32 Week Prenatal Appointment

I had my 32-week prenatal appointment today with my doctor here in Montana. She's so wonderful.

So far, things with this pregnancy are looking good. I gained four pounds since my last visit.. which I think is mostly a growth spurt on part of little miss in my tummy. She's moving around a lot and her heartbeat is still nice and strong. I didn't get the exact measurements but the bump is measuring just right.

The nurses took my vitals today and I am happy to say that there is no sign of high blood pressure and the rest of my vitals were good. Since I have a history if pre-eclampsia with my prior pregnancies, its important for me to keep on top of this stuff. Its scary sometimes because I'll freak out over any little thing. Like my dizzy spells this time around, which were later attributed to me inadvertently sleeping on my back. And the sometimes lower back pain or the sometimes upper stomach pain. But, I haven't had any swelling (yet) which is a good sign.

Before I get too gigantic, I will need to take another pregnancy bump photo. I picked up some cute ideas the last few weeks so I will be excited to share them once I get around to setting up my studio lights.

New 2011 Scrapbook Pages

Hi again,
Here's another round of scrapbook pages from the beginning of this year.

My favorite scrap site, Scrapbook Daisies, held an online Valentine crop and these creations were used as submissions. And guess what? I was one of the winners of the crop! As soon as I get my prize, I will have to share that in another post.

One of the challenges was to create an altered item. I chose to create a name ornament for Cassius since I had a ton of extra paper mache ornaments lying around. The paper line is an oldie but goodie from Cosmo Cricket. The ornament was painted off white with the paper decoupaged onto it. I had picked up some really cute glitter alpha stickers somewhere and figured that it would be a good match for this mini project.

Another challenge was to create a layout with 5 requirements: Use a song title as the page title, use paint, layout must have at least 5 hearts and use of bling... plus, we had to journal in strips. I finally created a layout about us finding out we were having a baby girl. In case you're wondering about the song, "Baby Mine" was originally from Dumbo.. but the version by Allison Krauss is SO pretty!

Having had a little boy for so long, its going to get some getting used to in creating girl pages. But the thing I love about boy layouts is that they're a bit of a challenge because the color palette can sometimes be limited and the variety of papers available for boys is pretty slim. Again, this layout is about Cassius' photo shoot compromise. He wouldn't sit for his passport photo unless I got a photo of him with Baby Doggie and Panda.

On a side note, scrapbooking is an addictive hobby. Sometimes, I give myself a budget and go to a scrap store with the intention of buying items outside of my comfort zone. I bought this acetate Celebrate page about two years ago and I finally put it to use in my New Year layout. The images are from the New Years Eve celebration at Big Mountain (here in Whitefish, MT). I'm actually happy I was able to capture some good fireworks images because its been something I've struggled with in the past. For the challenge, we had to follow a "page map" or sketch and this was my take.

Another part to the challenge was creating Valentine cards that used non-traditional colors. This is the project I made and Cassius and I gave these to James for Valentine's day.

Fall - Winter 2010 Scrapbook Pages

As promised, I mentioned that I would share some scrapbook projects that I completed within the last six months. For now, here is the first set from about August-December 2010.

As you can see, I've been playing some catch-up with my layouts. I finally created a layout of my son during our summer visit in 2009. We have been making it a habit to visit the park located behind Fayette Mall in Lexington, Ky. That visit was also unique because we made a trip to a local instant-print photography shop to get some "pro" photos done. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

Last year, a good portion of my immediate family celebrated my mom's birthday at my brother's house. My mom got some great gifts.. especially one she's been hoping for.. forever - a KitchenAid heavy duty mixer. She was so excited she even hopped with glee! I think that was the best part of the day, seeing my mom so happy that she screamed and hopped when she opened the gift.

Not long after we moved to Montana, the snow came down and it stuck. The first huge snowfall we received was a really cool experience. Cassius was super excited about winter being here that he and his dad did guy things outside like engage in snow ball fights and building a snowman.. who lasted up until the end of January. Now, the poor snowman is a sad mound of snow.

