The First Couple Weeks

The first couple of weeks of Bristol's life went by far too quickly for our liking.  Kevin was home with us for them and it just seemed like he had to return to work much too soon.  But you gotta do what you gotta do... and we did. 

Bristol had a lot of visitors during the first couple of weeks.  Lots of family and friends.  Grandma, Grandpa, and Carson were our first visitors in the hospital the morning after Bristol was born.  Carson was so excited to meet his little sister.  You could tell he was totally smitten with her immediately.  He was such a proud big brother and he just adores his sister. 

Carson stayed up at the hospital with us all day that first day.  Grandpa and Grandma went home in the morning and we were able to spend some time together as a family of four.  Carson was so well-behaved all day at the hospital and was just loving our new little family.  We all were.  :)   We had a lot of visitors on that first day... Great Poppy, Papa and Nana, Aunt Lindsay and Dave, Uncle Danny, Aunt Sharon and Uncle Reno, Uncle Jason, Aunt Julie, Anna, Joel and Jonah. 

On Tuesday afternoon around lunch time, the room we were staying in started leaking from the ceiling near the entrance.  So we were switched to a new room.  The new room was like a palace compared to the other rooms.  It was so huge, spacious, bright, and wonderful!  It had a whirlpool tub, even!  It is the old water birthing suite, I guess.  But it was so nice to be in such a beautiful room! 

Tuesday was a tiring day with all the visitors and trying to figure out breastfeeding and getting to know our little one, but we were so excited for everyone to meet Bristol, too.  She actually still did not have a name for the entire day.  We knew her middle name and last name, of course.  But we could not decide on a first name.  Throughout the day, we narrowed it down to Bristol, Liliana, and Harper.  By the time we went to sleep that night, we had narrowed it down to Bristol and Harper.  But we still had no idea what it would end up being.

On Wednesday, we had to decide on her name.  We ended up choosing Bristol.  It just seemed to fit her best and we both liked the name a lot.  We had just been hesitant to commit to it because we feared too much association with Bristol Palin... whom Kevin and Sara cannot stand.  But we figure our Bristol will make the name look good.  ;-P 

We were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, just after lunch.  We were anxious to get home and get settled and to get Carson back with us!  He had spent Tuesday night with Grandma and Grandpa again so Kevin could stay at the hospital.  Sara was finding it slightly challenging/painful with the stitches to scoot in and out of the bed to get Bristol from her bassinet when she woke, so it was nice to have Kevin there to help out. 

We settled in at home pretty well.  The nights were rough at first, as Bristol had her nights and days mixed up, but that is pretty normal.  She's still adjusting now, but she's doing pretty well, I think.  We had lots of visitors during the first two weeks - Aunt Jeri and Uncle Mike; Kyle; Megan, Marty and Haleigh; Dianne; Great Poppy and Marion; Becky; Aunt Mary, Uncle Justin, Rebecca and Abram; Great Grandma Jackie; Lina, Sean and Vayla; Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Van; Uncle Chuck and Aunt Marcia; Bev and Brian; Aunt Ann, Michelle and Tyson.  And of course, Grandma and Grandpa and Nana and Papa made several repeat visits during the first couple of weeks, too.  :) 

We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful family to welcome our little girl into.  We are so thankful for all of the love and support everyone has expressed towards us and her.  We couldn't ask for a better family and group of friends! 

