a mom and her camera

the trenches.

Do you ever just feel like you are stuck in the trenches and if only you could dig yourself out everything would be better?

This capital campaign work is just so exhausting! Rewarding, but totally exhausting.  I've been sitting with this computer since 10am, it is now 10:42pm which makes this one long long day of thinking in design mode.

Anyway, I do want to share the newsletter my amazing print team and I put out last week though. I think posting the accomplishments will make me feel like I'm actually making progress.  It's not going to be a big deal to anyone but me, really, but b/c this is my blog and my big deal, here you go.

So that piece went out last week and right now I am working on an 8 page brochure. We still have another newsletter to get out and some other smaller pieces. I did the design of the logo and all the design work on the layouts, but my teammates did all the writing and placing of text, order of items, organization of the team, etc.

*You can click on the images to make them bigger...

The next three days the girls are at Grandma's house or GoGo's house so that I can work non-stop on getting these pieces done. And although parts of me love doing all of this work, the other parts really miss having the girls all day. Just goes to show that the grass is always greener!

Soulard

Last weekend I got to do two senior photo shoots down in Soulard.  I love that area for photos b/c it allows me to find different spots to shoot and the lighting is great (building shade is always better than tree shade b/c it's so solid).  Not to mention just walking around that neighborhood is fun b/c of the wonderful old buildings and alleys and nooks.

I will say that after two shoots that require a lot of walking I was pretty sore!  But it was totally worth it!

Katie was my first senior that day and we actually threw in her family for a bunch of shots so when you look at her album it's not just her.

Thanks for a great morning Katie!

Today:  Our day started out great, the girls slept through the entire night with no crying so at 6am I was happy to get up with them!  But then at 7am Parker threw-up EVERYWHERE which sort of turned the morning for me.  Grandma is on her way to pick them up, sick kid and all, so that I can work all day on the Emmanuel Campaign materials... I'll post the big project we finished last week for it later.  So hopefully Parker will feel better and Grandma's day will go smoothly.  Either way I am going to work as fast as humanly possible to knock this sucker out.

This day will NOT kick my butt!  I'm all over you Tuesday! 

it's monday morning and yes, i am going to talk about alcohol.

What possessed me to say that I would write a post about sports and beer is beyond me b/c although Chris follows all sports known to man, I know nothing. And I don't drink.  So I've spent some time trying to figure out the best way to do this without making a complete fool out of myself and here you go.

TAGGED.

I was tagged by Amy (7 random things about yourself) a while back and also by Emily (which I will do eventually I swear!) and have been putting them off, so I'm going to combine these two posts since I wasn't sure what to talk about in either of them!

SPORTS.

1. I played softball from kindergarten until freshman year in high school. I was the pitcher all those years and loved it, but then when they made me a swing player from JV to Varsity as a 9th grader the pressure became too much and I decided I hated it.  My parents thought I would go to college on a softball scholarship!
2. I was the head coach for the Gonzaga University Women's Lacrosse team for one year in Spokane, WA. Our last tournament was about a month before I was due with Bailey and by the end of the weekend I was coaching from a chair and completely brain dead. Thankfully Chris stepped in and coached most of that last game for me.
3. I jogged up until I was 8 months pregnant with Bailey and my last day jogging wasn't b/c I was ready to turn in my sneakers, it was b/c an older woman stopped me on the street during my run and said, "honey, I don't think that's good for the baby!"
4. Chris played 5 varsity sports our senior year in high school and was named "most athletic" which sort of embarrasses him but for some reason makes me incredibly proud.
5. When I was in middle school I played basket ball one year and hated every second of it. During a game I got my first foul and had to do a free throw (do you "do a free throw? I don't even know the terminology!) I was so scared b/c I knew I would miss (having never made the shot in practice) that I stood there and cried. The ref had to walk over and say, "it's ok, just shoot the ball!"
6. Bailey can do more Up/Downs than most of the kids on C's soccer team, and of course he couldn't be prouder.
7. In high school I was a pretty "good" kid (no drinking, smoking, drugs, sex, or even much cursing) and during one lacrosse game a girl from the other team and I were fighting for a ground ball that she finally won, but in winning the ball accidentally hit my head really hard with her stick. Caught up in the moment I paused for a second before chasing after her and screamed "you checked me in my head you [email protected]#$ing [email protected]#$%!" Not only did I curse big and LOUD, I was standing on the side of the field next to the entire parent section. That year I won the "potty mouth" award. My parents were so proud.

BEER.

