Information

Her First Mohawk

(It was a big deal!)

And on another note........

I wanted to share this with all of you.

My sister checked it out today, and seemed to find it helpful in dealing with being around me. Not that she minds, but I think she wonders why I make funny faces, and stop mid sentence to make them.

During my latest trip to the ER, the nurse gave me some paperwork to take home.

"This is what we are treating you for. Do you know what this is?"

I numbly nodded at her, mostly grateful for the 2 bags of IV fluid she pumped into my arm.

"I had it too.", she shared with me.

I had seen the words before, while scouring the Internet for some miracle, some amazing combination of herbs, stretching and prayer that would bring some relief to the incessant feeling of nausea that arrived with our latest baby. I dismissed this condition as something far beyond what I was experiencing. But I decided to revisit the idea that perhaps I had something slightly more serious than morning sickness. After all, nothing else was helping, and occasionally even the combination of the 3 prescriptions I am on did nothing. I then decided to admit that I do have this.

It is called hyperemesis gravidarum or HG. And if you'd like to read a little bit about it, click here
I am glad that after reading many of the other tales on this site, that I seem to have a moderate case of HG. And I would definitely say that 60% of the time I feel well enough to get up and do light work and play with Violet, which is wonderful. In a way I am relieved to finally see that it is not "all in my head" and that there are other women who have lived through this. It also turns out that my cousin had this as well. Now we share war stories.

I also can't thank all of you enough for the prayers and e-mails and phone calls. It means so very much to have all of your support, and I just know that this will all end soon enough, and we'll be so glad when we finally meet this newest Blessing from God!

Please Pray for Us

Because I haven't taken a new picture in weeks, and because I just now decided to charge the battery that has been dead for weeks on my camera, and because I love to see old pictures of my now huge child, this is what I'm posting these days.

She was so cute when her cheeks were so chubby.

It has been pretty rough around here lately.

This morning I was at the ER having IV fluids and medication to try and stop the vomiting that seems to accompany pregnancy for me.

We are pretty wore out, but we are chugging along.

And though I know that all of you are already doing so, I want to ask again....

Please keep us in your prayers.

We are finding it (understandably) difficult to navigate life with a very sick Momma, a busy toddler and a husband who is getting worn down.

Pray for strength for both of us, especially Tim, who all this falls down on. And for me and the new baby, that we can reach an agreement that involves both of us thriving. And for little VeeVee, who is doing alright, but is growing weary of seeing me lay around.

We know that this situation is temporary, but gosh darn it, is it trying.

Thanks for all your well wishes that have been coming in, and we hope you and yours are all doing well!!

Old Video, New News

This video of Violet is from early this winter. I am a little behind here, bear with me.

I am now 9 weeks into this new pregnancy and 10 pounds down on the scale.

My OB has me trying 3 different meds to keep the vomiting under control, and so far it has been successful. As with any medicines, there are side effects, but at least I can pick and choose which flavor of discomfort to have any given day. Strange that it makes me feel better to have a little control over it, but hey....

We had our first ultrasound and saw the tiny blur that is Baby 2, and more importantly(to us) heard the little heart hammering away at 180 BPM.

It is a comfort to know that a life is forming when I feel like mine is withering.

Despite my illness, we are very excited for this new arrival, and we are expecting November 25.

That is Thanksgiving Day this year, so of course I have nicknamed this one "Turkey"

Please, don't be alarmed at my originality.

Sisters N Showers

Me and my sisters.

I love them.

This is us at Kimmy's Bridal Shower. Kimmy had a great time, as did we all.

In case you don't know these faces yet, Kimmy is on left(looking radiant as ever), Amber is next to her(she will wed my brother John on October 9th), and between Amber and myself is Tammy. She is my brother Jeff's wife. They are like the Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell couple in our family.

Violet liked getting dressed up for the party. And by that I mean, she likes to be the center of attention.

But mostly she liked to sample all the grub.

Baby like-y yum yums.

Is It Spring Yet?

I see a little bud!!!

The Thoughts They Think

"I love beads, Twizzlers and Sesame Street! This is the best day of my life!!!"

"Seriously, when can we stop hamming it up, and chow down!?!?"

"My Momma said I'm sitting on Kimmy. I thought she was in Phoenix, and human...My Momma has issues."

"Round and round goes the train, everyday it's just the same."

"Oh boy, time for train ride number two!! Let's run, but catch me if I wipe out please, but hurry up about it."

"THE PUBLIC IS TERRIFYING!"

"I love you Mimi, now give me your earrings, and sneak me some chocolate, and let me rule the universe. Is that too much to ask for at Christmas?"

"Won't you be so glad when we are no longer the "it" couple in this family? Yeah, me too!"

"I'm sick of posing for cheesy pictures, it is so 1987."

"I'm going to marry this person someday."

I guess now is a good time to tell you John and Amber got engaged over the weekend!

"It" couple number 2!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go charge the battery on my camera.

Confessions of a Lazy Photographer

Miss VeeVee likes her stuffed toys.

That really doesn't pertain to my revelation to you, but I thought in case this picture didn't get that message across, you should know that.

I have been trying to teach myself depth of field with my camera.

I could read many thousands of books, online articles, and the like, but I chose to speed read a post from a website that is written by a cattle ranchers wife. Who was also on GMA last week.

Anyhow....

The greater majority of my research was to simply look at other people's work, then go for it trial and error style. Mostly error.

The first thing I had to do was get test subject #1, also called daughter, to hold kinda still.

If you know my daughter, you are undoubtedly in hysterical laughter at the idea, so I'll give you a minute to compose yourself.......

Time's up. Moving on.

She loves to color after lunch and the light is good so I pounced.

I thought I did pretty good, that is until I went back to look at the work I studied only to find, I'm still draggin' fanny behind the pack. But I have a theory.

Most all aspiring photographers own some sort of high end camera, usually a digital SLR, and Photoshop. They read the manual to their camera, joined an online forum, and learned how to use Photoshop. I stopped at step one. I don't have time to read, unless it's a colorful book about shapes, numbers or colors. And God Bless Photoshop and all it's wonderful things. I have only opened the program twice, and it was so much I just bailed.


SOOOO....nearly every single picture on this entire blog is a straight out of camera shot. And that goes double for all of these. Every so often when I'm hanging out with Stella, my tough as nails alter ego, I will do tiny bits of editing in Picasa. But Photoshop, she remains a nearly untouched icon on my desktop. I wonder if she gets lonely. All those gifts, and no photos to lavish them on.
Now you all know I'm a lazy photographer, and feel better for telling you.
Now if you want to see some real, super cute photography go here
I really like her stuff, and not just cuz it's babies and cuteness. It has a flavor.
And, yeah, most of you know her. But I do love to promote others.
If you need me, I'll be sorting through and deleting the remaining 7,573 pictures that didn't turn out. Because I'm sure that takes less time than a Photoshop tutorial.