Little Love

Friday we went to Logan as I was shooting a wedding this weekend. Right before we left, I wanted to try out a few new props I had gotten. Porter is changing and growing so fast and I feel like I don't take many pics of him. I am in no way a newborn photographer, but I have to try right?! Anyways, there were some cute ones for sure, but the execution didn't come quite like I had anticipated. I will try again next week! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this baby. He is just so sweet and snuggly!

Porter Ward-An Amazing Birth Story

Porter Ward
July 16, 2013
8 lbs 5 onces
20.5 inches

After all the complications and illnesses with Lincoln's Birth Story, I seriously NEVER wanted to have another baby again. No, seriously. It was that dramatic for me! I never got baby hungry ONCE either. Which apparently is not common for most women. But then... in January of 2012, I started feeling like it was time to have another baby. I fought this feeling off for so many reasons. I absolutely was NOT doing that again. The feeling kept nagging at me for a few months. Finally, I stopped fighting the feeling and decided it was time to just trust Heavenly Father. Last fall, I was a few days late and took a pregnancy test. It was negative. I remember feeling a little sad and irritated at myself for being hopeful. Then I got this STRONG feeling that it was going to happen next month. I brushed off that feeling and went about my life, figuring it may take another 5 years like it did with Lincoln.

 The beginning of Novermber, we were set to head out to Vegas to do some family sessions. The morning we were suppose to leave, Jory had gone to work to finish a job. I remember waking up (knowing I was maybe a day or two late)and just walking to the closet and getting a pregnancy test without even thinking or any hesitation. It seriously was the weirdest thing ever. And just like the test I took with Lincoln, that second line appeared seconds after the first line. I was SHOCKED AND FLOORED. It had only been 8 months!!! I did not think this was even possible. This pregnancy was A LOT harder then the first. I was SO SICK!! We seriously thought it was a girl with how sick I was. But we are so happy with our little Porter. He is just perfect and I am beyond smitten with this baby.

 Unlike Lincoln's birth story, Porter's is so simple, quick and 100 times easier. During my pregnancy I kept telling myself this was the LAST time I was doing this and no more homemade babies for me. I told Jory he needed to open his heart to adoption or find a second wife if he wanted more babies. Seriously, I hate being pregnant! I ended up having gestation diabetes as well-which I like to call the "starvation diet." That was miserable as well.

 Our due date was July 21 and we were planning on another c section. Believe me, I was so beyond scared to do that again. Everyone-including my Dr kept telling me that the recovery from the second c section is A LOT better. It seriously made me feel only a little better. We were told that July 16th was the only date they had the week before to do the c section. We gladly took it. I was not going to wait one more week for my Dr to get back into town. I love him, but was DONE being prego.

 The day before we had Porter, I was scared to death, stressed out and on edge. I cried a lot that day. So many emotions were just getting the best of me. Luckily, we have this AMAZING friend named Cort who is always willing to come give me a blessing. I am so grateful for the men that worthily hold the priesthood. I NEED this in my life. He came over later that night and gave me a beautiful blessing-as he always has. I am so grateful for him in our lives. It was the ONLY thing that helped me calm down. Well, that and a fabulous pedicure I made myself go get! ;) I felt so much more calm and peaceful after that. Not that I was able to sleep much that night, but I at least I wasn't freaking out anymore!

 I woke up 4:30am July 16th to get ready to head to Orem Community Hospital. I was so excited to meet this baby, not be prego and start a new chapter in my life. We got to the hospital about 5:30am and checked in. We had the most AMAZING nurse who helped prep me. She truly took such good care of me that day. As we were prepping, I started to get scared again and she could tell. She was beyond kind and compassionate while trying to calm my fears. Dr Haward was the one that delivered Porter and he was so nice as well. I started getting really scared as I walked into the OR room. It was so white and sterile. At the same time, it was really quiet and almost peaceful in there. The anesthesiologist was AMAZING! I talked to him about what I was scared about and he told me what why those things happened and what he was going to do about them. As soon as these things started happening, he was QUICK to jump in and take care of them to make me feel better. The whole time, my nurse was there holding on to me and holding my hands to comfort me while telling me I was doing a great job. She kept talking to me about different things and it helped calm me down so much!

 Shortly after, Jory joined my side. I could tell he was a little nervous as well. Some how that made me feel a little better. Dr Haward walked in and we started the surgery. I couldn't tell the were slicing me open like I could with Lincoln. He told me I was going to feel some pressure. I felt a small amount and then I heard him say, "Ok, baby is out!" Really?! That was it?? It was amazing to actually be able to watch them clean and work on my little baby. They left him by my face for more then 2 seconds and I just felt such a sweetness about this boy. I was full of gratitude that he is all mine. I loved him right away!

