At the end of 2011/beginning of 2012 I was 25 weeks pregnant and had just decided to try to created a little side business for myself doing some portrait photography in order to earn some extra spending money/income for my family. I had NO IDEA how either of these endeavors was going to go... but I can now report that both turned out fantastically. =)
Today Jacob and I have a beautiful, HAPPY, healthy baby girl. Emily is 36 weeks old today and surprises us with her intelligence and personality on a daily basis. I fear that she will be walking by the end of January, which I'm sure will lead to all kinds of fun adventures for us in 2013. =)
As far a "business" (I hate calling it that... makes it sound so official. lol), I have done better than I ever expected that I would. I actually made a PROFIT this year! (Only $20, but I'm just excited that I managed to pay off my camera with the income. That was my biggest investment this year). I had about 18 jobs this year... family, seniors, maternity, baby/kid, boudoir... the whole gambit. It was awesome!
I am so looking forward to what this coming year will bring! So far on the horizon is a family vacation to Disneyland in March (will be a first for both Emily and me!) and Emily's first birthday in April. I can't wait to start the party planning. ;)
Monday, December 31, 2012
Christmas....es
It's taken me a week to post about Christmas... but I have a good excuse.... "Christmas" in our household didn't end until yesterday! That's right... instead of celebrating Emily's first Christmas, we celebrated Emily's first FOUR Christmases! Here's the recap:
Christmas #1, Dec. 23rd - Our first Christmas celebration happened unexpectedly (for me). We spent the day with Jacob's parents, brother, niece and nephew playing in the snow at Mt. Hood and then headed back to his parents' place. I wasn't aware that dinner and presents were occurring as well! Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the "Christmas" festivities that evening, but here are some adorable shots of Emily's first snow experience. =)
Christmas #2, Dec. 24th - Christmas Eve morning Jacob woke up with the flu. =( We had plans to go to his brother's house for a our formal celebration with his extended family, but I wasn't sure what the day was going to bring as he laid on the couch watching Dr. Who and trying to recoup. In the end, he decided that he wanted to be with family, so we made the drive to his brother's place for dinner and presents... I'm hoping that he didn't breathe on anyone (so far I haven't heard that anyone else got sick).
Christmas #3, Dec. 25th - Emily had already been put to bed before it was time for the present portion of the previous evening so, on Christmas morning I made Jacob get out of bed (still sick) so that we could have a family Christmas morning and Emily could open a couple of presents.
We were supposed to go to my parents place a couple of hours away for Christmas, but Jacob was feeling horrible and I wasn't about to leave him on Christmas. So, we decided to have a day at home and reschedule Christmas with my family for the following weekend.
After opening presents, getting Em down for a nap, and deciding that we weren't going anywhere, I booked it to Safeway to find something worthwhile for a Christmas dinner. I'm pretty proud of myself: roasted turkey, steamed green beans, homemade garlic mashed potatoes, dinner rolls and pumpkin pie... not bad for dinner on the fly! =)
Christmas #4, Dec. 29th - About a week after he got sick, Jacob was still feeling pretty gross, but was at least good enough to make the trek down to my parents place for the night. My mom had, amazingly, pretty much recreated Christmas for us! (There were so many presents under the tree it looked like they hadn't already opened most of them! lol. Guess who most of those gifts were for? ;))
All three of my brothers, their significant others, my nephew and my grandmother all made it over for dinner. (My dad joked that we should have just postponed Christmas in the first place). We opened presents, had dinner (and lots of dessert), and then hung out for awhile as a family before people started heading home. I was glad that I got to have "Christmas" with my family this year after all!
Christmas #1, Dec. 23rd - Our first Christmas celebration happened unexpectedly (for me). We spent the day with Jacob's parents, brother, niece and nephew playing in the snow at Mt. Hood and then headed back to his parents' place. I wasn't aware that dinner and presents were occurring as well! Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the "Christmas" festivities that evening, but here are some adorable shots of Emily's first snow experience. =)
Christmas #2, Dec. 24th - Christmas Eve morning Jacob woke up with the flu. =( We had plans to go to his brother's house for a our formal celebration with his extended family, but I wasn't sure what the day was going to bring as he laid on the couch watching Dr. Who and trying to recoup. In the end, he decided that he wanted to be with family, so we made the drive to his brother's place for dinner and presents... I'm hoping that he didn't breathe on anyone (so far I haven't heard that anyone else got sick).
