whirlwind baby weekend

wow, it's been quite a weekend! i feel like we're still recovering from it--and we certainly have much more to do in the nursery (more on that at the end.) we scheduled two showers with our friends and family in fayetteville (where i grew up and most of my family still lives), and then our research on 4-d ultrasounds had me booking an appointment at the local ultrasound place there, too. so justin, pepper and i headed down there on friday evening after work, and on saturday, we started our day getting a peek at our little man (along with about 10 of our family members who were able to join us.)

he kept that hand up there by his mouth for most of the time, even with us doing lots of poking and shifting him around!
he wasn't really happy with us at this point--too much poking? everyone said "awww..." when that face came up on the screen!
finally one with his hands away from his face--i'm loving his cheeks and little up-turned nose!
after the ultrasound, we went back to my grandmother's house to eat lunch and visit for a while. then it was time to get ready for the shower with our extended family at my great-uncle and aunt's house about 20 minutes away.
it had started raining by then, so the shower was moved inside to their garage. they had some great decorations, like this adorable diaper cake...
and lots of blue!
after enjoying a great barbeque dinner, we played a couple of games and then had fun opening gifts. the shower had a "library" theme, and guests were encouraged to bring a copy of their favorite childhood book and inscribe it to davis rather than a card. what a cute idea!
justin and i had fun checking out all of the different books that we remembered as kids--and then some new ones!
(thanks to my sister-in-law rachel for taking these photos during the shower!)
we got a couple of our "big" items at the shower, including our pack and play and swing.
this was one of justin's favorites--a textured foam book. so cute!
it was so great to visit with everyone--and we are so thankful for everyone who came!

on sunday, we went to church in the morning and then had lunch at one of our favorites spots in town for chinese food. the ladies quickly got ready to head back out, while my brother and justin went to a sports bar to watch the first few games of the nfl season (justin was given a reprieve for this shower, since it would be women only.)

sunday afternoon's shower was hosted by several of the women from our church in fayetteville, most of whom have known me since i was a little girl and i grew up with their kids at school and in youth group.
they had some delicious snacks...
(and i'm still enjoying this adorable cupcakes--i took several of them home!)
we got some amazing gifts there, including this beautiful blanket that my grandmother knitted...
and lots of cute outfits!
a shot of everyone who was there to enjoy the shower
we finished up with another one of our big gifts--a storage organizer for davis' room :) time to get all his toys and stuff in order!

so sunday night, after we got home, we started putting everything together and getting all the supplies ready for davis' room.

here's the changing table that we painted and put down new contact paper--and yes, i know the contact paper has wrinkles. i gave up on no wrinkles and figured it would all be covered up with items anyways.
our pack and play, all set in our bedroom where davis will be sleeping for the first few weeks.
the matching swing, and another view of the bookshelf we got at the "library" shower.
and the yet-unpacked stuff from the showers (along with our seat cushions for our outside patio furniture--don't mind those)
we have a lot of work to do!

i'm actually sitting here right now watching justin put together the dresser that came in today--so we should soon have a place to put his clothes that he'll be wearing for the first few months. that will help us make some order of the crazy closet--at this point, it's just bags and piles of clothes, both new and hand-me-downs from relatives. such a blessing!

just an update on our appointments--davis' heart rate is holding steady around the 130s and no major concerns at this point. i am starting to get some swelling in my ankles during the evening, but otherwise, i'm hanging in there.

we have enjoyed watching/listening to the pirate football games the past two weekends--ARGGGH! i still hope to make it to one game this year, but not sure which one that will be. justin has obviously enjoyed the start of the nfl season and is quite into his fantasy football team. and work is going steady--still keeping me incredibly busy, but we're starting to get to the point where there's a clear plan for my maternity leave and getting everyone in place to take over once the time comes.

i will try to post again soon--maybe i'll do a post of all the edited photo shoots i've done recently. that's also slowing down, but i'm still catching up with the editing. never a quiet moment around here!

weekly update

i feel like i'm going to realistically be posting about once a week now--until things get a little bit calmer at home and work, at least. the smaller, daily posts just aren't happening, but i appreciate you sticking around for the longer weekly posts!

first of all, we finished the nursery! it still has a few details to finish up, but we're so happy with how it turned out. we can't wait to start filling up the room with other stuff!

after working hard all week on the nursery, we were excited to take it easy this past weekend with an overnight trip to the beach. i had scheduled a bridal shoot a long time ago for saturday evening, so we decided to make a full day of it and get a hotel room for the night. justin's mom and sister joined us on saturday, and we had a relaxing afternoon on the sand and in the water.
luna (heather's dog) joined us as well--she is such a well-behaved dog! pepper could learn some manners from her :)
and then davis was putting on a show for heather--she got to feel a couple of good kicks while we were sitting there!
(by the way, be impressed that i put pictures of me up here in a bathing suit. the low chairs and my 30 week belly did not combine for the most flattering positions. in other words, i feel like i look like a beached whale up there, but i also remind myself--i'm 30 weeks pregnant and in a bathing suit. what do i expect? so the pictures stay.)

