Hellllloooo Nash!
Currently in the hospital recovering from an unexpected c-section at 1:00am Saturday morning. Sweet baby Nash is doing great. I’ll blog with more details and the entire story when I get to go home to a computer. Blogging from the iPhone is a little tricky for a lady on good pain meds.
I can’t add any photos from my phone to the blog, but there are a couple of snap shots on Facebook. Can’t wait to get him home and get a real camera on him.
Thank you so much for all the prayers. Family of five… three little boys… life couldn’t be better.
up
I am up.
It’s 11:15 and I am up with nothing else to do but blog. Why am I up… is that what you were wondering? No… you weren’t wondering? Too bad… I’m about to tell you anyway.
I AM UP BECAUSE I CAN NOT SLEEP NOT ONE MORE MINUTE UNTIL BABY NASH IS EVICTED.
I lovvvveee this baby. I love that I get to be his mama. But OH MY GOSH I am miserable. I’ve felt like I was in labor for the past few days and tonight I started having pretty regular contractions. I did what any woman about to have her third baby would do when contractions started… I finished watching The Singing Bee, I took a shower, I fixed my hair, I applied a little makeup, and I began to mentally prepare to push a human being from my loins. Problem is… after all that… the contractions have mellowed out and now I’m sitting in front of my iMac while the rest of the house sleeps. But man-oh-man does my hair look good.
I have a regular doctor’s appointment at 8:30 tomorrow morning so my plan is to handcuff myself to the stirrup and cry uncontrollably until my doctor agrees to evict Nash ASAP. As of right now, the tentative plan is the 25th…
THAT’S A WHOLE WEEK AWAY.
I don’t think so.
If something doesn’t give soon, I’m getting ready to try every old-wives story there is to start labor.
Okay. I’m done complaining about the woes of being nine months pregnant. I shall not complain not one more (I’m talking about on the blog Otey… don’t get excited) word until Nash arrives. Speaking of little sweet perfect baby Nash, he still has no middle name. Feel free to chime in with any suggestions you might have. I’m pretty sure it has to be two syllables or more (Nash Bob or Nash John just doesn’t work). We also want it to be a fairly traditional, or a common name. I think two “cool” or “trendy” names is too much for a McCloy kid.
If you need a little baby visual inspiration. Here’s a shot of Rusty and Lisa’s sweet baby Veda from the summer.
Now if those perfect little baby toes and pouty lips don’t make being “up” seem worth while… nothing could.
I’m off to eat some salsa and do some deep pelvic squats… keep your fingers crossed my friends.
Thank you Collyn.
Okay… I’m getting all weird about getting ready to be UN-pregnant. Don’t get me wrong, I hope I go into labor thirty minutes after my Mom arrives in town Friday morning (she’ll be manning the other two monsters at our house while I go push out monster number three… I mean NASH MCCLOY). So in a bit of a worrisome panic the other night I emailed photographer Collyn Ware and asked her to meet me out in the FROZEN TUNDRA that we live in (Iowa) and capture just a handful of images for me just in case I’m never pregnant again. I am not one of those warm and fuzzy people that lovvvvveee being pregnant. I love the thought of my body growing a human being, but all the stuff that comes with it?
YUCKOLA.
But for some reason with this pregnancy I felt like I needed to make sure I had a couple of images to document just how GIGANTIC I get when I am pregnant.
When I emailed Collyn I made her swear she would delete them off her hard drive and never use them on her website or in her portfolio. I love taking photos of pregnant women, and I really do think pregnant women are smokin’ hot… just no this pregnant woman. The thought of subjecting perfect strangers to my strech marks and pastey white belly makes me gag. Again…
YUCKOLA.
So anyway… Collyn agreed and we got together for the worlds fastest and coldest photo shoot (I seriously only cared about having a couple of images). We waded through snow drifts knee deep (did I mention it’s cold in Iowa?) talked a tiny bit of camera geek talk and said our goodbyes.
Today Collyn emailed me her favorites, and you know what? I am really glad that I (more importantly SHE) braved the cold to get a couple of images. Although I look at them now and have a hard time feeling all warm and fuzzy while being attacked by baby Nash and trying not to pee my pants while he does backflips on my bladder… I know in just a couple of short weeks when he’s laying on my lap in front of the computer…
…they will mean the world to me.
Thanks Collyn.
