BIG Changes - Comin' Right Up!

I know. I haven't been around much lately.

To be completely honest, between working 50 hours a week as a Nanny and trying to keep up with my ever-growing photography business in the evenings and on the weekends, life has been...well...just a wee bit crazy.

In addition to the everyday craziness around here, there are some BIG changes coming up that I've been processing and evaluating. I've been trying to find the right words to explain how I feel about it all, but there just aren't any. There are just lots of jumbled and mixed emotions, so I'll just give it to you straight.

The Wallers informed me last Monday that they won't be able to keep me on as their Nanny in the Fall. After crunching numbers over and over and over again, they just couldn't make it work with their budget for this coming year. Mike and Liz made it clear that their decision was completely professional and not personal. They're just in a different season of life and had to make the best decision for their family. And I respect that. But it still makes me more sad than words can express.

I was stunned when they gave me the news. I was prepared to meet with them about the boys' changing schedules for the coming year (since Sam will be starting Kindergarten and Toby will be starting some form of preschool), but I wasn't expecting to be laid off. Laid off. That sounds so weird.

To be honest, I was looking forward to working fewer than 50 hours as a Nanny each week because it would potentially give me time to schedule photo shoots and edit photos during the week instead of after work and on the weekends. I've been working so much over the past few months that I was starting to feel the strain...physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. In my heart of hearts I knew that I wanted something to change this coming fall, but I didn't know this was what the Lord had in mind.

In the past week, I've been contacted by 4 different moms who want to talk with me about a part-time Nanny position with their family (which would leave me the rest of my week to build my photography business). God is good!

I'm not yet positive what the next step for Aaron and me will be (as far as my career is concerned), but God is working in and providing for us...and that's enough for now.

My official "last day" with the Wallers will be Friday, August 28th. I already told Liz and Mike that they're stuck with me forever and they can expect me to come get the boys frequently on the weekends to go on fun adventures with Aaron and me. And, after all, Sam has already promised me a job in 25 years or so, remember?

The next 5 weeks will continue on just like the past 97 weeks have...making lots of memories, sharing lots of love, and having lots of fun :) This chapter of our lives isn't over quite yet...

We're Home!

Aaron and I had a BLAST in Kansas with Lindsay, Joey, and Hannah last week! We slept, ate, and shopped a lot - all signs of a REAL vacation :)

I had the opportunity to do three photo shoots while in Kansas (thanks, Lindsay!) and came home with 1,586 photos to sift through. Yes, I'm SO serious. I promise to post some here when I get them edited :)

Check out this photo of me and my favorite little princess:

Very frameable, don't you think?!

I can't wait for the Smiths to come back to Charlotte for a visit in the middle of August. We'll celebrate Hannah's first birthday and complete her first year of photos :) Keep your eyes peeled for Hannah's 9 and 10 month photos coming soon!

Real Quick...

If you'll notice the time stamp on this particular blog post, you'll see that it's 3:40-something in the morning. On a normal morning, being up at 3:40-something would bite the big one...but this is no normal morning. This is the morning we leave for KANSAS!

Our flight leaves from Charlotte at precisely 6:03am...so I should get a move on. 

I've been tweeting a lot more often lately, so check the "Twitter" section in the right-hand column of the blog to read (or SEE!) what we're doing throughout the day. If you click on any "twitpic" link, a photo from the iPhone will pop up. Isn't that fun?!

Ok. Really. Gotta go!

Arden - 6 Months

I love photographing ALL children, but those who range in age from 6 to 12 months are usually the most fun for me. Arden fit right in to that group and made my job very easy by being so darned CUTE!

Arden's mommy made her tiny purple tutu! So precious!

Don't you just LOVE her flower headband?

Taking a snack break :)

Thank you, Krystin, for giving me the opportunity to photograph your sweet, beautiful, laid-back baby girl :) I hope to see y'all again soon!

