Hitting the Motherload

The last post was vague and full of pictures - this one will be full of information and very few pictures.

Pete and I have been working on buying a house since March. We were under contract back in April and May, however that deal fell through about a week before closing in late May. We were left in a bit of a bind, because we had already given notice to our landlord, and needed to be out of our rental by the end of June. So we hit the ground running, and after being out-bid on 2 more houses, we finally found the perfect house, and went under contract. It was a roller coaster ride from there, with difficult sellers and a slow to respond loan processor. To add to the stress, we Pete and Andy loaded all of our belongs up into 2 PODS, and I went to NJ while Pete stayed at a hotel in MA. All the stress, anxiety, teeth mashing and hair pulling was worth it - as of Friday evening, we are happy residents of Epping, New Hampshire.

 Home Sweet Home

 "Tubby-ing" in the kitchen sink

 Helping Dad change the locks

Chalking in the driveway... we have a driveway!

Friday was a big day for us. In the morning, we had Addison's annual check up at Boston Children's. This time, we also met with Dr. Orbach, is the director of neurointerventional radiology. He had looked at Addy's scans, and had come to a different conclusion than what we had heard in December (he wasn't part of her team originally, but after talking with other parents of kids with intracranial "stuff," we decided he was the guy we needed to be seeing). Dr. Orbach reviewed Addy's scans from December with us, side by side with her scans we had done as a baby. Unfortunately, he feels that her vascular malformation is significantly larger than before - which is not how a vascular malformation typically behaves. Because it looks larger, he is concerned that it not just a vascular malformation, but that there may be an arterial (artery) component there also -- which means that we could be dealing with an arteriovascular malformation (AVM) instead of just a vascular malformation (VM). An AVM carries with it the risk of bleeding (brain aneurism) and seizure. So, if it is an AVM, Dr. Orbach will need to treat it - and hopefully would be able to do so during the angiogram. (Lost yet? Click here for the medical terms page if you need a quick refresher.) We had been hoping to put off the angiogram until Addy was at least 5 years old, after learning that she didn't need one at a year old. However, Dr. Orbach feels it's important to do one within the next 6 months. The silver lining to this is that the angiogram is the one test that will give us all the answers - we'll know exactly how the blood is flowing in her brain and face, if it is vascular or arterial, and if treatment of the blue areas of her face will be a possibility down the road. If her malformation is just vascular, we'll just spend the day at Boston Children's getting the angiogram, and will go home that same night. If there is an arterial component and Dr. Orbach is able to treat it, we will stay a day or two in the ICU. If there is an arterial component and Dr. Orbach can't treat it, we'll have to sit down with a neurosurgeon team to discuss our options. Luckily, not only is that the worst-case scenario, it's also the least likely.
Friday morning was a tough morning for us. We were immediately taken back to the emotion of two years ago; the fear of the unknown, the difficult position of having to chose a risky procedure when watching and waiting became riskier still. Just like two years ago, we sat on a bench at the front of the hospital, Pete somewhat angry and frustrated with the options presented; me crying silently and trying not to let my mind run away with the what-ifs. This time around, however, we had a happy, healthy 2 year-old sitting between us, and that made all the difference. 2 years ago, I felt paralyzed for days with the fear and enormity of the situation; on Friday it only lasted about an hour. In some ways, it was harder to hear what the doctor had to say on Friday. When Addy was a baby, we were taking things day by day, appointment by appointment. Now, we have been lucky to move beyond that, and look back at those dark difficult days and be glad they are behind us - Friday took us all back. Pete and I spent about 2 minutes reflecting on how hard it was, how scary the decisions were and just how much we didn't want to have to make them... and then, collectively, we picked our chins up and knew that we'd get through this, too.
The angiogram hasn't been scheduled yet, so there will be more information to come.

And this blog post wouldn't be complete without one more big revelation: this December, we'll be welcoming a baby boy into our family. We are overjoyed - this has been an easy pregnancy, and I'm hoping that it doesn't change for the second half!

Chloe is still in NJ - soaking in every minute she can. We're excited for her to get home so she can see the new place, and set up her "apartment" - she managed to score both a bedroom AND an office!

More pictures soon!

Stress.

That about sums it up.
But instead of dwelling on it, I'm going to share the past (way too many) weeks in pictures...

Some random sweet moments between the girls... big sister tubby time, followed by hiding under the covers:

Boston with friends:

Berry picking with Livvy, now an annual event:

A whirlwind less-than-48-hour trip to the Vineyard in 60-degree weather... still so worth it:

And an extended stay-cation in New Jersey:

And even though life is oh so stressful and crazy right now, it's easy to look at these faces are remember how lucky we are in spite of it all. More updates (and fewer hazy statements) to come.

