oops!

oh my word, the last few months have flown by! this little excerpt from my last post might have something to do with my extended absence from blog world.... 

"i've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. you know those times when you try to doing everything at once? like, hey, i want to eat more healthy, start exercising, declutter my house, rebrand and grow my business, be a better and more involved mom, volunteer at the school, spend more quality time with my husband, cook more often (ok, or at all), do a better job with our finances... oh, and doing a little something for myself might be nice. you know, when i have some spare time."

so yeah. that pretty much covers it. i haven't made much progress on... well, anything. i think it's a case of being spread too thin... i have so much going on that i can't quite complete any one task. my business is my priority (right behind my kids, of course), and i've been keeping busy renovating part of our home for natural light photography studio. it's pretty exciting, but i'm *so* ready to be finished! we've had a new 6 foot by 5 foot window installed, then we painted the room white. (on a side note, do you have any idea how many coats of white paint it takes to cover dark brown?? we went through a gallon of primer and three gallons of white paint! and i *never* want to see another paint roller!) next step will be to rip up carpet and install hardwood floors. then i'll be ready to roll! (and a hint to current and future clients: i may be cooking up a little special to celebrate the new studio! stay tuned!) we are re-designing another room in our home for a consultation/prop room. it'll be in use shortly, but it'll be one of those things that comes together slowly.... i don't want to rush into any purchases for my consultation room, i want it to be perfect. or at least, perfectly me!

so the good news since my last post... tate had a followup with his pediatric GI doc at the end of september, and was given the all-clear. they cancelled his tests that had been scheduled for november 8th. now, don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean he's healed yet. he still has the gastroparesis and reflux. but we have it under control enough with diet that the doc doesn't find it necessary to keep badgering him with one test after another. so thankful for that! he still complains of tummy aches pretty regularly, but we've only had one day of vomiting for him in the last few months (and that was just a few weeks ago), so he's doing so much better. the doc decided that he's not having enough tummy aches to warrant meds, and i'm ok with that. thank you for all of your prayers through this whole mess! glad we're starting to move past it! 

fall is my busy season with my photography business, so i pretty much just aim to keep my head above water until january. things got a bit crazy there for a while (i mean, really... who plans a 3 day photography conference immediately followed by a week-long vacation in the middle of their busiest season?? *raising hand*)

needless to say, haven't gotten any farther with the house-decluttering-task yet. and i *really* need to do that! now that i have a studio (ok, almost), i no longer have a junk room to move all the unwanted mess to. my plan is to start a pile of crap neatly stack things in the basement until it's sorted for yard sale, donation, and consignment store. i plan to go room by room and leave no useless junk behind. i may need a bigger basement.

over the last few months.... school is going well for the kids, we survived another soccer season for jake and noah, and noah started a hip hop dance class at a local dance studio and he loves it. i've been revisiting the 80s lately while downloading some songs to my iphone for noah to dance to, since it's near impossible to find hip hop music nowadays that is in any way appropriate for kids. i've been enjoying the journey back in time... i heart 80s music. oh, and speaking of iphone... i got the new 4S for my birthday. it's simply awesome. siri is my new bff, and she keeps me on track for everything i need to do. even the kids know her... whenever i tell the boys "hey guys, don't let me forget to.... " they just respond with "just tell siri to remind you, mom!" and i won't lie... a couple of times, they've even called her *aunt* siri. she really has become part of the family. i'm pretty sure the kids think she's a real person, out in the world somewhere. if you haven't seen the iphone 4S and siri in action, check out some of the ads on you tube! and honestly, it's my first smart phone (my old phone was a dinosaur, and met an untimely death due to a water ride on previously mentioned vacation), *and* an apple product (big fan here), so i'm in love. this past month, i won a photography contest with our credit union. my photo will adorn the cover of their 2012 calendar, and an extra $500 will adorn my wallet. $500 can go a long way toward hardwood floors! 

i hope to include some photos in the next post, so stick with me. i'll try not to go MIA for so long next time!

