• personal

    good boys & sickness update

    First, I am a lucky mommy. I had parent/teacher conferences today and the boys are doing soooooo great. Really excelling at school (some shameless bragging coming up- you’ve been warned- so stop reading now if you are not into that) in everyway. I was told that not only are they so super smart, but that they both have the market cornered on "thinking outside the box" which impressed their teachers to no end in 3rd grade. They have lots of friends in class and are just doing super overall. Jack’s teacher (my almost Aunt) has funny stories for me all the time about the things he said during the day, and Patrick’s teacher told me how upset she’s going to be next year when he leaves her. They both apparently keep their teachers on their toes and constantly surprise them with the "wise beyond their years" things they say. YEAH!!! Img_4150sl A little brotherly love for ya. Jack was fatting out on the couch and didn’t want to be bothered with pictures.

    As for my illness update…I have a new diagnosis for myself. I’m off the lymphoma kick (well, for the most part anyway) and now think I have Fifths Disease. Which is just a virus, ends eventually with no lasting issues. So that would be much better than lymphoma. I have all the symptoms and I’m thinking the rash wasn’t a reaction to the steroids, but the Fifths rash cause my cheeks got that crazy red. Went back to the doctor today and he really liked my diagnosis- he said that he was planning on testing me for that anyway. So he took another 4 big vials of blood (so I’ll have lymphoma, Fifths, and be anemic!!) and will test for Fifths among a few other inflamatory illnesses. The rash is totally gone now but my hands, wrists and knees are all kinds of swollen and arthritic feeling. They really hurt. So we’ll see on Saturday what it is I have. I am hoping for a concrete answer. He’s testing for Lupus and other auto immune diseases too, since I already have Raynaud’s syndrome. More medical fun…woohoo!

  • weddings

    the nur wedding- part 3 {the ceremony}

    Ceremonymosaic_4 Managed to finish up this section tonight-yippee!! The mother of the groom MADE the huppa entirely by hand. Isn’t it so beautiful??!!Loved photographing the emotion during the ceremony- so real and heartfelt. The way the parents teared up, the way the groom looked at his bride, the way the bride held on tight to the groom. The kiss (and hug).  The whole happy (and freezing) wedding party. We did manage few shots outside right after the ceremony but it was very shortlived as it was sooooo cold out there. But they were all troopers and didn’t complain. And even though I was only halfway listening, I ADORED the stories the bride and groom both wrote to be shared during the ceremony about why they love eachother. So awesome. It’s not easy taking pictures while you are trying not to cry!Img_1732x Img_1772x Img_1789x Img_1802cbw Img_1873mo Img_1883x Img_1992sl Img_2016sl

  • children & families

    the bur baby- 1st birthday shoot

    Can I just say that I love this little one. This is my second time doing her pictures, and I have 3 more shoots guaranteed with them this year (they did the "growing up squared" plan with me). She is so packed full of personality and just so super cute! And she really knows how to work her parents!! So I sent them away (thanks for hiding all over the house you guys)and spent some time with her and we got some great shots. Funny, but same exact dress as the other little one year old girl I did pictures for last month! Even down to the same little birthday cake clip. To top off a great shoot, not only are the pictures I took for them last year ALL over the house, Img_4418sl Img_4434sl Img_4495mo Img_4512sl Img_4478sl Img_4549sl this house has such phenomenal light- I want to rent it out as studio space! Img_4372mo Isn’t she such a doll? So super dainty and delicate.

    Well, until…Img_4412sl

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    I’m feeling like total crap still. Rash is still there (but I took some Benadryl so it’s better than it was) but my hands are all swollen, all my joints ache and I have a low fever. Back to the doctor tommorrow. After parent-teacher conferences first.

