BLOG ADDRESS CHANGE....PLEASE UPDATE

Hello! So I've been working on trying to make a blog where I can post larger images. I think I have it figured out....*crosses fingers*....if I don't then I will pack up and move on back to this address. But for now please click the picture below to come with me to the new Le Petit Poulet.

I would love for you to change your bookmarks and join me!

If you come to my house and I'm playing with my camera......

You will get your picture taken!!
I like to call these pictures "Ode to Vanessa and G".
As I mentioned before my beloved 30D and fancy dancy lens are off to parts unknown to be repaired. It's a little strange to have your camera sent away with no word from anyone on how it's doing or when it will be feeling better. Sort of like sending away your troubled kid to a wilderness program or something.
My first thought upon the cameras departure was "OOOOOH I guess I need to buy a backup camera. The backup camera shall be bigger and shinier with more bells and whistles so that it will eclipse the current camera therefore sending the 30D to backup status whilst the new camera sleeps on a satin pillow beside me!!!!!" Mwahahahahaha. And then as the days rolled by I remembered "oh yeah....I have a backup camera....where is that thing?" So I dig out my Rebel. Not the new fancy Rebel but just the happy go lucky Rebel that I once used for everything including photoshoots.
It wasn't bigger and shinier than the 30D and it's bells and whistles were not as loud and ringy dingy (did I just say ringy dingy??) but it was once a great camera that took excellent shots and warrented a place on that fictional satin pillow....but instead it had been tossed on the shelf and left for dead.
So I dusted it off and tried to remember how it worked!
The first day I was playing with it in the yard with Little One when G arrived home from her playdate with her bestest buddy G and her mom Vanessa.
They ran around and played as I tried to coerce them into looking my way for some pictures. Vanessa's G gave me that look she always gives me....that "lady you are nuttier than a fruitcake" look.
I love how these pictures turned out. Vanessa is one of the most awesome people I have ever known. She is bold and hilarious and is in the process of writing a book which I have been lucky enough to talk her out of a rough draft to read!
She was unfortunate enough to have befriended me right before I got pregnant and to her credit stuck by me through the horror of the Barf-O-Rama, HemorrageFest 08' and beyond.
She is an awesome mother to her G who is wonderfully unique which is why my G and myself love to have her around! And c'mon look at that kids eyes and lips....I've wanted to take some fancy pics of her since the first time G brought her home to play!!!
I have to say, after the last post and comments it is true. My friends are my sisters that I never had and always wanted and I'm grateful for all of you!!
(and if you come to my house and I have the camera out be prepared. I will take your picture and I will make an ode to you too!!!!)
p.s. Please people save your pennies and don't feel like you have to have the biggest and brightest and most expensive camera. Learn to use the one you have and you'll be taking amazing shots that you can hang on your walls in no time!!

Missing You....

This week is the first week that G is going to school all day. I have suffered over this (just ask anybody I blah blah blahed to about it over the last few months). I wasn't ready for her to go...I'm still not. Time is flying by so fast and no matter how hard I try to grab it and wrestle it to the ground forcing it to stop, it won't. She just keeps growing....getting smarter and funnier and more incredible.
I can't believe I have a seven year old, how did that happen?
Well, I guess I know how it happened!!
I know that Little One misses her too. Today she heard the sounds of kids on the street outside and ran to her window. She thought maybe her sister was coming home..."not yet" I tell her "not for a few more hours."
It seems so weird without her crazy laughter in the house all day. It seems weird to not run into her in all the usual places as the day ticks by....to hear her playing petshop in her room or coming out to tell me one of her jokes where the punch line never quite makes sense!
When she came home today Little One couldn't keep her hands off of her.
We were sitting in the yard, where I was trying to figure out how to use my old camera again while my beloved 30D is in the repair shop.
I could hardly pry them apart long enough to take any pictures so I just started snapping away at what I could get.
Sisters.
Makes me wish I had one too :)

A Passion for Fashion and Photography!

