Zumba!!

First of all I apologize for not updating my photo blog in a LONG time! Life seemed to go on fast forward this Summer, and I was lucky to even get my photos edited from all my sessions! This Fall when things settle down, I plan to post a lot of photos. In the mean time, I wanted to let everyone know about and an adult exercise class being offered at our dance studio, Step In Style. Its called Zumba, and its all the rage right now. I best describe it as a mixture between Latin dance, aerobics, and jazz/hip hop dance. Sounds crazy- I know, but it makes for an awesome work out and a great time. I do not teach the class (I am actually quite awful at it) but go with some friends and have a blast! This week it is changing to Wednesday nights and is offered at both 5:30 and 7:00 for an hour long and is $5/class. You don't have to sign up; you just show up to class when you want to Zumba. Our dance studio recently moved and is now located on SE 3rd St. right next to Wells Fargo. Hope to see some new faces this week!!

Apnea

We found out this week that Meredith has sleep apnea and has to have surgery to remove her tonsils and adenoids next week. For the past year or so, I have noticed that Meredith's snoring has gotten very loud and sounds like her breathing is restricted when she is sleeping. Since she has moved into a big girl bed, I will occasionally take a nap with her and noticed that she would "choke" while she was sleeping. I researched apnea a bit and made sure to talk with our ENT at our 1yr ear tube check-up. I told him about the breathing and about how huge her tonsils were. Dr. D looked into her mouth at her tonsils and said, "Wow those things are impressive!".We talked a bit about it and the ENT said he had a good feeling that Mere did have apnea but wanted us to do a little sleep study of our own and let him know we decided. Luke or I went into her room 1.5 hrs after she would fall asleep and listened to her breathing. Luke and I both prayed and prayed that God would make it very clear to us whether she had apnea or not so we weren't making her go through an unnecessary surgery. Sure enough the second night, I was in her room for 10 min, and she stopped breathing 2x. Luke went in an hour later and she stopped breathing for him. A couple of nights later Luke went in for 10min and she stopped breathing 3x ( I walked into her room and witnessed the 3rd time). The neat part about it was that I was in the middle of praying both times that she stopped breathing. God made it VERY clear to me that she had apnea. If you would, please say a prayer that the surgery goes smoothly and that she has a quick recovery-but not too quick because she isn't allowed to go anywhere or do anything for 2wks :) Since I have clue as to when Meredith will feel better, I wanted to take some summer photos. The rotten thing wouldn't look at me for anything.

Cousins

These cute little cousins' grandma wanted to surprise her children with photos of their children. What a great idea grandma!! The little girl had a fever, but she lived out of town, so we made it quick. There were tons of good ones of her despite her not feeling well. The little guy was so sweet, and he kept grabbing me around my neck from behind while I was taking photos of the girl. He just wanted to cuddle and cuddle.

Baby Kate

Isn't she just absolutely PERFECT!

Catching Up

This is what I have been up to the last couple of weeks...






Jessie's eyes are just gorgeous! I didn't saturate them at all- I didn't even touch them. This is supposed to be a maternity photo, but you barely notice the tummy with her beautiful blue eyes popping out at you.





This family just sold their car lot and wanted some photos in front of the infamous "McDonald's Chevrolet" wall before its painted over. Aren't they sweet together!

Which is your fave?

So I am really behind on posting my faves from my past several sessions, but I had to post a pic I recently took of Mere. I am in love with this but can't decide which one I like better. Usually I prefer clean, natural photos with very little editing "effects", but I really like the soft pink glaze on the second pic. I want to get one of these and put it in Meredith's new big girl room. Which do you like the best?

For Sale

I bought Meredith this Simply Shabby Chic bedding from Target in a twin size and LOVE it!! We ended up getting her a full sized bed instead so I can't use the twin sized bedding. It is past the 90 day mark where Target will return items plus I used the bed skirt and made curtains. I liked the bedding so much that I went ahead and bought it for her full sized bed, so I now I have the brand new twin set that I need to sell. It is gorgeous and the pictures really don't do it justice. It is a darker blue than the photos show. The comforter is mostly robins egg blue with white damask (there are a few white butterflies mixed into the damask). There are a few strips of white ruffles that add a bit of "girly" to the blue. The bedding set includes:

• a twin sized comforter
• a standard sized sham (in the blue and white damask)
• a twin fitted sheet and flat sheet ( the sheet set is white with robins egg blue and pink small butterflies)
• a standard pillow case
• NOTE: this set does not include a bed skirt.

