Entries in personal (28)
crystal
Hello, everyone! I hope you have all been enjoying this wonderful season! Please forgive my absence from the blog lately. Things have been a little challenging around here lately, but we are hanging in there! I was so happy to get to spend Christmas with our families. I have been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I found myself counting my blessings over the past couple of days. And we are so blessed!!!
This isn't exactly the way I would ever want this pregnancy to go, but I am so thankful that we have been blessed to make it this far and things are still looking good! I thank you all for your patience and understanding during this time - especially my most amazing clients! You are all the very best!!! I am so anxious to be able to get back to normal life and work, but I have to give my body a rest for as long as this baby will let me. This is one of the most challenging obstacles I have ever faced, and I could never do it without the help and support of my family and friends. Jeremy has been doing an amazing job picking up the slack around our house with all of the every day chores and responsibilities. He is amazing......like the Energizer Bunny! I don't know how he does it! Sarah has done an incredible job picking up most of the work around the office and sticking around for long hours. I appreciate her dedication so much!! Our parents have been so amazing helping out with Brayson, cooking for us, cleaning, and my mom even came up and decorated our house for Christmas! Other friends and family members have cooked for us, given us lots of support and encouragement, and stopped by to entertain me and keep me company. It's been really awesome to see people rally around our family right now, and it has truly humbled me. And I just needed to take this opportunity to thank everyone publicly for what they are doing for us. We love you all!
Our family had such a great Christmas! It was so much fun to watch Brayson as he went from gift to gift in awe and wonder. He is at such a fun age right now. He doesn't know what is going on, but he still gets REALLY excited about everything! And he has two new BFF's.....Dancing Brobee and Elmo Live! After breakfast this morning Brayson was breaking it down with Brobee, and I had to get Jeremy to bring me the camera! I just had to share this with you all! I caught him towards the end of his little dancing show, but it's still very entertaining! Especially since he's letting it all hang out in just his shirt and diaper! LOL! (He will love me for this one of these days....)
Untitled from Crystal Goss on Vimeo
Merry Christmas, everyone!!!
~ Crystal, Jeremy and Brayson
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Did you know that this month is National Prematurity Awareness Month?
Jeremy and I just got home from the fantastic Signature Chefs Auction in Little Rock benefitting the March of Dimes, and I am fired up and thought it would be a great time to share this information and a big piece of my heart with all of you. The March of Dimes is working hard bringing communities together this month to raise awareness about prematurity. They recently released their annual report card, and our nation sadly received a "D". I am very disappointed to report that Arkansas received an "F". The March of Dimes compared each state's rate of premature birth to the nation's objective of 7.6 percent or less and assigned grades accordingly. These results are staggering and ridiculous, and the nation's percentage of preterm births is on the rise. One of the biggest factors causing the rise in preterm births is the rising rate of cesarean sections performed.
From the March of Dimes site:
"November is when we focus the nation’s attention on the impact premature birth has on babies and families, and on the opportunities for prevention.
Today more than 1,400 babies in the U.S. will be born prematurely. Many will be too small and too sick to go home.
Instead, they face weeks or even months in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU). These babies face an increased risk of serious medical complication, and death; however, most eventually will go home."
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
1) You can take about thirty seconds of your time to go to their website and SIGN THE PETITION FOR PREEMIES. Here is what it says:
- We urge the federal government to increase support for prematurity-related research and data collection as recommended by the Institute of Medicine and the Surgeon General’s Conference on the Prevention of Preterm Birth, to:
- (a) identify the causes of premature birth;
- (b) test strategies for prevention;
- (c) improve the care, treatment and outcomes of preterm infants;
- (d) and better define and track the problem of premature birth.
- We urge federal and state policymakers to expand access to health coverage for women of childbearing age and to support smoking cessation programs as part of maternity care.
- We call on hospitals and health care professionals to voluntarily assess c-sections andinductions that occur prior to 39 weeks gestation to ensure consistency with professional guidelines*.
- We call on businesses to create workplaces that support maternal and infant health. View our 14 recommendations. (workplacecriteria.pdf, 90kb)
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommends that, unless medically indicated, scheduled deliveries should be after 39 weeks. This is because biological variations and uncertainties in estimating the beginning of a pregnancy introduces inaccuracies when assigning the due date. Preterm birth rates can be reduced by performing scheduled deliveries after 39 weeks.
2) You can make a donation and DOUBLE your money with the help of Mastercard!
3) Spread the word! Share this information with friends and family by emailing it out, posting it on your facebook, or blogging about it. :)
OUR STORY
Many of you who have known me or followed the blog for a while might know that our family has been personally affected by prematurity. Our son Brayson was born 9 weeks early on March 30, 2007 and spent 6 weeks in the NICU at UAMS in Little Rock. The experience has forever changed our lives. I am now a volunteer at UAMS in the NICU photographing the NICU babies on behalf of the March of Dimes for parents who want their baby's precious moments in the hospital documented. The March of Dimes gave us hope and so much information while Brayson fought in the NICU, and now I am turning to the March of Dimes again for knowledge, support, and encouragement as I fight what looks like an impending repeat premature birth with this baby. This organization has had a tremendous impact on my life and on so many other people's lives all over the nation who are touched in one way or another by prematurity.
For those who are interested, here is a slideshow of Brayson's time in the hospital. It has been quite some time since I have watched this, and seeing it has brought back so many memories for me. It brings tears to my eyes. He is growing so quickly and changing everyday! We are so proud of how far he has come!!
Please help us spread the word about prematurity and eventually put a stop to all of the unnecessary factors contributing to the rising numbers of premature births in our country.
Thank you to those who have taken the time to read this post!! You are the best! And if you have a story you would like to share, I would love to hear it!
~ Crystal
I hope everyone had a fun and happy Halloween yesterday! I know we sure did. Brayson was a dinosaur for Halloween, and he wore his costume all night!! I may be biased, but I think he's the cutest dinosaur that ever walked the planet! :) We stayed around here last night and greeted the trick-or-treaters for our first Halloween in this house, but earlier this week we took Brayson to Boo at the Zoo in Little Rock. Here are a few pictures of my cutie pie from that night....
Everyone have a great weekend! I am finishing up getting ready for a fun wedding today!
~ Crystal
I just wanted to take a moment to thank those of you who have given Jeremy, Brayson, and me so much encouragement and support since we announced the pregnancy. Thank you so much for your sincerity and thoughtfulness! Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. It means so much to us, and reading your comments and emails has brightened our spirits so much. You are all the best!! And we will keep you updated as things progress.
And because I don't want to post without pictures, here are a few of the excited big brother-to-be! ;)
......the PREGNANCY closet, that is! ;)
Yep, that's right! Baby Goss "the sequel" is cookin' as we speak. This one was another shocker to us, but we are thrilled to have another sweet child on the way. And I am so excited that Brayson will be a big brother soon.
We have gone back and forth around here deciding how soon I should make this news officially public. And I have struggled over how much information to share with all of you. I have decided to be transparent. Yes, this is a blog to share my work and the exciting things going on in the business, but it has also been somewhat of a personal journal for me. And so many of you either are my friends or will be my friends when we meet someday. So....here goes.....
If you have known me or followed the blog over the last year and a half, then you might know that my son came into the world 9 weeks early. I had trouble throughout the pregnancy, but since it was my first I thought it was all normal. I thought that every pregnant woman out there suffered the same way I was suffering and that I should just suck it up!! Ha! Boy, was I ever wrong..... Now, here I am again. This pregnancy has already presented its own problems, and I am doing everything I know to do to keep myself and the baby safe and healthy. I am committed to shooting every session and wedding that I have scheduled through the end of the year, but because I am continuing with work I require a lot of rest throughout the week (thus the main reason I have been soooo behind on the blog lately!). I am so thankful to have Sarah full-time with me now to help with the workload. We are doing everything we can to serve all of our wonderful clients in a timely and efficient manner. Sarah and I have 4 more weddings through the end of the year, and I am scheduling a VERY limited number of sessions through the end of November. After that, I will be taking a long break December - June from shooting anything other than engagements or bridal sessions that are needed for upcoming summer weddings. This break may seem unusually long, but it is necessary for me. I am determined to do everything I can to stay off of bedrest and deliver a healthy full-term baby in the Spring. I also have to plan ahead for problems that may arise. When Brayson arrived early I had to cancel sessions last minute and disappoint clients. I don't want that to happen again. Sarah will still be scheduling shoots and weddings throughout my time off, so if you are interested in our services please don't hesitate to contact us.
If you are still reading this, thank you for your time and your patience. I ask you all to keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as we make it through what we anticipate to be a challenging pregnancy. We are continuing to pray and trust that God is in total control of what is happening inside my body. We are looking forward to this new chapter and the exciting changes it will bring our family!
God Bless,
Crystal