Prelude to the final cut

We moved my mom and dad into their new house on Sunday. Neil and dad worked incredibly hard. What strong boys they are! :c) This adorable (I'm biased) picture is of my kiddies posing in the new kitchen. They love it at Grandma L and Grandpa B's new house. And Noah always reminds me that it's "right next to TARGET!". (And I say, "yes, I know, Noah...") I have a few other pictures, but I just had to share this one right now because it shows Maia with her cute ponies just 2 days ago. Say "bye, bye" to those ponies and her long pretty locks.

I got a call from my friend/hair stylist, Kim, this morning after my frantic email to her last night. She's going into her shop tomorrow for me. . .she is on maternity leave, however she feels my pain! She has a boy and a new baby girl. One day this might be Dawson and Ava! (I hope not for Kim's sake!)

Tomorrow Maia's beautiful hair will probably be all the way gone. I am not sure what Kim will do. My heart fills will tiny bits of pain when I think about it because there's one section that is way up about an inch from the scalp of her head. If Kim were to evenly cut it all the way around, she's have a boy hair cut. (wahhhh!!) I don't know what Kim will do to make this look okay. Think of us tomorrow around noon. We need some prayers that this mommy will make it through without crying and that Maia will sit still for the hair cut itself. It should be an interesting day. I'm already dreading it. Someone may have to drive me home.


Here's just one section where he cut it. It's different lengths like this cut all the way around her head. I can't disguise it because it really does look like Edward Scissorhands began something and didn't finish. Maia wouldn't let me take anymore pictures than this one . . .

Putting Matt aside for a moment . . .

Some exciting stuff happened yesterday in this toddler potty-training home.

Maia went all day in her big girl underwear with NO accidents! Poo and pee all in the POTTY! I can just (not) hear it now . . . no more "cha-chings" at the cash register buying diapers!!!

I thought potty training was hard with Noah; he wanted to do it when he was ready and that seemed to take for-EVER. For Maia it's been back and forth, back and forth. And that's been tiring, hard and just frustrating. But what we did was stop buying diapers all together (minus night-times) so it's not even an option and suddenly, suddenly (!) she wants to be a "big girl"!! Night time is another story, but I know we'll get there. At least there is hope. 5 years with diapers and I may may may actually be done (knock-on-wood)!! WOW. :c)

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Noah is a tiny bit sick. He isn't "acting" sick but he's been infected (very very mildly) with the Chicken Pox! (He thinks a rooster pecked him in the night!) Yes, he's had the vaccine, but there's always still the chance you can get whatever it is. And he did. Actually, most of his school has. I knew it was just a matter of time before we got it here. He has 6 spots. And he's doing fine. He can go back to school on Wednesday, pending there are no more outbreaks on him, just in time for his field trip to the zoo which his mommy is excited about :c)

Back to Matt. Susan, from WBNQ in Bloomington (101.5) has a blog and apparently she has been tracking Matt as well. She's got some great info and great pictures! And I read there that George Clooney is coming to town this weekend. (Really?! Seriously?? Oh please please!) I have a reception that I'm shooting downtown, and not till 5:00 . . . Heather and I may be doing some stalking beforehand! (It's not like we have anything better to do!) And I also read that the cute body guard who I have a few (dozen) pictures of, his name is Mark. And apparently Mark is normally Will Smith's body guard. Kinda. . . exciting :)

Off to work . . . lots of proofing to do. Check out VWC Photography's blog for the latest! (That is, if I can ever get anything done. Matt is all-consuming. He needs to leave town soon so I can get back to my REAL work!)

Wordless Wednesday ~ My Munchkins (and me) in March

I knew that once Easter Sunday came, my kids would not want their pictures taken. I just knew it. And yep, that was the case. So days before Easter I found them happy, carefree and excited about getting their pictures taken. So we quickly did a couple. They sure are growing up.

Wah wah wah . . . wee wee wee!

I cannot believe it's been over a week since I posted. I'm not going to sugar coat it, I've not been feeling too dandy.

