My New Daughter

Is it okay for me to be a little biased here?? I have the most beautiful daughter in the world!! She was born on Sunday morning (our anniversary) and is just precious. She has already stolen her daddy's heart!!

Emerson Rae Addington
5lbs 5oz
19"
10:00AM Sunday, October 5, 2008
Burnsville, MN

You can certainly follow her on the blog her big brother started the day he was born!


Thank you to so many of you with the well wishes and visits. Thank you too for your patience as some of my photo work is on hold temporarily!! I will get back into the groove soon, but one camera will likely be pointed in Emmy's way quite often!!

My Second Day!

Welcome To Our World, Emerson!!

The day finally arrived. We left home at 3:26AM, dropped Cameron off on hwy52 with G'ma and G'pa and headed up to Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville.

We checked in about 4:45AM and got settled. Contractions had slowed a bit and doctors just wanted to keep an eye on mommy. By about 9:30, things were moving along, though contractions still weren't really strong or frequent. At about 9:55, the doctor said let's try pushing...two pushes and here I was!!

I spent a good portion of the first hour screaming and letting everyone know that I was here. I weighed 5 lbs 15oz and was 19" long. I had a little bit of blonde hair, long fingers and big hands. I was the 42nd baby born at Ridges in the month of October already!

They moved us down to our room and played the little piano chime as we left the labor and delivery ward. We got settled into our room and life was good. I got my first bath and they kept me under that nice warm lamp for a while.

We had some visitors stop and see me which was great.

Lisa and Megan Schwanke

The Bakke Twins, Kate and Annika along with mom & dad Aimee and Jason

Cindy & Kurt Weber

Alicia & Glen Perkins

And of course my grandmas and grandpas. They were very proud and
enjoyed meeting me. On the Schliep side, I am the first girl grandchild so they get to start keeping an eye out for dresses, dolls and stuff like that!!





Then Aunt Amy, cousin Brynn and grandpa Gary and grandma Carol stopped by too. They brought my big brother Cameron along too. He usually writes this blog but he said that he would let me have a shot as it is the day I was born!! He was more into the tractor toys that Kurt, Cindy, Glen and Alicia brought. But then he kind of came up and sat with me and even gave me a little kiss. He is going to be a great big brother and I can't wait to grow up with him!!

ESession - Nick+Rachael

Okay, it was an eventful morning here. Many of you know that we are due with baby#2 later in October, however the doctor said this last week that we are ready to go anytime. Well, anytime appeared to be this morning at say, 2AM!! Got ready to go and all but had the truck in drive heading out when things slowed down. Called doctor back and said to wait it out a bit.

That continued all morning and finally Leah said, "just go". Nothing is going to happen here.

Well that gave me a chance to get out on a great shoot with Nick and Rachael in Northfield. We had a wonderful little walk by the river in the morning light.

Got some amazing photographs.

I am so excited to shoot their wedding next summer...they love to smile, laugh and just be together!!

Enjoy the photos.

The Luebke Family

Just another absolutely perfect day in the Valley. Had a great time with Brad, Cathy, Maddie and Cal. I think we even got Cal to smile a couple times after he got to ride in the combine with Nate!!

Enjoy the photos.

Welcome Home Just After Dark

Another beautiful night in the treestand. I sat on that same field as the previous post, though I had moved the stand down about 75 yards to the west. My dad had sat in this stand last week and had 19 deer come out relatively early in the evening.

Tonight I had a slight breeze from the west which was perfect and it calmed down to a very quiet night near sunset. I patiently waited for some action, but for whatever reason, they started their movement really late. Almost "big buck" time for all the women and children to come out. There was a total of seven that hopped that west fence and came into the alfalfa, but about 75 yards away. One other deer came into the NW corner of the field where there is very little cover, but I couldn't see what it was.

In typical hunting story fashion, I pulled into the driveway on the four-wheeler just after dark only to be welcomed by seven deer standing within 10 yards of my front door.

A great night and a beautiful sunset.

Another trail cam photo from a couple weeks ago of a decent buck just off the river. I have had a few different looks at this deer. If he's 2 1/2 years, he's gonna be a good one in a year or two.

ESession - Derek+Amanda

Had a great finish to a really, really busy three days with Derek and Amanda. Like I said earlier, it was a gray, dreary day, but the sun started to peek out by the end of the afternoon. Almost to the point where it made photography a little tough. We had to be looking for some good shadows towards the end of the session. The light just seemed to fall right again as we wrapped up on the HWY 14 bridge over the Little Cannon River with the Gopher Hockey sweaters on. Great light, great photos and a great time with Derek and Amanda.

I am really excited to be a part of their wedding next spring!!

Ann Sviggum Family

My good friends the Sviggum's had some family down from the cities and over from Wisconsin for a family shoot. It was kind of a gray, dreary day, but great for shooting. We had talked about doing shots in the river, but I was concerned that it might not have much for light. I brought down two SB24's and fired them with PocketWizards at 1/16th power to fill the light in just a bit. I think you'll see it ended up perfect. These river photos have not been retouched at all. Sometimes things just come together!!