I am still here!

I have been sick, if you read back I have crohn’s, an autoimmune disorder, and have been in the hospital. Such a hard time around Christmas, and then of course all my wonderful, understanding, caring clients that I photographed before I went in had to wait for prints.

Here’s the breakdown: I got sick, went to the hospital, got a miracle medication that basically cures my old woman-witch disease. Went home, and my two year old gave me bronchitis the very next day. So, after taking the miracle drug that suppresses my immune system, I could not get over the bronchitis. And because of that, I could not take my miracle drug anymore. So my crohn’s got bad again. And antibiotics are crohn’s nemesis, so I got even more sick.

And then, it was really strange, but my left lung collapsed, and I ended up in the hospital again. Come on! I am 32. But, such is life and all is well now. Challenges only make me stronger.

Thankfully after THREE rounds of different antibiotics, I am HEALTHY. I flew out to TN with my family to recuperate and will be back for 24 hours on the 3rd to catch up on all past sessions, and then will officially be fully back to work on the 9th.

My parents live on 30 acres in the middle of nowhere on a lake. It is beautiful, serene, and a perfect opportunity for me to finally slow down and relax (and take photos).

So, I hear the weather was pretty rough in Boulder for a few days and is now beautiful. Can’t wait to get back to Boulder on Tuesday! Email me if you want to schedule a newborn, family, or even high school senior session (I want to do them now bc Kayla’s shoot was so great.)

Oh, by the way, this photo has a funny story. I got a call from a rancher in (I *think*) New Mexico. She told me that I had photographed her sister’s family in San Francisco, and she just loved my work so much she had to have me do her daughter’s high school senior portraits. Her daughter would be driving 3-4 hours by herself to do the session with me.

I told her honestly, I don’t photograph high school seniors, and there are probably a ton of really great photographers in her area that I could find for her, but she insisted that I must be the photographer (huge compliment, thank you L!). Well, after she heard my prices she told me that her jaw was on the ground. But she also said she knew I was worth it and would I do a trade?

Well, of course, I love trades. Hit me up, see if it is something I need. Well, she is a rancher. So it was meat. And I laughed, bc I am a vegetarian. Luckily, my husband is a big guy who loves meat and we have a deep freezer, so I agreed.

Kayla reminded me a bit of myself at that age. Artistic, totally her own person, laid back, and fun. We had a great time. I took her to the old hippie farm just outside of Boulder and we got some amazing images-it was the perfect place for her. This is just one of my favorites that I just happened to have on the laptop I took with me to TN, so I am posting it. Those eyes! She is gorgeous. She is actually sitting in an old VW Bus. I will post more when I get back to Boulder. Promise.

If you need to get a hold of me I am here now!  720-310-0336, boulderbabyphotography@gmail.com.

Btw, it is EXACTLY 12am right now New Years Eve/Day. And I am sitting here quietly, sipping chamomile tea, posting while the babies are sleeping. My dad set off fireworks earlier, and then the kids passed out by 8pm. This is just how it is when you have young children-and I love it.

xoxo stacey

ps, thank you to all my wonderful friends and clients in real life and on FB that emailed and called constantly bc I stopped posting for so long. I love that I am so supported-it means everything to me.

Not gonna write a lot today-not feeling well. I’m ok, but just not up to talking about photos and photography and being sick and my family nitty gritty and all that. Amelia has been sick for days and then the stomach flu was in our house. But here are some beautiful portraits of the most beautiful family!

xoxo stacey

Beautiful and perfect in every way? Yes. Greta is such a delicate, angelic newborn. She was so sweet and sleepy and snugly with her mom. Everything is perfect there. It reminds me of when we had Elijah-we had at least three months where everything was blissful and there was a blanket of peace over the house-that is how it felt at Greta’s. And believe me, I know the difference-Amelia’s first three months were heated and so fiery. Just like her. And of course she is perfect and beautiful in every way. But would I say delicate and angelic when describing Amelia? No.

