Baseball, Air Show, Carnival

Pause... Where is the pause button?


Here we are in the middle of June already. Where has time gone? I've taken some time off of photography to spend as much time with the two men in my life and our families.

Last weekend we took a trip to Mankato, MN to visit my brother and sister-in-law. My brother, his wife, two boys and my parents all made the trip as well. I don't think we spend nearly enough time together, but with four different family lives finding time can seem impossible.

Friday night we went to a Mankato Moon Dog baseball game. My brother Ben helps behind the scenes coordinating sound/music. Harrison was a little crabby and left just after the 7th inning stretch. It had been a long day of driving and it was already past his bed time.

Moments of the game, moments of family...



We had great seats!

Play ball!

My boys.

My brother and nephews stayed after to run bases.

Saturday we went to the Mankato Air Show. If I had to put the day into one word that word would be AMAZING.

I've been to a few small air shows, but nothing like this. The weather was a steaming 90+ under direct sun. HOT, HOT, HOT! The bonus? I got a great tan.



Check out our views from the ground!

The red smoke in the middle is a sky diver.



Here is the sky diver again---very cool.

I was obsessed with the light, love this photo.

 FIREWORKS!

 The "Blue Angels" were there and performed. Doug was as happy a kid in a candy store.

This weekend the carnival is in town. Here is Harrison on his first ride by himself tonight. We were behind the fence, he did so great.

Sunday is the carnival parade and we happen to live a block from the route. We have invited some playmates over for the parade. Harrison had a blast last year, I can't wait to see his reaction this year. Candy, big trucks, horses, clowns, and music---a perfect 2 year old combination.

Next week I kick back into photography mode followed by another brief vacation from photography as we kick off the 4th of July with an parade and fun in my co-workers small town and the 5th we leave for a trip to Duluth. 

Wow, that puts us nearly half through July. August we are planning a trip to Wisconsin Dells to spend a couple of days at the water parks.

I don't know how we plan to fit in all of our other "wants" before summer is through yet.

I am missing photography/clients like crazy, but I am enjoying this time I have been taking off. Soon our little family will be a family of 4.

Have you noticed I've gone blog crazy in the last few days? Every since Doug/Harrison printed the first year of the blog for me for Mother's Day, it's been like reading our life story and I am even more focused on not missing any of the parts of it because re-reading it, is so powerful. The ups and downs we have ,the happy and the sad, it's all in there.

So from bath time, to messy meal time, owies and smiles be prepared to blogged out. Sometimes it's those moments that you aren't saying cheese right in front of the camera, sometimes it's moments like this.







Linked 52: Father

I met this man 10 years ago, 7 years ago I married him, 2.5 years ago he became a father for the first time, today he is waiting for the arrival of his second son.

He is the most AMAZING person you could ever meet.

Want to see more linked father posts? Check out these talented photographers and their blogs!

Stacey, Michelle, Heather, Tracey, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Kristin, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Rose, Carla, Heidi, Veronica, Amy, Liza, Heather, Jean & Kristi

If you haven't viewed the gender reveal post yet, I gave the gender away in the first sentence of this post, but it's still worth scrolling down...Promise.

18 Week Prenatal Appt.

A full Bee Report isn't due for another 2 weeks...so I will call this a tid-bid post.

I mainly am blogging following up the ultra sound we had on Tuesday.


Ultra sound results:

Current baby position: Breech---not a concern as of now, he has plenty of time to be head down (in fact he started out the ultra sound head down in only to turn breech during the monitoring).

Normal bone length: We choose not to do any testing for down syndrome, but the bone length on the ultra sound safely tells us that is not a concern at this time.

Weight: Current baby weight 8 ounces, that is in the 65 percentile. He is a growing boy!

Organs: kidneys, stomach, bladder, heart (all 4 chambers seen) all normal.

Bones: Long bones, spine normal.

Amniotic Fluid: Average

Overall results: Normal fetal anatomic survey. Single viable intrauterine gestation.


For my own health...my blood pressure falls within normal (no cause for concern for preaclampsia), no swelling and my pre-pregnancy tees and tanks are beginning to look like toddler tees on me.

