Ethan 08/31

Well, I made my weekly trip to see Ethan a day early since tomorrow is a holiday. I timed it just perfect because it was feeding time. The nurse checked his heartbeat, changed his diaper and wiped his mouth while getting him ready for feeding time. This made for a perfect opportunity to get some great shots. In fact, I believe these are the best ones yet. Since Ethan was awake, we tried my son's baby ring on his big toe again and I do believe that he is getting bigger. One of my favorite shots is where he has his hands held out as if to say "Go away lady - no more pictures." He probably thinks I am the paparazzi coming to photograph him every week.

Ethan 08/25

I went to see Ethan again today and he is getting bigger. I have known Ethan's dad since he was very little. I have memories of him at age 3 riding kiddie rides at Holiday World. Our parents were close friends growing up. Today Ethan had a look on his face and I had a revelation - he looks just like his dad! Anyway, he was very wiggly today and kept moving his hands around so I have lots of hand pictures. He also smiled at me. I know, most people say it is just gas, but it kinda makes you melt when someone so little smiles at you. Here are a few more of my favorites from today's visit. I almost forgot...he was blowing spit bubbles at me too. He must have wanted me to get the camera out of his face and let him sleep.

The Rules of 2nd Shooting

Actually, there are no rules but I made up three rules this past Saturday while second shooting with my friend Matt.
1. Try something new
2. Use my big zoom lens (I paid big bucks for that and it is heavy!)
3. Leave the flash in the bag
I think I did a pretty good job of following my own rules. The wedding was a private ceremony at Carol's Garden in New Harmony. It was in late afternoon and was a beautiful ceremony. The only problem is that the mosquitos were out in numbers. On Sunday, I kept wondering how they were able to bite through clothing, until I figured out that what I have is not mosquito bites but about 20 chigger bites. So, after the wedding I decided to make another rule for shooting outdoors:
4. Stay on the path! (there are numerous signs stating this, but I will do anything for a better shot)
So, here are quite a few favorites from this wedding:

Wargel Family

Last week I met Ryan and Jenna at Burdette for a family photo session. It was a beautiful morning to enjoy the park and take some pictures along the way. The boys had lots of fun on their Gator and watching the ducks. Here are a few favorites from the session:

Ethan 08/18

I made my Monday morning trip to the hospital to visit Baby Ethan and he is doing well. I have been trying to think of how I could show how small this baby is all week and on the way to the hospital I had an idea. I always wear Andrew's baby ring on a necklace so it is always with me and I thought that might show how small Ethan is. So, when I washed up, I also cleaned the baby ring so that I could use it in some pictures. I knew it would be big on Ethan, but I was surprised how I had forgotten just in a week's time how small he is. I put the baby ring on Ethan's big toe and it almost looks like an adult's ring in the picture that I took. You can also see the nurse's hands in the picture, again showing his size. This is definitely a miracle baby!

Ethan 08/11

Baby Ethan came into this world weighing in at 1 pound and 9.3 ounces. He was born 13 weeks early to a close family friend. He is now almost a month old and just over 2 pounds. I will be documenting his progress weekly for his family so that when he is a big boy, he will be able to look back at how tiny he was. Here are a few of his first pictures:

My First Dress Trashing!

When I met with Laura and Eric just before their July 26th wedding, they asked if they could do an E-session after the wedding. I mentioned a "Trash the Dress" session to them and they loved the idea! We started out in comfy clothes at Eric's Uncle's cabin in Rockport and ended in their wedding clothes. We photographed them with horses and with their dogs (which were great danes and about as big as horses!) My friend Matt, who helped me with their wedding, tagged along so that he could "play" as well. All in all, I think we had a great session and were able to get some relaxed portraits without worrying about getting the dress dirty. Laura commented that the cleaner will love them since she was covered in horse hair by the end of the evening.

Wall-e July 2008 to August 2008

I really hate to be the bearer of bad news, but our little kitty didn't make it. He was doing very well during the day and in the evening he started to look very tired and refused his bottle. He was breathing hard and panting so we thought it was stress. When I went back to check on him he was almost not breathing. He died in David's arms while I went to our neighbor's (she used to be a vet tech). By the time I got back to the house, he was gone. I wasn't sure if my son understood what happened until he asked if he could shake the box that Wall-e was getting ready to buried in. I told him no and he said "But Mom, he isn't in there. He is in kitty heaven." He kept wanting to pet him so we buried him at 9:30 last night. Andrew is going to keep his teddy bear that he slept on in the cage. I wish I had taken a picture of him curled up on top of it. Cute as a button! I leave you with a few images that I took of him last night in our back yard around 5:30.

Wall-e update

Well, our little kitty is doing much better today. He is a little pig when it comes to drinking milk and ends up with a white beard when he is finished. He has gained a couple of ounces since Friday night and he is starting to eat moist kitten food. I think he is going to make it. He loves chasing my 5 year old son through the grass but it is too funny because he gets lost in the grass because it is taller than he is. (and hubby just mowed!) We are looking for a home for this little guy if anyone is interested. The vet said he is about 4-5 weeks old and very underweight. We have arrangements for him to go to a foster home this week and be with a mommy kitty that can nurse him. Then PAAWS said that we can have him back if we have a home for him or if we want to keep him. We already have 2 cats and really don't need another one, so I am hoping to find him a good home. If any of my readers know of anyone looking for a sweet kitty, send them my way!