1. I've never actually tried a sip of beer.
2. I don't drink normally, but if I do my favorite drink is a Tom Collins.
3. My claim to fame in college, and one of the only nights I drank, I did 12 vodka shots in under an hour. It just happened to coincide with the night I decided to wear a thong for the first time. In the middle of a room full of people I said, "I have had ENOUGH" and proceeded to take OFF the thong in front of everyone. Luckily I had great friends who rescued me from too much embarrassment!
4. Having never drank beer before it was ironic that I worked for a few years at a restaurant that had over 20 beers on tap. Over time I learned to describe those beers like I had personally drank a keg of each of them.
5. My senior year of high school one of my classmates died in a drunk driving accident, him vs. tree. That event only solidified my absolute fear of drunk driving and I will fight people to the death to take their keys.
6. I have never actually been hung over. Even after the 12 vodka shots!
7. At Christmas this past year we were having dinner at my parents and being pregnant, I was drinking sparkling cider instead of wine like everyone else. I asked Chris to get me another glass at one point and after drinking less than half I said, "I know you can't get drunk off this stuff, but my head is starting to feel fuzzy."  Everyone started laughing b/c he had given me half cider/half wine thinking there was no way I would notice and sure enough, I was getting tipsy! (note: it is ok to have a glass of wine when pregnant so he was not trying to injure the baby!)

How's that for a Beer/Sports post?  :)

i'm a mom. i understand.

Every family has one of those days.  The ones when the husband is grumpy, the toddler is uncooperative, the baby skipped a nap, the weather isn't what was predicted, etc.  Days like that can be hard to manage under normal circumstances, but add in trying to have the perfect family photo shoot and it just ups the frustration level, especially for the mom.  Moms are the ones that have spent countless hours planning and shopping and washing and ironing the perfect outfits.  They pack the snacks and blankies and sippy cups and everything else the family might need to get through 2 hours of photos. They spent lots of time convincing the unwilling husband that getting photos taken with their rapidly growing babies was a great idea, and then reminding them of that over and over as the day grew closer.

So when things go wrong the stress falls on the mom's shoulders.  And because I've had photos taken of my own family, and because I have a one and two year old, and because my husband hates photos, and because I AM A MOM, I understand.

i. completely. understand.

So therein lies an unpublicized Jodified policy... if nothing is going right and I feel like I'm not going to get the shots that will make you fall in love with your crabby family all over again, then I will reschedule for FREE.  And I will of course go through and edit any photos from the original shoot to see if I did in fact get something as well as doing the re-shoot.

This helps take the stress out of photo shoots with young children.  And hopefully takes a load off the mom b/c the last thing an exhausted mom needs is more stress!

I am mentioning this b/c this happened for the first time yesterday and although we tried, it just wasn't happening.  Even though the kids were adorable, the clothes choices were beautiful and the sky was bright, it just wasn't working.  So we are rescheduling before Grayson comes and life goes on you know?

Here is one I got... one of a very few that I got!  :)

baby noah

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting tiny baby noah, his mom, dad and adorable big sister!  They had the most beautiful home in a part of the city that is a hidden treasure and the best part?  They did it all themselves!  I love couples that see potential in older homes.  Couples that don't mind putting the work into saving an old house rather than just buying new. 

But I wasn't there to photograph the house! So instead I got some shots of the great family that lived there!  :)

The album is to the left, "baby noah", so go check them out!

****

Tonight we ended up having dinner with friends and I have to tell you two of the funniest stories I have ever heard!

So my friend is pregnant with her third also, her two girls are 3 and 5 though so they do understand the fact that their mom is having a baby a tad more than my girls.  However, they are still 3 and 5 so their logic is sometimes hilarious!

Story #1 :: The 5 year old was looking at a pregnancy book, the kind with photos of all the stages the fetus goes through... you know what I mean.  Her husband asked if there was anything in there she shouldn't see and she said no, it was fine.  At that moment she looked over and saw what her daughter was looking at, noticed the look on her face and grabbed the book as fast as she could.  The photo that had been studied by the 5 year old was a woman giving birth on her hands and knees with the doctor behind her delivering the baby.  Her daughter looked at her, completely terrified, and said, "Mommy, why was that lady pooping out a baby?"

My friend's response:  "she was sick, do you want some ice cream?"

Pooped baby forgotten and ice cream served!

Story #2 :: My friend was watching Enchanted with her girls and her daughter told her that she just LOVED the movie. She then said, "The baby will love this movie too Mommy!"

Followed by:  "Will you open your mouth so the baby can hear?"

Of course she sat there with her mouth open!  :)

*I love kid logic!  :)

feelin' the love.

We woke up this morning to a yard full of forks and C's car looking oh so lovely!

What I love about this is not the mess we Chris has to clean up but the tradition. I love that I remember doing this to my high school coaches (the ones we liked at least), my lacrosse team I coached a few years back did it to me and now Chris has had his first taste too.  In such a strange and funny way it is a huge honor to have your players do this to you!

