Check it out: www.nicolewelchphotography.com/blog So change your bookmarks, Google Reader, etc.

(And if anybody knows how to do a 301 redirect, shot me an email at nikkiwelch@mac.com. I’m totally stumped!

Thanks!

Nikki

Don’t forget to enter the Free Starbucks contest in the post below!

I wanted to do a little something special for all my wonderful blog readers. Even though you guys are NOT so great about commenting, I know your reading because I check my stats. So thank you. And here’s a little treat for the holidays. Everybody needs a Gingerbread Latte once in a while – am I right? With Christmas just around the corner and Aidan at such a fun age (nearly 2!), I’m always looking for fun things that we can do this holiday season that will be new and exciting for him and our little family. My question for you is, what are your family Christmas traditions? Tell me, and you can win a $20 gift card to Starbucks!!!

The rules:

-Everyone may enter, but you can only enter once.

-You must submit your favorite holiday tradition in your family in the form of a blog comment.

-Your entry must be submitted by 5 p.m. Central Standard Time, next Thursday, December 11.

I will put each entry on a piece of paper, and on Friday morning when Aidan wakes up, hopefully NOT at 4 a.m., I’ll have him pick a winner. I’ll be sending that person a $20 gift card to Starbucks. That’s 5 venti caramel lattes!

So, email your friends, tell your family – but most importantly, enter and tell me your stories! I can’t wait to hear them. I’m sure everyone will have some fabulous ideas.

Thanks for reading and entering.

-Nikki

My fave: iced caramel lattes. Mmmmmm.

I’ve finished up all my album designing and ordering, and I’m almost completely caught up on my work. Woo Hoo! Then it’ll be time to focus on getting ready for next year. I’m going to design some really yummy marketing materials, perhaps give my website a facelift. Hopefully I can get everything done by Jan. 1. We’ll see! (It may depend on when Janine has her baby!!!)

Also, stay tuned for tonights post because it’ll be my FIRST blog contest! And you can win one of my favorite things on earth – STARBUCKS! So come back tonight and get all the yummy details.

The other option is a proofbook. These come spiral bound, though the one I’m showing is with the delicious optional leather cover. You can have an image of your choice and text on the cover, as well as a clear or frosted protective sheet. They’re beautiful! you will have 12 images on each side, and again, all your final images will be included. If you’re like me, you like something tangible in your hand, and these products offer that – as opposed to your images on CD. So there ya have it. Email nikkiwelch@mac.com if you have questions about any of my products! The new flushmount albums I’ll be offering 2009 clients should be here in mid-January, and I’ll post photos/info about those as soon as it comes in. I can’t WAIT to see it. Can you tell I’m a little bit excited about albums?!

Jason + Janine are going to be parents in about 6 weeks. I’m totally thrilled for them, and I can’t wait to meet baby Orf.

I had a great time, you guys. Can’t wait to look at them all! Here’s a quick fave.

So Aidan had his second haircut of his life. Let me tell you it was a MUCH better experience the second time around. I’m not sure if it was the bubbles, the jeep chair he got to sit in, or the Thomas the Tank Engine show they had on the tv, but he sat just there happy as could be. Now, if you’ll recall, during his first haircut back in May, he screamed and had a fierce grip on Mama. It was awful, and he kept saying “All done! All done!” What a relief this time. Now our child won’t be sporting mullets. We can go to the barber more often. Yay Aidan! I totally give props to the crew at the Hairy Elephant in O’Fallon. They were sooo fast and really great with Aidan.

Nighttime is slooooooowly getting better. He’s still waking more times than a newborn in the night, but actually getting him to go to sleep is getting better. We started by converting his crib to a daybed of sorts. That didn’t work because it didn’t have a guard rail, and it was too high. Then we tried this cheapo Elmo bed from Toys R Us. Hated it! It looked so cheesy and totally didn’t match. So I had Dan take it apart – he’s SUCH an understanding husband. Then we bought a cheepish white toddler bed from Wal-Mart. The thing was such a piece of junk that the pieces really didn’t even fit together. Rather than fight about it, we just stopped and took that back. Tonight we made a trip to Babies R Us and found a nice toddler bed made by the same company that made the crib. Let me tell you how relieved I was when I got it together in about 30 minutes. I was so excited, as were the Welch boys.

Now Aidan walks around  the house saying “New New Bed!?” He’s very excited. And he told his crib bye bye. I told him it was for babies. Since he’s “tall and strong” (some of his favorite words) he needs a big boy bed. He’s so proud! And best of all, it has a guard rail. Hopefully I’m not jinxing myself by saying this, but I have high hopes that he’ll sleep through the night tonight. Please cross your fingers, too. The 3 of us desperately need SLEEP!

And…If you’re a client or a potential client, I plan on having a post in the next few days that will show pictures of some of the products I offer. It’s about time, right?! So stay tuned. And, I’m in the process of ordering a new flush-mount album that will serve as a sample. Can’t wait to show you guys everything I’ve been working on. It’s going to be gorgeous!