We made quite a few trips to the pediatrician and hospital during the first couple of weeks, too.  At the 24-hour newborn screen in the hospital, Bristol's bilirubin levels were only 5.6.  When we went for our first pediatrician appointment on Friday, when Bristol was 4 days old, her bilirubin level was 14... which meant she had developed breastfeeding jaundice.  Most likely due to my milk not coming in until Wednesday night and not really fully coming in till Thursday afternoon.  So Dr. Akrawi wanted us to feed Bristol every 2 hours and to start supplementing 1 or 2 ounces after every breastfeeding... starting Friday afternoon and ending Sunday afternoon/after we got her bilirubin checked again.  After speaking with the lactation consultants, we decided to supplement with pumped breastmilk, rather than formula.  This meant that Sara was to nurse Bristol, then go pump immediately while Kevin fed Bristol 1 or 2 ounces of pumped breastmilk.  And we were supposed to start this routine every 2 hours... which meant by the time she finished feeding and then the bottle, Bristol had only 20-40 minutes "downtime" before having to wake her and start all over.  She handled it well at first, but eventually just was plain not hungry and was refusing to eat so soon.  It was an exhausting weekend for all of us, to say the least.  We went up to Hurley hospital on Sunday morning to have her bilirubin checked again.  It was still 14.  It wasn't coming down, but it wasn't going up either (which is very good).  We were able to stop the supplementing and return to nursing on demand, which was very much a relief.  We then had to go back to Dr. Akrawi's office on Wednesday to have it checked again - it was down to 12.  We went back the following Monday to have it checked again and it was down to 11.  We haven't had to go back to have it checked since it was going down steadily, but slowly. 

We also made some time for some fun stuff during Bristol's second week.  We wanted to make the most of our time together with Kevin home.  So we did some shopping, made a trip to a local park, played outside as much as possible, and did lots of swimming in our pool.  It was so fun and Bristol did awesome! 

Bristol's Birth

I just realized that I never posted a birth story for Carson.  Maybe I'll go back and do one for him soon, too.  Just to have record of it.  But for now, here is the story of Bristol's birth.  If you are grossed out by details of births, you might want to skip this post... :)  I should also forewarn you that this post is rather long..

As I've previously mentioned, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes after my glucose tolerance test at 29 weeks and was officially classified as a high risk pregnancy.  Luckily, I had a pretty mild case of it and was able to manage my blood sugars during the day by watching my diet closely.  I did have to take a drug called glyburide at bedtime every night to control my fasting blood sugar, though.  I had pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome with Carson, which worried my doctors at first b/c generally gestational diabetes can increase your risk of pre-eclampsia... and I already had a higher risk of developing pre-eclampsia again anyway.  My blood pressure had actually been rising throughout my 2nd trimester and was getting quite high, especially for me.  It was up in the 140s/80s.  But then I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes and my blood pressure actually started dropping back into what is my normal range when I'm not pregnant (100s/50s).  It stayed quite low for awhile and then started creeping up towards the end, but it never got higher than 124/72 at that point.  It totally stumped my OBs... my body is just strange. 

So at 29 weeks, I started going to the doctor once a week instead of the typical once every 2 weeks.  Then I started glyburide at 31 weeks and started going to the OB twice a week - on Tuesdays and Fridays.  Plus some random weeks where I would have an appointment with the Hurley Maternal Fetal Medicine, making 3 doctor appts. during those weeks.  It made for some crazy work schedules, but I was very thankful all of my doctors and nurses were monitoring things so closely.  And I was very thankful to have such understanding and flexible bosses at work.  Gestational diabetes babies are generally larger than the average newborn and can develop problems with the placenta and excess amniotic fluid, so I was having ultrasounds once every two weeks to monitor Bristol's biophysical profile.  I was also having non-stress tests every Tuesday and every other Friday to monitor Bristol's movements and heart rate reactions. 

My OBs discussed the need to birth Bristol a little early due to the gestational diabetes.  I wanted to have the option to be induced so that I could try to push her out, rather than have a scheduled c-section.  This meant I needed to be induced during the 38th week - they'd have waited till 39 weeks for a c-section.  Following my last ultrasound on Friday, June 15th, Bristol was estimated to weigh around 7lbs, 9oz.  My body was also dilating, effacing, and my cervix was softened.  So Dr. Moreno recommended we schedule induction for Monday, June 18th. 

