The news has been shared with our closest family and friends… so it’s time to post it here too:  we’re going to have a baby!

I remember seeing the little “+” sign show up, boldly and immediately, and my first reaction was to tear up and pace through the house rapidly saying, “ohmygodohmygodohmygod!” while Henry asked me what was wrong, hahaha. I told Ron when he got home, and we told the kids, and our families a few weeks later!

It’s exciting to think about what life will be like with a little one around here.  I really believe Lucy and Henry will be a big help, since they are a bit older now (they will be almost 7 and 5 when the baby is born).  They are very excited to have a baby brother or sister to take care of!  I’ve been feeling very good (I can’t say “great”).  Overwhelming exhaustion, and a couple weeks of 24-hour queasiness have been my biggest hurdles so far, as well as the fact that I feel like I’m already getting a bigger tummy (probably since this is my third time around), but for now, the jeans still fit!  It has been tough to keep it a secret (especially since for a while I felt like I could barely function)… if I recall, we shared the news quite early with my first two pregnancies, but this time for some reason I felt like waiting until after we had our first ultrasound.  I think I needed to see this picture to make it more “real” for myself, and have been very anxious about telling people this time, since we have gone back and forth for so long about whether or not to have a third.  Obviously we were never able to make a final decision to stop at two, we always felt that we would regret it forever, and that little “maybe” existed in the backs of our minds for a few years.  Now we are happy, a little nervous, and very hopeful for this child, and how much joy and love he or she will bring into our lives.  All we have are a few grainy pictures and video clips… but from what I can tell, she or he looks like a fun kid!

What does this mean for my photography business?

For 2013, it simply means that I won’t be working as much as in years past.  I am already capped on my weddings (I was thinking ahead).  The weddings I do have which are anywhere near my due date (mid-September) are in early August and early October.  In early August, I believe I will be fine to work.  By the beginning of October, I will not be pregnant anymore.  I’m excited about the timing of everything.  I know this may beg the question, “but what if you were due close to my wedding date?”  Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about that, but to put minds at ease, I would have had several months to communicate with my clients about the conflict and work out arrangements with another photographer, making it my top priority to keep my clients happy and feeling secure in their decision.  I will still arrange for a backup in case of emergency.  Again, I’m just very happy that I’ll be able to do the work I have contracted, not take on any more work than I can handle, and enjoy a year with a light workload.  I have been so fortunate to never have a single conflict due to a death in the family, illness, or other unexpected situation which left me unable to shoot a wedding for which I was hired.  I can’t just “call in” the morning of a wedding if something terrible happens.  So, I count my blessings that every time I’ve had to show up and do my best, I was able to!

As for portraits, I have said previously that I am not taking on new clients (this is still the case, obviously).  I am working for a substantial client base, which keeps me plenty busy!  I’m lucky to have so many wonderful families and kids who have me photograph them on a regular basis, and I hope to continue photographing them through the majority of this year.

Photography in 2014 will need to be determined later.  We are opening another new business, bringing a third child into the world, and in the meantime, I am trying to be a good stay-at-home parent (and you stay-at-home parents know, that is a full time job in itself).  For the next year or so, my husband will be gone more than ever, and even more of the responsibility will be on me, myself, and I.  So, I am taking stock of my priorities, and of what brings my family happiness and wellness.  There are only so many hours in the day, and even now, I see a few areas of my life suffering from lack of attentiveness (it seems as though “Self” is always at the bottom of the list).  Besides, young kids can’t exist in the background while you work endlessly on a computer.  Daily moments of dismissal are in fact time, slipping through your fingers, and I do not wish to live with regret when my children are too old to want to play with me.

We so very much appreciate the celebration and support we have gotten from everyone!  As of now, we don’t plan on finding out if it is a girl or boy.  I have been craving fruits (oranges, pineapples, and strawberries, in particular), and felt more nausea than either of my other two pregnancies (both of which make me lean toward “girl” based on past experience and intuition, but it’s really anyone’s guess until September)!

Well here we are at the end of another year. 2012 has been a toughie. It has been full of some big ups and downs. So, right now my two amazing kids are playing outside in the snow (we finally have snow!), and I can try to reflect on it all. I can barely wrap my mind around how much my life has changed, so instead of trying to make sense of it, I’m looking forward to 2013 with a resolution of peace. An idea which has eluded me too much this year.

The big (mostly good) memories of the year included:

Weddings, births, and engagements! Wonderful, life-changing moments that I have been privileged to witness and photograph.

Beginning the process of starting a new business – a microbrewery. As I type this, Ron is ripping out carpet and doing some other preliminary demolition!

Aimless drives down country roads… just a couple miles from home but it always feels like a mini vacation.

Meeting Christopher Lloyd downtown, so starstruck I forgot to get a photo!

Brad Paisley and The Band Perry, Jim Gaffigan, The Blues Brothers Revue, Dana Carvey, The Fresh Beat Band, Ag Silver, Brian Regan, Beauty and the Beast (Broadway). Nothing like live performances on stage to make you laugh, cry, and sing!  Hoping that in 2013 we can see even more concerts and live productions!

Celebrating our 8^th anniversary somewhere on the road in Minnesota, Ron gave a mood ring from a truck stop!

The loss of my two grandfathers within two months, and the special time with family and friends during visitations and funerals. I suspected they couldn’t live forever, but I just didn’t want to believe it. Still can’t.

Warm summer nights on the deck, drinking wine, sitting under the lights.  This year brought us more “deck-worthy” warm nights than ever before!

Many of our friends and family are starting new adventures, new careers, new relationships, planning weddings, adoptions, pregnancies, homes, projects, and resolutions.  I am thankful for the success and joy of others, and for the new friendships that have emerged throughout the year.

Cheers and The Wonder Years. 

A trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, two trips out to Denver (one by plane, one by car the “long way”), Northern Michigan, and to Mackinac Island with an unforgettably rough ferry ride! All the little stops along the way with our kids, seeing new places.

Lucy starting Kindergarten and Henry starting Preschool.  So thankful our kids do so well in school, and have such loving, talented, hardworking teachers in their lives!

So, there are just a few of the memories that make up this year.  There has been a lot of laughter, a lot of tears, some yelling, some silence, some broken dishes, some bandaged scrapes, some late nights, some long days, some new dreams, some heartbreak. Some pictures that exist only in my memory, because I left my camera in its bag… but lately, I prefer just being present.  Now the kids are back in from the cold, drinking hot cocoa and sorting red and green M&M’s into patterns, their pile of snow gear on the front rug. It makes me stop and think: life is sweet, and the little moments are bigger than we realize. Wishing you all peace and joy in 2013!

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !
and surely I’ll buy mine !
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.