we were staying at the seahawk, one of the motels where my family has stayed for years. we would come down for a week in the summer and rent one of their villas that's attached to the side of the small motel. i love that the seahawk has a pool, as well, and a nice green lawn with sunchairs and hammocks overlooking the beach.
ahh, nothing better than swinging on the hammock chair with the beach just a few feet away.

i left the beach a little early to get ready and meet up with the bride and her entourage. i love doing bridal shoots and was so excited to do one at fort macon and on the beach. can't wait to share them later in october once the wedding is here! stephanie made a beautiful bride and the weather was just perfect for photos.

as we were finishing up and doing some silhouette shots, i decided to ask if they would take a similar picture of me backlit by the sun. i love how it turned out and will definitely have to find a place for it in our house.
once i finished with pictures, justin and i headed out for a late dinner and came back full and tired. i think we were in bed and asleep by 11--i personally was excited for a night without the animals (the dog and cats rarely let us sleep past 7 or 7:30 at home on the weekends.) we did have a visitor, though--about 20 minutes after we had turned out the lights, a cricket of some sort started chirping and i decided i could not sleep through it. so i determined where he was (on the ceiling) and sure enough, we turned on the lights and there was a tiny cricket looking thing up there. however, the ceilings were tall (since we were on the 2nd floor, they were going with the pitched roof of the building--about 14 ft, justin guesses) and there was no way we could knock it down easily. so we proceeded to throw flip flops at it while standing on chairs (just justin on the chair, i was safely on the ground) and finally knocked it down by swinging a towel at it. i'm sure the people below us were quite curious as to what was going on. actually, it's an older motel and is built like a fort, so they probably couldn't hear us at all. but it was amusing!

the next morning, we got breakfast at our favorite diner and hit up the beach one more time. we had originally planned on going down to see my grandparents on sunday, but our plans changed later in the week when my grandmother ended up in the hospital. so rather than driving another hour down east to see then, we were able to go visit across the bridge at the hospital. the only thing that i regretted about not making the drive was missing out on posing in front of the sign and store in davis, nc--one of the little towns along the way to my grandparents' house in the "downeast" area past beaufort.
that's actually one of the reasons i wanted to name him davis, along with the family connections on my mom's side and justin's family's side.

but we found something close enough on saturday night as we were driving around to find somewhere to eat...
we'll come back with davis next summer to pose in front of his name at the beach (and the town, too!)

hard to believe that we made our last beach trip as "just us." and based on how much we packed for "just us," i'm not sure i even want to think about what we'll have to pack for our family of 3!

halfway through the week, and we're both excited about the long weekend coming up. it'll be a football weekend for our pirates (though we won't be going to the game--too hot for me at this point. i'll hold out for the possibility of making it to an october game--if this little guy allows me to make it that far!) and we're ready to get caught up on some projects around the house, as well as lots of relaxing and enjoying the day off.

hope everyone else enjoys the holiday weekend!

busy busy busy

wow, long time without posting. i can't promise that it will get any better, but as my photo business slows down, it's possible. or not. there's just a lot to get done in the evenings!

i did want to share our big night out last week. though today is justin's actual birthday, we chose to go out last thursday to celebrate. we met in kinston after work and started at the taproom for mother earth brewing company, a local microbrewery that justin has enjoyed in the past--we can usually find their brews at specialty grocery stores and several local restaurants. i, of course, enjoyed my tall glass of water :)
mmmm... tasty water!

it was neat to learn about this company, though, and their special brews that they create, as well as their "green" features that they have at the brewery, including solar panels and other environmentally-friendly additions.

we then headed over to the chef and the farmer, where we had reservations for dinner. also a great local restaurant that has gotten rave reviews and uses lots of products from local farmers (several that we've bought meat/produce from through our farmers' markets and other buying groups.) we decided to go all out and order from each of the three courses presented. they were all delicious and so uniquely "southern gourmet." i didn't get a picture of our first course, but i had peaches wrapped in prosciutto with spicy pecans, while justin had a salad with fresh bacon, croutons and homemade ranch dressing.

our second course included a butterbean hummus with spicy pepper relish (my choice) while justin had a cheese plate.
and then the main course--i went with blueberry bbq chicken with corn fritters, pole beans and potatoes, while justin had a peach glazed pork chop with a type of grain underneath--it's escaping me right now, not quinoa, but something similar--it'll come to me at 2 in the morning.