In the last few days Miles has geared up his kicking. I feel those tiny feet ALL THE TIME. The doctor asked about movement today...I said, "I am pretty sure he didn't sleep yesterday." He also did his first complete turn in me the other day, I forgot that feeling. I can't wait for Harrison to feel his first kicks, if I sit still enough you can see those kicks just under my belly button. 

The only cause of concern I brought to the doctor's attention today was some pressure I have been feeling and a lot of pain in my legs, very similar to what I had with Harrison. I usually don't complain, but not saying anything last time and having pre-term labor 3 months too soon is enough for me to bring up anything and everything.

The doctor said this can be fairly common, especially in a second pregnancy. He would be more concerned if I didn't have a cerclage, especially with the past. At this point he would only be concerned if I started contracting with this pressure. My only concern following that is that I never felt contractions with Harrison. The hope is with this cerclage I might be able to feel the contractions, or I should feel them.

However if the pain/pressure continue further into pregnancy as it does now, he talked about me needing to take off of work. This would be ideal if I didn't already have a desk job a side from seeing some consumers for home visits. He still explained that it might be necessary for me to be in a reclining position to take away or lessen the pressure. The good news, we aren't there yet.

So far I stretch every morning and most nights to help ease the leg pain. There isn't anything I can do to lessen the feeling of the pressure.

Overall---I am right where I need to be in this pregnancy. Miles is right where he needs to be. We both are clearing red flags...though this pregnancy is high risk, both Miles are steering clear of red and doing well.

One of the first outfit purchases :) You can never have enough cute clothes.

I'm A Planner

I am a planner and can't help it. There should be a support group for people like me. I can't be the only one plagued with being a plannaholic.

I starting planning Miles (aka Baby Bee) nursery yesterday. The crib bedding is order, in fact it was shipped out today. Like Harrison, I am starting with the bedding and working the room colors/design around that. We finished Harrison's room at 26 weeks---just 3 weeks before his arrival. Most likely paint won't hit the walls for several more weeks here and I a doubting a room completion at 26 weeks this time...but I am excited for the transformation. I am actually losing my photography studio as Miles moves in, but I hope to regain that in a new home in the next year or two. Harrison also won't be moving rooms. He will be upgrading to a bigger, big boy bed, (a super fun modern set we picked out at IKEA).



I bought this binder months ago (before I knew to buy blue). It's been holding my insurance documents. I took out a whole additional plan knowing this is a high risk pregnancy....more of my plannaholic tendency.

Now the binder is stuffed with paint samples, bedding, room essentials among some other upgrades we need this time around, like a baby monitor (Harrison's broke at 6 months), double stroller and better infant carrier/sling. Those are just a few MUSTS.

Here are a few images I grabbed of the binder tonight with my phone---

Are you laughing at these images? Or are you too considering yourself a plannaholic?

WHAT WILL IT BEE?

Turning 28 today started out with 2.5 year old kisses, sunny skies and this...

and loving these 10 piggies!

I could look at these photos for hours. The one in the far left corner at the bottom Baby Bee has both arms behind the head, just relaxing. The 4D images were amazing, we didn't have these with Harrison. The still photos aren't the greatest because Bee was quite the wiggler, but in person, breathless.

Baby Bee's ultra sound was completely normal. I got a call from the clinic this afternoon with the results The heart rate was 132 and Bee weighs 8 oz. Our due date has been moved from November 13th to November 10th.

For those of you that have been following my Facebook updates, certainly you also know today we found out the gender of Bee and yes, Bee cooperated and yes, that will be shared in this post.

I am sure I will lose more than half of you and you quickly scroll down to our gender reveal, but make sure you scroll back up here when you get done.

My friend Jenna did our photo session today. She is the absolute greatest. Not knowing we would be welcoming Harrison so soon, she captured the last photos of our pregnancy just 4 hours before Harrison was born. Click HERE if you want a walk down memory lane.

Since then Jenna has captured several family sessions, and the most recent until today was our birth announcement in March.

