What About What?

Baby Sawyer

2011-07-19T16:24:00.001-04:00

Baby Sawyer, a set on Flickr.

I don't know how you all do it...narrow it down and pick pictures. I want to plaster my walls with pictures of the kids! So instead of posting each image I'm just going to post this whole collection as a link to flickr because I was bad at narrowing it down. And...there's still more that I want to do with this little guy, it's just finding the time to do it before we're out of the newborn window which closes around 2 weeks!

Boston Public Library Wedding - Blog

2011-04-07T14:32:00.001-04:00

Boston Public Library Wedding - Blog, a set on Flickr.

No one home?

2009-01-20T20:16:00.002-05:00

Hi All! Just a quick update to let you all know that we haven't dropped off the face of the earth if you've got this blog bookmarked, we've simply started a new blog that's hosted on our new site. Come and join us over there. MKD Photography's New Blog

-Mike

MKD's Christmas Gift!

2008-12-23T11:58:00.007-05:00

We got it for you, we got it for us, we got it for MKD. What is it????

Click the present to find out!

Head on over now, it's time to update your RSS...there's a surprise waiting there for you too!

100 cans!! 27 comments with 45 questions matched by us with a 10 can bonus

2008-12-21T13:49:00.001-05:00

Thank you so much for all of your all of your questions!! I found out that some people were having trouble with blogger leaving comments and that makes me sad, but we did get 29 comments over two entries…but we can do better than that because there are a total of 45 questions, so we’re going to go with that for a total and since we know that there are usually about 100 hits every time we write an entry we’re going to match the 45 with another 45 with a bonus of 10 cans since when I started answering these there were only 10 days left until Christmas…how is that for a mathematical equation!
Stay tuned for pictures of the purchase and delivery!

How come you two don't kill each other working together?
There are many moments when we’re working together totally in sync and basking in the glow of how well we function, a seamless unit and powerhouse team rocking out amazing pictures…and for each and every one of those moments there are glares and harsh words whispered in ears about all of the minor annoyances of the day--We’re human, we’re married. We’re not perfect, but we do somehow find a pretty awesome balance of the two…and for every little tiff we have we get to makeup with each other….and at the end of the day we crawl into the same bed together knowing that without the M or the K MKD would be nothing!

Why do you both wear black crocs to every wedding?
We both used to wear dress shoes…and the next day we both used to hobble around like little old ladies who had worn high heels their whole lives. There was one wedding where I actually felt like I had bruised the bottom of my feet. In my everyday life I often wore a bright blue pair of crocs…one day we just decided that as long as seriously amazing pictures are coming out of our cameras who cares what shoes are on our feet…the first wedding we actually wore them to we made some awesome discoveries—crocs don’t make a SOUND when you are running up the aisle in a church, crocs can go right into the ocean to capture a shot of the couple on the beach with the water in the foreground, and crocs don’t hurt even after standing in them for 12 hours…we were sold!

Why haven't you bought a D700 yet? Why haven't you bought a D700 yet? Why haven't you bought a D700 yet?
We did…and a D90…and we’re buying another D700 before our first wedding of 2009 which is in February. Goodbye D300s and backup D200, you served us well over the last year and we have officially outgrown you.

Are you going to bring your ringlight to my wedding?
Wait, Doug, you’re getting married? We’re totally bringing the ringlight and a Honda Generator…you tell us the date and the ringlight is there!

Ummm. Yeah, I'm not getting married, so Why haven't you bought a D700 yet? Why haven't you bought a D700 yet?
Well…we got the D700, now YOU have to get married. We want to bring the ringlight.

As a (very) amateur photographer with a really nice camera (Nikon D60) what accessory should I ask for for Christmas to help improve my skills?
Either an SB-600 or the yummy new Nikon 50mm 1.4 AFS…Kate would go with the lens in a heartbeat (can you put one on your list for me too?) and Mike would get the flash…both will add so much to the D60 you’ll fall in love all over again.

How much do you charge for photographing a wedding usually (a range is fine :))?
Don’t you hate when you want to put a smiley in parenthesis and it ends up looking like a man with a double chin? Our coverage starts at 4k and goes up to 10k packages for local weddings and 15k with travel.

Are you willing to travel for destination weddings?
We love weddings and we love traveling…so I wouldn’t say we are willing, we are at the airport waiting! Have camera will travel!

How did you get such amazing vision?! (Your work is absolutely beautiful!)
First of all, thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. It is people who love our work that allow us to do what we do for a living. Mike and I both have very different backgrounds when it comes to photography. Mike is more into setting things up or noticing the little details and capturing them as he sees in his mind. I’m more of a sharp shooter pointing my camera in a million different directions throughout the day and happen upon images where the stars align and wow even me. Mike loves photographing things (and people) and I love photographing people (and things).

Will you donate one can for every question I ask? :-P
Yes, yes we will! Actually, no, we'll donate 2!

How old were you when you started photography? I'm 25 and always wanted to get into it but never actually got around to it because I've heard it's expensive to get started in. Do you think I'm too old to start now???
Mike was in high school when he got his first SLR (A Nikon N90s) and he was hooked. He started shooting for a car magazine called Max Power the summer before going to college. I started dating Mike and all of his gear in our sophomore year of college…so we were young. 18 and 19. It can be an expensive hobby, but it doesn’t have to be. My advice is to get an SLR camera (something like the Nikon D40 is fine) with a nice low aperture lens like the new Nikon 50mm 1.4 AFS and see what kind of photographs you like taking. If you end up loving it you can upgrade gear as you go, if you end up just liking it you have a pretty awesome hobby camera that can take you far. We’re all for following your passion, so if you’re 25 or 95 and feel like photography is calling you jump in with both feet…there is always ebay to sell off gear if you decide you really don’t like it at all.

...Do more than one question per comment count or should we leave 1 question per Comment?
We’re counting any and every question…

What is the funniest moment from all the weddings you've photographed?
There are so many moments that we look back on now that make us laugh that weren’t funny at the time at all. But the one that we were actually physically laughing the hardest was one of our earlier weddings, Katie and James back in Mike’s hometown of Leominster. They had a gorgeous tent set up on the lake a the bride’s father’s house. It was sunset and we were down by the edge of the water looking for some fun shots. It was Mike’s turn with them and he set them up behind this big tree right at the water’s edge and said, “Now I’m going to go over there and you’re going to “peek” around this tree…” James immediately looked at Mike and in all seriousness said, “There will be no peeking…we’re not peeking around any tree.” I chimed in with, “How about you just lean over there then and look…just look around the tree, don’t peek….” We wrapped that session up and I remember telling Katie that that was going to be her favorite shot from the day…if I’m remembering correctly it was! We have a running joke (don’t know how funny Mike really thinks it is) that Mike often says things in awkward and embarrassing ways…I usually break the silence by laughing at him and repeating his request out loud so he can see how lame he sounds—love you honey!

What is your favorite moment to take pictures of during weddings?
Kate: I love the time that we get with just the couple…it’s when I can be most creative.
Mike: First dance. Or any dance really…or the walk down the aisle and the leaving of the church when they’ve just gotten married.

Where's your favorite place to photograph a client?
Somewhere that means something to them…if there is a story we love the challenge of trying to capture it. We’re not too keen on shooting in the same place twice, we’ll do it, but it always feels like that space belongs to whomever it was that we first shot there.

What's the ONE piece of photography equipment you couldn't live without?
Batteries…nothing works without them. Seriously, though, we wouldn’t be where we are today without our flashes.

What was the most useful learning tool for you when you first started.
The internet. Seriously, anything that you want to know it out there. Mike is a huge learner. He’s constantly on www.strobist.com, www.dpreview.com, www.nikonians.org, www.photoshopuser.com, www.bythom.com and countless other photographer sites and blogs. I’m more of a forum people girl myself…that and experience. We learn the best by getting out there and doing it.

You are a busy lady: you parent two busy kids, you don't sleep at night due to nursing, you work on pictures full time while your husband is gone Mon-Fri and your weekends are spent taking pics. What motivates you to join and host playgroups and other such "fun" events in your limited free time as opposed to taking a needed nap or watching tv on the couch!?
Everyone says, “Nap when they nap,” but if I take a two hour nap in the middle of the day I feel unproductive and zombified for the rest of the afternoon…I feel so much better if I have a few things on the list that I’ve accomplished. I’m a super type A and feel like the more I have to do the more grounded I feel…but there are days that I give in to the nap or a new episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

Also, what would you say is the hardest thing about photographing weddings for a living?
The hardest thing is really something that plagues most small business owners. We don’t get a regular Friday paycheck like everyone else. We have to hope that our work and our efforts will continue to book us jobs and we have to have some kind of backup plan in place in case there is a month where we don’t book anything. It’s scary, but so far it is working for us.

What is your favorite thing about photographing weddings?
The people that let us into the inner sanctuary of their lives and families. We were just at a wedding where only the closest family members were allowed in the room for the signing of the Kahtuba…the closest family members and us. We see all of the happiness, the joy, the stress, the knitty gritty and we love it.

Besides photography (and kids), what else do you guys enjoy doing in your free time?
We love movies...although lately we don't have time to watch too many of them (photography and kids) and we do fancy ourselves some cuddled up nights on the couch watching primetime (Heroes, Lost, ANTM, Grey's...thank GOD for the DVR) We also stayed out all night one night to get in line for the Charles River Canoe and Kayak sale where we got two Perception Viscayas. We're also big beach freaks and try to get to either the Cape (Mike's old haunt) or Hampton Beach (Kate's old haunt) throughout the summer. I haven't been to a mountain in three years but when I'm not pregnant and in charge of wee little babies I imgine we'll be able to get our boards back in the snow.

What color undies do you wear on the wedding day? ;)
Whatever the color of the clean undies is…we have a laundry problem. It’s bad.

What would you have done differently with your wedding pictures had you been the photographer at your wedding?
My first thought is we wouldn’t have used the “rain” room…no on looks good in the basement under florescent lighting…I think knowing what I know now we also would have either allotted a bigger window for pictures of just the two of us or done a second session when we got back from our honeymoon…hmm….I still have the dress, perhaps we should trash it.

How do you keep your vision and creativity fresh? How do you find your style?
One the big things that keeps our vision fresh is the fact that every time we are “working” it is with a new couple in a new place. Sometimes we have brides that want to know if we’ve worked at their venue before…on the rare occasion that we haven’t I think it leaves the bride wary that we might not know the ins and the outs of the place…it makes us beyond happy because it is a new place with new pictures to capture! There are certain places that we seem to keep going back to and there is just something about that place the will always be tied to the first wedding we shot there. There is a photo assignment on strobist where you have to take 50 pictures of a white coffee mug without moving it…the key is to use dynamic lighting to change the way the mug looks. I say why not pick the mug up and bring it to a bunch of different churches and a bunch of different reception sites…then there’s no way they’ll look alike!

What was the most classic case of "bridezilla" that you've ever seen?
I’ve had a lot of brides who are just trying to be heard on their wedding day who are so fearful that they are being “bridezillas” and I have yet to see anyone who truly fits the roll. We all deal with stress in such different ways…maybe the true bridezillas are happening in the planning process and they all have it out of their systems by the time we get there on the wedding day or maybe we just have genuinely amazingly calm brides that book us!?

What has been the toughest moment, as parents, thus far?
It is hard to see your babies hurting…so I guess the roughest moment was the hours after Chase was born. I had just had a c-section so I couldn’t be with him…he was so tiny and needed me and Mike so much and it just felt like no matter what we did for him it wasn’t helping. I was so proud of myself that Emmie never had a drop of formula and within hours of Chase’s birth they were saying he was going to seize, they couldn’t get an IV into him, and he was gagging on the formula they were trying to make me feed him…it was the definition of helpless.

What was your wedding song?
“Can’t Take my Eyes off of you,” by Englebert Humperdink…LOL!! Only because it couldn’t be, “Rock DJ,” by Robbie Williams which is technically our song. And honestly….neither of us are dancers so it was VERY awkward to watch!

What was the coolest car Mike ever got to drive during his career photographing cars?
A bright yellow Lamborghini Galliardo tearing around the streets of North Andover while on a shoot for Boston Common magazine on the Auto Club.

Family Guy or Simpsons?
Family Guy…if you have lived in RI you have to love the Family Guy, it’s a rule.

Next child....boy or girl?
Mike: Next child???
Kate: Both, I want a sister for Emmie or a brother for Chase...twins would be nice.

Proudest moment as photographers?
When we make people cry…it means so much to us to give our gift of photography to people. And I don’t mean that in a, “We’re gifted, tah tah,” kind of way, but we know that these are the pictures that you will be looking a for the next 60+ years and we want them to be perfect.

And why do you wear black crocs to every wedding????
You need to get a pair...can I just add that they really are awesome…they are!

Real Christmas tree or fake?
Kate’s allergic and gets all kind of hivey when we have a real tree…so we got a nice pre-light from Namco the Christmas before Emmie was born.

Have you ever seen a bride trip or fall walking down the aisle?
No…I fell down the front steps of the Eisenhower House in Newport just as the Flowers by Semia van was pulling up…and I’ve seen a veil fall off of a bride walking down the aisle. And bridesmaids tripping on the alter…but not a bride!

What's your favorite canned food????
Kate: Cambell’s Vegetable ABC soup
Mike: Spaghettios with meatballs…but they smell a little like barf.

If you own a point-and-shoot...what brand is it?
It’s a Canon SD-400 but Mike wants a G10….if you have a point and shoot you should get a mini tripod and an underwater case. Best purchases ever!

Can you have a video of Emmie in the next 10 blog posts?
You’re going to have to put up with more videos in general…we just got a new D90 which takes some awesome HD video. Maybe not in the next 10 posts, but soon….very soon!

Oh. my. word. could she get any cuter?!!
No, she can’t….because if she did my heart would grow so big it wouldn’t fit in my chest anymore and I would burst with too-much-cuteness.