we boxed up half of our entrees, along with a huge piece of chocolate cake with toffee and amazing frosting. we didn't have room, but i couldn't pass up the cake :)

we finished up the evening by heading over to the kinston indians game, but it started raining as we were wrapping up dinner and the field was soaking wet. we watched for two hours as the rain stopped and they started working on preparing the field for the game...and then at five minutes until 9, they decided to call it due to field conditions. we still had a great time and it was a perfect way to celebrate justin's birthday a few days early.

we spent the rest of the weekend working on the nursery. well, justin and his friend johnny did. i had a couple of photo shoots that kept me occupied and away from the adhesive fumes. they were successful in cutting and prepping all of the beadboard and chair rail for the walls, and they got about half of it up on saturday.
we finished the rest on sunday afternoon and justin picked up a couple of paint selections last night. we decided on a nice deep navy and got a little bit done just to see how it would look.
we were also busy on sunday evening, because we had a new little baby to visit! collen finally made his appearance sunday around noon, and we had to stop by and check in on him, lindsay and jeremy.
justin got some more practice holding newborns--isn't he a natural?
and i like this photo with lindsey holding him--she was also great in helping me figure out how to snap up the cloth diapers that i just got in the mail from my latest e-bay purchase. she's going to be a great resource as we figure out how to do the whole cloth diapering thing.
and finally, an updated belly shot. justin was shooting it while sitting down, so i feel like it's an exaggerated angle. but it also feels like he's that big in real life, so i guess this is my 29/30 week belly. heaven help us, we still have at least 2 months to go.
i'll hopefully have some time to share some of my recent photo work soon. i've had fun with several photo shoots in the past month and have just been too lazy to upload them. now that i'm done with weddings, i'll be focusing on the last few jobs i have scheduled between now and labor day weekend. after that, they'll be few and far between. i'm already having a little bit of trouble going from sitting to standing, and i know it won't get any easier!

nostalgia

part of getting ready for davis has required a great deal of organizing, sorting, storing and throwing away things that we just don't need anymore to make room for the massive amount of stuff that comes with having a baby. this has been a challenge for me--i was born with the "pack rat" gene and it's hard for me to part with something that's sentimental or brings back a positive memory of some sort. (i also have horrible housekeeping skills and keep a cluttered house--cluttered, mind you, not dirty. i've been like this since i was kid and thankfully, justin understands and tolerates it.) so a couple of weeks ago, we cleared out some room in our bedroom so that we would have room for his pack and play/bassinet that we'll use in there for the first couple of months. justin did a great job of creating piles of stuff for me and allowing me to say "keep" or "trash" then making it disappear. just what i needed

this weekend, we headed home to fayetteville for a similar purpose--getting our room ready there, including going through a bookshelf of stuff that has easily been there untouched for the past 10 years. i brought back a huge storage tub of stuff that will go in our attic that i couldn't throw away, but it's neater, less dusty, and we have some room for davis' things there now.

we also got together with our family and celebrated all of the late july/august birthdays--there are 5 in our immediate family!

my cousins and aunt blowing out the candles. i got to spend some extra time with them on saturday doing back-to-school shopping, where we unsuccessfully looked for school-appropriate length shorts. i'm not sure i would do well being a teenager these days--there were few choices that would have passed my requirements for length, much less what their school requires!
and sunday, after seeing a ton of people at church and having a nice lunch out, we unearthed another addition for the nursery--a changing table that was made for me almost 28 years ago by my grandfather, whose name will be davis' middle name.
obviously it needs a little bit of wood putty here and there, and we'll give it a fresh coat of paint and some new shelf liners. but i'm so proud to have this piece of furniture used by my son.

and in all of this sorting and throwing away and going through old memories and hauling pieces of furniture that used to be mine--something kinda hit me. so much of the stuff that i've been putting away in storage tubs and yard sale piles are things that represent my life growing up and the friends i had and the things i did. and i realized that it was putting away one childhood in order to prepare for another--and that made me feel old. and wise. and very nostalgic.

as did this--finally getting around to ordering our 2009 yearbook. i think i love this one even more than last year's....
and flipping through the pages, it's very hard to believe that this all happened last year...it feels like so long ago!
but the layouts and photo quality are just perfect (and we realized that we are obsessed with our dog and she's probably in the book more often than we are.)
and then we think how different this year's book will be--and next year's book is just unimaginable at this point. wow. how things will change.

okay, enough seriousness. let's close this up with a "justin and pepper on the couch" picture.
ahh, yes, that's more like it. wouldn't be the end of a blog post without one :)

(p.s. i passed my glucose screen! thank goodness! going out tonight to celebrate and getting a doughnut for dessert--ironic, yes, but i'm so excited about it and have been looking forward to it allll day.)