It is the rare occasion that I feel like doing a photoshoot so how much fun was this beautiful Saturday morning that Kristen and I took our girls out so that I could take pictures of them sporting their funky new clothes!
Kristen and I are in love with Matilda Jane Clothing (www.matildajaneclothing.com) That love turned into a full fledged passion for Kristen who put together a trunk show that I am going to co host with her on September 6th. I could seriously buy every piece in their line and be hap hap happy!! They even have womens clothing that is fantastic.
I sent out a few emails to friends and mommies with girls! If anybody else would like the trunk show info let me know and I'll email you :)
When I have a great day like this one it makes it soooooooooooooo hard to turn down clients for photos.
There are moments I think "should I go back and take pictures again?!?!?!" But then I look at my sweet baby boy and my girls and how much time it will take away from them and I know I can't do that.
What would Barry Manilow do?? *see last post for this reference hehehe*

In Love

It's official....I'm in love. He's sweet and dramatic with big feet and even bigger blue eyes. While I have been traumatized from the events of his birth it has not altered my adoration for him one bit!!
And I think I literally am traumatized.
The bleeding has stopped and life has resumed....such a great thing but at the same time I am having a hard time moving past it. I am just now starting to be able to sleep without the t.v. on at night. It was a habit I developed at the hospital so that I wouldn't be startled when the nurses burst in or the blood snatchers arrived to tap another vein to fill their keg!
I still worry everytime I go to the bathroom that I'll start hemorraging....I have cramps quite often and wonder if something frightening is going on inside that I don't know about. My mother actually said to me the other day "a friend of mine had pain in her stomach after hemorraging and it turned out she had blood in there that was pushing on her liver." HOLY CRAP DO NOT TELL ME THAT!! I don't need to wonder if blood is filling up inside of me drowning my organs.
Once I came to the conclusion that I needed to move on with my life...pull myself up by the bootstraps and overcome this....that is what I've done.
I love the normalcy of friends dropping by to say hello, playdates with laughter and the little faces of my girls friends that I absolutely adore....kids who wondered what the h@ll happened to me when I got all giant, lost my sense of humor, and stopped having them come over to play!
I love being able to eat again and not barf. And sadly I actually enjoy cleaning and doing laundry. There's something about a hospital and wondering if you're going to hemorrage to death that makes you appreciate the little things....or in the case of my laundry basket of dirty clothes, the BIG things.
This baby-o-mine gives me so much joy I can't even begin to describe my love for him. I love hugging him and squeezing him and kissing his little face until he looks at me with an expression on his face that says "PLEASE KNOCK IT OFF!!!" I love ploppping a red knit cap on his head, pretending he is the gome of G's room there to grant her three wishes......we'll save that story for another time hehehehe.
For weeks I would cry and tell Bri that I just wanted to be a mom again instead of some lifeless person in a hospial and now that I am getting the chance I don't want to miss one moment.

Are you wondering when I'm going to get out of my contemplative sappy mood? I don't know if I will.....what if I stay this way forever?
What if I become one of those people that just sits and stares at old photo albums, listens to Barry Mainlow and talks about the "old days" with a wistful smile on my face? At the Copa....Copa Cabana...." *sigh*

