April 2021 Recap -- branding, weddings, surgery, and more
These months are flying by. I have been fortunate to be very busy during this season of life, but that also means I’m feeling a bit of overwhelm as well. As I keep busy with so many business related things, I find that I am actually doing pretty well with personal related things too. The only item in my life that someone may consider to be falling on the wayside is keeping a tidy home (but I have my whole life for that, right? haha).
As I sit here on my couch trying to pull together a comprehensive recap of April, I am again astonished by what was accomplished during this single month. I said this previously in my March recap post, but I’ll say it again here—all-in-all the month flew by and was actually full of so much more action than I ever thought was going to happen.
Things like these blog posts make me forever grateful that we are constantly documenting our lives with vlogs or home videos or photos on our phone or whatever. No matter what, it’s super important for Trevor and I to be capturing these moments and keeping them for ourselves (while also documenting certain things and sharing them with others too, of course). Our recap blog posts puts things into perspective in regards to what we so easily can miss and gloss over in our lives.
So, let’s start recapping April:
I launched a brand new website for my business
I had my head down in my laptop most of March, but into April as well, prepping for the launch of my new LVP Studios website! Using an amazing online tool called ShowIt I was able to create a brand new website design from scratch, and Trevor and I would love it if you’d check it out.
During the beginning stages of the process I actually vlogged part of what it took for me to create this. I actually love website design (in another life I was definitely a designer of some sort), so creating this new website exactly how I wanted it was super exciting. We previously were using Squarespace, and while I love that platform and it’s still what I use for danyelllang.com to this day, I felt like we needed a little more flexibility and freedom for our business website.
Our new website is hosted by Wordpress through ShowIt, and can be customized COMPLETELY. It is pretty much amazing, and I nerd out just looking at our new website every time I load up an internet browser. I find that it really encompasses the entirety of our brand, showcases Trevor and I as the faces behind the business, and keeps thing light hearted and professional all at the same time. Incorporating photo and video into the new website was super important to me, so I am glad that I was able to fully capture that.
Another thing we really focused on with our new LVP Studios website was adding in our personality all over the place. We wanted our potential clients who came to our website to really feel like they could connect and get to know us just from clicking through to different pages.
One of my favorite pages on the LVP Studios website is our About Page! It really captures the true essence of Trevor and I as business owners, what we want our clients to know about us before booking, and lets each visitor feel like they know us before they even contact us.
We even had a special branding shoot with one of my best friends, Katie Eckelbarger from Katie Osborn Photography. She was able to capture some stunning images of us, as well as a few video clips, that I later edited and put together to display all over our website. We posted some of our favorites on the LVP Blog post titled: Our Branding Photoshoot.
We were able to get together as a family for Easter
Last year’s Easter was kind of a bummer, so we were super happy as a family to all be healthy and able to get together this year. We enjoyed a typical Easter Sunday at my Grandma’s house surrounded by all of our aunts, uncles, cousins, and more. I was so excited to be showing off my ever growing baby bump and even wore a maternity shirt that really showcased our little guy/gal in there.
It has become something of a tradition now for everyone to play whiffle ball during Easter. Since I am pregnant this year and Trevor was nursing a hernia we chose to sit out and just watch. Every year we laugh and laugh during the whiffle ball game, and I never understand how my family can make something so simple into something so funny. Trevor was able to be the umpire and had the final calls, so being a part of the game without playing the game was something we were really happy to do.
The kids as always enjoyed the egg hunt. I walked around trying to “steal” as much candy as I could (since sugary sweets is something that I have been craving). I loved spending time with the kids and imaging what it would be like this time next year when we have our own little one joining in. Granted, at the time of Easter, Baby Lang will only be about 6 months old, but it’s still crazy to think about how much our life is going to change between then and now.
We worked our first few weddings of the season
I am so excited to be back working weddings again. Things are going to be starting to get really really busy around here, but for some reason I love that. In case you don’t know, I own a photography and videography business called LVP Studios. As always, we’ve posted teasers from our recent weddings on our LVP Studios Facebook page, so if you’re interested in seeing more pictures then be sure to give that page a like.
Full galleries of these weddings will be coming very soon!
