Photos Archives - Page 33 of 63

Family Photos by Nicole Coleman

August 25, 2010/1 Comment/in Family, Lucy, Photos, Trent /by Megan

For years I’ve been wanting to get some family photos shot of Trent, Lu and I, and for years I’ve put it off. Why? No idea. Probably a combo of money + time + convincing Trent to do it, but for whatever the reasons, we’ve always held off. So when my friend Nicole moved to KC a year ago, I knew I’d be asking for her services. You see, Nicole is a real photographer. In the very sense of the word. Not only is she super-talented and endlessly creative, she has been crafting her skill forever. You know that awesome picture of me as a modelesque 6-year-old that’s on my About Me page? Yeah, she took that.

So one ridiculously hot day in June we got together to shoot some family portraits. Except it was a Friday, Trent was grumpy after a long week of work, Lu was grumpy after a long week of school and it was (no lie) 107 degrees outside. And humid. Gotta love Kansas City.

The shoot was done in parts of the River Market area downtown, and then out at our favorite pizza joint by our house. And although it was so hot that Lu really wasn’t the sparkplug she usually is, I almost like these pictures better because of it. Nicole captured the serious Lu, which I just don’t think to photograph much. And I may be biased (obviously), but this kid, she is just gorgeous.

A few other favorites from the day:

I wish I could post all 50 photos so you all could oohh and ahhh like I’ve been doing, but instead I’ll just link to the Flickr set of the shoot here. Nicole is going through a business redesign right now, but you can find her old website here, and you know I’ll be linking to her new one once it’s completed. (It’s so good, y’all, you have no idea. Just wait.)

Thank you, Nicole, for capturing our family of three before everything changes. Thank you for making me look skinny. Thank you for dealing with my grumpy family. And of course, thank you for that lovely photo of 6-year-old me. It has nothing to do with this shoot, but is so awesome, you deserve heaps of praise.

Happiness Squared

August 20, 2010/0 Comments/in Happiness, Lucy, Photos, Trent /by Megan

(From our family vacation to Charleston, South Carolina)

Growing the Pirate King

August 19, 2010/0 Comments/in Photos, Pregnancy /by Megan

I am now five and a half months pregnant with Mr. Taco John, Pirate King. I look like this. (Except usually I try to keep my eyes open. It was sunny. I am not built for the beach.)

Already this poor second child is getting the short end of the stick, as second children often do. With Lucy, the minute I found out I was pregnant, the whole world pretty much knew it. I wrote hundreds of words detailing each and every twinge, every pain and every joy during the 9 (10) months I grew her. We’re already over halfway through this gestation, and I think I’ve written about it three times total. Poor little Pirate King.

It’s different this time. Everything is different, and the differences are so unique and new to me, it’s like this pregnancy is a whole new world. The most obvious being how overjoyed I am to even BE pregnant. My first pregnancy was met with fear and isolation, this one was met with happiness and congratulations. People smile when they see me lumbering toward them, and I smile back. Not one person has responded to the pregnancy news with “Oh no, what are you going to do?” I can’t describe what a difference that is.

(Note: Before anyone even goes there, of course Lucy was wanted. Of course she was loved and eventually there was mostly extreme joy concerning my pregnancy with her and her subsequent arrival. But having an unexpected pregnancy when you’re unmarried and 22 years old is frightening. And save two people, every single person we told in the first months of that pregnancy expressed concern about how we were going to do this. Be parents. I’m happy to have proved them wrong, but that doesn’t change the fact that the pregnancy itself was scary.)

When we went in for our 20 week sonogram, we were honestly just excited to find out everything was okay. This pregnancy (aside from the stuff mentioned above) was a bit rocky in the beginning, and there was a time early on when were weren’t sure if we were even going to carry this baby past the first trimester, so seeing our little dude swimming around in there was a huge relief. Taking in the visual of his little hands and feet and profile, which looks remarkably like his sister’s, was enough for me. But then the ultrasound tech hovered over an area of the screen, pointed and looked at me. “It’s a boy, right?” I said. “Yes, are you excited?” she replied. I just looked at Trent and smiled. He hadn’t really heard us, and was a bit confused for a second, but then it set in for him as well.

A boy.

A son.

A brother.

Before I found out that Lucy was a girl, we were sure she was going to be a boy. I am not that girly, Trent is obviously hairy and full of testosterone and I just couldn’t imagine a girl in there. Girls hate their moms. Girls are moody. Girls like princesses. Girls, girls, girls. So it had to be a boy. Boys love their moms. Boys are simpler. Boys, boys, boys.

But now, after four years of parenting my precious little girl, I’m back to square one. I know how to parent a girl. I know the parts and the pieces and how to make sure a dress twirls correctly. I have a mini-me who idolizes everything from my wardrobe to my makeup drawer. I am a girl’s mom.

And now, I will be a boy’s mom. It will be different.

I can’t freaking wait.