My favorite part was that the girls wrote "sorry Jodie" on the back of his car!

The other thing that had me really laughing this morning (at 6:30am) was Bailey.  She started picking up forks and then threw them down and said, "Mommy, there are just so many!"  I would have given up too!

The cones came from some road work equipment from across the street.

So although I thought it was great, Chris was not quite as happy! And me snapping photos while he unwrapped his car instead of helping him didn't help either.  This is his, "Jodie, come on! Leave me alone!"  I see this face quite often through my lens actually. Hmmmm. Could it be that he hates having his photo taken? 

TODAY: rocks. Seriously rocks. My mom took the girls this morning and isn't giving them back until tomorrow!  YAHOO!  I have done laundry, showered, picked up, packed away some winter girl clothes, created a massive pile of clothes for little Samantha, blogged and now I'm headed out to work work work! It's amazing how much you can get done without little ones tugging on you all day! Thanks mom!

Happy Friday!

***beer and sports coming soon...***

***this blog isn't changing except that I'll be talking more about my work, only www.jodified.typepad.com/jodifieddesigns will be going away***

changes are a commin'

I have decided, after much thought and discussion with myself (yes myself, no one else really cares about my blog!), that I am going to do away with the Jodified side of this blog and just combine the two.  I'm getting too busy and it's too complicated to make sure I'm keeping up with that side of things.  Not to mention I talk about my work over here anyway. 

SO, tonight my goal is to get this project done, but at least in the next few days please note that there will be some changes around here!

And if you have so sweetly linked the Jodified site on your blog, please go ahead and take that link off.  I would still appreciate all the links to this blog anyone wants to give me though!

Off to do bath/books/bed and then am plopping myself on the couch, laptop in shrinking lap with ALL NEW shows to entertain me tonight!  Are you all just DYING to see Grey's tonight?  All day I've been counting down the hours! 

Until later my friends...

i blinked and missed spring.

This stupid city and its stupid weather.  I keep telling myself not to complain b/c I was complaining when it was cold too, but come on!  It is 77 degrees in our house right now and all I want to do is kick on the ac so I can actually sleep without sweating tonight!

Why does St. Louis go straight from winter to summer?  Where are the 60 degree days when you can run around at the park and not need bottles of water to stay hydrated?  Where is SPRING? 

With no answer to that question today I decided to just welcome summer by breaking out the kiddie pool.

So this afternoon, clad in swimsuits, hose on, pool filled and camera in hand, we welcomed the 80 degree summer-like weather...

i love that parker still has chubby baby feet!

i love love love the ringlets.

and i love love love her cute bottom without the diaper!

parker didn't like being IN the cold water so she played in the hose with cups the whole time.

so yes, it's a tad early, but the allen girls welcomed summer in with a splash today!

And we plan on doing it again tomorrow!

men, i am warning you now to stop reading and move onto the next blog!

Ok men, you've been warned.

****

I am done being pregnant.

Not that I am ready to have three kids under three or go through the pains of breast feeding for a third time or deal with middle of the night feedings. 

But I am DONE with being pregnant. 

And honestly, I have easy pregnancies.  I am blessed in that God just simply makes it easy for me.  No morning sickness (queasiness for a few weeks is all), no stretch marks, not much weight gain (I've gained 10lbs total at 32 weeks), no serious problems with blood pressure or diabetes or anything, etc.

However.

However. Something is happening now that has never happened before and I hate every second of it.

My yoohoo is swollen. By the end of the day I can barely sit, stand, walk or do anything but lay down. Thank goodness for my laptop.  I asked my OB today and she said it's just normal, like how some women get swelling in their feet.  The difference being, or course, your feet are not rubbing between your legs with every step! 

So as I type this, I have a bag of frozen peas in that area, which feels good but totally creeps me out! 

Has this happened to anyone else?  Come on you mother's out there, anyone? Be honest b/c I need some kind of support group for this!  I just want to know that I'm not the only strange one out there!

And yes, I have been bad about blogging lately.  I am just bogged down with deadlines and work and kids and life.  But after next week my life will be a ton more simple b/c the capital campaign work will be finished, or almost finished, and I can resume normalcy again. So bear with me!

And men, if you made it this far, I apologize for the seriously woman-centered post!  I promise I'll talk about sports and beer tomorrow.

seniors

I officially love LOVE photographing seniors! They are so easy!  They listen and follow directions, unlike toddlers or babies or husbands!  They are also up for anything!

So I've just finished one senior session today and am on my way out the door for my second session, but I had to share a photo or two from earlier b/c this girl was so cute!  Katie is on C's soccer team and is good friends with Kelsey, my first senior session last fall.  She was simply adorable!