She’s got a bit of jaundice going on, so she spent much of the morning basking on a beanbag in the sun. Of course, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to throw on a black backdrop and snap some sleepy newborn pics:

Obviously, I take pictures at other times, too. Sorry, guys. I’m afraid this blog has been taken over by little Miss Pinkle Toes for the duration. ;-)

She let me do a little photo session with her today. Oh, so many pictures! Oh, so many things I want to do. Oh, so little time. I don’t want to miss her early days stuck behind the camera, but I don’t want to forget these days either. A mother’s struggle never ends, huh?

What an amazing, amazing day!!!

Amerlyn Grace Anderson arrived this morning at 10:56 a.m. in our home, surrounded by a proud papa, an elated mama, two *very* excited big brothers, Mee Maw, Aunt Nee Nee, two amazing midwives, and my dear friend, Lyndsay (whom I have to thank for these incredible images).

8 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 inches

(Amerlyn is pronounced “a” as in apple + merlin, but we will be calling her Amry for short.)

We are thrilled beyond words!!!!! So much to tell, but for now, I’m going to go stare at my beautiful little daughter.

Love,
Me

I’ve resorted to taking pictures of the fake flowers in my bathroom. ;-) Just got a new lens and have been desperate to play with it. Loved the last pic of T, though. I know it’s not anything spectacular, but the happy-go-lucky expression and his favorite construction t-shirt and the dirt on his face…it’s just so *him*.

And get this: I actually took a spur-of-the-moment maternity session for someone tomorrow!!! I told her we are sure to be a sight: Me at 39 weeks preggo and she is expecting TWINS!!!! Check back tomorrow for her sneak peeks.

Or, if I don’t see you here before then, have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving holiday!

No really. It’s bad. And if I don’t lay off the mint Oreos, I’m going to be in serious trouble.

I’ve nested just about as much as a I can. Thank goodness I’ll have the distraction of Thanksgiving this week. I’m not terribly uncomfortable and I’m *very* grateful for that, but I think pretty much every mom-to-be reaches this point in a pregnancy when you’re like, “C’mon, already.” I’m there.

First pic, my view most of the day. Actually, I’ve been a lazy bum most of this weekend. So NOT me and I don’t like it, but I’m totally unmotivated. I have an itchy trigger finger, but sadly, there’s only one subject I want to photograph right now and I can’t quite get to her just yet. ;-)

2nd pic, trying to capture my view but accidentally set the shutter speed too slow. ;-) How apropos.

3rd pic, my middle-child-to-be and I are on good terms again. He’s an angel when he’s sleeping. ;-)

First, check out my new old chair! We sent some chairs to be redone several months ago and finally got them back today. I wish I had a before pic to show you. Oh, man, these are an amazing improvement. I cannot wait to use them in sessions next year! Some of you may be a little upset to learn that the famous purple couch is also getting a face lift for 2009. I’m even more excited about that one, but you’ll just have to wait and see…

Okay, so this past weekend, my mom took T for his weekend away and so we could have alone time with L. I was really looking forward to hanging out and snuggling with my little guy, but wow! Who took my sweet little snuggle bug and replaced him with a moody, whining, temperamental boy?? I don’t know if it’s his natural progression or perhaps he’s sensing the big changes about to take place in our family, but this is breaking my heart. I had us all lined up to see The Very Hungry Caterpillar on stage followed by a carriage ride downtown, but he wanted NO part of it. You can tell how thrilled he was in the above pic. It was so bad, we had to leave the theater. You may have actually seen the two of us sitting on the curb of Congress Avenue on Sunday bawling together. It was a sight I’m sure. I just don’t know if I can take losing my little boy like this…how do I reassure him that even though he won’t be the “baby” of our family, I will love him for all that he is no matter what? It’s hard to type this, actually…

Moving on…

Can I also tell you that it’s KILLING me that I can’t show you my latest batch of cards and announcements, yet?!!! Oh, we’ve had some amazingly fun and beautiful designs this year featuring some equally wonderful images. The first of the year, maybe I’ll do a card parade.

Okay, I’m going to get back to basting my little turkey now.

Thanks to all of your comments yesterday (and a few that sneaked in this morning), we’re just about to write a check for $980 to Texas CASA! I promised myself I’d commit to $10/comment…little did I know ;-), but how exciting! Thanks so much for all of the kind comments and for helping out an organization that is dear to my heart!

CASA’s are Court Appointed Special Advocates for children who’ve suffered abuse and neglect. Find a CASA program near you and learn more about what you can do to lend a hand: www.becomeacasa.org (this site is Texas-based, but you can search nationally on there as well).

Neato! I just noticed that we’ve passed the 100K mark on the number of blog visitors this year. A silly stat, but I still think it’s worth noting. I feel like I should do something to celebrate…

Okay, let’s see how many comments we can get on the blog today. You can comment on any post, this one, an old one, I don’t care. The total number of blog comments today will determine the “prize”…the more comments, the better. Tell your friends/family. Give a shout out on your own blog. Really, let’s see how big we can make this. The “prize” is charity-related and I’ll reveal my full plan tomorrow, so stay tuned…

And thank you for taking the time to visit and comment. This blog has become such an incredible source of support and therapy!

(BTW, this pic is an oldie I pulled from a studio workshop I attended last year at this time. It was really fun to experiment with studio lighting and someday, I hope to do more with it.)

So I came across some shots that have been freakin’ me out. Thought I’d share:

Some ’splainin’:

1. The Headless Wonder – Pretty much how I’ve been functioning lately, although it is a bit of a spoof on the fact that most maternity portraits are headless. I don’t know why we do this, but we do. Deal with it.

2. The View from Up Here – Not really freaky, I guess. Well, maybe the protruding belly is a little freaky.

3. Freaked Out Kid at Warehouse – I thought this would be a pretty shot, but he looked so lonely up against all of that metal and broken glass windows.

4. The Thing on the Stairs - This is what greeted me just before I went upstairs today. Upon further investigation, I learned that the dinosaur thing on her arm was her friend and the bowl was to protect her head from itching. Oh, did I mention this is the boys’ practice doll for learning how to hold/handle the new baby? Um, yeah. I’ve since put all bowls out of kid reach. Doll is currently in therapy.

5. The Man Spa – Need I say more?

LOOKIE at what arrived from Margaret in my e-mail inbox tonight!!!!

Auggghhhh!! I’m so excited! Oh, it’s so wonderful to have maternity/family pics! And I can’t believe what she was able to capture (I know how tough it is to get four people together and it’s even tougher when 1/2 the party is under age 5 and over stimulated). Didn’t she do an awesome job?! I had to giggle…my belly is so ridiculously round, it looks FAKE, doesn’t it?

Thank you so much, Margaret!! I’m so glad we did this exchange.