It's a boy!

Luckily we didn't have any closures or anything to deal with yesterday and made it to the appt just fine. It was definitely one of the best days I've had in a while. The good part is even if it isn't your first child, seeing them in their glory never ever gets old.

When we had Carson's ultrasound at this point he literally slept through the whole thing. The tech kept shaking my stomach trying to get him to move and she had a hard time seeing everything. Well, this guy, not him. He looked like it was Dance Party USA up in there. He was rolling and stretching and it looked like he was trying to jump somehow. This in turn made it look like my stomach was jumping. That was the cool part since it was our first real outside movements and Carl got to see and feel them. I thought that I'd be able to feel movement much sooner this time around and was wondering why I hadn't. I got the answer....I have an anterior placenta again which means my placenta is attached right in the front and blocks the small movements that normally I'd already feel if it were in a different place. 

Anyway, everyone (including Carl) thought this one would be a girl. I had been leaning more towards boy, but really didn't care either way. I was just so happy to be there to see that everything was ship shape. Once again like with Carson the tech put the first view right on the bum and I yelled, "it's a boy!". Carl looked at me like "WHAT?" and the tech was really hesitant to agree. She moved it over a little and sure enough said I was right in what I saw. I'm so excited to have two little boys. At first I thought I might be disappointed or sad either way it turned out, but I'm not at all. I thought I'd bawl my way through the appointment and instead I couldn't stop smiling. There isn't a better sight to see!

I snapped a few shot of the print outs with my phone to share (the prints weren't nearly as clear as seeing it on the screen).

This is the profile with his fist in front of his mouth:

The little tootsies:

And the money shot: :)

In the afternoon I actually got to take a nap with Carson. Heavenly at this point! Then to make it even better Carl brought home something from my 3 boys:

For ten years now I've told Carl I love flowers, but would rather not have them at all if they only come at Valentine's Day or Mother's Day. I don't want flowers because someone else tells him it's time. They mean so much more if they come out of the blue and just because he wanted me to have them. These were such a welcome surprise. I think I'll keep him.

And no, we have zero names picked out. I didn't even want to think about it until I knew if it was a boy or a girl. Now the work begins!

19 weeks, 2 days. It's coming.

Well, I think the baby is finally making its appearance. In the last week I've started to feel something more than possible flutters and my belly is all of a sudden there. Everyone is convinced we're having a girl, I guess just because we already have a boy, but I'm not so sure. I'm carrying exactly the same (LOWWWW, aka I carry a football instead of a basketball), have felt just about the same and still just crave Mexican food. The only difference has been that I was more sick in the first trimester. I think that was exacerbated by the fact that I had a munchkin that didn't let me rest when I needed to like the first time.

Either way, tomorrow morning is the big ultrasound. That is, as long as it doesn't get thwarted by this storm. Let's think happy thoughts, alrighty?

On our way out on Saturday my belly seemed to really feel hard and out there so I asked Carl to take a quick photo. When I was pregnant with Carson I took a couple along the way of myself in the mirror and they look horrible. I basically have no record of that nine months at all. Hopefully I'll be up for taking them regularly this time around. Welcome to 19w2d pregnant.

Yep.

Cartoons and Apples

I blogged this over at my business blog too, but I just don't feel like retyping anything. Yay for copy and paste!

One of my goals (NOT resolutions) is to get back on the bandwagon of everyday photos of my babe. For almost three years now I have taken photo after photo, trying to capture the little details of his daily life. Lately with the new pregnancy my personal photos have gone down the tubes! I see something happening in our daily lives that make me take pause and my lack of energy wins out. But now I have this fear, irrational or not, that when June comes around with a new baby, my old baby is going to get left in the dust. All of a sudden I want to snap shots of Carson all day long and make sure he knows that the new baby isn't more important. Being an only child has given me such a weird perspective on siblings. I am truly worried that I won't love my second child as much as Carson.....or that somehow I'd love it more. How stupid is that??? Then I stop and know that my love will just double and I start crying for ever feeling like my love for them would be lessened. Ugh, these hormones are lame.