If you could photograph your choice of any one person in the whole entire world, who would it be?
Kate: A three day old baby who sleeps no matter where I put them and has a head of adorable downy soft dark hair…but they would wake up and calmly look at me for the last 10 minutes of the shoot…and throw in a little reflex smile and I’m in heaven.
Mike: Grace Kelly from her bygone movie days.

If you read all the way through…BRAVO! If you didn’t…I hope at least you read the answer to your questions!
We’ll be donating our cans in January of 2009 when the need is high and the shelves are empty from all of the holiday giving.

Kate goes Boudoir

2008-12-14T21:53:00.008-05:00

Hey ladies and gentlemen...exciting news with MKD! Kate is going Boudoir, and she's doing it right! We've got a hotel room at the Onyx Hotel in Boston, booked hair and Kimberly Fosher makeup and we making a day of it!

Guys, great gift to give your girl for Christmas--a day of pampering and some images you don't want to miss. Girls, a great gift to give your guy on your 2009 wedding day or a Valentine for your hubby if you were one of our past brides. Check it out! Book before 12/31/08 and save 20% of the $350 session fee! I'm shooting with Shyla and only accepting 3 clients so drop me an email if you'd like some pampering on January 11!

Comments for Cans w/video Plea!

2008-12-08T23:13:00.004-05:00

Here is Emmie's video plea for the last blog post that we did about the Comments for Can Food Drive! Don't be shy, we love comments!!

Leave a comment by clicking on the comments button in this post or the one below...we really want questions that we'll answer next week!

Cans for Comments

2008-12-08T14:21:00.004-05:00

I've been writing in an online community since college...when people are feeling like they have nothing to write and no one is leaving them any notes/comments they often put our a quick, "Ask us anything!" post and then they get a ton of comments and a lot of things to write about (answer) the next time they post.

Well...in visiting Justin and Mary's blog from my Google Reader, and now Anne Ruthmann's blog, I see that the photography community is jumping on the commenting bandwagon in a pretty awesome way! Cans for Comments was started by Chris + Lynn and here's the scoop. Leave us comments (preferably you can ask us some questions about life, love, photography, kids, whatever...) and for every comment left we'll go out and buy that number of cans and donate them to the Acton Food Pantry which gives a free bag of food to families in need that show up on Wednesday afternoons from 3:00-5:30pm. As a super special extra bonus Mike and I will also do one big long post where we answer all your questions!

Sample questions:
How come you two don't kill each other working together?

Why do you both wear black crocs to every wedding?

So, click on comments below and get in your questions before December 12th...we'll buy the cans AND answer the questions!

Julia and Sidney rocked the sun!

2008-12-06T16:02:00.011-05:00

Julia and Sidney
9.20.08

Are these two not the cutest couple ever? Not to mention the fact that the guys drove H2 to the wedding, Mike always loves to get awesome car pictures, I went through about 200 shots of them driving on the highway...how was he looking at the road too? I was off with the girls...hmmm...must bring that one up with him! Another super cute fact about them, Sidney had his dad as the best man.

I love the face Julia made when the girls were tightening up her dress...classic! The "tough" guys around their transportation...quintessential wedding party, huh? They were so much fun to work with...laid back, easy going, and into photography! The day cooperated as well--September in Newport can be a bit tricky with the rain, not even a hint of that for these two! Everything took place at the Atlantic Beach Club right on the water below the Newport mansions.

They all looked at me like I was off my rock when I told them to put their flowers down and jump on the beach...but then I showed Sidney that one of the guys jumped higher than him...well, the next time they jumped he got MUCH higher! I love that we have two angles on this NBA style jump...mine is the wide shot and Mike must have known Sidney was going to do something ridiculous because he captured the closeup.

Ok, Ok! I know you come here for the pictures...and these are some of my favorite from the season...three more weddings to blog!

Time for a social life...not us!

2008-12-03T23:10:00.002-05:00

Hi all, it's Mike here for a change...

Ok, so you might be wondering if we actually ever get out of the house with two small children and a ton of wedding stuff to do. The short answer is yes, rarely.

There aren't too many things that get us out of the house after 6:30 p.m. when the kids are winding down for bed. Oen Kennedy is an exception. You blog/website stalkers already know who he is, and for those of you who don't, Oen sings "Bright Road" on our website.

When we heard Oen was playing right down the street from us we figured it was a good excuse to try breaking the bedtime routine for a fun night out. We had some awesome middle eastern cuisine at Ichabod's Cafe, and relaxed to the sounds of Oen's new CD. It's so new it's not even on iTunes yet. But, you can check out one of my favorite discs: "Live at Club Passim". My favorite songs on that disc are: Iridium, Tierra del Fuego, Jelly, & Loon. Check them out!

Here are a few pics from the evening.

Martin Guitars have the sweetest sound.

Emmie's impression of the table.

Thumbalrina...

2008-11-30T16:21:00.004-05:00

Emmie loves it when I tell her stories...the one that is most often told is about a girl named Emmie who is wearing a beautiful pink party dress with stripes, sparkles, and polka dots. She is wandering through the forest looking for her friends...she finds a BIG castle and she knocks on the door. (At this point there is usually and Emmie interjection that reminds me that the castle is PINK) When no one answers the door she creeps in, finds the kitchen, goes into the fridger (refrigerator) and finds a HUGE cake (interjection that it is a PINK cake) and she cuts herself a piece and eats is all up. Then she goes to the toy room (THE YELLOW TOY ROOM) and plays with their twisty people.

Some of it was my original story, some are bits she likes to add...today I decided to mix it up and tell her about the tiny girl named Thumbalina who is so tiny she can play inside Emmie's Little People house...she didn't want her to be tiny. She wanted her to be big, like Emmie...and she wanted to hold her hand, share Ms. Mermaid, and be best friends. Then we came down and drew the scene in Photoshop...she got to dictate colors and things like the "clues" on their dresses...here's the result of a rainy day and our very overactive imaginations!

Eisenhower House, Newport, RI

2008-11-29T19:50:00.015-05:00

Erin and Chris
9-13-08

The rain held off for Erin and Chris's wedding down in Newport, the grass was damp, but the ceremony was still outside on the lawn with the ocean behind them and the Eisenhower House up ahead. Erin and Chris said their vows right on the top steps of the wrap around porch with their bridal party framing the stairs. We brought James from The Feds Studio along as a third shooter as Mike was a little under the weather with kidney stones . There were awesome angles everywhere we turned! I really love the shot Mike got from inside the house looking out.

On the day of the wedding I was telling Erin she was making so many awesome decision...number one being Flowers by Semia. They are just always so gorgeous and one of my more recent brides said it all when the truck pulled up, when you work with Semia you just feel like she is this famous star. She also used Kimberly Fosher Makeup and consequently looked perfect in every picture...of course she was making some amazing decisions with planner Jen Brinton in her court! The food was amazing...a clam bake from McGrath Clambakes. It was our first time working with them and the story behind the food, the smell permeating the air, really made all of the guests that much more involved in dinner...and it helps that Erin and Chris got to ring the dinner bell to call everyone over!

What a cutie!

2008-11-21T21:34:00.005-05:00

With faces like this to stare at how could I not love my job? Jack, you are too cute! Katie, you should have all of the pics up tomorrow!

12:24am and Facebook has sucked me in....

2008-11-12T00:24:00.003-05:00

I wasn't really much of a Facebook person...until...maybe this week? It keeps hitting me in little spurts here and there with its amazingness (it is 12:24am and that is now a word)

The first cool thing to hit me was the gmail contact list thing...so cool to find all of our clients--past and present--and get to stalk them...er...keep up with them post wedding and to see that so many of you apparently really love your wedding pics as they are all over your profiles!

Second cool thing was the people you know thing that popped up...and what do you know, they WERE people that I knew...and I added them!

Third cool thing? Just discovered yesterday that MKD Photography can have it's own Facebook page...with fans and everything. So we're definitely going to use that to upload pictures from weddings that are already websized and sharpened which will save all of you those steps! I just need help tagging them all, ok?

So here I am...at 12:28am...signing out...and carefully extracting myself from Facebook to go and find my pillow!

Narragansett Beach and Indian Point!

2008-11-02T20:39:00.007-05:00

We met up with Andrea and Billy in Narragansett on probably one of the windiest days of the year for their engagement shoot...the surf was raging, the wind whipping, and they could barely hear me over the roar of the ocean, but they are happy, in love, and getting married next August--so who cares! One of the cool things is we got to go to the place where he proposed...Indian Point...the rocks there are amazing (although I was worried that Mike was going to trip and break gear...he can be a little clumsy) but we made it out of there and the images were worth it!

Can't wait for your wedding next August (8/22/09)!

Thanks again, Jen and Liz, can't wait to see your footage of Mike and I in action!

P.S. Cool fact about Andrea and Billy? They were guests at OUR wedding 4 years ago...Andrea is Mike's best friend Bob's little sister (Bob was Mike's best man) and Andrea brought Billy as her guest...but they weren't dating!

The Maine Strobist Meet

2008-11-02T00:01:00.006-04:00

So we went to The Maine Strobist Meet today...and met with 30 other photographers and about 15 models in a huge house with a lot of different rooms. One of the coolest things was a DIY ring flash that Greg Bennett made...you'll see from some of the pics that we have that there are tiny little dots of light in the model's eyes--so cool! I think I hear some power tools revving up over here because it was too fun! It's always fun when the Boston contingent is well represented...it was good to see you again James, Tony and Anna, Shyla, and Doug...we should all hang out more often and play with lights and cameras!

So...enough idle chatter at midnight, I know you just come here for the pictures! (LOVE LOVE LOVE that these are straight out of the camera...just re-sized and saved for web...it seems to be the trend for us this year and we're not looking back, thanks MC!)

Tony and Anna hard at work

Shyla and James...getting low.

P.S. Models, thanks so much for all your hard work, send me an email and I'll send you your pics for your portfolios!!

Safe and Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T10:46:00.004-04:00

We hope everyone had an awesome night last night! We started with a neighborhood Halloween party where they had fun games like "Tape the Mouth on the Pumpkin" (which Emmie didn't want to be blindfolded for) and some yummy coconut cupcakes. After that we went down to Wayland to Trick-or-Treat around my old neighborhood...there is something about going to the houses of family and friends that makes the night special!

Our little monkey had so much fun and was actually able to say, "Trick or Treat," and "Thank You," this year...last year she was a little shy and a little young...and our little monster did a great job not having any meltdowns and staying up way past his bedtime!

P.S. The red door on our shed might be my new favorite pictures place from now on!!

Honey Pot Hill Orchard meet Carolyn and Bevan

2008-10-26T10:29:00.004-04:00

A few weeks back I got a funny inquiry...it was Carolyn. She wanted to know our engagement prices.

Ok, so it doesn't sound too funny, but we're so used to shooting an engagement as a part of our wedding packages. So I poked a bit further and found out that Carolyn and Bevan are a super cute couple living out here but getting married in CA and they weren't sure we would want to go all the way out for their wedding which they are planning for at Laguna Beach. Have camera, would LOVE to go to California to capture these two and if the dates work out for next October it might be in the cards for them and us!

So, we had a bit of a tight window from the first email to this session, she was thinking beach or something "fallish" with foliage...Honey Pot Hill was perfect. Hay rides, a pumpkin patch, the obvious apple trees, a candy apple to split (and use as a bouquet)...sweaters, high heel boots (for her) and jeans. P.E.R.F.E.C.T!

These are ALL Mike, I was home with two napping kiddos and the second he walked in the door I grabbed the camera, checked the back, and pronounced how utterly jealous I was that I didn't get to go!

From across the room folding laundry Mike would like me to add...the apple was caramel (not candy) and he also wanted to make sure I added (with nuts...in parenthesis...he says he like parenthetical additions to sentences). Oh, and he says to thank Carolyn and Bevan!

Trash the Dress Sneak Peak

2008-10-25T23:35:00.006-04:00

We had an awesome, amazing, fabulous day today that involved a Trash the Dress with a bride from last season, FTP Weddings (Jen and Liz ROCK), two engagement shoots with super fun couples, a lot of wind, the ocean, Narragansett and Newport...and this image straight out of the camera. Need I say more? Of course I should...but if you look at the time stamp it's too late!! So, off to bed and we'll give you more soon!

Tweet!

2008-10-20T23:38:00.004-04:00

So, new obsession of the moment? Twitter! You can follow us and see what we're up to at www.twitter.com/mkdphotography

We think you should make a twitter too...so that we can follow you! Or maybe you already have a twitter account that we don't know about, well please let us know, we want to stalk you...erm...know what you're up to! You can see over there on the right side we also added the last three twitter updates, fun fun, you can add twitter to your blog too!

Thanks for all of the votes on the Emmie pics, we went with number one as that was the top contender and now all we have to do is send it in! I'll let you know which flyers and catalogs you should be looking for her in again this year!

Freedom of the Seas Day 7

2008-10-14T22:03:00.002-04:00

9/27/08

Day 7

Another early start...and sadly calm seas means Chase is back to waking frequently in the night. I even had Mike shut the blinds last night so Emmie couldn't see that the sun was up but no such luck. This morning we went to breakfast again at the Windjammer cafe and Emmie was overtired and overwhelmed...she spilt some of her milk and cried about that and had a hard time recovering enough to eat more. We decided she'd do better at the pool...so out she went with Daddy while Chase and I walked the deck nearby until he fell asleep. I got a pina coloda and a strawberry shake for Emmie and Mike to share. We stayed until 10am and then headed up to the baby playgroup on board...sponsered by Fisher Price and full of fun Little People toys. We stayed there until 11am and then went back down to our room for naps. Chase and Emmie conked out fast, but maybe Mike was down faster!? I followed shortly after and we were all awake again by 1:30pm. Back to the Windjammer for some lunch and then back to the toy place for the afternoon session...followed by some pool time for Emmie and Mommy.