more baby stuff is in!

it's fun to watch all the pieces come together...

like today, when my 31 order came in. this bag isn't new, but i've been using it as a work bag for probably about a year now. i love it and ordered it originally with the intended purpose of eventually becoming a diaper bag. in my latest order, i got another bag like this one, except in a fun, bright floral pattern with my initials. so this one has been retired and brought home to be washed and a diaper bag contender.

and this was obviously ordered specifically for our little guy. i loved this bag and thought that it would be something that both of us would feed comfortable carrying. i don't know that this will be the big diaper bag, probably more of a "quick outing" bag. but it is so so so cool to see his name embroidered on here. another step towards making it even more "real."
and the bedding came! didn't use a flash here, so it's a lot more yellow looking than in person. but i love it and think that it looks just perfect for the style nursery we're trying to do.
now it's time to figure out paint colors...
and finally, because it's not really a true blog post unless i include a picture of these two laying around. this is the couch that is still in the nursery. it's a good 10+ years old and was one of justin's first purchases when he got his own apartment many many year ago. it was in the game room up until last month, and he hasn't figured out how to get it out of the hallway yet (needs some help from another guy.) so it's still in the nursery for the time being and he's having a tough time saying goodbye. it's one of his favorite spots to nap, and i wasn't surprised when he and pepper were a little too quiet in there on sunday afternoon. i snuck around the corner to find this...
pepper awake and checking me out as justin used a boppy for his pillow. oh, the times that we have ahead of us :)

my glucose screen is tomorrow morning. please say a prayer that i pass it. i don't know that i could handle the four hour test...

moving right along

hard to believe that yesterday was 3 months until davis' due date! we are finally making some progress in the nursery, and i'm beginning to feel a bit more confident that we'll be "ready" when his time comes (or as "ready" as we can be.)

last night, justin and i finally sat down and made some decisions about his bedding set. we've ordered this set, which i love and think will be great for him over the next couple of years--not just as an infant.
i've already given justin the go-ahead to find some sports-related stuff to add in, like these cute pennants for the wall. that way, we get a theme in without it being overwhelming.
last weekend, he was hard at work, putting together the crib that we got from my uncle, aunt and cousins. we also scored a great deal with one of my co-workers, where she sold us their stroller, two car seats and bases for a great price.
we also have been having fun playing music for him at night. after a couple of nights holding our big headphones up to the belly, i ended up ordering this headphone "belt" that has them built in, complete with a little pocket for the mp3 player. we take turns choosing what he gets to listen to for an hour or so at night :)
and of course, an updated belly shot. i'm becoming self-conscious about my double-chin and may have to start setting up the tripod and dslr for more flattering pictures. but we've now gotten to the point where i'm definitely pregnant to people who don't know me, so i've gotten more comments while i've been out.
i'm in the middle of editing several shoots that i've done in the last 2 weeks, so hopefully i'll have some of those up by tomorrow. last wedding of the year is this afternoon! excited to be done with those long, six+ hour shoots--but i love all of my bridal couples and have been so blessed to be a part of their big days :)

one last photo of the sweetest husband and dog in the world. love them so much... (even when pepper wakes us up at 6 am, along with the cats, like she did this morning.)

practice makes perfect

i've heard people say that having a dog is good practice for having a kid.

i just don't think that pepper anticipated the practice to be quite so "hands on."

sara's bridals

i had the pleasure of photographing sara and dovene's wedding last night in washington. sara was in our small group at church and went to ecu like many of us, getting her degree in nursing. she worked for a couple of years at the hospital, but after numerous short missions trips to africa, she made the decision to move to togo and do medical missions work there with a family who was in the ministry. while she's been there for the past couple of years, she fell in love with dovene, the son of the couple who heads up the ministry. they quickly planned a wedding for back here in the states, and they will be staying here while dovene goes to Bible college before they return to africa.

we decided to do bridals beforehand, and though we got rained out the first date, this photo shoot's weather was perfect. a little windy, but it kept us cool and made for some great photos.

her family's house has a dock right on the river, so we took advantage of the location!
and wanted some more "natural" poses--sara's parents said this was just like her!
this was one of my favorites, just because i think it shows off sara's natural beauty.
and the sunset--perfect lighting!
especially when we were able to capture some of the light reflecting on the water...
finally, the one she chose for her portrait--and the one that as i was taking the photos, i just knew would become one of my favorite bridals i've ever taken. just beautiful...
one wedding left next weekend, and then i'm done with weddings until next year! i do have one more bridal shoot to do (that i'm not photographing the wedding) but after this one, it's all portraits sessions. still scheduling some in august, if you're interested!