So on Monday morning, we dropped Carson off at his Grandma and Grandpa's house and then headed to the hospital.  We had to be there by 9:00am to get things started.  After taking care of all the admitting bureaucracy stuff, getting settled, and getting my IVs going, we were finally ready to start the pitocin around 10:00am.  They start pitocin at 1 drop per minute into your IV and increase it every half hour by 2 drops per minute.  The max they will build up to is 20 drops per minute.  Literally right after we started the pitocin drip, all patients on the floor were put into a holding pattern due to 6 emergency c-sections that came up all at once.  They only have 2 operating rooms for the emergency c-sections, so they cannot take the risk of getting labor going on other patients that may potentially also need an emergency c-section.  So we stayed at 1 drip/minute with the pitocin until about 3:00 pm when they started increasing it every half hour.  I was able to eat lunch, even, which is generally a big no-no during a hospital labor and delivery.  Not only because they had no idea when they'd be able to start increasing the pitocin, but also because my blood sugar was dropping really low - it was down to 62 right before I ate lunch. 

Once the pitocin was increased around 3:00pm, I started progressing quite well.  I dilated to a good 4cm by around 5:30/6:00pm and started the transition phase.  At this point, the contractions were getting very strong and were running 30-60 seconds apart.  I progressed through the transition phase very quickly.  I started shaking uncontrollably and asked for the epidural much too late again.  The same thing happened with Carson, too.  I was totally ok, handling things very well, breathing through contractions, and then BAM!  I hit a wall of pain and progressed extremely fast.  It was much worse, pain-wise, this time around than it was with Carson.  I was actually asking them to take me for a c-section while we were waiting for the anesthesiologist to arrive with the epidural.  Of course, they wouldn't take me for one, though. :)   Once the anesthesiologist arrived, I had been shaking uncontrollably for more than an hour and was having a really hard time breathing through the contractions.  The nurse checked my progress and at first thought I had fully ripened - I was totally freaking out inside my head at that point, thinking there was no way I could make it through these contractions and delivery without an epidural.  But she checked again and realized I was not fully done, but was at a good 7 cm, pushing 8 cm... JUST in time for the epidural.  Having to sit up on the side of the bed to get it almost put me over the edge.  I was very thankful to have a very supportive and caring nurse with me since my mom and Kevin had to leave the room during the epidural. 

I did not feel the same relief I did when I got my epidural with Carson.  I had been having a lot of back labor and tons of pressure with Bristol - I kept thinking I was for sure going to poop during every contraction (I never did, though).  I expected this all to go away, along with the pain from the contractions, once I got the epidural.  But the epidural only covered the pain from the contractions in my abdoment, not the pressure.  So it was still quite an uncomfortable labor, though my pain levels were very much decreased (thankfully!).  I also never stopped shaking uncontrollably.  By the time every thing was all said and done, I had shook for a good 4 to 4 1/2 hours straight because it continued for a bit after Bristol was born.  I had some pretty intense muscle fatigue from it for a few days afterwards. 

Around 9:00pm, Dr. Moreno came in to check my progress again.  I was just about fully there, with just a little bit of cervix left.  But he thought I could probably push through it.  The nurse asked if she should call the residents and other nurses, but he said no, we could do it on our own.  He told Kevin to get on one side and my mom on the other side and to each grab a foot.  On the contraction, he told them to push my feet up towards my chest as far as they'd go and I was to lift my head and shoulders up and curl downwards as far as possible and push as hard as I could.  The only other people in the room were Dr. Moreno, my nurse Ashauntae, and another L&D nurse, Chris, who would get the baby.  I should also mention here, that Kevin wasn't too happy to be in the same position he was in when Carson was born - LOL!  He claims its nothing he has ever, nor ever wants to see again.  Haha! 

As we were waiting for the next contraction, Dr. Moreno was stretching and pulling all around down there to help minimize any tearing.  The epidural had been turned off, so I was able to feel quite a bit more again... and all that stretching and pulling was quite uncomfortable.  I kept saying I felt like I was going to poop - Dr. Moreno kept reassuring me it was ok and totally normal if I did.  He was so supportive and kind. 

