First Days of School - Sarasota Children's Photographer

It's hard to believe that my first baby is already in Pre-kindergarden. Madelyn started school on Monday at St. Paul's Early Childhood Learning Center. She will be going five mornings a week. She was slightly apprehensive in the morning but was quite fired-up about her new backpack and polka dot glitter Converse. She finished her first day with the exclamation of "It was AWESOME!". She didn't have a ton to say other than that. Her teacher is Ms. Bridget and the teacher's assistant is Ms. Jackie.








Thomas started preschool at St. Paul's today. He will be going two mornings a week. His teachers name is Ms. Jennifer. He was attempting to put on a brave face this morning at drop-off, but I could tell he wasn't feeling all too brave. He was most excited about his new backpack. He spared Mama the tears at drop-off, but did report that he cried a lot because "I missed my Mama and Daddy and Caroline". He finished with saying he was happy too. When I walked into his class to pick him up, he was happily playing dress-up (sporting a cool cowboy hat and a pearl purse).










Here's hoping that all the fun will tire them out enough that I can get in a quick nap.

SWEET CAROLINE

On Friday, August 14, 2009, at 7:32 AM, Caroline Belle was born. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces and 21 inches long. Our biggest baby in weight and length by a good amount. She was born with a full head of thick, dark black hair and her complexion is much darker than Madelyn's or Thomas's. Her eyes are the typical non-descripr newborn grayish right now, but at times look quite blue.

She certainly surprised me, since I was about 90% sure she was a boy. I have to admit, she was nameless for nearly 48 hours. Caroline Belle was our top "girl" name, but after seeing her, I wasn't sure it fit her. But, she is so, so incredibly sweet. It was Saturday night/early Sunday morning when I decided she would be Caroline Belle, and now I can't believe I doubted it to begin with. She is a very easy gong baby. She sleeps soundly and loves to snuggle. She's got her days and nights mixed up a little bit, but is pretty happy even at night, as long as she's being snuggled or swaddled.

I of course, will have a million and one pictures to share at some point, but wanted to post some quick snap shots from the hospital.



She was already baking in the Florida Sun this morning. She has borderline high bilirubin levels, so in addition to getting extra blood work done for monitoring, she needs to get some indirect sunlight as well. She seemed to love it actually.

One more sleep...

The kids have kept a calendar for the past month or so, marking off days until the baby comes. We are down to "one more sleep" and I can't believe it. Part of me feels like I've been pregnant for 2 years and the other part feels like it was just yesterday.

I had intentions of getting maternity shots done, I have two photographer friends that were willing, but I just never got it together. So, of course, the anal retentive, type A, crazy me decided I needed a couple pictures tonight. It was nearly dark, we had all gotten caught in the rain, I had on no make-up, and the grass was wet. So, certainly not the best technically and sadly, someone had to take the picture, so Bjorn is left out. But, there are a couple memories of me and my big ole belly one last time.

One more sleep and I will meet the little one that has been giving me love taps (punches, kicks and jabs) for the past 39 weeks. We'll know if we will have another princess or another little dude.

So, for anyone willing, I'd love lots of positive thoughts and prayers for a HEALTHY baby and a safe delivery and surgery tomorrow.

Today's Delivery -Sarasota Newborn Photographer

Bet I had you fooled, at least for a minute. I'm still pregnant, scheduled eviction date is Friday the 14th. But, today, I delivered an order to Baby Mack's family. I had the pleasure of photographing Little Mack when he was exactly two weeks old. Here are just a couple of images from his session.

The First

This is my first official post to the new blog. I will start off with some personal information. In just 12 days at the most, I will have baby #3 in my arms. We do not know the sex yet. Madelyn, my four-year old daughter, thinks she will have a new baby sister. Thomas, my two-year old son, is betting he will have a new baby brother. I have been in the nesting stage for a good week now, so I think we might actually be ready. Of course, I can make lists and lists of things that need to be done before the new little one's arrival, but of course, those are all just lists and the baby will come whether I've checked them off or not. So, in the mean time, we are enjoying the last days as a family of four, getting in extra snuggle and cuddle time when possible and doing some of the things that will be challenging with a newborn.

So, to get some comments going, I pose a challenge to all of you. Post your guess on the new baby's sex, size, and date of arrival.