My growing belly - 37 weeks

These photos were taken a few weekends ago by the lovely Pamela @ Pamela Du Toit Photography (we went to school together, and both started our family photography businesses at the same time). I love them, and I need to do this more often so our whole family can be in the picture at the same time.

I was 37 weeks then, now I'm 38.5. Here are a few of my favourites.

It's so amazing how fast the days go by for these last few weeks, yet they seem to drag forever at the same time. I can't remember how I was feeling just a week ago, so I'll do my belly update about right now.

Sleep? Still not getting a lot of hours, but Alia's sleeping has been HEAPS better the last two weeks which has made a huge difference! I have been having crazy birth dreams for weeks (I gave birth to triplets in one dream... now that was scary!), and wake up with leg cramps and achy hips and general achy head/shoulders, and always needing to pee. Just a few little things to complain about. I really really really want to be able to lie on my belly or at least me back again, I miss it so much!

Food? More chocolate.. I am officially addicted to chocolate I think. And pineapple fruju's and apples, and so so thirsty all the time!

Movement? Still lots of big stretches, but he's been in the same position for a few weeks now... back lined up against my right hand side, and feet pushing out to my left hand side. Midwife says that's a good position to be in, which is great! Alia was posterior the whole time, which they say can make labour longer, and was why I felt all my labour pains in my lower back.

Weird Stuff? I have not been handling this heat very well at all. My veins are constantly huge and I feel light headed lots. I have double the blood volume to push around, so my body is working hard! The cramps have been super annoying too. I got such a sore one last night, that it's still hurting half way through today where it spasmed! 

Looking forward to? Having energy (I know that may take another 10 years or so). Sleeping on my belly. Cuddling a newborn baby... newborn smells.

All finished for 2013

I have finished all my lovely client bookings for 2013! I'm a little sad that I don't get to meet any new lovely families for a while, but I will be super busy hanging out with my new little baby boy and my gorgeous 2 year old girl for a few months. We have lots of fun Christmas activities and holidays planned!

I will be back in business in February 2014, so please do get in touch for next year!

Kahurangi Creations

I have very talented siblings. My little sister has just started making jewellery, so I said I'd come around and snap some shots of the pieces she's done so far!

Since it's a super busy time of year, she is spending all her time making Christmas and birthday presents for all of us, so there's no shop up and running yet. But keep an eye out on her blog if you're interested!

Kahurangi Creations - Treasured Possessions

Here's Hana (right) with her lovely jewellery teacher Carly.  

Ruby

I am so happy I was able to catch up with Ruby and her family after photographing her lovely mum while pregnant, then when she was newborn, and NOW when she is 8 months old! Perfect little bub in her lovely white dress.

Hazel

I seriously LOVE this awesome mum's smile! So much JOY and satisfaction. Oh and little Hazel is pretty cute too :)

I also LOVE that they wanted to go outside to the Orewa estuary to gets some shots. I always think outdoors photos are the best, and I am so in love with how these ones turned out! Hazel looks like a little gum nut baby lying in the grass, and she has a super talented friend who made her that beautiful crochet blanket too!

Kaukapakapa Playcentre fundraiser

Wowee what a day it was! Beautiful sunburny sun, light breeze, and SEVEN energetic families.

Being 7.5 months pregnant I was a little worried my energy would run out over the course of the day, but I kept it up the whole way since the families were all so awesome. Each one brought something different to the mix and the photos have turned out amazing! I will share just a few shots from each.

For each family it was a 30 minute session and they got 25 finished photos on a disk.

The first family to show up was this family of seven - that's FIVE GIRLS! Talk about jumping right into the deep end.

What a super lucky dad to have these five beautiful girls to give him big cuddles

The youngest is sweety-pie Bethany who was a super-duper poser for me - the best three month old smiles the whole time!

Next up were the three comedian kids from the lovely Lowe family - so much silliness the whole session (and some great posing too)! Loved this family dynamic.

And I LOVED the enthusiasm the next family brought to the shoot - so many AMAZING smiles. Such a great bunch of kids. How proud must these parents feel!?

Fourth on the list was the cheeky Harrison's who had a pretty sweet wardrobe manager I reckon!

Then after lunch I met this lovely family with three gorgeous girls!  Turns out my daughter and I do swimming with their youngest - Sari. She is quite the challenge to photograph, but the photos turned out perfectly!

Next up was young Jack and his mum and dad.  I thought this was going to be my easiest family of the day since there was only one wee personality to deal with... boy was I wrong! He was the only one who really really didn't want anything to do with me. So I gave up being in his face and opted for the sneaky shots while he splashed (and got drenched) in the water. They turned out to be some of my favourite shots of the day anyway.

And last but not least was the Thomson family with their two gorgeous girls. I couldn't decide which one from this series I liked the best, so here's lots of the two of them being lovely and cuddly. Oh and the ones on the beach too... so so hard to decide on just a few to share!

And that was my day.