Long story short, I've been experiencing some upper back pain located between two vertebrae up near my shoulder blades. After a week I went to the doctor a month ago back when Neil was in China. They gave me motrin and told me to come back if it didn't get better. I wasn't happy with that answer so I talked to my friend who works for a chiropractor, something I had never sought out before. She thought I needed to come in. I did and had x-rays taken. It turns out my spine is not only curved, my neck is extremely curved. You know how a banana curves? Well, that is how a person's neck is suppose to be in it's natural state, at a 45 degree angle. Mine is at a -2. Can you imagine trying to pull back that banana backwards? Yeeks. And that's my neck.

Another long story short, I've suffered unexplained headaches for over 10 years now. I've had CT scans, MRI's, seen 3 neurologists, etc., and no one ever found the cause. It appears the chiropractor did. With my neck beginning to curve the opposite way, my spinal column is also being pushed the opposite way putting lots and lots of pressure in that area probably attributing to my headaches. It was a HUGE blessing in disguise. When he told me this I started to cry because for the first time I had an answer and it was at a time when I wasn't even looking for one. I had totally given up on finding a cure for my headaches. Bad news was, he didn't find anything around those vertebrae causing the pain. I've now started seeing the doctor 3 times a week and I definitely notice change in my neck area. Unfortunately not my back. So last week I went back to my general doctor and he seemed a bit worried this time. He lined me up with a CT scan of my back. I had that done on Thursday. I still haven't gotten those results back yet. I was incredibly worried - so much so that I haven't been myself, I've been on the verge of panic attacks and experienced a really bad migrane (wah wah wah). But I think I've realized this is out my hands. Hopefully today or tomorrow I will find what is wrong. Heck, maybe it's nothing?! But hopefully if it is something, it's treatable. That is why I haven't been around. I haven't had the energy emotionally or mentally to think about my blog. So that's my "wah wah wah" part of this post. I'm done with the "Wah-ing" and ready to move on for the time being. (yay me.)

This is the "wee wee wee" part.

I got two super neat-o packages in the mail last week!!! One from a very dear friend who moved away to MS. Jen sent me the yummiest package of cookies, which she beautifully made herself, as a super sweet surprise.

I think I am the only person she knows other than her mom who looooooves anise cookies. What's anise? You know . . . black licorice?? Mmmmmmmm . . . I can smell it just talking about it. Those yummy-to-my-tummy treats were gone in just 3 days all by myself. Oh my goodness are they the best. Jen and I are two black licorice peas-in-a-pod. We also crave and adore Good-N-Plenty's. Anyone else?!

Then a couple days later I received another box. This time when I picked it up, I really questioned it. "What is this?!" Well, as soon as I opened it up and saw a card inside with the logo of the product on it, I knew just what it was and who it was from. It made my day sparkle. Can you guess?!?!
I then
took out
the paper
and
inside the box
were
these 6
very pretty . . . .

{make sure you click on the picture to see what it says because it's been custom-designed and it's just way too cool!}

. . . SHARPIES from my friend, Amanda, my BBBF who sent me these as my winning prize at her (amazingly fabulously awesome) blog for .. . drumroll . . . this is kinda embarrassing . . . being her most commenting commenter! (I'm going into hiding now.) Really, though, it's SUCH an honor!!! I've had such fun at her blog over the past year and all the while I've grown to really known her and we've became the greatest friends, hence the "BBBF" which means Best Blogging Buddies Forever. We have so much alike all the way down to our love for VW's and Converse. Thanks, a, I really love you, friend! (Here is her prize-giving post!)

Lastly, two exciting bits. One is, I signed up Noah for summer t-ball last week! He wasn't so excited at first, but now that's all he talks about. I played softball for 8 years in school and then 2 more years once out of college. I looooove baseball and hope he acquires a love of it just like his mommy. His grandparents absolutely cannot wait to come see him play. It's going to be such a fun summer. I can't wait.

And lastly, I spent a lot of time during my not-myself days last week in back pain putting up pictures on my VWC blog. So check 'em out if you have time . . . there are a lot. And also, I wasn't going to say anything yet, but I might as well. At the end of May I am going to Chicago for a weekend to do shoots with some of my Chicago clients and if there is anyone else interested, let me know! The appointments are filling up quickly. I'm just in awe of the response and feeling really really really excited about it. It's going to be so so much fun shooting in downtown Chicago. It'll be a dream come true for me.

Okay, enough of my notorious rambling. I've missed you all and I hope next time I'm here, it's to give a (positive) back update.

