here so I can not only be his mommy and love him and smoosh his cheeks, but also so I can have a live in test subject for my photography journey! I loved being able to take his newborn photos myself and save tons of money. Someday I'll be able to tell him that mommy took those photos and hopefully he will see how special that is just like I do. 

 I love love LOVE this black and white one.

 I could not believe it was already time for his one month picture! What? he's not a month yet.. is he?

 Technically, daddy took this picture of Ethan and I. I love it! He did so good!

 Aren't these facial expressions priceless? I love these boys. Fo' Sho'

I shot these with my Sony Alpha 390 and a plain old 18-55mm lens. Someday soon when I'm ready to make an actual business out of my photography and I feel my product is something I feel confident selling I will be investing in a great Camera. Currently, I've got my eye on the Canon 6D. Hopes and dreams people.

I had a baby!

I swear I didn't fall off the face of the planet, or get abducted by aliens. I am here, we are well, and I am learning a ton! Having a newborn is tough work.

I didn't forget about my blog, I just had a million other things I needed to tend to before I could even think about setting down to write. When I finally could sit down to write, I fell asleep. On the couch, in my stay puff chair, the wrong way in bed. Wow it's a seriously long day with a baby!

Ethan Michael was born on July 6th at 10:42 pm via c-section. He weighed in at 8lbs 14 oz and almost maxed out the measuring tape at 23 inches!

One of these days I'll give you my whole birth story but right now I'll just let you know I was at 40 weeks and 6 days. I was scheduled for induction on July 7th and my water broke the morning of July 6th around 8am. This baby has been stubborn from the beginning and he waiting until the last possible day to come on his own. I had a 12 hour labor that ended with a c-section that I was really hoping not to have. BUT he came out perfect and healthy and oh so adorable!

Did I mention this kid came out with a FULL head of hair. You guys, I am not kidding. HAIR. I don't remember much of the surgery but I do remember all of the nurses literally exclaiming "look at the hair!!".

My little dude, one day new. I can't even. I love this little man so so much. 

I cannot wait to see what he as in store for daddy and me. We are finally getting into a little bit of a groove. I'm understanding what his wants and needs are a little more everyday; when he's hungry, needs a diaper change, or when he's tired. 

I'm terrified to go back to work. I work at 9am, how in the world am I going to get myself and this baby up and ready to go and get to work on time everyday without waking up at 3am to start? Not to mention I have to be away from him... forget it.

Alright folks, crying baby. I promise I'll get back into the swing of this and add more photos when I get three seconds!

The little things that drive me nuts but I love them

So I'm sitting in my stay puff chair feeling this little baby lift weights in my belly and as uncomfortable as it is, I want to make sure I remember it, so I'm writing it down.

Little man,
When you were in my belly, not only did you get the hiccups CONSTANTLY, like more that two times a day, but your favorite activity was putting your little feet on my left hip bone and pushing your butt back as far as you could into the right side of my ribs. You do this all. the. time. I like to think you're trying to build your strength in them so you can just push yourself out when the time comes. Like when a person is in the pool and they want to swim forward really fast they push their feet off the wall.. I could see you pushing off my rib cage and just shooting out!

That part that drove me craziest during pregnancy with you was the hiccups and the eye twitch. For some reason I was graced with probably the most annoying symptom my body could possibly have manifested; an eye twitch. So while you were in my belly hiccuping for an hour, my eye lid was also spasming. That is definitely one way to drive your mother insane, like literally. I'm pretty sure I'm well on my way to the looney bin if this keeps up.

But, these are the little things that are going to make you memorable and I want to make sure I can keep them in my memory to tell you when you get older. Hopefully you will appreciate them and have a good laugh at what a goof ball you were in the womb.

By the way, we're coming up on 37 weeks now so feel free to start your grand entrance any time now! I cannot wait to meet you.
Love, Mommy

I know, I have been super slacker lady with uploading these chalkboard photos. I suck, feel free to tell me so! But anywho here's where we are currently. Weekly doctors visits are just great.. not. Seems like I could call them and say "yeah, he's moving around like crazy, pretty sure he's erected a circus tent in my uterus, nothing has changed, no blood, no pain, no pressure, k bye!" 

Other than that it's just been a waiting game. I've been working a little on my photo taking skills for when Ethan gets here and even got Mike to brush up on his for some maternity pictures. With a wedding coming I was not about to pay for maternity pictures. So we headed out to some land my friend owns and took some pictures ourselves. Mike is by no means a photographer but he got some great shots I was able to work with and edit to keep for memories. 

I should note I, by no means, call myself a photographer either, but I enjoy taking photos and editing them. I'm pretty proud of how these turned out!

Hopefully by the next time I get around to writing I'll have a birth story for you to read! 