Then the contraction hit and I had to push.  With Carson, I was so quiet and did not make a sound during the pushing - I just bore down and pushed.  With Bristol, I was screaming... LOUD!  The residents and other nurses were down the hall and heard me and came running - LOL.  Kevin said he thinks people on other floors probably heard me - haha!  The entire time I'm pushing and screaming that "it hurts so bad," Dr. Moreno and my mom are yelling and exclaiming that "her head is right there" and "look at all that hair" and "keep pushing, Sara!"  That ring of fire as they call it truly feels like a ring of fire.  And the whole time Dr. Moreno is still stretching and pulling.  And it still hurts terribly.  And I still feel like I'm going to poop.  LOL. 

That was one push.  Then we paused to wait for the next contraction.  I was begging for a c-section at that point.  Dr. Moreno always responded with - "so you want this kind of pain for 2 weeks?!"  Always with a smile on his face and encouraging words to go along with it.  And always with a little dig about being such a screamer - he says he never expected that from me.  ;)  The next contraction hit and another push.  It hurt even more than the first and involved more screaming and yelling.  This time I got her head to crown.  The next contraction and third push and she was out, along with tons of fluid that was built up behind her.  3 pushes and about 10 minutes and she was out at 9:18 PM!  She wasn't crying immediately, which freaked me out.  I kept asking why she wasn't crying.  It felt like an eternity to me, but was probably less than a minute.  They were suctioning out her mouth - she had swallowed a lot of fluid during the birth.  But then I heard her sweet little cry!  Relief, joy, and love flooded through me. 

Kevin actually cut her cord (he couldn't do Carson's, so my mom cut Carson's).  The nurses ran through all their tests and whatnot that they do.  She weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces, was 19 1/4 inches long, and had a 13 1/2 cm head... remember you only dilate to 10cm, lol!  Her apgar score was 9/10.  I think they knocked one point off for something to do with all the fluid she swallowed or something.  They told me, but I don't really remember.  I delivered the placenta and whatever else comes out and got stitched up.  I did have a very small tear that required 2 stitches... MUCH better than my 4th degree tear with Carson.  Oh and... I never pooped!!  Woohoo!  HAHA! 

Then it was time for her to nurse for the first time.  They had me roll onto my side for the side-lying position.  She latched right on and started nursing like a champ right away.  (Although she did give me a bruise during that first time).  She was so alert for quite awhile after birth.  Such bright eyes.  She looked so much like Carson.  She was just beautiful and perfect.  :) 

This first pic is Bristol - sorry for the quality, it was taken with Kevin's old-school cell phone.  She was only about a half-hour old.  The second pic is Carson at about 14 hours old.  Bristol's face is still a little swollen from birth, where Carson's has had time to settle down a little.  But you can definitely see the resemblance. 

We were transferred down to our post-partum room just after midnight.  I'll do another post soon on our first week with little Bristol.

Introducing Baby Girl Holleboom

Our daughter, Bristol Esther-Marie Holleboom, joined our family on Monday, June 18th at 9:18 PM.  She weighed in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces and is 19 1/4 inches long.  We are all completely in love with her and big brother Carson is already very protective of his baby sister.  Life is good!  :) 

 

Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes that have been sent! 

 

I'll post more pictures and information soon.

 

 

Baby Girl Holleboom

Sara went to the OB again on Friday for another ultrasound and check-up.  The ultrasound looked pretty good.  The fluid levels are a little higher than they'd typically like to see, but they're not high enough for any serious concerns.  Baby girl was estimated to weigh around 7 lbs, 9 oz, which puts her in the 84th percentile for this point in the pregnancy.  That is the same weight Carson was when he was born.  Although, even though the same weight, they keep telling me she'll be shaped totally different than Carson, since he was a pre-eclampsia baby.  I guess they are generally long and skinny, whereas the diabetic babies are more rounded out.  So she may be our chubby baby at first.  :)  Either way, we'll love her to pieces!