Anyway, I just grabbed a few shots of Carson doing his thing that I wanted to share. A cartoon and an apple makes Mommy turn invisible. The more I tried to get in front of him the more he unconsciously looked around me. I love the puffy space-face though!

I always laugh at this face he makes. He totally has the same pointy eyebrows as me and my dad.

OH! And I finally was able to get an appt scheduled for our ultrasound. We go in on February 1 and hopefully this monster will be as cooperative as Carson was at his.

Oops.

So......I'm totally a bad blogger. This is the longest stretch I've gone since starting the blog without a post. Man, life has really caught up with me though! Between the holidays, the monster, the new monster, my business and my real job I haven't had a second to even think about the blog. Honestly, part of the problem is that I have been working on photos so much for the business that it sort of replaced working on our personal ones. Oops. Not anymore though! I'm not making a resolution, but I will slowly be getting everything up from the holidays that I want here. If I keep putting it off though I will miss other stuff in the meantime! I figure I'll start posting again as of now and that stuff can fill in the gaps...

Yesterday we had a snow day. They said we'd get snow, but we don't trust "them" anymore at all. Well, we actually woke up to snow and it kept coming all day long. It was nice that we didn't have anywhere to be and so we relaxed at home. To say we were all tired is an understatement too. Carson has been up by 6:20 EVERY day for weeks now. Carl and I are seriously contemplating going to a hotel for a night just so we can sleep in. That is so sad, right?!?! I've seriously been so pooped with being busy (and pregnant) that I just got our tree down yesterday. Oops.

Anyway, yesterday morning Carson did his normal thing of stripping down butt naked and playing in the bathroom. I've been letting him do this as much as he wants because I figure he'd have to actually pee sometime. Yesterday after breakfast he comes running out yelling about going pee-pee. We go in there and sure enough, it looks like he had gone. We celebrated and cheered and he finally got that coveted sticker that's been dangling in his face with all the potty talk. We put his big boy underwear on him and he refused to put any other clothes on. During lunch we are sitting at the table and Carson jumps down to go play. Next thing I know he is back under the table grunting. Under the table is one of his coveted "poop spots" where he goes to do his business and freaks if you look at him in the process. This time we grabbed him and told him to try and go on the potty. After a few minutes he opens the door and yells for me. I go in and see that he had gone poop, even if it was on the toilet seat. That meant he really tried and seemed to grasp what we were saying. 

Fast forward a while to nap time. I lay down with him on the couch to try and sleep which goes beautifully. We wake up two hours later and I realize I hadn't put him in a diaper beforehand. Oops. We were both covered in pee and there was a pee puddle on the couch. Yay for leather! haha  I didn't get mad at all and tried to change him into new undies. He seemed really upset by it, but went along. About 30 minutes later he was standing in the front window watching Carl shovel. Next thing I know I hear a dripping sound. He is staring at me while peeing straight down into a heat vent. Luckily it was closed, but there was pee all over. Again, yay for wood floors! After this he demanded his diaper and was done with the potty. I guess there's always another day. It at least gave me some hope that it shouldn't be too much longer.

And I have a single photo to post in closing. This is Carson working feverishly to figure out how to hack into his grandma's laptop. He likes to do it while wearing her "sunglasses". 

 

The clan is growing....

I just fell asleep at the keyboard.

Oh, Carson, Carson, Carson. He obviously hates us. And by hates us I mean loves us so much he can't be without us. About 4 weeks ago on a random Monday I was totally exhausted, it was raining and I wanted a nap. I suckered him into coming and laying down in bed with me for his nap so I could get a snuggle moment. This particular nap only lasted about 30 minutes and we went on with our life. About a week later, out of no where, he started saying he didn't want to nap because there was a monster in his room. This quickly turned into, "I want to sleep in Mommy's bed!" Now it has been 3 straight weeks of UFC 222 when sleep is mentioned. We are at our wits end and literally don't know what to do. He cries forever when we put him down at night, finally crashes and wakes back up by 2am wanting to come to our bed. Of course, it's kind of hard to fight at that hour. He sleeps great with us, but this just can't keep happening. He hasn't taken a nap in his crib for three weeks either. He cries until he throws up (just after I finally leave the room) and then crashes on the couch at 3:30. This leads to him not being tired at night making the problem worse.

