SHE DID IT!

I am so happy to announce that Emma Claire has taken her first step!

 

 

Yesterday {September 16th, 2012} she took one step towards me with her little left foot! I was so proud. Since then she has taken several more steps and two of them were towards her daddy!

 

We also had another big first yesterday...

Emma Claire stayed in the nursery the entire time at church!

 

 

I decided to let daddy carry her in and hand her off, hoping that she wouldn't have a complete freak out. I felt like we dropped her and RAN out the door. But I really just didn't want her to see me leave! We didn't get called at all during the service and I was surprised. When we went to get her she had a few tears on her little cheeks but all of the nursery workers said that she had JUST started crying. I could also tell by her face that she hadn't been crying too long so that was a relief. They did say she wasn't too thrilled to be there. They tried to give her some veggie sticks {our go-to problem fixer} and said she threw them on the ground! ha!

 

 

I think she will like nursery a little more once she is completley mobile and can run around with the bigger kids. I don't think she likes being in the "baby" room, can you blame her? Ha!

 

This fall she is going to get plenty of experience in nursery. Between church, BSF, and MOPS she will be in nursery 3-4 times a week so I really hope she adjusts quickly!

Any tips from you nursery pros out there???

 

After church we headed to Mimi's and had a quick brunch.

 

I was shocked when she stayed asleep from the car to the resturant to the booth and was still asleep as we ordered! I was having major newborn flashbacks! She did wake up after a bit and joined us at the table.

 

As always she was quite the ham and made friends with everyone around us.

 

I am just so proud of her accomplishments lately. I feel like time is speeding up {if that's even possible} the closer we get to her first birthday! I am currently in the process of designing her invitations and trying to get more house stuff done before the big day!

 

One last thing...my sweet friend Lindsay is having her daughter TODAY! If you could say a little prayer for her and her family that would be much appreciated. I can't wait to see Miss Savannah's sweet little face!

 

{Picture VIA}

Seriously she is what every pregnant woman wants to look like right before delivery! Hope she doesn't mind I snagged her picture to use!

 

 

It's Official...

Well y'all I guess it's as official as it can get for now...I have launched my little photography business. 

I have the business cards {pictured above}, the photog blog, and a facebook page! I have had a few clients and I am ready for more! Feel free to visit the blog and like me on facebook to keep up with me!

Visit my blog {here}

Visit my facbeook page {here}

While this has been a goal of mine for a while now I am SO nervous to finally be starting a business. I have seriously had butterflies in my stomach all day thinking of making this "public". At bible study we are focusing on Genesis which I think is truly fitting. I am at the beginning stages of this exciting phase of my life and am also studying God's creation of the earth and mankind from the very beginning. So here goes nothing...I hope you enjoy and follow along on my journey!

 

Natural Light

Since I am currently in the process of creating my own photography business I can use all of the practice I can get. I happen to LOVE photographing babies and I prefer natural light. Good thing I have a baby and the weather has been gorgeous lately. A few days ago I loaded up Emma Claire and the pups and we went for a walk/photo session. I am in love with the images I got and want to share.

And here begins the many, many, expressions of Emma Claire. 

This last one just melts my momma heart. The way she's looking up at me, nothing but love. And her little pursed lips, so cute!

After doing two shoots with walking running babies I can say that I really appreciated the fact that I could set EC down and she wouldn't run away. For now, at least!

Where were you?

I always have such a hard time writing a blog post on this day. The right words to express my feelings seem to escape me. On this day I just want to use this blog of mine to pause, reflect, and remember. Part of me still can't believe that day happened. 

{Image VIA}

Where were you?

I can still vividly remember even the smallest details of that day. I had just turned 13 and was in 7th grade. During my 1st period class I went for a routine trip to the bathroom to brush my hair and apply some more lip gloss. Typical 13 year old. On the way back to my class I found it odd that the custodians were all gathered in a spare classroom and watching the news. I didn't see what the were watching but now I know they were watching the first tower burn and would soon see the second tower get hit. 

The principal made an announcement at some point during that morning about the attacks. I don't remember exactly when I heard but I do remember traveling to my second class of the day and my teacher wheeling a television cart into the room. We watched as the towers burned for several minutes before the principal came to order my teacher turn the TV off. She argued with him saying it was news that we needed to see. The TV stayed put. 

Later in the afternoon I was in tennis class as my classmates and I noted that the sky was empty. Living in a suburb of DFW located near the DFW airport our skies were never without planes. The lack of air traffic was eerie. 

That evening my dad, brother, and I went to the track to walk and run. The sunset that evening was gorgeous, the sky was full of pinks, reds, and oranges. It seemed to glow. I remember turning my back from the sunset for only a few seconds and when I turned back around the color had escaped the sky and the horizon was grey. It reminded me how our seemingly perfect world was interrupted that day and we were all thrown into a gruesome new reality.