  • children & families,  personal

    new books & the hic family

    First, news from around here. Went to the bookstore today to restock some reading material for the boys. And $175 later…we are the owners of:

    • Diary of A Wimpy Kid (two volumes)
    • The Boy who Saved Baseball
    • The Lightning Thief
    • Dooby Dooby Moo (loved the whole Click Clack Moo series)
    • Duck
    • Toy Boat
    • Diary of a Fly
    • Diary of a Spider (we already own Diary of a Worm and loved that one)
    • Charlie Hits it Big
    • Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs

    Looking forward to hours of enjoyment with these. Thank god these boys all love to read. And as much as I don’t want to spend that kind of $, I feel like I can kinda justify it spending it on books. Kinda.

    We met Timmy’s BFF Jack with his mom and little brother at the bookstore. Img_0690sl_2 Img_0693sl Always good to see friends. Jen is very good at "talking me down". And after waking up this morning with a horrible red rash ALL OVER my body, I am in great need of talking down.  Its slightly itchy but it definitely has the potential to become excruciatingly itchy- it’s moving that way. The doctor seems to think it’s a reaction to either the steriods or the Prevacid he gave me on Friday. So now no more steroids. For those of you following my (crazy hypocondriac) lymph node saga, they are now much less swollen, but unfortunately still there. I am still totally freaking out that I have lymphoma ("you don’t have lymphoma!"). The doctor said my bloodwork came back with nothing out of the ordinary- still waiting on some results tommorrow. I hate this. Really.

    Business…For those of you waiting for your pictures (the other two shoots from Saturday and the rest of the wedding) I am working on it and hope to have them up by the end of this week. The wedding may be a little longer but soon, promise.

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    Had my first shoot of the day on Saturday with the hic family who came to me by way of a referral from a Christmas shoot family. If you are reading this T, thank you! They were so nice with great, sweet photogenic kids. The baby wasn’t so thrilled most of the time, but I did manage to sneak in a few good shots when he wasn’t paying attention. Mom wanted to include her (pregnant) belly cast and some breastfeeding shots during the shoot. It was a first for me and I really enjoyed it. All pictures in an album on the left, click any image on the blog to see it bigger. Hope you love them. Img_4230sl_2 Img_4198sl Img_4206sl Img_4309sl_2 Img_4241cbw Img_4347 Img_4358sl Img_4245cbw

  • personal

    Happy, yummy Easter!!

    We had such a great day today. John got the big boys up super early to get them to the 8am mass. Timmy and I stayed in bed until around 8:30 (I would’ve stayed longer but he wanted his "brekwest" so up I was). The boys got a new Wii game from the Easter Bunny (Mario v. Sonic Olympic Games), and two Kooky Pens each, along with some chocolate bunnies from grandma. Timmy got a new Planet Hero (Yuri) and was loving the chocolate and new toy.Oh, and the kid’s got great taste in chocolate. He literally spit out the "cheap chocolate" mini easter bunnies, and would only eat the expensive, hand dipped mini bunnies. Yeah, that’s my boy! Img_4873sl Img_4880sl Img_4888sl Img_4897sl

    Spent the rest of the morning baking brownies and paper bag cookies with some helpers. They were particularly helpful when it came time to licking the brownie bowl.Img_4904sl_2 Img_4906sl Img_4907sl Img_4909sl Img_4912sl Img_4901sl 

    Headed over to Grandma & Grandpa’s for dinner with the family around 4:00 and we were having such a great time we stayed til 9! The food was fantastic (lots of pasta and chicken) as was the company. The boys were worried that they wouldn’t have fun cause their cousins weren’t going to be there but they muddled thru and spent a lot of time talking with Grandpa Jack. And wrestling with Uncle Joe.Img_4949x Img_4950cbw Img_4953cbw Img_4954cbw Img_4960sl Img_4962sl 

    It was a great Easter. And I got some great shots of my very handsome boys- I’m happy. Even took a few self portraits with Timmy. Img_4918sl Img_4922sl Img_4932sl Img_4934sl Img_4940sl Img_4944sl Img_4981sl Img_4982sl Img_4986sl