A couple of weeks ago Jenna and I touched based on how we wanted to announce the gender of Baby Bee. I wanted balloons and to include something about Bee. The idea was brilliant, but I can't take full credit. Nope, this was a Pinterest find, but fit us and fit our family perfectly.

Somehow Jenna talked me (us) into waiting to find out the gender until we were out in front of the camera, so our true faces and happiness could be captured.

I (we) did it!!!!

How did we do it???

My friend Amanda is the most crafty person I know...and I take full advantage of her (wink, wink). Amanda put together two cards for me. One card said, "It's a Girl!" The other card said, "It's a Boy!" (the cards were adorable by the way, will post photos). The technicians needed to put the gender card in the envelope and seal it. Don't worry...Amanda knows me all to well, she put a liner in the envelope so I couldn't peek. The envelope was place in the glove box and we drove to the cities for our gender photo reveal session.

It was a LONG 2.5 + car ride... But believe it or not I still snuck in a 30 minute cat nap on the way up---only possible because I was up in the middle of the night filled with bursting excitement, numerous bathroom trips and anticipation.

When we got to Jenna's we handed her the envelope and we dumped her some 50 balloons and a giant box. Jenna filled the box and seal it. The with her near 3 year old and 8 month old, Doug and I and our 2.5 year ventured off to a beautiful location in Edin Prairie.

These images are just a peek at the before the reveal. (We don't know the gender yet).

Here is the surprise.....video from the reveal.

BOY!

We are so excited to welcome a BOY Miles Nelson in to our family. Boy or girl, didn't matter to us one bit. After our scare and near loss of baby Bee 7 weeks ago, to be where we are now is a miracle. Sometimes I feel as though we are hogging all the miracles at house. We are so blessed to have our sons Harrison and Miles.

Linked 52: Party

Oh how the ideas flowed for this week's post... cake, candles, ice cream, excitement, "It's My Party & I'll Cry If I Want Too," ribbon, balloons, streamers ---all of fun that goes into building a celebration.

I originally wanted to go with a pool party, but when I came home the other night, none of the neighborhood kids were around, so Harrison and improvised and brought the party inside. Instead of viewing pool side, you are viewing tub side.

Enjoy, another linked blast that included mopping the entire bathroom and wiping the mirrors. It got a little crazy, but totally worth it.

What else kind of partying is going on? Follow these links to the "Party."

Stacey, Michelle, Heather, Tracey, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Kristin, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Rose, Carla, Heidi, Veronica, Amy, Liza, Heather, Jean & Kristi

And there will certainly be more balloons and celebration next week as I turn another year older and we find out and reveal the gender of Baby Bee.

Have you voted yet for the gender? Scroll to the very bottom and cast your vote!

Professional Hair Cut #2

I'll start of by warning you this is another post with just words. I promise to upload some shots over the weekend of his new cool, real little boy hair cut/style.

Harrison's first hair cut didn't go well. I think it was back in November/December he got his first professional trim (I blogged about it, but can't find the link to attach). Saying it didn't go well is candy coating it. Since then I have been giving him "mom" hair cuts. I was pretty damaged from the event, I think even more so than Harrison.

I decided to give up the shears and hand them to a professional once again. Something had to have changed this kid in 6 months....right?

The start of his second hair cut was a repeat from beginning of his first. He moaned when he saw the stylist coming toward him. Mind this is after he agreed in the car he would be good and get his hair cut. I guess he changed his mind.

Thank goodness for train and car fruit snacks and M & Ms which I sincerely thank for helping calm him down and sit on my lap in the chair. His stuffed IKEA Beagle puppy watched nervously from the side lines.

After his left side was trimmed, a sense of calmness was felt and smooth sailing the rest of the cut went. We ended up covered in hair, because at no cost was he going to wear a cape. But in the end he thanked the stylist and came out an even more adorable spiked bondie that wasn't a "mom" hair cut.

Maybe next time he'll attempt the chair himself or at least the cape.

I am glad I have this little thing called a BLOG, it helps me remember all the BIG and little things in life, even a second professional hair cut.

