Showered with Love

Baby D and momma were showered with love this past weekend!  Wow, I'm so thankful for my family and friends that will help us welcome this baby into the world.  I was overwhelmed with everyone's generosity and the cuteness of all things baby  : )

Ruth, my bestie since 3rd grade hosted a gorgeous shower at her home.  She said she didn't want me to have to take photos, but I couldn't resist capturing some of the details she put together with her mom.

You know what I love about this picture....Ruth and John's portrait of their dog Walker in the background : )

Here's me with my mom on the left, and other mama, Nancy on the right.  Nancy and my mom worked together many, many years as nurse anesthetists at Presby's Same Day Surgery Center.  Nancy even put me to sleep when I had my first nose surgery in high school right after I broke it.  She said I started doing herky-jerky movements as I was falling asleep and I told her I was just doing some round-off back handsprings...ha!

Ruth and me (I felt the need to put my hand somewhere on my belly, because my dress was more of looser fit).

My AMAZING friends

A delicious and pretty cake from Tizzerts in Charlotte.  It was chocolate on the inside with chocolate ganache and raspberry filling in the layers : )

I officially entered the 3rd trimester last week (at 28 weeks).  Here are my most recent belly shots - thanks to my dear Sam for taking these pics.

We're dog sitting for Sam's parents this week, so Zeke was able to join the picture : )

A quick word about pregnancy clothes for those of you interested in this sort of stuff...my favorite stores to shop in have been Gap Maternity and Pickles and Ice Cream (in Charlotte, but they have a website as well, it's a franchise).  

My pink pants are from Gap Maternity and they are the demi-band.  They were great in the first half of the 2nd trimester when you start to feel bloated and bigger in your mid section but no one can really tell your pregnant.  They became uncomfortable to me around week 20 when I more or less "pop" as they say.  Now I can wear them under the belly, but it's not super comfortable, but it works.  I'm just trying to get as much wear out of my clothes as possible, but comfort is huge in the pregnancy world, so some days I just can't do these pants.

My jeans are the brand Lilac and are from Pickles & Ice Cream.  They have the full belly band and are super comfortable!  The only thing I would change about them is the navy belly band.  It's navy so that it blends with the jeans, but I noticed that Gap Maternity puts nude color belly bands on their jeans.  The nude band would be nice because I have a few tops where you can see the navy band, so you have to wear a nude camisole.  Not a big deal, but camisoles in the summer aren't fun to wear.  I wear a lot of camisoles in the winter underneath sweaters as an extra layer of warmth (I'm always cold), but not in the summer.  My gray tank top is from Gap Maternity and it's one of my favorites!  It's sooo comfy and soft and has grown with me.  I've been wearing it since week 14 or so.  It's has ruching on the sides which is nice to have in maternity tops.

Sorry for the long ramble about maternity clothes.  I remember being very scared and intimidated when I bought my first pair of pants.  I also felt very silly that I needed a pair of pants around week 13.  But my work pants were just not comfortable.

A Charlotte Wedding - Kim & Scott

I had 2 brides named Kim this summer!  Here's the first wedding of Kim and Scott in Charlotte.  Kim contacted me in January of 2012!  We have been in touch for a long time!  She was one organized bride!  We met sometime last Spring to talk about her wedding day and the timeline, and I was impressed with how much she already had planned.   

Kim and Scott met in college at Elon, and their relationship reminded me of my relationship with my husband, Sam.  There were several comments made in the toasts to Scott about how he waited long enough to propose - but I get that!  Sam and I had been dating for almost 5 1/2 years before we got married.  When we have our baby in October, we will have been together for 10 years....we don't rush into big decisions : )  So to Kim and Scott, congratulations on your wedding!  I know it was a long awaited for day for many of your family and friends.

I was pretty excited to have a wedding that was recognized on the famous Hugh McManaway statue in Charlotte.  It's a bronze sculpture of Hugh, who would direct traffic in the crazy intersection of Queens Road and Providence Road during the 1950's, 60's, and 70's. 

The wedding was held at the beautiful Myers Park Methodist Church.  Kim and Scott lucked out with the weather.  As we all know, we haven't had our normal scorcher of a summer because of all the rain.  This was one of the few Saturdays that it didn't rain in Charlotte, and it wasn't that hot considering it was the end of June.  

Kim and Scott opted to do a first look, which was really fun.  Photography is only allowed on the balcony during the ceremony, so we opted to do the first look in the Sanctuary where they got married. We put Scott at the altar, and Kim walked down the aisle  - well they ended up meeting each other halfway down the aisle.  It was a very sweet moment, and got the day rolling with pictures!  We then did a lot of the formal shots with the bridal party and wedding ceremony participants before the ceremony.