The ultrasound tech was able to get a super cute 4-D picture of the baby's feet.  She tried to get another face shot, but it didn't come out very well since her head is further down. 

After the ultrasound, Sara saw one of her OBs, Dr. Moreno.  At my last appointment on Tuesday, I was only 1cm dilated and barely effaced with a normal/not soft at all cervix.  On Friday, I had progressed to 2cm, 60% effaced, and a "very very soft" cervix.  Dr. Moreno saw no sign of needing a c-section at this point, thankfully.  So he called the hospital to schedule an induction for Monday morning at 9:00 AM.  He expects this to be a much faster and easier labor than I had with Carson - I hope so!  Since my cervix is quite soft and shortened, I think that means I won't have to get the Cervadil for 12 hours, at least.  I think they'll probably just start pushing pitocin once we get checked in and settled.  I guess we'll find out for sure on Monday, though. 

I haven't been taking many pictures of my progression through this pregnancy, but I did have Kevin take a quick picture at 36 weeks - a couple of weeks ago.  I'll have him take one on Monday before we leave for the hospital, too.  But here is the 36 week picture.

An Evening Swim

We went out for an evening swim one night this past week when the water was 80 degrees.  Carson absolutely loves swimming in the pool!  Who am I kidding... we all do!  ;)

Carson and Mackenzey at the Lake

Last Sunday, we went out to Aunt Sharon's house for Charlie's high school graduation open house.  We didn't take many pictures - and didn't get a single one of Charlie.  The pictures we did get were all taken by Kevin since Sara wasn't feeling too great with the heat.  We did get some of Carson and Mackenzey having a lot of fun together - swimming, swinging in the hammock, and sitting by a tree.  They sure love to play together! 

May 2012 - Memorial Day Week/Weekend

The week before and the weekend of Memorial Day was a quite busy one for us this year.  Sara had three different appointments at her doctors to check on the baby, which meant lots of time off work.  Normally that would be great, but it was an insanely busy week at work to begin with, so it just made it more stressful.  It was also Carson's last week of school and the holiday weekend. 

On Carson's last day of preschool, the parents were all invited in to the classroom during the last 15 minutes to hear the children sing some songs and dance.  Then we all headed out to Rust Park in Grand Blanc for a picnic and playtime at the park.  We had a lot of fun!  Carson was kind of sad to say goodbye to his friends and teachers - he really, really loved preschool this year.  But we are looking forward to setting up some playdates with some of his friends throughout the summer.  And we'll see many of them at Vacation Bible School and Faith Lutheran's Summer Camps.

On Saturday, we went over to Aunt Sharon's house for a family party.  Carson and Mackenzey had a lot of fun swimming and playing in the lake.  We took a boat ride later in the day, just as it was looking like rain was rolling in, so it was a little chilly, but it was still good to get around the lake. 

We did a lot of yard work over the holiday weekend.  We got a lot of stuff cleaned up and got the front of the house looking pretty good with new mulch in the flower beds, a freshly painted door and screen door, and finally very few to no weeds in the front yard!  There are still some things we need to do in front, but its nice to make some visible progress for once.  We had set up the swimming pool the weekend prior, so we'd spent the whole week and part of the weekend filling it up with water.  So we spent some time in the pool over the weekend, which was awesome since it was 90 degrees! 

