It's been a while.

Wow! Updating this makes me feel like I'm dusting spiderwebs off of my laptop to blog! I haven't updated here in well over a year! A lot of things have changed: I've switched jobs and went back to my old job at a local grocery store. Sean changed jobs a few times and is currently at a Landscaping job. Callie turned 1, Addison turned 2, and Gunner turned 4! I'm now the mom of 3 kids who can walk and (somewhat) talk! It's pretty intense. I've changed college majors, gotten a new car, my mom had a mini stroke (but she is doing alright now). My grandma had a heart attack, My sister had a major man change in her life.. just SO MANY THINGS. One of my cousins who I was so super close to growing up, who also just recently moved back home, got married and I did the photos for his wedding. It's just amazing to look at the BIG things that happen in a year. What about all those little things? First teeth, a baby that crawled who now walks... that very first birthday that never comes again, and all those times I wish I would've gotten better pictures but I am too lazy to pull out my DSLR all that much anymore. Poor d90 has been abandoned a lot in a year! I am, however, going to be doing Fall Mini sessions at some point next month... and I've reached over 5,000+ pictures on Instagram - which is like, seriously -- the best app ever. If you don't have one, c'mon now.. it's 2013. You totally should.

Anyway, I will leave you with some pictures of my kiddos. If you happen to stop by here, feel free to leave a comment. I think I'm gonna dust this place off a little and sparkle it up some! I've missed my thirty {teensy} toes. ♥


Gunner playing in the sandbox at the park.


Callie wasn't too happy after waking up from a nap.


Addy is a whole lot sweeter than she appears sometimes! ;)


My cousin Justin and his new bride, Ashley.


And again! I hope you two have a long, happy life together. ♥

My 3 year old love.

I rarely get good photos of him, so his pictures seem so few and far between the girls. I've found myself feeling guilty, almost like since he's my firstborn I've betrayed him or pushed him to the side. Now, I know this seems silly but I don't ever want him to feel left out! Not in blog posts, not at home, not at school.. not anywhere, ever. But don't we all want the best for our children? Ah, anyway. I think I'm getting a bit drowsy, finding myself blabbing on about things that probably just seem silly at the time.

I just look into his little brown eyes and I can't believe how much my life has changed. I went from one lifestyle to a whole new lifestyle. I knew nothing about being a mother. I never pictured myself having kids, and to be honest, especially not before more than half of my friends were! Now here I am, what I feel like is a good mother -- and 3 beautiful, healthy children later. I couldn't be more thankful.

But, alas, they're growing up on me.. minute by minute.




Gunner Trace


Callie Brynn

Independence Day 2012!

I hope you all had a Happy 4th of July! I spent the day with the kids, Sean, my aunt & her family and I had a surprise visit from my mom and Dave.. and another aunt of mine! It was nice. We grilled, chilled.. and then went to a fireworks show at the local City Park, which turned out better than we had all imagined (minus the 4983984 people and crazy traffic)! Anyway, here are a few pictures from my day, and I hope you all had a lovely holiday!


Wanna swim?


Little Addy buns...


Bubby ♥


More scrunchy baby buns!


"Here sissy, swim! Get in da water!"


Callie, in mid-nap


Gunner Trace & Addison Reese after their swim!


Callie Brynn

Anddd... the fireworks!

Callie Brynn is 1 month old!

Today is July 1st, which marks that Callie is now 1 month old. Time is flying by! Here are a few pictures from over the past month... and then one of her celebrating her 1 month old milestone!

















One month old.

Touch-Up Tuesday: Callie Brynn {newborn outtake}

I rarely ever have time to do much of anything, short of juggling my time with 3 little children. I often forget to eat, brush my hair, and barely find time to shower! But today I managed to shoot not just one, but all three of my children's pictures (after I worked on Callie's newborn pictures). I even had time to edit a few and upload one.. and then after that, I managed to create a new cover photo on Facebook! Whoa doggy, supermom much? In case you haven't noticed, I'm still learning to manage my time between all three of them since I'm not quite used to it yet.. and I'm home alone with them all, all day long.

Nonetheless, I managed to get a few shots of Callie (who wasn't tired at all) and thus, they were all of her awake! She only cooperated so long before she grew tired of my camera (and irritated at me and my many hats, headbands, different positions & so on, so forth)... but anyway! I wanted to take this time to jump into a Touch-Up Tuesday photo challenge because I've been wanting to get back into them for a while and I've missed having time to edit! Not to mention, oh hey - she's cute, right? Outtake or not, I just love her to pieces!

Touch-Up Tuesday

Before | SOOC


After | Edited

more baby callie talk!

it's confirmed: june 01st is my set induction date. i'm so nervous! but i'm also very excited. it's less than 3 weeks away! more like 18 days! i also get to have my tubal surgery done the next morning, which will be a saturday, but my doctor is awesome and isn't making me stay in the hospital and wait until monday and then have to turn around and stay in there even longer after the surgery. so i'm glad to have it done saturday first thing! i'm really really nervous and i have so many things to do to prepare, but at the same time... i'm so beyond ready! i'm ready to have my daughter here, i'm ready to be un-pregnant and healing, i'm ready to have a family of 5.

my kids are growing like weeds! addison is starting to walk. gunner is smarter than ever and is getting ready to (hopefully) start pre-school this year. so many things going on! i just don't even know where to start to think about time for me going back to school! i guess things will all fall into place eventually!

oh, and i'm not sure if we ever posted it.. but we decided on callie brynn. i've also racked up more baby clothing and i've got to wash my bedding and carseat and all of that and i'll be a bit more prepared! still some clothes to get, though!

pregnancy blabbing.

so, i'm due june 08th with our third child. every other wednesday, i have centering group. for those of you who don't know what that is, it's pretty much like group therapy or birthing class.. minus all the birthing talk and a little more of general pregnancy talk. it gives us a lot of time to bond with mothers who are also around the same due date, etc etc. i have the most children out of anyone in the group and our june group ranges from people who are 18-19 years old to about 30 years old, lol. there are 2 other girls in there that each are due with their 2nd child and then the rest are first timers. it's pretty neat.. i can't believe this pregnancy is almost over, though. it's went by rather quickly. not sure if it's because i've just kind of ignored the fact that i was pregnant because i've focused so much on my 3 year old and my 10 month old daughter.. or what, but yeah.

yesterday we decided that most likely, i will be induced on june 01st. i've had a lot of blood pressure problems as well as pain/pressure, varicose veins and so on and so forth this time around. i was induced with both of my other children so i'm pretty used to the procedure, although they were two very different birth experiences. this time, i've decided to just let her break my water & rather than be hooked up to an IV with pitocin, i am going to try and labor on my own, naturally without medication (or at least as much as possible). hopefully things progress okay and we don't have to go another route, but if not.. we'll deal with that as the time comes.

anyway. june 01st is only about 3.5 weeks away and i'm really nervous. when i had addison, i donated and gave away all of her newborn and 0-3 months stuff to friends and whatnot. i didn't expect to have another baby this soon. now.. miss addy is only almost 11 months old (her first birthday will be june 14th) and i'm already due to have a newborn! so i've got to repurchase all of the early clothing and whatnot. stressssful. baby #3, aka callie brynn, only has 2 outfits. lol crazy. i can't believe i haven't been more prepared, but i'll manage! hopefully i manage to get a little more prepared before she's born.

i'm nervous because i'm also choosing to have my tubes tied this time and surgery terrifies me, but i know it needs to be done. shortly after i get fixed, i'm hoping sean goes along with getting his own procedure done as well.. but we all know how men are!

anyway, now the countdown begins.