Baby Names

A name, one of most important decisions you make in your child's life.

I have been thinking of baby names long before we knew were pregnant with Harrison and even longer before we found out we were expecting Bee. The list would grow, shrink, grow, shrink and hopeful names would crushed down by your significant other. If your a mother or expecting, you know this scenario all to well.

I am personally not a fan of "popular" names. "Popular" meaning the top 100 baby names. In 1984 when I was born my own name, "Amanda" was ranked number 4 out of 100 for popular baby names. No wonder growing up I would hear "Amanda" and turn around only to see that someone wasn't talking to me. In middle school and high school my best friend Amanda and I started going by our last names as our new first names. She became "Potter" and I became "Nelson." This continued through high school and in to college. Once Doug and I wedded I became Mrs. Kelley who I am known just as widely as I am known as Amanda. So I need to say no more, popular was definitely out naming Bee.

I am also not very traditional---keeping with family names, using relatives first names as middle names etc. Doug isn't either, so traditional kind of went to the side.

Unpopular. You got me now. In 2009 when we named Harrison his name ranked #242 for popularity. In 2011 ranked #197... Apparently I have a lot more followers of this blog than I thought with that popularity growing! Now quit stealing his name! On the bright side, the growth in popularity is spread out over almost 3 years...so we shouldn't have to worry about multiple Harrison's in his kindergarten class, so he can avoid his mom's dilemma. His middle name Emmett is even more unpopular ranking #332 in 2009 and ranked #222 in 2011.

Until now, Doug and I have kept quiet about names we have picked out for Bee. We decided on our boy name first about 2.5 months ago and our girl name about 2 months ago. Our boy middle name gave us a little more trouble, but FINALLY mutual agreement was met.

It's officially one week until we will know if we will be welcoming a baby boy or a baby girl into our family in November. We are so excited! At the ultra sound we are having the technician write the gender on a card and we are doing a family photo reveal session thanks to my good friend/photographer Jenna. I feel like a child waiting for Santa to arrive on Christmas Eve. Let the count down begin!

So with this said, we thought today would be a good day to share our Bee baby names. You can agree or disagree, doesn't matter to us...this is what we will be naming our baby boy or baby girl.

Boy: Miles Nelson
Girl: Violet Isabella

As much as we are not a traditionalist, Nelson was my maiden name...we really like how it went with Miles and there isn't a single thing I don't love about the name Violet Isabella.

Miles ranks #115 for US popularity in 2011
Violet ranks #101 for US popularity in 2011


Some other names we considered for first/middle:

Girl: Halle, Hadley, Nora, Brooklyn. Doug was insistent with the first name Ivy and a middle name Rose.
Boy: Grayson, Easton, Jude, Cade. Boys names came a little harder for us this time around again, but again was decided on first.

For the fun it, scroll down to the very bottom of the blog (it's a lot of scrolling) and vote on poll I set up---girl or boy. What do you think we are having?

Words can not express our happiness for either gender, we are so blessed to be on this road, bumpy as it maybe. There are so many people in this world that can't have children of their own and for God to have given us another opportunity to be parents again, we could never ask for more.

At the park

It's been WAY to long since we have had a Harrison and Mommy day. I've been on bed rest, with photo clients, surgery...Finally today came, a day of just me and this guy...

I had hoped to take a bunch of photos capping our excitement from today, but that fizzled...I was too busy being entertained by his giggles, humor, imagination and conversation.

I am so thankful for my four day work weeks...I look forward to these extra snuggles from Harrison and helping hands with house work. There is only 23 more of these days left until Harrison becomes a big brother and has to share his Fridays with Bee. I want him (and I) to soak up every single moment.

Here is another couple of shots from the day---I am loving the ketchup cheesy face.



Linked 52: Looking In

Mmmm... Cookies!

"Hurry up cookies, bake already!"

Another view from the inside...

Ending this post with crumbs...

More linking posts:

Stacey, Michelle, Heather, Tracey, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Kristin, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Rose, Carla, Heidi, Veronica, Amy, Liza, Heather, Jean & Kristi