Esme...

I got up later than planned but managed to get the final prep done before Andrew, Nikki, Esme and Jen arrived.

Poor Nikki is having a very difficult pregnancy coping with constant nausea and sickness, no appetite (she's lost over a stone in weight since the start of her pregnancy) exhaustion, sleeplessness and pelvic pain.  She can't wait for this little one to be cooked.  Oh and she's currently breech!  At the moment it's looks as though a caesarean section will be required.  In spite of all this she is looking well.

Chatted over drinks (non-alcoholic) and nibbles.  Esme is very excited about Christmas and the arrival of her baby sister (although she has said to Nikki that when the baby comes no one will be interested in her any more.  Wee scone.)

And then it was time to take the photos.  Anytime I do a photo shoot I do my best to use natural night, of course that was impossible today as it was almost dark when we started and fully dark within 20 minutes.  I've taken the shots that Nikki requested but I am cursing my lack of preparation.  

I have Christmas backdrops and I did think about setting one of them up, but then thought the house is full of Christmas decs and a lovely 8' real tree, it will be better to have a real background, but I'm not sure it was.  I had to work quickly as poor Nikki can't stand for long so it all felt a bit rushed, and despite my best effort to have the ISO as low as possible, I am sure some of the pics are going to be very noisy.  

My camera was also having difficulty auto focussing and at one point stopped shooting completely.  This happens a lot with my 50mm lens and I was blaming the lens, but now I am thinking it's the camera.  Hmmmm.

In amongst the posed photos I did try to get some candid shots of Esme.  I've only had a quick look through the photos and this one jumped out at me.  She was so taken with the little Scottish fairy made by my Blip Pal Patricia :-)

Dinner was a success as Esme ate hers and even Nikki managed to have a decent plateful without rushing to the loo!  

Esme and D disappeared for ages after dinner.  Esme had asked D if she could play the piano (she was banned previously for banging too hard on the keys :-) and he said she could, then she wanted him to sit on the stool with her and play along.  He then had to sit in the big chair and be her audience.  She also asked for the spotlights above her to be switched on and that apparently indicated she was on stage :-)  I think the pair of them had a lovely time together.

Meanwhile Nikki, Andrew, Jen and I ate our desserts child and dog free (Lola was also in Esme's audience :-)

They left just before 7pm.  Jen was picking Ele and Kenny (her mum and dad) from Glasgow airport.  They've been at their holiday house in Spain enjoying sunshine and temperatures of 23 degrees.  What a shock they are in for when they step off that plane!  

Lola the model

The Knife Angel

Blue Christmas

Optimism