After they stitched and stapled me, they wheeled me back to my room. That's when the nausea and dizziness hit. Bleh... there truly is nothing more I hate then those two things! It felt like forever until they brought my baby to me. It was amazing to be able to hold him. Niether of us were sick or had any complications. My main complaint is that the morphine and percoset make me feel so sick and dizzy After a day and a half, I just quit taking the percoset. I was able to go home on Friday and I was seriously so sad to go home. The nurses were so amazing and took such good care of me. I literally cried when I got home. Overall, it was such a good experience this time. Today my little boy is already one week old and it has gone by so quickly! I really hate that it goes by so fast and how quickly they grow! Here are some pics I took the Sunday after he was born! Isn't he so darling?!

I LOVE this one of my two cute boys together! Lincoln caught a butterfly and wanted to show his little brother so he stuck it on his head. ha ha ha ha....

He's Here!

Our sweet little Porter arrived July 16th at 8:53am. We are beyond in love and smitten with him. He is so sweet. Truly, we feel so blessed and grateful to have him in our home and arms. Everything went remarkably well this time around. I will write his Birth Story soon, but wanted to post a cute little image we had done in the hospital.

Last Night...

This happened...

This is one of my very dear friends Alexis. She is getting married in September and I couldn't be more happy for her and Chris. They are literally perfect for each other. I LOVE shooting at the UT Lake Boat docks and was teasing them saying they should just off the docks at the very end. And they did... NO ONE has ever wanted to and gave me a raised eye brow. Not these two. It was awesome! I have shot 2 bridals, and Engagement this week all ready. Today I am shooting a wedding and then taking a (very) small break for a few weeks. I can't wait! Last wedding before little guy gets here!!

Baby's Room Sneak Peak

Lincoln and I have been working on baby's room.  Now that we know there's about 5 days to go, I SERIOUSLY am in panic and nesting mode. Truly, it is driving me crazy! We got a lot done today and I am feeling a little more prepared. Please don't ask about the rest of the house though. Geez... Anyways, here's a little sneak peak of baby's room. Still lots to do and I am ashamed that I am far too lazy to take out my good camera to take pics. I seriously hate camera phone quality!

Like I said, just a small sneak peak with lots still to do and projects to finish. I really LOVE decorating baby's nurseries. 

Lincoln LOVES the new glider-as do I!!! It glides so easily without having to use much stomach muscle-which is nice for a recovering c section! I am having someone custom make some bedding (we are trading for photography-yes please!!!) and hopefully that will be ready soon! I am so excited for how everything is coming together. It will be super cute when it's all finished!

9 Years Later...

   I should be working right now. I have a huge (and AMAZING) bridal session that needs to be edited right away. Instead, I have been going through our blog from way back when admiring how skinny I was, how we went to Hawaii and actually did a lot of fun stuff. I took a lot of cool pics for me-not just my clients. What has happened to my life?! My sister in law Dayle and I were talking about how we need to be living it up and having fun in life. So very true. Fun these days consists of staying up late mopping my floors while Lincs is in bed. Ummmm... yeah, I smell the need for change. Very badly.

     Today is also our 9th anniversary. Life has been so chaotic that we both kind of forgot about it. I figured the cliche thing to do would be to post some wedding pics, but then I looked at them and decided against that idea. Jory looked a little stressed out in many of them. So then as I was going through our blog, I came across Kade and Jessica's wedding. They got married in July of 2008. 2 days after our anniversary. We both looked pretty damn good that day, so I will post those.

   And how did we celebrate our forgotten anniversary today? We went and saw Dr Baxter today. Things still look good with this baby and we were going to do our c section on the 22nd because that's when he'd be back from vacation, but I am shooting a wedding on the 27th and felt like that wouldn't be enough recovery time. Both of us feel REALLY bad that we are now going to have another Dr do it. I TRULY love my dr, but I need to do what's best for my health. We could tell Baxter felt bad too. :( ANYWAYS... if all goes well, this little boy is set to arrive on July 16th. We are excited and scared all at the same time. 2 kids... WOW! We know we can do it, but we are still freaking out about it all. Some how we will make it through.