We didn't think it could get much worse, until yesterday. We've watched him randomly swing his leg over the crib and jump out, but it's like he never noticed. We knew that day would come and it did. Yesterday he was screaming at me for so long that I just left the room. I walked downstairs, went to the kitchen and heard a really loud noise. I came back over to see him in the hall looking down at me through the railing. All I could do was laugh. It's ridiculous at this point. This in turn made him think he was so smart and awesome which led to him coming downstairs stating, "Mommy, I did it! I'm not taking a nappie! I'm coming downstairs all by myself!" At around 5pm he was on my lap on the couch and all of a sudden he was asleep in a ball. I grabbed him to wake him up, but that just made him grumpier. Then we went to the grocery store and had to keep the back car lights on so he would stay awake. It's not like he really is ready to drop his naps. I have no idea what to do. At 1:15 this morning I heard the sound machine on the monitor turn off. I ran out into the hall and he's standing there. 

Basically I'm just using this as my forum to complain. I want to sleep.

We will be taking off for Utah late Wednesday night, barring the snow doesn't get way too bad. Luckily the storm is only supposed to bring 8-12 inches! ::eye roll::  I am beyond excited to squeeze my grandma and Thanksgiving dinner that she cooks. I haven't had that meal for 5 years!! I'm also excited for Carson to get it for the first time. It's like sharing the taste of my childhood. Yummy yum yum.

For a few photos.......On Saturday we took Carson down to ride on lightrail. Carl had the brilliant idea last weekend to go since Carson is a train freak right now. They went while I was out on a long event shoot so I missed out. The train takes you right to the big mall here so we rode and shopped and rode some more. He calls it the "Spencer Train" because Spencer is his bullet Thomas train. 

 It's here!!!!!! 

(We can't find his sunglasses so he's wearing my old and WAY too small Oakleys. They fit him, which is funny, but Carl says he is a woman from the 50's. Don't ask why I thought they looked good in 2003.)

So content after demanding to ride backwards.

Like a cat and a mirror

I have kind of been avoiding taking Carson's photos lately because he flat out ignores me. I know this is totally normal, I'm his mother, but still. I had a location I wanted to go test shoot so I figured he'd be isolated and we'd make it work. I even brought along my mom to try and keep his attention, but it was much easier said than done. He looked at me a few times, but spent most of the time running away while giving me the "I know what you're trying to do" side-eye. Here are a few I did get though.

 

Tanks for coming! Halloween 2010

We talked about what we wanted to do for Halloween for weeks beforehand. But somehow all our ideas just never came to fruition. We ended up going to Target the weekend before and randomly wandering down the costume aisle. Of course, Mr. Carson sees a Thomas costume and it's game over. He didn't want anything to do with any other one I showed him. I kind of just gave up and didn't want to think about it anymore. Thomas it was! And a very lame one at that. The only good part about it was we could dress him warm underneath.

It was really weird having it on a Sunday this year though. Our Sundays all look very similar. 

First, Daddy makes us all pancakes. Carson has totally aborted the highchair and thinks he is big enough to join us at the table now. 

Then there is a ton of football watching, a nap and a trip to the park. We forgot to put Carson's jersey back on after nap time. He wasn't very happy about that... He's really figuring out the Jeep steering though.

We went to grab some dinner and told Carson it was almost time to go trick-or-treating. For 20 minutes straight on the way home he told us he didn't want to go home because it was time for "tritt-or-tweating"! He said he was excited to put on his costume, but then refused to let me get a good picture. He looked so unhappy! haha

I think he just didn't really know what we were talking about so it took a few houses to really sink in. We had been practicing what to say all month and after two or three times he got it down. He would knock, open his bag and say trick-or-treat really softly. He loves being outside with the big kids. He looked like such a little boy out there. No more baby for sure!

At one of the last houses our neighbor asked him if he was Thomas the Tank Engine. Carson said yes and James said, "Well, tanks for coming!" I'm a sucker for a bad pun. It was awesome.

Hopefully we'll do a little better in the costume dept. next year.

Chuck E. Cheese!!!!

