Home Again!

I spent this last week in Mesa, and boy oh boy was I busy!! Even getting there was crazy! My flight was originally on Tuesday but there was a massive storm coming into Chicago that day so Monday afternoon at 12 I changed my flight to 3pm on Monday. That gave me about an hour to shower, pack, clean the house, find somewhere for Max to go until Kyle got home from school (he had mandatory classes) and find a ride to the airport. Like I said, CRAZY. But I was glad I went because LOTS of flights, including mine were delayed or cancelled on Tuesday. I'm glad I have friends who are willing to help me at the drop of a hat! SO grateful!!

 One of the best parts (if you take out seeing my family and eating good food) was that I had sessions up to my eyeballs!!! It started with a bridal session on Tuesday....

A family session on Wednesday...

 

A family session on Thursday....

A family session on Friday....

And ending with a wedding on Saturday....

Trust me, It was a party.

The trip came at the perfect time for me, too! Needed BADLY to get away!! Not going to lie though, this trip was SUPER stressful for me and not exactly what I needed it to be. I really was hoping that I'd get to relax and kind of unwind but that did not happen. Not even for ONE SECOND. I don't know why I thought it would with like 6 sessions booked, but a girl can dream right?? Hopefully I can figure out how to unwind at home or the hubs and I can run away for a night and unwind together. I don't think this week was a breeze for him either. But work is work!! He's always going to be busy with school and hopefully I can stay this busy working! The money is helpful and the money from this week will go far for us! So all the stress and not sleeping and exhaustion (in every sense of the word) will be worth it!!

Now I just have to sift through almost 4 thousand pictures and edit... it's basically going to take me 8 years. Well, probably not 8 years but it'll be a while! At least I love this part. Editing is where you can make a lot of magic happen! Woo!!

Also, stay tuned for my new tutorial coming up this week!! It's SUPER easy and if you have hands, you can do it!! It's great!

Stake Conference & Babies

This Sunday was Stake Conference and it was so wonderful! I heard so many things that I needed to hear! I can't even remember the names of everyone that spoke but I was trying to pay more attention to what they were saying! It's been a rough go the last couples of days, so today was just the day that I needed!!! So grateful for my church!!

Also... I photographed a baby shower yesterday! It was wonderful! They had it at the church and it looked like a reception more than anything! You could tell there was a million hours of work poured into it! I love seeing someone's hard work all come together! It was beautiful! The mom and dad were glowing!! LOVE seeing that!!

  

You'll have to wait until I'm done editing them all to see, but just trust that it was AMAZING!! Seriously. 

Happy Sunday everybody!!

Wall Art!

Need a cheap, easy way to decorate your walls?? I saw this idea on Pinterest, and it's GENIUS!!! Thought I'd share it with you :)

Photograph your child's favorite toys, order a large print, find a big frame (Ikea is really cheap) and put it on the wall! Viola!!
Cheap, easy, personal way to decorate a kids room!!

I can't wait to put this guy on my sons wall... he'll totally flip out!!!!!!

I photographed a birth last night. It was amazing. One of the most humbling experiences of my life. I was so honored to be able to be there to document this amazing moment!! It was truly spectacular!!

Had a lovely photoshoot today - LOVE this couple!! I want to be their friends so bad!! More on the way later... but for now, enjoy this deliciousness!

Not quite an update...

I know I've not been the best about blogging lately - but who can blame me. With a newborn baby, a 2 year old, a new home in a new state and a husband in dental school - I don't have much time. And when I do have time .... it's spent with new friends.

But here, let me let you in on some of the joys of motherhood -

Maila.

Lucky me - I caught her sweet smile on camera! Yay!

Isn't she adorable?

Maila's NICU Journey

 

My darling daughter, Maila Marie, was born July 18th. She was 34 weeks - 6 week premature.

She's still in the NICU, but here are a couple pictures that document her journey here.

It's all in the details, people.

xo

July 17th

Nope, she's not been born yet.


Tuesday was an interesting day, emotions wise. Of course everything is the same pregnancy wise. The baby still looks great and hasn't gone into distress and I never really developed an infection. So the date is still set for tomorrow morning.

My mom arrived in town last night, but it was late so she didn't come up to the hospital, but I did get to see her this morning!! That was WONDERFUL!! Oh how I've missed my mom!! It was so good to see her and laugh with her and just sit in the same room with her. There's something about seeing my mom that does wonders for my soul. Except for when we play Boggle together. Then she makes up words and they end up actually being words. Like "yoe" and "thar". Seriously??  She stayed around until about 6pm and then she left. She'd been here all day and my "yummy" hospital dinner had arrived and I think it was making her hungry, so she left to go get her own dinner and run some errands before the crazy set in.

My emotions had been fine, all day. Until about 8pm. When I think it actually, mentally set in that I was having a baby tomorrow. How is that possible, some may ask... but I feel like this whole thing isn't real. Or I just can't believe that this is how it turned out. That I've been in the hospital for 2 weeks, or that my baby is premature, or that I have to have a c-section. Even this afternoon, tomorrow morning felt like a long way off. And now that it was literally right around the corner, I may have lost it a little. My mom called (which always makes me cry), and my dad called (also cried) and then I called Heidi. That's when I really lost it, and basically couldn't pull it together after that. I called her to ask how Max was doing and couldn't even get past "hello" before I started crying. She told me stories and about some of the stuff they'd been doing and that he's been pretty happy, and it was nice to hear. Except it makes me feel like I missing it. Which, I am. But no mother likes to feel that way when it comes to her children. I think being apart from Max has been the absolute worst part of this whole ordeal. That part, is torture. Which is unfortunate because it will still be about 2 weeks until I have him back with me all the time. But at least it will be easier, or even an option, for me to go see him. And at least he'll be with his dad if he can't be with me.

After my phone call with Heidi (where I tried really hard not to let her know that I was having a breakdown) my nurse came in and gave me two Ambien so that I could try to get some kind of good night's sleep. It worked, because I don't remember much after that, other than Kyle woke me up around 11 to eat a sandwich, because I'm basically not allowed to eat until tomorrow afternoon-ish. That doesn't sound like fun to me. I like eating.

I'll update tomorrow, hopefully. Don't hold your breath though. We'll see how it all goes.