Update on Baby Girl

So it looks like I can't get through a pregnancy without becoming a high-risk patient.  :)  This time, my blood sugars are a little whacky, so I officially have gestational diabetes.  At least its pretty mild and its really only my fasting blood sugar (from my blood draw when I wake up in the morning) that has issues.  I can control the rest by diet with no problems (yet).  I do have to take medicine at bedtime each night to help with my fasting blood sugars, but that's it other than poking myself 3-4 times a day to check my blood sugar levels and peeing on sticks to test for ketones. :)  When they diagnosed me with GD, they expressed concerns over increasing my risk of pre-eclampsia... but ever since the GD diagnosis, my blood pressure has been great.  Pretty much where its at without being pregnant - usually right around 100/58.  Although this last week, it had jumped up to 120/72, but that's still not bad and is much lower than it had been 6 weeks ago.  I'm still having some problems with throwing ketones in my urine in the mornings when I wake up - not every day, but its been about 3 days a week or so.  We're still trying to figure that one out.  I can eat and exercise exactly the same for two days in a row, with two different results the following mornings (one negative, one with a small amount of ketones).  Its strange.  But I don't have too much longer to deal with it all, at least.  Everything should normalize and the diabetes should disappear once I give birth. 

Being a high-risk patient means I've been going to my OB twice a week since the 31-week mark (I'm now 36 weeks along... officially 9 months pregnant).  And on the weeks I visit the Maternal Fetal Medicine office at the hospital, I end up going to the doctor 3 times a week.  Talk about eating into my leave time at work... but I'm very thankful my OBs and the Maternal Fetal Medicine team are being so vigilant and watching things very closely.  I basically have non-stress tests (NSTs) at least once a week, twice a week during the off weeks that I don't have an ultrasound.  And I have an ultrasound every two weeks to monitor the baby's growth, the amount of amniotic fluid, and the health of the placenta.  As much as I cringe to think about having so many ultrasounds and their possible effect on the baby, I have to admit that it is kind of nice to see the baby so often now and feel reassured that things are going ok.  We were even able to finally get a peek at her features via the 4-D ultrasound at one of my visits - she definitely resembles her big brother!  :)  She even puckered up her lips while we were watching and blew us a kiss one day.  The last ultrasound I had was during her nap time, so we had to wake her up.  Her little yawns were quite cute on the screen.  But then she wasn't too happy to have been woken up and I paid the price having her beat me up inside.  ;)  There have been a couple of days recently where I honestly wondered if she was going to rip my stomach open, she was moving so much and so strongly.  I literally felt bruised for a couple of days afterwards.  She has also moved from being head-down at a diagonal to having her head at the top of the birth canal and being more straight up-and-down.  This makes it quite uncomfortable, even just to sit.  But it looks like she is getting herself ready to make an appearance at some point.  As of last Tuesday, I was only dilated to 1cm and only slightly effaced at this point, so we probably have some time yet.  Although it looks like my OBs will likely be inducing me around June 18th if she doesn't arrive sooner. 

Anyway, here are a couple recent ultrasound pictures and a video of her facing the camera and blinking her eyes. 

UPDATE:  I forgot to add that as of the last ultrasound on Friday, June 1st, they estimate baby girl to be 6 lbs, 8 oz, measuring a week ahead of schedule, which puts her in the 80th percentile.  If she continues this rate of growth, they estimate she will be in the mid to high 8 pound range at full-term.  Of course, this could be off a pound either way, as their margin of error is quite high, in my opinion.  They thought Carson would be close to 10 pounds up until I actually delivered him... and he was only 7 lbs, 9 oz.  So I don't put much faith in these estimates, really. 

UPDATE (6/6/12):  I went in for my normal Tuesday NST and OB appt. yesterday.  The NST was non-reactive - which basically means few movements and the few she had, her heart rate did not react/go up as it should.  I told them she'd been quite lazy all day, really.  She'd been moving, but not as often or as strongly as she normally moves.  So they sent me for an ultrasound - her biophysical profile checked out great again, 8 out of 8 factors.  They were still concerned, so the OB sent me over to the hospital to labor & delivery's triage for further monitoring.  Thankfully this little lady started paying attention so I wasn't in triage for more than an hour and a half or so before they said I could go home.  I guess this little lady just likes to keep us guessing.  :) 

May 2012 - Mother's Day Week/Weekend

Carson's preschool class had a Mother's Day party for all of the moms on the Thursday before Mother's Day.  Sara went into class for it.  The kids all sang some songs for the mothers, then they presented their mom with a special card and gift made by them.  The cards were so cute and the kids had all made heart-shaped pins for their moms to wear.  Sara wore hers proudly all day at work after the party and has worn it since, as well.  Then we went to the fellowship hall for some snacks.  The kids were all asked why they love their mothers... Carson said "because we have a nice house."  LOL! 

