LEAP YEAR BABY. Possibly... My Last Day Pregnant!

My doctor's visit today was not exactly what I expected. As my due date was changed to March 9th, I was told I was ready for a hospital visit today but being that it was a Leap Year, I may not want to. I did NOT want to! My other option was to go home, get lots of rest and hope to make it until tomorrow... March 1st then head to the hospital in the morning. :)

I've got like an hour more to go for this day to be over so yay! The whole day has been filled with small contractions every now and then but nothing that would scare me enough to grab my bag and go. 5cm with pains is enough to get me a ticket in the hospital tomorrow morning though. I just needed to make my last post as pregos before tomorrow as I have no idea what it will bring. I'm pretty exited though as I have been waiting for this for over nine months now! Last night I had a dream I had the baby only to wake up feeling as pregnant as ever! This dream was just letting me know of the news I was going to get today at my OB appointment. Leap year baby, at this point it seems like not! :) I just wanted something in march and the 1st sounds good to me.

MY MOM IS HERE! As if she knew what awaited me today, she came to see me today! I am so blessed to have her with me again. She has always taken her time to come visit me during my hardest hours and this time it wasn't any different. She will watch my girls when I'm at the hospital and that means the world to me!

Tomorrow will be a long day and I have no idea what awaits me. God help me and give me the strength I need to give life to my new baby girl because to meet her tomorrow would literally be a dream come true! :)

What I Love About My Canon 5DMII

With one word?... Everything! While I haven't had some real time with it out in the field due to me being a bit, how do you say it, unavailable for the past few months, I plan on getting jiggy with it a whole lot more in the coming months. All I can really say is that my upgrade was way over due and deciding on which camera to upgrade to took a bit of time. I wasn't sure if I wanted the 7D or 5D as both seem very promising and definitely worth having. At the end, due to some amazing reviews I decided on the Canon 5DMII and I can't say I regret it one single bit. From the moment I opened the box, I was completely in loove! :)

While I haven't used it much there are some basic features that just stand out from the beginning and definitely worth mentioning. This camera has an amazingly high ISO performance, it just gobbles light so for an indoor camera it works amazingly. I was very impressed with this one feature as the image quality of your photos are unlike anything else I've seen. The 5D is a full frame camera so with its wide angle it lets all your lenses work exactly the way they should without cropping any of the image out. This one became very important for me when deciding on getting this camera. The LCD on the back is so bright and makes checking for photo sharpness super easy. Just out of the box this baby feels amazing in my hands... the grip ooh it is so dreamy! It's a bit heavier than others but very well balanced in your hands. And finally, while it does great video I can't say I've tested this feature out much yet. The only bad things are the 5DMII is very demanding on high end L lenses and has no built in popup flash (not that I ever used it).

I shot this photo of my daughter Camila on her birthday in a pitch dark room with only the candles as ambien light. I used my 85mm f1.8 lens as it works amazing as an indoor lens. I was pretty impressed with the image as my baby girl is not very still for long. This photo captured exactly what I was seeing right in front of me. 

I did not get the kit lens that comes witht the camera so I saved that money being I have my eyes set on my dream lens, coming soon. I don't do much indoor photography and I figured the 70-200mm L lens would be all that I need for all the outdoors. The beautiful Spring season is almost here so with this lens and my 5DMII, I will be ready to use it for just about everything. I can't wait!

As you may know this past year has been a difficult year for me but I plan on using this a whole lot in the coming year. I am very exited since I've been out of doing what I love for a while. I am already in love with my new Canon 5D MarkII and I look forward to making some amazing memories with it. :)

Update: Babygirl At Possibly 37 or 38 Weeks!

While my OB figures it out and gets her dates right, there is now doubt wether I am 36, 37 or even 38 weeks! All I know my due date is March 8th. Either way, I feel like it could be any day now baby girl decides to join us. My last OB visit was yesterday and was so looking forward to it because I was getting my last ultrasound only to be let down completely. I know it was all about measuring baby and getting important information before her birth, but this mama wanted to see more! All I got was this not so great ultrasound photo of what looks like her eye. On the computer I saw video of her face so much better than this but this was the only photo I got. Oh well, I've seen better before but it's such a blessing to find out she looks healthy and is now 6lbs 5 oz! Sophia was born at 6lbs 9 oz and Camila at 6lbs 11 oz so she's almost there! :)

Come on March, can you get here faster please! :) I've been trying to have as much bed rest as I possibly can to make it to March but who knows how much longer I have to wait to meet her! I know I look and feel like I could burst any minute now although most people keep telling me how small I look. One thing was strange though, I lost weight since my last week appointment. I went from 142lbs which was great to 139lbs yesterday. One reason I think is that I am eating less now due to the fact that she's almost up to my chest making big meals almost impossible. I'm still eating healthy though and as long as she's gaining her weight, I should be fine. I don't know if I will make it to my goal weight of 149lbs which I was on the day when I had my two other girls, I am exactly 10lbs less! It seems like this baby has been eating up every single last calorie I eat but that's ok because it's all about her.

