On my way..

to being a Mommy!! :D :D

So I went Sat to the appt and the sonogram showed everything looked good! The nurse went over the plan with me and I was scheduled to get started! Here's the plan:

Days 5-9 (Mon - Frid) : I started Clomid on Monday and will be on it for 5 days

Day 11 (Sunday) : start my ovulation kit. This tells me when I should be ovulating.

Day 13 (Tuesday 03/24) : I have an appt early am to go in for another sonogram. They will look to see if there is an egg ready to drop. If there is, they will give me a shot that will make me ovulate. We will schedule the IUI for the next day. If there is not an egg ready to drop, we will wait til I get a spike in my ovulation kit and will shedule the IUI for the day after the spike.

We are REALLY excited about all of this!!! We have been going on for months and months of dr's appt, test, dr's appt, another 2 tests, dr's appt, more tests... its extremly frustrating! I'm just SO excited to finally be at a point where we are doing something that can actually cause us to get pregnant instead of trying to figure out what's wrong!! Say some prayers for us cause next wk for sure will be our IUI and in a couple wks we might be pregnant!!! YAH!! YAH!! YAH!!

"Mommy"

You have no idea how badly I would love to hear that word.. I have never posted anything about this issue but now that pretty much everyone knows what we're going through, I figured why not.. It's our life and its what we're going through. Maybe by writing about it, it'll make me feel better about the situation and get some of my emotions out there.

Chadd and I have been trying for about a year 1/2, not technically a year 1/2 but well over 12 cycles. Those trying for a baby will understand what I'm talking about :D We have gone through many testings, Dr's appts, and have been placed in the category of "unknown infertility". We've done everything we can do to get preg thus far; electronic ovulation monitor, ovulation kits, temperature/cycle tracking.. it just hasnt happened for us yet. Dr says some infertility issues just cant be explained, especially when all the tests are coming back normal (which I'm totally thankful for!).

So, we got some good and bad news today.. We'll start w/ the Bad: I had bloodwork done last week and my progestrone was borderline low (9.4 supposed to be at least 10 or higher). Good news: They are starting me on Clomid (which helps w/ the progestrone) and we're starting IUI's this month!! YAH!!! I'm realllly excited for this and I really feel in my heart that this will work!!! For those who dont know what that is.. an IUI is where they take his "stuff", clean it out, then they take the good "stuff" and put it in my uterus when I'm ovulating. Click here to read on it.

I'm going in Sat morning for a sonogram where they'll check my follicals (sp?) and then we'll get started on the Clomid. They will then get me ready for an IUI this month and will continue IUI's for 3 months. If it doesnt work, then we'll take a different path. Please keep us in your prayers, as we want this SO badly and are so ready to be a Mommy and Daddy. I will say that when I finally get pregnant, it will be the BIGGEST blessing from God!! Thanks for all the love and support we have received from all our family and friends.. we are so thankful for all of you in our lives!! We couldnt get through this w/out you guys! I'll definately keep everyone posted!

Prayers for my friend Kacey, who is going through fertility issues as well.. She is the one who has gotten me through all of this.. Her positive look on life and God has meant the world to me! I cant wait til the day she has news to share!!! Hopefully we'll get pregnant together, that would be SO much fun!!! :D :D

I heart faces - creative crop

This week I'm using a picture that I took this past weekend. I had SO much fun taking pics of my best friend and her family.. it was hard w/ the little one who wanted to play "princess fairy" and play in the sand, go figure.. ha ha. I saw this picture and noticed how adorable little "A" looked so I cropped him out..

Before:


After:

** Click on the pics to pull up bigger versions.... you can really see his beautiful big eyes when the pic is bigger..

These are some of my best girl friends.. they are sisters. Believe it or not the ones on each end are twins :D They are beautiful girls and I had SO much fun taking their pics! They are absolutely STUNNING!!