On Saturday of Mother's Day weekend, we invited Kevin's whole family over for a Mother's Day celebration.  Great Grandpa and Great Grandma made the trip from Grand Rapids and Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Danny joined us for a nice visit and dinner.  Sara had asked Grandma what she wanted for dinner and after giving her a few choices, Grandma picked a greek feast.  So Sara made chicken souvlaki, greek salad, fruit salad, roasted asparagus with feta, and brownies for dessert.  Everything was delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy it since everyone but Sara and Carson went back for seconds (and thirds for some, too).  :)  We gave Great Grandma and Grandma their Mother's Day gifts after dinner.  We decided to do a joint Mother's Day and Father's Day gift for Grandma and Grandpa this year and gave them an overnight stay at the Park Place Hotel in downtown Traverse City with tickets for a schooner cruise on the Traverse Bay.  They went over Memorial Day weekend and had a wonderful time by the sounds of it.  We had a very nice visit with everyone, but did not think to get the camera out once!  It was nice to just focus on visiting than taking pictures. 

On Sunday of Mother's Day weekend, we went out to Aunt Jeri's and Uncle Mike's house for a family party.  It was a beautiful day outside with perfect weather.  Carson went swimming in the lake... and nope, this was not his first time in the lake... he was actually swimming in March this year!!  He did some fishing, too.  And we all had a delicious mexican feast for dinner. 

It was a wonderful week and weekend, all around!  It was so nice to see both sides of our family throughout the weekend and we were very thankful that Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Van made the trip from Hudsonville to visit us all!  We hope that everyone had a Happy Mother's Day, as well!

Early May 2012 - Photo Shoots, Great Jackie's Bday

May was quite a busy month for us, so I'm breaking it into more than one post for catching up. 

The first weekend in May, Sara's best friend from college, Sara, came home for a spontaneous visit from Colorado with her son, Aiden.  Sara and Carson took a drive out to Sara's parents' house on May 5th to spend some time with Sara, Aiden, and Sara's family and also to do some photo shoots.  It's been a long time dream of Sara's to start up a small photography business... but for now it's just a hobby, really... I've got a lot to learn and experiment with before really moving forward with it more aggressively.  We did three different photo shoots - the first was of Aiden and his cousins Noelle and Noah.  Then I did an engagement photo shoot for Sara's sister, Amber, and her fiance, Russ.  I'll be photographing their wedding in Grayling at Hartwick Pines State Park in August - I can't wait!  And finally, we did a mini shoot of Sara's sister, Rachel, and her husband, Kevin.  It was a lot of fun!  I'm setting up a separate blog with the different pictures I take with clients - and I'm sure I'll include plenty of my own kids, too - but its a work in progress right now and not ready to publish yet.  As a result of these pictures, I've already got a few more photo shoots lined up this summer, too!  Fun, fun!!  I can't wait!  :)  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our shoots on May 5th.  I had just gotten a new camera the day before, so I didn't play around with aperture, shutter speeds, ISO, etc. as much as I'd have liked to ahead of time.  But they still turned out pretty well.

On May 6th, we had Sara's dad's family over to celebrate Great Jackie's birthday.  Sara's cousin, Josh, ended up breaking his arm so badly he needed surgery on a dirt bike trip up north the day before, so he and his family did not end up making it.  But we still had a lot of fun.  Carson and Tyson really enjoyed playing together and riding the little four-wheeler around the yard.  And I think Great Grandma Jackie enjoyed seeing everyone and had a good time, too.