18 months ago…
I was laying in a hospital bed listening to Grady’s heart beat inside of me…
It’s amazing how real everything becomes once that IV is in, the monitors are turned on and you begin the wait for your baby to make his move. Some of us relax and wait it out with a little TV time…
Some of us get ridiculously happy with the thought of the soon-to-be baby eviction… oh, and maybe keep our phone in arms reach to blog every ten minutes or so (check out July 2008 archives for baby Grady’s play by play)…
I have never “went” in to labor. I like to call it “cozy uterus syndrome”. With Cooper and Grady both, my delivery date arrived only with the help of modern medicine… specifically… a little Pitocin. Now as soon as they pump me full of the fluids (let’s blame those fluids for my above puffy face), get the Pitocin flowing, and most importantly get the epidural in, I’m fast as lighting. I’m talking like a labor ninja. That’s when the above perky happy pregnant lady turns into the “holy crap I’m about to deliver another kid” lady…
But for the lucky ones like myself, the doctor walks in and tells you it’s time to push and ten minutes later you hear the cries of your new baby. The real magic happens an hour later when the true miracle that you were a part of for the past nine months gets rolled in to your room… bundled like a perfect little clean burrito sleeping away after the hard work of entering the world.
And the real kicker? They actually let you take it home with you two days later. That part still remains the most amazing (and scary) to me.
I CAN NOT BELIEVE that 18 months ago I went throught this… and two weeks from now I am going to go through it again. When I say I CAN NOT BELIEVE…what I really mean is…
HOLY COW. I AM ABOUT TO BE RESPOSIBLE FOR THE LIFE OF ANOTHER TINY HUMAN BEING. YIKES.
I have been starting to get ready for the big day this week. I actually bought a package of newborn diapers and drug out my tub of newborn baby boy clothes (one of the benefits of having three boys in four years… the clothes don’t have time to get dorky). Tonight I was folding the tiny itty bitty little shirts and was overwhelemed with how small they seemed. Otey and I both just can’t believe we’re only two weeks away from baby boy number three.
Baby boy number three who from this point forward will be known as Nash.
Nash McCloy.
Nash (my-parents-can’t-come-up-with-a-middle-name) McCloy.
Nash McCloy.
Nash.
Cooper, Grady, & Nash.
Does it sound like I am still trying to get used to it? That’s because I am.
Thanksgiving at the ranch
We spent this past weekend at Otey’s parents house celebrating an early Thanksgiving. We will be in Indiana on Thursday, so it was good to spend a couple of days hanging out with his family in southern Missouri… eating… and eating… and eating. Did I mention we did a lot of eating? Well, the grown-ups did a lot of eating, and the kids? The kids did a lot of running, yelling, and pretty much just partying hard.
Otey’s Mom really wanted a picture of all four of her grandkids in the same shot. I told her I would try as long as she had realistic expectations. I mean we are talking three WILD little boys and one sweet one. When I deliver baby version 3.0 in January, Otey’s parent’s will have five grandsons under four. Can you imagine what holidays are going to be like at their house in a couple of years? So anyway, this is about as good as it gets with a 3.5 yr old, 2.5 yr old, 1.5 yr old, and a (did I mention sweet?) almost 1 year old.
I think this was the second frame I shot and about 6 seconds later Grady was done. Arched back, get your frickin’ paws off of me Cooper… done. And sweet baby Jasper? He would have been hitting the road with Grady if only he could walk. Instead he was left to scream for help while Cooper and Cole stuck grass in each others ears.
Cole and Jasper belong to Otey’s little brother Ben and his wife Brandy. I forced them into an unplanned family photo. Ben with his deer hunting beard and Brandy… who am I kidding, she always looks photo ready.
The forty-three second shirtless photo shoot somehow led to a spontaneous bathtub party. Cooper and Cole were WILD… a good Mom wouldn’t have let a kid Grady’s age in their with them. There goes my Mom of the year award.
The plan for Sunday morning was to get all the kids dressed and ready and try again to get all four of them in some photos. TRY is the key word here. We missed the “happy kid” window. Grady and Jasper were ready for morning naps, Cooper and Cole were once again (you’re never going to guess) WILD. I did catch a few of them around the house before we headed out to the barn.
For my photog friends… no dodging no burning. Do these boys have killer eyes or what?
Otey and Ben somehow got stuck in the middle of the photo shoot when they were really in the middle of working (notice their nice boots).
Let me commentate this one for you…
Otey just said “Why do I have to be in the picture?”
Cooper is shouting “I’m a lion!!! ROOAARRR!!!!”
Which of course leads to Cole on all fours shouting “ROOOAARRR!!!!!”
Grady is still trying to get it together from the breakdown he just had at the end of trying to shoot the four boys (that’s why he has his binky).
And Ben is smiling like that because he knows his sister-in-law with the camera is leaving town as soon as we get this photo over with.
Oh, and Jasper? I’m sure he’s just seconding what his Dad is grinning about.
Moral of this story? If you have four kids 3.5 and under that you would like a photo of?
Call me in three years.