At around 5pm Mike and Chase met us at the pool so that we could make it in in time for the Circus show. We all got dressed, Chase tanked up on some milk, and it was off to the circus for us...Emmie decided to wear her swim goggles on her head since they were pink like her dress. You could tell it was the end of the cruise because almost every where we walked Emmie was like the little mayor saying hi to everyone...so many in the crew would wave and say, "Hi, Emmie!" and I was impressed they knew her name. The circus was cute (but I couldn't see much it was so crowded) and Emmie was awestruck sitting on Mike's shoulders watching the parade go by, she really loved it. It was about 15 minutes and then we were off to dinner. Emmie made a picture for Ms. Sherlin and refused to sing for her (but did give her a hug) and I had my first Mahi-Mahi. Chase was worse than any other night and we took turns walking him around outside of the dining room. We ordered some pictures from the week and then sadly came straight back to the room to pack. The babies were both asleep by 8:30pm and the suitcases were outside the doors ready to be carried off the ship by the crew...in so many ways the week seemed to last forever, but of course at the end of it all it seems like the time went by too quickly. One of my favorite memories will be of Emmie in the pool with a enormous grin on her face walking around splashing her toes...but taking the time to come over to me and say, "Guess what, Mommy? I love you in the pool (or morning, night, at dinner, in St. Thomas...)" and then frolicking off to continue on her way. She ate more ice cream, didn't brush her teeth too much, stayed up late, and got to just be more than she ever has in her life and it was so fun to watch. Chase learned to fall asleep hugging his new turtle instead of being swaddled and slept in more places in a wrap than ever before in his life. Yes, he cried, but I cannot count the number of smiles he flashed at everyone on board. I had crew members begging to hold him and make him smile. There were times when it was hard, but so worth it.

We need your vote!!

2008-10-11T22:22:00.005-04:00

Emmie was/is a model for an agency in Boston and I haven't updated her picture or brought her on any shoots since she was about 8 months old...now that Chase is handling life better I think it's time to get Emmie back in front of the camera--I think it might be her favorite place to be! So, today she said to me (after opening a package with a new sweater) let's go take pictures at the rocks...get your camera.

128 pictures later I fell in love with about 30...the agency wants one...I narrowed it down to 4...the agency wants one...please help me pick!

--> Vote with the poll over there!

Emmie 1:

Emmie 2:

Emmie 3:

Emmie 4:

Freedom of the Seas Day 6

2008-10-10T20:57:00.004-04:00

9/26/08

Day 6

The boat at sea is a totally different place than the boat in port...the elevators are more crowded and take longer to get to your floor and the pools are elbow to elbow. Emmie and I were up early though (unlike the rest of the cruisers) and watched the sun come up again. We all went up to breakfast at the windjammer and then Emmie and I were the only ones at the pool for about three hours. We both got a yummy smoothie. Daddy was back at the room with a napping Chase but came down to meet up with us for the baby group (which I had the wrong time for...doh) and then we brought Emmie to the arcade again where she really just likes to climb on the ride on games. Back to the room for naps....

We ended up waking the kiddos early to go meet with the Digital Wedding Chat group for lunch at Johnny Rockets again...there was a long wait, then a longer wait at the table. Thankfully, the wait was filled with fries and good converstation. We ate with Gino and Heather of Story by Photo and Digital Wedding Chat (DWC...photogs check it out!), Steve Davis and his wife Trina, Jedd & Casey of Blake Slade Photography, and Jake & Michaela (the resident models for the trip). We had some fun with the wide angle lens and got some funny pics.

We sat around for a good while until everyone decided it was time to go our separate ways. We came back here for a bit to feed Chase and change into bathing suits..Emmie was losing it though because her nap was cut short so we ended up just hanging out until the sunset and then we went up on board to catch some quick pictures of the kids around the ship (we were hoping for some fun Christmas card images!!) and some sunset shots...poor Emmie bonked her noggin (she gets clumsy when tired) and had a hard time recovering from that (complete with instant bruise) but we made it to dinner and she did well (and Chase didn't) again. After dinner it was over to the photo booths to check out our pictures and then up to the promendade to eat our dessert...then you guess it, back to bed for Emmie and Chase! Chase loves his baths in the sink and Emmie is truly on vacation watching movies on the laptop before bed and eating ice cream almost daily!

Freedom of the Seas Day 5

2008-10-07T23:28:00.002-04:00

9/25/08

Day 5

We woke up again to a slow moving ship and some islands out our balcony window...the tropics are really a beautiful site to wake up to. Emmie rolled over and saw the light out the window and looked at me and whispered, "Want to watch the sunrise?" So we went out to the balcony while the boys were sleeping and snuggled on the deck watching the island go by. Breakfast came to the room at 7:30am and by that time Mike and Chase were up. We packed all of our beach things up for the day, put the babies in their carriers and off the boat we went at 8:30am. St. Maarten at first glance had a much prettier port and shopping area and we took a nice water taxi over to uptown and walked around for a bit...sadly it was super hot and we were all a little bit crabby and tired. Emmie ate a super melty ice cream while Chase nursed and promptly fell asleep...we slowly moved on and bought some more little souvenirs and walked up along the beach looking for a place to sit. There were islanders trying to sell us things left and right which on top of the heat left Mike and I super crabby and we ended up squabbling with each other over getting a seat or not and looking like angry tourists we settled on a set of chairs and an umbrella so that Emmie and I could swim a bit and we could build a sandcastle. There was no treeline at St. Thomas and the water dropped off a bit more and wasn't as clear and clean. We stayed for about a half hour and headed back to the ship for some naps.

When the babies woke up I put Chase up in a back carry and we sat at the pizza place for some late lunch--it is really funny the reaction you get from people seeing a baby in a wrap. I'm so used to it that it leaves me wondering why people are staring and smiling. Next Emmie and I went in the pool for a while while Chase and Daddy went back to the room for a nap. We tried all of the sprinkler things while it got darker and then we went to Johnny Rockets for dinner...they let us eat outside and Emmie made friends with a bunch of the wait staff there telling all of them that it was "wiggling" in a high pitched voice and showing them her signs. We ended up eating back on the balcony of our room by the time the food came and Chase was cranky (story of our dinners here on the boat) and Emmie sucked down a whole strawberry shake by herself. She got to watch The Little Mermaid while I put Chase to sleep cuddling her own Ms. Mermaid doll.

Freedom of the Seas Day 4

2008-10-07T10:52:00.004-04:00

9/24/08

Day 4

I was finally able to sleep in a bed with Mike as the kids are used to the state room now...and the queen sized bed is way more comfortable than the pull out couch I've been sharing with Emmie and Chase. Last night was another great night...I only heard from Chase at 1am, 5am, and then he was up for good at 6am. We had yummy breakfast delivered to the room and when we looked out our balcony window we could see islands all along the horizon...we were destined to port at 8am in St. Thomas. Beautiful, hot, and sunny...we ate our fruit, eggs, and pastries and had some yummy orange juice...suited up and sunscreened everyone and went down to disembark. We hopped on a little shuttle over to some shops and almost convinced ourselves that we needed a new D300 for $2800...I bought some more souvenieres and then we found a taxi bus to take us to Megen Bay Beach on the other side of the island. We literally drove up and over some mountains and arrived on the other side in about a half hour. White sandy beach and turquoise waters waited for us on the other side...Emmie and I went straight into the ocean and floated around a bit...then I got Chase and dipped him in too--he loved it! We made a sand castle, took some pictures, and then Mike got us some drinks, fries and chicken fingers. There were some shady trees to sit under so the heat and the sun wasn't unbearable. I was having panic attacks on the drive up and back through the mountains on the other side of the road on tiny little streets. After our drinks and fries I nakified Emmie and dipped her in the ocean to get the sand off and put her into her clothes. Chase fell asleep on Mike's chest and Emmie was getting cranked out so back on the taxi we went and back to the boat. It was a longer morning than usual so they both crashed pretty hard. While they were sleeping Mike was off to find us something to snack on...pizza, noodles, coconut rice and some dessert squares, yum! We napped for a while until the kids woke up and then we got off the ship again and got some snacks and walked the streets of St. Thomas again since we were here. Everyone on the street seems as though they have never seen a baby (or a baby in a wrap? or maybe a baby as cute as Chase?) so they all gawk and stare.

We came back to the ship and went to Ben and Jerry's again since Emmie missed lunch and wasn't too impressed with the snacks offshore. We walked the promenade again and then stopped at guest relations...we're here with some other photographers but since we changed our dinner time we haven't really seen any of them at all. We sent them some chocolate covered strawberries and hope that they'll come with us for breakfast or lunch sometime. We'll see if they take the bait (dining with us can be hairy!) Then it was up to the room for us so Chase could take nap #3 of the day...be wary travelers who have a baby who needs three naps, it's hard! He usually is worn for the first nap while we walk around, his second nap is the same time as Emmie's so we do that one in the room, and then the third one we do right before dinner in the room so we can all get dressed. We set sail for St. Maarten at 6pm and headed to dinner soon after. We walked the promenade for a bit and looked at some cute pictures that the ship photographers got of us throughout the week. Then it was off to bed because we would be on port early the next morning.

Freedom of the Seas Day 3

2008-10-06T22:16:00.002-04:00

9/23/08

Day 3

The sea is good to both kids, they sleep like rocks. At home Chase was waking at 11pm, 1am and every hour after that until Emmie was up in the am...at sea his first stretch went from 8pm to 2:45am and then he slept again until 5am and then until 7am....impressive! So, we woke to kind of grey skies but we were ready for a good day...we all swimsuited up before breakfast so we could go straight to the pool. Windjammer's again for some eggs and and bacon (and watery OJ) then it was out to the Flow Rider which is a continuous wave...Mike was itching to try it! I guess it is harder than it looks...but Emmie was telling everyone she wanted to try and that her daddy was strong. It was super windy and it seemed like all 3,000 passengers were in hiding. We went to the pool anyway...Emmie and Mike went in the water while I nursed a very sleepy Chase...then we switched and just as Emmie and I were hopping into the jacuzzi it started to pour! We headed back to the room a bit earlier than we had hope after walking through the arcade and seeing what games there were and planned on napping them then since we were going to arrive in Puerto Rico later that day....and I had a spa appointment at 12:30 for the hot stones massage.

So, with two napping babies I headed off to find the spa on deck 12...75 minutes later I must have left a huge puddle of drool on the floor of the spa but came out feeling rejuvinated. Poor Mike, on the other hand, apparently had an hour of screaming from the two of them when they woke up early from their nap. We decided some lunch at the pizza place would be good followed by some ice cream. Emmie danced up and down the promenade to the live music and really had a lot of fun. The pizza was awesome and the Ben and Jerry's cookies and cream cones that we all got were even better (oh and we splurged on some soda...) We pulled into Puerto Rico at around 3pm and we were off to explore. Lot of shops and fountains and an interesting ruins site...Chase was unbelievable good in Puerto Rico in the hotsling and Emmie (although her and daddy were sweaty and hot) did great in the Ergo on Mike's back. We bought some post cards and suveniers. One of my favorite parts was this city square that was just full full full of pigeons (yes I know, they're dirty dirty birds) but they were eating food literally out of the hands of the tourists that were feeding them and landing on their arms and on their heads. There was one little spanish girl in a stroller who was saying, "MIEDO, MIEDO," because she was scared and at the moment I was so glad Emmie was up on Mike's back. The buildings and even more importantly the doors to each building were such amazing colors it was making me wish someone would have a destination wedding there. We took a family picture in one of the door ways and in front of the fountain and headed back to the ship at around 5:30pm...Chase had a cat nap and Emmie and I had a dance party on the balcony to her World Music CD.

Off to dinner...Emmie was excited to see Sherlin and she literally wolfed down all of her linguini with meat sauce. She was starved. Mike and I had New England Clam Chowder and some yummy pork steaks with potatoes au grautin. Chase had some bits of mashed potatoes and banana. Chase melted down at dinner (what else s new) so Mike took him on a walk and I finished dinner with Emmie. Our waiter had been talking to her friend about her little Ms. Emmie so she came over to meet her and then it was like we were surounded by about 10 wait staff members asking Emmie to sign and telling me how smart she is for just two years old. I know she's pretty special (because I'm her mom) but it is fun to see that other people see that in her as well. After dinner we found Mike and Chase and went back for another stroll down the promenade. Emmie met a little friend and they danced to the live music again in the middle of the street, she had a blast. We stopped at one of the little cafe's to eat our dessert and then we all had our picture taken on the bridge and then the woman asked if we wanted one of just Emmie so we told Emmie to go stand on the bridge and do her pose...she did and everyone stopped to stare--too cute. It was off to bed after that and that went off without a hitch! Chase fits perfectly in the sink!

Freedom of the Seas Day 2

2008-10-02T10:32:00.006-04:00

9/22/08

Day Two

Let's see...I guess the day starts with Chase waking up at 5:30am and ready to go...I convinced Mike to take him somewhere, anywhere...they went up to the deck to watch the crew set up for the day. Emmie was up at 7am and we were off to Windjammer's Cafe for some grab and go breakfast...back to the room for swimsuits, sunscreen and Chase's water wrap. We stopped in at the Spa to make me an appointment and we let them upsell us to the hot stone 75min. massage for the next day at 12:30 (when hopefully both babies would be asleep!) The pool for kids is really only about 6 inches deep and it filled with lots of fun sculptures that spray water and soak you...Emmie and Mike went off to explore and Chase and I hung out watching...half way through we switched. At the end of my adventure with Emmie we ended up in the jacuzzi and she loved it (so did I!) and then we found the ice cream server right on the deck. I had Emmie take Mike back to the jacuzzi while I stayed with Chase and there was a super nice older couple from Peru that played with Chase for a bit, the woman had him hysterically giggling and handed him back when he had had enough. Back to the room and we all took a 3 hour nap.