Christmas #3, Dec. 25th - Emily had already been put to bed before it was time for the present portion of the previous evening so, on Christmas morning I made Jacob get out of bed (still sick) so that we could have a family Christmas morning and Emily could open a couple of presents.
We were supposed to go to my parents place a couple of hours away for Christmas, but Jacob was feeling horrible and I wasn't about to leave him on Christmas. So, we decided to have a day at home and reschedule Christmas with my family for the following weekend.
After opening presents, getting Em down for a nap, and deciding that we weren't going anywhere, I booked it to Safeway to find something worthwhile for a Christmas dinner. I'm pretty proud of myself: roasted turkey, steamed green beans, homemade garlic mashed potatoes, dinner rolls and pumpkin pie... not bad for dinner on the fly! =)
Christmas #4, Dec. 29th - About a week after he got sick, Jacob was still feeling pretty gross, but was at least good enough to make the trek down to my parents place for the night. My mom had, amazingly, pretty much recreated Christmas for us! (There were so many presents under the tree it looked like they hadn't already opened most of them! lol. Guess who most of those gifts were for? ;))
All three of my brothers, their significant others, my nephew and my grandmother all made it over for dinner. (My dad joked that we should have just postponed Christmas in the first place). We opened presents, had dinner (and lots of dessert), and then hung out for awhile as a family before people started heading home. I was glad that I got to have "Christmas" with my family this year after all!
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
8 Months!
Weight/Length-You had an impromptu doctor's visit this month and weighed in at 17.5 lbs (less than what I weight you on our home scale last month... hmm... makes me wonder if I actually weigh less, too! ;) )
Eating- You are drinking mostly 6 oz bottles these days, with about 8 ounces right before bed. We are starting to offer you more solid foods, but I think we need to start bumping up our frequency of this... especially since you are getting SO close to our first birthday!
Sleep- Bed time is roughly 7 pm and you sleep until 6:30 (or so) in the morning. You've been doing much better with the "sleeping through the night" thing, but have been waking up pretty regularly from a cough in the middle of the night for the past several weeks. If it doesn't sound like you're able to get yourself back to sleep, mom or dad will go in with a bottle of water to help sooth your throat and that usually does the trick.
Clothes-Still wearing 6-9 month stuff, but your 6 month stuff is starting to get a little tight... though the 9 month pants are still a big baggy around the middle. I have a feeling that you're going to be a tall, slender young lady!
Personality- You are SUCH a happy baby! You only really fuss if a) you're hungry, b) you're sleepy, or c) you want to be down on the ground exploring and, for whatever reason, are not able to do so. You love to touch and play with new things... and EVERYTHING is still going in your mouth.
Likes/Dislikes-
- You like eating paper. If I'm not paying close attention you will tear my (unread) magazines to shreds and start dissolving them with your drool.
- You like crawling around (and over) things. You like pulling yourself up at the couch (or a chair) and walking yourself around it.
- You like grabbing Dad's thumbs and getting swung in the air. You smile so big!
- You LOVE to talk! You make a LOT of noise... a LOT of the time! Sometimes we'll listen to you in your crib after bedtime chattering away!
- You like to "sing" along to the radio in the car... specific to Bruno Mars.
- You don't like getting new teeth. I don't blame you. =(
- You don't like falling over and hitting your head on things... and you do it a LOT with your new sense of mobility!
Milestones-
- You can pull yourself up to standing AND walk along things like the couch or a coffee table!
- You have THREE teeth... all of which are on the top. I'm hoping that you get some bottom teeth soon!
- You got your first bruise... right in the middle of your forehead... got into a "fight" with Grandma's dining room chair..
- You played in snow for the first time! You weren't quite sure what to think about it... or the bulky snow suit that mom and dad put you in!
- You got your first Christmas tree!
