Out with the Great Grandparents

Today Gramma and Grandpa, Jeff, Linnea and I went to Culina (a favorite restaurant of mine) for lunch. We then went to Transcend coffee roastery for coffee/espresso and to pick up some freshly roasted beans. We had a lovely visit and time and here are some shots from today. The other shot that isn't of grandma and grandpa is of Jeff holding Linnea earlier this morning. I love her expression! She has just started to smile in the last 2 days. So precious!!

Almost 6 weeks

Today was a fantastic day! Linnea and I had our 6 week post natal check-up and both passed with a clean bill of health! Linnea is now 9 lbs 10 ozs and 23 inches long. She's very healthy and growing well. I'm supposed to still take it easy but I'm healing really well. Last Saturday I photographed another wedding and it was one of the best weddings ever. I had so much fun and felt like my photography passion was burning inside me all day. I felt like I was on fire, full of ideas and truly had a great time. My clients are having me design them an 80 page album which is the largest album ordered to date. I can't wait. I've had 2 wedding consultations this week and have been able to get a lot of work done. The three weddings in May that I photographed went very well and I'm thrilled with how Linnea has been. She hasn't had a problem with taking a bottle from anyone and pumping has been going really well during the weddings and throughout my working/home life day. I've even started to go back to train at the Panther Gym and have been enjoying my karate class. I have an exhibition opening at the University of Alberta hospital on Monday for a couple months of some of my fine art images. This weekend I have to write up a biography which won't be very exciting. Linnea's great-grandparents are here visiting us and we're all going to Culina tomorrow for brunch and hang out in the afternoon together. I hope Linnea is as good tomorrow as she was with me today. She slept so much today that I'm a little nervous about how she'll sleep tonight...Enjoy the photos of Linnea's first bath where she didn't shed a tear and afterwards on her new hooded towel our friend made for her and a couple photos of her with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Horch.

One Month Old Today

I can't believe Linnea is one month old already. Time really is flying by quickly. Too quickly...She is just so adorable and cuddly right now and a year from now she'll likely be walking!! Ok ok...not so fast Rachel. First she has to learn to crawl, roll over, etc. Last night my aunt had a baby shower for my friend Carmen and I. We were really spoiled with some more cute outfits and some great books and other beautiful gifts. The last few days Linnea has been really fussy and didn't sleep too much. It made working really hard and I couldn't get a lot done. Very frustrating. Last night I let her sleep as long as she wanted so she did! She slept from about 1:30am until 6:00am today and then for another 3-4 hours this morning so I was able to get some laundry done and other things around the house. I have a wedding consultation to prepare for on Friday morning so I will have to clean up a ton! Our friends Tom and Lia visited us this afternoon which was great fun. Lia took the photos of Linnea and I - first time shooting with a digital slr I think and she did a great job!! Thanks Lia! I wanted to do a more formal session of Linnea today but it didn't work out...soon though!

Here are some photos taken of Linnea today of her various expressions...Enjoy!!

Today's E-Session

I went on a fun engagement session today right between Linnea's feedings. This couple (Stephen & Julia) are getting married this coming Saturday. Julia lives in Winnipeg so this was the earliest I could do their session...Here are a few shots I like from the session.

The past weekend...weddings with Linnea

I finally have 5 minutes to quickly type up an entry about my past weekend. Saturday, May 17th I photographed my first wedding since having Linnea. Jeff came along with her and we started at the church. I nursed her as soon as I arrived before the ceremony began so I could photograph the whole ceremony. This worked out well as I had time to do some family portraits afterwards and then we headed to the Royal Alberta Museum for the portrait session. As soon as I arrived I nursed Linnea again while Shaun and Aaron took care of my clients. I joined them as soon as I was done and we continued to shoot more portraits. Jeff took Linnea for a long walk and then he met us at the Chateau Lacombe hotel downtown where I did some more portraits. Jeff picked Aaron and I up and we then went for dinner to a great Lebanese joint that Jeff and I love.
Now it's the next day or the day after?? Today is May 24th. I started this earlier and wasn't able to finish it. Anyways - the next day (last Sunday) Jeff and I drove to the Kananaskis to photograph another clients wedding. It went really well. My other photographers (Aaron and Lane) passed us on Hwy 2 as I was nursing at a roadside turnoff. :) The wedding images were one of the best weddings we've ever photographed. I'm super excited to work on the images but of course that will come in due time.
Jeff and Linnea got to hang out for almost the whole day and I think it went pretty well for them so that was nice.
This week is busy. I photographed 2 sessions and have an e-session to photograph tomorrow. Next week I have a full day wedding. Linnea has been good and seems to be gaining weight as I notice that her face has gotten a little chubbier. I will post more photos soon. Today is Saturday...we're going to go to the market and bus depot to pick up a pkg and then to see Dad at Transcend where he's working all day. We also have to make the dreaded trip to Ikea to return some items.
Ciao for now!

Linnea - 16 days old

This week has been one of changes from the previous two weeks. For 6 nights she's kept up the same sleep pattern. I keep the bedtime routine exactly the same every night which has been great. She knows what to expect. I nurse her at between 1130 and 1230pm and put her down after some burping and swaddling her. I lay her down awake and she's typically out like a light within minutes without fussing. Then at 4:55am (ironically the time she was born) she wakes up (sometimes a few minutes earlier or later) and I feed her and we repeat the same process. I change her diaper usually at the beginning of this feed to fully wake her up though. Then between 8am and 830am she wakes up again and I feed her and we then begin our day with awake and tummy time. She will then be put down awake in her bassinet and she begins her crying before she falls asleep on her own. On Monday though we had a really different day. Jeff was gone all day working at Transcend Coffee and I was home alone with Linnea. She was really fussy in the morning and missed her nap between feedings and again after her "lunch time" feeding as well. I realized she was really gassy and not feeling well but overtired. By the late afternoon she was quite hysterical and wouldn't feed at dinner time. She would just scream. I finally got her to sleep for an hour and then she ate really well after an almost 5 hour break without feeding. I was kinda freaking out at this point wondering what I was doing wrong, but she just was so tired and not feeling well. After that her evening and late night feedings were awesome and she still slept well at night.

Tomorrow I am doing my first photoshoot after having Linnea. I'll be photographing the vocalist Eva Bostrand, providing her with new headshots. This coming weekend I'll also be photographing 2 weddings. On Saturday I'll be in Edmonton and have help from friends Aaron and Shaun and then on Sunday we drive out early in the morning to the Kananaskis to photograph the 2nd wedding with friends Aaron and Lane. It should be really fun but tiring I'm sure! Jeff will be joining us on these weddings and bringing Linnea for feeding. It should work out well. :) Right now it's 4:45 and Linnea hasn't really napped since 2:30pm. Ahhh well, sigh....it's all good. She's had some great lung practice this afternoon!

Photos from today

Here are a couple photos I took of Linnea today....12 days old! I was doing laundry and brought her down with me and carried her up in the basket. She was just too cute I had to take a pic! And I love her crying too so there's a photo of that as well.