I love Thanksgiving. So much to be thankful for!!
We spent it with family and invited Sam, Barb and Barb’s mom Edie to share it with us. Sam plays drums (Kyle LOVES him!!!) and when Barb sings she has a voice like an angel!
Everyone enjoyed themselves… including Blake!!! He met a new girl : )
It’s been a little while since my last post, as it’s Christmas season now and I have been SWAMPED for weeks!!!!!
The boys enjoyed their Halloween together… well at least Alex & Kyle did!!! Blake… not so much.
Alex was a vampire, an awesome one at that! Kyle was the most fitting thing I could find for him… BAMM BAMM, the cave boy from the Fllintstones and Blake was a cow, sice that boy LOVES his milk!
Kyle has never had so much candy in his life!!! He especially loves the Kit Kats : )
I heard that one of my favorite bands, Duran Duran, was going to be in town on October 10th, so I thought I’d see how Archie felt about watching the boys for a few hours so that I could get out and away from being a milk provider for a few hours….. he was totally supportive and all for it, and let me just say… I REALLY needed it : )
Stephanie had an awesome time last night. We were gone for 3.5 hours too!!! lol
Here’s us just before leaving the house
The show was great : )
So I stumbled on an opportunity for Blake to be a newborn model for a photographer’s training workshop in North Carolina. Naturally when free pictures are involved, my ears perk up!!
The bonus was, this photographer is AH-MAAAAAAAZING!!!! And she is as sweet as she is talanted, too. She specializes in newborn photography and really captures some great shots.
So after careful planning, we decided that instead of driving… we would take the TRAIN!!! Oh BOY was Kyle ever excited!!!
We got to the train station in Tampa on Tuesday at about 4:00pm for the 5:17 departing train to Cary, NC. As soon as the train pulled in Kyle yells TRAAAAAAAAAAAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!
He LOVED everything about it. The silver color, the fast wheels, the conductor, the tracks… I could go on and on.
We boarded our family of 5 plus the 8 random bags and suitcases, and off we went on the 15 hour adventure! Here is a picture of the boys as soon as the train departed Tampa:
The total trip was to take 15 hours, stopping along the way to pick up passengers in Orlando, Lakeland, Jacksonville, Savannah, Columbia, etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjytstkiSQc
We bought the boys a dvd player to watch their movies on for the ride, so that gave them something to do : )
We fell asleep that night and woke up in North Carolina!!! How cool is that???!!!
The rental car driver was there waiting to pick us up and take us back to finish the paperwork so we could be on our way. Did I mention that there was only enough room for 5 people… not 6??!!! So here is where Archie sat until the rental car driver got out!!
Cary, NC is beautiful… I loved the feeling of truly being in the suburbs. Not like here in Florida where there’s a plaza or strip mall on every corner.
We got to our appointment pretty much on time, and the rest of the day went as follows:
As you can probably see for yourself by now, the trip was TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!!
I am in love with these images so far and can’t WAIT to see more!!! These will be going on the wall for SURE!!!
If you would like to see more of Tracy’s work, her website is http://www.memoriesbytlc.com/
Chalk it up to another crazy and amazing experience for the Muises.
You just never know what we’re going to do next! lol
BYE BYE TRAIN!!!!
Sooooooo….. my intuition was right.
The morning of Archie’s birthday, he was getting ready and came over to the bed where I was trying to get some last minute sleep before he left the house and he whispers: “For my birthday I want a BABY.” lol
I replied “I’m sure you do, but things don’t always work out quite how we plan. God has His own plan….” And so He did : )
Just 2 short hours after Archie left for work my water broke. I knew this was going to be the day. It wasn’t going to be like last time. My faith was much stonger this time and I had already surrendered everything to Him. I wasn’t trying to take control, but rather let things happen as they may.
So I called Archie at 10:30 while standing in a puddle of water on the bedroom floor and told him that he should get ready for his fabulous birthday!!! He asked me if I needed him to come home and I said no, that I had no regular comtractions yet… just hard and sporatic.