Comments and Kim & Joe
Oh my gosh I am so frustrated with the “comment” system on my blog. When I turn up the security, all of my regular blog readers have heck commenting. When I turn the security down, I have to sort through 30 spam comments a day. Now… if i were in the market for cheap meds, penis enhancement, adult entertainment, inheritance from the royal family of some far off country, or new insurance… I would be lovin’ it. BUT… fortunately I am not in the market for any of those things.
Maybe the inheritance if it was legit… but I’m pretty sure it’s spam too.
So. If you have been having trouble commenting this week, that would be the reason why. I am trying yet ANOTHER security combo… so maybe this system will work better for everyone.
I don’t even know where to start on getting caught up on blog posts from the past couple of months. I could blog three hours a day everyday and still not ever get caught up on sessions and life in general. So I’m not going to try. I’m going to hit and miss some high points (I was selected to work the NFR in a few weeks… the Superbowl of rodeo… I’m soooo excited) and some low points (my 12 year old dog Louie that travels EVERYWHERE with me was diagnosed with Cancer last month) and throw some photos in here and there.
Today….
Kim & Joe. Married couple with no children. Super fun and easy to shoot once Joe figured out that I just wanted him to make out with his wife the entire time. Check her out… tough job, but someone has to do it. (tiny bit of skin at the end… if you’re going to be offended, check out now).
This next image is my VERY favorite from the entire shoot. I love the lines and contrast. If I ever end up with an office space that I allow anyone above three foot tall to enter and that requires clothing other than pajamas… I will have a GIANT canvas of this photo hanging on the wall.
Talk about JACKPOT. This old barn is on some land that Joe’s family owns.
They’re going to make some pretty babies… huh?
When Kim and I first started making plans for their session she mentioned shooting some water photos. I was excited and Joe… well… he didn’t really “get” what she and I had in mind. On the drive out to the lake I finally said “look Joe, just pretend that your smokin’ hot wife came home and said… ‘let’s go out to the lake, jump in with our clothes on and make out‘ only difference is I’m going to be standing on the bank taking photos of it”. At that point I think he started to get the picture.
Finally.
THIS image has been in my head for months… maybe a year. Every time I drive past this “dot” on the side of one of the downtown buildings in Ottumwa I think “the next time I have a pitchable (is that a word?) age baby and a fun Dad I’m going to THAT dot”.
And you know what?
I always forget about it until two days after a shoot.
Not this time.
This sweet baby and husband belong to photographer Collyn Ware. I would provide you with a link to her webpage (clearing my throat here Collyn…) but she is still in the process of setting one up. For now, her blog will have to do. Six months ago I had the opportunity to shoot newborn photos for them. I LOVE second sessions after tiny newborn photos. I am amazed everytime at how fast a tiny newborn becomes a little person. Truly a miracle.
The best part about shooting another photographer? Camera Geek talk. By the way… when did I turn into such a geek? Was it once I passed 25? 30? Was it when I started thinking it was exceptable for a grown woman to drink out of a sippy cup or cover a puke stained shirt with a cute scarf? Wait, that’s not a geek… that’s a dork… anyway, back to Collyn and family.
I posted the above image to show that I am capable of shooting all subjects in a photo looking directly at the camera, but seriously… how much fun is that?
Sidenote… this is the first REAL sneak peak I have posted since early summer. Not only am I a geek/dork… I’m a lazy blogger!
“What’s in a name?”
I just titled a blog post with a Shakespeare quote. Does that make up for the bad grammar, cruddy punctuation, and REALLY bad spelling I am about to use multiple times in this post? Anyway…
I’m not exactly sure how I came up with the name Cooper. I just liked it. We had it narrowed down to three choices… Cooper, Carson, & Carter. We had no middle name (Otey picked Dawson at the hospital while I was in labor). I remember that we had just found out that we were having a boy and we went to Pottery Barn Kids in Kansas City so that I could buy the boy bedding I had circled in the catalog months before and as we were leaving with our bags full of loot Otey said “I think this stuff looks like a kid named Cooper would have it in his room.” And that was that… his name was Cooper.
Grady… that was an entirely different ballgame. I stressed and worried from the time I found out he was a boy until the day I went in to labor about Grady’s name. I LOVED the name Cooper, and I wanted my 2nd born to have a name I LOVED too. Problem was… there weren’t any. My sweet husband on the other hand was not worried about it at all. By the end he was so sick of hearing we stress about it that we hardly discussed it. About a week before I had Grady, I sat up one night and read through the “Top 1000 baby boy names of 2007″. That is where I located Grady… somewhere around 800-ish. I couldn’t wait to tell Otey about it the next morning and his reaction was a little less than what I had hoped for. I think it went something like “it’s okay”. Every time I mentioned a new name there were two responses I came to expect during the nine months prior to Grady’s delivery… “It’s okay.” or “I hate it.” So that day, I posted this blog post hoping that my loyal blog readers would help me out. You all voiced your opinions… but it did me no good. Poor baby vs. 2.0 still had no name.