- You had your first allergy scare. You've been coughing a lot at home and mom was worried that you might be allergic to the cat, or dust mites. The pediatrician recommended an allergist, who did a prick test and chest x-ray, only to determine that you are not allergic to anything at all (Mommy and Scout (the cat) are VERY happy about this!). You are still coughing though. The allergist thinks that it may just been your body's reaction to different viruses that you're coming into contact with at daycare, but also prescribed an inhaler to see if that helps. So far we haven't tried it, so don't know, but mom things that having a humidifier going on in your room at night helps... so, we're trying that first!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Our Days
Shannon at From Match to Marriage posted today about what her schedule, as a working mother, looks like during the week... I was VERY happy to see that her schedule looked much like mine... and that housework was nowhere in there. lol
This is what the day looks like in our household:
4:30-6:00- Emily wakes up. However, after feeding her a bottle and putting her back in her crib, she will USUALLY fall back asleep for another couple of hours.
6:15- My alarm goes off. I hit snooze.
6:25 - Out of bed and into the shower.
6:25-7:10 - Shower, get dressed, put make up on, brush hair and teeth (I do this pretty quick... sleep is more important to me than doing a good job most mornings).
7:10-7:30 - Try to eat breakfast (try being the key word), check my e-mail, read my blogs/Facebook/etc.... if, of course, I'm not already running late. =) Get the diaper bag ready. Ask Jacob if he's planning on getting out of bed.
7:20-7:30 - Get Emily up (if she isn't already). Generally Jacob will get her dressed while I do last minute prep and make her a bottle. If Emily wakes up before this time, Jacob will hang out with her while I get ready... usually this includes the two of them taking a shower. She LOVES the water and playing in her tub!
7:30-7:40 - All three of us leave the house. Jacob work bound, me daycare and then work bound.
8:00 - Drop Emily off at daycare.
8:00-8:45 (or 9 if traffic sucks) - Make my way to work. This usually looks like me driving my car to the MAX and then taking the train into downtown. Some days I drive, but it doesn't save me any time and (if I don't have a parking spot at work that day), costs more to park.
8:45ish-5:00ish - Work.
5:00-6:00 - Make my way home. Jacob also gets off work at 5, but since his commute is a bit shorter he stops and picks up Emily on his way home (getting her at around 5:30).
6:00-7:00 - Play with baby time. This is my ONE HOUR of the day that I can focus on my daughter. =( I take advantage.
7:00-7:15 - Put Emily to bed. Jacob gets her changed and in her PJs while I prep a bottle. Then he passes her off to me and I feed her and put her in her crib. She either goes right to sleep or...
7:15-7:30 - Listen to Emily chatter while we make dinner. =) If she doesn't go right to sleep when I put her in her crib, she'll talk (loudly) to herself for a few minutes before she passes out. We don't even need the baby monitor to hear her in there... it's kind of hilarious. =)
7:30-8:30ish - Jacob and I eat dinner together while catching up on some TV. Sometimes, if I put something in the crock pot for dinner and its ready when we get home, we'll have a "family dinner" around the table and give Emily some food to eat/play with. It all depends on our meal.**
8:30-10:30ish - Me time (sort of). This usually includes catching up on FB/blogs/news/etc. Editing photos (if I've had a shoot recently), watching some of "my" shows (those shows that Jacob could care less about) or doing something silly like loading the dishwasher or folding laundry. =) (Right now, while doing this, I have a load of laundry in the dryer and another load in a basket that just came out of the dryer... I know these won't get folded any time soon... I'm trying to come to peace with that).
10:30ish - Off to bed... cringing at the thought of starting the whole day over again... I really feel like weekends should be longer than the rest of the "week".
Any sort of housework either occurs on the weekends, or "a little here, a little there" throughout the week. I have been working on putting together a chore "schedule" to see if that will help us keep things on track as I am getting really frustrated with my house always being gross and not being able to find a shirt I want to wear or a clean pair of socks (because laundry rarely gets folded, and even less likely does it get put away in this house).
