Here are some of my pictures from my photoshoot at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. I want to go back there and spend and entire day just taking pictures of this beautiful place. I LOVE the black and white one, there is something so inviting about a path that is going somewhere (insert silly metaphor here!) The spider picture was actually taken in the woods doing the photo shoot of the W family... I just happened to spot it while walking out there.
Okay, so I know its a little late. Maybe a lot late since Madalyn is actually turning 15 months in about 10 days... but better late than never.
Our little cuddlebug weighs in at a whopping 19 pounds, 12 ounces. If you've been keeping track she has actually LOST weight since her first birthday! I guess thats what happens when you are a super busy baby and are always on the go go go! She has gotten longer though and is now 29 and 1/2 inches, which seems big to me but still makes her a little peanut.
Madalyn LOVES animals of any kind. Loves them. We were taking pictures of Zach and Carey for the engagement shoot and there was a stray cat at the botanical gardens. Madalyn kept chasing it yelling "hi kitty! hi kitty!" The only kitty she has ever been around is Jenna's cat Tebow, so she remembered from then! She always says "hi doggie" to other dogs, and when we go for walks she gets all excited to see the dogs in people's backyards. She didnt know quite what to make of Gigi's dogs- I think because all the dogs she knows are big and cats are small, so she didnt know what they were!
Her vocabulary is pretty big, though she hardly says any words clearly. I can understand her, and Shawn can also sometimes get what she is saying. Some words are a stretch, but you can kind of get the idea of what she is trying to say. Here are some words in her vocabulary:
MAMA (more like mmmmmmama, because we used to annnouniate the "mmm")
DADA (she calls herself Dada, when she sees herself in the mirror. I dont know why.)
DUCK- her official first word. She has one in the tub and she pointed at it and said "duck" when she was about 11 months old. She also called the penguins at SeaWorld "duck" (hey they are birds in water, it works!)
DOGGIE
ALLIE (Aowie)
AVA (AAAAAAaaaa)
THAT/THIS (As in what is that? She points and asks about everything.)
LIGHT- quite possibly her favorite word. She points out every light she sees, including the lights in the car. She is fascinated with overhead lights.
FISH- to our fish tank, and the fish in the bathtub, on the tiles, and in her room. It kind of sounds like "ish"
HI- to anything and everything
BYE BYE
HEY
UH OH- this kid has a lot of Uh Ohs! She says it whenever she drops something, and sometimes drops stuff on purpose to get to say it. Absolutely adorable.
NICE- probably because we tell her to "be nice" so much
MILK- what she calls her bottle (no ba ba here!) The other morning she pointed toa bottle and said "milk" because she wanted her morning bottle
PLEASE- she just said this one today when she wanted something that I had, I told her to say please and she said it twice (peeese)
MOMMY- she said this once, when Ava knocked her down she whimpered "mommy".
She also says OOOHHH OOOOHHH when she wants something
NOSE- she will point to a nose and say nose (nise)
EYE- kind of sounds like Ava (aaaaayyyyeeee) but she points at the eye and says it
MOUTH- (maaaaoooow) she points to the lips and says this
I am sure there are more.... I am just not able to think of them. But I will add them to the list as I think of them... But I have 20 words listed, not bad for 14 months!
Right now madalyn is laying in the dog crate with Ava and enjoying "quiet time". No, I did not put my daughter in a cage, she just loves laying in there and petting her doggie. This is what she does in place of naptime.
Madalyn just brought me a book to read her, so I guess I better wrap this up!
This past weekend I had the pleasure of photographing some of our very dear friends. We did an engagement shoot for Zach and Carey and also took some pictures with their 3 year old Kya. I will be photographing their wedding on September 13th as well at the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens here in Gainesville. If you are even in the area, I definitely recommend a trip to the botanical gardens... they are absolutely stunning! Check out my photography blog for more pictures.
Life is very much a mystery to me, why things happen and where they happen and who they happen to. I would like to be a stronger person, to have a deeper belief in Christ and to be able to see strength in times of pain, but sometimes I am blind to all of this. It is late, and I am up thinking, and when I post this blog it will most definitely be much later than I should have allowed myself to stay up. But the wheels are spinning in my head, and I need to sort out my thoughts, and there is no better forum then this.
There are so many things wrong with the world. We have oil companies with record profits and yet there are families who cannot afford the gas in their cars to go to work. We have people who have a desperate need for health insurance, who cannot afford the medication that their bodies need to be healthy and who work every day to be told that they are not able to be insured. We constantly have toys recalled because cheap labor ensures they are unfit for our children to safely play with. The very gravity of the reality of life these days is enough to make anyone sick to their stomach.
And then I stumble upon a blog on here that moved me the way nothing has ever moved me before. My sister has read this blog, Bring the Rain, and friends have mentioned it, but it wasnt until I stumbled upon a link from a photography site that I was on when I actually read it. Perhaps God was waiting for the right time to have me read this blog, to a time where I would be open to all of the emotions associated with it.
April 7th of this year, this woman who so openly and devotedly speaks of her life, gave birth to a baby girl Audrey Caroline who lived for two and a half hours. The blog chronicles her journey through her pregnancy, knowing that her daughter would likely not survive delivery, let alone a few hours. It is the most beautiful, heartbreaking story I have ever read.
April 7th of this year I excitedly planned my own daughter's first birthday party. While reading this story, I thought back on my own joy on that very day as we celebrated a year of our daughter's life. And somewhere, not that far away, a mother was having that very joy taken from her as God took her daughter to heaven to live with him.
