Capturing emotion through photography.

my favorite types of photos are ones that capture a spontaneous moment, expression, feeling.  i realize that staged group pictures are a necessity particularly during large get togethers.  however, it's not very interesting to look at or admire, unless of course you are in it ;-)

here are a few of my favorite photos i took when john and i went to san diego.  what do you think...did i capture emotion?

this one was not taken in san diego.  but i wanted to include this photo
of my niece.  i have a feeling she's thinking of her
wish right before she blows out her candles.
she turned 11 on 9/1/2012.

Blanqi?

so far, feeling sexy and radiant have been far from my reality.  in anticipating the weeks and months ahead, i wanted to ask you...have you heard of the blanqi?

apparently it's supposed to give pregnant women great support for their back, lift the "girls" up, and smooth out any lump or bump that may have popped up during pregnancy.  since i'm not that big yet, i don't feel the need for support wear. but for those who have gone through pregnancy before, was support wear an everyday staple?  just wondering...

Celebrity couple crush.

do you have a celebrity couple crush? i do. it's dwayne wade and gabrielle union. not sure why....maybe because d wade kinda reminds me of john and people say i sort of look like a cross between gabrielle union and brandy. plus they are so cute together and all of d wade's instagram photos make them look like an ordinary, joe schmo couple....minus the obnoxiously perfect bodies and stunning good looks.  oh, and the fabulous places they get to fly to and the endless paparazzi cameras following their every move.  you know, ordinary.

this one's my favorite.

btw, dwayne wade has been on the talk show circuit promoting his new book that came out sept. 4, a father first: how my life became bigger than basketball. i'm contemplating on buying the book but wanted to wait until there are some reviews on amazon.

who's your celebrity couple crush?

Dedicated post to my first babies.

lately, i've been wondering how my relationship with my dogs will change once our newest addition arrives. will bubba and joey be less cared for, forgotten, receive less attention?

oh boy, that's a tough one to swallow.  i can't imagine loving them any less. you see, i really do think of those 2 as my first babies. everyone adores them and they are both so good with my niece that i'm sure they will acclimate just fine once the newest member of this family arrives.

for those who have dogs, did it change much once you had a new baby?  please tell me no...

and now for some photos.

stare down.

joey: whatcha got in your hand Olivia?

joey: i'll be resting right here while you point at the picture frames.

olivia: i'm trying to pet you joey! stop moving!

bubba: that's my toy olivia. but you can play with it if you want.
joey: what are you guys doing down there? keep it down, i'm trying to rest.

Maternity pants are AWESOME.

my belly started to really declare itself at around 3 1/2 months. i know...early...it's what i thought too. I have my baseline fat gut to thank for that. anyways, my skinny jeans started to get a bit snug and while i was thankful for the bellyband that my sister-in-law let me borrow, i wanted to check out what maternity jeans had to offer me. for those that aren't in the know, motherhood maternity is the cheaper, sister store to a pea in the pod. so naturally, i headed to the nearest motherhood maternity to try on some new jeans. i lucked out because they were having a sale, buy 2 pairs of jeans and get the second 1/2 off. score! each of the jeans i bought came out to $29.99. cheaper than the H&M maternity jeans.  so, i bought 4, but am planning to return one of them, the teal one.  the dark blue and black were a must buy. but i just had to take part in the colored denim craze. so i got the dark red and teal jeans too, but only to get the discounted price.  can i tell you, full panel maternity pants are AWESOME. so comfortable!

for some reason, the website doesn't have the black or teal jeans.  fyi, all of the jeans i bought were the full panel jeans hoping it will take my through all 9 months.

i'm just itching to know, when did you start wearing maternity pants?

The day I finally got a +, and not a - ...

forgive me if i'm being a bit shy talking about this pregnancy. it's not that i'm not excited about it, because I AM. more than i could even admit. i say "admit" because, well...honestly, i'm scared. scared that something might happen. and our dream that we've been dreaming for two long years might not come to premonition.  i just don't want to jinx ourselves. can y'all relate? well, if you can or if you can't, it's what i'm feeling right now. so there.

but, i've decided to follow some advice from my sister-in-law, annabelle.  i am going to try my best to document this journey in the hopes that one day my little one and I could go through this dear 'ol blog together and smile.

so, here it goes...so far.

june 14. that day was a good day. i've had so many -s,
that even though the + was so faint,
i jumped for joy.
i didn't even bother taking another one.

june 27. first ultrasound at 6 weeks.
do you see that little circle?
it's the beginnings of a new life...now isn't that
just amazing.

july 11 or 7/11. now that was a lucky day.
the round thing is the yolk sac. and beneath it,
is a fetus. the best thing about it,
was that i heard the little heart beat.
the heart looked like a little eye blinking right at me =)

august 15. here's our most recent ultrasound.
what a difference, right?!

so there you have it. 4 months and still goin' strong. isn't it mind boggling how fast the baby grows?! my next ultrasound will be tomorrow and after that will be the famous 20 week ultrasound where we find out if everything is as it should be. you know, if there are 4 chambers in the heart, the intestines are inside the belly, etc... oh, and of course, the sex of the baby! just in case you're wondering, first and foremost, we want a healthy, happy baby. but i'm gunning for a boy and john is gunning for a girl ;-)