A bump date + Lots of fun!

The past two days have been incredible.  I feel like a total rock star!  I mean two parties in two days filled with my most fave people in the world?!  I could get used to this!!!  :)

On Sunday my best friend's, Miriam + Deanna, hosted a diaper shower for me and Miss Olivia.  The decor was beautiful and the food scrumptious!

I even received my very first diaper cake thanks to my sweet neighbor, Georgia!  It's amazing what a relief it is to have so many diapers and wipes.  I wasn't quite sure I would make it to my shower before having Olivia.  Thankfully I did!

Oh good gracious!  I LOVE sweets like it's nobody's business!  The cupcakes are from Baby Cakes Bakery in Porterdale and the Petite Fours are from Publix.

Our delicious meal was catered by Mama Maria's in Covington.

Miriam + Deanna, you are awesome!  Thank you so much for doing this for me.  And thank you to all the ladies that came to my shower to celebrate my sweet baby girl!

The very next day, Monday the 3rd, was my birthday!  I am officially 31!  Trey, RyAnne and I started off the day with my 38 week check up.  My mid-wife confirmed that I am dilated and quite effaced!  This made my day because I know I will get to meet my daughter soon.  

The day was just too gorgeous not to snap a few baby bump photos.  :)  My belly is HUGE!  lol

I knew Trey had plans for us to go to dinner at Mystic Grill.  But what I didn't know is that he invited all my friends and family too!!!  OH!  And, he reserved the Door Room for our private party!!!  

Rock Star - Why Yes! I am!!!  :)

OMG!  Another fabulous dessert!  My mouth is watering just looking at this photo!  He knows my weakness for a Publix cake!  This one was the bomb!  Topped with cream cheese icing, on a vanilla cake, layered with raspberry filling!!!  I have one piece left in my refrigerator and I'm thinking it will serve as a very nice breakfast for this pregnant girl! :)

I sure do love this man!  And this photo!  Do you see how he is looking at me???  OH the love he has for me!!!  He's the best man I know and I'm super blessed our girls will have the best father in the world.

Thank y'all so much for making me feel incredibly special yesterday.  All of your birthday wishes were so wonderful.  I'm so blessed!

Happy Tuesday y'all!
Love.
H.

Waylyn's Newborn Session

Isn't she just gorgeous?!  This little sweet pea came for her first photo shoot last Wednesday at only seven days old.  Quite awake at first she soon settled in and fell fast asleep allowing me to capture her smallness.

I love both the color and black and white!  So why not post them both!! :)

Waylyn's daddy is a musician.  He built this guitar out of pallets and metal.

An itty bitty little smile!

This sweet girl kept pointing her little toes like a ballerina.  So amazing!

Happy Wednesday! Stay warm y'all! Love. H.

Guess what day it is!!! Time for a 34 week Bump Date!!

The nervous excitement is in full swing for me!  I am just six weeks away (give or take) from meeting my sweet girl, Olivia Reagan.  We have really started working on her room.  Putting up trim, painting will be next, installing a chandelier.  Believe it or not the list is coming to an end.  :)  Oh and I have most all of her newborn backdrops and props in!!!  Yay!

before trim

after - next will be paint! :)

I've been nesting like a little bird.  I feel like I'm on this insane mission to complete as many tasks as I can before she gets here.  It's my prenatal marathon. . .only in slow motion.  An old back injury has been flaring up and has had me down a bit so it takes me allllll day to accomplish these tasks.  But I'm so thankful they are getting done!  My mother-in-law helped me take down all of the Christmas decor and clean up the living room.  Almost every drawer (even my sock drawer) and closet has been reorganized.  Refrigerator is super squeaky clean.  I'm sure I will find something else to empty and reorganize before the end of this blog post.  lol

I went to my 34 week check up on Monday.  Olivia is head down and measuring perfect.  I mentioned to my mid-wife that I was starting to freak out a little bit about my decision for a natural child birth.  I know I have not ever experienced anything like this so I'm getting nervous.  She was like, "If you weren't I would be nervous!"  lol  She keeps encouraging me telling me I will do just fine.

RyAnne's birth was simple.  At my 40 week checkup I was told I was being induced that night.  My water broke the next day at the hospital.  They started my epidural and pitocin.  I pushed 15 minutes and voila!!!  Baby RyAnne was here.  I felt no pain until the epidural was gone.  And then it was super bad pain because of how my epidural was placed.  :(  I have to keep reminding myself that back in the day women didn't have the option of pain free.  They just did it.  I can do this!!!

