Pin-Up Workshop – Guelph Pin-Up Photography {Evangeline}
Jake attended a portfolio-building workshop last month that was organized by the talented Julia Busato. I love photographing the families, kids and couples, but Jake has always wanted to specialize in something related to his own industry. For him, Pin-Up is the perfect blend of stylized shooting, fashion photography and awesome retro hair. One big bonus for him? He gets to hire himself as the hair stylist 
These were the lovely people involved with the workshop:
Workshop hosted & styled by Julia Busato of Julia Busato Photography
Hair by Susan Rice of Creative Designs
Makeup by Meghan Haddad of Megz Makeup
Hair accessories by The Garment Girl
Model: Evangeline Kroon
Photos by Jake of Bodh Photography
I absolutely LOVE these portraits of Evangeline. When you think of Pin-Ups, you might be thinking of the bright and tongue-in-cheek setups. I love that these are using natural light and such sophisticated, beautiful portraits. The black on black, and complimentary colours are so striking. The hair, make-up and styling was top notch.
Another blog post to come featuring 3 more beautiful models….
She’s 2.
Miss Mattea turns 2 years old tonight at 9:47pm.
Jake and I are handling it rather well, but he turned to me today and said “I’m a little emotional”. Me too.
Parents say it all the time but it really is true that it feels like just yesterday I was holding her in the hospital, getting her first smile on camera, spooning her pureed vegetables, watching her take her first steps and hearing her say ‘mommy’ for the first time. Two years to me makes her so much older than a baby. She’s headed into big girl territory.
What’s Mattea like?
She’s fiercely independent, and stubborn. If she doesn’t get what she wants or isn’t able to do something on her own, watch out world!
She’s tough. I’ve seen that girl cry twice in her life from needles: once when she was 2 months old, and last month when she got an IV in the hospital.
She’s very maternal and affectionate, and has been from an unusually young age. I think this is one of my favourite of her qualities. She loves her dogs, cat and now her brother like none other and isn’t afraid to show them. If Jake and I share a hug or kiss in the kitchen she comes running with a big smile and asks to be included.
She’s a great big sister. From the moment she wakes up in the morning, she’s asking about “Baby Dashie”. She often demands to see him, or have him placed in her lap so she can hold him and kiss his head. I hope she’ll always love him as much as she does now.
She’s incredibly animated and expressive. There’s been a couple times where I’ve left her with Jake in a store to go off on my own, and can immediately recognize that oh so familiar voice, tantrum or laugh….all the way across the store.
She’s starting to pick up words much more quickly. Newest words added to her list: Dashie, Sue, Laura, Mary, Shoes, Pee, Beast (as in the Disney movie), Go, Nose, Meow, Juice, Ho Ho Ho (as in Santa) and Night Night. There are probably more but those are the current favs. A new developmental milestone is putting words together into her very first sentences. “Bye bye Dashie baby” or “No Go” are the most popular.
She’s still a fantastic sleeper – 8pm to 8am. Now that Dash is here we don’t get to enjoy uninterrupted sleep anymore but we really appreciate not having to get up with her at least.
At last measurement, she’s 33 inches tall and 23 pounds. That basically puts her in like the bottom 5% or less of other toddlers her age. She still fits in her brown Old Navy fall jacket that’s sized 6-12 months. She’s so petite! What’s most funny for us is that she’s such a big personality in a tiny body.
Since no birthday blog post is anything without photos, here are the official 2 year photos. I wasn’t too sure the lighting was going to work, but it ended up being beautiful. These are my favourite photos ever, and really capture her personality perfectly. You might recognize a familiar face: Teddy. He’s our secret weapon, and her absolute favourite guy. He keeps the photo tantrums at bay 
Every time I look at the image below I hear this (cue Beyonce music): Na, na, na, diva is a female version of a hustla
Of a hustla, of a, of a hustla
Na, na, na, diva is a female version of a hustla
Of a hustla, of a, of a hustla
And since no photo experience with Mattea is complete without a meltdown, here’s one of the last frames I shot. CLASSIC.