Excuse me while I.... *snore*

34 weeks today. I have been feeling pretty okay with this pregnancy until about two weeks ago. Wow did it hit me like a ton of sleep inducing bricks.
I don't know what some of you ladies are talking about when you say you have a hard time sleeping. I am a sleeping machine! I sleep like the dead at night after I stuff my six pillows around me I the proper spots to support my hips, back, and beach ball belly. During the day I'll been fine, fine, fine then WHAM! I'm passing out at my desk at work. Nothing helps, not food, not sugary drinks or candy, not walking around, nothing. I just wait it out and hope I don't fall alseep and get fired.
It's probably due to the fact that the weather is warming up, and this just must be my body's way of celebrating that. My baby shower was about two weeks ago and boy was it hot out! I had a great time even though I was sweating my ass off. I had my cousin on swamp ass checking duty. No one wants to see that. We got tons of great stuff and I loved seeing everyone! The blindfolded diaper changing went off great, it was hilarious let me tell you.
Baby Ethan's room looks great, even though it doesn't have its glider yet, or a dresser. I just can't bring myself to spend $200 on a baby dresser. So I'm still researching. We are as ready as I think we're ever going to be to bring him home.
Well, kinda. I've been slacking on packing our hospital bags. Who knew that would be so stress inducing and difficult. Every article I ready about what to pack for mom makes it's sound like I'm going to explode body fluids all over everything. "Don't bring anything that you don't want to see get ruined..." Dude, what the hell is going to happen in there that everything is going to get that disgusting? So I bought comfy, ugly Hanes underwear, black cotton pants, and a black, ugly, comfy maternity bra with no underwire to apparently sacrifice to the cause.
Packing the baby's bag was even worse, holy crap. There's nothing like packing baby's hospital bag to make you feel like you have no idea what you are doing and that you probably are not going to be allowed to bring your baby home. I'm convinced they're going to take one look at me after delivery  and say "nope, no way are you going home with this baby, you're completely incompetent." Other moms assure me I'll be just fine and that they will, indeed, let me keep my baby.
So right now the bags are upstairs, half packed, mostly because when I do remember that I need to finish packing them I am sitting downstairs and I'm too lazy to climb all the way up the stairs from hell to do it.
Tonight, tonight I'll finish them. Maybe.

What's with my feet?

Good evening, I'm reporting live from my chair and a half in the living rooms since I can no longer sit comfortably on the couch. I can take one mean nap on her though. 

So my latest development with my feet is cramping. You know when you curl your toes and they cramp up so hard you think your foot's going to be stuck like that forever while you writhe in pain. Nasty sons a bitches those cramps are. Well no we're to the point where I don't even have to curl my toes up to get them any more! Earlier to day I pushed my toes into my fantastic chair, mike calls it Stay Puff because it's so big and he hates moving it, and I got a god awful cramp.

The worst part about them is they are kind of like hitting your funny bone, it hurts but it also makes you laugh. Mike almost doesn't take me seriously when I get them because I'm giggling like a crazed maniac when I get them.

In other news, Ethan has found my ribs. People had be dreading this day and yes it is as uncomfortable as people describe it to be.

Holy crap! I probably should mention that Easter was amazing, Mike and I got engaged!! Yep he popped the question on Easter with a plastic egg. The story that goes along with it is hilarious (or so I think.)

We both have know practically since day one that we were going to be together forever. Our hearts just knew I guess. So there was no doubt in my mind that a proposal was due some time soon, I mean I'm carrying the man's child and lets face it why wouldn't he want to marry me? heh heh.. kidding.. sorta.. 

So Easter morning we're up, getting ready, and I'm complaining about how much I don't want to go to work on Easter... it was friggin B-E-A-UTIFUL outside and I was so mad I was going to be stuck in a crappy office doing nothing. 

So I say to him... "you know what would be SUCH a cute proposal idea?".... ..... ... Nothing, no response, he just kept rinsing dishes in the sink.

The man's been blown up a few times while he was in the marine corps so I figured he just didn't hear me. So I said "did you hear me? or are you just choosing to ignore that statement" And he says "I heard you and I'm choosing to ignore" muahhaha

So I think nothing of it, I go to work and complain all day, and I leave early to go home. Wouldn't you know it, he had a little Easter egg hunt planned and the last egg had a beautiful ring in it. Ahh it was adorable and perfect and I loved it. Any way

Sleeping feet

Welp, here she is, the third trimester. Ahhhh finally. For me, my body apparently got pregnancy all wrong. First trimester was a breeze; no morning sickness at all. I know, you hate me. I was tired but I could function for the most part through each day. The second trimester was nothing like people told me, I was more tired then than in the first. The energy and second wind never came, there was zerodrive to do anything.

The third trimester so far is bringing a lovely mixture of symptoms and feelings.