Since photographers weren't allowed in the Sanctuary (only up in the Balcony), I was able to capture some great last moments of Kim with her dad before she walked down the aisle (I had my awesome 2nd photographer in the balcony photographing Scott as she walked down the aisle, and then I joined her upstairs).

The reception was held at Byron's SouthEnd, which is where my wedding reception was held!  The evening was already so much fun because Kim and Scott are incredible people.  They had an AMAZING group of friends in attendance at their wedding - and that always makes for a fun evening.  So on top of having the wedding photographer adrenaline rush, my mind was full of fun memories from my wedding : )  

They were really fun and cute to photograph.  In Kim's own words, "she doesn't have a bad side."  It was cute, we were taking formals of Kim with each of her friends that were participating in the wedding (singer, reader, etc.), and she told her friends they could pick which side they wanted to stand on because she doesn't have a bad side.

How beautiful is that REAL peony in Kim's hair!  I LOVE peonies!  One of my favorite flowers!

The evening was a wonderful celebration of this sweet couple.   Lots of laughter and fun was had by everyone.  

This was pretty funny - Scott's fraternity had some of sort of tradition where they serenade the bride and give her a rose.  Kim handled the spotlight well.

Oh my, they were just so cute at the end of the night!

Again, I send my congrats to this amazing couple.  I know they will settle into married life nicely1

Mallory & Edward Engaged

Mallory and Edward drove many miles for their engagement pictures in Greenville, SC.  They are from Charleston and the first weekend they were in town it was just an ugly rainy day - who knew that would be a sign of days to come this summer!  Luckily, when they drove up again we had great weather!  It was partly cloudy and it wasn't too hot.  I'll take partly cloudy over 100 degree heat like last June!  That was brutal photographing in that heat!  Unfortunately for me, Mallory and Edward are getting married in November, and I couldn't do that with an approximate 1 month old.  Too bad, I would have loved to have shot their wedding in Charleston.  I can't wait to see pictures!

Greenville holds a special place in my heart.  My first job out of college was at SunTrust in Greenville in commercial real estate banking.  Yes, I love solving a good financial problem and creating a spreadsheet....no, I did not enjoy bank life culture.  I worked with some pretty amazing people though, and I have managed to keep in touch with a few.  I lived there for about 1 1/2 years on my own - in my first apartment out of college - with no roommate, which I was super excited about!  They have a beautiful downtown - downtown is smaller than Asheville and more preppy, but still lots of fun!  All of the buildings below were either under construction or just completed when I left Greenville in December 2007.  They have really capitalized on the beauty of the river that runs through downtown.

Meet Mallory and Edward....well the backside of Edward in this picture : )  Don't you just love Mallory's red hair?!

They were so comfortable together!  Mallory and I went to Wofford together (go Terriers!).  We were in the same sorority (go Theta!).  She was a year behind me.  It was so nice to see her again and meet her fiance.  I'm just so happy she found a wonderful person to spend her life with - Edward's affection for her was obvious (and cute!).

They (or at least Mallory) is a Coca-Cola lover, so we stopped by this great old painted building which is right off the west end of main street.

Just a few short months until their wedding!  Congratulations Mallory & Edward!

Things I know....but don't really know

So I promise to do a photography post soon...
It's 4:50 am, I've been awake since 3:15am, around 4:00am I gave up going back to sleep when my stomach started growling.  I got up went downstairs started a load of laundry (would have unloaded the dish washer if it wasn't such a noisy task of plates and cups clamoring together) and had my breakfast at 4:15am.  Breakfast is 1/2 of an english muffin toasted with peanut butter - yummy!  The bad news is that was the last half of english muffins and now I don't have breakfast for my normal 7:30am breakfast time.  There's no hope for getting any more good sleep tonight.  If I do fall asleep I will finally reach that deep sleep about 5 minutes before my alarm goes off....which is about the worst thing that can happen!  So I obviously have a lot on mind, and I thought I would write it all out so maybe sleep will come tomorrow night.

I know things are going to change in a big way once the baby is born...but I really don't know how big, and since I'm not a mother (at least to a child outside of a womb) I know that I can't fully comprehend how motherhood/parenting will change our lives.  So here are the things I know/don't know:

