Emma's Photo Sessions

So way back in June I promised photos from our sessions with Angel Gray Photography... Well, actually I just promised photos from the newborn session, however due to my slacking you will get to see not only Emma's newborn session, but also her 4 month and 8 month sessions... See it's like Christmas all over again... ;) Okay, maybe not like Christmas but now you don't have to wait 8 months to see them, you can watch her grow in minutes rather than months from the most adorable, scrunched-up little ball of perfection to the most adorable little baby who is sitting up and showing off her spunky little attitude...  So enjoy the photographic trip through Emma's first 8 months via the lens of Angel Gray's camera...  Click on the three links below to view the photos from each session.

Newborn Session (6 weeks old)

4 Month Session

8 Month Session (This session also included some family shots)

We have Emma's one year session scheduled at the end of March... It's hard to believe that our sweet little baby is almost a year old!  I will post a link to that session in April so be on the lookout for that... I have to give a small shout out to Angel Gray and her incredible talent that captured wonderful moments in each of  Emma's sessions as well as amazing shots of the rest of our family during the October photo session.  I have struggled with professional photographers for many years and either their lack of patience or their superegos that get in the way of their listening abilities when I try explaining our family's needs and limitations.  But Angel not only listened, she understood and in the process was able to give us fabulous photographs that I love... I love them not only because they are really good photos, but because they capture the personalities of each person in our family in a very natural (not posed) way...  So thanks Angel! 

Next up I am going to do a brief catch-up kind of post on Audrey and Claire, so stay tuned... :)

I am still here...

I know to the blogging world it may seem like I fell off the face of the earth but I didn't.  I am still alive and kicking... I just haven't been blogging... I cannot believe that it has been seven months since I posted anything to this blog! :( My last entry showcased Emma's "One Week" photos... She is now 10 months old!  I have three amazing sessions with Angel Gray Photography to share but as far as the blogging world is aware, Emma is still a wee newborn.  I know that I can make about a million excuses on why I haven't posted, but the simple fact of the matter is that I have just been a complete slacker. It's not that I haven't thought about blogging because I have.  But it would be one of those fleeting thoughts that come to you while you are driving down the road and you can't blog while driving (I think that would be considered 100x worse than texting while driving) or while I was rocking the baby to sleep in the nursery, again not a good time to jump up and run to the computer to type out a post. I just didn't realize how many "I will do that tomorrow" thoughts had added up to be seven months worth of procrastination...  I was at dinner with a friend earlier this week and she mentioned the possibility of adding some insulation to their attic themselves. Having been through that myself earlier, I shared my story with her and then said, "I think I have a photo on my blog. Let me show you".  Well, that is when the cold hard truth of my slacking and procrastination hit me. I realized at that point that my last post was June 1st!  It was quite embarrassing... Add to all of this that my friend didn't even know that I had a blog because I have treated it like a red-headed stepchild for most of last year and I realized that I had to do better.  And what's really sad is that I enjoy blogging the little stories of my family life.  It is quite therapeutic sometimes... So one of my goals for 2012 is to be a better blogger... 

March 21 - Newborn Photos

Emma is one week old at this point and I wanted to capture those precious newborn moments - you know, the wrinkly, still snuggled in a ball baby moments.  I originally had Angel Gray scheduled to shoot Emma's newborn session at our house, but since that didn't work out, I got my camera and shot some photos of Emma myself.  I'm not a professional photographer (far, far from it) but I think that I did a pretty good job (if I do say so myself).  I had chosen a wooden bowl as one of the props for my newborn session with Angel and I can't tell you how excited I was to find one stowed away in a cabinet at my in-laws' house. I tried to remember all of the tips that my dad had given me about photography - aperture, f-stops, etc. - and I loved the natural light that was filtering through the windows in the kitchen so I placed Emma in the bowl and started the shoot.  After about an hour of shooting and about 200 photos later (thank goodness for digital "film"), I got some photos that I am quite proud of.  I do have to add that it seems to be a lot easier to get a great photo when you have such an adorable subject to photograph.  Now I know that I am quite biased, but Emma is that adorable subject.  Enjoy some of my favorite photos from the newborn shoot...

My absolute favorite!

 Pure Sweetness!

I had these "feet" printed on a large wrapped canvas and it is hanging in Emma's nursery... Love it!