When we woke up we went for some lunch and walked around the ship--it was so windy! We found out that there had just been a hurricane on Puerto Rico (where we were headed) and that we might have to skip that port. We found Gino and Heather (DWC) and got to chat for a little bit on the deck...feeling bad that we don't see them at dinner, but they would be be sorry if we were actually AT dinner with our kiddos that late. We made it back to the room and Emmie and I left Daddy and Chase for a quick nap before our first formal night in the dining room. We walked the Promenade and Emmie got a fun World Kids CD and a mermaid doll.

That night was a formal night so we all dressed up--Mike in a suit, me in a dress, Chase in khakis and a dress shirt and Emmie in her giraffe dress and matching hat. Chase's most difficult time of the day is dinner...he can't eat, he's bored and over tired. Emmie made friends with all of the wait staff and we all came back to the room to crash. Our room attendent has made us a cute towel bird who was wearing Mike's glasses and holding one of Emmie's toys.

Freedom of the Seas Day 1

2008-10-01T22:09:00.002-04:00

Vacation Day 1:

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

9/21/08

Day One

Our Adventure started super early on Sunday night when we got back from a wedding and continued the packing extravaganza that had been our life for the last three or four days. We ended up in bed at around 12:30am only to be woken up by Mr. Chase at around 1am for milk...Emmie was up at 4:00am just because and I went in to cuddle her back to sleep. I was sure Chase would be up in a few hours so there was not a thought in my mind that I might not wake up before my dad was scheduled to pick us up at 6:50am...I was thinking we could do all of the last minute things if we woke up at 5:30am. At 6:30 I looked over at the clock and realized we had SLEPT IN...Home Alone style we ran around grabbing everything on our list...I got a shower, woke Emmie up and tried to convince her it was a good idea to get dressed and add my impatient father to the mix to rush us along and we were chaotically in the car by 7am.

The car trip went off without a hitch even though Chase still hadn't had milk since 1am...Emmie was super excited and I think Mike and I were anxious about brining two big suitcases, a small rolley suitcase, a pelican camera case that weighted about 40 lbs., Emmie's huge carseat, a crib for Chase and his carseat...oh and a diaper bag and a HEAVY backpack. We made it through the secruity check without a hitch (Emmie was a little bit mad that they were "taking a picture" of her stroller and her M&M's that Papa gave her) and I knew at that point that we could get through anything this week! We went to gate 35 and asked if there were any openings so that Chase (who would soon be asleep in his bucket) could have a seat. There was! Emmie and Mike went to go find some breakfast while I nursed Chase at the gate watching our stuff. They came back with some messy muffins and in no time we were on the plane ready for takeoff. Chase asleep in the bucket and Emmie buckled in next to me we were ready! Emmie was telling everyone around her that she was so excited to go to Miami and that next we were going on a huge ship! She sat and ate her candy (probably more than she had ever had in her life...a couple starburst halves and some M&M's) and watched Diego on the laptop...if that isn't vacation I don't know what is! When we touched down her ears bothered her a bit but nothing that chewing on her starburst and yawning with Mommy couldn't fix (she kept saying there was gookies in her ears)...and only one brief fussy period from Chase before I bounced him back to sleep in my lap (which made my leg fall asleep) and then we were off to walk Miami airport to find our baggage and the bus to Royale Carribean. We made a potty stop for Em and continued on our way...check in for the boat was easy and we got the front seat of the bus.

We chomped on some mini Pringles (told you it was vacation) and rode on the interstate with the view of Miami in clear view...Emmie was impressed and didn't want to get off the bus when we got to the boat. Chase was unimpressed and was sleeping in the becket seat. Mike and I made a mental note to come back and visit Miami someday because it really is pretty! We boarded the ship and really only waited at the security gate (they let Chase stay sleeping in his seat) and again to get our room keys and all that...then we were on the boat! We were able to check right into our room and meet our room attendant. It was about 3pm and we knew we needed to get some real food and change our dinner pass from the 8:30pm on to the 6pm on because Emmie and Chase at the 8:30 dinner just wasn't going to work. We ate at the Cafe and then headed back to the room for a nap...but the Captain came over the intercom stating that we had to do a mandatory drill for safety before leaving port...Emmie was unimpressed and fell asleep in Mike's lap. We tried to plop her on the bed in the room when we got back but she woke up and that was it for naps. We made it up to dinner that night at 6:15pm and met our lovely head waiter named Sherlin...she called everyone Ms. Emmie, Mr. Chase, Ms. Kate and Mr. Michael Duval (anyone who knows Emmie's birth story hears the humor in that one!) and was really really accomodating...dinner for Emmie was Mac & Cheese, and Mike and I had fruit followed by shrimp ravioli and took some Strawberry Pavlova back to the state room for dessert...yum!

Bedtime that night was pretty unimpressive since we were all so tired...Mike did go up to meet with the DWC people who kept their dinner at 8:30pm while we all slept the night away.

Our "Stateroom" as Emmie liked to call it! (I'm calling home to say we made it!)

The view of Miami from our room.

The dining room!

Falling asleep on Daddy and posing with Mommy!

Loving her chair on the balcony

View looking towards the back of the ship

View looking to the front

Mike's self portrait

Some sibling love.

Cuddles on the balcony

Chase taking a bath in the sink

(We didn't break out the flash for this but the WB in a cruise ship bathroom is pretty terrible!)

Did you miss us?

2008-09-29T09:28:00.003-04:00

I just figured out that I never posted on here that we were leaving for a week...so if you weren't one of the many emails in the inbox upon yesterday's return you may not have even known we were gone! But, nevertheless, we're back!

If this picture doesn't say it all we had a blast aboard Royal Carribean's Freedom of the Seas! More on that later...off to email.

Big Girl Bed!

2008-09-18T10:36:00.004-04:00

It was about a month ago now that Emmie made the transition from her "cribbey" to her big girl bed (complete with kitty sheets). At first she was a little bit mad at Mike for breaking her crib and kept saying, "Daddy, don't break my cribbey!" But we assured her that the new bed she was getting (a hand-me-down from her Auntie Emily who went off to college this year) was super cool...but she didn't really want Aunt Emily's "old" bed, she wanted a "new" big girl bed. So we brought it up, slapped some sheets on and a bed rail (because I still find her all which ways in the morning) and she was so excited! It's a little tall so she needs a step stool to get in, but she is in love (and so am I, no more rocking the oversized baby in the rocking chair anymore **sniff sniff**) My little baby is growing up!

All kinds of caught up!

2008-09-11T23:57:00.003-04:00

So, with the last four posts we are now completely caught up on weddings...now we need to catch you all up on us, on seniors, and on engagement shoots before we go away on our cruise in 10 days!

Mike is in the ER right now with something going on with his stomach...I'm stuck home with the babies (who are sleeping) worrying. So if you're up and reading this how about you pray with me (if you're the praying type)? Crazy how productive one can be when worrying about the person you love. I'll keep you all posted.

**Edit from the AM, Mike is home now waiting to pass a kidney stone, at least we know what it is (and I can commiserate since I've had stones since I was 15...they are not fun at all.)**

Hannah didn't stop Erin and Steve!

2008-09-11T23:41:00.008-04:00

9/6/08

My favorite quote from the day is, "I'll have some Erin Lynne Guido with shrimp," said by one of the bridesmaids on the way to the church in reference to Erin's new last name. Erin was feeling a little excited, nervous, anxious and making her laugh was a good way to stop her from crying...it worked!

Tropical Storm Hannah was threatening us the whole day, but in the end we got the shots that we wanted, and we got them outside. Erin and I both joked that it would be fitting for them to name their first daughter Hannah in remembrance of this day! We didn't venture over to the Westerly Beach like Erin had wanted, but I told her when she gets back from her honeymoon we can set that up--she still has the dress so why not wear it again!

This was a wedding where there were a couple of other wedding overlaps...the maid of honor and another guest were actually at Thea and Mike's wedding on July 3rd of this year, and Kerri and Damien (bride and groom from last year) were there as well--it's always fun to run into familiar faces! We had a ton of fun taking Erin and Steve around the course at Quidnesett Country Club and even got to see four white tail deer running around out there. Another couple who gave us a ton of time with just the two of them...that = a happy Mike and Kate!

A truly International Country Club Wedding!

2008-09-11T23:04:00.008-04:00

Lina and Galen
8/30/08

Lina and Galen came to visit us a while back and sitting on the big red couch (which, by the way, is gone) we discussed their event at the International Country Club in Bolton (which, by the way, is super close to home for us!) We found out that Lina was from **big edit...I knew Lina was from Bulgaria but my friend Noor who lives in Belgium must have been on my mind, thanks for the correction anonymous noter!!!) and would have family visiting and would literally be bringing the slide show that we posted online for them "Internationally" to family at the tail end of their honeymoon. We also found out that they were super excited about working with us and would do just about anything to get the perfect picture--we like! They had Cathy over at the International drive us around after the ceremony in a 6 passenger golf cart looking for some perfect locations. I kept asking them when they wanted to get back from cocktail hour and they insisted they were done when we were done...I warned them that given the opportunity I would steal them for the rest of the evening!

Lina got ready at the spa which is on the grounds at the international and her hair and makeup looked phenomenal. The image of the pin on her bouquet happened minutes after we arrived and is still my favorite of the day--Lina's grandmother in Belgium couldn't come for the wedding so she sent this with a friend to give to her granddaughter (not sure if I like the image as much as I am in love with the story). We truly had a great time celebrating with you two, hope you are having fun honeymooning!

A Cathedral, the State House and a Trolley -- oh, my!

2008-09-11T21:35:00.010-04:00

Kristen & Mike
8/23/08

I think Kristen might be one of our biggest fans, she seriously raves to the point of my head getting so swelled I won't fit through doorways again. I keep trying to remind her that she is fun and makes our job easy, but she insists that we are the ones that are awesome...someday I'll convince her that we share mutual awesomeness. You may remember her from the BCC Nursing Pining that Mike shot back in May...she planned a wedding and finished nursing school in the same year--see? Awesome!

We had a blast shooting with them in front of the amazing St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in downtown Providence and then over at the State House followed but a quick stop at Water Fire and then onto the reception! We had the pleasure of working with Jen and Liz again (Fairy Tale Productions) and they did another amazing SDE (same day edit for those of you not up on the videographer lingo)...check out the cute pics of them watching their video at the end of this post!

Congrats you two, thanks for such a fun day...editing all of your pictures makes me smile!

Newport Hyatt, meet Molly and John David!

2008-09-11T09:15:00.009-04:00

Molly and John David
August 22, 2008

Molly and John David...what a cute couple, seriously! They had a gorgeous day with the bluest sky I might have ever had the pleasure of photographing. The ceremony was on the lawn at the Hyatt with the Newport Bridge in the background and boats sailing past. There was the perfect amount of wind to keep everyone cool and Molly got to start her day off right with a couple hours of pampering at Spa Vure right up the street! The girls were so much fun and I even got to add Brianna's blog to my reading list...you can check her out, too, she's super hilarious as you can guess when her underscore is "An Almanac of Awkwardness" (if you think she's funny you should add her to your iReader on google like I did)! The ring bearer was adorable, as well, and believe you me that it was hard not to post 20 pictures of just him in this entry! So, Molly and John David, I hope married life is treating you two as well as your wedding day did Mike and I!

The Blue Hills were alive with the sound of Kerri and Jeremy!

2008-09-10T17:54:00.007-04:00

Kerri and Jeremy
8/16/08

A few Saturdays back we had the pleasure of hanging out with Kerri, Jeremy and their families (again--we shot an engagement shoot and a family gathering in the snow last year) and we truly had a blast! It is always fun to work with a family for multiple events...and they better call me when they have kids so we can all hang out again! The fun thing about Kerri and Jeremy's wedding was the fact that they gave us a ton of time alone with just the two of them (which is always great) and the late afternoon light was amazing! They are super cute, super in love, and super laidback! Kerri also has a pretty adorable dog who we got to visit with before heading off to the church!

Their invitations and favors coordinated and were so cute!

Tricia & Kevin and a romp through Quincy Market!

2008-09-06T08:17:00.005-04:00

We were in Quincy and Boston this past weekend for Tricia and Kevin's wedding...we had so much fun! They were married at Sacred Heart Church in Quincy after getting ready at Tricia's parents house and then we were off through Boston traffic to the State Room (and amazingly enough for a Friday afternoon the stars aligned just right and we arrived earlier than we thought!)

There is an awesome patio with skyscrapers all around behind the State Street building where Tricia wanted some family pictures...when those were done it was just Tricia, Kevin, Mike and I--we heard a marching band and decided we needed to investigate. Sure enough the Georgia Tech marching band and cheerleaders were outside the market putting on a shot, we nudged our way to the front and Tricia and Kevin got to dance with the Stinger's mascot and dance right along side the girls--they really hammed it up, too!

So, Tricia and Kevin, thanks so much for an awesome day, you two were so much fun and so obviously in love! Happy honeymooning!

Our old stomping ground...a Cranston wedding!

2008-08-27T22:45:00.014-04:00

Nicky & JT
8-8-08

The Olympics weren't the only thing starting on 8-8-08, Nicky and JT (who we met two years ago when they booked us) were starting their lives together as a married couple! This was one of those weddings where not everything was going as planned...but they took it all in stride! I had trouble getting to the Westin in Providence and the rain had trouble holding off any longer and let out buckets full of water the second Nicole stepped out of the limo...but there was no pulling this happy couple down! They had adorable umbrellas and even cuter go-with-the-flow attitudes! They were married at St. Margaret's Church in Rumford, RI (same church that Beth and Tom were married at last year!) and Nicky's dad was presiding at the mass--so cool! The rain broke for their receiving line and we all headed over to The Alpine Country Club in Cranston. Sadly while we were pulling up Mike and I were watching the sky knowing their fate would be the same as ours was on our wedding day...rainy day formals! They took it in stride and we got some amazing shots under cover in the front alcove. The cutest thing was at the end of the night when we were leaving a groomsman came up to us and said, "I don't know how you did it, but you made the pictures on their slide show look like it was way cooler to have it rain than to have nice weather." It's comments like those that leave us smiling all the way home!

