Little Life

So here I sit, chilly and huddled in the glider, with my coat on while Jude sits on the floor behind me quietly playing with blocks and making cow noises.

There is some exciting news in the King Household.  There's a bun in the oven.  Yep.  And I ain't talking about anything of the wheat variety.  Nor am I talking about an actual oven...

We found out January 20th.  And we were not expecting this.  We were taking precautions to avoid getting pregnant.  Apparently condoms don't like us because this is the second time we've gotten pregnant without trying.  The first time, though, at about 5 weeks, sadly ended in miscarriage and this time I thought was going to, too.

Everything was going so well.  I was feeling horribly tired and nauseous just as I should have been.  I was ravenous and constantly eating.  So I was shocked an horrified when I found the blood.  I freaked.  I crumpled to a ball on the floor and just bawled my eyes out practically hyperventilating.  I was 9 weeks pregnant.  All my hormone levels were perfect.  This couldn't be happening.  I then gathered my wits, cleaned myself up, put a pad on, and laid down on the sofa with my feet up.  We notified close friends and family and asked for lots and lots of prayer.  I wasn't having any cramping or clotting so we had no clue what was going on, but I was scared.  I went to bed that night praying desperately for God to protect the little life inside of me.

The next morning, my mother-in-law left her home around 6am and drove about an hour and a half to make it to our house by the time me and Jude were getting up (about 7:45).  Marlin had left for work, as usual, a little after 5am.  I got to spend the whole day on the sofa resting and being catered to.  I called the midwife to let them know what was going on and to see what her thoughts were, if she thought it was serious.  I hadn't had any new bleeding since I'd gone to bed and still had no cramps or clots.  She didn't seem too worried about it and reassured me that bleeding of some kind is very common in the first trimester.  She said I could come in and get checked out, I could go for an ultrasound if I wanted.  But my first prenatal appointment was scheduled for the following day and I decided to just wait since things seemed to be going well.

At my appointment I was planning on getting an ultrasound to ease my mind and see if we could find out what caused the bleeding.  Unfortunately, the ultrasound tech had an early day and had left already so I ended up not getting one.  We tried listening for the heatbeat with the doppler, but it was still too early.  But overall, my appointment went very well and I was told that one thing that could've caused the bleeding was that the placenta could have been quite low in my uterus (since the uterus is still rather small at this point) near my cervix and was just implanting deeper, hence the bleeding.  The midwife told me that as my uterus grows the placenta will move up and out of the way.

Since my appointment a few weeks ago, I've still been experiencing all of my lovely pregnancy symptoms.  As annoying as they are, they offer much reassurance!  Though, they are now starting to subside.  I'm 12 weeks now.  My next appointment is tomorrow.  A heartbeat should now be easy-peasy to find.  But I won't lie, as excited as I am for tomorrow, I'm also kind of nervous.  I do feel good about everything, though.  I just can't wait to get tomorrow over with!

And this, I believe, concludes this post.  Most personal one thus far, but hey.  I'll try and make sure I have photos in the next one ;)

Jason + Nicki + Addy

Best bud = Nicki

We've known each other since 1st Grade.

My husband, Marlin, and Nicki's husband, Jason, were best friends since they were 16.

We all met at the same time.

We got married a month apart.

And this is the 3rd year in a row (or is it 4?) that I've taken pictures of them and their little family for Christmas cards!  I think it's 4 years, actually.

I really had fun with this year's!  It was wintery-cold and festive.  We walked around down-town Lancaster and I got to snap away with my new 28mm!

side note: I *love* my 28mm.  It's the 1st and only lens I've invested in since buying my camera (Canon 60D) and I found it on Craigslist!  I don't think I've taken it off my camera since I bought it. And I was also quite pleased with the performance in the low light I was working with for these pictures!

Enjoooooy!

Brandon's Senior Pics!

Seriously, I've never been so busy with photography jobs as I've been this past summer and fall!  I ended up doing 3 Senior portrait sessions for 3 different guys among all the other family portraits and weddings! Crazy.  But it was fun though. :)

These pics here are the Senior portraits I took for Brandon.  His dad works with my Hubs.  I had to take my little man along to this shoot as I had to leave for their place before my husband got home from work.  Tina (Brandon's mom), his girlfriend, and little sister babysat Jude while Brandon and I wandered around outside taking pictures.  Jude was such a good boy for them and had so much fun!  They are an awesome family :)

Enjoy!

I loved the logs for a background!

Jed + Crystal + Isaiah

This lovely family portrait session followed the Gartner's family pictures on the same day, same location!  Good stuff.

Meet my cousin Jed.  He is tall.
Meet Crystal.  She is so lovely.
Meet Isaiah.  He's a fun dude.

I think this was my first shoot with a kiddo this young (besides my own!) so it had its challenges :)  But again, patience is the key!

Here you go, enjoy!