One of the few "awake" shots I got...

I scheduled an additional newborn session with Angel Gray that we shot when Emma was six weeks old.  It will come up in a later post...

March 18 - Going Home and Saying Goodbye

2 days old

On Wednesday, March 16th we left the hospital with our two-day-old little girl and went home - home to two anxious big sisters, one excited dog (who had no clue how much his world was about to change) and a loving grandmother who came to visit and help with the big kids while we were at the hospital.  The first night at home went smoothly - I should tell you that Emma is and has been an amazingly good baby from the beginning.  As exciting and wonderful as it was to have Emma home and finally be together as our new family of five, we also were facing a very difficult journey.  A little background here would probably be helpful - Brock's dad had been diagnosed with gastric cancer in late November/early December and the prognosis was not as favorable as we had hoped.  But the doctors thought that if he underwent chemotherapy that it might give him more time.  Unfortunately the chemo was not successful.  We received a call telling us that we needed to come to Atlanta as soon as possible.  So we got my mom a flight home on Thursday and loaded up the car that night to leave as early as possible on Friday morning (March 18). 

With a four-day-old infant and a mom who was three days post-op, the trip took almost twice as long as usual due to the increased number and lengthier stops that we had to make.  Every time that we stopped I worried that we were taking too long and would get to Atlanta too late.  But as we talked to Brock's mom and brother throughout the day we knew that his dad seemed to be holding on to see us and meet Emma. When we arrived around 6:30 that night, we went straight to his room to see him.  It was such a bittersweet moment and one that we will share with Emma when she is older.  The way Grandaddy's eyes lit up and the happiness that you could see on his face when he saw Emma was one that both warmed and broke my heart at the same time.  He wanted to hold her so Brock placed her in the crook of his dad's arm and the two of them laid there both soaking in the goodness of the moment.  When Brock started to pick up Emma , his dad said, "Just a little bit longer" and I felt my heart break just a little bit more.  Knowing that they were both going to miss out on getting to know each other seemed terribly unfair - a huge injustice to both of them and to all of the family for that matter.  I hated the fact that my children, who loved Grandaddy so very, very much, were in a sense being robbed.  I have tried over the past two months to look at our loss in as positive of a way as possible.  Grandaddy instilled a love of music in Audrey and she is blossoming into a very talented musician, both with the piano and guitar.  She composes her own music and I know that the love she has for it is in great part to the music that she shared with Grandaddy throughout her childhood.  He instilled a love of nature in Claire, who is always wanting to know more about animals and plants, and I wish terribly that I had half the knowledge that Grandaddy had about birds and such.  While he only had a few days with Emma, I know that the stories and memories that we share with her about her Grandaddy will be positive influences in her life.  

Grandaddy was the best grandfather.  He wasn't afraid to play with the children or share stories from his life with them.  He  played music for them and they in turn danced and danced in the den (or wherever we were), he took them fishing, never making a difference in what the boys (or boy, in this case) could do over the girls.  They were just as capable in his eye as what any boys could do and as a mom of three girls I loved that about him.  He took the whole family on beach vacations where he always took all of the grandchildren crab hunting - and inevitably was always bitten by one.  The grandchildren loved spending time with him and he enjoyed spending time with them just as much.  He was a very "hands-on" grandparent and I am thankful for every moment that my children had to spend with him. 

When I think about how much has changed since we found out in August that we were expecting a very unexpected baby, it seems like God knew that we would need an angel to help us through the hard times ahead so He sent Emma to us.  Just holding her makes the hole in heart not hurt so much.  In the first days after Grandaddy passed, Emma helped everyone.  It is hard to be quite so sad when you see this perfect little person in your arms... this perfect little person who life has just begun and has the whole world ahead of her.  We still miss Grandaddy every day and I know that we will always miss him.  But I look forward to sharing his stories and memories with all of our children.  Below is a short slideshow with some of our favorite photos of Grandaddy...

March 14 - Here Comes Baby!

