yes, this is me

I am grooving on along in this pregnancy...35 weeks tomorrow! And let's face it, with baby #3, things are just different. You are taking care of your first two children, who have a tendency to grab and keep your attention, whether you want them to or not! There just isn't the same approach as it was when it was your first...or even your second. Because now, you are a seasoned pro, right? ha, ha!! Well, it seems to be harder for me to carve out time just to be present to this pregnancy, to this baby that is growing inside.

But I had a wonderful opportunity to spend the day in total focus of my baby and my pregnancy last Sunday. In the morning, I had a surprise shower...too bad I am notorious for finding out surprises and this was no exception! It was lovely, a traditional baby shower with a game, cake (from Short Street Cakes......YUM!) and presents, and most importantly, time with some very special women I have become close to.

And then in the afternoon, my dear friends honored me with a blessing way. It is ceremony to honor and bless the mother as she moves forward into the birth of her baby. It was full of emotion and some tender tears for the awe that we feel as mothers and as friends. So here are some photos compliments of my friend and fellow photographer, Lenka Hattaway, of my special day, which was truly a great blessing.

one more of baby

I couldn't resist. I l-o-v-e this shot! Baby S is 3 weeks old here so a little older than a typical newborn photography session. Is it because I'm pregnant that I am totally enamored with babies lately??? ok, so maybe not just lately, which I guess means -no- I am just a sucker for these cute faces, pudgy legs and cheeks, soft skin and precious fingers and toes. Look out for when my baby arrives...I have a feeling this blog will be full of images of the next little Stone!

baby face, you got the cutiest little...

baby face! Am I right? And LOOK at this hair...OMG, I am so jealous. Seriously, I think my babies are pretty darn cute, but they have both come out totally bald and stayed that way...for like years!



And check out Mom! She gave me this, "I'm not sure I want to be in the pictures," business, but seriously, look how beautiful she is. And now you see where the gorgeous curls come from!

coming back around

You know that you've been away a long time when it takes you longer to scroll through my blog dashboard (posts from the blogs I follow...ha, ha! apparently, not very closely!), then it does to make my own blog entry.

So I apologize for being gone so long...and honestly, I just don't know that I can promise to be any better! I apparently am over committed and overly optimistic about what I can accomplish in 24 hrs/day.

But here I am, playing some catch up. This is another family that I photographed for my Holiday Giveaway. I have the benefit of knowing this couple as the brother and sister-in-law of one of my dearest friends. They are so sweet. Noah works in a non-profit serving families in many ways and his wife put her real estate career on hold to stay home with their beautiful little girl. What a fun surprise for me to hear that they are expecting baby #2!

more family love

Let me introduce you to another awesome family...Jaime, Robbie and Gideon. When I tell you the bond among them was so obvious, there was such a pure, endearing love that came through naturally with no direction from me! Jaime suffers with fibromyalgia, a condition that can be debilitating and elusive. I know first hand, my mom also suffered with fibro for 15 years. And the irony is that now I'm married to this amazing doc who treats fibro with great success, but my mom never got to even meet him. But I digress.

So, I have a soft spot in my heart for Jaime and her family. Robbie is a green builder, a great one from what I hear, and I'm sure I don't have to even explain about job security for builders in this market. But what their friend who nominated them couldn't express enough, was the love and compassion they have for others. It was such a pleasure to meet them! Hope you enjoy getting a peek at them too. And can you tell it took a few minutes for Gideon to warm up to me...but I think I won him over! : )

WNC Parent March ad preview

Since ya'll were so good to give me feedback, thought you might like to see the preview of my next WNC Parent ad:

which one do you like better?

I am designing my ad for the next WNC Parent magazine. It's the camp guide issue. Which one of these do you like better for the ad?

I love my job...

As promised, here is one of the wonderful families I met through my holiday giveaway. If I didn't know better, I would never have guessed the turmoil this family went through over the past 6 months. This active, adorable little boy was fine one day and then woke up the next day stumbling. By the following day, he was almost completely unable to walk unassisted. The doctors couldn't find an answer to this rapid decline and it continued for months. It wasn't until the parents found a doctor in IL who was treating children with a condition called OMS that they found an answer. A week after beginning treatment, there was a dramatic improvement in his condition. And now he is a running, jumping, playing little firecracker.

This is Walter and his family. You can read more about his story and OMS on his web site: www.walterthomas.org. His improvement is the good news, the bad news it the insurance company is denying the claims for Walter's treatments...to the tune of $300,000. Please consider donating to help Walter and his family. It's your turn to share the spirit of giving.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am busy editing photos from my shoot-a-thon last week...so check back soon and I'll have some photographs of these great families to share.

I just thought I would take a quick break from my editing to share this little bit of sweetness from my daughter, Sacred. She came over and hugged me over and over very excitedly. She is also sure to give the baby in the belly lots of hugs and kisses too! Then she says, "I have the best family in the whole world. I like you so much!"

melt my heart! Add that to the very creative, homemade Valentine's Day cards my kids gave me, and my hubby taking the girls out with specific instructions that I take at least 15 minutes away from the photography "to do" list to just enjoy myself...and I would say it's been a good day!

Hope yours is too!

Asheville's Holiday Giveaway in action

Today was my day to block sessions for the nominees of the holiday giveaway. It was amazing to photograph these families and get to know them a little better. 4 families in 4 hours...I didn't realize how tired I was until I got home and sat down! Of course, I couldn't do anything else until I looked at the images, which took me 3hrs. Yes, 3 hrs. just to LOOK at the images! There were 1310 frames from today's sessions!

And we're not finished yet...I still have 3 more families plus our grand prize winner to photograph. So there should be lots of activity on this blog in the next few weeks. And if there isn't, well, I won't be able to blame it on no images to post!

Here's just a fun family photo...Savannah enjoying some homemade beeswax candles given to her by one of her school friends.