Family Emergency

I'm frantically trying to get my stuff packed and bills paid and all that fun stuff before 10:20 tomorrow morning when my sister, Mom, Dad and I are leaving for Minnesota. We got the call around 12:15pm today that my Grandma passed away. Family is so important to us so it was a no brainer that now is the time to go and be with the rest of our family and also so we will be there for the funeral (likely to be Tuesday). So I'll be out of the office until at least Wed, June 3rd. If you are waiting on anything from me...orders, proofs, emails etc.... I will get back to you just as soon as I possibly can.  I know I have the best clients ever, so your patience in this difficult time is much appreciated. 

Just a quick picture of my baby and my Grandma.... telling him tonight was tough and he's especially sad that Mommy is leaving for 6 days....(the longest I've ever been away from him)...it put another crack in my already broken heart.

The last time we saw Grandma was when we went up to MN in Aug last year.... I had no idea that it was the last time I would see her and I am so grateful for all the pictures I took on that trip. So hug those you love...tell them you love them... you never know when it will be your last chance.

Survey

Hey there blog world, it’s Diana, Katie’s (very) part-time assistant. I just wanted to let everyone know that we have created a survey in order to get feedback on the business to help us make improvements. If you haven’t signed up for the newsletter, you can click on THIS LINK to access the survey. It should only take about 5 minutes, but will provide some much needed information. Oh yeah, and if you leave your name/email on the survey, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free session!!! Now if that’s not incentive, I don’t know what is. Thanks!

TAKE THE SURVEY HERE

Grandma

Please pray for my Grandma. They don't know if she will make it through the night. Please pray that she won't suffer.

I love you Grandma!

The Sims Family

First things first.... what's going on with me and my health? I've had numerous people send me emails and facebook messages as well as make phone calls to let me know they are praying for me and wanting to know what is going on now. So here it is. If you haven't read the last couple blog posts...read that and then come back and read this...

Surgery was supposed to be today pending negative lab work yesterday. Well I've still been really sick and knew that there was no way my urinalysis would come back clear. Sure enough, I got a call from the doc office yesterday afternoon (after I called them a couple of times!) to let me know that my infection has gotten "significantly worse." Well duh! Of course it has...it's been 11 days and the antibiotics didn't work so it's just getting worse. So now I wait to hear from them either tomorrow or Thursday to let me know what antibiotic I will have to take to hopefully clear this up. (They are doing a culture now and have to wait for that to come back.) In the meantime, I have to just keep feeling like doo-doo and it'll most likely continue to get worse until they get me treated w/the right meds. Then it'll be at least 10 days until they can do surgery. So I don't know what I'm going to do. I've got sessions scheduled in June that I don't want to cancel because a lot of them are coming from out of town.... plus Anthony's spring concert is on the 28th of May and his kindergarten graduation is on the 4th of June...so I refuse to miss either of those. Then Anthony has swimming lessons for 2 weeks straight at the middle/end of June....so really...there's never a good time for surgery. So this is all messed up basically!  In addition, we found out that my only living grandmother had a massive heart attack and has over 90% blockage in her heart. There's nothing much they can do other than give her meds because anything else is too risky. And the hard part is that she is in Minnesota and I/We are obviously in NC. So there ya go. Things here are a bit chaotic, but I'm trying to stay positive...so please pray for me, my grandma and our family as we deal with all of this.

Sooo..on a happy note....I wanted to share a family session I did last month. The flowers at the park were so pretty.....and little Carrington has gotten so big. Back in the fall, I did their maternity session...then in late November, I did their newborn session and now Carrington is 5 months (well 6 months by now, but 5 in these pics :)).

 

My silly little boy....

I'm glad my photography skills come in handy for my son! Today, he asked me to take a picture of him for his "spy" ID badge! hahaha

Welcome Home Evan!

I love my job! Have I said that lately?? I have mentioned before that I volunteer for an organization called Operation Love Reunited. Photographers around the country volunteer their time to photograph families when a member is either deploying or returning from deployment. I had the absolute pleasure and privilege to photograph the return of Evan Landers to his family. He was in Iraq for the past 7 months and he returned home to meet his son!!! Little baby boy Cam was born about a month and a half after his Daddy left for Iraq. It was soooooooooo amazing to be there and witness Daddy meeting his son for the first time. So, I have put together this slide show to share the images with all of you. OMG - get out the tissues...I get goose bumps watching it.

I'm going to start putting together a slide show for the majority of my sessions from now on (yay!) and you'll have the opportunity to share them with your friends and family online.