Happy 5 months, Chase!

2008-08-27T14:10:00.002-04:00

A lot of people have been asking me how the "little-man" is doing...and I guess I just thought you all knew that I wrote monthly letters to Emmie and Chase--so sorry for that assumption and keeping everyone in the dark! He's great!

He smiles, he "talks" to us all the time, he sits, he rolls, he is crying less and less everyday and I do believe that colic is in the past! If you're ever bored and want to read up on the babies, like I said, I write monthly letters to them on another blog...just visit http://kahdib.blogspot.com/

I still have a list of things to post so stay tuned!!!

A Little bit of Charlestown at The Commandant's House

2008-08-24T20:26:00.014-04:00

Claire & Owen (7/26/08)
It was an absolutely gorgeous day when Claire pulled up to the Commandant's House in Charlestown, MA. The bridal suite there is unbelievable--it was hot upstairs, but so worth it with all of the beautiful rooms and places to get ready. The flowers arrived and Claire sat in the perfectly pink bathroom while one of her bridesmaids put on her makeup. Everyone was having fun opening their gifts from Claire which were cute necklaces, towels, candy and beach bags. We then headed over to St. Mary's Cathedral which is just up the street. Owen cried, the fans were keeing us all cool, and they exchanged rings and a kiss...it was a beautiful ceremony. There was a fun bagpiper outside waiting for them and it was a quick stroll (past a Duck boat, no less, how more Boston can you get?) back to the Commandant's House for pictures, toasts (and tears), a yummy clam bake from Legal Seafood, and then a ton of dancing. We had so much fun--congratulations you two!

Thea and Mike (7/3/08)

2008-08-24T15:24:00.005-04:00

Last month we got to party with Thea and Mike at the Roger Williams Park Casino in Providence, Rhode Island. I remember a couple years ago on a long walk around the park with my friend Nicky that she had said this would be the perfect place for a wedding, we even snuck (we certainly did not sneaked) up on the deck and peered in the windows at the beautiful space. Well, on July 3, 2008 I finally got to experience what she was saying. The deck is amazing, the room upstairs was beautiful, and what more could you ask for as a photographer than an elaborately-landscaped 427-acre park? They first said their vows at St. Joseph's Church in Scituate and then we headed over to the Casino for some cocktails, dancing and dinner from Atomic Catering--have I mentioned that they are awesome? The staff is great and the food is better! So, enough of my blabbering about the day, I know you're only here for the pictures!

Musings...

2008-08-23T23:58:00.001-04:00

So, do you ever come home from an event super exhausted, but it is like you are too exhausted to go to bed? I'm in that state. There is so much running through my mind. So much for us to do tomorrow...and in general. So much that this poor neglected blog needs to be updated on...but I'm too tired after today's wedding (and yesterdays...I know, shush, we normally only do one a weekend but we made an exception!) We have to tell you about Emmie's big news and post pictures from that...it was an event, let me tell you, and we're about 5 weddings behind in blogsville...and some engagement sessions and some baby sessions...and some senior sessions. Have I mentioned that I want a magic wand to point at my screen and go "poof" and all of the bordering, uploading, posting would just be done...and while we're at it I have a couple of rooms in my house that need the wand now that the basement is 90% done--this week is carpet and then we can start moving into our new space. I'm babbling and I should be heading to bed, but I guess this post is just saying, "We're busy, but never to busy for you little bloggy..we'll be posting like madpeople tomorrow so stay tuned!!!"

Stephanie & Greg

2008-08-20T22:52:00.010-04:00

If you remember Stephanie from her bridal session a few posts ago, this is a small sampling of the pictures from the big day. Stephanie looked even better on her wedding day than she did for her shoot with Mike (if that is even possible).

We had a fabulous time working with everyone in and around Providence. Most notibly we made a stop at the Rhode Island State House for indoor and outdoor formals. The grand scale of things made for some truly awesome images. We were there almost an hour and still left feeling like we could do more. Eventually we made it to the Providence Marriot for the cocktail hour at AQUA and reception in the Marquis Ballroom.

Stephanie and Greg were surrounded by amazing friends and family from all corners of the globe. They even had an official blessing on their marriage by none other than the Pope himself, straight from the Vatican city. We wish you two the best of luck...

-Mike & Kate

Funny Wedding Announcement!

2008-08-07T13:28:00.004-04:00

This is pretty funny stuff!! If that embedded video isn't working for you you can just click this to get to the site. I love it! This is their website....ok, back to editing.

Soon to come:
Thea and Mike's wedding at the Roger Williams Casino
Stephanie and Greg's Wedding at the Providence Marriott w/a stop at the Capitol Building
Claire and Owen's wedding at the Commandant's house in Boston
Matt and Kellye's engagement session at the Cliff Walks in Newport

See, we've been busy even though our blog hasn't been!

Brownies!

2008-07-20T13:17:00.003-04:00

Emmie loves to stand at the counter now and help me "make" things. She likes to mix and will then ask, "May I taste it, Mommy?" This time we made brownies...I told her she could lick the batter...when we put them in the oven she cried her eyes out and said, "Don't cook dem, Mommy, I want to lick the BATTERIES!"

Wow, Still Motion!

2008-07-20T08:33:00.003-04:00

Some nights Chase decides sleep is for the weak and has a few hours where he just won't settle. I usually feed him, wonder why he's wide eyed and a little cranky, and deliriously ask Mike for help. Last night they were perusing the web and stumbled upon this...

Welcome to StillMotion - the Demo from Patrick Moreau on Vimeo.

This morning Mike was excited to show me their site Still Motion and for good reason, their work is amazing! So, for all of you out there who love weddings like us, this is an awesome compilation full of some nice eye candy! Mike wanted me to add...if we had thousands of dollars laying around he would love to get back into video (he made some promo material for Wheaton College while we were there using their equipment). If you look at their site and see the about us section you can see the steady-cam set up that they use...and in order to get those spinning shots that look so cool going THAT fast when it is all in slow motion that guy has got to be sprinting! Too cool! I always love to find other people in the industry who really push their job to the limits!

Stephanie's Bridal Portraits

2008-07-19T08:42:00.003-04:00

About three weeks ago Mike, and James (from The Feds Studio) went down to Salve Regina to meet up with Stephanie for her bridal portrait. She had her hair session and makeup session that morning so we figured what better day than that take some pictures. I've been dying to post these because I think they are beautiful, but I couldn't spoil the surprise for Greg who hadn't seen the dress or his beautiful bride in it until this past weekend at their wedding! Her mom ordered a 16x20 of the first picture and had it in a nice gilded gold frame to match the fireplace on display at the wedding--it looked phenomenal! Stay tuned for their wedding pictures which we'll be posting soon.

Our very-busy, do-everything, erandy kind of day!

2008-07-17T15:54:00.003-04:00

I think I'm still recovering from yesterday!

It was Mike's day off...I tend to jam as much in there as I can when I have his help. Don't get too tired reading this, because believe me, it was an exhausting (but productive) day!

7:00am Wake up to a very energetic Emmie...who in her excitement to see us in the morning wakes Chase who is all smiles (thank GOD the colic is leaving and there is a cute baby that remains...)
7:30am We all manage to roll out of bed, get breakfast, fight over who gets to go potty first, and brush our teeth.
7:45am Mike is rounding up all of the trash in the house and Emmie and I are making silly faces at Chase so he will smile.
8:00am Mike is off to the dump with a packed Prius.
8:30am Chase is ready for a nap, but I don't want to let him sleep because we have to go see the pediatrician.
8:35am I get to take a shower while Mike entertains the kids and then vice versa.
8:45am I get everyone dressed...except for Mike, he can dress himself :o)
9:00am We read all of Emmie's library books, Moosetache, Silly Sally, Billy's Bucket, Noisy Nora, The Three Dots, and More More More.
9:15am We pile into the car.
9:30am Pediatrician appointment: Chase is doing great, he is now 12lbs!! Make small talk with doc (who we love!!) for a while and get excited that she has a baby on the way who I can photograph.
10:00am Head to Fitchburg to social security office to get Chase a card...we checked off the box to receive one automatically and it never came...
10:30am Drive around the block about five times looking for parking, decide to risk it and park in the bank parking lot.
10:35am YES, there is no line, get seen right away...we are told he has been issued a card and they will not give us a new one without identifying info...all we have is a birth certificate--doh! They can't tell me where they mailed the original to. They expect Chase to have some kind of recent paper that has his full name on it...I remind them that he is 4 months old and doesn't recieve mail very often nor does he think to take it with him to the SS office...grrr.
11:00am Visit Grandma (Mike's mom) at her work--assistant registrar of deeds--so she can show off her grand babies.
11:30am Change a diaper in the car, feed baby, hit the road and pray we will be home for the Roche Brothers grocery delivery which is scheduled for sometime between 12:00pm and 2:00pm.
12:03pm Arrive home.
12:15pm Groceries arrive...unload them and pack the fridge (Emmie got a good bonk in this process right near her eye so I spent most of the time consoling her.)
12:30pm I work on getting Emmie to nap and then Chase while Mike makes us some hot dogs.
1:00pm Both babies are sleeping!
1:15pm Eat hotdogs.
1:45pm Mike heads to Home Depot to pick up a light fixture, some caulking, a dehumidifier, and wood putty. I check email and respond to everything in my inbox and attempt to clean the house before Razvan, our financial planner, shows up at 3pm.
2:50pm Mike gets home and I have actually had time to look through a couple catalogs.
3:00pm Razvan comes to our house and we talk about $...IRA's, retirement, wills, etc...he was a groom that we worked with last June and it is fun to sit down and chat about life and the market with him.
3:30pm Chase is up, joins us in the meeting.
4:00pm Emmie is up and joins the meeting.
4:30pm Razvan leaves and we try to figure out dinner plans...realize that cheese that was delivered that day is moldy--yuck--call and they refund and apologize.
4:45pm Mike goes out to get more cheese and I start cooking meat for Tacos.
5:15pm We all sit down and eat...
5:35pm Top Chase off with milk before I leave for CIDA (Center for Digital Imaging Arts) in Waltham and kiss Emmie goodbye...
5:45pm Put on makeup in the car and program the GPS...make a few phone calls while driving...tsk tsk...and am astonished that no one is crying the back seat (remember that I am alone)!
6:15pm Arrive at CIDA and meet Lara from Studio Nouveau who also teaches workshops over at the school. Hang out and have a few laughs with James and Kate from The Feds Studio. I also had the pleasure of talking with a lot of the students there about being a photographer in the "real" world and some other fun professionals like Mike and Beth Bell from Embee Studio.
8:00pm Realize I should proabably find my way back to the car and back to Acton.
8:30pm Come home to a VERY excited Emmie who is happy to see me.
8:45pm Read the library books again...mental note: we should get a couple more books out at a time so we're not constantly reading the same 6.
9:00pm Take a very tired Emmie to her bed and rock her to sleep, kiss her head, and tuck her in...wonder what happened to my little baby who went to bed at 7pm every night.
9:05pm Come out and finally get to give Mike a hug and tell him about the CIDA event.
9:15pm Snuggle up on the big red couch and watch the new Strobist DVD's that came in the mail earlier that day...thoroughly enjoy being a geek watching a movie about lights and flash.
11:30pm Realize it is late and should head to bed because Chase is going to be waking up soon and it is always good to get a little sleep before that happens...

P.S. It took me all day to write this!!

Courtney & Peter - Bristol, RI

2008-07-08T22:23:00.007-04:00

Kate and I were beyond excited to work with Courtney and Peter from the day they came to meet us. They were inseparable, and completely in love. They epitomized the saying "absence makes the heart grow stronger." With Peter's long deployments at sea, it really makes these two appreciate the time they have together. When we first met, they told us that Peter would be coming home from his next assignment roughly 10 days before their wedding. Talk about cutting it close!

Flash forward to the big day. Courtney and Peter couldn't have asked for nicer weather. Everything was perfect. The ceremony was held on the dock of the Bristol Harbor Inn. Afterward everyone enjoyed enjoyed cocktails under the tent. The party then moved to the DeWolf Tavern for dinner and dancing. Courtney and Peter were surrounded by some amazing family & friends who couldn't resist telling their own stories about them. We were totally in awe of the love that they displayed for each other, it was amazing. We truly wish the best to them, we had a blast!

And...the pictures:

Tanya and Michael 6/20/08

2008-07-04T14:45:00.009-04:00

Celebrating 10 years...

When we first heard from Tanya and Michael we weren't so sure about their "event"...sorry guys, just being honest! They were "already married" and just having a party with family--fun for us, but not a wedding! Little did we know they were going to have the "event" of a lifetime! June 20, 2008 marked 10 years of the two of them together as a couple and the one year anniversary of their actual wedding...and it was time to party!

They thought of everything...they are lovers of photography and had a fun black and white theme with inernegative black and white film laced around their votive candle holders and a real photo booth (which was so cool!) from RI Photobooths. They are also lovers of wine--and they were able to have their whole wedding--ceremony to after party in the barrel room--at Newport Vineyards in Middleton, RI. It was super classy, but also really well planned...they knew that seating would be tight so they opted for fun finger foods like beef tenderloin mini bulky rolls, shrimp and chicken skewers, and mini pizzas all from Atomic Catering which is has a super nice (and very efficient) staff! They made their own sangria and sliced each and every piece of fruit and served it in old fashion pickling jars and had a yummy cookie bar where you could bag your treats to take home. They really took care of their guests and had a DJ for the first half of the night and then a phenominal band at the after party in the barrel room. I cannot say enough about these two--they are fun, loving, silly, classy and so much more, we really had a wonderful time at their "event"! Congrats you two!

Enough chatter...here are some of our favorite pictures from the day.

