I Heart Faces "Best Face in February"

I haven't been blogging in a long time.  I saw what this week's theme was on I Heart Faces and decided I just needed to enter.  I need to get back into these challenges and really start pushing the limits with my photography.  I have been really busy over the past few months.  We added a new member to our family, my photography business is picking up, and we are getting ready for a move due to the military.  But despite all the chaos going on around me, I am still trying to find the time to do what I love...photographing life as if happens.  Here is a photo of my sweet one!  This is my middle girl, she is such a loving, caring little thing.  I heart her!

Day 17/365

Wow...5 years old today and it seems like just yesterday when Kambry was born.  Here is the princess cake she wanted so badly.  Happy Birthday Little Miss Cinderella!

Day 16/365

Here is the beautiful sunrise taken through a window at work.  Yes, I was already at work when the sun was rising...not my idea of fun though.

Day 15/365

You wouldn't know it from this picture, but today was my first day back to work.  I was exhausted from it all and as bedtime was getting near this is the picture I took.  McKenna was all snuggled in..and so was I shortly after this photo was taken.

Day 14/365

Yes, this is a picture of some tires.  My husband decided it was time to get rid of the old and start with the new.  These are the old...so I thought I would take a picture of them...they have seen better days huh??

Day 13/365

This was just a very quick one today.  Some silk flowers laying around the house.  I do like the bright colors though.

Day 12/365

My sweet Aislynn...dreaming away.  It's the very short sweet moments like this that make my heart melt. 

Day 11/365

I live in Florida.  It's supposed to be warm and sunny and beautiful all the time right??  Well, not today.  It's a windy cold day here.  The kind of day where I want to stay in and sit by the warm fire.  So, that's exactly what I think I will do.  These flowers on the other hand, they just had to tough it out, the cold that is.  The cold won.

I titled this one "The Dead of Winter"

Day 10/365

I figured it was time to persuade my oldest to step in front of the camera again.  She amused me for about 3 1/2 minutes.  I just got this super cute headband from Kristen Caldwell Photography and decided I needed to test it out on her.  It looks great!

Day 9/365

I know this one may be a little boring for some, but I was running out of time and light.  So, this is my glass in my front door.  I changed the hue a little to add some pretty blue to it.  Hope everyone had a great Sunday!

Day 8/365

I decided to go with a self portrait since I often don't get into too many photos myself.  I will try to do better this year about documenting myself just as much as my family!

Day 7/365

He's just growing up right before me!  I love his big blue eyes and his silly face when he just stares at me.  I love this boy!

Day 6/365

My little camera hog...Kambry.  She had the idea to take some photos today in the backyard.  At least one of them is willing to let me indulge a little.

Day 5/365 and Happy Birthday McKenna!

Yes, my once little baby girl is now a whopping 7 years old!!  Wow, I just don't know what to say.  She has grown into quite a young lady.  She is in 1st grade, soaking up all the knowledge she can handle, while still being a fun loving kid.  She is very excited to soon be moving into her own room and wants to take part in the decorating process.  For my photo today, here is a pic of her opening a present with her two sisters by her side.

Day 4/365

I was not feeling all that inspired today so I took the dog out back and snapped this one of him.  He's a good dog...most of the time.  I love all the colors in his coat and his one blue eye and one brown eye. 

Day 3/365

Today was the first day for the girls to go back to school.  So, this morning it was just me, Aislynn, and Branson.  She doesn't do the best job of listening at times and when I have had enough...she gets a time out.  My little girl has so much attitude it's hard to not laugh at her even though she's throwing a fit.  Here is a bit of her attitude in time out.

Day 2/365

So today was the day to begin saying goodbye to the holidays.  It's always a sad day to start putting things away, taking down the Christmas lights outside, undecorating the tree.  But it has to be done.  Now we get to start looking forward to next year, right??

Day 1/365

I didn't do anything exciting last night for New Year's Eve.  I didn't really do anything today for New Year's Day.  The weather was gloomy and rainy all day, we all stayed in our pajamas and had a lazy day around the house.  I did, however, pick up my camera and took this shot for my first of 365 photos this year.

A New Year, A New Project

Another year has past, another year is before us.  What better way to help me get my butt in gear and get back to the blog.  I have decided that this year I am going to attempt Project 365 for a couple of reasons.  The first is to document this year in my life through photos.  The second is to help me build my photography skills by making me pick up the camera each and every day and find different ways of taking photos and editing them.  I really, really hope that I can look back at the end of the year and have 365 days worth of photos to be proud of.

Branson's Birth Story

I figured I better sit down and type this up one day or else I will forget all the fun details of that day.  So, here goes...

