Happy April!

Oh wow... I'm the worst blogger EVER!

I guess by now just know I'm trying to find time to fill you in on all the wonderful people we have been working with! Just trust me... they have been amazing!

I can't believe it is April now... APRIL! It's insane how fast this year is flying by!

We had a great Easter and our little love muffin has been nothing but pure joy to us... I say this since it's during the day right now, but at night is another story! Haha! He is getting his bottom two teeth, so it's been a bit of a crazy town here since his mama is all he wants at night. I feel bad for him, but these FOUR hours of sleep each night are not helping my fog during the day. I know he's worth it... EVERY sleepless night!

Over the next couple weeks, I am going to do my best to fill you in on the A-MAZING COUPLES we've been photographing, but until then you can get a few of our Easter boy!

This is one of his favorite toys... and of course it goes straight in the mouth! Haha!



Haha... he makes me smile!!!



Happy April!

The Plague of March

I tell you what...

March started out to be a little rough...

I thought it was going to be great, considering the weather has been turning out to be fabulous, and who doesn't love fabulous weather?!

Well March 1st came and I was hopeful. But I started to come down with a slight sore throat. I didn't think anything of it because I don't hold onto many bad germs too long and I like to think I have a great immune system.

Well sure enough, that sore throat turned into a stuffy nose, but nothing too terrible until Sunday rolled around and I was not feeling 100%. I decided a few Vitamin C packets were in order. The only problem... I think I took way TOO many Vitamin C packets and Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night, and again Wednesday night, my body was WIRED! Seriously wired... my mind was racing 90mph and I would close my eyes to drift off to sleep, and the minute I would start to daze I would have a surge of adrenaline that would cause me to stay awake all night long... literally ALL NIGHT LONG! Most of those nights, I would eventually fall asleep around 6am. only to get an hour or two for those nights. I decided after the firsts two nights, I would try all the "natural" remedies to get to sleep... warm bath, hot tea, warm milk, bananas... you name it, I tried it and NOTHING worked. How frustrating. Needless to say, no sleep equals a poor immune system, so this "slight" cold was holding on a bit too long. I decided a trip to the doctor was in order. So Wednesday I got the first appointment available, and off to the doctor I went. But what a waste of time... they didn't tell me anything I didn't already know and couldn't do much to help. Bummer!

So I tried to go on with my life as I was a walking zombie all week. Thursday night I finally got a few extra hours of sleep, so instead of the 1 - 2, I got about 4. I thought I was smooth sailing, until Friday rolled around... Dah dah dahhhh!

Let me back track... Wednesday night was a bit interesting as Todd was up all night with what we thought was food poison. But sure enough, Friday night I was up throwing up so it must have been a flu bug. So Saturday and Sunday was a bit of a downer... I felt so sick... I couldn't move much. I was starting to think that March was full of the plague...

But I woke up this morning, feeling much better, not 100%, but almost all the way put back together. Now if Jackson would just learn how to sleep through the night already, or at least not wake every couple hours to eat, I would actually be normal again. Haha! But I'm sure that will come with some more time, right?! I guess he just LOVES to eat!!!

Speaking of Jackson...

My boy just turned 6 months old... Can you believe it?!

He's getting to be so BIG, guess it's all that eating, and he's such a little sweetheart... He's so smiley and funny, and can make your heart melt!

Plus, he can do all these fun tricks now, like stick his feet in his mouth... that's talent right there...



He rolls all over the place...



He smiles like crazy and it is so contagious...



He's starting to sit up a bit... not all the way, but almost there...



And we can't forget those BIG BLUE eyes he's been blessed with...LOVE HIM!



Happy 6 months my love... I know it's a few weeks late!

That's ok! He'll never know! :) Hehe!!!

Happy Leap Year!

What a rare occasion to celebrate today... the fact that we get 366 days instead of 365 this year. Woohoo!

What a crummy day it is here in Michigan... rain, mud, gloom! Such a bummer of a celebratory day! Oh well...