The Reign of Baby {Son}Shine

Born: June 22, 2008
Weight: 10lbs 3 oz
Height: 22 1/2 inches
Baby {Son}Shine arrived two days before the scheduled induction. He must have finally gotten the hint that I was ready for him to come! In addition to coming two days early he was 1 lbs and 3 oz larger than the last guestimation.....this is the point where you may feel free to say OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. 10 lbs 3 oz he made his way out and in the process broke my tailbone because of his mighty girth!! But lemme tell you he was GORGEOUS. Nothing like a big hunky quarterback baby being placed on your chest with big beautiful arms and legs and the cutest cheeks.
While my son has been doing well I have not.
Following the birth I just never felt good and bad went to worse until I was diagnosed with a uterine infection (about 10 days later) and about 12 days following his birth I began hemmorraging so badly I had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance where I was passing liver sized clots....I spent the next six days in the hospital feeling worse than I have ever felt, wondering if I was ever going to see my family again. I had blood transfusions and a surgery and more medicine hung and put through my IV than I had ever seen in my life.
When I finally was able to leave the hospital weak and depressed I came home only to have to return by ambulance five days later for hemmorraging again. They had drained my veins so horribly the first time (I also had phelbitis in the IV arm) that the ambulance personel tried twice to get a vein for an IV and couldn't do it. They had to leave it for the ER (also leaving me with the most painfully bruised arm from missed IV's that I have ever felt). A second surgery was done with a scope this time....apparently the placenta had adhered to the uterus making it impossible for my uterus to contract therefore causing the large amounts of blood loss. They used tweezers to pull the placenta off until they made it to the uterus wall.
I was sent home on a week of bedrest...and the possibility of the hemmorraging returning if the placenta has in fact gone through the uterus wall. If that is the case a hysterectomy is the only option.
Soooooooooooo long story short that is where I have been. Trying to be a mom to this new wonderful baby as well as my beautiful girls but at the same time being shuttled back and forth to the hospital while either bleeding profusely or worrying about bleeding profusely.
The only way we'll know the outcome is if the bleeding slows and stops right now after the second surgery OR if I hemmorrage again.
It has been a lot to go through but when I look at my son's little face I know every minute of it has been worth it.
I wanted to check in to let everybody know that he is doing well and that I appreciate all the wonderful well wishses.
I also cannot say enough thank you's to everybody who has helped my family and me during this horrible time. I don't know how we could have done it without all the help and love and prayers. I love all of you and because of your help and love my girls (who could have been traumatized) were able to have some sense of normalcy throughout this whole ordeal.
So now we cross our fingers and pray (as I get back on my feet this week) that I will continue to heal and no further medical intervention is needed!!

Shuttin' Her Down

Tonight I sent the family scattering like mice from the table when I started throwing up. At this point you are saying to yourself "now wait a minute....aren't you about done with this pregnancy? Haven't you been puking the WHOLE FREAKING TIME?" to which I answer, with a very sour look on my face "YES."
These last two weeks have been brutal in the barfing/nausea department. It stresses me out for labor and what that will be like if I'm throwing up the whole time. Last week I charted the largest amount of weight I have gained in one week since this whole thing started. And then today when I went in I had lost weight. Not a big surprise since I can't eat or keep food down.

The update is that Rex is not making much progress. Despite the contstant contractions and the fact that he is so low every step is painful...I am still only dilated to a one. And when they check him his little head floats up so he is not staying engaged. I am grateful that I scheduled this induction for next week, not only because poor little guy can't seem to make progress where he is supposed to in there but also because the Dr. I had to see today has guesstimated that Rex is going to be 9 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!! So my son is a HUGE baby with no sense of direction and needs this induction to get him out before he comes walking out asking for a steak and baked potato in his bottle!!

This last week in particular has been quite painful...I don't know how many times I have uttered the phrase "I can't do this"....not just in the last week but in the last 7 months. I am almost there but it seems like this mirage in the desert that I'm reaching for and can't quite get to it.

I am now going to be officially shuttin' her down until after his arrival. I would love any extra well wishes and whatnot sent my way while I just buckle down and wait for the 24th to arrive. And seriously if they bump me on the 24th due to emergencies look for me on the news to be strapped to the front door of the hospital refusing to move until someone extracts my son!!! HA HA HA HA

Thanks for listening to me for all these months and for the encouragement and comments that have made me laugh and smile. See you in a few weeks :)

His Last Fathers Day as a Father of Two!

Some snapshots of a father on Fathers Day clearly showing what he means to his girls and what his girls mean to him :)

Truly Amazing

Happy Fathers Day!
They are who they are because you are who you are.

So Mr. CC what are you going to do now that you've had a haircut??

He's going to Disneyland!!



This one is my favorite.....the look of absolute terror on his face as he listens to me, trusting that he can look at the camera....full well knowning that a maniacal little person is getting ready to do something behind him.
Good boy!