1. I know that I am going to love my child a ridiculous amount, but I really don't know what that deep love is going to feel like.  I hear your heart grows the moment you meet your child, and it feels as if it's going to burst with love.  I am so looking forward to that moment of meeting our child!  
2. I know I will look back at this "sleepless night" and laugh with a delirious laugh that only comes from true sleep deprivation.  I don't know what true sleep deprivation feels like.  Unless you count my days at CHEERSPORT when we used to hand check crossovers on the schedule for 800 teams, work 18 hours days leading up to Nationals, and then work 20 hours days over Nationals...that was a drop in the bucket compared to some people's jobs.  That lasted only a few weeks not a few years...yikes!
3. This is one I don't want to admit one bit....so I'll rephrase it a bit.  I hear your dog gets essentially forgotten...eek!  I know Hans will inevitably not get the same amount of attention he gets now.  That's common sense.  Caring for a newborn takes a lot of time - but I can't imagine feeling left out of the family.  He is such a loyal companion and family member.  He makes us smile and laugh every day!  I am going to do my best in keeping up his pet/rub count and for his sake his daily treat intake : )  Petting him makes me feel better - it is very calming - I'm sure I'll need that calming mechanism...right?  Can someone back me up on this one?
4. I know caring for a newborn/baby is not all smiles, cuddles, coos, and have your "ice cream with a cherry on top" moments, however, I really don't know what to expect.  So for now, I'll keep reading my baby/parenting books and keep dreaming of those smiles and cuddles...no sense in dreaming of being drowned in diapers, cries, and spit-up...right?

I'm sure there are many more knowns/unknowns I could share with you, but I'll stop there.  If you read this much you at least deserve a picture to look at!  If you follow me on Instagram or you are my facebook friend you have seen these pictures (taken with iPhone, I believe I used my PicTapGo app to edit).  In honor of our first child, Hans, here is his portrait I had made for Sam's birthday.  It's a beautiful watercolor and I can't wait to hang it in the baby's room!

23 weeks

I thought I would give a quick pregnancy update.  I'm at 23 weeks (5 months along).  The crazy thing to me is that I am past the halfway point...and my to-do list to prepare for baby is just beginning!  Whew lots to do!  I'm excited about my Ikea trip tomorrow with my mom to upgrade my home photography office!  It seems every room in our house needs some sort of small change or organizational clean-out.  I'm trying to tackle all of the other rooms before the baby's room.  We have the baby's room empty which is a great feeling!  The crib should arrive shortly.  Once the crib arrives, the fun process can begin!  So here's a picture from 2 weeks ago at 21 weeks.  Around week 19, I went from that awkward stage of "is she pregnant?" to a definite yes, she is pregnant.  It's a great feeling!  The baby is doing lots of kicking and moving around, which is the coolest feeling.  Sam has been able to feel some kicks as well!  So here's my 21 week picture - and yes, Hans is making an appearance in all pictures - he is so good at posing for the camera : )

Ashley at The Biltmore

I definitely need to share more of beautiful Ashley with you.  We enjoyed a beautiful evening at The Biltmore Estate.  Except for all the rain, we are having really lovely weather in Asheville (the rain certainly is making everything super green!)!  We haven't reached the unbearable humidity and heat that comes with summer - you can really enjoy being outdoors when it's in the mid-70's.

I had to warm-up Ashley in front of the camera (which made me think back to my senior pictures).  I actually had my pictures re-taken.  The photographer kept making me smile without showing my teeth (which isn't how I smile)...he was trying to get semi-serious pictures of me...I don't get it.  Anyways, the poor guy delivered the proofs to us, and we didn't like one of them!  Technically speaking they were great pictures, but my smile didn't look like me.  Luckily, he did a re-shoot and they were much better the 2nd time around.  And luckily we got my re-shoot in about a week before I broke my nose in cheerleading practice.  

Enough about my senior pictures, here is more of Ashley!  She is headed off to NC State in the fall.

3.5 Generations : ) !!!

I guess this is sort of like my public announcement that I'm pregnant.  I didn't really want to make a big announcement - but I do want to share pictures with you along the way of my journey through pregnancy (now that's it's halfway over - I'm 20 weeks already).  Here's a picture from Mother's Day with my mom, my grandmother, and me.  I'm 16 weeks in this picture - for me I am showing - to strangers I probably just looked like I had a beer gut.

Sam and I are very thankful that every test and visit has been normal!  I really just walk away in more amazement from each doctor appointment - I finally feel at 20 weeks that this is really happening.  We will welcome our little baby at some point in October (hopefully October) - my due date is October 23rd.  

I don't know how much "mama updates" you want on the blog, but I will share with you that I have had a great pregnancy so far.  I can't really complain.  I had morning sickness in the first trimester but never got sick.  I was 8 - 10 weeks pregnant on our trip to Europe - prime time to deal with morning sickness and thankfully I felt great!  My biggest 2nd trimester symptom has been fatigue, but I think that is expected when your body goes through so many changes and is growing another human being!  Oh and one last thing to mention...we don't know if we are having a boy or a girl.  We had our ultrasound last and skipped that part - the ultrasound tech didn't find out and our doctor doesn't know either - it's not in my chart.  We are looking forward to welcoming a son or a daughter - either way will be so so exciting!