but for now, i have a to do list taller than i am, so off i go!  

ramblings... it's what i do.

ok, seriously, i didn't mean to fall off the face of the earth like that. i blame Pinterest. actually, i blame Pinterest for lots of time lost recently. my facebook status from the wee hours of this morning reads "seriously? five minutes ago it was 11pm and now it's almost 1am. darn Pinterest." if you don't know what Pinterest is, i'll try to explain it. imagine that you have a bunch of those cork pinboards hanging on a wall. and then you have lots of things pinned to it, like recipes and decorating ideas that you've ripped out of magazines that you were reading in the waiting room at the doctor's office. well, that's pinterest, but it's virtual. you can "pin" anything on the world wide web and decide which of your boards to pin it on. I have different boards for different categories... recipes, home decor, cool stuff for my office, fun props, etc. Pinterest is especially awesome if you're planning a wedding or redecorating a room. if you aren't on Pinterest yet but want to join, send me your email address and i'll send you an invite. oh, and say goodbye to all of your free time. you've been warned. 


so the last time i posted, tate had his upper GI done. we hoped that would be the last test, but apparently the doctor didn't get see everything he wanted to see... so we go back november 8th for an upper endoscopy and an antroduodenal manometry. yeah, i don't know either. but i do know that they will have to put him to sleep, complete with an IV, and he will have to stay overnight. he is still off of all meds since his allergic reaction to the erythromycin. i can't wait til this mess is behind us. 


so what else has been going on? the boys started school last week. i now have a kindergartner, a third grader, and a fifth grader. i don't feel like i'm old enough to have a fifth grader! (the boys keep reminding me that i am, i definitely am.) tate seems to be enjoying kindergarten. i hope my little overview i gave his teacher wasn't too overwhelming. "so tate has a prosthetic eye that he hopefully won't take out, and he has tummy issues that make him randomly vomit." that went well. 


here are a couple of photos i took on the first day of school...


yes, noah always looks that crazy. 

not so good at the fake smiles, is he? 

i have been working 24/7 on my photography business lately. i really thought life would slow down a bit when i quit my full-time night job, but i'm still up til 3am working, and now that the kids are back in school, my schedule isn't all that different from what it was when i was working at the airlines. i am so blessed to be as busy as i am business-wise in this economy, and hoping that it continues to grow. i am in the process of rebranding my business. i am officially changing my business name to jenn lewis photography. i think there was too much disconnect with the photographic memories name. i think people had heard my name and had heard photographic memories, but didn't necessarily know i was one and the same. and with using only word of mouth for advertisement, as i have for the past 4 years, i strongly depend on people making the connection. so jenn lewis photography it is. rebranding takes a lot of work, and i'm certain that i'll see something in like 8 months that will still say photographic memories because i never thought to change it! my previous website address still forwards, but my new website address is http://www.jennlewisphotography.com. there will be a lot of changes soon with my business. i'm looking forward to it! like my new logo? 

my other project is decluttering the house. i'm moving very slowly (hey, i have a business and 3 kids, remember? 4 if you count todd). anyway, i finished tate's room a few weeks ago, and todd helped me with jake and noah's room while the boys were visiting their grandma in ohio. now is where the fun begins... our bedroom is next, but the closet will be the tough part. do you have a place where you throw everything you don't know what to do with? well, the closet has been ours, and let's just say it's a more than a little out of control. ever seen the tv show hoarders? ha! ok, maybe it's not that bad, but intervention probably wouldn't hurt. wish me luck! 

i've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. you know those times when you try to doing everything at once? like, hey, i want to eat more healthy, start exercising, declutter my house, rebrand and grow my business, be a better and more involved mom, volunteer at the school, spend more quality time with my husband, cook more often (ok, or at all), do a better job with our finances... oh, and doing a little something for myself might be nice. you know, when i have some spare time. i want to hear from the supermoms, especially those of you who run a business and have multiple children... how do you do it?