It's almost the weekend.....

And not alot is planned for this weekend. It's raining 'cats and dogs' here right now and supposed to through Friday but Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be georgous. The only thing planned is a trip to Pine Island (a nice place on the lake that my company owns) for a Kid's Carnival. They have food, rides, games, etc. I hope to have some pics. I wish, this close to Easter, they would have an egg hunt but don't think that's in the works. We'll save that for grandma's next weekend.

Then, I hope to see some more progress on the new addition upstairs. I'm SO ready to split Gracie and Corbett up as far as rooms go. HAVE I MENTIONED THAT A TIME OR TWO!?

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Trigger-warnings coming-may be sensitive.
A while back, I found out about the site Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep that provides a photography 'service' to those who's children are still born, or spend their first days/weeks in the NICU hooked up to tubes and machines. Of course the still born situations break my heart, but I have found myself wishing I had found this site/service when Corbett was born. I remember Gracie's first pictures (when the hospital photographer came around) and how excited we were to dress her up for her first official picture. They turned out SO cute (I really need to scan them!) and we were so proud. Then, flash forward to when Corbett was born. I remember the day the photographer came around to take a picture of him, what was to be his first official one. I remember how I had to tell her he was still in the NICU but to 'check back with us in a day or two'. WHAT was I thinking!?!?! (he stayed in NICU for FOUR weeks! Clearly denial!) Anyhoo---I wish I had found this service because I would have had them go in the NICU and take some official photos. I suppose I could have gottent he hospital photographer to do that same thing, but looking back, I wasn't sure if he would live or die, therefore would have wanted more professional ones-plus I was selective and selfish with who and when we visited him b/c the time was just so precious.
I'm rambling and this may not make any sense and I had no intentions of going 'this route' w/ this post but here we are.
All that said, I think this cause is such a great one and I think all the photographers that volunteer their time and services deserve a HUGE pat on the back. I can't imagine how difficult some of those sessions are but yet so rewarding.

After we finally brought Corbett home and adjusted to life w/ two babies, one on a heart monitor and colostomy bag, we scheduled a seesion with my favorite photographer. Corbett was around 4-5 months when we finally had pictures taken but they turned out SO good. I know Lorien would want to do 'naked baby pics' like she does and did w/ Gracie, but I wasn't sure that would work well w/ the lovely colostomy bag and all. Turns out, we didn't do totally naked and she strategically placed a blanket around his diaper (and bag) so none of that showed and he looked naked. Her awesome photography skills also allowed some shots to not show the diaper/bag. I was VERY thankful and glad she came out of 'retirement' (she's a stay at home mom of THREE) to do this for us. Ohhhh wait! I remember she put some on her site-see her sweet notes and the pics here (it's the second entry so scroll down--the first set of pics are her kids--beautiful!). I'm so proud! My favorite of Gracie is the one in the Watermelon hat. It was one of the last ones she snapped and believe it or not Gracie was being a PILL that day! Oh, and notice how much alike they look (the first pic is Gracie and the second one is Corbett)!


Ok I rambled enough....
Thanks for reading and have a great day!