    This evening we went to dinner. Oh how I LOVE going out to dinner-minus Lincoln who likes to create scenes and be a drama king. The server went to seat us in a booth and apparently my belly is larger then life because I LITERALLY could not fit! NOT JOKING HERE!! It was so embarrassing but I couldn't help but laugh. So we had to be seated else where. Nice... I had scheduled a bridal session this evening (remember, we forgot it was our anniversary) so Jory and Lincoln came along since it was up the canyons and Lincoln LOVES going to the mountains!

    We still have A LOT to do around the house to get things ready. All I really want to do is take a torch to this house and start fresh and new else where. Sorry, but the truth is what it is! I am so limited with what I can help with and it's been beyond discouraging. I have still been feeling super sick a lot. In fact, today was one of those days. I just feel like I have the stomach flu all the time anymore! Can't wait to get this baby out of me! Then, I am going to get super skinny again and I can't wait for that either. I probably shouldn't mention that I can't wait to be able to eat a chocolate, caramel apple again either while saying I can't wait to get super skinny too eh?! ;)

Life...

Life has been a little overwhelming lately. Well, make that this whole pregnancy actually. We seriously thought we were having a girl with how sick I was and how much worse this pregnancy has been. Mother's Day I was really sick and thought I had the stomach flu, but Lincoln never caught it so I knew it wasn't that. Turns out, I haven't felt well at all since then. I have so much to do and want to do before this baby comes. Our house is a complete disaster as we are remodeling, re arranging and getting a new roof. We are both so overwhelmed living in the state of chaos over here. I want to scrub my house clean and have it smell of Pine Sol! I seriously am obsessed with the smell of it. I just want to sit and sniff it! Yesterday I gave my bathroom a good scrub down and my back was in horrid PAIN just after mopping the small floor. It truly made me depressed. Our whole house is tile or hardwood....

 I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes not too long ago. It has been HARD! I like to call it the starvation diet. Seriously. 30 grams of carbs for breakfast?? Really?? Super mean for a prego woman! I have had to see a perinatologist, a dietician, weekly dr visits, weekly non stress tests and ultra sounds. Todays ultra sound showed that the baby is measuring in a 7.3 lbs and I still have 3 weeks to go. I am scared I will give birth to a walking toddler with a full set of teeth. As of right now, my c section is scheduled for the 22nd of July. I told my Dr I can't wait that long and as he will be out of town the week before the c section, we will discuss the possibility of having another Dr do it when I see him again next week. Things that are up in the air stress me out. BAD. I truly do love my Dr and would rather him be there through it all, but I feel like I need to do what's best for me and my baby's health. I have been so sad (and super MAD) since I found out he was leaving town when I needed him to be around. Although I am scared to death to have two kids, I need to not be pregnant anymore. Or ever again. I can't believe HOW HARD it has been on my body and health. It has been very depressing to constantly feel this way. My mom was down visiting one weekend and we were talking about how hard pregnancy is on a woman's body. She had 7 kids! She started out young and had her last at 33. She was telling Jory that the is such a HIGE difference having them young vs my age and that it truly is so much harder. I keep telling Jory he may need to open his heart up to adoption cuz I am more sure then not that I just can't do this one more time. Ultimately I would LOVE to travel to Africa (I always have actually) and adopt a beautiful black baby girl.

 Lincoln has been missing school and riding the bus. Everyday for a week straight, he would bring his toy school bus into my room, point to it and say "Bus" He LOVES riding the bus and it makes me sad that he misses school. I can tell he is lonely and wants to play with friends so badly! Luckily school starts back up next month. Lincoln has improved on his speech quite a bit and we both see that he tries sooo hard to talk and say different words. Lincoln's current obsession is Thomas the Train and we are beside ourselves on this one. It has been unbearable at times when all he wants to watch is that stupid movie OVER AND OVER again. EVERY time we are at the store, he wants a new train. We have to go shopping in shifts now while the other stays at home watching him. Seriously, it's out of control going to Target with him. Poor boy, thinks he has no choo-choos! HA HA AH HA!!! He is our little love though and he knows it! We are excited for him to meet his little brother, but a little worried how he will react. But I am not giving this baby back, so we'll work through it! ;)

 We were able to have a 3D ultra sound done of our baby a few weeks ago (while he still was a baby!) and I loved being able to see his little face so clearly. I was in AWE and fell head over heels for him. Since then, my arms have been aching to hold him. I am smitten with his chubby cheeks! The actual ultra sound looked a lot better then the image they gave me and then I took a picture of it with my phone, so it doesn't look that great, but he's still pretty cute.