Now… fast forward a week and I am in induced labor in Ottumwa Regional Hospital with a husband by my side that is EXTREMELY worried that I am about to have his child… his nameless child. If he said it once he said it fifty times “What are we going to name this baby?”. As you can probabley imagine, even with my epidural in full swing, after nine months of stressing about a name… at this point I could have cared less if we named him Donald Duck.
When Grady finally arrived it was late that evening. Just Otey and I were there and we deicded to call my Mom at our house and tell her to just wait until morning to bring Cooper to meet him. That night when we finally got settled in to our new room and I was ready to finally get some sleep, Otey said “Kathy… what are we going to name this baby? He has to have a name. Cooper can’t meet him until he has a name”. I layed there still enjoying my drug induced comfort and got a tiny but of pleasure (sorry Otey) from the panic in his voice. I wanted to name him too, but for the first time in nine months Otey was REALLY worried about it. He mentioned Grady and Max again… and I brought up Nate, and than I drifted off to peaceful slumber with my little no-named baby in his rolling bed beside me. That next morning I woke to Otey declaring that he wanted to name him Grady. At this point I wasn’t near as comfortable as I was the night before and discussing baby names was not helping. Cooper would be there soon… my poor husband was sure this baby would need counciling his enitre life from the 12 hours he had went without a name… so for the sake of everyone’s sanity… Grady it was. And you know what? I LOVED it. I must admit I forgot it about eight times that day… but I LOVED it.
That brings us to baby vs 3.0. We hope to have him named by Christmas so I have at least a month to remember the poor kids name. Like I mentioned in the last post… I AM A PLANNER. Things need monogrammed… I need to wrap my head around the new name so I don’t have to feel guilty for forgetting it eight times the first day of his life. I just went through the top 1000 baby boys names of 2008 (you can find this info on the Social Security Webpage) and here is the list I narrowed it down to after applying all my naming rules. They are listed alphabetically, and the number out to the left is their ranking from 1-1000 of all the baby boys born in the US last year. So… the smaller the number, the more babies that have that name. If there is a “X” beside the name, it didn’t make the top 1000. When looking at that number overly obsessive planning mothers like myself have to take in to consideration names like Nate. Nathan has been in the top 30 for the past eight years, so even though Nate didn’t make the top 1000…. there are a pot load of “call him Nate for short’s” out there.
714 Ace
90 Blake
840 Bo
X Brant
202 Braxton
277 Brock
833 Brogan
601 Brooks
116 Bryce
839 Dale
350 Dane
594 Davin
766 Dax
244 Drew
31 Dylan
76 Hayden
358 Holden
880 Houston
37 Isaac
692 Jax
X Knox
319 Lane
212 Lincoln
19 Logan
208 Maddox
35 Mason
126 Max
688 Memphis
681 Nash
X Nate
X Pace
422 Paxton
415 Reece
799 Rex
678 Rhett
928 Slade
872 Sterling
433 Tate
508 Trace
312 Trent
316 Trey
247 Ty
816 Van
765 Vance
846 Vaughn
884 Zack
Didn’t the stork used to bring the baby with his name already written neatly on the little tag? Why can’t it be that simple?
Sidenote… for all you long time blog readers out there… there will be photo posts coming soon! Now hurry up and name this baby so we can return to our regular programming!
Baby 3.0 needs a flippin’ name.
I am absolutly positively NOT waiting until the last minute to name this baby. Cooper was named four months before we had him. Grady was named 14 hours AFTER we had him. I am a planner. I need a plan. I am 11 weeks from my due date and this baby needs a name and he needs one soon.
Here are my standard naming rules for those of you new to this game….
1. Easy to spell (one “normal” spelling).
2. Easy to read (one standard pronunciation).
3. No “for short”. Whatever we name this baby… we will call him.
Now… for those of you that participated in naming Grady… here’s a few new rules for you…
Can’t start with a “C” or “G” sound (this includes K’s)
Can’t end in “er” or “y” (this includes “ie” sound)
I know, I know… but I told you I was a planner! I just want all of my kids names to be TOTALLY different from each other.
Cooper.
Grady.
?????.
Help!!!!
Here are a few way cool names that fit the rules but for some reason (friends kids, family members, etc) are crossed off… Cole, Alex, Evan, Lane, Jake, Wyatt, Kyle.
Names that haven’t been crossed off the list yet… Knox, Max, Nate, Pace, Brant.
This is a side note… how many Max’s do you know (under 10)? Max is really high on the 2007 & 2008 popularity list (another thing I don’t want) but I don’t know hardly any young Max’s… what about you?
by Kathy
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