I love having little girls!

I really love having little girls.  I had to take a picture for my next entry in the contest I'm in so I decided I wanted to do something super girly.  I made Kelsie and Ashlin a tutu and got out the fairy wings, necklaces, flowers, and feather boa.  They had a blast, of course, and I couldn't get their tutus off after...lol.  I'll post a few pictures from the shoot, but the first one is the one I entered in the contest.

My entry:

 

Contest Entries

There's an online photography contest I entered a couple weeks ago and I've been meaning to post the pictures I've taken for it as I move on in the contest.  Well I keep forgetting, so I'll just make one post with them in it.  The first picture I took for it was "a little green bug" (see past blog entry...I placed 5th out 26).  Round two was to take a picture of one of the elements (fire, water, wind, or earth).

Fire (I got 2nd place this round out of 17 entries)-

Round three's theme was song inspiration.  We had to take a picture that either the song described or something it inspires (I placed 3rd out of 11 entries).  My song was In My Daughter's Eyes by Martina Mcbride-

Round four's theme is abstact.  There will be 10 entries, but it hasn't gone to voting yet(ETA: voting is over and I got first place this round).  Here's my entry-

It's a...

Most of the people who read this probably already know this, but It's a BOY!!! We found out on June 23rd. I've known since my morning sickness started that this was a boy and that was only confirmed for me when my moodiness started days later. With the girls, I was hormonal-emotional. With this pregnancy, I was hormonal-angry. Everything made me mad...I had the shortest temper. It was awful! Since I knew it was a boy, I'm a bit surprised by my reaction. I was completely shocked. It was as if I'd been telling myself "boy" for so long that I didn't believe it anymore? Maybe it was because Daniel was dead set on it being a girl. The gender was one of the first things she looked for. Unfortunately the umbilical cord was in the way so when I didn't see boy parts, my first thought was "oh my goodness, it's a girl"...lol. Luckily, she was able to wiggle him around to move the cord.

It was really important to me to tell my mother-in-law in a special way so for anyone interested in the story, here it is:

She really wanted it to be a boy. (Back story: Daniel thought it was a girl and his mom and I joke about him being wrong about things cause he's stubborn.) We were on our way home and she texted asking if we knew yet, so I texted back and said, "Well...at least we don't have to worry about buying clothes cause she'll have plenty of hand-me-downs. Don't you hate it when Daniel's right". She didn't see it before we got there so I had to repeat it when we came inside (she said we looked like we were about to cry...lol). She looked a bit disappointed, but she said she was happy anyway. I said, "do I get a hug anyway?" and while she was hugging me, I whispered "It's a boy" in her ear. She screamed. In my ear. Then jumped around and ran and told everyone and then ran to her mom's house( behind her house) to tell her...lol. It was really special. This will be the first boy in the family in 14 years! We don't have a first name yet, but his middle name will be Daniel (after the hubby).

Here are some ultrasound pictures :o)

A little green bug

I decided to go to my mother-in-law's the other day to take some pictures in her garden. I've been meaning to get over there for a while, but it's been so hot and trying to watch the girls in the heat and focus on getting good shots wasn't very appealing. I finally bit the bullet and did it. Unfortunately, I missed some of the nice flowers I wanted to get. I don't know if they wilted due to the heat or if it was just the end of their life. Since I couldn't take pictures of those, I had to keep my eye out for something interesting to shoot. I got super lucky when I saw this bug sitting on this leaf. I've always wanted to get a really good macro shot of a bug, but bugs typically don't like to cooperate...not the bugs I see anyway. Without further ado, my bug picture! (Just click on the picture to see it full sized.)

Not only a pregnancy update

So I realized that I've been updating on the pregnancy lately, but haven't said much about the girls. Time to change that!

Kelsie has recently become interested in some new things. The first is her interest in names. She recently realized that my name is not Mommy. I've put off telling her I have another name because I know her and I don't want her to start calling me Jessica all the time...lol. Now that she's 3 1/2, I thought it would be wise for her to know my name. So now Kelsie randomly talks to me about my "other" name, Daddy's "other" name, even Mamaw's and Papaw's. She likes middle names, too...and last names. She's also become interested in trucks recently, only every truck she sees is an ice cream truck. When I tell her it's not, she stops calling them ice cream trucks, but then vans and SUV's become trucks, too. She doesn't like vegetables. That's really irritating, since I know she needs them.

While we're on the subject of vegetables, Ashlin's new favorite veggie is broccoli (or bock-ee, as she calls it). I made tuna fettuccine alfredo with broccoli for dinner last night and when I would try to give her bites of the noodles she would start pitching a fit and screaming for broccoli. I couldn't get mad. How do you tell your child no to broccoli when they beg for it...lol. Ashlin has also recently started wanting me to put her hair up. She sees me do Kelsie's hair and she wants me to do hers, too. The only problem with that is she doesn't exactly have much to work with. That and she takes it out minutes after I get it up.

Now for a little update on the pregnancy. I'm 17 weeks and 4 days today. There's not a lot new. I've been feeling the baby a bit more, but it's still not completely regular. I've had to deal with some sciatic problems and my pelvic bone pain has been getting worse, but I expected it. We go to the big ultrasound in 2 weeks and 1 day and I can't wait! Some major cravings of this pregnancy have been fruit (watermelon is a big one) and meat (hamburgers rock my socks!).

Now for some pictures! Once again, click the picture to see it's full size.

Miss Ashlin when we went to Abram's Creek for the afternoon. I LOVE those eyes!
Kelsie sitting with her Aunt Rachel at Abram's Creek.
Some recent macro shots. I really need to work on my focus with them cause I'm not great at it, but I still really like these pictures.
My 17 week belly shot

15 weeks

I'm 15 weeks today! That means that I'm in my second trimester (for a week now) and I only have 175 days to go...lol. One of the coolest things is the baby has started moving. I felt the first movement in my 13th week, but the little flutters were so random and were days apart. In the last couple of days, though, I've felt Nugget move several times a day! I went to the doctor yesterday for my monthly check-up. Everything was good and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat, which was wonderful. My blood pressure was 130/80 and so far in the pregnancy I've gained 4 lbs. Also, the doctor said that my uterus is already up to my belly button. I got my anatomy scan set up for June 23rd!!! I can't wait!!! Ok, last but not least, some pictures! The first is a collage of my first trimester pictures (the last of which is my most recent picture). The second is a macro shot I took yesterday at the Greenbelt park and edited with AMP's Penny Candy action. You should check out her site...she totally rocks! Here's a link to her blog/website: http://amymcmasterphotography.com/
To see the full picture, just click on it.

FINALLY!!!!

I've been waiting for today for sooo long! My best friend, Kimie, and her husband Gareth are coming to town to visit!!!! I haven't seen Kimie since her wedding weekend two years ago. That's a really really long time to go without seeing your best friend. She moved to Florida after her wedding and a trip to Florida from Tennessee isn't just some weekend trip...lol. They finally moved back to North Carolina last September, but neither of us have been able to make the 3 hour trip. It's ok, cause this weekend will wake up for it!


On to my pregnancy update. I'm 12 weeks today! Almost out of my 1st trimester! I've been feeling pretty good lately. I stopped taking my anti-nausea meds about 5 days ago. I'm still tired, but it's nothing unbearable. My picture today is my 12 week shot. I'll put my 7 week shot up too for comparison (it says 7 weeks, but it was actually 6 weeks 4 days).