On Friday night we went to a birthday party for my pal Jamie's son . I was excited because it was at Chuck E. Cheese's and I've never been. I knew Carson would love it so we just went and played and played. It was a little overstimulating for me, but a great time. Carson even dared to give Mr. Cheese a high-five.

Carson saw other kids getting in this booth where the air blows tickets all over and you try to catch them. He insisted that he get in it, but as soon as it turned on he totally freaked out. It was one of those sad and funny moments. haha  I yelled at Carl, "Let me get a picture before you turn it off!!!" I'm so mean. :)

 

Happy Half-Birthday, Carson

I looked at the calendar and realized that Carson is officially 2 1/2 today. People always ask me how old he is and I never know if I should say 2 or 2 1/2. That's so stupid. It's not like it really matters, but now I'll say 2 1/2 for sure. haha

Here are just a couple quick shots from playing in the backyard yesterday. He loves to play baseball, leave his tongue sticking out and climb on anything he can get his hands on.

We still haven't decided on Halloween costumes either......should probably get on that.

Mommy, watch out!

The monster is on day 3 of his new daycare. So far, so good! I've actually been productive too. :) He goes from 8am-1pm then comes right home for a nap so it's working out great so far. 

This was last night at Lowe's while waiting for Daddy. He thinks he's a battering ram.

Baby blues

Nobody hipped me to that, Dude.

I've been slammed for the last two weeks and I just got a chance to go through my own photos! Two weekends ago we all went four-wheeling up above Georgetown to Santiago Mine. I was a little ignorant to the "Colorado Aspens" because they appear to be a big deal up there this time of year. I have to say this was the most beautiful time we have ever been up there. Being able to get up above the regular tourists and see the scenery from a more private path was awesome! Everywhere you looked there were different colors. At one point I looked at Carl and said, "are we in a Bob Ross painting?" There were happy little bunches of trees all over.

We went to this exact same spot last year which you may remember here. That time there was still too much snow and we couldn't get any higher, but this is that exact same bowl...without so much snow.

  

This is what Carl, Andy and Dustin were doing....

While Carson was doing this - "Mom, rocks!!!!" (Not Mom rocks. Let's not get confused.)

This cave looked like it went back so far and was super deep. There were natural springs and run-offs like this everywhere up there. Those are my guys!

Next it was time to make the drive up the rest of the mountain to the mine. This was somewhere over 12,000 feet. Technically you aren't supposed to go up there, but we just walked around, hopefully not damaging anything as we went. This mine was from the late 1800's and it's still in great condition. Well, other than the bridge/train track which is a little sketchy.

This is where those tracks used to go. That gate opens up and Carl has been in there before. He said he went in around the corner and it was obvious that it has started to collapse so he booked it out of there. Carson thought it was to look in through the bars.

And stop the presses! I got in TWO different pictures this time! :)

On the way down Carl took us a different way that looked a bit scary, but ended up being so freaking beautiful. This trail was even more secluded with only a tunnel big enough for one car between the trees. We eventually came to a river with a small bridge that looked like it was for power maintenance. There sure weren't any people or houses up there!

Don't forget Christy and Andy!

I have so much more I'd like to share, but I had to narrow it all down. Exploring with the fam is so much fun!

I have an announcement...

NO, I'M NOT PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I know you're thinking it. :)

Actually I already had a new baby. My new baby is named Rachael Wooten Photography ::blush::. I have thought about writing this post many times and I'm still nervous now as I type. I haven't told many people so I feel like I've been hiding or lying or something. When I say "not many" I mean Carl, my parents and my grandparents were pretty much the only ones for a long long time. 