I have been researching exercises I can do to strengthen up and prepare - Ballerina squats, pelvic tilts and pregnancy yoga. . .but all I really want to do is sleep.  But that's pretty much impossible with a 3.5 year old.  She keeps me busy!  I don't have much work happening this month.  I had a styled wedding shoot on schedule for a new venue and had to cancel due to my back pain.  This about killed me.  I very rarely ever cancel shoots.  :(  I just know at this point in my pregnancy a six to eight hour shoot would have done me in.

Cravings!
Anything sweet and still ice.  My teeth are getting hit really hard.  lol  Chomping on ice and wanting nothing but Oreos.  My dentist would flip out if he knew what I was doing to them!

I found this on Facebook.  I have no idea where it came from so I'm not able to share the credits.  How beautiful this image is!

Happy Saturday Bump Date!!
Love.
H.

What day is it??? Time for a Hump Day Bump Date! :)

If you read my last Bump Date, you know all about my family photo shoot.  Well, at least you know about all the sickness and my worries.  I was pretty nervous about this session because my expectations may have been through the roof.

 

I photograph families, maternity sessions, babies, weddings, engagements and while I am a bit nervous going into photographing I know in my heart that their session will be everything they hoped it would be.  Not that I am really that cocky but I know that because I pray for it. . .for every single client!

But being on the other side of the camera isn't my specialty.  There I am standing in front of someone's camera feeling like I don't have any control, quite exposed and not knowing what I should do with my hands.  lol  So, I needed someone that could handle that!  I found Katey Penton and fell in love with her gorgeous, airy photography.  My family and I met with her in downtown Rutledge for our family/maternity session two Wednesdays ago.

 

Trey had just been diagnosed with an eye infection, RyAnne was recovering from one and I was sick with a cold and cough (again!).  Thankfully my nephew, Taylor, was healthy and all smiles.  :)  How we managed to pull off such a great looking family photo. . .I don't know!  lol But I think we look awesome.

33 weeks pregnant and counting!

Newest craving:  Still ice.  But guess what?  I found ice that trumps Chick-Fil-A ice!!!  Sonic is even better!!!  :)

Decisions!
A few weeks ago we went to our check up.  I met with my Dr. and wanted to talk with her about natural childbirth.  While RyAnne's actual birth went just fine, getting the epidural was pure hell.  I was in pain when receiving it (like I'm pretty sure they hit a nerve and my arm curled up all exorcist style) and was in pain for about a year after it.  Not something I want to do all over again.

After doing a little reading about natural childbirth and the recovery process being quicker, I felt like that was the way I wanted to go this time around.  But I needed more info.  I began asking my Dr. her opinions and advise.  She seemed less than excited that I was wanting to go this direction.  Almost as if, why in the world would you want to have a baby without an epidural?!  This confused me to no end!  I left my appointment feeling like I wasn't being supported, like I was crazy for wanting to birth my baby the way God intended me to.  I cried.  A lot.

My next visit was about a week and a half ago.  This time I met with one of the mid-wives.  She looked at my chart and said excitedly, "Oh! You are having a natural childbirth!"  I was like, "Oh the Dr. wrote that down? And you support that?"  She said, "Of coarse I do!  Why wouldn't I?"  I explained to her that the Dr. she works for didn't seem supportive of my decision at all.  And then I began to cry. . .again!  At that moment I felt so confused.  I knew what I wanted but didn't feel like I had anyone's support.  And how could I go to a hospital with a childbirth plan in place that no one would support?!

My mid-wife, JJ, explained why she loved natural childbirth and told me to watch the movie The Business of Being Born by Ricki Lake.  Trey and I watched it together.  Ladies if you are unsure of how you want your childbirth to go PLEASE watch this movie!!!  It opened our eyes and has allowed me the confidence in my own body's ability to have Olivia naturally.

 

Watching these awesome women birth their babies was very empowering and exciting!  I can't wait for this experience and I really, really can't wait to hold my sweet girl!  Oh jeeze, and now I'm crying. . .again!

Happy tears!
Love.
H.

Lydia Ann | Welcome!

I was very excited to photograph this little girl's mommy & daddy's maternity session several weeks ago.  And even more excited to get to photograph Lydia Ann's newness!!!

Photographing newborns is such a joy.  While holding this sweet girl it made me that much more excited about meeting my baby girl this February.  Pretty awesome way to end an amazing 2013 year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone! Love. H.