Shame On Me

Well hello, my lonely blog. My, how I've missed you. How I've thought about you, and your emptiness. How I've dreamt of all that you once were, all that you could be. In my bad blogger/professional photographer brain, a post is not a post without a picture. With blogger, you have to upload your images to an outside source (IE Photobucket), resize, HTML it out, and then upload it. That's just ridiculous to me. Shame on you, Blogger, for not making this easier on exhausted Mommas such as myself, and shame on me for letting it get the best of me. I also haven't been posting here very often (IE: at all) because I've been writing blog posts to each of my children of a secret blog for them to read someday (insert Disney villain laugh here....bwahahahaha!). This past weekend I decided that Monday mornings are the new weekly blogging day. Every Monday, I'll set my alarm 30 minutes earlier to quietly document my family's week. I'll find a quiet spot, make a fresh cup of soul filling coffee and write. 

Well, today is Tuesday....le sigh. Blogging Monday starts next week I suppose.....

Here are a few major points to touch on since I've been gone:

1. My body is a royal mess

2. Scott has joined me in my business

3. Aden has no para-ed at preschool

4. Ava is still throwing fits (naturally)

1. While I was dancing about on the salt flats in a ball gown and fighting 16,000 photographers for a sandwich and sea salt chips, my body was silently falling apart. Upon returning from WPPI, I began nearly passing out. My heart would just slow down, it was bizarre. I would lose my vision and hearing. I also began to suffering from terrible aches and pains throughout my entire body. I'm not a wimp, I've birthed two babies (e-hem, one almost without an epidural) so when I say I was in pain, I mean that I would wake up and my feet would ache on the floor. My hair even hurt. It was terrible. My skin also reverted into it's pre-pubescent state, leaving me with huge pimples and a large amount of embarrassment. After a 3 week stint with a heart monitor, stress tests, an echocardiogram, and every blood test imaginable, they gave me the news. I have a heart condition. It's a mild one though so no worries. Vasso Depressor Syncope. Apparently, my blood pressure drops and the majority of blood pools in my legs, my leg veins are weak, and can't get enough blood to my brain, and then my brain starves. No biggie. If I do faint, then gravity helps my brains receive the blood it needs and we're all good. I'm also allergic to all dairy, red meat, almonds, egg whites and oats. That would explain the pimples and body aches. Now I drink liquid iron, liquid B12 and take more vitamins than I can typically manage, drink a ton of water, sleep more, and I'm supposed to do squats for my leg veins....but I'm lazy so my veins are still out of shape and my butt still jiggles when I walk.....

2. Scott has officially joined the Katie McGihon Photography family! The search for an associate photographer was a ridiculous one, I had no idea that he was interested and it's been incredible shooting with him. This past weekend we shot our 6th wedding together. We're currently rebranding and building an entirely new site that reflects this huge change in our business. We're hoping to relaunch in about 4 weeks. This year, I've officially hit my biggest business goal. In January, I told myself that I wanted to book 15 weddings. Then, I told myself that I'd secretly settle for 7 or 8. On Friday, we signed our 16th contract, and it's only June. I'm overwhelmed, excited, blessed, thankful, shocked and so ready to love each and every one of these couples. We've shot 6 weddings in the last 7 weeks, and we're exhausted in the most amazing way. Jesus rocks.

3. Aden is officially without a shadow at preschool, for now. They're observing him, and trying to get an idea of how he will do amongst his peers without additional help. I'm excited and freaked out. His first day in his new (large) class was great. He knows many of the children in that class from his old one. The second day was a different story. His teachers said that he did very well, but he was totally overwhelmed by the amount of children in the lunch area and the deafening noise that so many children can make. I carried my big, crying little boy out to the parking lot like a rescue team member, holding him tight, telling him that he would be home soon and he would be OK. Most of the time, he is amazing, but occasionally, he is another child. It's like the Autism Aliens come, invade his body, and reek havoc on my poor son. I pulled a little table into a quite corner of the house, turned off every light,  every radio, every television, and put Ava in from of the computer so that he would sit. It was sensory overload to the max at school. Once all was calm and quiet, he was himself again. Hopefully lunchtime won't always be that traumatic.

4. Ava is still throwing fits. She is still amazing and feisty and so beautiful and smart and I could just go on and on about her! She is starting ballet on Wednesday...we'll see how this goes. She loves her new class, and her friends (Lola, Aubry and Sydney) are with her this coming year again. Girls rule. Scott is in San Francisco playing in the California State Ametuer Championship. Anytime Ava is in trouble, she sobs, "I miss DADDDDDDDDDDYYYYYY! I want my DDAAAADDDDDDDDDDDYYYY!" It's quite funny, and quite sad. I like to think that she would wail the same things about me if I were away. One can dream.