I know one thing is for sure... we all can't wait to meet her! I've got two other little girls who are so exited to meet their little sister. Camila has been telling me "baby is taking foweva mom!" since I was one month but now she's so happy the time is closer than ever. She has been practicing her baby holding and bottle feeding with her dolls because she wants to be my little helper, she says.

Another exciting thing is that my mom is coming to visit and my family too! :) I can't wait to see them all and pray to God for a safe and healthy delivery. I can't say I'm not a bit scared as to when and how, but I have faith everything will be just fine.

Come on March, get here now! :)

*As it turns out... I am 38 weeks! I've been two weeks behind all along, thanks to my OB who got my dates mixed up. Still my Due Date falls around March 8th. ;)

Fun Photo Shoot With My Girls: Sophia

Sophia Loren Frith -  © 2011

I love when I find photos hidden in my computer I had forgotten I had even taken! These being some of them.  I love going out in the outdoors and taking my girls for fun photo shoots.  While I happen to love those candid shots I take of them, some of my favorite shots have been posed and it doesn't get better than with my beautiful baby girl Sophia.  Her eyes are so expressive and her gentle smile tells me everything.  I find myself not even directing her on how to pose.  She manages every beautiful pose completely natural and her beauty just shines on through. This is exactly what you call being a natural I guess. :)

Sophia Loren Frith -  © 2011

She's always a joy and the camera loves her every expression. She makes this mama so proud and I know these memories will go with her for the rest of her life.  This is what it's all about.  I guess because I can count the photos I have from my childhood with one hand, I never want my girls to feel the same way.  They won't even know what to do with the thousand photos I have of them! :)

Sophia Loren Frith -  © 2011

Fun Photo Shoot With My Girls: Camila

Camila Lucia Frith -  © 2011

My babygirl Camila still manages to amaze me with her gorgeous eyes every time I happen to get lucky with one of her photos. She is so photogenic but barely stands still long enough for me to capture her beauty.

It's been a while since I've been able to get up and down to capture her but I was lucky to find these beautiful shots of her I did not long ago and was so thrilled!  I love it when I find photos likes these I had even forgotten I had taken! This shows how completely out of it I've been for the past months but they inspire me and I CANNOT wait to get back doing what I LOVE and my 5DMII is dying for some lovin'!

Camila Lucia Frith -  © 2011

 I know, these photos require framing ASAP! :) 

I am FULL TERM and Hoping For One More Week! ツ

So this is it, I'm done, Full Term today and you think I would want out of this 9 month contract right about now, but you'd be wrong. I am hoping for a March baby and with this in mind, I am so close to reaching this goal. One more week... past the February leap year of course cause nothing would be weirder than to be born February 29. If I can get past the 29th, I can finally say I'm Done! At least I am, I don't know about the baby though. :)

I have reached a point of extreme and utter exhaustion. Close to five years ago I had a lower back injury that left me handicap to the point where I could never wear 9 inch heels again. Yeah, for a girl that's kind of a disability so I've had to go smaller, way smaller... like 3 inches and flats. Bending over excessively is out of the question too so my gardening life is almost extinct but I still can manage a bush or two. So, while I deal with this back pain relatively fine with a few modifications, when my bones loosen during pregnancy, my whole world becomes almost unbearable to walk in. Let's just say I was passed in the grocery store isle the other day by a 95 year old man! That bad.

My first pregnancy was a breeze! Wow, so simple and pain free. Literally. It's called an epidural... the best thing ever. Pain free from beginning to end. But on my second pregnancy... the complete opposite! The back pain during my whole pregnancy was just as unbearable as this one. Again, epidural at birth and pain free at last! So, yeah there seems to be a pattern here and I plan on following it one more time when the time comes. But until it does come, I continue to be in pain... every single day for nine long months now. And to make matters worse, this girl has been head down for over a month! I don't know if she's been ready to be born or just plain decided to make it as painful as possible to me. :) If one thing makes me feel better is that this will be my last.

So with as much bed rest as I can muster, I am hanging in there for one more week and I hope she does too but it's her birth day and she can come home any day she wants to. One thing is for sure, her health is the most important thing to me no matter how much pain I have to endure. We love her so much already and we can't wait to meet her!!! :)

Mama Mia And The Surprise Kitty! :)

Mia with her newborn baby Feb 16, 2012

Walking through a parking lot we were stopped by a truck asking us if we wanted a free kitten. I said "sure" and that's how my beautiful cat Mia came into my life. As it turns out, this family had tried to sell the kittens being that the mom cat was a himalayan but had no sucess. They were forced to give them to a good home and boy was Mia the perfect kitty for us.

In my family we are all cat lovers and at the time we had no real indoor cat to call out own, only outdoor sort of wild cats that came and went as they pleased so she was going to the purrfect home! :) US. Fast forward three years later and she's still the queen of this house only now she's become a whole new main attraction for a different reason.

