Spring Break Wrap-up

You know that sound you make when you finally get to sit down when you have been running around all week? Ya. I'm totally making that sound. This spring break has been c-r-a-z-y and I am totally ready for another break now. At least it is only a few weeks until a 4 day Easter weekend.


Spring break started off with a trip to San Antonio so see Opa and Opa and introduce Miss Ellie to her Grauntie. That would be her Great Aunt Adeline, James' aunt. We just hung out around the house for the most part. Ellie and I went out to dinner with an old work friend, Adri, at Mi Tierra on Saturday night. The wait was excrutiating long, but the food was good. Note to self: don't go to a popular Mexican restaurant in downtown San Antonio for dinner during spring break. Bad idea, but getting to see Adri was awesome since she hadn't gotten to meet Ellie yet.

On Tuesday I had a newborn shoot scheduled for a little baby girl. That shoot turned out to be nearly 6 hours (a marathon!!) since she was pretty fussy and wouldn't settle. We ended up with lots of cute shots, but this one is my favorite by far. I think I'm going to get it printed as a large canvas for a sample.

Wednesday was my designated day off. Ellie and I just hung around the house and played. I think this is the first day off where I didn't have work or photography in the last month. It was nice.

Thursday was another newbie, this time the new daughter of some friends from church. She was a doll for me and only peed on 2 blankets! Whoop! Congrats Megan and Adam!

On Friday and Saturday, Penny and I worked her Mary Kay booth at Humble Trade Days and I had a display of my work. It was pretty eh, to be honest. Not a lot of traffic and mostly bargain shoppers. I think we'll try again at the fall show. The other vendors said that one was much better.

Sunday was church and editing and gearing up to go back to work. No rest for the weary I tell ya.

You have probably noticed at this point there are no pictures of Ellie in this post nor many Ellie stories. That is a serious problem that is coming up lately. I'm finding that I am spending so much time on my business to grow it into a livable income so I can stay home, that in the meantime, I'm never home and when I am, I'm still working. James has picked up a lot of my slack as a wife and mom as a result and I feel like I never get to just chill with my girl. It sucks.

So, in order to pull my priorities back in line, I've made some pretty big changes to my business. I am limiting myself to 4 sessions a month and pricing myself appropriately for a custom portrait photographer. My new pricing may end up putting me out of reach for some, but my time away from my family is worth more than what I was charging. I spend a solid 10+ hours worth of work on each session I do, and after I pay for my business expenses and taxes, I wasn't even making minimum wage. Hopefully my clients will see the value in what I am providing and will consider portraits worth saving up for and making an investment in. I've already had a couple of bookings at the new prices, so I know I must not be completely off my rocker, right?

She's Hittin' the Sauce

And by sauce, I mean puree. Yep, Ellie is officially a solids eating bambina.
 

 Note the sweet potato all over her face.

 She seems to like everything we have given her so far. She's tried sweet potatoes (obviously), carrots, peas, squash, beans, bananas, and pears.

 We've done homemade baby food for everything except a brief trip up to DFW where we used those little baby food pouches. And just so you know, baby food pouches = epic awesomeness when not a home.

In fact, Ellie likes her new diet so much that crying typically occurs when it is over. Thus, the need for this.

Christmas Eve

Better late than never....

Here are a couple shots from Ellie's first Christmas Eve, rocking her red satin dress and patent leather mary janes.

Blog-derdash!

I suck. I know. I blame Father Time for only putting 24 hours in the day. 

To prevent this from happening again, I need help. My friend Lydia told me that her sister, Sarah, calls her to tell her to blog something, so I need someone (or someones) to do that for me. Just send me an email, or a text, telling me to give a little update on the beanette. Tell me that you miss seeing those big blue eyes and want to know what her latest trick is. It'll be like an accountablitly partner. So next time you pull up this old blog to see what's new and there is nothing there, instead of wallowing in your sorrow, tell me to get on it!

She is changing so fast and getting so big (hello, 6 months!!!). It kills me that I have let the blog slip. As dear Lydia said, I want to remember these days because they will never happen again. I won't remember the few extra minutes of sleep I lose to save those memories.

Ellie's First Thanksgiving

(So at the rate I'm going, I might post about Christmas around Valentines Day)

James' family all came in to town to spend Thanksgiving with us. We all went over to my sister's house, which is about 2 blocks from me, for the festivities. She has a much bigger living space than our little shoebox of a house that accomodated the 10 people better. Included were Oma, Opa, Uncle Chris, Aunt Penny, Uncle Steve, and our friends Joe and Diana (who are expecting a baby (girl, I predict) in May).  Then, of course, James, Ellie, and I. We had a full house!

Ellie donned her My 1st Thanksgiving bib from her Nana for the occassion, although she didn't get to partake in the feast. And it was a feast! We take Thanksgiving very seriously around here. Growing up, Thanksgiving was always a big deal with tons of food. There were years when we would have a 18 pound turkey just for the 5 of us.  This year's menu included:

Turkey
Ham
Stuffing
Dressing (yep, there is a difference)
Broccoli Rice Casserole
Green Bean Casserole
Green Jello Salad
Cresent Rolls
Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Raisin Pie
Sugar-Free Pumpkin Pie
and some things I'm sure I forgot!

We also took the opportunity to snag a couple of Mommy and Ellie pictures, which are so rare. This is normally where I would put those adorable pictures, but I can't find them anywhere on the computer. So, that cell phone snap above is the only documentation of Ellie's first Thanksgiving. There goes Mom of the Year!

So, that was Ellie's Thanksgiving. How did you and your family celebrate?

The Big Announcement!

FYI: This isn't really news to some of you. Sorry about that.


So why have I been so busy that I can barely keep up with the blog lately??? This is the reason:

I started my own photography company, Fresh Light Photography, and I am already getting myself pretty dang busy. Woohoo!  Between my full-time job, Ellie, photo sessions, and picture editing, I'm going crazy, but its a good kind of crazy. My hope is to build my business enough over the next year, that by the time that James finishes his masters, I can stay home with my little girl. That would be awesome!

So, if you are in the market for family portraits, have a baby on the way, or want to document your growing kiddo, give me a hollar. I am doing a great introductory special. You can get all the details on my (other) blog, freshlightphotography.blogspot.com.

Also, Like me on Facebook. It makes me feel special.

Last Month Update Part 2

Ellie turned 3 months old on November 2! It is hard to believe that we've already had her that long. Time flies with a baby.

Things of note:
About 15 pounds
Growing like a weed
Can roll over belly to back
Sleeps sporadically at night (any tips?)

Here were her weekly pictures from the last month.

She is such a cute little stinker!


This last month, Ellie also had her first Halloween. Ellie dressed up as the most adorable bumblebee that you have ever seen.

We went and hung out at our church's Fall Festival. Really, the whole point of a costume on a baby is to show off how dang cute they look anyways.

I was a flower. I thought it was fitting considering Ellie's feeding habits.

Coming up in Part 3
That big announcement that explains why I've been neglecting this blog so much.....