Fun Times

The last few days have been jam packed and so much fun.  

On Thursday, my friend and college roommate had her second child, Drayton.  After my shift was over at the hospital, I ventured upstairs to meet the new little fella.  It was a nice end to a very busy day at work.  I even remembered to take my camera to work that day so I could sneak some photos - Drayton was not a fan of the flash though.

I should say that Liz, Drayton's mommy, had her first child six weeks before I had Emmalyn, so I would text her often to ask her symptoms and ask about upcoming things to look forward to.  Since our daughters have been born we have had a few plays dates with them (not as many as I'd like, but life is busy).  So, I was also able to take a few photos of Ellasyn when she was just a day old and thought it would be interesting to compare.

Drayton 2012

 

Ellasyn 2010

 

Although Drayton is pretty swollen and the 16 hour difference between the time that each photo was taken is a lot in newborn time, but I certainly see a lot of similarities.

While at the hospital for both births, I also got a shot of each child holding Liz's finger.

                                                                                         Ellasyn 2010                           

 

                               Drayton 2012

~LOVE~

 

Mom, Dad, and Baby

 

On Saturday I got to spend the morning by myself shopping.  It was glorious.  I got some new running shoes and just piddled around taking my time and not really thinking about anything in particular.  I'm so thankful for my husband giving me time by myself and helping me not to feel bad about not spending every minute that I'm not working with Emmalyn.  I feel like I miss so much with her when I work, but I also have to keep food in the fridge, the floors and clothes clean, edit photos and still be a wife and mother.  Getting a couple of hours by myself to do something for myself is such a treat.  

After I got home from my "me" excursion, we headed to Brandon and Crissy's to watch the Gamecocks play football and eat some of Brandon's good cooking.  As always, we had a great time fellowshipping with friends.

On Sunday, we went to church and took naps afterwards.  Then I made dinner for our friends Brandon and Beth and their kids while we all caught up and the kids played.  Watching two year olds communicate with each other and a boy and a girl two year old try to compromise on what to play is pretty amusing.  After just a couple of minutes, Emmy's room looked like Charleston, SC post Hugo, but they were having fun and getting along which was so sweet.

 

After more catching up it was time for dessert.  I made Apple Dew Dumplings and everyone loved them - Emmy's huge mouth says it all.  I'm so proud of how well she has been eating lately.  She has more meat on her bones which calms my anxieties about her weight.

 

With full bellies (and since it was 8:30pm) Emmy and Lyla cuddled some before the Smith family had to leave.

 

Monday started off slow.  We stayed in our pj's late and just played.  The weather was so beautiful that we turned the AC off and opened up all the windows and doors.  At first Emmy thought this was really strange and would try to shut them when we weren't looking, but after we played outside for a while she figured out why we wanted everything open.  Smelling the fresh air inside was actually a mood booster.

 

While Emmy napped, I went out to a photo shoot with a good friend from college.  Kala (yes, we have the same name - kind of) and I graduated from USC in nursing together.  She was in my wedding and I have such fond, fun memories of our time together.  She is a beautiful soul inside and out, even when 8.5 months pregnant!

 

I came home to a happy home, made dinner, read Emmy her bedtime story, and watched The Voice.  It is a simple life, but I'm so blessed to have it and the people in it.

I know I whine a lot about working so much, and I promise that I do feel very blessed to even have a job and have food to eat and a roof over my family's head.  Being away from home also makes me cherish the time I have at home even more.  With that said, when I'm not taking photos or catching up on house work, I'm having fun with my two favorite people - Caleb and Emmy.  And while Caleb is not one to be very fond of the lens, Emmy can't escape it.  HA ha HA (that's a evil mom laugh - you know that one!).

So, here are a few photos that I managed to catch of Emmy in the past week. 

The neighbors got a new dog and it is just Emmy's size.  The other evening we mingled with them while Emmy and the new pup ran around playing.  She had a blast.

 

I wish I knew what she was thinking here.