Wedding Wire

2008-07-04T13:26:00.002-04:00

Hello loverly blog readers....ok you guessed it, I'm trying to butter you all up! We want your pats on the back over at www.weddingwire.com (I guess if you have smacks on the back we'll have to take those too since we want an accurate representation of who we really are). If you check their FAQ you'll read that: WeddingWire is an online wedding community for Engaged Couples, Newlyweds and Wedding Vendors to connect with each other. WeddingWire provides cutting edge technology to the wedding industry through local vendor search, comparison shopping, wedding planning tools, and social networking.

We really like the fact that a lot of you have found us via forums and board searches, and this one actually allows you to contact the vendor directly and ask questions--but at the same time you can see exactly what other brides think about us. So, if you're reading this and we shot your wedding and you loved us (or hated us...gasp!!) let everyone on www.weddingwire.com know about it! I'm excited for the first time I ask an engaged couple...how did you hear about us? And they say, "Wedding Wire." (BTW, we're not paid by or paying wedding wire...it's just another one of those things that we like and wanted to pass on to you!)

There is a link over there... --> in the side bar that you can click on to give us a review!

Dana & Joe's Engagement Session in Harvard Square

2008-06-27T22:09:00.008-04:00

I love engagement sessions. Its the perfect time to really get to know couples. Take Dana & Joe. They live in California and are planning their wedding "back east." They took a red-eye flight into town and were up for anything for their session with me. To really test their resolve we decided that it would be awesome to do a super early a.m. shoot in Harvard Square. The 7 a.m. light was simply gorgeous. I have to hand it to Dana and Joe for getting themselves up at basically 4 a.m. PST to meet me. We had a blast roaming from spot to spot taking pictures. We joked about all of the exciting things they could say they do for fun. You know, things like blindfolded spelunking, alligator wresting, and speed knitting. Ultimately I found out that they enjoyed much simpler things but always made time to spend together either on the golf course or over beers & a game with friends. I had a great time with Dana & Joe and I can't wait to work with them at their wedding.

-Mike

Courtney & Kevin (6/15/08)

2008-06-26T06:05:00.009-04:00

Courtney and Kevin were planning from out of town so their wedding day was the first day we actually got to meet face to face and we were all so excited to be working together! Ocean Cliff is a beautiful resort down in Newport and the weather cooperated with a nice cloud covered day a little on the chilly side, but perfect! Courtney and Kevin were so in love that right after the ceremony they were off in their own little world just sipping champagne and staring into each others eyes like they were the only two people left on earth--too cute! Congrats you two! (It was also the first day that we got to use the new 24" iMac for a slide show at the reception and it would be putting it mildly to say that it was a huge hit and a nice surprise (just spoiled it) for the couples for the rest of the season.)

Emilie & Aaron (6/7/08)

2008-06-22T21:22:00.007-04:00

Back to my hometown...Emilie and Aaron had their reception about 3 miles from the house I grew up in at Sandy Burr Country Club in Wayland, MA. The ceremony was at the Wayside Inn in the Martha Mary Chapel. It was a beautiful day--although it was pushing almost 100 degrees. This couple had the forethought to plan ahead though, they knew neither of them wanted to be hot so they made sure to book an air conditioned church and opted out of a tent and had the reception indoors--boy were they patting themselves on the back for that decision! Even though the major events were indoors, we were still able to capture some fabulous photos of the horse drawn carriage rides to and from the chuch (the horse's name is Pam) and some outdoor photos at the Grist Mill and again at sunset on the course at Sandy Burr. Congrats you two, we hope you enjoyed your honeymoon!

There's a RAINBOW in our yard!

2008-06-22T16:56:00.006-04:00

On June 4th this was supposed to be delivered to our house as a birthday present for Ms. Emerson Grace....too bad it was raining and there was bad traffic in CT (they ship from New Jersey) so instead it came on June 5th.

We had been wanting to get this swingset since last summer...it is perfect because when I put Chase down for one of his long naps, I can turn on the baby monitor, and push Emmie til her heart's content. It is huge but we figure we'll have it for the duration of childhood years...so if we have one more baby in two years (can you believe I just said that?!) and it lasts until they are 13 we'll need it around for the next 15 years. I can't wait!

The specs:

Quick Specs

Footprint:	13' wide × 27' long
Platform Height:	68"
Platform Size:	36 sq. ft.
Swingbeam Height:	8.5 ft.
Overall Height:	13 ft.
Slide Length:	11 ft. scoop

Here are some alternate angles...

And of course some pictures of the little lady enjoying her present!!

The showroom nearest to us is in Connecticut....but you can check them out online at www.rainbowplay.com!

Emmie Turns 2!

2008-06-22T13:51:00.002-04:00

The Party Girl!

Bare with me here because I am writing this with a wiggly three month old in my lap...he is happy and awake which is getting more and more common these days!

So, onto the entry...as promised I have some things to blog about...Emmie had her 2nd birthday on June 11, 2008! I can't believe what a big girl she is getting to be. I keep another blog where I write monthly letters to the kids...you can read her letter there at www.kahdib.blogspot.com (and since people always wonder, Kahdib is the nickname my dad had for me growing up...it is pronounced like it looks kah (almost like a Bostonian would say car) dib (as in I have dibs on the front seat!) It's really just my initials sounded out...KDB....but then I went and got married and turned into KDD.

Long winded today, huh! So, without further adeiu here are some pictures of the birthday girl in all her glory!

Emmie and Noah, fitting that he helped with her candles since she did his a month ago when he turned two. She loved the party hats, they were "The Little Engine that Could." The cake was going to be an Elmo cake until I realized I didn't have any black and my red was fushia when mixed with white frosting...so I put a big white E on there and added some Target fruit snacks--her special treat!

Stop eating for a picture with him?? (BTW, that is Chase's favorite swaddle blanket...anytime he is fussy it is pretty instant calm for him...)

Chowing down at her new picnic table from Grandma..."Little Engine" plates and "Curious George" napkins...a little readers bliss!

Let them eat cake!!

Happy Birthday, baby girl!!! I can't believe how big you've gotten!

Uh-oh!

2008-06-18T22:28:00.002-04:00

The list of "To-Blog" is getting out of hand....let's post it so that I can be held accountable.

-Emmie turns 2!
-The new Rainbow swingset
-Emilie & Aaron's wedding (6/7/08)
-Courtney & Kevin's wedding (6/15/08)
-Happy Father's Day Mike....doh....a little late!!
-Maternity session with Molly and Mike
-Dana and Joe's engagement session
-the basement renovation
-CHASE HAS COLIC....ahhhh....we spend a lot of the day bouncing the baby on the exercise ball...we're getting in shape but it is exhausting.

Kate and Spencer 5-31-08

2008-06-04T21:48:00.012-04:00

What a way to kick off the season! We had a wonderful time with Kate and Spencer on Saturday. Getting ready in Weston and Waltham...heading over to St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Weston--which I remember all growing up it was the quintessential "New England" church on Rt. 20 that we drove by on our way home from Hampton every summer. The ceremony was beautiful and the bridesmaids were decked out in gorgeous Coren Moore dresses in a beautiful santorin blue color...to.die.for. It was threatening rain all day, but it never actually rained on us! We then headed over to the Harvard Club of Boston which is tucked up on the 38th floor on Federal Street. It was so amazing to look out at the city all around you while people were eating, dancing and having fun. The Boston Players really made the night--everyone was dancing and having a blast (and they even have this wicked flirty guitar player that was dancing like crazy with the single bridesmaids!) We're so excited for this season and all it has to offer, thanks Kate and Spencer for such a great start--congratulations and we hope you're having a blast in Nevis...here we come 2008 brides!

Katie and family at Plum Island

2008-05-23T13:36:00.013-04:00

Well I guess it is up and coming as our favorite beach...this past Wednesday I met Katie and her family at Plum Island for a shoot. I frequent a website called www.thebabywearer.com and there was mom who was in desperate need of monetary help as her husband had left and she was down and out...a bunch of moms banded together and donated items to be raffled off. We raised enough for this woman and her children to keep the home they were about to lose. I donated a free sitting and package to anyone in the New England area--Katie, the mom of twin 4 year old girls London and Gracie and a 2 year old boy Titus, was the winner! We did some family shots of all of them, some individual shots, and Gracie and London ran down to the water and got soaked. They were planning on staying afterward for a nice pre-Memorial day picnic on the beach...not sure if they made it or not because it was getting super cold, but what a great way to start off the beach season!

BBC Nursing Pinning Ceremony

2008-05-23T12:37:00.006-04:00

We have an awesome bride, Kristin, who is getting everything done this year...including graduating from nursing school! Her wedding is in August, but she thought it would be fun to have us come out and shoot the graduating class as a group and then some individual shots. Mike said they were a ton of fun...I stayed home with the babes. So, a big congratulations to Kristen and the graduating class--we're so excited for all of you!

Two videos...

2008-05-22T10:18:00.002-04:00

Emmie loves watching herself on youtube.com so I thought we should share!

She really does love her baby brudder.

I think my favorite is the camel!

Beth and Nelson's Engagement Session

2008-05-19T21:00:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we had the pleasure of getting out of the house...I mean...going to Boston to meet Beth and Nelson at the Common Gardens. I love the little "Make Way for Ducklings" statues, but there were about 15 three-year-olds climbing on them so we didn't kick them off to capture any images of Beth and Nelson with the ducks, but we did manage to get the paddle boats in the background of some of the pictures!

Their wedding is in six months and we're so excited for them! We love fun, goofy couples like to joke around while we work and they were just that! Here's your sneak peak, guys!

We finished just as it started to rain and of course had to do a fun umbrella shot!

Sleep?

2008-05-18T07:13:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure I even recognize that word anymore....normally Chase is up about 2-3 times per night...around say midnight, 3am, and then 5am and he is up for the day. Emmie is in bed usually at around 8:30 so we try to get to bed right around the same time as her...but then today she was up at 4am...I know it is because she has a cold...as does her daddy and her brother (don't know how I escaped that) but in order to maintain sanity we decided to throw on her Little Miss Trouble T-shirt and head out to the early morning light. Here's some of what we captured...and sadly she does look sick. Every time she sneezes it is like world war III pours out of her poor nose and she screams, "NEED TISSUE!"

Hello, Sad, Neglected Blog

2008-05-16T22:53:00.002-04:00

Hello Blog,

This is Mike writing to apologize for spending so little time with you lately. Kate and I have been so busy with Chase and Emmie the last few weeks there just hasn't been any free time to type away with you. Take this as my formal apology and rest easy that we'll have some nice treats for you once we kick off the 2008 wedding season with an Engagement session this weekend and a wedding on May 31st. I know the other blogs at school have been giving you a hard time, but keep your (html) header up. We'll take good care of you real soon. I promise.

Lots of Love,
Mike and Baby Chase (because he's here in my lap)

The little Duvals

2008-05-01T14:12:00.006-04:00

It is hard to get a good picture of the two of them when a) he can't sit up on his own and b) she likes to "ka-POW" him on the head and then apologize profusely...I love their little feet! Sorry it looks so old school portraity...I promise I'll have more of them interacting when the interaction isn't so whack-your-brother-on-the-head oriented!

Oh....I do have this funny image of a typical morning here...though!

Our little Artist...

2008-04-22T23:34:00.003-04:00

This picture was too cute not to share with everyone!

-Mike

Parents & Kids Cover

2008-04-17T14:13:00.005-04:00

I'm proud to say that not only did www.kateduval.com get some nice advertising with the latest Parents and Kids magazine....but Emmie and my nephew Nick just happen to be the stars to the shoot! This image was taken last mother's day after we had all stuffed ourselves with fruit salad and yummy grilled food at my uncle's house. Nick and Emmie just happened to coordinate well and we were overdue for a nice cousin shot. I loved the results so much that I used it as one of the main images over at www.kateduval.com and when Parents and Kids decided to start doing more "candid" shots for their covers they gave me a call and wanted to use this shot! How exciting! Emmie thought it was funny to see her picture with her favorite person (Nicky-ous) on the cover of a magazine at CVS! Find your free copy at www.wickedlocalparents.com!

A Handful!

2008-04-17T14:04:00.001-04:00

Who ME? This is the little man that has kept me from posting about last night's art show...the magazine that Emmie is on the cover of...and so much more. He loves to sleep like this ALL.DAY.LONG...until I sit at the computer. I came on here to write this entry and then I was flipping through the card and this came up and he is just too cute sitting in his little seat like this not to forgo the uploading of said images and just post his cute face. I can't believe he is almost 4 weeks old, where has the time gone?

Two weeks!?

2008-04-04T13:36:00.003-04:00

I have a baby asleep on my chest while leaning back in my chair....a la velcro baby (says Mike). I really cannot believe it has been two weeks since Chase arrived. It feels like forever ago, but I look at him and marvel at how "old" he is already.

Big sister is in love...she kisses the baby and often wants to bring him everywhere...queue, "I go potty, Mommy....bring Baby Chase!" This is all well and good unless he is hungry and she needs to go to bed because sleeping toddler does not bode well with cranky newborn. She has had a couple of nights where she wanted to play after midnight...so maybe it was her canine teeth coming in or maybe it is some adjustment to her role as only child changing a bit. We'll see...in the meantime she is getting a lot of mommy love and cuddles during the day when everyone should be awake.

Daddy started his job at the new studio a week and a little bit after Chase was born and I've fared pretty well being at home with the two munchkins...the good news is that he no longer has to commute 1.5 hours and only has to drive a half hour...that means two more hours of daddytime a day--woo hoo to that!

Baby Chase...the man you are all curious about...is doing FANTASTIC! At the two day check up after leaving the hospital he went from 4lbs. 9.5ounces to 4lbs. 13.5ounces far surpassing their expectations...and then at the two week check up which was only 6 days later he was up to 5lbs. 7ounces! Momma has some magic milk! The pathology on his placenta also came back and it was a bit swollen (?? normal I guess) and the cord was poorly inserted which is why he is so tiny...major lack of nutrition in utero. We're still following up with the doctors at UMASS Children's to just make sure there isn't something else going on, but everyone seems pretty confident that he is a-ok and will continue gaining and catching up on the growth charts.