Something to celebrate, though, is distractions... or I should say "more" distractions. It seems we have a lot more distractions here at the Veldman house with a growing "active" baby and I realize my blog here has suffered the consequences. I apologize and I promise I'm trying to stay on top of things and get caught up, but with a new roller in the house and the fact that I find myself looking at the clock and wondering how in the world it gets to be 5PM so quick, I barely got a chance to sit down for a few minutes makes for great distractions. Haha!

But we had a few great distraction come in town for a few days this past weekend. Lots of extra babies in town to love all over, which will never get old, especially when each time you see them they are growing and changing. It's crazy how fast time flies by...

Here is are a few photos from the weekend...

My sister and I's kids... Despite their faces in this photo, they did have fun. I think they are all in their own world and between schedules and nap times, we had a hard time getting a few of all of them together. Haha!



Lots of sister love was had...





And little Miss Emmie turned 6 months old a few weeks back... so we got some fun shots of her while she was here (Jackson's 6 month debut will be taken this weekend)





She was not a fan of the dog though... Haha!









Now I know why they call this yoga pose "Happy Baby"...



I hope you find a way to enjoy this EXTRA day somehow in your own special way!

Happy Leap Day!

Fast forward... 2 Weeks!

Fast forward two weeks...

Haha!

I think we've entered the teething world and it has not been the most enjoyable. Anyone who has been there can understand the fog I'm in. It doesn't help that we have a total mama's boy, so his mama is all he wants. Thus leaving me little time to keep you guys in the loop on what's been going on.

We'll start by showing you how chunky our Chunky Monkey is getting...



Haha!

And show you a sneak peek of what's in store...











Let's hope we get through this phase quickly... so I won't be so LAME! HAHA!

Happy Tuesday!

Griffin :: 6 months

Who doesn't love a cute baby?

It's so hard not to want to hug and squeeze them, especially when they smile, coo, and laugh at things that you do that people would seriously make fun of you for. But that's the great thing about kids... they don't care! They don't make fun of you... they really can't, but they love you and they love all the fun things that you may do.

I used to chuckle when it came to how parents would make their kids smile. I've heard numerous songs, especially Twinkle, Twinkle, jumping up and down, lots of tongues sticking out and other funny faces, lots of toys that sing, squeak, or make noises, a few cell phones with daddy's voice on the other end... whatever it takes to get some smiles! I chuckle because when they did end up grinning, it was like the world melted and my heart melted with it! It was so sweet... and I've learned a thing or two from all my clients. You do whatever it takes to get the shot... even if you are jumping up and down, making monkey noises with lots of hand gestures... oh yes, you do WHATEVER it takes.

I especially love a baby who has such fun facial expressions, fun hair, fun smiles, and is an all around easy going baby.

Enter Griffin...

He is one of the cutest babies, with such handsome curls and the sweetest face and smile! I wanted to hug and squeeze him to pieces! He did so good and was such a champ even if he did fall out of his little chair his mama made. He shook it off and kept working the camera. I cannot wait to watch him grow into such a handsome boy!

Congratulations you guys... we are so glad to have met him FINALLY and share in on the fun time in your lives!


Check out a few of my favorites from our session...


ADORABLE...



LOVE this one...



So stinkin' cute...



Look at that face... aghhh...



Haha...



Such a beautiful family...



Who adore him... he's so lucky!



A little confused on why he's sitting in the leaves with a "G"... he'll get it when he's older... adorable!



Look at those EYES...



I'm thinking the yawning meant it was a wrap...

Jackson K. :: 3 months old

Who do you look like more... mom or dad?

That is a pretty good question, huh?!

Some people will say, "Your mom" or, "Your dad" or even the occasion, "Your aunts/uncles". I love that one, especially when it comes to my little nieces, well mostly Izzy B because she looks a heck of a lot like myself.

But I have to tell you... I took photos of one of the cutest little babies and I tell you what, he sure looked like his older brother that I took photos of last year at the same age, and it's REALLY hard to distinguish them one for the other.

Jackson, who is the little brother to Mikey, looks so much like one another. It's actually pretty crazy to compare the two. Those big blue eyes... BLONDE, BLONDE hair... cute little serious faces. Both have such similar temperaments! I think both mom & dad are pretty proud to have made such cute, cute kids!

Congratulations again you guys... another adorable baby to add to this world!


Check out a few of my favorites from our session...


