First Photo Shoot!

I set up the studio yesterday, and set out today to do Madison's first photo shoot! She was a little difficult to get to sleep, took a good couple of hours to get her asleep enough to pose her, and still she resisted in her slumber. Still I got some really cute shots and hope to get a few more tomorrow, if I have the energy! It's tough work being the Mom and the photographer all at once!

Here are the highlights so far:

Thought I'd try a little texture on these two and loved how they turned out!

I just love little feet!!

Sisters

Sisters, originally uploaded by Christine - AbbyG.

Just a quick post of this photo I took of the three girls. I think this is the beginning of an amazing relationship between the three! I can't wait to see what life has in store for them... fun, heartache, mischievousness, and adventure!

Getting used to it again...

Sleepless nights, sore bobbies, on demand feeding, and did I mention sleepless nights...?? Actually it's all fun and all worth it, Madison is a cute, adorable hugable little girl! She feeds well and really does sleep well, all she does so far. But really at 5 days old what do you expect! Abby and Gillian just adore her, and want to be with her ALL the time. Abby wants to hold her and gets mad at me when I put her down for a nap in her bed. Gillian is very gentle with her, will give her hugs and loves to hold her, but is content playing on her own most of the time. Eric is doing a fantastic job of taking care of the girls, making our meals and supporting me as we get through these first few weeks, unfortunately he has to go back to work in September... so back to reality after that! Here is a shot I just took:

We can't really decide/figure out who she looks like. Abby and Gilly were so distinctly Eric, but Madison is much different. Who do you think she looks like the most?

I have my studio all set up for some photos today, I hope to post some nice ones tonight... other than that, nothing else on the agenda today! Just chillin' with baby!

Our Daughter is Born!

She arrived on Thursday August 20th, at 5:23 after (thankfully) a few short hours of labour. Luckily we were smarter this time and decided to go to the hospital a little earlier! Contractions started at 5:00 am, but subsided around 7:00 am, so I thought it was a false start at first. But around noon, they started back up again, light, manageable, but still regular - every 6 min or so. Around 1:30 - 2:00 pm, they were getting slightly closer together - 5 min 30 sec, and a little stronger, so Eric suggested that we head into the hospital. Of course I thought - too early, but I'll entertain him and we'll go and they'll tell us to go home. We arrived at the hospital at about 3:00 pm, and sitting at the triage desk was Heather, the nurse we had when we delivered Abigail - who in fact was the person who delivered her, because our Dr was not exactly in the room when she came out... we had fun catching up chatting while they monitored me. The resident came in and checked me to see how far along I was, and to every ones surprise, I was between 7-8 cm. So I was admitted at about 3:45, and as soon as we went to the L & D room, it really started to pick up. The Dr came, broke my water around 5:15, and then came Madison Elizabeth, at 5:23 cord wrapped around her neck -twice. But thankfully the Dr had it all under control and she was fine. Here are her first few images from the hospital:

Did I check anything off...

Not really. I kept busy yesterday, but not with anything on my list. I proofed more pics from my friend's maternity shoot, got tired so had a nap. Then went shopping at St. Laurent with my friend - didn't buy anything, but it was nice to be in air conditioning! Then came home, went for another walk with Eric and Bender. Then picked up the girls. Unfortunately, all that walking and staying up didn't induce labour. I had more contractions, but not the full on what I was hoping for. But, at least I was having contractions again, so today I'm going for two longish walks with the dog. It's cooler outside and hopefully the bugs aren't too bad. I'd also like to stop by the Chelsea flower shop to get some nice flowers, I have a little "project" in mind! But for now, the dalia's are blooming and beautiful right now. They are my favourite flowers in the garden after tulips. Actually tulips and dalia's are equal, and luckily they bloom at totally different times!

This is called: "Dalia after the rain"

Keeping Busy

August 17th and now officially 4 days late. I was 3 days late having Gillian, but right on the nose with Abby, so I guess this one is just waiting for the perfect moment to come. It's really hard not to sit here 24 hours a day and think about how I want more than anything to start labour, and meet this little girl. But I do, and it's probably stressing me out. Eric is now at home, and we get daily calls from everyone wondering if I've started yet. Trust me at this point, everyone will know if it starts!! I've been pretty good at keeping busy, but now the pain of baby's legs pushing my ribs outwards is getting to be a bit much and it's hard to walk because of where the baby's head is. So as much as I have a million things I'd like to do, just the act of sitting here at my desk to write hurts! But the only way to keep my mind off of things is to keep busy, so here is the to do list for the rest of the week.

1. File. I bought a new filing cabinet last week, built it this weekend, now I need to file.
2. Go for walks with Bender - hope the intense heat dies down a little... we are both very slow!
3. Design the birth announcement, I'm determined to send them out this time, it's the last time and I'm hoping to get a cute shot of the three girls after the baby is born.
4. Scrapbook, I'm so way behind it doesn't matter where I start!
5. Get my health card renewed - yuck. It means having to make myself look half decent, going to the SAAQ office, waiting for an hour, and getting the photo taken. Not high on my to do list, but I think I'd rather do it without a screaming newborn than with!
6. Get passport photos taken and renew my passport. Perhaps 5 & 6 will be done together - tomorrow.
7. Design business cards - got to do this because people are starting to ask for them.
8. Blog...
9. Sleep....
10. Bake a cake - I have a craving.
11. Keep taking pictures, it's hard when you are in so much pain and can't move!
12. Burn/Backup my images...I think my hard drive is getting full!

So there you go, I think that is plenty to keep me busy until the weekend, at which time I'll have to see the Dr again, who will then probably send me for an ultrasound and book me for induction. Not my first choice of going into labour, but what must be done, must be done!

A few parting shots from today, before heading off to bed...

night night!!

A Refresing Update!!

I decided to update my blog. Considering I'm still pregnant, now 2 days overdue (if you consider my due date as Aug 12th) awaiting baby to start her journey, I needed something to do. Well, I'm not exactly short of things to do, I have quite an extensive list, that would probably take weeks to get through, but this was one on that list, so I did it!! I found photography centric blog templates from: Our Blogger Templates and decided to upgrade. The advantage of this template is that it's much wider and allows you to post much larger photos. I can also put an image background, which I happen to like and in general I find it looks so much more polished. I also upgraded my photography blog: http://christinedenisphotography.blogspot.com/ (Please comment and tell me what you think!!)

Don't you just love the huge photos!! Probably too big for some screen resolutions, but works on mine!

The story behind the photos: I went for a walk with Bender, trying to induce labour by walking in the 35 degree heat... but instead was just eaten alive by mosquitoes! Each time I'd stop to take a photo, they would find me and attack! So needless to say, I didn't take too many and had to change my route.

Maybe I'll hit the road again...off to walk the dog!