So it's Monday, March 14th, approximately 6:30 in the a.m., we have made it through registration and are settled into the birthing suite.  The nurses came in and started all of the wonderful paperwork that has to be completed and they readied me for my IV and such.  Inductions, in my opinion, are great!  Everything runs smoothly...  For me, it just made the whole experience much more relaxed and enjoyable.  The nurses were concerned that this delivery might progress too quickly this time around since my labor with Claire was only two hours start to finish, so they started my epidural earlier than usual  that  way I wouldn't miss the window of opportunity to get it.  So while I was only 3 cm and with pain ranking a mere 2 on the 10 point scale, the wonderful anesthesiologist came in to start my epidural.  Now this did slow my labor progression but I was in absolutely zero pain so I did not see that as a problem. Here is a photo to show you how Brock and I spent the couple of hours waiting for everything to progress...

Notice the iPad is sitting on the table next to Brock's leg... We watched a movie and then some stand-up comedians... Nothing like some good laughs before delivering a baby. ;) Speaking of having a baby, here's a photo of me in labor...

See why epidurals are such great things... "Active labor" and not one ounce of pain! :)  The pitocin drip was started around 9:00 a.m. and around 2:00 p.m. the nurse called the doctor in... It was showtime!  The doctor came in and checked my progression and said that Emma was ready to greet the world.  One, two, three pushes and here she was! (Thank you Pilates!!!)  Our perfect little baby girl, Emma Catherine Ballard said "Hello World!" at 2:25 p.m. on the 14th of March 2011.  Brock cut her umbilical cord (just like he did with all of our children) and then the nurses weighed, measured and scored our little bundle - 7 lbs 2 oz, 19.5 inches and 9s on both Apgar tests.  See... I told you she was perfect!  Here are some photos of Emma shortly after delivery...

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon loving, holding and just soaking in all of the goodness that comes with a new baby.  My mom brought the "Big Sisters" to visit later that day and they were so excited to meet their new little sister.  I had the most adorable shirts made for them that said "Big Sis Audrey" and "Big Sis Claire".  Emma had a gown that said "Lil Sis Emma".  (You will see the shirts/gown in one of the photos below.) Claire was the most excited I think because she was finally a big sister like Audrey.  We explained that they are both special roles because Audrey is now a double big sister and Claire is now a big and little sister.  Emma has a special role too being a double little sister.  Our hope is that these "special" roles will help alleviate any issues with being labeled the "oldest", "middle" and "baby" later.  Here are some photos of the big sisters meeting the little sister...

Claire couldn't wait to hold Emma...

Daddy and his three girls :)

Audrey holding Emma

Claire holding Emma

The Girls!

 Three Sisters

I'm Back and Ready to Blog Again...

It's hard to believe that so much has happened in the past two months...  There have been ups and downs, good times and bad times and my plan is to catch you up on all of the happenings in the next few posts. I am going to blog them in chronological order with the date and subject in the title so I hope you are able to follow without too much confusion...

My last entry was all about my maternity photos and how wonderful my pregnancy had been. That was Friday, March 11th. My doctor upped my due date to Monday the 14th so there was a lot of things to get ready for the big day and only a few days left to get them finished. My mom flew in on Saturday and she helped me finish the few things left on the to do list. Our contractor worked some miracles and got the exterior of our house painted and 99% of the interior punch list completed. I have to say that the big belly has quite the persuasive power. Sunday (the 13th) was a relatively relaxed day. We spent the day together for the last time as a family of four. As I expected, I had a hard time going to sleep that might because I knew that little Emma was going to make her big debut the next day and the excitement was overflowing. Knowing that I needed rest so I would actually have the energy to deliver my precious baby enabled me to get a few hours of sleep. We had to be at the hospital at 6 am on Monday so we did our hugs and kisses with Audrey and Claire that night. Monday morning came quickly after four short hours of sleep, but the excitement of a new baby got the adrenaline pumping and put an extra bounce in our steps. And as is my usual M.O., we were running a few minutes behind.  Brock kept telling me that we had to go, but I kept thinking, "Really? It's not like they are going to deliver the baby without me... I am the incubator after all. :)"  Here is one last photo of me and the belly outside the hospital.

Maternity Photo Session

My good friend, Alison, took some fabulous photos of me and the belly today.  We went to Highland Beach Park, which is a great beach just down the street from us.  At first I thought I might be a bit apprehensive about flaunting the belly in public, but it turns out I am obviously not that shy.  Pregnancy is such a special time and I am so thankful that I was able to have this moment captured.  Alison did a wonderful job photographing it.  The pictures speak for themselves, so enjoy! :)