It started with the pelvic and hip pain. This is something I wish people would have mentioned to me. They all say that pregnancy can be "uncomfortable"... Uhh yeah... That's not what I'm feeling. I'm talking straight up, I can't get off the floor, PAIN. I was getting made fun of at work for me new found waddle, little did they know I was limping. Every step I took was agony in my hips. This was all due to stupid ligaments and the pelvis separating to get ready to shove a baby through. I sat on the floor one night to do my chalkboard and I Could. Not. Get. Up. I was stuck. Mike had to pull me up. Sitting up in bed was a nightmare, climbing out of bed was worse. I sleep with four pillows stuffed under various locations of my body now to help with the pain. Thankfully it has helped some but I still "waddle" a bit. Told the nurse about this at my 28 week checkup yesterday and all she had for me was "you're right on schedule then." Ugh.

Next, the heartburn. This I was well prepared for and educated on. "Heartburn during pregnancy means lots of hair on baby." I knew what I was in for, I've had heartburn before, nothing some Tums couldn't help with. WRONG! Even my trusty Tums have been ineffective against this heartburn. Bending over to pick something up off the floor has turned into a tricky little game in my body now, is the acid in my stomach going to fly up to my throat or stay put? So far off my diet list because of heartburn are hash browns, orange soda, tilapia, and possibly bacon. Get ready ladies, if you think you know heartburn, guess again, pregnancy gives you a whole new kind of heartburn.

The upside is that baby Ethan is as active as ever. I'm convinced he's trying to escape early. This boy has some kicks on him, oh man. I could watch my belly wiggle, stretch and jump all day long, I'm surprised he sleeps at all. He's had a couple kicks that have stopped me dead in my tracks so far.
Oh! And I finally experienced him pressing on the artery in my back and dropping my blood pressure on me. I was sitting at work minding my business when all of the sudden an intense "I'm about to faint" feeling washed over me. I immediately put myself on the floor with the pillow I use for lumbar support just in case. Moving around seems to help get the blood moving again and made the faint feeling pass. It was definitely scary, but apparently quite normal. I now know why they tell you not to stay on you're back for long periods of time.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely know that I have it a lot easier than many women out there who are pregnant. And I am so so so grateful to be even able to experience these changes. I think the third trimester has some nasties in store for me though.

I swear, if I could figure out how to get these pictures to line up nicely, it'd be a miracle. You get the point.

Worse than the man cold...

The pregnancy cold. What. A. Bitch.

So to recap, I have been working my ass off at work for the past ohhhhhh three months because my partner in crime full time day shift person quit on me. She left me to die here. So I've been here doing the work of three people because my part timer needs so much babysitting it's like not having any help at all. We finally hired a new full time person last week and lucky for me he doesn't start for another week and a half. Basically, this cold was bound to happen just based on all the crap I've been putting up with. So here I am.

Sunday night I get home from work after another longggg event at work, I plop my ass on the couch and I fall asleep. I wake up around ten at night with my throat literally on fire and full of razor blades... Ok maybe not literally but damnit it sure felt real.

"I think I'm getting sick" I tell Mike. Sure as shit, I wake up the next day a complete clogged, stuffy, runny, gross, sick mess. My throat hurts, I'm sneezing every ten minutes, and walking around with my box of tissues. Plus! I had to get a flu shot that day, YES! The guy giving me my shot lies and says I shouldn't feel any pain, and it shouldn't get red or puffy. Jerk. It did all of those things.

I walked into my appointment with my OB later that day and informed the nurse I got my stupid flu shot and I have a cold. She asked me not to share my cold and proceeded to do my vitals. What the frig man, can't a fat chick get a little sympathy?

The baby is doing fine through my cold though, but I think my coughing is really pissing him off, he kicks me way harder now. Poor guy.

So today is day five of the cold from hell, it started on my "weekend" for work, I called in for two days, and went back to work today feeling just the slightest bit better. I should have called in.. Ugh. I don't get paid enough.

The best part about a pregnancy cold, you can't really take any medicine to help alleviate some symptoms. Sure they say sudafed or tussen is safe enough but not me, no meds here. I'll just sit here and burn through gallons of water and OJ.

Also, when your sinuses are all jacked up you know what happens? You sneeze a lot. Like multiple times in a row. And what is one of a pregnant woman's biggest fears? Sneezing. Why? Because we have less control over our bladder and all its muscles. Yeah, awesome times. I've taken to crossing my legs and squeezing as hard as I can when I feel a sneeze coming on. I'm telling you, there is nothing funny about that forth sneeze. NOTHING!

Oh and! Did you know that if your sinuses get packed up enough it can make your teeth hurt? Yep, thanks a lot body, that's just what I needed. Apparently your sinuses run so close to the nerves of your molars that a nasty cold or sinus infection can actually make you feel like all of your teeth are about to fall out of your head at any moment. Enjoy.

I am so looking forward to kicking this cold soon so I can get back to just feeling like pregnancy shit, not pregnancy cold shit.