In Which We Are Surprised!

Something pretty cool happened today.

We got an e-mail out of the blue from Kat Speyer, who is a fantastic photographer in Seattle. Apparently my sneaky sister, Mary, entered us into a Family Photo Giveaway without our knowledge . . . and we won! Check it out, see? (And check out Kat's pictures while you're over there-- she's amazing.) We'll get the chance to do a two-hour photo shoot with Kat and then we'll be able to pick out a ton of great prints, albums, canvasses, etc!

We are incredibly stoked about this opportunity. Other than the photos we took right before Jer left we have very few pictures of the three of us together; usually I'm the one behind the camera. Since I have no idea what I'm doing most of the pictures I have of Connor and Jer are blurry, marginally acceptable photos anyway. It'll be fantastic to have some really great ones.

While I'm sure that the grandparents will be thrilled about getting pictures of the grandbaby (and us too, I suppose) and I'm excited about some updated photos for the walls, that's not the main reason why I'm so happy about the shoot. I take so many pictures of Connor for the same reason I started this blog-- not only to keep people updated on how Connor is doing, but to provide Jer and me with a record of as many moments as we can capture out of his life.

While we do our best not to dwell on it and I don't blog about it often on here, the fact of the matter is that Connor is considered by the medical experts to have a severely life-limiting condition. He's already out-lived the original projections for his life expectancy three times, and so while we're taking their current projection (another one-and-a-half to eleven-and-a-half years) with a grain of salt we are well aware of the fact that it will be extremely unlikely that he will reach adulthood, let alone outlive us. Every moment that we can possibly capture of Connor's life, whether it be in words or on film, is extremely precious to us. I'd like to think that they'll be a comforting thing to look back on should that awful day come.

So while it came as a big surprise to us, we are absolutely thrilled to be able to have these pictures taken with the extremely talented Kat, who should be able to capture Connor's toddler attitude in all its glory. And though Connor is, in our minds, the total center of attention it'll be pretty nice to have some pictures of me and Jeremy that do not look (for good reason) like they have been taken from a camera held at arm's length and that have in the background an extremely messy living room. Also maybe she could make me a couple of dress sizes smaller. With bigger boobs. I've heard Photoshop can work wonders these days.

Right.

Um, anyway we may wait for a little while to take these unless we can find a pretty awesome indoor or sheltered place in the Seattle/Tacoma area to take pictures in (suggestions, anyone?) as Connor doesn't really need to be out in the rain, but I'll be sure to write all about our fun time once it happens!

I have to go shoe shopping. Photo shoots require an awesome pair of shoes.

~Jess