Before:

After:

*click on the pics to pull them up bigger!*

Join in on the fun at Iheartfaces blog.. click here

Calling all family and friends.. (**invitation only**)

I sent out an email to all my friends and family today. For the month of March, I am offering FREE photo sessions so I can get some pics together for my portfolio and my website. I have put together a schedule below.. please let me know which date and time you prefer and I'll put you down. I would like pics for my website of babies, children, families, couples, and maternity. With the session, you'll receive a cd of the photo images so you can order and do what you please with the pics. The sessions will last between 30 min-1 hour.

After March I'm going to start charging a minimal fee for photo sessions. It takes up SO much time w/ proofing, editing, etc. Plus, anything I make will go directly toward photo equipment I need to further my career :D

Until I get some backdrop and lighting equip these will be outdoor sessions.. in case of bad weather, we'll re-schedule and it'll still be free if it has to go into April.

Here's when I'm available:

Sun 03/08
530pm- Dietrich Family

Frid 03/13
630pm- KC and Dustin - reshedule (weather)

Sun 03/15
93oam- Ring Family
630 pm- Coker Sisters (Mi Casa)

Sat 03/28
930am- Erika & Thomas

Sun 03/29
930am- Tami & Fam
6pm- Andrea, Ben & the kids

Email me and let me know what works for you and I'll update the blog as I schedule the sessions. I would like my friends and family to have this opportunity so it is based on invitation only. I am really looking forward to photographing all my beautiful peeps !! :D

Name

I have been trying to come up with a name for my photography "business" for quite some time now.. I have gone back and forth between using my name.. using a "cute" catchy name.. and I just haven't been able to come up with anything. Nothing has really stood out to me. I also had to look up domain names to see what was "left".. I really liked "Cloud 9 photography" and a few other names, but if you look that up.. there are a TON of photographers with those names. I just didnt want my potential clients or customers to get confused and go to the wrong site.

After thinking long and hard.. and after hours and hours of researching on godaddy.com I decided at least for now I'm going to be "Sarah Denise Photography". As weird as it is.. there is already someone w/ my 1st and last name so I decided to go w/ my first and middle. I thought it sounds kinda catchy and would be easy to remember. I am the new proud owner of the domains: http://www.sarahdenisephotography.com/ (main site), http://www.sarahdenise.com/ , and http://www.sarahdenisephoto.com/ (they will all be linked to the main site). Now, there isnt anything on the site just yet, but hopefully will be soon enough !! :D I'll let everyone know when I finally get a website set up so you can go and check it out!!! I'm also working on a photography blog so I can post pics from photo sessions. I am really proud when I have a good session and like to show off my work :D

* I even figured out how to make a "stamp" in photoshop w/ a little logo for the pics!! Look at my prior post to see it in the bottom right hand corner :D :D So exciting!!!

I'm continuing to learn so much in my classes and I'm having a blast so far! Everytime I take pics, I love photography and my passion grows more and more. Thanks for everyone's love and support!!

I heart "messy" faces

This weeks theme for the photo contest is "messy". My pic was taken this past weekend when cutie patootie Carson was having fun with a bubble bath. Check out the other pics or join in the fun... http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

I wasnt going to submit a photo for the I heart faces adult category.. but I decided at the last minute to enter. This is my friend Lana with her "messy" hair. I took pics of her and her sisters this past weekend and some maternity photos of her. The girls are absolutely BEAUTIFUL, as you can see in this pic!

I Heart Faces

So a friend of mine told me about a photography blog today, where you can enter "face" pics into a contest. They have different themes every week. Feel free to join in the fun.. http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

This week is black/white. Here's the pic I'm entering.. this is baby Connor, SO sweet!!



Would love to hear some feedback!! :D

The Ranch

This past weekend we went to our friend Staci's ranch in East Texas.. there were 13 adults and 7 kids. Chadd had to work Sat so he didnt get to come along :o( We had a really great time and I actually ate fish at the fish fry Sat night.. fresh croppy that Staci's parents caught for the dinner. It was YUMMY too! I brought my camera along and got some really great shots of a few of the kids.. Here's a few pics:

Miss Halley girl.. she is so beautiful and oh so happy!!!

Austin- I cant believe how big he is..

Dax- the most smiley baby I have EVER seen!!! Just adorable!