Exactly what you DON'T want to hear at your Dr. appointment

Doctor: "Well, we could induce you as early as the 19th but I'm going to be out of town that whole week. So it looks like the earliest now would be the 24th."
Me: *SIGH*

Interesting Facts Overheard at the Breakfast Table

G:"Ehhhhhhhh Curious George is going to get stung by a bee!" (screamed while running from the room)
G:(returns)" OH NO! He's still getting chased by that bee! I hate bees, I don't want to get stung!!" (runs from the room only to return again.)
Little One: (exasperated) "G, you don't have to worry about getting stung by a bee. Our town only has penguins not bees so you can't get stung!"
Me: "Yeah G, didn't you realize that we don't have bees in this town anymore, at least not since the penguins came to stay!"

If you haven't had your baby yet....go to the bowling alley!

We had plans to do a little bowling with the "C" family....I am always on the fence about whether I can leave the house due to the giant baby inside of me who is presently wedged so far down in my left side that I expect him to just drop out any minute and say hello. Just before everybody was leaving I threw up in the sink, and headed out the door. Determined to get some fresh air and get my mind off the contractions!
It really did take my mind off of things watching the kids and dad's hit the alley. Sweet Livvy and Sam had never been bowling, they were so cute! Everytime Sam hit the pins he would come galloping back claiming that he had scored "another world record!" The three girls were awesome cheerleaders....and the dad's....well let's just say that I'm convinced that they are playing on secret bowling leagues when they are supposed to be working!
It was so dark in the lanes I couldn't really get any pictures but afterwards the kids eagerly ran for the arcade so I whipped out the camera. Kristin said I couldn't take her picture but PUHLEEZE....we all know I'll do whatever I want! *snicker* Especially when she is involved in some off road arcade racing and stopping me would require her to take her hands off of the wheel therefore crashing into innocent spectators on the track!
The dad's were helping the kids gather tickets from the games that spit the tickets out so that they could get some prizes.
Thanks "C"'s for a fun afternoon and for getting me out of the house :)

Someone Needs a Haircut

(*Shhhhhhhhh don't tell Cody I posted his picture, he prefers to remain incognito due to his special agent status. I'm not sure he could tell if I was taking his picture or not though what with his rock star bangs in his eyes.)

Baby Cousin Max Comes for a Visit

In addition to the wonderful company of Kristin, Livvy and Sam yesterday we had the honor of being Baby Max's first place to go for an official "PLAY DATE". :)
It was so fun to have my Cousin John come and visit with his son. John has taken on the amazing responsibility of being a stay at home dad to Max, and while I know that it has been hard, he (in his third week) is really stepping up to the plate! John had never even changed a diaper before Max came along and now here is my cute little Cousin changing diapers, making bottles and kissing the sweet soft little cheeks of his son.
This has been such a fun thing to be a part of, I honestly never thought my girls would have any cousins. So imagine the fun to find out that not only were John and Rebecca were going to have a baby after all these years, but that we were also expecting and both of us boys! Then we never even discussed names too much with each other and we find out on Easter that they are going with Max and we will have Rex! It is just meant to be, these little boys will be buddies and pals :)
The girls are just over the moon with Max, it's been a great introduction to when Rex comes along. Little One rocked him in his carseat yesterday until he fell asleep. They hovered around John while he fed Max, Little One even dared to be in the same room while John changed a poopie diaper (G opted to wait in her room whilst dry heaving at the thought.)They loved making him smile and Little One even went and got her prized stuffed monkey that she has had since birth and tossed it in the carseat for him to snuggle with!
Getting to hold that little guy has really helped me as I sludge through these last weeks until Rex's arrival. Last week was so hard with long days of contractions and feeling so sick and wondering if I was going to give birth while walking up the stairs. Snuggling with Max gives me the strength that I can make it....a few more weeks. I may have to drag myself into the hospital since I can barely walk without pain, but I can do it!

And on another fantastic note Patti Lupone is on The View singing music from "Gypsy". What a fantastic Broadway performance that will be! Made me wish I could jump a plane to New York just for a night to sit in the audience and mouth the words along with her while she knocks it out of the park :)