Here in Whitefish, we have immediate access to a ski mountain. It takes, maybe, 15 minutes to get to the top from our house. On opening weekend, Cassius got his first private ski lesson from his instructor, Mark. he learned the basics like how to ski in "pizza" formation so he doesn't go too fast and how to properly get on and off of the magic carpet. In the photos below, he is wearing the winter hat that our friend, Jennifer, knitted for him. Everyone loves that hat.

I finally got around to scrapping some of the photos from the May 2010 France trip. I totally goofed on my title with my thickers.. but corrected the spelling after I took this photo. I really should just break out my camera again to get the correct photo... but alas.. "D'Amoise" is actually "D'Amboise." In the wise words of Homer, "I am so smart. S-M-R-T!" lol

In 2010, I came to the realization that I hardly have scrapbook pages about some of the major milestones that Cassius lived through. So, to get some of those moments recorded, I give you "First Tooth." Isn't it so cute.. just a tiny little tooth nub that you can barely see.

I tell you, Cassius is one lucky kid. He pretty much got to live through a lot of experiences in his short little life than I got to experience in my first 25 years of life and then some! I think my first trip to the beach was when I was 8. Of course, we lived in NM and my parents were supporting a household of six kids - infant to college students. But seriously, you can't say that the boy isn't enriched.

A lot of these scrapbook pages are the result of me participating in online scrapbook crops at one of my favorite sites online, Scrapbook Deals 4 U which is now Scrapbook Daisies. The group of women who participate at the site are wonderful and inspiring. They help keep my hobby in check (by giving feed back, ideas and periodic challenges to scrapbooking). Anyway, enough being sentimental. Honestly, if it weren't for them, I would never scrapbook about myself. Its really hard to find a photo of myself, too, because I'm usually the one behind the lens. This layout is about my 29th birthday party.

Last summer, before we made the big decision to move to Montana, we came for a visit. Our first stop was in Missoula. We found this cool little park and carousel by checking out the "things to do" flyers in our hotel lobby. When we checked out the next morning, we decided to drive over for a visit. No regrets on that side trip.

Once we made it to Kalispell, we gave our friend, Damon, a call. He took us sight seeing and one of the highlights of his tour included a trip to Glacier National Park. This place is incredible. I can't wait until the weather warms up and we can go hiking here.

I realize that this is out of order.. but, on our family summer vacation, we camped in Yellowstone National Park. Here we are at Old Faithful.. enjoying the smell of "1,000 buffalo farts" of which that is geysers and hot springs. Ok, forgive me for the flatulence reference... I'm just quoting James and Cassius and their disapproval of the smell.

Again, another scrap page about me in Paris. I hope to go back again. ASU just announced that there will be another trip in 2012... I hope to go!! J'adore Paris!

Another from our family summer trip of 2010. We hopped by Seattle's famous Seattle Center and got to go to the top of the space needle. Afterward, we walked around and saw this incredible fountain. The boys couldn't resist and had to run amok through the sprays. You can't tell, but the boys are soaked in the photo of them with the Space Needle in the background.

There you have it.. most of what I completed in the fall-winter of 2010.

Time to dust off the ol' blog...

Geez, its been six months since my last post. I figure that now is as good a time as any to get back into the swing of things, blog wise.

A lot of changes have happened since my last post in August.

1. Our little family moved to NW Montana. We are enjoying the winter and sometimes the sub-zero temperatures that come along with it.
2. We are expecting a little girl due in April.
3. I'm taking it easy with my photography. I still have some clients in Arizona who I meet with every couple of months. Yet, I find that here, there is no real market for a commercial photographer. Thus, I am slowly re-marketing myself as a family/children/infant photographer.
4. I am still attending classes at ASU, albiet online - they are classes nonetheless.

So, in the meantime. I've also worked on a few crafting projects.

In the next post, I'll be sharing some new scrapbook layouts that were completed in the last six months.

But in this post, I wanted to share that we finally got around to reupholstering our dining room chairs. Upon moving to Montana, we had to leave the other set in Arizona, as it was way too large and heavy to transport. We brought with us a slightly smaller, more moveable dining set that has been in my partner's family awhile. Yet, considering its age, the chair seats were in pretty bad condition.

Luckily, Jo-Ann's had an incredible sale not long ago on home decor fabrics at 50% off and we got to recover our seats for less than $4 a chair.

The end result: