It’s a boy!

Lauren, Maddie, and I are super excited to announce that we’ll be adding a plus one to our family in early 2019.

By now, it’s no secret that Lauren and I are expecting our second child to join our family in March 2019. We’re all so excited about our plus one. Maddie is going to have a sibling to play and grow with. Lauren and I will get to experience raising and nurturing a tiny human again. We’re looking forward to shaping them into a beautiful unique perfect little person one more time. We’re so excited to be on this journey again.

How’d I make the image?

Check out this fancy diagram.

Also, a 2 second time was used on camera because my release cable broke… 10pin became 9. I was sad.

Our journey wasn’t an easy one.

Madelyn Elizabeth is our first. We were really lucky with her. We got pregnant right away, and other than low progesterone levels early on, we had a stress-free pregnancy with our baby girl. Once we decided it was time to add to our family, we didn’t experience the same luck.

2017 – an emotional journey

This was a hell of a year for our family. To sum it up, we were pregnant the entire year. Four times to be exact. And We had four straight miscarriages. Four…

#1

The first one was an early miscarriage, only a few weeks in. Although sad, we knew this happened, so we tried again.

#2

Shortly after the first miscarriage, we got pregnant. Things were looking good! All her levels were high and ultrasounds showed normal signs of growth, at least until 6 weeks in. At our second to last ultrasound we learned, we had what’s called a ‘blighted ovum’. Long story short, a blighted ovum is where everything’s growing like a normal pregnancy except there isn’t a fetus inside the womb. These are rare, but again, they do happen. So although sad, we did what we had to do and we moved on.

#3

This was similar to the first where we were a few weeks in and things didn’t work out. Outside of the familiar feeling of sadness, we started to question what’s going on? Is something wrong with either of us? Can we fix it? Can we have a successful pregnancy again? What gives?

#4

Although we were both past our breaking points both mentally and emotionally, we decided to try again.  We got pregnant! This was the first time since Maddie that we’d gone this far. All levels were great and our nuggets heartbeat was strong. We were almost out of the first trimester and so excited to see our little nugget for our 9-week ultrasound.

We didn’t’ expect to see what we saw. Our excitement quickly turned from fear to despair as we saw there were no signs of life. This was the most pain we’d both felt on any level we’d ever experienced to date. It was our fourth miscarriage in a little over a year. We learned later that had things gone well, Maddie would’ve had a baby sister. I still get emotional thinking about it.

Enter #5

We decided to give it one more try before calling it. We’re glad we did to0! In 2019 our family is going to grow by one. We persevered through the heartbreak and we’re currently pregnant with a healthy baby boy. His name’s going to be Oliver Michael Roth.

We’re not totally out of the woods as we’re having to closely monitor a hematoma over Laurens cervix. This is scary and there’s nothing we can do about it other than be careful, pray and wait.

So, here’s to March of 2019 and baby Oliver.

Stay healthy, stay safe, and keep growing little guy. Mommy, Daddy, and Maddie can’t wait to introduce you to our world.

Hello Smokey Mountains

This year Lauren and I knew it was time to introduce our baby girl to the great outdoors! We decided this was the year and the trip where we would introduce baby girl to a rustic lifestyle… well as rustic as we could get with a 2.75-year-old!

Lauren and I decided The Smokey Mountain National Park in Tennessee was the place. Our little travel buddy did so good on the plane ride there (and back) and I have to say, she walked, hiked and explored way more than we and I thought she would. We’re already proud parents, but we were like daaaaaaaaamn girl, you’re still going?

We had a plan

Day 1 – Get settled into Tennessee…check

Day 2 – Prepare for and execute hike…check

Day 3 – Gear up: Have fun @ Dollywood…check

Day 4 – 4th of July Hike and Grill…check (Maddie didn’t see fireworks because it didn’t’ get dark until around 10:45, and she was passed out waaaaaaay before then)

Day 5 – Indoor swim park…check

Day 6 – Gear up, Hike & find the falls.

Day 7 – Indoor rainforest & mini-golf

Day 8 – Head home & model in the airport (last part not planned, sometimes you’ve got to wing it)

FULL DISCLOUSRE:

I’ve never been one to take credit for things I didn’t do, so I have to come clean. Lauren did all the planning. Without her, I would have played everything by ear and we wouldn’t have accomplished all that we had. So, Kudos Wifey! You made the trip a success! You are our rock and our guiding light. Super Wife!