Mommy is doing well....but forgot how hard it is to wake up every two hours all night...and it seems as though he needs to burp every feeding (Emmie never needed to) and that is takes about 40 minutes to get said burp out...but they are only little once and I look down at his cute little face and know that before I even realize it I'll be bringing him to college longing for his baby days...so I enjoy this time now.

Well, velcro baby is starting to stir and big sister should be up from her nap any minute now....so I'm off. I'll be back with more pictures soon, though!

Chase's Baby Album

2008-03-26T21:31:00.000-04:00

Click on the image to view!

Baby Chase

Here is the start to Chase's album...
I'm sure we'll be adding more and more
throughout the year, but here's a start...
from the hospital to home!

A Looooooong Birth Story!

2008-03-26T20:55:00.007-04:00

Sunday March 23, 2008

I'm not sure where to start...I'm still on the maternity floor...waiting to go see if baby Chase will nurse...he's in the special care nursery because he is on an IV to maintain his blood sugars but is breathing well, maintaining his temp and all that but doesn't have enough body fat to keep up with the world and the 10cc of colostrum I am pumping every two hours aren't giving him enough to get ahead...I can't wait for my milk to come in, I feel like it will solve the world's problems...so I ate the entire bowl of yucky hospital oatmeal today....and let me tell you it was not tasty.

So I'll start the birth story and finish it when I have a chance if I need to go before then...

A Baby Rooster is Born!

It was 7pm on Thursday night March, 20th when I told Mike that I was having "real" contractions and they were about 7 minutes apart...we ordered Papa Gino’s pizza that night...just like we had the night before Emmie was born. We folded laundry together which was the last thing we had done the night Emmie was born...we got the house ready and organized knowing that induction was imminent the next day. We backed two banana breads to bring to the labor and then maternity nurses and printed out birth plans and put the last minute things into the birth bad...I thought for sure I could make it to 7am when the induction was scheduled. We watched Lost and then headed to bed at around midnight...Mike was promptly snoring and I turned on the "Your Birthing Day" track on Hypnobabies. At around 3am contractions were too painful to talk through and coming every 3-5 minutes. I called the OB to let them know we were coming soon, called my mom so she could come earlier than expected...and left the house for the 5 minute drive to the hospital.

We got here and got checked into a tiny little room with a nice nurse...she checked me and I was at 1cm and baby was "high" so I spent the next two or three hours standing and reading my book and rocked him down. The OB came on at 7am and wanted to do a check and I was at 4cm, 90% effaced, and baby was low...he was happy that changes were happening and said that we would hold off on pitocin...he said....no induction for you today and said that even if we did do pitocin later it would then be called augmentation since I was already in labor--yay!!

A fabulous nurse came on at 7 am too...her name was Sharon and she was nice, caring, helpful and funny. She immediately said since it was early labor I could get into the tub if I wanted to...about an hour later the tub was cleaned, filled and at a glorious 102 degrees...I hopped in in my bikini top and underwear and labored in there for about two hours...I was wrinkled and needed to pee by the time I got out...but Mike and I were having fun between contractions listening to the iPod and just talking...we were so happy with how things were going. Dried off and went back to the room...it was now around 10am and the doctor came in and said, "How are we doing?" and I said, "Great...." and he said....you contractions are looking good, baby looks good...we just want your uterus to get organized...let’s check you and if you've made progress than great. So...check he did and everything was the same...he asked for permission to break the bag of water to get things moving...since we were having a baby that day no matter what I agreed...it had already been a long day as I didn't get any sleep the night before...water broke and out came green gushy meconium...how gross is that!? He said it was common and just meant some extra suctioning by him and the ped at delivery. I laid back with waters gushing for a while and got sleepy...snuck in a little nap and my body let contractions calm for a while...they thought broken water = more contractions but my body thought exhaustion meant less contractions. At around noon they said they would start just a "wiff" of pitocin to see if we could get the contractions I was having to just come more frequently...and we changed to a nice big room. I labored on the ball, leaning in Mike's arms...and walking around the room hoping for gravity to help. They were now every 2-3 minutes and no more intense than they had been when I was in labor on my own, just more frequent.

Now his heart rate did a little dip...it was around 12:30...next contraction the dip was a little bigger...nurse said to try a different position...tried the ball...a bigger dip....tried leaning on the bed...a bigger dip....lying on the bed on my left...a HUGE dip...on my right...a big dip....standing and swaying...another big dip and we were now getting down to the 60s and staying down there for 20 seconds or so...she turned up the IV knowing that if I was going to the OR they would want at least 2 bags of fluid in me....the OB came in to talk and do a check...was ready to deliver and we were all hoping Chase was down a lot farther and I was dilated to 8 or 9 so that labor was just around the corner...we were all really bummed when I was still at 4 cm...but I was actually a little relieved that at this point I didn't have to feel any more contractions and I was ready to meet the little man...

Mike and I were both visibly bummed....but at this point we couldn't go back in time and NOT break the water and NOT do pitocin....so wheeled into the OR which feels like some kind of freezing cold movie set and I feel like a splayed naked frog on the high school science table and they prep me while Mike awaits outside in scrubs--which he looks VERY handsome in. It takes three tries to get the spinal in and a bunch of intense contractions...it was worse than the epidural that I had with Emmie but I wonder if it was because I couldn't relax the space to allow for a good needle insertion. It finally took, I felt my legs start to get warm and tingly....and I peed ALL over the place while a nurse said....maybe we should have cath'ed you first...lol...and they finished prep, put up the drape, and called Mike in. He was still visibly disappointed...but we were there for each other. It took way longer than I thought and the tugging and pulling feels so gross...but minutes later a screaming, crying, flailing baby came out of my uterus and into the world...it was hard to see him through the doctors...I was seeing a foot here, a face there...but was told, "He looks GREAT...but definitely IUGR (inter uterine growth restriction)..." Then they disappeared and I laid there shiver uncontrollably while they pulled and tugged--the doctor at one point said, your ovaries look nice....lol...gee thanks, now get out of my abdomen! So they stitched me up with a nice double suture that I had the forethought to ask for in my birth plan (although I was cursing myself because I swore it took way longer than if they had just done whatever it is that they normally do....) and then got wheeled back to my nice labor room. They brought Chase in about an hour later and let me lay skin to skin with him....he nursed and was just as cute as a button. I was so happy that he was breathing and maintaining his temp...we laid like that for a couple of hours...he was too sleepy to nurse on both sides and it did hurt for me to try and sit up...but we kept at it.

I don't know what time it was that they wheeled us down to the maternity ward, but when we got there it was this dark cave of a room at the end of the hall and this is where the bad nurse took over...she reeked of smoke and was just overall rude. Chase's blood work came back (they had done some at birth and one three hours later) and his glucose was 47 at birth and then 26 three hours later even though he had nursed like a champ and I knew I had colostrum....they checked it again and it was at 17....and then they took him to the nursery to get a line in to see if it was just a bad reading from his heel and an actual blood draw might look better...Mike went with him and they were gone and hour and I had to lie there listening to my child screaming down the hallway...they brought him back and I was so relieved...then Mike said they didn't get anything....4 people were trying and stabbing and poking and fishing around in his arms, hands, and legs while he cried and cried...Mike told them he needed a break and brought him back to me to see if nursing could get the levels back up instead of torture with no results...they came back and did a heel prick...he was too exhausted to nurse and just lay on my chest skin to skin and nothing would wake him up...our pediatrician's office called and said she was really worried and we needed to do something quick...the nurse brought in a bottle of formula and said I had to feed it to him right then and there...he gagged and choked and wouldn't take anything...I begged for a pump to see if I could get colostrum...I got 20ccs almost instantaneously and he chowed them down...they did a heel poke and his levels were at 8...he was in serious danger of seizing...so they took him back to the special care and a pediatrician finally got an IV into his arm...they started giving him sugar water through his IV and I started pumping and we would feed that to him mixed with some sugar water...his levels are still wonky....97, 86, 60, 56, 47, 43...so as you can see great and then they peter off....now he's looking jaundice so they have him under the lights...his stump looks a bit infected so they are giving him antibiotics...he's just so tiny and beat up looking from all the poking and prodding....

I got up on Saturday morning and they took the catheter out and I immediately was able to walk down to the special care nursery...they were all very surprised that I could walk as well as I did and told me it wasn't race but of course it was....my little man was at the end of this race and I hadn't seen him for 8 hours....he was in just a bassinet...wrapped and swaddled...and sound asleep. He was like that most of that day....too tired to do much. Since then he has perked up a bit with the IV and they actually let me nurse him yesterday at the 6:30pm feeding and everyone after that....I don't mind going down there every two to three hours with an incision on my body...I don't mind that it hurts...I am sad that it happened the way it did...but I am so in love with him and I don't think he would have survived without all of the interventions that are happening and I so look forward to the years to come with him...

I'll post pictures when we have a better internet connection....pray with me that he gets to come home this week with us...that would be a miracle for me!!

Monday, March 24, 2008

It was a roller coaster of a day again with more blood draws and pokes into this poor kiddo...but he is nursing...and GAINING and PEED 55cc's today in one diaper and his latest blood glucose three hours after nursing for a full 30 minutes was...60!!!! WOOOO HOOOO! I'm so psyched. My "milkies" as Emmie would call them are tingling now with let downs, I can hear him gulp, and he is peeing in massive quantities and keeping his glucose levels up...thank GOD! I can't wait to see what the pediatrician has to say in the morning. It was an emotional day filled with tears of frustration, anger, happiness, and joy...it is hard to see your baby have their heel pricked and manipulated before every feed....to wonder if all the crying he is doing when they pull off the urine bag is going to make him too tired to nurse which is the thing he needs most...but it is so amazing to see this 4lb. little person nurse and nurse and snuggle and nurse and then the results start happening. Big content sigh. I’m going to nap until midnight when I go back to feed him again...things are looking up. On a sad note Mike had to go home tonight to be with Emmie because my mom has to work in the morning and had been with her for three days...I cried when he left because I just want our family to be whole...but with tonight’s good news I think that might be happening sooner than I thought. Now we just need his bilirubin to go down (he is still under the lights) and we need some poop and more milk and life will be good!!!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I can't believe we are home....we were discharged yesterday at 2pm which is when we would have gone home with a c-section anyway...he didn't have to spend any more time in the special care unit and I am beyond thrilled. I did feel like it was Christmas morning when they said we could go home...but then I felt bad being too giddy when there are babies with their parents who have been in there for months waiting for the ticket to go home and I have such a new appreciation for them and actually get a really emotional when I think of having to leave him there.

So last night was our first official night home and it wasn't terrible...but it wasn't great. He was in such a good little routine with the SCN (Special Care Nursery) nurses...but it was like we just couldn't find our rhythm until the 1am feeding, which was a great one, so he slept until 4am (I set an alarm because he is just too little to go longer than 4 hours without eating) and that was a good feeding so he slept until 7am. I am so amazed at what a good little nursling he is...I'm so engorged because when he would nurse in the hospital I would then go back to the room and pump for 10 minutes to get him some CCs of colostrum before the next feeding, so I'm sure my body thinks I have 7lb. twins to nurse instead of one 4lb. baby....but they'll regulate this month and I am just so happy that I don't have to give him anymore formula...I think the c-section was hard...and then when they are shoving formula at me less than 5 hours later I was like will nothing go as planned? But he has no nipple confusion and seemed to prefer the pumped colostrum which he would suck down when he only gagged on the Enfamil...I did tell them I downright refuse Nestle because of all of their shady business practices. Ok, enough breastfeeding talk....(I just want everyone to know that breastfeeding is just the way that we did things with Emmie and I do believe it is so good for baby, mom and wallet that I stand by it and advocate for it, but that doesn't mean I am judging anyone who couldn't make it work.)

So, the little man is currently snuggled in my Moby wrap on my chest sleeping away and I'm waiting for his big sister to wake up. She was excited to see me....bigger than I remember her being....and cute as a button. She had a hard time coming home and going down for a nap (she came to the hospital at around 11:30am and we didn't get out until 2 so that was her naptime...) so we let her stay up but then we had a pretty miserable bedtime as well...she wanted baby Chase to come and hated leaving him in the living room with Daddy....plus rocking her hurt my belly....but not rocking her hurt my heart. I gave her tons of kisses and love and I'm sure she'll be back to some sort of normal today...she kept kissing Chase yesterday and wanting to hold him and then she would say, "Mommy, kiss the baby's head..." so I would kiss her and she would giggle and point to the spot on his head she wanted me to kiss and say, "No, baby Chase." She thinks it is funny that he has a soothie but she is more than willing to give hers to him...she is an amazing big sister already!

Chase Stephen Duval

2008-03-23T07:06:00.003-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick (text only since it's taken 10 minutes to get the blog open) update. Chase was born on Friday afternoon at 1:45 via c-section....Kate was doing great and went into labor on her own at 7pm the night before we were supposed to be induced...but as soon as active labor went into effect his cord just couldn't handle it and his heart rate was plummeting so they did a section.

He weighs in at 4lbs 11 ounces and they have some testing to run on him since that is "small for gestational age" as he was born at 38 weeks and 1 day....they do think it was just a "bad" cord that wasn't perfusing the right amount of blood and that he should thrive on the outside, but there are some things they want to rule out in the meantime. Looks like Kate will be discharged on Tuesday...but will stay with Chase until he is ready to come home as a boarder in the hospital. I'm going home tonight to be with Emmie who we both miss like crazy...and hopefully Chase can come home soon. He's in the special care nursery having some trouble with his blood sugar so they have a glucose IV in to regulate that but they're trying to wean him off of it....hard to maintain your body temp and you sugar levels when you have 0% body fat to work with! I'm sure Kate will give you the whole story and I promise pictures as soon as we have a better internet connection!