A few pictures from last week while Neil was away in China

* A surprise gift that I got in the mail from a friend in Chicago so that we could keep busy (isn't she the greatest?!)

* At these twins' home, I walked in the door and saw this and could hardly believe my eyes.

* Here is one sneak peak into another shoot I did. Something totally different for me!

* While Neil was gone, I experienced a lot of these with Maia. Many of you got emails of panic and frustration from me during this time.

* And here is the color we painted, and the final result. What do you think?!?

* The ketchup Neil brought me back from China

* To see more of my basement and others from this set (which I think contain some fun pictures), view them here!

Birthday Pictures!

You only get a few b-day pictures first because it takes me a lot of time to upload pics and I have limited time with my dear Erin, so here's just a handful from the kids' birthday . . . then we're off to have a girlie day without kids and tonight we'll post some Halloween bash pictures. So be patient ladies and gentlemen! They are coming!

We had a great birthday celebration. So many friends and family and even though my kids were sick, they really enjoyed the day and so did mommy and daddy (and our special guest, Erin). It's so hard to catch everything you want to as a mommy and as my kids' photographer, but, well, these will do. Happy 2nd and 4th birthdays to my beautiful babies!

Sand box messes & Reminiscing

I think Maia is trying to wean herself out of her naps. Some days I find her fighting me to go down, even 3 hours past the time she normally takes a nap, and other days she goes down perfectly, like today.

Yesterday was one of those days where she would not go down. She "talked" in her bed for an hour before I finally got her out. So instead of sleeping yesterday afternoon, she played.

We have a sand box at this house and the kids love it. Because of the messes that it creates, after they are done playing in it I always immediately take them to the bath. Yesterday was another sand box afternoon.

As soon as they were done in the sandbox, Noah went next door with his new little best friends, Lucas, 5, and Brevin, 4. He is in safe hands with Nikki, so I left him over there and gave Maia her bath.

After her bath she decided she wanted "on the couch" to watch "Bunge-bob" with her "towel" (she strangely loves towels). So I did. I went to clean up a few things in the house and came back 5 minutes later with clothes to put on her and I found her like this:Curled up on the couch . . . naked. It was 5:00 when I found her like this, so needless to say, she didn't sleep long. It was a long night for her last night without a much needed nap (we had mom's group in the morning and she played there, too). Neil did great putting up with her grouchy-ness while I worked.

So I've been reminiscing a lot the last week or so. This weather makes me remember being pregnant. I was very pregnant with both my kids this time of year in 2003 and 2005. Noah was born on the 15th, and Maia on the 18th. I remember going to the pumpkin patch both years very preggo and even shooting weddings, both years, the first weekend in October (38 weeks pregnant and swelling like you wouldn't believe). That was rough. Really rough. Thank God for patient clients and great friends like Mike, Nora & Heather.

Last year I wasn't able to reminisce too much. Grandpa was sick. Very sick. A year ago today he was in the nursing home. It was just last August that he went to the doctor where they found he had an intestinal cancer. So so quickly after that he went down hill.

I'm having a difficult time right now as I think about him a lot right now. I tried to visit him every couple days in the nursing home. Maia and Noah went with me a lot, also. It was hard. But I'm so glad I did it as often as I did.

Anyway, because grandpa was so on my mind every day, I didn't think much about the prior Octobers or even think about my children's birthdays. I was suppose to have a Halloween party last year and 2 kid birthday parties. They all sorta failed. They'll never remember that, and I'm not upset about it. More than anything I wanted to be there for grandpa. I knew I would not have him this year. I knew he wasn't going to make it. I knew I had to get ready for that. All parties and reminiscing could wait.

So this year I reminisce a lot. I remember all of the last 4 Octobers very very well:

4 Octobers ago I was very pregnant with Noah.
3 Octobers ago we celebrated my first child's 1st birthday -- and grandpa was there. I still remember it like yesterday. What a great celebration!
2 Octobers ago, Maia was born.
And last October grandpa died.

On a happy, funny, oh-my-gosh-look-at-Val note, this is what I looked like just 2 years ago:
Yeah, I was big.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Miss you all still as I try to put my life back in order. Hope to be back sooner than later. Happy October!!

Swimming in August

Probably our last time at a pool this summer. The kids had a blast. Thought I'd share a few.