Reset

It's been a while since I updated. Our life is hurtling forward at breakneck speed. Along with working during the week, I've been picking up extra shifts on the weekend for some overtime. And mother nature hasn't been cooperating; it feels like we've had rain for weeks on end. Which means that I've spent a rediculously small amount of time behind the camera.

Finally, at the end of this week, the weather broke, and we ran outside to take off our shoes and roll in the grass. We've spent most of the weekend outside, trying to replenish our stores of Vitamin D.

I can't promise that the next 6 weeks are going to bring any more frequent blog posts. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel; in 6 weeks I will be back to being a stay-at-home mom, photographer, and blogger.
Nose to the grindstone, and then we will have a summer full of moments like these:

 She saw me taking pictures, and posed and said "cheese!"

 Shoes last about 30 seconds with this girl. She loves being barefoot.

And diaperless, when she can swing it. 

We're hoping for more sunny weather, more outside time, and more relaxation.

We hope everyone had a very happy Mother's Day - we sure did.

The New Plan

I was sorely disappointed in my last post. Mostly because whenever something funny/cute/trying happens, I usually end up thinking about how I will describe in on the blog. However, when I'm faced with the daunting task of doing an update about the last three weeks, I end up painting it with a pretty broad brush. And part of the reason I blog is to share the little moments with family and friends - so when I post like the last one, I feel like I am cheating them, and me.

I get so much joy from photography. A wise man once advised me (I'm paraphrasing here) - don't put anything of lesser quality out there, KelBel. As a photographer, you will take hundreds of thousands of photos, but there may only be 3 good ones worth sharing. Only share those three. Often, less is more. So, true confessions, if I don't have good pictures of an event when I'm doing a long blog post, I end up glossing over it or skipping it entirely. And without the pictures to illustrate, the idea of all that writing late at night (when I finally end up doing the posts) is just too daunting.

So I'll be writing more often, and it will likely be more words and less pictures, however I hope the pendulum will swing the other way once the summer hits and I'm not working as much.

Livvy came over to dye eggs on Sunday. We don't get to see Livvy as much as we used to, with both Sarah and I being busy working moms now, so it is extra special every time we get together.

The kitchen is my least favorite spot to take pictures. The light is low and it's a really tight, cramped space. But, it's the only place we have to do crafts, so we manage. And daydream about big, open, bright kitchens.

I also had a newborn shoot this weekend. Two of my favorites:

I love newborn shoots. There is definitely a learning curve, and I'm still at the beginning of it, but I'm loving experimenting and finding my style.

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I thought for sure I'd have a big birthday post. On Thursday, Addy turned two. Unfortunately, Addy caught a stomach bug and spent most of Thursday throwing up.

We did get some smiles that day, mostly when she was FaceTiming with the family - Addy LOVES it.
And, she did rally at the end of the day for a cupcake.

She's on the mend, and although it's still a bit chilly, it's sunny, and we are headed outside.

Enjoy the weekend!

Flying Solo

Hi- lots of catching up to do.

We've been busy in what sort of feels like a do-nothing kind of busy. What I've realized though, is that even our do-nothing weekends still feel pretty full; doing all the things that I'm not doing during the week. Combine that with the sheer exhaustion that comes with being back at work, and I've found it hard to get inspired to write. And since I'm working, I'm not taking as many pictures, which means the pressure is on to say how things are going, instead of showing how things are going.

We had some incredible weather recently. Record temps - 85 degrees! - which made this past week of more seasonable 40s and 50s all that much harder.

Addy was struck with her first super-nasty virus of 2012, which left her with a runny nose, an alarming cough, and a high fever for 3 days. And "irritable" seems a bit too mild - more like 72 straight hours of inconsolability. It took about a week for her to be back to normal, but we're there now.

Pete was traveling this week. And although I handled it all fine, it reminded me how lucky I am to have an involved, helpful partner in parenting.

But, enough chatter.

Easter shoot. With real bunnies. It feels like eons ago. Addy and Chloe were bunny obsessed. 2 hours of just sitting and petting. The begging for a bunny has begun.

 The Donatos. There is so much I could say about them, but it wouldn't be enough. Seriously, I've written about 10 sentences here and deleted each one, because it barely scratched the surface. They rock.

 Sandals in March? We were happy to. Addy calls these shoes her "mouse shoes" - they are WeeSqueaks, so they squeak when she walks. She LOVES it.

Other things we love? Little girls in nightgowns. And peanut butter cracker towers.

 So maybe I cracked out one of her birthday gifts a little early. Two words: stamp. obsessed.

Lots of big events coming up this week - a big birthday on Thursday, and an egg hunt on Sunday. Stay posted - I promise I'll be posting again soon.