Was vacation a success?

Long story short, Yes.  We hiked, we explored, we theme parked, we grilled, we swam, we mini golfed, we ate ice-cream, we came home. Here are a few images that help tell our story… And man, oh man, how about that modeling show Maddie put on in the Tennessee airport on the way back home. Haha.

It’s been 7+ years since I last updated my web identity.

That’s a long time. In this same span of this time, I’ve moved from Louisiana (Who Dat?…don’t judge me) to Texas, bought and built a home, got married and had an amazing baby girl. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Rich, you didn’t have a baby, your wife did” and while that’s true, it’s beside the point!

So why they update now after all this time?

Simple answer… I want to need to put my photography back in the world and let people know I still practice this art form. Not to mention, the select few that have seen my work during this hiatus have urged me to offer my visions as a service again. So, I redesigned, rebranded, and relaunched my web identity to show my photographic talents (mystic unicorn skills released later), and what you’re seeing is the fruits of my labor.

“Wait a minute, you’re telling us that you designed this site, too?”, That’s right, I designed it, too!

At my core, I’m a creative. Richroth.net (darn domain scalpers own the .com) originally launched in mid-2005 while attending LSU (GEAUX TIGERS!… Again, don’t judge me!) to market and offer my skills in #design #photography & #fineart (#UnicornsDoExist)

Enter the economic decline for Louisiana

Business was always good until 2009. Then Louisiana’s market crashed for my line of work. Now I know what you’re thinking again, “Rich, the economy started to decline in end of 2007 – early 2008” and you’re right with your thoughts… However, Louisiana has always been one of the last states to feel anything good or bad, so the decline affected me and my market about a year later than the rest of the USA; yay.

Fast forward to the end of 2010

I ended up moving to Texas because I’d found a fantastic company to work for. Shout out to Insperity! This company saved my life and my creative fire. Without them, I’d most likely be a plant worker at DOW Chemical… and before I end this thought, there’s  nothing wrong with working in plants that if that’s your thing, but for me, it would have murdered my creativity and well, see that first paragraph about my wife and kid, yeah, I’m glad the DOW thing never happened for me.

What happened in between 2010 and 2017?

Why haven’t I updated my brand until now? Quite frankly, I did rebuild my brand toward the end of 2013 and planned on re-releasing in the first quarter of 2014, but then I got sick… on my death bed sick. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, Pan Colitis to be specific. This M***er F***er has tried it’s best to break me, but so far the reverse has happened. I’ve become stronger, wiser, and healthier since battling this chronic disease. It’s taken me a while to work myself back to healthy state. I have my wife, daughter, and extended family to thank for that.

Enter Today

My creative fire has been burning and I miss the joy of sharing my vision and working with others. I miss the relationships built from simple interactions of people just being around one another. And lastly, I miss the ‘wow factor’ I’m so accustomed to delivering.

Photography is an art I practice daily. I love having a camera in my hands, a subject in front of my lens, and the tight-knit nature of creatives doing what they love.

I’ve never stopped creating (minus that stint of regaining my health, thanks a lot, Ulcerative Colitis), designing, photographing, teaching, or developing… But you wouldn’t know that if you looked at my site in the past 7 years.

So here we are. Rich Roth for 2018 and beyond

I hope this post finds those of you who want amazing work done for your personal lives or business. To my future clientele,

I’m not your average creative.

I don’t simply take pictures, I MAKE them.

How about it, should I make something for you?

The morning started out like any other Friday morning. My and Lauren’s alarms went off at 5:45 am, we groaned then turned them off. We both rolled over on each of our sides of the bed to get up… And then we… well, let me step back and actually tell the truth… Lauren rolled over and got out of bed.

At that moment, she noticed something was different about the day. It was a much colder today. She looked out our bedroom window and saw white through the dark and she yelled, “IT SNOWED!”

After she said that, I jumped up and took a look for myself. It was glorious. “Well we don’t have to go to work today,” she said. But we checked to be sure, and yes, we still had to go. Having to go to work didn’t get our moods down BUT it also didn’t stop us from taking Maddie out to experience the beautiful white fluffy blanket we rarely ever get here in the south.