Dashiell’s Birth
Dashiell’s Birth Story
My doctor had me come in for an early morning appointment at 38 weeks with the intention of inducing me on the spot if my blood pressure was high. As it had been elevated the whole pregnancy, we made sure we were packed and prepared. My blood pressure was high a couple times during the exam, and then normalized so my doctor sent us away and told me she’d see me next week.
Wednesday October 5th (39 weeks) rolls around, and I was still pregnant. Miserable, exhausted, sore… and still pregnant. I dragged my body to my 1:45pm appointment convinced nothing would happen and I wasn’t about to get my hopes up. My first blood pressure reading was 152/95. Doctor checks that baby is head down, listens for the heartbeat and then tells me to get another reading. Second blood pressure check is 147/95. It’s now 2:40pm, and she tells me to head upstairs to the Labour & Delivery Triage area and to wait for her as my pressure is too high. That Wednesday was a zoo for L&D. I ended up calling Jake to have him arrange for my mom to pick up Mattea from daycare and for him to just walk to the hospital from the shop to meet me. Finally at 4:45pm, things slow down enough for my doctor to check me in Triage. She checks my cervix and announces “You’re already halfway there (5 cm dilated)”. Suddenly she gets this funny look on her face and adds, “Oh, and I think your water just broke”. As soon as the words left her mouth, a very warm sensation washed down my bottom half and I knew she was right. Jake was quite surprised to see me come walking out of the exam room with a sheet wrapped around my waist and a big smile on my face. I was pretty amused by this unexpected turn of events. The days leading up to a birth work like a version of Murphy’s Law: just when you think you’ll be pregnant forever, you’re 5 cm dilated and your water breaks from a cervical exam.
The next couple hours entailed blood work, taking my vitals and finally admitting me. If things weren’t busy enough on that Wednesday, they just inherited another patient. The game plan was to get an epidural so that I could try to sleep and have my body labour and progress on it’s own. If that didn’t happen, I would be given Syntocin to jumpstart the contractions. While we waited for the epidural, I developed a bit of a fever so I was given some antibiotics. It must have been a busy night on all floors because the anesthesiologist was stuck in a long surgery and finally got to me at 10:30pm. My epidural went in without a hitch and I immediately felt relief. I have loved the epidurals with both my kids. In fact, if I was single I would marry my epidural, and the anesthesiologist would be my maid of honour.
I was checked before going to sleep and I was still 5 cm dilated. Jake and I slept on and off during the night. It’s a little challenging in a hospital where there are always footsteps in the halls and beeps from machines, and nurses coming to check your vitals at least once an hour. I was checked again in the early morning and found to still be 5cm. Just like my labour with my Mattea, my body never got the memo to start contracting well enough for any changes. Syntocin was started and we waited. I guess at this point things happened quite quickly. I went from 5cm to 7cm, and then before I knew it I was 10cm fully dilated and feeling some pressure to push. I asked to hold off on pushing so the baby could drop on his own. Around this time I developed searing, hot pain in the left side of my back and hip bones during contractions, which my nurse referred to as a “hot spot”. Sometimes a change in the position of the baby during active labour combined with the epidural not getting to certain areas results in one of these beauties. It was literally an “OMG” moment every. single. time. a contraction came. Best way to describe it would be it felt like my bones were grinding against each other and someone was simultaneously lighting them on fire and hacking away at them with a hatchet. My lovely nurse did her best to load me up with extra hits from the epidural but it did little in relief so her best advice was just to push and get the baby out.
From there, everything happened quickly. I did a couple practice pushes and was told I was going to be having the baby soon as they were really effective. A second nurse arrived, and I kept pushing with each contraction until they told me to stop and wait for the doctor on call to arrive. I think I only had to do about 5-6 rounds of pushing. As the OB on call came into the room, I was starting to crown. I was able to reach down and feel the baby’s head, which was both amazing and strange. After a couple little pushes, the baby’s head was out. The cord was around his neck so the OB cut it and had me give one last push. Baby Dashiell Roman Somerville was born at 11:57am. He weighed 9 pounds even, and was 21 inches long.