Exercise... what's that? I am NOT waking up any earlier to do it, and by the time I get Emily in bed and eat dinner, the last thing I want to do is go to the gym. I bought a yoga CD that I like... sometimes I do it. ;)
**For the last 2-3 months I have been using the meal planning website Menu for the Week. I LOVE it! Saves me so much time and I enjoy eating a variety of things (before we started doing this, our menu from one night to the next looked pretty similar). I also love the fact that it puts a grocery list together for me... so I just print it and go! Love.
This is what the day looks like in our household:
4:30-6:00- Emily wakes up. However, after feeding her a bottle and putting her back in her crib, she will USUALLY fall back asleep for another couple of hours.
6:15- My alarm goes off. I hit snooze.
6:25 - Out of bed and into the shower.
6:25-7:10 - Shower, get dressed, put make up on, brush hair and teeth (I do this pretty quick... sleep is more important to me than doing a good job most mornings).
7:10-7:30 - Try to eat breakfast (try being the key word), check my e-mail, read my blogs/Facebook/etc.... if, of course, I'm not already running late. =) Get the diaper bag ready. Ask Jacob if he's planning on getting out of bed.
7:20-7:30 - Get Emily up (if she isn't already). Generally Jacob will get her dressed while I do last minute prep and make her a bottle. If Emily wakes up before this time, Jacob will hang out with her while I get ready... usually this includes the two of them taking a shower. She LOVES the water and playing in her tub!
7:30-7:40 - All three of us leave the house. Jacob work bound, me daycare and then work bound.
8:00 - Drop Emily off at daycare.
8:00-8:45 (or 9 if traffic sucks) - Make my way to work. This usually looks like me driving my car to the MAX and then taking the train into downtown. Some days I drive, but it doesn't save me any time and (if I don't have a parking spot at work that day), costs more to park.
8:45ish-5:00ish - Work.
5:00-6:00 - Make my way home. Jacob also gets off work at 5, but since his commute is a bit shorter he stops and picks up Emily on his way home (getting her at around 5:30).
6:00-7:00 - Play with baby time. This is my ONE HOUR of the day that I can focus on my daughter. =( I take advantage.
7:00-7:15 - Put Emily to bed. Jacob gets her changed and in her PJs while I prep a bottle. Then he passes her off to me and I feed her and put her in her crib. She either goes right to sleep or...
7:15-7:30 - Listen to Emily chatter while we make dinner. =) If she doesn't go right to sleep when I put her in her crib, she'll talk (loudly) to herself for a few minutes before she passes out. We don't even need the baby monitor to hear her in there... it's kind of hilarious. =)
7:30-8:30ish - Jacob and I eat dinner together while catching up on some TV. Sometimes, if I put something in the crock pot for dinner and its ready when we get home, we'll have a "family dinner" around the table and give Emily some food to eat/play with. It all depends on our meal.**
8:30-10:30ish - Me time (sort of). This usually includes catching up on FB/blogs/news/etc. Editing photos (if I've had a shoot recently), watching some of "my" shows (those shows that Jacob could care less about) or doing something silly like loading the dishwasher or folding laundry. =) (Right now, while doing this, I have a load of laundry in the dryer and another load in a basket that just came out of the dryer... I know these won't get folded any time soon... I'm trying to come to peace with that).
10:30ish - Off to bed... cringing at the thought of starting the whole day over again... I really feel like weekends should be longer than the rest of the "week".
Any sort of housework either occurs on the weekends, or "a little here, a little there" throughout the week. I have been working on putting together a chore "schedule" to see if that will help us keep things on track as I am getting really frustrated with my house always being gross and not being able to find a shirt I want to wear or a clean pair of socks (because laundry rarely gets folded, and even less likely does it get put away in this house).
Exercise... what's that? I am NOT waking up any earlier to do it, and by the time I get Emily in bed and eat dinner, the last thing I want to do is go to the gym. I bought a yoga CD that I like... sometimes I do it. ;)
**For the last 2-3 months I have been using the meal planning website Menu for the Week. I LOVE it! Saves me so much time and I enjoy eating a variety of things (before we started doing this, our menu from one night to the next looked pretty similar). I also love the fact that it puts a grocery list together for me... so I just print it and go! Love.
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