Here is a photo of one of the wedding guests holding the bride and groom’s baby daughter. The contrast of this substantial man with the delicate precious little one is what I adore here.

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Today is significant for me.  A year ago at this moment the Pitocin (which I was very against having) was starting to kick in and I was in the hospital expecting to have my baby girl any hour.  That is another long story, as she was not born until 47 hours later.

A year ago, I was still employed in the corporate world, though I had been out on medical leave for a month already.  A year ago my business was just this muddled pile of thoughts in my head.

This is a personal post.  I decided my blog needs a little bit more of me.  Sounds odd but when I look at my blog it seems a bit without personality.  After all, a big part of the point of blogging is for my readers, and clients to get to know who I am.

2008 Biggest Accomplishments

1. Raising my daughter for her first year (with lots of help from my hubby).  I consider myself career driven but this has been more challenging then I ever imagined.  After years of not giving enough credit to moms, I finally understand.
2. Starting my business. This is a very close second and has been a whirlwind, especially doing so with a baby, often in a sling on me while working.

2008 Scariest Moments

1. The first time I was alone with my daughter for a day. My mom left to go back to New Jersey when my baby was two and a half weeks old.  I was terrified.  My hubby went to work and it was just us.  Now I cherish the moments of just us.
2. Receiving my last paycheck. This one is still scary.  I never realized how comforting it is to receive a steady paycheck every other week, and to know it will always be there.  There are ups and downs with a business, and even with things going well the next client is never as guaranteed as that regular direct deposit.

2008 Biggest rewards

1. The first time a client paid me. I was at my client’s house after photographing her baby and toddler, and she asked me how to write out the check.  It just hit me, “Wow, I am getting paid for doing what I love”.
2. First wedding booked. I had an ad on Craigslist.  The bride was shocked at my low price.  I emailed her back explaining my lack of experience.  She was thrilled with the photographs I showed her, signed the contract, and gave me a deposit.  I had my baby in her Beco Butterfly on my back.  I was just delighted and tried not to jump up and down.
3. Every time my baby smiles. Not much to say here, all the firsts are precious but she lights up the world for us when she smiles, or better yet giggles.

After writing these I realized I left out, giving birth.  Only I can’t categorize it.  It’s a huge accomplishment, scary as hell, and an amazing reward. Six weddings, piles of portraits, and a year of being a mom, I feel ready to take on 2009, my first full year in business!

The photo below is one from a personal project.

I did a maternity photography session this weekend with Lisa and her husband Chris.

They invited me into their home, which had great natural lighting and an incredible backyard. With the dry weather we were able to get some outdoor shots in, like the ones here. 

Lisa’s baby is due in less than two weeks!

I photographed Ben this morning in celebration of his one year birthday. The weather forecast was saying rain but we ended up with a beautiful cloudy morning.

I photographed this family this morning, while they ran around and played in a beautiful local park together. It was great fun and I think we got lots of great moments captured. While I’m preparing the images for the couple’s private gallery, I’m posting this sneak peak.

In an effort to speed up processing and stop posting in many places I’m testing how to use my Flickr images with WordPress. It feels like I upload things to way to many places and spend a lot of time post-processing after a shoot.

This is a group shot of the Northwest Babywearers, a local non-profit. I am working on their website redesign, and (slowly) processing photos from the shoot. I am hoping to get some more photos of the group at Greensprouts this weekend.

Babywearing is what has given me the ability to run a business while raising my daughter. Over the last 7 and a half months, I have spent countless hours with my daughter sleeping on me in a carrier while I bounce on a yoga ball and work. The yoga ball keeps a little bit of motion going which seems to help her sleep.

Babywearing is something I read about during pregnancy and around 25 weeks I bought a Moby wrap. When I had Mackenzie I couldn’t quite figure out how to get her in the wrap and ran to a nearby resale shop on a Sunday, 5 days after she was born. There I found an Organic New Native sling. This was much easier and she seemed to love it. Thus it began.

Mackenzie only wanted to sleep on laps and I (despite how much I should have been resting) didn’t want to just sit around so sling napping began. The New Native was a bit big on me so it would fall off my shoulder if I tried to get anything done around the house. It, however, was great for sitting and working on my computer.

Around 3 months, I showed up at a Le Leche League meeting with the sling and the women there introduced me to ring slings. I went searching online and found a great deal on a discontinued Maya Wrap Ring Sling. Once again, I had much trouble using this but it really helped my back (since she was getting heavy by now) by supporting more in the right position.

I had seen the LLL women breastfeed in their rings slings and eventually, terrified but determined, I tried it. Learning this was a huge freedom and still is to this day. I have walked around the beach, shops, groceries stores and even dined while Mackenzie nurses and naps on me.

Around 4-5 months, with 2 to 3 hour naps still being common, I tried out the Moby wrap and this time loved it. I used it until just a month ago when with her pushing 20lbs it became just too stretchy. I wish I had taken the time to figure it out earlier. Over the months there have been many carrier trades trying out mei tais, soft structured carriers (Ergo types), more slings, and finally a woven wrap.

Overall my babywearing has been a trial and error process but I can’t imagine being a new mom without it. Through a local attachment parenting meetup group, I found www.thebabywearer.com, a great site for trades and advice, and LLL was a big help. I didn’t find out about the Northwest Babywearers group that I’m now working with until recently. Thanks to them, I’m now learning how to carry Mackenzie on my back. Wearing her on my back means a new world of possibilities such as actually getting household tasks done, and on a much more fun note, hikes together.

The best part is, she loves it too.

A lovely sunset over the beach in Lincoln City

Seeing a sunset during our vacation was a bit difficult since it’s normally baby bedtime. This one night we took Mackenzie in her sling napping on a walk to the beach, while her grandparents met us by car. It was so cold and the wind was whipping but it was a great sunset and a fun memory. We wrapped Mackenzie up in Grandma’s sweatshirt for the walk back up the hill.

(These pics are a bit grainy since I forgot my tripod. It’s a great example of what happens when the ISO is pushed all the way up to 1600. I normally wouldn’t do this but but sometimes it’s important to have the memory captured even if it’s not the technically the best photo.)

I have been told many times to expect to spend more time running my business than to doing photography and I am really finding this to be true. Luckily, I really enjoy all aspects of it. Okay, not all, keeping spreadsheets of finances is certainly less than exciting. Time management is also a very interesting aspect. It is very easy to get lost and realize way too much time has gone by. How come I never had this problem when I was employed by someone else? The clock used to seem stuck on 10:00 am!