For me, the moment he was born was a true mix of emotions. Utter relief that the physical aspect of labour and birth was over. Pure delight and excitement that the little boy we’ve been waiting on for 39 weeks had finally arrived. A little fear from the reality that I now had a second child and knowing the responsibility that motherhood entailed. Pride in myself for being able to push a nine pound baby out of my body. And finally, a hefty dose of love for my new son.
Huge thanks to all the staff on the Labour & Delivery floor at Guelph General, especially the nurses. We had such a lovely experience, and it wouldn’t have been the case without all those special ladies.
Thank you to the family and friends who visited us, and welcomed Dashiell into the world with a lot of love. A special shout out to my Mom who took care of Mattea and our dogs during our hospital stay (and made sure everyone was well loved in our absence).
And lastly, thank you to my husband Jake for being an amazing birth partner and husband. Couldn’t have done it without you Thank you for taking such amazing birth photos. They are incredible, and mean the world to me as they will always bring me back to his birth day every time I look at them.
Summer Recap & News
I think it’s time to dust off our good ‘ol blog and let everyone know what we’ve been up to & the plans for the rest of 2011.
We had a great summer. A ridiculously hot and humid summer, but a really good one. Our highlight was spending a couple days in Collingwood and touring Blue Mountain and beaching it at Wasaga.
The biggest reason why the blog was neglected? This little guy:
Yep, we’re adding another little dictator to the mix. It’s a boy, whose name is a secret until he arrives. My due date is October 11th. As I write this I’m sitting at 38 weeks pregnant and I was last told by my doctor that she might induce me in 2 days. WOOT WOOT! So yeah, I’m kinda late with the announcement but on the bright side it means you get to find out his name AND see pics really soon. Also stay tuned for his official newborn photos, which I have been planning since the second line came up on the test. Jake cut me off from Etsy a couple months ago so I can’t wait to debut the new props and hats I’ve been saving for our little guy.
With the usual discomforts associated with pregnancy and the humid temperatures, Bodh Photography took it easy this summer. However, we shot a wedding and an extended family session since you last heard from us. I will blog more about them this fall during my maternity leave, but here’s a little peek:
I am now officially on maternity leave until the new year. We will still be answering emails but please allow a couple days for a reply as newborns tend to be really time consuming creatures. I will start taking on sessions for January 2012 and beyond. Newborns can be booked anytime as we shoot indoors, and family sessions will resume for May 2012 once spring arrives.
For the rest of the fall we will be renovating our studio to install flooring, updating our website and creating some new packages and pricing. Expect a lot of baby related posts as my life will be revolving around a newborn and 21 month old.
The P Family – Guelph Family Photography
Sandra is one of Jake’s oldest and most favourite clients. I met her and her family for the first time the evening of their session, and I immediately understood why Jake has spoken so highly of them for all these years. They are friendly, warm and inviting people, not to mention super good looking as you can see below. Their session was more unique in that it was shot entirely on their own property. Sandra and her husband Robert run Botany Bay Estate Perennials which made for a colourful and lush backdrop. The lighting was perfect, and we absolutely love how their session turned out!
Spring
Right around now everyone starts to get really antsy about the imminent arrival of spring. Gardening equipment arrives on shelves, puffy winter jackets get packed away and are replaced with rain boots and umbrellas. April has been quite a dreary month. Those April showers better bring May flowers. Around our house we have a couple hints of spring. A good friend came over for dinner the other night and brought me a bouquet of Tulips. They’re pretty and they smell good. Always a good sign of better weather right?
I am really passionate about growing my garden these days. To get a head start, I bought a couple packets of seeds and a little indoor greenhouse and decided to see if I really could grow some flowers from scratch. I am trying out three types of flowers, Zinnias, Marigolds and Poppies. After carefully following the instructions and painstakingly placing the teensy seeds at the correct depth in the moss, I got many of them sprouting in less than a week. Fingers crossed they continue to do well and survive the move to the backyard next month.
We haven’t done a lot of shooting over the winter as the weather is so restrictive and zaps the inspiration. Yesterday I snapped a nice little picture of Mattea just before our afternoon snack. If anything it helped get me back into the swing of things. Spring can’t come soon enough.