Ashlyn - 12 Months

When I met Ashlyn's parents and Grandma at Freedom Park for her 1-year photo shoot last month, I thought I had died and gone to Heaven.

Not only is Ashlyn gorgeous, but her super-cute parents brought props with them to our shoot; a pink adirondack chair, bubbles, silk flowers, a birthday girl crown, and even a cake for Ashlyn to play in! I LOVE clients who know what they want out of our time together and go the extra mile to make it happen :)

I hope you had a fabulous 1st Birthday party, Sweet Ashlyn! Maybe I'll see you again soon :)

Check out the rest of Ashlyn's photo shoot here.

"Wedding Hangover"

Have you ever heard of a "wedding hangover"?

Not the alcohol kind, you party animals.

The oh-I-just spent-12-hours-photographing-a-couple's-wedding-day-and-carrying-around-half-my-weight-in-camera-equipment-and-crawling-around-on-the-ground-in-the-name-of-awesome-photos-and-now-I-need-to-sleep-for-3-days-straight-to-recover kind. I have one of those today.

Usually my wedding hangovers only last through Sunday, but this one seems to be lasting a bit longer. Maybe it's because I photographed 10 children in the 3 days before the wedding. Maybe it's because I shot photos at the Night of Worship for the release of the new Elevation Worship CD, God With Us, last night. Hmmm.

Even though I'm exhausted, I'd take on a "wedding hangover" any day of the week for the opportunity to feel as creative as I've felt in the past 5 days.

So...you'd better watch out! Not only do I have 2 photo shoots to catch you up on from last month, but I'll have 7 new ones to share with you as soon as I can sit down at the computer and edit them all without falling asleep on the keyboard...

God Bless America!

Happy 4th of July!

I'm in Columbia, SC shooting a wedding with Sean today but wanted to take a moment to share Sam and Toby's versions of "God Bless America" with you on this fabulously sunny, historic holiday :) Enjoy!

A Few Days "Off"

The Wallers left on a plane headed to Iowa for vacation this morning...and I've spent the last 3 hours editing photos for clients, listening to my Robbie Seay radio station on Pandora, drinking coffee, and eating homemade chocolate chip pancakes :)

When I found out I'd have today through Friday off from my full-time job, I thought it might be beneficial to invest a little more time into my part-time photography business. When I offered a few weekday morning and evening spots to some of my clients, they jumped all over the {very rare} opportunity and my schedule for this week filled up FAST. I'm so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with so many opportunities to do what I love. SO THANKFUL.

I have one family photo shoot this evening, one in the morning, one tomorrow evening, and three on Friday morning. To top it all off, Sean and I are shooting a wedding in Columbia, SC this weekend! If the next 4 days don't make me sick of photography, I don't know what will!

Now...I'm off to upload a batch of photos to my website, clean "man land" (our tv room/office space), and prepare a spot for the new computer my fabulously geeky husband custom built and bought for me from Newegg.com so we can stop battling over the one computer we both need to use so often. Ahem.

Off to work...

Grayson - 9 Months

I'm so far behind on blogging photos of clients it's not even funny. And what's even more not funny is that I have 6 photo shoots in the next 3 days...and that will put me even more behind.

But, hey. Business is booming...and I can't really complain about that!

I know you remember sweet Grayson from his 6-month photo shoot in April, right? Well...I took his 9-month photos a few weeks ago and, let me tell you, it was the easiest photo shoot I've done in the past 4 months. Seriously. The child never stopped smiling! We breezed through 3 outfit changes and 4 gigabytes of memory in less than 35 minutes. Simply amazing!

When Grayson's mom, Lindsay, e-mailed me last week to ask if I would photograph Grayson's first birthday party, I was so honored! Faithful clients really do start to feel like family after a while...and it's so nice to be invited to capture such a fun, sentimental, important moment in a child's life :)

Speaking of first birthdays, just wait until you see my next photo post about little miss Ashlyn. Just. You. Wait.

:)