Here's a couple of still shots and then click here for the slide show. Put on your headphones (there is music) and get out the tissues!

On a personal note...my surgery has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 19th pending negative lab work on Monday. More info to come on that...but I got the doc office to admit it was their fault that this got all screwed up! Oh and one other thing...my parents are moving so we are having a moving/yard sale with them this weekend at our house.... tomorrow from 7-12pm. Email me if you want our address to stop by!

Thank you Evan (and your family) for your service to our country! Enjoy that sweet baby boy!!

Doctors offices suck! Well, some do...

Since I'm pretty much an open book, I wanted to share with you all the continuing saga in my journey to reduce/eliminate my chronic pain. So I was supposed to have surgery tomorrow morning at 7:15am. I have been a nervous wreck all day but had finally settled down and was just ready to get it done with. I've been working like a mad woman trying to get everything in order before being down for the count for a week and then just taking it easy for 3-4 weeks. Soooooooooo.... imagine my disappointment when I get a phone call at 5 to 5 this afternoon and it's the doctor's office telling me they have to CANCEL surgery!!! WHAAAAAT?!?!?!?  Long story short.... somebody dropped the ball and let me run around with a kidney infection for the past week! They did a routine urinalysis and blood work a week ago in preparation for my surgery and supposedly my doctor's office just got the results at 4:45 today. Um yea....I don't think so. I know from previous experience that it takes all of 30 seconds to diagnose this. That explains why I haven't been able to eat a full meal since Friday and why I've felt like absolute doo doo.  Sooo, I'm now on antibiotics for the next 5 days and tomorrow they are supposed to call me to reschedule my surgery. They said they will get me in as soon as possible. Yea sure....we'll see about that. (Yes, I'm cranky...)

I just want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. I've had so many nice emails and comments.....I feel so loved :) So I'll keep you posted on everything and you keep praying for me? k? k!

So for my clients...I have good news and bad news. The good news is...if you are still waiting on your proofs...there's a good chance I'll get them finished before my surgery. This is definitely good because earlier today (before I got the call from the doc) I was freaking out about how/when I was going to get them finished because I really wanted to get them done before going under the knife.  The bad news.... if you have a session scheduled the first or second week of June...I may have to reschedule. I'm sorry...blame the idiot who didn't get my lab work to the right person. I'll be in touch...

Ok, so since a post isn't any good without a picture...here's a couple from last night. This was a re-shoot....the kids were grumpy last time..haha. I'll explain more later when I do the whole blog post for this family. But I just love these..the light was so yummy and the kids are pretty cute too!

 

Free Wedding Coverage - The Winner

Congratulations to EMILY AND STEPHEN!! It looks like I'll be going to Western NC in September to share/document your special day with you!!

Thank you to everyone who voted!

On another note.... most of you know I'm having surgery tomorrow a.m. I know I'll be in great hands but I can't help it...I'm scared to death and my nerves are absolutely shot today....so if you would say a little prayer for me today (and tomorrow)  I sure would appreciate it. I'm working like crazy to get all my edits finished before tomorrow but it may not happen....so please be patient with me over the next week. Thank you :)

Ella Turns 1!

Just a quick reminder if you haven't voted in my free wedding coverage contest, you have a little over an hour left! Tomorrow I'll announce the winner.

Be prepared for some super cuteness in the pics I'm sharing tonight. This little girl is so adorable and was really good for the session. Mom had so many cute outfits picked for her and we took pics all around their house. I love doing sessions in/around my client's homes. There are a couple of reasons... 1 - the kids are usually more comfortable at home and will relax and show me their personalities and 2 - it's your home! So it's your things..your rooms etc. Love it!

Ok...I warned you...be prepared for the cuteness... :)

Ella loves her books so we had to incorporate those into our session....

Finally....we closed the session with a little cake smashin!

See, I told ya....

I'm having surgery Thursday and will be out of the office for at least a week and I won't be shooting for 3-4 weeks....so if you need anything, email/call me tomorrow!!!

Baby Jackson

I have had a ton of maternity and newborn sessions in the last couple of months. Here is another one of those cuties...baby Jackson. Usually, my newborn sessions are when the babies are less than 2 weeks old, but this little guy was 6 weeks old and did great.....he was a little peanut...only about 8 pounds...

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas, soon to be mamas, aunts, Godmothers, etc. I'll do a post tomorrow that includes some pics of my Mother's Day weekend. I am so blessed!

This one cracks me up!! Look at that adorable little face!!

Yet another funny one...he looks like he's about to punch Daddy in the face...

And finally, I couldn't decide which one of these I liked better...so you get to see both!