So, I live in cohousing, which is an amazing collaboration of multigenerational people who feel like something is missing from modern American neighborhoods. I spent 9 months watching Claudia grow this beautiful baby, who lives just across the pedway from me (pedways are inside-the-block-sidewalks so the kids can play safe away from the street). Claudia, who happily tolerates my 2 year old who will NOT keep clothes on, who let’s her help seed plants and pick weeds even though she is in her birthday suit, has just had the most beautiful baby EVER.

Congratulations Claudia and Nat, I can not wait for our little ones to grow up together. I hope Amelia ends up being a GOOD influence on Greta, but if Greta ends up wanting to be without clothes a lot as a toddler, you can not blame that on me:)

xoxo stacey

So this sweet boy I met through an organization that I volunteer for as a photographer, The Tiny Sparrow Foundation.  The foundation connects families who have children with serious medical issues with photographers that are willing to do free portrait sessions for them. I know, you have all heard me whining about being sick lately, but as someone who grew up in a house where all five of the kids had crohn’s, I know that medical bills add up and there is NO extra income for custom photography.

It makes me so happy to have a talent that I can share with other people. How fortunate am I that I can give a gift like this? I feel like the lucky one getting to meet you guys!

So, Noah has Cerebral Palsy. He is doing well, but can’t hold up his head and it is hard for his eyes to focus. He love Elmo. A lot. He has the most beautiful crystal clear eyes. And his favorite thing to do is swing, which is why I am posting this happy swinging photo with dad.

To read Noah’s mom’s blog, go to http://noahsmiracle.blogspot.com/. You can also donate by going here. I just donated myself. $1, $5, $25 , whatever! I know that at least 300-500 people read my blog every day, so even a dollar from each person would make a huge difference.

They have stem cells from Noah’s little brother, and need to save up enough money to get the medical treatment that he so desperately needs. The sooner they can do the procedure, the more likely it is that he will improve. So, if you can, a dollar or two? It could make the entire difference in Noah’s quality of life. Go here to donate.

Anyways, I am feeling much better! I think my new therapy is working. We shall see. I still am on predizone and a ton of other meds and that is really hard, especially in the mornings, but overall I am doing much better.

xoxo stacey

Welcome to the world Greta! My wonderful neighbor, who had the cutest pregnant belly ever, gave birth to a beautiful newborn girl on Friday. Congratulations guys! I can’t wait to meet her and take her newborn photos!

On a personal note, since I know those of you who read my blog have been worried-all is well here. I am home from the hospital and was given an intense drug on Thursday called Humera. You have probably seen the lovely commercials for it on tv-it is advertised for rheumatoid arthritis but works wonders for crohn’s disease too. It could put me into and possibly keep me in remission for the rest of my life. Who knows? If not, I will go to that expensive energy healer in Detroit. Or maybe somewhere in India….

Lots and lots of and lots of shoots lately! So much to post. But just wanted to get this one little photo up because I am so happy for them!
xoxo stacey

So, just wanted to update you all since some of you are on facebook with me and 6 of you had canceled sessions withe me this week… I did end up at the hospital. Sunday night, I lost a lot of blood and it was too thin and I had to go to the ER. I am doing much better, and just got back, and am starting a new amazing experimental drug tomorrow (that I have to inject myself, yuck), so should be fine in a few days.

The last few days have just been a dream. I have no idea why we give birth in the hospital. If we were sick people go-I know, bc I was sick and it felt all icky and sad to me. I had a beautiful view of the foothills from a tiny window that was all the way across the room from my bed. So it was a weird-dreamy-like-claustrophobic, day spa. Such a strange experience to be in a hospital. The nurses at Boulder Community are awesome . And now I am fine. So bring on the photo sessions-it is not work, photography is the love of my life and the more I do, the better I feel.

