Another busy, star-studded, baby-filled week

Last week went by in a blur. Election day was a nearly 12-hour workday.

Then on Thursday I got to go to Naples for the dedication of Baker Field at the Boys & Girls Club in Naples where I got to photograph Cal Ripken Jr. He pitched a few balls to the kids, which was really cool. He's a really down-to-earth kind of guy it seems. Check out my gallery from the event here.

On Saturday night, I got to photograph a dinner for 150 people who bid in a wine fest auction. The dinner was prepared by Top Chef's Tom Colicchio and was followed by a concert by LeAnn Rimes!

Of course, I didn't get to try any food, but I did get to hear a little of the concert while I was working. I also got scolded by Mr. Colicchio. Apparently he doesn't like to have his photo taken. Even though they told us we were welcome in the food tent. I guess they just wanted us to photograph the food. I still got a shot of him from outside of the tent. So hopefully I won't get a cease-and-desist order from his attorney for publishing them. he he he.

Before the dinner began, we got to interview LeAnn Rimes privately. So I actually got to meet her and shake her hand. She was really nice and gracious. She seemed genuinely happy to be there. Here's the photo gallery from the event.

I got an iPhone video of part of her new single, Spit Fire, which rocks by the way.

Oh and the house, er estate where it was held.....A. Maze. Ing. It was huge and right on the beach in Port Royal in Naples. The grounds were so big we almost got lost making our way back to the front to take the shuttle back to our cars. And the valet lot was full of Bentleys and Ferraris.

Sunday couldn't come soon enough. I was ready for a day off, but it wasn't totally a day of rest. In the morning I did some family portraits of the Luce family - my wonderful chiropractor, his beautiful wife and super-cute son.

In the afternoon, Scott's sister Emily came to visit with her new baby James David Risner. They are in town for a week from Puerto Rico, where her hubby Eric is in the Coast Guard. It was our first time meeting little JD, and we loved hanging out with him. We think he's super cute. And we're so happy our son will have such an awesome cousin to play with after he's born.

And finally, I'm growing like crazy. Well my belly is anyway. On Monday, the young girl giving me a pedicure asked me if I was having twins. She thought I was only days away from delivery. I cut her some slack because she was so young. But throughout the week, some adult women hinted that I was extra big too. Way to make a girl feel beautiful. Jeez.

For documentation's sake, the vertical line on my belly has appeared. The pain in my pelvis has begun when I walk, stand or move. But I do still love being pregnant. It's just amazing how everything changes week to week. And I believe I'm starting to feel the "labor warmups" aka Braxton Hicks contractions. The right side of my belly tightens every now and then. Plus I think he mostly lives in that side so it gets really lopsided sometimes. It's pretty funny looking. Speaking of funny.......Here's my belly jumping while waiting for my midwife appointment on Wednesday........

Baby Whittamore update - 23 weeks

On Monday, I had another appointment at my specialist's office. I have to go there in addition to my midwife appointments because of my autoimmune condition (which seems just fine right now, by the way.)

Baby boy Whittamore is growing and kicking like crazy. The doctor said he was bigger than average, but that wasn't too surprising since his dad was a 10-pound baby. As of Monday, he weighed 1 pound, 7 oz. and was 11.7 inches long. She also gave me a few 4D photos to take home.

I can feel him kicking quite often now - sometimes even when I'm standing. He is most often in the head down position with his butt up and mostly on my right side. When I sit on the couch at night sometimes, my belly is all to the right and much firmer on that side. The left side is sloped and softer. It looks pretty funny.

Sometimes when he kicks I can see my belly move too. Scott has been able to feel his movements pretty often when we're home together at night. But baby Whittamore gets really active around 11 pm after Scott goes to bed. Last night he was punching and kicking.

I've been trying to resist the temptation to buy stuff, and I've done pretty well so far. But I have given in a few times. I bought him a Florida State football jersey onesie that will hopefully still fit him next fall so he can watch football with Scott. The registry shopping went well and I've been trying to just add stuff to the registries when the shopping urge hits. My friend Lindi helped me register at Target and Babies 'R' Us the other weekend, and I also have a registry on Amazon with some items not found in stores. Some items are also much much cheaper there and most have free shipping!

Here's me and my big belly today......

A fun and busy week

Work is getting busier, and a mid-week night out is rare for us. But when I got an email saying one of my favorite bands, JJ Grey & Mofro, would be in town I bought tickets right away. They performed Wednesday night at the "World Famous" Buckingham Blues Bar. 

It was their first show this far south "on the left coast" as they said. It's an unlikely but awesome venue with a great outdoor area out back complete with a beer-drinking mule. Yeah, it's a redneck kinda place. We enjoyed sitting on the deck and taking in the show. They sounded GREAT. They are from Jacksonville and sing a lot about old Florida. Kinda southern rock-blues-funk.

We did make it down front for the last song. I needed to dance a little. And the baby loved it, too. He was kicking almost the whole time. I feel him moving and kicking a lot now, mostly in the afternoon and evening.

There were no "pro cameras" allowed, so this is the best I cold do with the iPhone.

Here's a little YouTube video of their music in case you don't know........This song is called "Georgia Warhorse," like those crazy big grasshoppers, and it is apparently inspired by JJ Grey's grandma, who was one tough lady.....

and another song for good measure......"The Sweetest Thing."

Last Saturday we went to our eight-year-old niece Faith's first swim meet. She did great. She is always full of energy and constantly in the pool when we have family gatherings, so swimming is a natural choice for her. Unfortunately we could only stay for two of her four races. She did the 25-yard swim in all four strokes. Here's a few photos. 