I can't remember if I paid $69 or $79+tax for this set but am asking $45. Please email me at babean06@yahoo.com if you are interested.

Stock photos from Ebay.

Zippity Doodah Day!!!

I really just wanted to take some Spring pics of Meredith with her new hair-do, but she kept getting distracted by the new addition to our family. This is Zippity Doodah Day (Doodah for short), our new dog. I might add that I did not want a dog after my Sophie died a few months back. Luke's family has bread English Bulldogs since he was very young, both of his brothers breed now, and so I knew eventually he would follow in his family's footsteps. I was just hoping it wasn't so soon! Anyways.... Meredith is in LOVE. Doodah was named by Meredith. A few days before we got her I asked Meredith what she wanted to name her new dog. She said "Mitzi". I told her no because that was her Grandma's name. She then said "Sue" I said no because that is her Great Grandma's name. She then said "Doodah" with a big smile on her face. She knew she had completely made up that name and that it was silly. I told Luke that Meredith named our new dog Doodah and without a pause he said we would name her Zippity Doodah Day. Luke is pretty quick on his feet because I had all day to think of something and couldn't. So here are the besties....









I know this one is out of focus, but I thought it was too cute not to post.





Finally, some of Meredith without our smelly dog.

Poor little guy!!

This poor little guy got "sick" during our shoot. You would have never guessed by looking through his album that he cried almost the whole time :( As soon as we realized he was sick and not just in a crummy mood we stopped taking photos. Even if he wouldn't have been sick, I would have been really pleased with all the photos we got of him. Here are a few of my faves.

Why are the right side of my photos getting cut off?

I am not sure why blogger is cutting off the right side of my photos?? Anyone have any suggestions??

Little Leah

My Sweet Eater

This is my little cutie yesterday! She didn't really get the hang of the Easter egg hunt because as soon as she found an egg she just wanted to eat everything in it before she moved onto the next egg. Lets just say at each hunt (we had three yesterday) she only got about 5 eggs at each one because thats all she could eat before all the other kids had found the rest of the eggs. Maybe I limit her sweet intake just a little too much :)

Happy Birthday to A!!

Theses are a few weeks old, so I guess it's happy belated birthday to A! I love her in that hat!! A big thanks to my friend Lori who literally gave it to me off of her child's head. I saw her at the park awhile back and I said "ooh I love your daughter's hat. That would be an awesome photo prop". She then just gave it to me. She said her daughter had a ton of them at home that someone made for her. SCORE!!

Oh So Sassy

I am still editing photos from this session, but so far this is one of my favorite shoots to date...

Not SO Newborn

This 8 week old's mom wanted some newborn photos of her little girl but didn't get around to doing it until she was almost 2 months old. She was a little premature plus she is really petite, so we got a few where she really looks like newborn.

As cute as they come!

Is she not about as cute as they come!! I took some photos of this little gal's family when she was 3 months old. How do they get to be 1yr so quickly!!

Back Lighting

I mentioned in my last post that I would share some photos from my past couple of photo sessions. These are not those pics, but they are pretty cute. I am working on my back lighting skills (not alot of shade in the Spring with all the landscaping dead) and needed a still subject. Jessie and Koen came over to play the other day, so I grabbed my camera and put Koen in a wagon to keep him still (or as still as you can keep a toddler). You might ask, why didn't you just use your own child. Well.... Meredith REALLY doesn't like the camera in her face, and I just took some pics of her earlier this week. There was no way she was going to sit still 2 times in one week :) I zoomed in, spot metered off of K's face, then re-composed and shot. The lens hood I ordered wasn't in yet, and I forgot to take off my UV filter. Considering both those things, I am pretty happy with them.

Spring has Sprung! Photography Season has Sprung!

Photography season has started back up in full force. I will post some of my sessions later in the week, but for now I wanted to post some of my little girly who is looking like such a big girl in these photos. I kept telling her I would give her a cookie if she would smile. Most smiles looked "painful" but I got a few really cute ones.