Well, little did I know that a half hour later I would be unable to talk and the contractions would be right on top of each other. I called him at 11:00am and said “Get. HOME…. NOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
He made it home about 11:15 and we headed to the Birth Center. As soon as I walked through the doors Chris, our midwife knew I was ready.
It was just before noon and I was making my way down the long hall to the birth suite. When we got there, the tub was already full of warm water to deliver Archie’s birthday present : )
Archie and I got in the tub, him facing me and me trying to get in a groove to relax and begin the process of bringing a new life into this world… I was scared and excited all at the same time.
I immediately felt the urge to push, so I did. And surprisingly he was already crowning…
I will never forget the one thing that Chris said as I was right in the middle of the worst pain I felt yet… she says “STOP SCREAMING AND START PUSHING!!!”
I thought to myself “Who does she think she’s talking to???!!! I can scream if I WANT TO!!!!” All I could think about was that song “It’s My Party And I’ll Cry If I Want To” LOL
I still think about that moment and giggle to myself almost daily.
What I love most about Chris is that she knows me so well. That’s exactly what I needed to hear at that moment to push through the pain and deliver my husband the birthday gift he had been waiting for all these months. And that’s just what I did : )
Blake was born at 12:14pm weighing 11lbs, 5ozs and measuring 22.1/4″ long. Daddy is proud to say he pulled him out into this world and will forever share a birthday with his son, Mr. Blake.
Here is a photo of Sal, the founder of the Breath of Life Birth Center, with Chris (the best midwife this side of the Mississippi) on the right, and Blake about an hour old : )
I just have a feeling. That feeling you can’t explain…. but I know Blake is coming. Soon.
I did a 11 person shoot on Saturday at the home studio which set me over the edge… and I was paying for it all day today, but it was really cute!!! It was a “TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL” shoot. Here’s Kyles picture:
I bought this locker background a few weeks ago, and was soooo happy that I got to use it!!!!
So anyway, it would be nice to have this baby on Archie’s birthday, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he made his appearance a little sooner than that.
I wonder if this birth is going to be easier than the one with Kyle… I really hope so. I need to lean on the Lord more this time. I know that.
I am getting to the point now where I can’t sleep, can’t walk, can’t sit… can’t do much. Ugh… COME ON BLAKE!!!!!!
I have decided to move the studio home for now, while I’m in my last week of pregnancy and when I have a new baby… so that I can go right back to work. My awesome hubby and amazing friend Brooke did all this in the past few days;
I love the natural sunlight and am pleased with the results from my first shoot in the home studio this morning!! Here is one from the shoot:
So it looks like from now on I will be shooting here… : )
I have been nesting for the past few weeks, and with the help of my awesome husband, we are almost ready for Mr. Blake!! We have a bassinet/playpen that was graciously donated by our friend Amanda, along with a swing, an excerciser and some baby toys. We have decided to cloth diaper again so we just made our last purchase of diapers. For a WHILE!
We rearranged the family room and moved the coffee table out and the pictures that were in the kitchen to the wall above the television. I love it!! I think it really opens up the room and makes it more inviting.
Also, we sold our kitchen table that we loved so much to make room for a bigger table that will accomodate our growing family. We redecorated the dining area to match the new table and are really happy with how it came out!
Then we got a new office desk to match the one in there already so that we can both work at the same time from 2 seperate workstations in our home office… I didn’t get a chance to snap a pic yet, but I will. My schnoid hubby got a few dry erase boards and put them up right away. He has already started scribbling on it and has ended up with something that resembles the Pythagorean Theorem!!
Also… big news today: we started to move the studio home!!! I think with my plans of going right back to work, it makes much more sense to do it from the home where I can put the baby down in the next room rather then having to travel to the studio every time for a shoot and have to wonder what to do with the baby. I think this will be a good move for both me and the clients too!! This way I will not miss out on any shoots that I have coming up…
So yes… things are coming together. We definitely have been busy!! But all the hard work will be worth it in a few weeks when our newest addition is here : )
Much Love,
xoxo
The Muise Family Blog 