I am starting my photo II class at UTA tonight.. I'm really excited to learn more! I feel like I get better every time I take pics.. hopefully one day I'll be a great professional photographer!!

Still trying to think of a name for my photography business... any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated :D :D

Field Trip

My photo class field trip was this past Sunday at the botanical gardens in Ft Worth. I'm still trying to get down the techinical aspects of shooting a great photo; light metering, aperature, shutter speed, white balance, etc. There is SO much to learn about taking a good photo.. more than I could have ever imagined. Our classroom assignment for the field trip was leading lines and lens perspective (+ a few other things). See below for explanations of the pics :D

Now let me explain the photos:

1. leading lines of trees

2. assignment was also to get a "different" view of this statue, other than just straight on

3. beautiful walkway, leading lines to the fountain

4. lens perspective - tilted picture

5. & 6. last week we learned how to stop action.. so the 1st pic is the water "flowing" and the 2nd pic is of the water stopping in mid air - pretty cool eh?

7. see the bee flying to the right of the flower? another stopped action pic and shallow depth of field (see #10) (this is one of my favs)

8. my fav :D :D what a cute little squirrel I chased around until I got this pic - ha ha! not in the assignment but I think teach will be quite proud :D

9. leading line to the archway

10. shallow depth of field, which we learned last wk too.. where the subject is in focus but the background is not

I had a ton of fun and look forward to the next field trip in Photo II !!

Sad.

From birth until 3rd grade I lived on a street called Thornbush Cir. Down the street lived the Theobalt Family. The family consisted of Ricky, Elaine and 3 girls. Rhonda was the oldest (my sisters age), Shannon was the middle child, and Melissa the youngest. Shannon was a year older than me and Melissa was a year younger. Shannon, Melissa and I were inseperable. We saw eachother and played every single day and had slumber parties almost every weekend. When I moved to a different neighborhood in 3rd grade, we still kept in touch.. we talked all the time and still made time for our sleep overs or 6 flags spring breakout (ha!). They are my very best friends and their family is my 2nd family. I would go to church with them, family reunions in AK every year, out of town football games, retreats, and eventually ended up at their same high school (where Ricky taught). We grew up not just as best friends, but as family, sisters. I consider their whole extended family, my family... cousins, 2nd & 3rd cousins, aunts, uncles, granny, grandad, gimmy, etc. The Theobalts are such a huge part of my life.

Four weeks ago (when we were on the ski trip for Chadd's birthday), I received a devestating phone call. Elaine had stopped breathing during the night and was rushed to the hospital. Her heart had stopped and come to find out in the leading days, there had been extensive brain damage from lack of oxygen. After three weeks of being in a coma, she passed. This was so sudden and so tragic. This past week was one of the most devistating times of my life. The girls are lost.. they are so saddened w/out their Mother, without being able to pick up the phone daily and talk to her like they have always done, and being able to take their kids to see their Grandma, or "Ga" as Carson calls her. She was a proud Grandma of 6 with 2 idential twin girls on the way.

I dont have words to describe the feelings and couldn't possibly imagine what it would be like to lose my Mother... it makes my stomach churn just thinking about it. I continue to pray for Ricky (they were married for 39 years!), the girls, the grandkids, her sisters, her Mom, neices/nephews.. for their strength and faith in getting through this really tough time. You are all in my heart, every single day.

Elaine, you were like a Mom to me.. you were my 2nd Mom. Thank you for always treating me like one of your own and for inviting me into your life like you did. You always made me feel welcome into your home, your family, and your world. I can never express how much that has meant to me. You created and raised the most amazing children and it shows with the lives they have created for themselves and their families. Like you, they are the most wonderful friends, wives, moms, sisters, aunts... They were lucky to have you as a Mother and I was lucky to have you as my 2nd Mom. I will always love you and will miss you dearly!

Misty, Elaine's neice, wrote a poem that is just beautiful!! To read it click here

Elaine Theobalt 01/20/50 - 01/25/09
Beloved Wife, Mother, Grandma, Sister, Daughter, Aunt, & Friend