Trevor had hernia surgery
After finding out we were pregnant, Trevor started working a lot on his health. He really wants to be healthy and fit so when we have a baby he is able to be an involved dad who plays and runs and does all sorts of things with our child. We started working out together earlier this year and pushing our bodies a bit. Trevor may have over done it though because he started to get lower abdominal pain sometime in late February I believe.
This may have been something he’d done long ago, but only recently did he really trigger it to become painful and actively give him issues. He can pin point exactly when he felt like he’d really “over done it” and hurt himself which is when he thinks he officially got a hernia. It was actually this vlog that did him in.
So, after a few doctor’s appointments, a consult with a general surgeon, we scheduled him an appointment for routine hernia surgery. Trevor was actually quite excited to take care of his body now and get these issues fixed, but surgery just made me so nervous. It must be the pregnancy hormones because even though I was reassured numerous times that everything would be fine, that this was totally routine and easy, I couldn’t help but panic a bit when they rolled him away.
Trevor obviously wound up being fine and is recovering very well. If you’d like to learn more about his hernia and his surgery experience, we have two vlogs that we posted on our YouTube channel all about it.
We made it to the half way point in pregnancy
I CANNOT believe I am over half way through pregnancy at the time of writing this post. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were sharing with the world that Baby Lang was on the way, and now here I am with a full on baby bump that I can’t hide.
I’m feeling kicks on the regular, even though Trevor can’t yet feel them yet. I feel mostly like myself other than the growing and tight belly. From time to time baby seems to lodge it’s head deep into my pelvic bone and cause quite a bit of discomfort, but I suppose that’s not a bad thing because baby is just where he/she is supposed to be.
This past month was not super exciting in regards to many symptoms I’ve been feeling since everything appears to be normal and the same, but we did do some exciting things. I was able to go maternity clothes shopping with my mom—we got dresses, shorts for summer, undershirts/tank tops, and a few nice shirts as well. I have been living in leggings which I don’t mind, but I am excited to have something else to wear and some dresses to put on when I need to look nicer.
We also went shopping for the nursery (even though it’s not yet cleaned up or painted). Boxes for a crib, some cubbies and shelving units, a few fake plants, and other small decor pieces are sitting on my floor in our dining room. So, maybe this will inspire me to finally get the nursery cleaned up and ready for things to start moving in there.
Finally, we had our first ever ultrasound. I haven’t posted a vlog or anything about this yet, so I won’t say much. But I do mention it and share some images in my 20 week pregnancy update video that you can watch here.
We’re still posting podcasts
In last month’s recap post you may have seen that I launched a podcast called "The Memories Podcast.” In case you missed it—it’s a podcast dedicated to helping busy families learn how to document their everyday lives using easy and consistent methods. We’re teaching people like you the tried and true methods that we’ve picked up over the years of how to document your everyday moments when life just seems way too busy. We talk about our personal lives, the lessons we’ve learned, and all of the mistakes we may have made along the way.
Anyways, we’re still posting regularly (usually 5am EST every Wednesday), and I’m really proud of myself for keeping up with it. Here are some posts we shared this past week:
I’m looking forward to the months ahead
But I also want everything to slow down too. It’s a constant battle of not wanting to wish the days, weeks, months away as I wait for our baby to arrive, but also being so excited for the future too. These posts make me realize how much we accomplish in a month and allow me to recap those feelings without giving up the idea of wanting to look forward to the future.
One thing I want to mention that has really become an exciting part of my memory keeping journey is Chatbooks. I’m actually a Chatbooks Ambassador now (that’s how much I love this brand and what they’re doing for busy mamas who want to document their lives). Chatbooks is the ridiculously easy way to share, print, and enjoy your family memories.
I use Chatbooks to print photos that Trevor and I post on a private family instagram account, to print camera roll photos using their Softcover Monthbook Subscription, and also use Chatbooks to create standard albums for important events like Trevor’s upcoming 30th birthday, our Gender Reveal Party, or anything like that. If you’re someone like me who loves to document, remember, and share important moments then Chatbooks is the perfect option!! Trust me, I freaking LOVE them. Click the button below to get 20% off your next order by using code CBTEAM20 at checkout!!
A look at my camera roll:
