The Last Baby

Dakota Kate is it. She's our last baby. And I suppose that sad fact, in addition to the busy-ness of caring for two small children has left me about 5 months behind on this family blog.

I can't believe she's already halfway through her infancy. She's "over the hill" in baby terms... Every single stage I try to cherish. And it really puts things into perspective. For example, around her 4-month mark, I was exhausted from the fact that she refuses to take a bottle or sippy cup and I almost decided to wean her early. I even told our Pediatrician this and he graciously hooked us up with 4 canisters of formula. At that point I was ready to stop.

Well almost.

If you were to ask me today how it's going- well, at 6.5 mos she's still not taking a bottle nor a sippy cup, but since she's the last baby I decided to keep going and we're still going strong. She's the last one. It's the last time to experience all the mothering parts of caring for such a little one and it really has me treasuring this time, even if there are challenges.

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I'll be going back and post-posting with pre-dates {does that make sense?} just so our journal isn't empty for the past 5 months! We've been very busy anyhow and I want to document life during that time.

To start this off, last week we had family photos taken by Alisha Baker Photography {HERE} and our complete gallery is available for viewing {HERE} password DKmason.

Enjoy!

Shooting the Baby...Again

Our 9-month photo session with Two Sisters Photography

Well, I finally ordered Mason's 9 month photos...oh and his 3 month ones too {yes, I'm a Procrastinator}. In fact, I didn't mean to, but I skipped getting his 6-month photo session done altogether. I didn't even realize it until he was ~8 months and then just decided to wait until 9-months for his 3rd quarter shots.

For his 9-month session, I ran late to our photo shoot {surprise, surprise} so we only had 20 minutes for decent lighting since we opted for an outdoor session. To top it off, we had horrible weather with an overcast sky and the temperature was dropping quickly. I'm very pleased to report that despite all of these hurdles, Mason was phenomenal AND photogenic {as usual}. Of course, it didn't hurt that we had two very talented photographers to capture M's personality on camera.

www.twosisters-photography.com

www.twosisters-photography.com

www.twosisters-photography.com

Click HERE for our full photo session.

And while I was ordering the 3-month photos along with the 9-months, I became very nostalgic...and teary-eyed. Look at my Booger back in May... And then I took this one just for kicks in late December...

They grow up too fast!

*sniff sniff*

Mobile Madness

Thank goodness for technology. I'm so happy my Blackberry device has a nice camera on it. I never really cared that much to have a camera phone before, but I've been able to capture some cute moments with Mason since I'm likely to keep my phone with me. As a side note, I think my camera phone may take better pictures than both of my other 2 digital cameras...weird.

Here he is sleeping with his monkey binky. I thought it was funny since their heads are turned the same way.

And my little prepster was just chilling before church. He thinks he's a big boy already.

And then since I was the only mom to not bring a camera to the picnic (bad Mommy bad!), I broke out the phone for this sweet picture of the baby picnicking madness.

Headline: Two Sisters Shoot Baby Boy

Haha, Two Sisters Photography took Mason's 3-month pictures that is...

Jan's sister Shelia Yates came over Saturday and we had a blast! The full Gallery of over 200 photos is HERE Mason had fun throughout the session, but it was a challenge to keep his hands out of his mouth (see below), he'd smile but not necessarily at the camera, and when we had him tummy-side down on a bench he rolled twice and thankfully we were right there to catch him. I was very impressed with Shelia's photog skills and working with a wiggly baby.

www.twosisters-photography.com

www.twosisters-photography.com

www.twosisters-photography.com

Also of note:

Mason's been drooling quite a bit, but I figured that's just what babies do. Friday night he was extremely fussy and kept putting his hands in his mouth like in this last picture. I took his temperature and he had a low-grade fever; I called the Pedi's office and they weren't of much help, but after I kept noticing how he was "chewing" on his hands. Then I finally realized that my 3 month-old is already TEETHING! Yuck...I was hoping to delay this as I didn't cut my first tooth until 7 months. It's been a come-and-go thing though, and the cold teething toys really help soothe him...too bad he can't hold them steadily in his mouth yet. Meanwhile, when he's in pain, the poor little guy can't even stay asleep so I end up holding him all the time. I feel like he's fused to my arm now.

This too shall pass...

Long Overdue

Yes, it is indeed long overdue (thank goodness I mean the photos and not Baby Mason!). Here are the photographs from my maternity session with Jan King of Two Sisters Photography. Check her other work out at www.twosisters-photography.com

www.twosisters-photography.com

www.twosisters-photography.com

www.twosisters-photography.com
www.twosisters-photography.com

www.twosisters-photography.com

www.twosisters-photography.com

www.twosisters-photography.com

www.twosisters-photography.com

Photogenic

The little man is very expressive...and that makes for great pictures!

Jan King of Two Sisters Photography came over this past Tuesday morning and took these beautiful photographs of Mason at 1-week old. It's going to be amazing watching how he grows and having it captured on film for memories in years to come.

Thank you Jan!

http://www.twosisters-photography.com

http://www.twosisters-photography.com
http://www.twosisters-photography.com

http://www.twosisters-photography.com

http://www.twosisters-photography.com

http://www.twosisters-photography.com

I've been so fatigued and have neglected to update on a couple of things...

Last Weekend

I had my Maternity Photo Shoot with Jan King of Two Sisters Photography. Originally I planned on using an out-of-town, higher-end photographer, but the reality that it would be costly for travel in addition to a significantly large investment for the session alone (which did not include any pictures/proofs), I had resolved to forgo maternity pics altogether due to the sticker shock alone. Budget is top priority-I am going to be a single mother in a particularly unstable economic time!

HOWEVER, I truly believe God provided when Jan King, a lady from church, randomly offered a photo shoot and her pricing couldn't be beat! Jan and her sister Shelia are incredibly talented and I couldn't be more pleased with my photo session, the time they took for tons of different poses/outfits/sceneries (275 proofs), and their creative vision for my shoot. I can't wait to share the pictures (since they're worth a thousand words) but I will wait to get permission from Jan first.

Monday

I received a call that my #1 Pediatrician choice will accept Mason as a new patient! This is great news because there are a ton of people (Dr. F included) who advised me of how good this Pediatrician is, but that he rarely accepts new patients. We got in!

Tuesday

They found trace amounts of protein in my urine again (aren't you so glad I share my pee stories freely?); although my blood pressure is back down to 120/80 and my weight gain was 4 lbs from the last week, but only 1 lb from 2 weeks prior (the nurse said it's water). Woo-hoo! So I don't have to see Dr. F again next week.

Thursday

I purchased materials to make the cornices for Mason's nursery. And I must add that the guys at Home Depot were not very helpful at all. I found one reluctant guy to cut my plywood, initially he tried to hide between aisles near the molding section...SERIOUSLY!

Friday

Today, I don't really have an update other than I've been fatigued all day. But not so much that I can't look forward to my BABY SHOWER tomorrow! I'm so excited- Bethany, Jamie, Tiger, and Mrs. Pettis are hostessing and it's going to be awesome celebrating with my friends =)

Baby In My Belly

It is important to me that Baby has a sense of belonging and a connection to family. As a child of adoption, I have a small sense of some questions that Baby will face growing up in a non-traditional home. As a future single-parent, I want to be able to provide a beautiful life for Baby and one way for me to nurture that sense of history and belonging between Baby and I is to capture this special prenatal time through maternity pictures.

Heather Bookout Studio & Design

These are just some of the beautiful maternity images that Heather Bookout shows in her Online Gallery. I love the bohemian/artsy themes. She is FANTABULOUS and I hope to book with her during my 7th or 8th month =)