The Verdict is in...

Well we went for an early, out-of-pocket ultrasound because Jade and I just couldn't stand the suspense. We're too impatient to wait until 21 weeks when my obstetrician's doing it. So here I am at 17 weeks and 4 days and getting to see what we're having.

As soon as the sonographer touched the wand to my belly, she said, "Well there you go. I didn't have to go searching! There it is! It's a boy!" We were so thrilled to hear those words. I know Jade was especially. It's difficult to interpret the pictures. But she was 100% sure it was a boy. She said it was "textbook." We even confirmed where the umbilical cord was to make sure it wasn't part of the cord between his legs or anything.

He wasn't moving around a whole lot despite drinking a whole can of Mountain Dew and eating a Milky Way candy bar on the way there. He moved around for a little while: stretching out, opening his mouth to swallow fluid, bouncing up and down in there.

We left there with over 20 ultrasound pictures of him and a voice narrated video tape of everything she was showing. Anyway, here HE is!!!









I know it's kind of difficult to see, but I promise it's there! The black hole behind his private parts is his full bladder and his legs are on each side and in front.


Here, the view is of his side and that's his little penis sticking straight up!



A profile of him.

She's 21 months old and still growing!

And yes, she still has her pacifier (what she calls her "pabese.") But hey--it's better than her sucking her thumb...which is a pet peeve of mine. I hate seeing other kids sucking their thumbs. She's so pleasant...Listening to her sing her ABC's and "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round!" just melts my heart.

I feel like busting at the seams with overwhelming love for her....sigh. I don't care what anyone says. I have the cutest kid in the world. Period.

Easter 2007

We had Easter at Bradley's mother-in-law's house. Aunt Cheryl figured it would be less for her to clean up and she just didn't feel like being hostess, I guess. But we enjoyed it. The food was good, I made everyone let me take pictures of them, and Ashlyn had fun. She just loves bring around aunt Cheryl and Erica and uncle Brad and Bradley. She just loves them all so much.

I just love this picture. Aunt Cheryl's not too fond of it but I just love the true emotion in it. I try not to do "posed" portraits, but sometimes you just have to. Not in this case though. Apparently aunt Cheryl had her hand on Uncle Brad's butt and he turned around and showed everyone where her hand was. Thus creating the whole-hearted laughter caught here.


Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Brad again.Yes, it's a posed portrait.


Yes, I AM that big fat pregnant woman holding on to Ashlyn in hopes that she'll hide some of my largeness.


The Penningtons.


Erica and Bradley



Bradley and Amber

Our First Trip to the Zoo!

We went to Zoo Atlanta and had a lot of fun. I was surprised at how I enjoyed myself. Thank goodness for my telephoto 75-300mm lens! I think I got some pretty good shots of the animals. I took so many, I couldn't possibly put them all on this blog.

Ashlyn had fun too. As we would see different animals, she'd shout out their names. "Monkey!" "Bird!" She also got to go on her first carousel ride, which she LOVED. She was so obsessed over it after she rode it, that we had to quickly move out of sight of the thing. We would have let her ride again, but we didn't want to stand in the long line that we had already stood in to ride the first time.

She slept ALL the way home from the zoo. It was a really nice day together.



This orangutan was eating goldfish crackers and stuck two of them in his mouth, leaving them sticking out. It was hilarious. It was as if he was posing for me. Too funny!





This goat was smiling!!!

At the petting zoo...she had to pet every single animal in there.

Meet Ashlyn's newest cousin: McKenna!

My sister-in-law, Suzanne, had her first baby, McKenna. She's absolutely adorable! Suzanne is white and McKenna's daddy is African American. And she is just perfect! Makes me all the more excited to meet our newest addition.

I think this was my best newborn shoot I've done so far. Besides McKenna peeing and pooping on all my backdrops, it went really well!

So here she is!

A Handful of Ashlyn

What a hand full she is! She's the most difficult toddler to photograph. I might take 100 pictures and only get 2 good ones with her. She sees me pull out the camera, and she runs the other way. She high energy, that's for sure. But I have definitely other kids that are more high strung. She's just right for me and my patience.