I always tell people how busy I am and my brain is a constant whirlwind. Never in a rude or self righteous way (Not: Ohhh I am so busy, well la dee da.), but boy I am a HOT mess and feel like I have been slammed since Gwen was born in April. I went back and counted all of the galleries I put up since Gwen’s birth. I counted right around 100 sessions – yes, ONE HUNDRED galleries posted since mid April. I know that I have been busy, but I don’t know what other photographers “busy” is or other mothers of five “busy.” Let me tell you – life has been BUSY – in my world. I totally overfill my plate, don’t ever say, “no,” and just work work work work work. It’s what I do and I love it!
Bad things have happened and great things have happened since April. In all honestly life has been wonderful, but it seems to just zoom by. Sure we have major stressors and I feel like headless chicken 99% of the time, but we are really blessed and fortunate. So for that I am very grateful. I know I haven’t been the best, well, at anything or everything… because of having so many people to please and tasks to complete. I will need to re-evaluate how to make 2016 easier for me, better for my family, greater for my clients, and more simplified in general. Here is a little re-cap of the past 8 months…
The bad:
A major bummer bob moment was when my gallery company lost most of my galleries this fall while they were transferring servers, so many of those 100 galleries don’t exist on the web anymore. I will need to be re-uploaded most of them in order for my clients to gain access (which is at least ONE HUNDRED hours of work and uploading time). I still love them and I am super easy going, probably too much, so I didn’t throw a big fit and they took care of me and were totally embarrassed about the huge mistake. I had two computers crash within a week of one another this fall too – my luck with technology would be considered “bad.” Literally there is kind of a joke between my IT guy (thanks Rich) and me. I have had more poo explosions (from my babes) than I can count. My daughter broke her leg this summer and just added one more child who needed to be carried for a while to our list. That little gal also needed to get glasses this year. I didn’t tell many people, but earlier this year a production company was considering our family as a new TV show – utilizing our flip homes, construction, big family, photography and just the Jenks Crew – to possibly come to TV (think Fixer Upper, but we aren’t near as awesome!). BUT… after a few Skype sessions and an interview – and then… it fizzled out. All right around the time we were having our baby. Partially my fault for being a tad hard to get a hold of and nail down another skype interview. Fingers crossed that one day we could do something like that – I think it would be awesome! My nights are always interrupted which means sleep is limited in my current world. I traditionally survive each day with plenty of coffee and wine… totally unhealthy. 🙂 I have learned that Facebook interaction for my business is dwindling by the day and keeping up with social media is a second full time job… that I try to keep up with! I totally sucked at blogging this year, hmm – I wonder why? I found a nodule on my thyroid (cancer free – hallelujah) and may have a thyroid disorder, but I haven’t made time to go get my third round of blood work drawn.
The Great:
I had a beautiful natural birth that lasted FIFTEEN hours from start to finish. My last natural birth was eleven hours, so I felt totally wronged! 🙂 Gwen’s birth was hard! It took quite a while for me to get to transitional stage and then it kicked my butt! I had my sister, one of my greatest friends, and my husband holding my limbs and helping me push – as they cheered me on. I shot ONE HUNDRED beautiful sets of people since April. Weddings, couples, seniors, bumps, babies, cars, events, families, children, and more. I delivered MOST of my portrait galleries within two weeks of the session and MOST of my weddings within four weeks of their wedding date. I had FABULOUS assistants, babysitters, and other helpers this year which allowed me to have a cleaner home, answered emails, clean and folded laundry, edited photos, and well taken care of children. Happy WIFE/mom/tog= Happy LIFE , right? I joined Grit and Gold (awesome event planner – Lottie Fowler) and several other wedding industry friends in a beautiful space off of Camp Bowie! What a blessing. I have been able to nurse and snuggle my precious eight month old Gwen – every single day! We were able to take all five kids to Rosemary Beach this summer where we played, swam, ate, slept, snuggled, and hung out as a family of 7! We completed another flip home – which is really a neat place! I have bonded with some neighbors and photographer friends that have helped me realize how great it is to foster friendships – which I haven’t been so great at (my apologies to my life long friends – you know who you are, I have totally neglected y’all). We hosted our first Thanksgiving and it was really a lovely day spent with our family! I turned 34… which is awesome! Next year is going to be interesting… it’s the year you can technically round UP TO 40! Holy cow. My husband has been home more, which has allowed us to bond more as a couple and as a family. Every morning Lake says, “Where’s Daddy?” and most of the time I can say, “He is downstairs.” It has been so nice having him near and helping me SO much with our kiddos. My business was full of trusting and kind clients and I thank them SO much for going through my crazy with me… though I hope most of them never felt an ounce of crazy. 🙂 I really value my clients and want to deliver the best Arden possible! I am so grateful for each of you who helped me support my family and my wonderful life. There is so much more to write about all of the things we did this year, but then this would get even longer winded. I am just grateful to have mentally survived and been able to cherish all of the people in my world.
Thank you for loving the “busy” me and Merry Christmas!
x0 – Arden
Here is Gwenie Poo – 8 months and on the prowl.