Once we returned home my family and I sat glued to the television. My Aunt came over that evening and we all watched as President George Bush addressed the nation. For weeks we watched the continuous coverage.

This year as I reflect on the events of September 11th, 2001 I have a completely different attitude. All because of one tiny little person that entered my world last year. 

She is so innocent and pure. 

She has no idea of the hatred that our world possess. 

If only I could keep her as protected as she is now. 

My arms are her favorite place in the world, when she is hurt I can make everything all better with some silly faces and a few minutes of nursing, she is only exposed to kind people and is surrounded by those who love her. If only she didn't have to grow up in a world full of truely evil people. For now I will take comfort in the fact that she is sleeping peacefully in her bed and I can put these worries to rest for another night.

25

Today is my favorite guy's twenty fifth birthday. He's halfway to 50, has been on earth two and a half decades, has been in my life for almost four years, has been the best daddy to Emma Claire for the past ten months, and we don't know what we would do without him in our lives. In order to celebrate his birthday I thought I would do a list post all about him

1. He was the CUTEST baby. {Other than Emma Claire of course}

2. EC looks a LOT like him. People don't believe me when I tell them so here is some proof...

 3. He and I are the same age for seven days each year. 

4. On our first date he choked on an ice cube.

5. He is going to hate me for sharing #4 with you. 

6. He is the one who went out and bought my pregnancy test to find out I was pregnant with Emma Claire. He also knew that we would have a girl right after the test turned positive. 

7. He picked out Gracie from the shelter when she was a puppy.

8. He has a rainbow assortment of polos. {read: several hues of each color}

9. He waited until I was "officially" his girlfriend to kiss me. Which didn't take long. We were official after knowing each other for a week. What can I say, when you know...you know!

10. He taught me all of the back roads of Waco when we started dating. 

11.  He has twin brothers.

12. He is an excellent cook. 

13. He has the ability to take a simple desert and turn it into a masterpiece.  The picture below was a skinny cow ice cream sandwich. He brought this to me and I was shocked what he had turned it into!

14. I wrote him a note each day during training last fall. He kept all of them. 

15. He secretly likes when EC gets up in the middle of the night if he has been on a trip and has just returned home. He will go get her and bring her to me. 

16. I love that he appreciates a clean/organized house and notices when I make small changes. 

17. He loves my cooking even when I don't.

18. He said the L word first and when he first said, "I love you" I said, "Thank you" ha!

19. He brought me home to meet his family when we had been dating for four weeks.

20. One of the silly things I love about him is that we hardly ever argue about what to watch on TV. We love the same shows and can almost always agree on what to watch.

21. He graduated from Baylor with a degree in Religion and is an ordained minister.

22.  He was the one who got Emma Claire to laugh for the first time. And can almost always get her to smile quicker than me.

23. He finished up his masters when EC was younger. He did a lot of his course work with her in his lap. 

 

24. The first time I made him taco soup he talked about it almost every day for a week. You would've thought I made him a five course meal!

25.  One of the things I love most about him is that he is such a hard worker and is so dedicated to provide for our family. But since you already knew that I also love that he is my #1 blog fan/cheerleader/supporter/editor. It's true. He always reads my blog posts and talks to me about them. I love that.

Happy birthday honey! I hope that your 25th year is a great one and that we make many more happy memories together. I love you!

North Carolina Cuties

Since today is our last day visiting Allie and Raleigh Grace in North Carolina I thought I would post some pictures from this past week. I have taken TONS and can't wait to sort through all of them and do a little post on what we did each day. Until then here are some adorable pictures of our sweet girls.

Love all of those sweet baby teeth!

 Allie and I thought it would be fun to see what EC would do in RG's swing. She was okay in it for about two minutes. Then she wanted out! Her face here just cracks me up.

 Besties in matching jammies.

True southern girl. Daddy was proud.

Not so proud of this...Raleigh Grace is looking at her like, "Girl...you crazy"

 My child is such a ham.

Love this sweet little one! We are going to miss her!

 Bathing beatuies. These faces are a product of two mommies squealing at them to try and get some smiles. They were not amused. 

 I'm leaving you with this picture. How darling are these babies? I have quite a few cute watermelon pictures I cannot wait to share!

Emma Claire and I have had such a great time and I cannot believe it is almost time for us to leave. We have been here for a little over a week now and it has been so fun to get to watch the girls play and interact. I am also going to miss having another momma around to talk to all day long! I'm so glad that this little "internet friend meetup" went so smoothly and neither of us turned out to be a creepy 50 year old man ;-)