Adorable...



Love me some funny baby faces... if they only knew what they were doing...



So cute...



Yes, he has found his hands... and in the mouth they go...



How did he even fall asleep? Love it!!! P.S. Have you ever noticed those little fists they make? I'm not sure why, but I think that's the cutest thing ever.



Anybody else just want to snuggle him???



Soooooo cute... love his face!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone...

Despite the fact that I don't quite understand this holiday, it's still fun to celebrate. I know last year we had this super fun party with lots of "Halloween" themed desserts, a scary movie playing on the projector, scary music playing with a strobe light that seriously made you want to throw up... Ha! It was SO fun! This year, on the other hand, is a bit more relaxed... no strobe light, no fun "halloween" themed desserts, no scary movie or music... man, we sound really lame right now! Ha!

But we are so excited for all the trick-o-treaters to arrive later today and we even have a little monster that will be giving candy out... don't be fooled he's not a scary monster, just a super cute one!

Enjoy your Halloween!!!

4 Week Whirlwind...

Where does the time go?

I'm a bit clueless on that one...

The last four weeks have been a whirlwind!

I guess I always thought to myself... Oh, I'll be just like my mom when delivering a baby. She had both my sister and I within just a few hours of her water breaking, a smooth recovery, and back to normal within a few weeks.

Ummm... little did I know that would NOT be the case for me. After the NOT-SO-SMOOTH delivery (do not read if you are planning on wanting kids - Haha! Just kidding!), it has been a NOT-SO-SMOOTH recovery as well. Since I had both a natural childbirth and a c-section childbirth, along with trip to the ER from my incision gushing blood, to a few doctors appointments because my incision has a 2" gaping hole, which Todd calls my "flapper", and now I have to have him clean inside my incision twice a day so that it starts to heal since it is not closed in one area (not normal and not fun!), the time has just flew by and I feel like I do not have much to show for the last couple weeks. That's not mentioning the sleep depravation, that seriously NO ONE can prepare you for, and you really do not know what you are doing and saying at times. Ha!

I SO wish I had the smooth delivery and the smooth recovery because I would have been up and moving a lot sooner than this four week mark, but I guess you have to accept what you are given... and I'm soooooo blessed to have been given one of the BEST and CUTEST babies on the planet!

Jackson has been A-MAZING and has made this rough experience SO worth all of the pain, tears, and agony I have been going through. He is so sweet and so mellow... he cries when he needs something and that is about it! He's so content with life and you can tell he's going to be such a sweetheart. I love this kid SO much... and I cannot even explain how much he has changed Todd and I's life.

I did get a chance to pick up my camera to get some shots of him, not as many as I would have liked to, but we made the best of the situation... and we even have a poop explosion from all the excitement to prove it. I'm not talking "little" explosion, it pretty much was like a shotgun and took out my shirt, pants, our bedspread, and all over the floor. We had some fun times cleaning that mess up! Haha!

But here's our little cutie the past couple weeks...

1 WEEK OLD

I mean how could you not be changed when you get to see this face every day? Oh... I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!!



He was COLD... hehe... sorry buddy!



This is his signature pose...



First signs of a smile... my heart melts!



So small...



Adorable...



2 WEEKS OLD

Still being cute!



The next few are a few of my absolute FAVORITES!!







Oh how I LOVE him!!!



Haha...



3 WEEKS

He's getting so BIG!!!



Don't be fooled... he's really not tired!



Ok... maybe only for a few minutes at a time does he sleep... Haha!





Sooo adorable... (This is when I decided to take his diaper off and get some shots of him naked... that's when the explosion took place and he was not going to cooperate, so diaper stayed on! Haha!)



Not quite sure what this is all about, but it's pretty cute!



XOXOXO!!!



4 WEEKS



I LOVE YOU... I LOVE YOU... I LOVE YOU...



Mmm... so cute!



So precious when he sleeps... I just wish he did more of this at night... HaHa!





Oh yes... this happened...



I think Maddox misses being center of attention... what do you think?!



I'm hoping we get more on a routine so I can post more, but excuse me while I try to catch up on sleep in between posts.

Happy 4 weeks Jackson! We love you!!!!