The journey to get to this point has been long and I'm happy to say that I actually know what I'm trying to do now. In the last year (all happening within my little internal bubble) I have gone from wanting to only create paper products to wanting a paper business that I could incorporate photos with invitations to being strictly a photographer. This also included three, yes 3!, official business names. To say that I am indecisive with my own stuff is an understatement. If you tell me what you are looking for I can whip it up and go on my way. If I sit down to design something for myself it can take me two years. Literally. In two years I have done so much changing while finding my real style and passion that I now can blog in front of you and scream it out loud. One of my weaknesses is that if I don't feel like something is 100%, I will share 0% of it. If I'm going to do something I want it to be right and a finished product before I put it all out there. Originally I started with something a little more cutesy and knew in my heart that it just wasn't me. There had to be a reason that my sub-conscience wasn't letting me gab about it all. I fought it for a while, but woke up one morning with clarity. In a world of businesses galore I want you to want me! Thus, Rachael Wooten Photography was born. I am the business so my name should be right there with no doubt. I only want to do what I love and hope that the people who like me will call and the people who don't won't. That works out for everyone in the end.

I am and always have been 85% book-y, number-y and literally...-y. But there has always been that 15% hanging out there that I've fulfilled with many types of creative outlets. I am so fortunate to have a set up in my career that allows flexibility and a lot of downtime; I'll have the best of both worlds. Granted, almost all of my new stuff is happening at night or on weekends, but it would be much harder if I were in an office all day. Whether he knows it or not, one of the best things I ever got from my dad was the principles of how to run an honest and profitable business. Most of you know that the car business isn't always, you know, truthful. I saw how my dad treated the people he encountered and heard those dinnertime conversations about what is right and wrong. I also saw people want to do business with him. Luckily I learned the ins and outs of business logistics in my work experience and in college, but now I realize how invaluable my observations of him were. 

I've always known I would have a business, but never really knew what the "product" would be. You know, the indecisiveness. Whenever I think about what I want out of a company I represent, all I can think is "under promise, over deliver". In the last four or so months it all clicked with me and I've had so much fun figuring out the logistics. In the land of puppies and rainbows I would want to be shooting everyday, but there is so much more to it than that. I've designed a website, built my blog from scratch, created all my branding materials, developed my pricing scheme and made some great friends along the way. Oh yeah, I've taken a few photos too. ;)  

I know I'm rambling and spilling my guts, but I've been keeping it in for a little too long! I also know I don't have to explain myself. Again, I'm just really passionate about this new venture and hope that my amazing friends and family will support what I'm trying to do. 

As for the actual business goals, my focus is lifestyle and family custom photography. Kids aren't the easiest thing ever, but it kind of comes with the territory. I absolutely love shooting couples, single-person portraits and newborns. I shoot only natural light so mostly outdoors. The problem with that is winter in good old CO, but I can work indoors too. I know I still have a ton of growing to do which means I expect things to change even more. Hopefully that will all be positive as I get more definition in myself and what I am able to produce. Since I'm still building my portfolio I am running a pretty good deal through the end of the year. I would love to have my galleries full of the people that I love! What I'm saying is if you are curious about anything, just ask. :)

The main site is rachaelwooten.com and the blog is blog.rachaelwooten.com. I think if you read this blog and take a look through that you'll get a pretty good idea of my style and whether or not we'd make a good fit! I'm still going to keep doing all the family stuff here and some of it may cross over to the business blog. I feel like this is my own journal where I show the good, the bad and the ugly. I'll be able to be a tad more choosy over there. :)  I'm doing new stuff constantly so there will be new stuff all the time to see. Anyone can email me anytime at rachael@rachaelwooten.com. Feel free to share until your heart's content.
 
So.........thanks for listening if you got this far. I'm getting the Facebook page put together too so I will take all the "likes" I can get when it's up! (They make you have a certain number before you can assign the name...)

♥ rachael 

Go Bengals!

The past few Sundays have been cuteness overload in the Wooten house. Carson got a matching jersey with his daddy. Of course they're Carson Palmer. You think I'm going to put him in Ochocinco?!?!?! Carson knows Sunday is football day and loves getting dressed up with Carl. He runs around the house yelling, "Go Bengals!" Obviously when he's older he can choose his own team. Part of the most fun you have as a kid is doing what your parents do though. We had so many people ask us if we were naming Carson after Mister Palmer, but we really didn't! The name was completely my suggestion and at the time I didn't even know who CP was. It's super cute for the jersey now. 

I know there have been many times in Carson's short life that I've said "this ___" is definitely the cutest thing he's ever worn. But really, this is the cutest thing so far. :)

Carson Palmer, eat your heart out.