The morning started out pretty normal as any other morning in the Macmanus Family.  McKenna was off to school early, my husband and I took Kambry to VPK and then we headed over to the OB clinic with Aislynn for what I was hoping to be my last appointment until the baby arrived.  You see, I was actually scheduled for an induction on November 17th if the baby had not come by then.  I saw my midwife and asked her to check me and try stripping my membranes to see if that would make anything happen.  In the past it never worked.  With Aislynn she stripped me three times before I actually went into labor with her so I just thought this wouldn't work either but it was worth a try.  Let me say, it was very uncomfortable but it was for a good cause in my mind...to have a baby.  After the appointment we grabbed some breakfast and then Bart left for work and I went home and decided to go ahead and try to get my bag somewhat packed just in case something happened that night.  It was my last day of work and I knew since it was a Tuesday that it would probably be busy so I needed to go in unless for some reason I just couldn't.  I was having a few contractions off and on but nothing different than the previous days.  So, off to work I was.  As I was getting report I was noticing that I would have a decent contraction every now and then and they seemed a little stronger than earlier in the day.  I just blew it off thinking they would go away.  I was pretty busy at work that day, no time to relax as I had nine patients to see.  I ended up walking the halls a lot that evening because I was assigned the two farthest rooms on the floor.  It wasn't on purpose, that's just how it worked out.  As the next couple of hours past I noticed that my contractions weren't getting any better, in fact they started coming closer together.  But since we were busy and I had work to do I don't think it really came to my attention just how close I was contracting and that I would actually have to stop for a minute during some contractions.  By 7pm I was pretty sure that labor was upon me.  As I sat at my computer trying to get all of my charting done I know I had a few tears running down my face.  It was partly the fact that I didn't know if I was really ready to be in labor, partly the contractions were getting much stronger, and partly because I knew how busy work was and I wanted to finish the shift.  Well, that was not going to happen.  I finished up my charting as quickly as I could and then went and laid down on a triage bed.  I got hooked up to the monitor to see what was going on and then I realized just how close to having a baby I could be.  My contractions were coming every 1 1/2- 2 minutes and not slowing down.  I quickly made the decision that I needed to get to the hospital where my midwife was, where all my charts were, and it was closer to my house.  I left work and drove straight to the hospital I was planning all along on delivering my baby at.  It took me about twenty minutes to get there but as I pulled up in the parking lot, a friend and family practice doctor happened to be walking to her car and she grabbed a wheelchair and took me up to labor and delivery.  I went straight to a labor room, they were waiting for me and started the IV and admission papers right away.  I was checked and found to be 5 cm dilated and 80% effaced.  I was in active labor and was having a baby that night.  My husband met me at the hospital along with my photography partner, Ryan.  It was good timing as they got there just a little after my arrival.  Once I got all settled in it was just a waiting game from there.  I had already planned on having a drug free birth.  Since I did that with Aislynn I figured I could do it again.  I think I was handling the contractions pretty well for the first couple of hours.  Around 10pm they became much more intense and by 10:45pm I remember saying to my husband, "this baby better be here by 11pm because I am done."  I believe within the next 5 minutes I felt the urge to push.  The nurse checked me and I was 9 with an anterior lip.  The doctors came in, the corpsmen came in, I felt as if it was a show I was putting on for them.  You see, I was at a military teaching hospital so everyone and their granny came on in for the birth of my baby.  I started pushing and the head came out pretty easily.  Then I remember everyone telling me to push, push harder.  It seemed like forever and I was pushing as hard as I could and the nursed started adjust my legs and the angle of my body and I think I realized in a brief moment that he was stuck.  I had a mild shoulder dystocia with Aislynn and prior to delivery was concerned that it would happen with this baby too.  Sure enough it did.  But what seemed like forever was probably less than a minute and I gave it my best push and could feel him budge and then slip on out.  Branson Edward Macmanus was born at 10:57pm weighing 8 lbs, 9 ounces and 20 inches long.  I remember being relieved as soon as he was out and then asking....what is it??  They had to look and then gave us the news we were hoping for that it was a baby boy!  We were all so excited to finally have a boy in the family.  This was our last baby so it was the last chance we had.  Of course we would have been just as happy with a girl, they are precious too.  He was the biggest of all of my babies and was also the earliest.  He was born at 38 weeks and 2 days.  Because of the rapid decent and quick delivery he was a little bruised on the face but it resolved quickly.  I went home a couple of days later and have had no problems so far.  We think he is the perfect baby boy and couldn't be happier.
Here are a few pics of him over the past week.