The day before Emmie becomes a big sister

2008-03-21T00:13:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! It was a busy day here today. I spend all day getting things ready for Chase. We are so excited to meet him. Thanks to everyone who has sent good thoughts our way. I'll be sure to post pics and fill eveyone in once I can get to a computer after Chase is born. Even though it was a busy day, Emmie and I had some time to go outside and enjoy her last day as an only child. Talk to all of you soon!

-Mike

Things to do while baby waiting...

2008-03-18T22:21:00.003-04:00

What do you do when you are waiting for a baby and you've got orders to take it easy as much as possible? You look for things to record on the DVR. One of the sleeper favorites we've found is a show called "Here come the Newlyweds." Its cheezy, its goofy, it won't be up for an Emmy, but the challenges, the couples, and the especially the host Pat make us laugh. So while all of our cool photographer friends are out at WPPI walking their legs off in Vegas, we're anxiously awaiting to see who is going to win the $398,000...or will it be more? It seems like the final prize grows every week!

If you'd like to out yourself as a "Here come the Newlyweds" dork, leave a comment and tell us who your favorite couple is. If you like to join the dork club and want a crash course, check out ABC.com and watch the episodes online.

Scrapping...

2008-03-06T23:21:00.002-05:00

We're here...we're still just waiting on Mr. Man to behave in there and cook a little longer...read the last post if you're confused as to what I'm talking about. I'm still a little slow on the uptake with responding to emails...don't take it personally, it's just not in the doctor's orders to sit at the computer until after baby gets here!

I wore the same shirt/pants every month for the pictures...decided that I probably am not going to get to 40 weeks so I might as well have up to 36 weeks. We go into Boston again on Tuesday for more info on how he is growing and what the thoughts on an early induction are if cord flow is still diminished...thanks for all the well wishes and prayers, every single one of them is appreciated and needed for this tiny man!

Why we're MIA...ultrasound update.

2008-02-27T20:47:00.002-05:00

On Friday I went in for what we thought was a pretty routine ultrasound...our office does them at 18-22 weeks and then again at 35 weeks. They had been a little worried that Emmie's shoulder was broken, so I was suspecting they would tell us that this little bean was "getting too big" and that they wanted to induce early so that he wouldn't get "stuck" like his sister almost did...I was going to laugh and tell them that I trust my body and blah blah blah and would go until at least 41-2 weeks before I let them induce me...

Let's just say that's not at all how it went down...the sonographer (person who does the ultrasounds) made a lot of measurements and then said that this little bean is measuring "a lot" smaller than they would expect...so she did what is called a doppler of his cord to assess blood flow. She did determine that he has diminished flow which means that there may be something wrong with my placenta...so off I went to the followup with the OB who said that she was concerned that he was so small and sent me over to labor and delivery for a non-stress test to see how his heart rate was looking...all was well there, but they said that with the lack of blood flow he is getting they want me on modified bed rest--basically no going to the gym or for hikes...I can make dinner and go to the grocery store...but whenever I can I'm supposed to lie on my left side so he gets as much blood as possible. So that meant that I didn't get to make it to Derek & Heather's wedding...and instead sat on the couch and watch The Jungle Book and Toy Story with Emmie...Mike went with Michelle from www.michellecaucuttphotography.blogspot.com and I do say that they did a fabulous job (even without me...big pout!)

I had a followup ultrasound in Boston on Tuesday and all is still looking like this placenta isn't working quite right and they're talking about inducing labor when I'm around 37 weeks instead of letting me go into labor spontaneously on my own. There was one other abnormal finding...his femur is only measuring at 28 weeks instead of the 34 weeks that I am at...so they are thinking that he is going to need some testing after birth to find out if he has a chromosomal abnormality or some kind of bone dysplasia...I'm back and forth to the hospital two times a week from now until when he is born. Any good thoughts, prayers, or vibes that you can send to this little guy would be greatly appreciated. It is hard as a mom to know that something is going on with your baby and not know what...Emmie is constantly talking to him and kissing my belly and now she says, "Grow baby, grow..." He was only 3lbs 12oz. at Friday's scan and then 4lbs. on Tuesdays scan...we'll know more when he is here and in the meantime thanks for being patient with out slow response to emails and inquiries!

Heather & Derek's Wedding

2008-02-26T22:40:00.004-05:00

Hi guys. This is the slide show from Heather and Derek's wedding this weekend. Take a peek!

Wintery Wonderland!

2008-02-21T20:54:00.003-05:00

Mike and I took these pictures two years ago on February 13, 2006. Heather and Derek were one of the first couples to book us for their wedding...the funny thing is is that they were planning more than two years in advance! I remember the day that Heather called me to go on this engagement shoot...it had just snowed the day before and she was so excited to meet at the park where there would still be some fresh powder on the trees. I was 6 months pregnant with Emmie at the time and had a blast capturing their snowball fight...it seems very full circle to me that they are going to get a nice fresh coat of snow dumped down on Friday so that their wedding pictures will be just as magical...and full circle because this time I'll be 8 months pregnant with baby number 2! Stay tuned for pictures after their wedding this Saturday!

Mike Mastered His Craft

2008-02-20T22:01:00.004-05:00

Mike was able to go down to Hartford, CT today for Mike Co

lón & Bob Davis's Master Your Craft National Tour. I was a little sad to have to stay home, but I was also a little too pregnant to really want to sit at a seminar for 8 hours...not to mention the three hours of trave

l in the car...oh, and we would have had to bring Emmie too since everyone who could possibly watch her was working today...ok, enough from me.

Here is the proof....that he really did get to go and spend the day with two photographers that are not only highly admired by the world at large, but also by MKD Photography in gene

ral!

The highlight of the day (excluding Mike and Bob) was getting to hold Mike Colón's D3 with a 200mm F2...

Can you tell he is a little bit excited to hold this piece of equipment? Nothing like $10,000 worth of camera to put a smile on your face!

It all makes so much more sense when you are holding an imaginary camera to your face! This was during the capture section of the seminar...they covered things like aperture, shooting in manual mode, auto-focus...setting and getting the right white balance. Bob was great shooting

images with Wi-Fi so that we could see exactly what he was talking about in real time. He also went over a lot of the different ways you can capture the best light while using a flash...my favorite part was about the RGB histograms...I always love it when I can come away from a seminar with a completely new to me concept that I can immediately put to use--so that you for that!

Here is Mike Colón showing off his camera...but also taking some pictures of Bob while he was covering "flash" all while playing with off-camera lighting. His topics were more on natural lighting and how best to capture it. The second half of the day was focused on marketing and business which is what we're really honing in on this year as we're looking to make the jump from doing this as an additional income to a primary way to make a living...we think it will make all of our brides a lot happier that we can invest that much more time in you...and it will make us happier because we will no longer be stretching the rubber band out in 3 different directions and can focus on what we love best--capturing your day as unobtrusively as possible while giving you and all of your future yous (kids, grandkids, great-grandkids) a complete picture of your wedding day!

Just another fun image of Bob doing a lighting sequence...

Overall a good day was had by all, not only did Mike get to listen to Bob and Mike talk about what they are most passionate about, he also came home with a pocket full of business cards from the new friends he made...now I'm off to check out their sites and add them to my Google Reader so I can keep up with them on my iGoogle!! Have a good night, folks!

Google.

2008-02-19T22:52:00.004-05:00

I really just need to tell you how unbelievable this company is. I was just kind of bouncing around to other photographers blogs checking out what everyone is up to when I asked Mike, is there something I can download that will just tell me when people have updated? I had heard about RSS but I didn't really know how to use it or what it was for...so google apparently has a lovely little RSS reader that will just let me know when my favorite bloggers have updated (or really anysite that has RSS feed)

The good thing is that I can add it to my iGoogle page...you do have iGoogle, right?

Here's a screenshot of my iGoogle page...I love that you can pick a theme...which by the way there are about million pages of them vs. when I first got it and you could only pick from a handful. They're fun and tend to change with the weather and time depending on your location. Top left is now my reader which will update me with new blog posts and such...there in the bottom left is my "to do list" on a sticky pad...top middle is the good old Google calendar that works with a lot of the meetup.com play groups that Emmie and I go to. There is a driving directions and quotes section below that...on the top right is my gmail and then the weather for Acton, MA...a sudoku section which I can sometimes play while I'm waiting for a big batch of files to convert and Emmie is down for a nap...and the top recipe of the day at allrecipes.com which is always fun to look at.

Honestly? You can have different tabs...say a game tab, a news tab, a gadget tab....you can keep it all on one tab like me (because really I wouldn't switch between tabs anyway) and you can totally customize it to what you want. I also love Picasa which is a Google program. It is so amazing how far we've seen the internet come in the last few years...I remember sitting in my friend Mary's basement waiting for AOL to dial up on her 56k modem thinking that my parents were behind the times not letting us get AOL.

One last thing...a nice MKD Photography desktop image that I just made for the laptop...feel free to download it and use it as your desktop wallpaper too!

KateDuval.com

2008-02-18T12:53:00.001-05:00

I just added a new gallery over at kateduval.com and updated all of the other galleries with some new pictures from the last few months. The new gallery is "families" and they used to be combined with the "driving" category, but that is now really just dedicated to seniors...I think I might add a "maternity" section as well instead of lumping those into either "brand new" or "families" because really, there are so many different categories and each deserves its own space! I love updating the site!

I'm also torn between making a blog for the kateduval.com site or just doing my blog posts for that site over here...I think for the most part I just avoided blogging those sessions altogether because I felt funny having two blogs but I also felt funny posting on the MKD blog--but really? They're sister sites, so why not, right? About 6 more weeks until baby time and then I think both blogs are going to be booming....eeeeeee--I'm so excited to have a baby in my arms and a camera to my eye...not both at once, mind you...but in general! I don't know what I'm more excited about, the new baby or more fun weddings and sessions this season!

Birthdays, Chili & Photo-friends!

2008-02-17T20:51:00.003-05:00

Today was one of those days that you have a million and one different things to do all at once and everything just seems to fall into place in ways you didn't imagine.

For starters Emmie woke up at 6am instead of 8am like she usually does...which was actually a bonus once I got my gears going because we got to put an extra load of laundry in and get a jump start on our busy day. We HAD to go to the grocery store because if we don't have bananas in the house there is a certain someone under three feet tall who gets very emotional...oh, and we needed supplies for chili for the friends we had coming over later in the day. We barely squeezed in the trip to the store and then we were off to the Doubletree in Waltham to have a family brunch for my two uncles who were turning 65 and 60--fun times because I have 6 cousins who are all married with kids so there were 14 rugrats running around and Emmie had a blast even though she only caught 15 minutes of sleep on the car ride over.

We left there around 1pm thinking Emmie would be primed and ready for her nap but apparently the 15 minutes on the car ride over was enough for her and she was tearing around the house while I made some chili...do you go to www.allrecipes.com? If you don't already you should...just stick to the recipes that have a huge number of reviews and still manage to keep their 5 stars and you'll never cook a bad meal...we made Chili by George.

Matt & Paulette were supposed to arrive around 4pm...but we call and find out that they had a last minute shoot and can't make it. Two others canceled yesterday...and we have a HUGE pot of chili and no one to eat it so I call the family down the street who just had a baby two weeks ago and offer some...they already have dinner on the table as it's 4:50pm. Then we remember that Michelle said she was going to come hang out with Matt & Paulette but that she would be late because she was meeting with a bride...Michelle is one of our number one referrals when we are booked for a date so...instead of a meeting with a whole bunch of people we got to meet with Michelle one-on-one and talk weddings! It was fun, laid back, and there was plenty to eat!!

Thirst Relief Auction

2008-02-16T11:53:00.003-05:00

This past week a whole bunch of professional wedding photographers decided to put up an auction offering their mentoring services in exchange for a donation to Thirst Relief. There were 61 Mentors, 450 Registered Bidders and we raised $33,546.55 to save 10,500 LIVES!!!!

I'm excited to say that Mike and I bid and won the auction to have a personal one-on-one mentoring session with Enna & Matt of Grazier Photography who we have long admired since seeing them all over the Pictage site.

Here are the highlights of what we have won...

Thirst Relief International is a charity that provides clean drinking water to those in need around the world. Matt and I are passionate about this cause as well as our efforts to help our fellow photographers achieve their business and personal goals. So we are excited to join more than 50 world-renowned photographers in offering mentoring sessions to other photographers in March, to benefit Thirst Relief International. Most sessions will take place at this year's WPPI Convention in Las Vegas March 17-19, but one need not be at WPPI in order to participate: our session can also take place over the telephone, email, or in the Boston area. All proceeds from the auction will go directly to Thirst Relief International.

In addition to the 90 minute session in March, we will provide a website/portfolio review, a follow-up mentoring session to check on your progress towards your goals, and a complete set of our own studio promotional materials.

Matt and I love one-on-one mentoring and portfolio critiquing, but we don't have a lot of time to offer this kind of mentoring very often. So we're very excited to participate in this auction and give one person/studio a lot of time and attention. We will tailor your mentoring sessions to your needs and requests. The topics that we are most passionate about helping other photographers with are branding, relationship marketing, self-worth and pricing, and following your heart.

We've opened Pandora's Box

2008-02-15T07:46:00.002-05:00

Recently a friend of mine recommended an amazing site, its called Pandora. It's internet radio that you customize to your musical tastes. You start by putting in one of your favorite songs or artists, and then Pandora plays new songs you may like. You can continue to add artists or songs you like and you can rate the songs Pandora plays. When you give a song the "thumbs down" Pandora just moves on (no sense in listening to music you don't like). Its amazingly smart!

If this all sounds like something you've heard before, it isn't. The thing that makes Pandora so cool is that it uses a very complicated algorithm based on 400 musical attributes to find simalarites between artists and songs. This is different from other "If you like so-and-so, other people like this" type recommendations that rarely seem to have any relevance. So while you're out cruising the net planning your wedding, give Pandora a try and create a staion for yourself.

For more geeky info on how this works check this out: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/pandora.htm

-Mike