 

As far as photography goes, this is a horrible photo, but I love her sweet face in it!

 

OMGOODNESS!  Such a cutie!

 

I love spending every minute I get with her, and after work tomorrow I get 4 days to run errands, praise God, workout, try a few projects from Pintrest and catch up on some editing.  Life is good!

Ramblings about Simpleness

I've been slack on blogging lately because, like my go to excuse, I've been busy, but it isn't just from work and motherhood.  I've actually been thinking a lot lately on trying to get my life together.  No, I haven't gone loco, I just want to simplify and prioritize.  Honestly, my life hasn't been that exciting lately.  I hardly ever go out, I'm not pregnant, I don't have a different date story every week, my fashion sense is short of mediocre, I'm not a recipe guru or a hardcore calorie counter (okay, let's face it, I don't count calories at all even though from the looks of recent photos I probably should), and I am certainly not an eloquent writer. 

I started blogging when Caleb joined the army in order to keep up with him and our friends and family from afar.  In the past four years it has turned into a place for me to grow my photography, decompress, show how I've evolved as a mother and a wife, and a place to be candid about my hopes and dreams.  These things my not be the most excited for you readers, but it is exciting for me.  So, even if I can't find the time to write every week, its because I"m busy being a mom, wife, nurse, photographer, friend, or just relaxing on the couch with some wine, my husband and a good (or crappy) movie.

With all of this said, here are some photos of my sweet baby (which is most likely be the only one for a while), from the past week.  Enjoy in my life's simpleness. 

Playing with blocks.  Emmy loves to build things these day.

 

Then she decided that she should dress up like the princess in her bedtime story book.

 

And cook a little something up for daddy.

 

Also, this week I finally got one of Liz's signature toddler in the tub pics of Emmy (I didn't stand on the toilet though : )

 

Afterwards I had Emmy help me make cream cheese icing for the pumpkin cake I made, but she mostly just taste tested everything.

 

I think I passed this little one's test!

A Homemade Headboard

So I've been wanting to make a headboard for our master bedroom for a couple of years now, and finally put my plans into motion.  Caleb was a little skeptical at first, but after I got the batting and fabric on the board he could finally see what I was trying to do and he even helped me with it (even though I told him I could do it myself - I think me with power tools scares him).  So, here is our headboard done and placed. 

Honestly, I'm ok with it.  There are a few things I'd like to change, but that won't happen until we move into a home of our own.  Now that I know my vision can happen, I feel more confident about making another to fit everything I want from dimensions to fabric and getting better quality wood - I went cheap on this one just in case it didn't work out well.

I wanted the headboard to add some drama to our bedroom.  We have all matching pieces in our room, but our bed is a modern platform bed with an extremely low headboard, so I just used this new one to add to it.

To make it, I purchased wood and had the guys at Lowes cut it to my pre measured dimensions.  Then I sprayed spray adhesive to one side and laid my foam on top.  This helps it not to slip around during moving under the fabric.  Next, I laid batting on top and stapled the overlap onto the other side of the board with a staple gun. 

Next came the hard part.  Ironing the fabric.  My entire living room floor was covered in the fabric for me to iron, but I kept having to do parts over because Emmy was trying to "help" the whole time.  Once I got it mostly flat, I put the board on top covering the side with the foam and batting and again stapled the excess onto the other side.  The side that you don't see in the photo is a hot mess!!

The worst was done.  I then added nailhead trim to the ends, this was tedious, but really made the headboard look put together.  Then Caleb attached legs to either side of the bottom and we placed it behind our existing headboard. 

It's not perfect, but it will do for now and it only cost about $50 (the next one will be more since I'll get better quality wood to make sure it lasts a long time).  I'm also glad that Caleb and I could do this together.  It is a small accomplishment, but every time we are in bed reading we will rest our backs on something that we built together, which is pretty priceless. 

 

 

 

Now to figure out what to put above the bed...hmmmm.