Being a mother has changed me in so many ways, so many more ways then most people will ever be able to understand. There was a time where I didnt even know if I wanted children and a husband and a "normal suburban life." Obviously God had bigger plans for me than I had for myself, because by a series of incredible circumstances I am blessed with the most amazing husband a woman could ever dream of having, and an absolutely beautiful little girl who is the light of our lives.
Being pregnant was a special time with me, and I experienced a bond that I dont think there are words to describe. Those thirty nine weeks that I carried Madalyn was a time where I learned what it was to truly have unconditional love for someone. I can remember our ultrasound, where we found out we were having a girl... and all the images of mothers and daughters that flashed through my head. All the pedicures and sleepovers and playing dress up and "girl talk" that we would have. Her on her wedding day, her having her own children. I believe I truly was born to have a daughter.
I cant imagine carrying a baby, feeling every kick and poke and hiccup and knowing that once she was born she would be leaving me. I dont think I can cry enough tears for all of the mothers that have had to experience this. It truly breaks my heart, to think of being the only person who will every truly know that baby before it is taken far too soon. And having to explain it to other daughters, just as the Mom in this blog had to. Young children shouldnt have to experience a loss like that. They shouldnt have to know what it is like to lose someone they love.
My daughter is my life. She is my peace at night before I go to sleep, the ray of sunshine that greets me when I wake up. After a long shift at work, her smile greets me at the door with an exuberant "Mama!" as she holds her arms out to me, palms up and pulls her fingers in (her motion for "up." And then I lift her into my arms and kiss her and she pats my cheek and smiles and has three pearly teeth in that wide expanse of shiny gums.... and it is the promise of a new day.
Its a little easier to pay $4.15 a gallon for gas when my beautiful daughter is seated in the backseat watching me pump it. She is alive, and she is healthy, and in the great grand scheme of life that is what matters. Everything else is trivial and inconsequential.
If you havent read Audrey Caroline's story, please take the time to read it. This is a woman who truly believes in the love of God, who truly believes that He would not set a trial before her that she was not strong enough to conquor. She honestly is my hero, a real person who has so selflessly given to carry a child that she knew would not live. I still have pain from my C section, but it is a small price to have paid for my beautiful healthy daughter. This mother had a Csection because it was what was best for her baby, and she has the scar to prove it, though no baby to hold in her arms and cradle at night.
Please pray for the Smith family, and in your prayers please include all those who do not know how lucky they are. After reading this story, it has made me really think about what is important in life, and realize how truly blessed I am to have all that I do. I am so undeserving of all of it. I am truly humbled by the beauty and love of this mother, and my heart aches with the pain of all that she has been through. Maybe tonight God spoke to me because he knew I might listen, gave us a long enough break from running calls to where I could read her story in entirety and soak it in, where I laid in bed, tears running down my face, thanking Him for all that I have and missing Madalyn and Shawn so much.
www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com
You can barely catch Miss Madalyn, let alone get her to sit still. She is a ball of energy and is always on the go go go! Even when she is exhausted she will lay down and wiggle to keep herself awake. She is so scared she will miss something important!
So imagine my surprise when, while painting my fingernails the other day, Madalyn came over and showed interest. I told her I could paint her nails but she would have to sit still while I did them. I pulled her up on my lap, and she got her first pedicure! 
I can remember the day when Madalyn was 11 weeks old and I took her to the doctor because she was pulling at her ears and I thought she had an ear infection. "She teething," the doctor told me. She rubbed her fingers along her gums and said the words that every breastfeeding mother dreads. "She will probably cut teeth early."
Flash forward a year later and my daughter just now cut her third tooth! So much for early! Madalyn got teeth #1 and #2 right around her first birthday. And this past week, on her fourteenth month birthday, here comes tooth #3!
Well, we got what we wished for. We have been under a severe thunderstorm warning all afternoon and Madalyn and I have enjoyed a lazy day day inside. Our grass is looking absolutely beautiful!
Ahhh.... its raining and I think our grass just breathed a huge sigh of relief. It has been days, weeks, probably months since there was much more than a few drops of rain at any given time. My poor husband has been trying to keep up with the watering by moving the sprinklers around to catch the dry spots (I am sure it is illegal to water every day, but we will play stupid.)
So this evening, imagine our delight when we looked outside and saw raindrops falling. I think I heard the flowers and the trees singing in delight as they soaked up the water.
Maybe the afternoon rainstorms are finally here. One can hope....
Every time we have been to Orlando we have tried to make a trip to Sea World to no avail, so for our anniversary we made it a priority to go. What an amazing time we had! Sea World is so family friendly, and a great place to take babies. (And toddlers!) Madalyn had a great time.... she was very much into all of the people and the noise and everything going on. Madalyn loved the penguins - she called them ducks and kept yelling "duck!" and pointing. I guess she wasnt too far off... it was a bird in the water after all. She wasnt too thrilled when she got splashed by Shamu (I didnt realize they really splashed at the night show. Stupid Mommy.) For our anniversary dinner we ate at The Cove resturaunt which meant we got to eat right next to Shamu's holding tank and then had reserved seats at the Shamu Rocks show. We had a really long day- got there at 11 and stayed until the park closed. Madalyn was such a trooper... she napped in her stroller and was very much agreeable the entire time. She LOVED the fireworks. The only tears we had were when we took her to play in the water in the kiddie area, then left after about half an hour or so (she really didnt want to leave, but all the kids running around made me nervous because they were so much bigger than her!)
Here are some of my favorite shots from this weekend. Stay tuned for some Swanson family Sea World pics as well! And check out more pics on my photography blog, or on the Alana gallery on www.jlsphotographystudio.com.
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