Melissa's Baby Shower

Melissa's Baby Shower

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Valentine's day

 
The day started slow, I knew it would get busy later so I just spent the morning relaxing catching up with my Facebook friends and playing a few games. At 3pm I was due at Christy's  house for her daughter Misty's baby shower. She has hired me to capture the moments before and after the baby is born. I arrived on time and got some shots before the shower started.





Misty's sons Brandon and Billy are adorable. I got some sweet moments with them while everyone else was rushing around getting things ready.





The shower was to start at 3:30pm and people started pouring in. There were a lot of little ones running around. I used to be used to that kind of noise and activity but boy it's been a long time! The kids had a blast with the balloons and they found a box of blocks. The older boys got a kick out of playing swords with the longer blocks until the littler ones started bopping each other on the head. Then the blocks had to be removed.





 Finally the gifts were opened. I had to move to a chair much closer to the action. The kids kept getting in the way so I couldn't stay in my original place. I had picked a chair that allowed me to be in the background and see everything. But it worked out well except for a TV right behind Misty.  Most of the photo ended up with a flare in the screen. So the photos they pick will have to be edited  to remove that ugly flash.









So all and all I think it went well. I got some great shots and I think they'll be happy with the results. I'll know later today what my friend Christy thinks. I sent her the link to my Flickr account where I'd posted 35 out of the 85 photos. She's coming over this afternoon and we will go through all the photos together. Next session will be in about 10 days after Misty's husband gets home. He's in the Army and in Korea right now and due to get home soon. The baby is due by c-section on March 11th and then we'll do the newborn session. Then they will have to decide which photos to buy. The next month is going to have some busy moments.










Part 2 of my Valentine's coming up next!

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Pain, medications and insurance companies

Since I last posted things have been pretty awful. I have been going through a medication change and need to go off one med before changing to something else. So it's been slow torture. Each change in dose brought on withdrawals. I'd feel like someone was poking me all over with hot needles, extremely tired and not well. This has been going on since the end of December. Last Wednesday I went change my patch ( how the medication is delivered) and couldn't find them. Turns out my PCA was picking up and threw out the bag they were in thinking it was empty. I was seeing the doctor on Thursday so figured we'd work it out. Well he wanted to prescribe a lower dose patch another withdrawal, and from there another lower dose and then go off the med altogether. So it would be three more times another almost two months of not feeling good. SO I said no, I want off now I am willing to go through what I have to and be over with it. He did prescribe something for the symptoms. That leads me to the next saga. So I dropped the scripts off at the pharmacy. Calvin went in to pick them up. I got it home and opened the bag and no med for the symptoms. I called the pharmacy and got told the script was for two patches and they come in fours. So now we wait until the next day, 24 hours of no meds. I wait until mid morning and call the pharmacy to see if it's ready. Now they tell me my insurance wants a prior authorization. I call the doctors office and I'm told they have faxed the paperwork to the insurance comapny. To wait a few hours and call the company. And also that my docotor isn't in on Fridays so they can't change what he prescribed. I call the insurance comapny at 3pm, they tell me they haven't gotten it. I tell them look because I talked to the doctor's office at 11 am and they had faxed it already. So after being on hold for a long time they finally come back and say yes they had it. They tell me they have given it a priority but it'll be at least 4 more hours before they take care of it. So now we're talking Saturday at the earliest. Now I've been going through this agnony since Wednesday evening. So I take what I have here for meds and get some sleep. Next morning, I wait until a reasonable hour and call once more. The lady I speak with puts me on hold to research the problem. She comes back and says I have the decision, they denied it. I ask why and she says well there are three other meds you would have had to have tried first. And I say well it's Saturday on a holiday weekend what am I supposed to do? I am hurting now! No answer and the call ends. So at this point I am starting to feel better and figure that I will tell the doctor not to bother prescribing anything else because by Tuesady I should be over the worst of it! I feel like the insurance company doesn't care one bit that I was going through hell, it's all about jumping through their hoops. There is something so wrong with our system!

My Weekend

This was a long and exciting weekend. It started off with a trip to Disney on Ice with my son, John and grandson , Richard. I saw the ads on TV back before Christmas and called to find out the price. The tickets were reasonable, so after consulting with my son and my sister Beth (Beth was going to attend the show with me but had to cancel the night before), I purchased the tickets by phone in January when my check came in. It was a long wait for the first of the month to the very last day but well worth it. When my sister canceled I called my son and asked if he'd like the other ticket and he was happy to use it. Richard is just 3 years old and an active little man. He'd never been out in a crowd before so I wanted two adults just in case. Well he was just wonderful. As soon as the lights came on and the announcer said the show would be starting in 5 minutes, Richard sat with his eyes glued on the ice. As grammie I got to spoil Richard by getting him anything he wanted. I spent way more money then I really could afford but it was so worth it. Things we got were a stuffed crocadil fro Peter Pan, a tee-shirt from the Lion King, a program and coloring book, pretzels, popcorn and a slushy in a Stich cup. My little man loved every minute of the whole two hour show.







Next, we decided to get some real food. Richard was declaring his tummy was empty, which was funny since we had eaten the whole two hours. We found the Denny's in Westbrook and stopped there. Well they sat us by the claw machine  filled with stuffies. John had won Richard a turtle the night before so Richard was determined he was going to win another one. Well dad had no luck, everytime someone would play on the machine RIchard had to climb up and watch over the back of the seat.







Richard was getting restless and couldn't sit still he was overtired it had been a long day already. He ate about half his lunch, which was just fine. We got back into the car and within minutes he was fast asleep. We drove back to where we had left their car and while unloading we discovered that we had left behind the bag containing Richard's tee-shirt, program and coloring book in it. We almost just decided to forget about it but there was over $30 worth of stuff, so I called the Civic center. Sure enough someone had turned it in and it was waiting there. So we turned around and drove 30 minutes back to Portland to get it. Eventhough it was frustrating it allowed John and I some relaxed time to just visit and talk to eachother.  We said goodby at the parking lot and I thought that was the last I'd see them for awhile. But that wasn't to be the case.....
The next morning Calvin and I got up to a wet floor and wet spots on the walls. The roof was leaking! The whole was going to have to be shoveled and ice dams broken up before any serious damage was done. I called John and happened to be out ice fishing with my son-in-law Jon not too far away. John lives in Monmouth which is almost a 2 hour drive, the lake he was on was around 20 minutes. He said he'd come and give Calvin a had with the roof. The upside was he had Richard so I would be watching him while the guys were on the roof. Yah!! It cost us around $300 though by the time we bought a ladder, ice melt, extra shovel, two pairs of gloves, ice cleats for boots, and gas for my son's truck. But in the long run it needed to be done and we averted any serious damages. Richard was really good for me, we watched Happy Feet on TV, had some lunch and played with my dogs. All in all it was a great weekend with lots of time with Richard.

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Welcoming a New Year 2009

It's been a long time since I wrote on this blog. I honestly forgot I had the account. Well for the New Year I am resolved to begin taking on photo jobs. I moved from Wilton, Maine where I was getting established about 18 months ago, when I had to close down my studio location. I was in a bad accident around the same time, so haven't pursued any work while I recovered. Though my camera is never far from my side. So if you are or know anyone looking for a photographer in the Bridgton/Fryeburg, Maine area, let them know about me.




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