One Year Later

March 18, 2014 ~ Crystle ~ 5 Comments

One year ago today, I met my little girl for the first time. When I went into labor early St. Patrick’s Day morning, I was certain she would be a holiday baby, but I labored for 36 long hours — Margot, already 10 days behind schedule, was shy. She was finally born March 18, 2013 at 4:26 pm.

Margot was a mellow newborn, only crying when necessary, and sleeping through the night at only two months old. Each month we clapped excitedly as she gained new motor skills: lifting her head, rolling over, crawling, standing — now my Margot is independently taking 2-5 wobbly steps at a time. She’s also getting better at word recognition. When I ask, “where’s da-da?” she instantly starts waving, and scanning the room for her dad. She does the same when I ask her where the doggie is. It’s precious.

Little Girl Birthday Party Decorations The doggie I refer to is Sally, the new furry addition to our home. She’s an eight-year-old beagle we adopted from the animal shelter, meaning she’s the same age Yango was when I adopted him. Old age brings out the sleepy, peaceful, ‘kumbaya’ attitude in dogs. She’s gentle, and reminds me so much of my sorely missed Yango. First Birthday Anyway, Margot is a one-year-old now. She’s also going to be a big sister! If you haven’t heard, our second child is due early September 2014. We will be sure to share the gender once we know what we’re having. We are excited to have our children close in age. The military lifestyle means our kids will be pulled from their social circles and dropped into new ones in new cities every few years. Having siblings close in age will hopefully make that process much easier on them.

Plus, babies are just the sweetest blessing on earth. How could we not want a few?

095A7765 So — for her Birthday, we’ll be having a small Birthday get-together for Margot this weekend, she’ll have cake and balloons and all the normal first world Birthday spoils. The real celebrations will come next month, when we head down to Las Vegas, and OKC to visit family and friends, many of whom haven’t seen her since last summer. Hopefully my shy baby will warm up to all the old and new faces quickly during our visit. If they have snacks or toys, I’m sure she will.Happy Birthday, sweet Margot! And many more!

After the Winter Solstice

January 6, 2014 ~ Crystle ~ 9 Comments

The holidays and the winter solstice are behind us now, which means we’re gaining approximately seven minutes of precious daylight every day. Our Anniversary, Christmas, and the New Year were nice distractions from the cold, dark winter, but in our normal routine, our happy light has become our surrogate sun and we are often lost in nostalgia for warm summer days, or brisk hikes in the mountains.

When the happy light clicks off, it’s back to reality.

I’ve never been stuck indoors for such an extended period of time. Winter sports with an infant in tote hasn’t been an option for us, so while Margot works on walking with the support of the furniture, we’ve spent a lot of time working on other projects.

Isaac, my wonderful law school drop-out, has been working diligently on the legalities of starting a small photography business — a dream of mine for quite some time now. With all this time indoors, he was able to write my contracts, model releases, expense forms, print waivers and price lists. Then, when were finally ready to make the investment in better camera equipment, we did.

Now, here we are, launching my own photography business, Yea Yea Photography! I completed my first lifestyle photo session at the end of December when a friend had her baby. I can’t wait to see the prints when they arrive from the lab in few days. I’m proud of this new venture, and excited to see where it takes us this summer when additional daylight translates into photo ops.

As the remaining winter days tick by (I think we’re only halfway through), I’ll be working on marketing for my studio, developing a few more recipes, and hopefully touring one or two places outside of Fairbanks to celebrate all of our upcoming birthdays. I’ll be sure to share all of that, and at least one session with my own blue-eyed baby (who is nearly ten months old) soon.

And many thanks to all the wonderful family and friends who frequent this blog and follow along while I practice my photography technique and share my life! Your encouraging comments always make my day.

Introducing Baby Margot

March 20, 2013March 27, 2013 ~ Crystle ~ 11 Comments

The last few days have been a whirlwind! Our baby Margot was born on Monday after 30+ hours of labor that began early St. Patrick’s Day. My anatomy didn’t make things easy for my 8 lb 6 oz baby to enter the world so I ended up having a cesarean section to ensure her safety. Don’t worry, there was never an emergency looming, it was just a typical difficult delivery.

Long story short, the labor was long, the delivery was short and our baby is healthy, happy and beautiful. I’m elated that we had no major complications, and that we had such a great team of medical practitioners to coach us through the entire journey.

The process was only made smoother by my mother-in-law and sister-in-law who flew in from Oklahoma to help around the house before and after the birth. Our dogs were well taken care of, and coming home to a clean house with a fridge full of food was beyond the best case scenario.

Well friends, and family, please forgive the brevity, I’m still healing and I’ve got a glorious baby that I’d rather be holding! Thanks for the enduring well-wishes and kind words during the pregnancy and beyond.