Being that she was only carrying one kitten, she never showed any signs of being pregnant at least compared to me that I look like I could literally burst any minute. February 16, she kept acting so strange meowing at me and purring and rubbing and just plain being extra sweet. I knew something was different until I saw her guide me to my closet and saw her "nesting" in there. "Mia, why are you nesting?" I thought. Well, there was only one reason of course but sometimes I like to act dumb and ask myself dumb questions like that. Three hours later I go to check on her and this is what I see, a little tiny thing that seem to be breathing! Awww! Mia had a baby kitten!!! I ran and told everyone.

So, we are so happy as we love kittens and more importantly a kitten that comes from Mia, my spoiled, sweet and often photographed cat. So yes, I guess this kinda makes me a grandma and no, I'm not too happy about that part! :) Happy New Mom's Day Mia!

 

HAPPY 14 ANNIVERSARY & VALENTINES DAY!

All I can say is how blessed I feel to be together with the love of my life one more year! Nobody really has it easy but when it is, it is wonderful and worth every second! How did we meet? Well, I guess in an awkward and strange way like everyone else meets but never in my wildest dreams did I think we were meant for each other. We are, how can we say it, different, but I believe this is what attracts us to each other. Over the years we have learn to truly appreciate, respect and admire our differences in a way we never thought was possible. Now, it all makes sense why we were meant to be. :)

February 14, 1998 was the big day for us and sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday! 14 years later, two girls and one almost here, we are more in love than ever. He loves me, he loves my girls and we are crazy about him! What else can I say, here's to at least another 14 more years! I LOVE YOU BABYBOY!

Happy Valentines Day! I am pretty excited about today as it seems like I'm getting exactly what I wanted! I am so grateful for celebrating this special day with my baby boy and my baby girls (all three of them). My special day not only comes with an awesome day with my family that I love with all my heart but my gift that I chose just happens to be awesome too! (The Canon 5D Mark II) Ooh, What can I say, I'm ONE HAPPY GIRL!

Had such a yummy dinner at our traditional restaurant that we always go to on this day. For 14 years we've been going to Red Lobster and have a great time every time we're there. Our favorite is the Ultimate Feast with all it's glorious 3 thousand calories! Wish I was there right now! YUM!

I'm so very grateful for having such a special day with my baby boy and baby girls. I look forward to another wonderful year! :)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! XOXO

8½ Months and My Countdown Begins Until I'm Shuffling! :)

Wow, I never thought I'd finally get to this point.  It seems like forever and ever but my countdown has officially begun! Even though my Due Date is March 8th, I've always been a couple of weeks early so we'll see how this one goes. I really hope I make it until March but I know by the end of February I'll feel like I've already had enough! :)  

This is me at 4, 7 and now at 8 Months.

So now the waiting begins... Thank God baby girl seems healthy and I seem to be doing well too.  I've gained some weight even though doctor says I could gain some more.  At my last checkup, two weeks ago when I was 8 months, I weighed 137lbs which was a weight gain of 4lbs in two weeks.  This was a good sign as the baby is gaining baby fat getting ready to be born.  And now at 8½ months let's see how much I now weigh or have gained since my last check up.  I'm pretty sure I'm gaining now being that all I seem to think about it food and more food but that's normal, I think, on the last month. :)


So this is it for now.  Besides getting fat because I eat everything I see, waddling like a penguin when I walk, having elephant feet and having major back pains at night, everything seems normal.  I can't stress enough how much I miss my old energetic self!  I have so much to do and so much I miss doing but the one thing I miss the most is running... it's funny the small things that mean so much when your body has been taken over.  I see my treadmill just sitting there all sad and all I can think of is "one day baby, you and I will meet again."  For right now my body is going through another marathon and work out unlike anything else a body can endure and I'm blessed to say it's been hanging in there pretty good.  But like all good athletes that tough it out, I can finally see the finish line and I am loving this feeling more every single day!
One last thing I know is for sure, when I'm done with all this I'm gonna do so serious LMFAO shuffling! :)

Happy 4th Birthday to my Babygirl Camila!

Four years ago my second God's blessing was born into my life to make me all completely fall in love with such a beautiful little girl all over again. From the moment she was born she was feisty and wanting to take control crying to the nurse who was checking her vitals because she was so cold. After she wrapped her up and gave her to me, she was crying to me as if telling me how that nurse had mistreated her. All I kept telling her was "it's ok now, mommy's got you." She knew she was safer with me.

Camila Lucia Frith - February 2008

I can still remember the day I went into labor like it was yesterday. We were watching the Super Bowl and right after half time after Tom Petty was singing "Free Falling" I began to feel it was time to head to the hospital. I ended up spending the night at the hospital waiting for my doctor to show up but he didn't show up until the next morning, February 4th, the day she was born. This day changed my life forever! She was a healthy little 6lb, 11 oz little girl with the strongest little lungs I've ever heard. That little shriek she does can literally hurt your ear drums! She still has the loudest voice I've ever heard but maybe they will come in handy with her singing career. :) Her little blue eyes staring into mine melted my heart away from the first moment I saw her and she still melts me away anytime she wants something. She has and always will know how to use that amazing personality of hers to get away with just about anything.