Finally, on Thursday, Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan came to town. It was a long hot day of waiting outside, but the photos turned out nice. And I think the bosses were pleased with the coverage. I sent a couple of photo galleries and several iPhone videos with supporters, Lee Greenwood singing "Proud to be an American," and comedian Dennis Miller speaking warming up the crowd before Ryan took the stage. Here's a link to the main photo gallery.

Here's a link to the news-press.com election page. If you scroll down and look on the right, you can see the videos from the event if you're interested.

And finally the obligatory weekly belly shots: 21 weeks!

As you can see, it was a busy week. Included in that was a 5-hour eye doctor's appointment (grrrrr) on Monday and four other long days of work. I'm now not only doing my job, but also part of another guy's job who just left. Not that I'm complaining..........it's just a lot.

I haven't been able to be home for dinner all week. So I'm looking forward to cooking dinner and catching up on TV tomorrow night. Tonight we're going out to check out the zombies and Zombicon in downtown Fort Myers after I get off work. And tomorrow my good friend Lindi is helping me register for BABY STUFF!

20 weeks

Tuesday officially marked the halfway point of my pregnancy!

 I'm still feeling great, but starting to get a little limited. I now have to put my knee out to the side while putting on my pants otherwise it hits my growing belly. And bending over to put on socks and shoes is getting more uncomfortable, too. But hey, I can't complain. It's been pretty easy so far.

We had another ultrasound on Tuesday also. It was so cool to see him moving around in there. We think he was trying to suck his thumb. And once again, he was eager to show us his boy parts. The doctor wanted to measure his femur, but he just wanted us to know he was a boy. By the way, he is the size he is supposed to be. He is measuring right on with the due date or just a few days over.

boy

kicking me

foot - our little tarheel

facial profile

facial profile

probably sucking his thumb

And I've been pretty good about keeping up with my weekly shots........

14 weeks                                          15.5 weeks                                       17 weeks                       

18 weeks                                             19weeks                                         20 weeks                                 

 And here's two photos from Sarah Coward, one of our fabulous new photographers at the paper. I always volunteer to model for her lighting tests before someone comes in for a portrait. That way I get some extra photos of myself taken without having to use the self-timer.

20 weeks

19 weeks

Hangin' with the Veep

Yesterday, I had the privilege of being in the with national pool of media that followed Vice President Joe Biden during his visit to Fort Myers. I've never been in the pool for a visit of the VP or President before, so it was pretty cool. I got to ride in one of the press vans that is a part of the official motorcade. We got a police escort through town - that's right, no red-light stops for us.

I was in a van with a reporter from the LA Times and a photographer from the NY Times. pretty cool. And I saved the NY Times photog's day by lending him my card reader after he lost his so he could transmit photos back to his editor.

We stopped at Mel's Diner on our way to where Joe Biden was set to speak. At Mel's, we were quickly escorted in a side entrance and in position when he came into the restaurant. He spoke to several groups of people, even sitting down with a couple of tables to chat. He was really down-to-earth even with the many secret service agents and photographers and reporters following him through the restaurant. The people that chose to go to Mel's Diner yesterday likely had a breakfast they will never forget.

Then we quickly got back into the vans and headed to the Wa-Ke Hatchee Park Recreation Center near Fort Myers Beach for his speech. Again, we made it in record time, since we didn't have to stop for any stoplights. Here's shot by our other photographer Sarah Coward of me down front taking some video footage.

And a few of my pics.....

Here's my video from the event. It's a little shaky, since I didn't have my tripod during his speech.



Check out the photo gallery if you want to check out all the shots from the event.

I'm pregnant!

Yes, as some have known and others have speculated, I'm pregnant. About 17 weeks, and we're really excited. We found out today that it's a boy. My best friends, Amanda and Kylie, were right from the start.

There was no doubt from the moment the technician placed the ultrasound wand on my stomach. This was the view we got. He wanted us to know immediately that he was a boy........

After a few kicks, he then turned over into a yoga pose with his butt in the air and went to sleep face down. So she didn't get a nice facial profile like last month. But all the measurements were right on, and she said we had a pretty good-looking baby in there.

This has been a pretty easy pregnancy. No real nausea, and I haven't been too emotional. Well -- until the other day when I broke down while cleaning out my closet and removing the many clothing items that don't quite fit right now. Everything is changing so fast, and I'm not used to watching the scale like this.

Because of the lack of nausea, I've had a hearty appetite and the slight weight gain that comes along with it. Don't get me wrong, I haven't gained too much weight, but it is hard to wake up each day slowly outgrowing all of your pants and shirts. Luckily Scott is being a great husband and walking a couple miles with me most nights so we can stay fit.

Thanks to the Be Band, some of my pants are still acceptable to wear. A few of my shirts are still acceptable too. I gave in a few weeks ago and bought some maternity jeans and shirts. They are much more comfortable.

Luckily I'm starting to look actually pregnant and not just like I had a huge dinner so that helps.

Here's a photo from last Friday, September 7th, when I was 15.5 weeks along. I plan on trying to do another photo of myself tomorrow for comparison.

And now I'm gonna be a proud momma and over-share more photos of my baby. Here's a few of the ultrasound pics from last month when I was 13 weeks along.

Living room progress

I thought I'd give an update on the living room. We still have to get the art up, but the rest is done. Let's not forget what it looked like before.

Here are a few iPhone pics, so excuse the quality. Notice our new Karlstad couch from Ikea. We moved some bookshelves from the spare room to use as the TV stand. We also rearranged the books by color for impact. We saw that recently on Home by Novogratz on HGTV.

And here's before again....

Stay tuned for a full update once we have some art up.