Dirty Baby Feet

Ethan and I took our first trip to the park yesterday. Mike's daughter was complaining of boredom and I knew she needed to have something fun done for her so she didn't feel neglected with the baby being around now.
Side note- she has been in North Carolina with her mother since after Ethan was born so she hasn't gotten much time with him.
Her jealousy has become more apparent each day since she's been back so I wanted to do something fun with her so she knew these fun things can still happen even with a new baby.
So I grabbed our favorite fleece quilt that a friend of mine made for him and off we went.
My cousin met us there with her three kids. Her Daughter is a little over a year older than Ethan. We sat with the babies an chatted while the older kids played.
I was able to get some fun pictures of her adorable daughter while Ethan snoozed.

I had to work fast for this shot. I was still making camera adjustments when she did this, I was just barely able to get the camera up and focused to capture this adorable sniff.

This girl has got some BEAUTIFUL blue eyes! Isn't she a doll? 

I love taking photos of kids while they're in their own element, doing their own thing. Plus, I'm rotten at staging photos.

While I was telling Mike about our park trip I had got to thinking about how much we have had Ethan outside since he's been born. Mike and I both spent so much of our childhood outdoors, we want to instill that same sense of adventure and passion for the outdoors in our kids. Mike's daughter didn't get a lot of exposure to that since he was deployed or working as the sole income for their family and going to college. It drives me nuts when we go to my parents house or anywhere with a lot of open land to explore and she just stands there. 

I couldn't help but think about the people whose babies are kept in virtual bubbles; babies who don't touch grass until they're two (okay so maybe that's a little exaggerated.) I got Ethan right out and put his little feet right in the grass and let him touch it. I'll be damned if this kid ever gets stuffed inside a bubble, no way man. I was dying to put him in the pool this summer just to get him exposed to it early on but I know his skin was still way too sensitive for the chemicals. 

I try to take Ethan everywhere and get him exposed to lots of things while I can before I have to go back to work. We take him on bumpy walks on trails, we took him to the state fair last week (which he hated, he was so fussy all day), I take him to see my mom at work (she works in a Legion, the guys there can get super loud and he handles it so well. Everyone is always impressed), when I take him to Wal-mart I leave the cover off his car-seat and everything!
One of my fears is having a shy child who is afraid of new places and situations. I just love exposing kids to new situations and helping them to push passed their fears in a healthy and safe way.
Do me a favor moms and dads, push your children beyond their comfort zones as often as you can! They will thank you for it when they grow up as strong and confident adults. Encourage them to stop and smell the flowers, then play in the dirt when they're done!

Mommy's day off

So as most of you might remember, Mike and I are getting married soon, like 13 days soon. Yay! So yesterday my girlfriends took me out for my bachelorette party at the wineries on Seneca lake. I did this running on four hours of low-quality sleep, we all had a rough night with a very cranky baby.We bumped around in my friends RV to 4 different wineries, though technically one of the wineries has three separate wineries within it.
It was my first time away from baby boy. I'm telling you guys it was really hard leaving Ethan that morning, I had to try so so hard to not cry. He was in great hands though with my mom, she was really excited to soend the day with him.
I had a great time hanging out with the girls for the day, had some great wine, made fun of other bridal parties that were there (ladies, when you go out, make sure to not be woo girls. What's a woo girl you ask? Go watch the movie What's Your Number, the scene in the bar when the girls are taking shots... WOOOOOOO! ugh cringe.) My first day away went pretty good but I was so excited to get my hands back on my baby that night.
We were snuggling later that night and I asked him if he a good time at grandma's that day and he flashed me the cutest smile, melt.
Last night we all went to bed nice and early and little man slept so good, I woke up today feeling better than I have in a long while!
Tomorrow we are going to make the drive out to the NY State Fair! I am super excited, I love the fair. Mike's daughter is coming back from her summer in North Carolina tomorrow too, I'm not sure I'm ready for that new schedule to begin. Just thinking about two kids now, and school, and babysitters and work... I'm already stressed out.
But before I get myself all worked up about that I'm just going to send myself to bed. We've got a long day of fair fun tomorrow and it's going to be a hot one.
Good night all!

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