The Hennigan Tribe

As most of you know by now, our little trio is expecting the welcome addition of a little boy this summer. We announced our pregnancy to most of our family and friends at Christmas with this photo of Ellie. If you can't read her shirt, it says "Merry Christmas to me  because I am a big sister to be!"



With Ellie I was able to get into a doctor very quickly and had a (very!) early ultrasound. This was great because it turned out she was much younger than we had originally thought! With this little guy we had the hardest time getting to our initial appointment. We had to attend an orientation meeting before we could schedule an appointment. The first time we were scheduled for orientation all three of us came down with a nasty flu virus. The second time we were about three miles from the hospital when our car completely broke down. It was almost funny. We finally made it to orientation and our first appointment at about 16 weeks.

This would have been just fine except that at our first ultrasound the baby was measuring twelve days late. We weren't too worried because Ellie was younger and we assumed this baby was too. Several ultrasounds later and he's growing well in almost every area other than his abdomen measures small. They think it's a condition called Intrauterine Growth Restriction or IUGR. Basically, they don't know what's wrong but they want to monitor him every week to make sure he's getting enough blood flow and nutrients. They aren't really worried and we aren't really worried, but we all feel like it's better to take precautions as IUGR can be serious or even fatal for the baby.

The upside of this is that we get to see our baby every week :) Ellie was very excited to see her little brother on the monitor last time. I can't wait to see her reaction when she actually gets to see him in person and hold him! She's going to make a great big sister!

Ellie and I went to Fort Worth back in October to visit Katie and Brice. During our visit, Ellie got to visit the Dallas World Aquarium for the first time. If you haven't been, you should definitely go!

Okay, embarrassing story here...I finally upgraded my camera awhile ago and I thought I had read all the pertinent directions. Looking at my photos in post processing, I kept thinking "I know this camera can do amazing things, so what am I not doing correctly? Why aren't these coming out better?!". I decided I needed to put in extra time practicing, but I could never nail the lighting. Well, it was definitely user error. Apparently the button that I thought was the f-stop was NOT the f-stop button but the exposure compensation button. In simple terms, I was adjusting the brightness by brute force instead of using the correct formulas and letting the camera settings do the work for me.

These photos (and quite a few to follow since I'm not necessarily posting chronologically) will be photos that I shot using the wrong settings, but I am really hoping that this new knowledge will allow me to start taking better photos!

Here are a few pictures from our trip!

Ellie and I enjoyed watching the river otters!

This otter kept swimming back and forth. Ellie loved it!

A flamingo peeks over from the flamingo enclosure. What a creeper ^_^

Aunt Katie and Uncle Brice

Checking out the fish :D

In front of the waterfall!

 No earth shattering thoughts in this post. Just a couple of cute pics of the kiddo. Hope you guys enjoyed them :)

I've had so many things I wanted to post about lately, but we've had a lot going on.

If you know Ellie, you know that our little girl loves taking a "tub tub". Our new house has some renovations that need to be done in the guest bathroom before Ellie can use the tub, so we have been using the shower exclusively for the past few months. When we went to visit Z and K for the PAX South (video game conference), Ellie tested out their fine bathing facilities and I snapped a few photos to share with you guys.

I read a tip once about photographing your children that said to photograph the small things. The things that change and are soon forgotten. I thought this was a perfect time to practice this.
Her hair right now is super thin and fine, but she's getting these darling ringlets in the back of her head.  I love it! I really want to document this baby fuzz before she has a full head of hair and gets that big kid look that toddlers possess.


I love how sweet she looks with her hand crammed in her mouth. Hehe.


Her little personality is really starting to shine. She gets tickled about something and gives you the cutest little smile. I just love making her smile! The one on the left is her smile when you tell her to smile and the one on the right is just her unabashed joy at enjoying the water.


I have to remind myself to post photos even if they aren't great technically because the ones that capture her personality are the ones I'll treasure even more than "The Perfect Shot". And really, isn't that what photography is all about?

My mom used to make this delicious breakfast bread called Monkey Bread every once in awhile. It's super rich and super easy to make. I had a craving for it and decided to recreate my childhood memories. I snapped some pics so I can share this yummy treat with you guys! ^_^

It's the easiest recipe ever! Paula Dean would be so proud of my over-the-top butter useage. :P
The sugar to cinnamon ratio is kind of just a guess, but I like it with a lot of cinnamon. Don't be afraid of the cinnamon!


Here's the recipe...like I said easy peasy!


Feel free to pin this and share with your friends! Monkey Bread should be shared ;)

 Can I just say that I miss the snot out of my family sometimes?

I went up the week of Thanksgiving to visit with them and my sister Katie wanted me to take some photos of her and her husband for their Christmas cards. I can't wait to show you those, but I have to wait until after everyone gets their cards!





Here's Jodi and I trying out an adorable pose. Ellie is obviously not impressed. Hehe. I don't think she likes being the meat to our sandwich!


Ugh. I miss my family. There's something so amazing about when we get together.
We have our own language and inside jokes that come from a lifetime of shared history.
It was chaos sometimes, but it was a comforting chaos.

Coming from a family of seven, the thought of not giving Ellie that same experience and support from having siblings is unimaginable.