More tomorrow.

xoxo staey

This is one of my sweetest families. If you have had an in-home proofing session with us then you have seen the beautiful album from when Mom was pregnant with Scott and Riley had just turned three years old. Then, 6 months ago I had the honor of doing baby “socks” newborn photos. I LOVED those newborn photos, I hope dad is over the fact that we put babylegs on his baby boy in his birthday suit.

Anyways, update on health. I felt awful yesterday-almost just went into the ER. But took mega doses of steriods and felt better this morning! Life is good! Get me on some new experimental drug and let’s go. I am ready to be healthy.

Can’t wait to photograph 21 month old Lincoln tonight! It is a beautiful day in Boulder and perfect for photos. Here are his newborn photos if you are curious, wasn’t he the sweetest? Look at that face! Those eyes! His expresssion! Can’t wait to see him again after all this time.

xoxo stacey

Yeah, that is our new kitty Simba, super sweet, right? Not as cute as these two babies, though. It was such a strange Boulder night. It was sprinkling on and off, and the light was just so unique. It started raining too hard at the end, so we scheduled another day a few days later to get a few last photos. Connor is so sweet and bright eyed-here are his newborn photos. He was a perfect newborn, too.

I am finally feeling better, yay! I still am losing like a 1/2lb or 1 lb a day, so I am tired and worn out, but I can feel my belly healing and my symptoms are lessoning. I did cranial sacral therapy yesterday with an expert visiting from Germany. I have never done it before. It was kind of strange. She just moved my body in gentle, weird ways. It felt like a half hour but was really an hour and a half. It was like a dream, and afterwards I felt very dreamy and peaceful. Yeah, this is all classic Boulder-hippie-out-there stuff, but I am willing to try anything. This morning my acupunturist lit sticks on fire in my legs. So there. She heard of some man in Detroit who can energetically heal people, and there is a small part of mine that wants to go seek him out and pay him thousands of dollars to energetically take away my old-woman-witch-disease.

Anywyas, to be proactive I sent out some emails to some crohn’s research centers seeing if they can study my family. The chance of passing it along to your child is 5%. And my Dad passed it on to all FIVE of us. That is just so unusual. They need to take our blood and find a cure or an actual cause. It is such mystery.

Off to a photo shoot at a pumpkin patch now! I love this time of year. We are going to Munson Farms in Boulder-I photographed families there last year and it was beautiful!

A sweet family. Perfect Boulder night. Mac (the baby) was not so happy but I think we got him smiling enough.

Things are ok here. Getting a little bit better day by day. 60 mg of prednizone. So yeah, fun but no fun. Update tomorrow, hopefully I am feeling super well by then…

This sweet little newborn is Penny, sister to Charlie whom I posted photos of the other day. this whole family is so sweet! They live in Golden on this beautiful ridge and have a ton of gorgeous land. I am envious, for sure, though I am happy to be in Boulder. Anyways, isn’t she so perfect? Makes me want to have another baby sooo bad.

Good news all around here-my intern, got to adopt her baby girl!!!! Some of you have met her a on photo shoots so I am sure you will be happy to hear that. I just am overjoyed.

Adam and I really want to adopt a baby or child with special needs. He doesn’t want me to have another (I am a hormonal, whiny b@#$% when I am pregnant). But, I did my master’s specializing in early attachment-especially with foster and adopted children. And Adam is a behavior analyst, so works with autism and developmental disabilities on a daily basis. So maybe we will adopt a little boy with downs or fetal alcohol syndrome. We just have to wait to move into our new, bigger house, and wait for Amelia to be a little less of a firecracker. But it is a big dream of mine and I can’t wait.

The other good news is I am feeling A LOT better today. It might help that I am now on 60mg of liquid (yuck) predizone (steriods). But I have hardly been able to move the last week, and today I am feeling a little better. Bad news-the drug that they want to put me on is $4200/month. A month. Yes. And our insurance sucks. Whatever, I guess I will have to raise all my photography prices to $4200 a session to cover it. I am just kidding, of course:) We’ll manage it.

Lots and LOTS of shoots coming up, I will try to update the blog daily now that I am doing better.

xoxo stacey