Sawyer Nash

August 18, 2010/2 Comments/in Happiness, Photos, Pregnancy /by Megan

In my last post before my Internet siesta, I mentioned I’d be assisting in hosting a baby shower for a good friend, and that just maybe, we’d even meet her baby before I came back to the web. The shower was wonderful, a good time was had by all. I was still a bit sickly, getting over the crap part of this particular pregnancy, so I didn’t bust my camera out until it was almost too late. At least, that’s the excuse I’m going with. It’s possible that I was holed up by the cheesy potato casserole and had no time for photography. What I did capture is below. Isn’t Mikayla all glowy? Does anyone else find that extremely frustrating? Or is it just me, holed up with my cheesy potatoes filled with jealously?

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

A few weeks later, Mikayla asked if I’d be willing to take some maternity photos so she could always remember how it felt to be hauling around a basketball in her stomach. I said of course. She continued to be glowy. I continued to seethe with jealousy.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

And then, a few days early, Mr. Sawyer Nash Stover arrived!!! He is adorable and perfect and snuggly and awesome. And Mikayla is still all glowy. HOW DOES SHE DO IT?!

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

And now, a conversation I had with my husband last night.

T: What’s that smell? Did you make dinner?!
Me: No, that’s for Heath and Mikayla. I’m taking it over there tomorrow.
T: You didn’t make us anything? {sad face}
Me: No. Don’t give me that look!
T: Well, Heath will be over by our house tomorrow afternoon. Just give me the food and I’ll get it to them.
Me: No! You don’t understand! I need baby snuggles!
T: Sorry, just trying to be efficient.
Me: Babies are not efficient!!!!

I am fun and not at all hormonal. And I can sense I’m about to get glowy. Or sweaty. Either way, I’ll be shiny. Right? Right.

Girls Trip 2010

August 17, 2010/1 Comment/in Blond, Fun, Happiness, Photos, Pregnancy /by Megan

During my so-called “Digital Sabbatical” I was lucky enough to enjoy two amazing beach vacations. Now, I live in Kansas. You cannot be more landlocked then me. But the beach….oh the beach, I love you so! I never wanna let you go! Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you….wait. What?

(Yes, I just Rick Rolled you…I am very up to date and current. You love it.)

Sooo….anyway.

The first beach trip was with some of my best friends on the planet, who all decided (somewhat on a whim) that we needed a vacation together. I’ve never really had my own girls trip (save the B. Spears extravaganza of 2009), and I’ve never left Lucy for more than two nights in a row since she was born. The only time I’ve even gone far enough away from her that a plane transported me was for a work trip to Colorado when she was a wee babe. And yes, she’s four. So that’s FOUR YEARS. It was time, people.

You may remember last year when Trent, Lu and I decided to spring a surprise on our friend Abbie by showing up unannounced at her family’s condo in Destin, Florida. Or maybe not. But it happened. I swear. Anyway, this year we were talking about said trip and how wonderful and lovely it was and how we needed to get all of our girlfriends to head down to Destin for a long weekend of girl bonding time and sunshine. And by bonding time we obviously meant drinking vodka on the beach until we passed out. Sounded like a plan to me.

About two weeks after we all booked our tickets I found out I was pregnant with Taco John. Now, I’m not sure if you were reading this site back in the day (unless your name is Mara), but my pregnancy with Lucy was basically filled with me hanging out by myself while my friends drank heavily and had fun and acted like most 23-year-olds do. I was miserable. I was mad at them and sad for myself, and basically an all around grump. So I was a bit worried about this girls trip. Would I be all Negative Nancy again? Would I feel left out? Would all my friends ditch me unless they needed a designated driver?

I’m happy to say, apparently time changes people. Who knew? In the five years since I was a lonely pregnant loser, many of my girlfriends have gotten married and had kids of their own. And on this trip, for the first time in a long, LONG time, I really felt like I was part of the group again. We shared stories of scary in-laws (theirs, not mine, I promise!), nagging husbands and annoying habits of toddlers. We gushed over how much we missed our kids and our families, and discussed our living situations (buying houses in the suburbs, renting amazing apartments in the city, moving multiple times).

Don’t get me wrong. There was plenty of old school fun as well. Certain people (cough, cough) definitely drank themselves to sleep on the beach and several evenings were spent watching marathons of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E!. But I, for once, just enjoyed it all. I didn’t feel left out of the drinking or partying, because I refused to let it bother me. I just had an amazing time with five of the most wonderful girls in the world, and I was never hungover. SCORE!

Many upbeat fist pumps go out to (from left in photo above) Abbie, Megan, Kristi, Hayley and Theresa. You girls made this trip one that I will remember for as long as my memory holds out. Seeing that yesterday I forgot my keys twice and forgot a conversation I had 15 minutes after I had it, that may not be long. That’s why we take pictures of things like this.

A super huge special thanks goes out to Abbie, who not only let us take over her family condo, but also forced us to take photos in matching outfits, even though I bitched and moaned and complained that it was totally dorky. It is totally dorky. But also totally adorable, and I’m so glad we did it.

On our next episode, what happened when the group above meets a minihorse on the side of a highway in Alabama? Do we save the horse? Do we scream at pitches only dogs can hear? Do we embellish stories so it seems as if we tackled said horse and returned it to its owner in the back of our big red pickup truck? You’ll have to come back tomorrow to find out….

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