You would think that by now I would have put together some kind of big elaborate family portrait session for the first pics of us as a family but to be honest, trying to do a shoot with little ones scares and exhausts me. haha.  Expectations are just so high and in reality…hahaha.  So for that reason I am SO SO SO SO grateful to my friend Sarah (a local professional family photographer) for gifting us with this quick little shot taken after church on Easter Sunday.  Just to keep it real, this image was shot just seconds before Vera let a big one (read: poo-splosion) loose all over daddy’s dress shirt, pants and shoes abruptly ending the “shoot” (see 2nd sentence of paragraph). hahaha.  As for life right now, I love that we are a family of four.  I love the God gave use two little girls.  I love my husband who is an INCREDIBLE father to these two girls. My heart melts with happiness every time he refers to us as “his ladies.”

I still want to write when I find a little more “free time” but for now bullet points will just have to do…

Things that I cannot live without right now:

Babywise (Yep, I’m that mom). I get 7-8 hrs of sleep a night with an 8 week old.  Sold.

Coffee…and more than I EVER used to drink…which still only amounts to about 2 cups a day. hehe

Gripe Water (aka miracle in a bottle)

Concealer (and just makeup in general…makes me feel like a woman and not just a mom)

Maxi skirts

Friends and weekly “play dates” (read: kids go play so mommies can talk!) Being a mom is ridiculously and wonderfully hard, frustrating, challenging, exhausting (even with said 8 hrs of sleep). I could not survive without this weekly time with friends.

My glider (read – the “throne” from which I rule the home during endless feedings. haha)

The way Chloe treats her sister so sweetly and “mothers” her with kind words.  It speaks to my heart and encourages me that she is picking up something good from my own mothering of her.

Things that I could definitely live without right now:

Smelling like sweat, all the time, no matter how many times I shower.  In fact, I’m convinced I sweat IN the shower. Ugh. Hormones!

Still not fitting into my pre-pregnancy jeans and shorts.  Warning soon to be moms: your hips literally shift and it takes months for them to go back into place. Weight doesn’t matter. Ugh.

Having a 2 yr old.  haha. Ok, that sounds mean…Let’s just say that I am ready for this phase to be over.  You think having a newborn is hard?

Going to sleep and waking up to crappy children’s music stuck in my head. Stop invading my only personal space left!!! hahaha

Things that I am learning (the hard way):

I am selfish. Nothing reveals this quite like having a baby who takes over your life, time and your body with little payoff (in the beginning).  It is a beautiful but definitely sanctifying thing.

I really need God and LOTS of him for patience, energy and the right attitude to get through the day.

And there is my life in a nutshell:)

On February 24th, four hrs before her due date, our hearts grew as we welcomed into our arms and into our little family a second precious daughter, Vera Elise (Vair-ah E-leece).

After weeks of on-again-off-again early labor and loads of painful back labor in the days leading up to her birth, God showed a little mercy on me and gave me an incredibly easy delivery.  For that I am still incredibly grateful!  To be honest, it all happened so quickly that I was left feeling a little stunned. Just a push a half and all of a sudden there was a baby in my arms.  It felt like it took time for my mind and heart to catch up with what was happening around me.  When they handed her to me she looked so much like Chloe it was unreal…

During the pregnancy I think the thing that we were looking forward to the most was seeing what Vera would look like.  After you have one child it is hard to picture having a second child that looks any different from your first!  As Vera lost the initial water weight that she was born with, her unique little features began to emerge.  Mommy’s nose, just like her sister, the same dark straight hair as her sister, her daddy’s forehead (hehe) again just like her sister, but her eyes and mouth are uniquely Vera. I love her goofy little face in this picture.

Chloe’s response to her new baby sister has blessed us so much.  You never know how an almost three year old is going to respond to her very first sibling but Chloe has been enamored with her since the moment they met.  She tenderly refers to her as “sweet sister” or “sweet Vera” and jumps up and down when she gets to have what she calls “sister time.”  She is also very protective of her. When she first saw me burping her she told me to be careful and not “hit” Vera. haha.  She wants Vera to play with her toys and always asks for me to “lay her out” so that she can sit next to her and give her kisses…which according to Chloe must be smack on the lips. haha.  With every little noise that comes out of Vera’s mouth Chloe wants to know “what she’s saying?”.  My constant prayer is that as they grow, they would truly become “forever friends” as we say in our house.  I know that they will not always get along but the hope of my heart is that as they grow into young women they would be a sweet blessing in each other’s life.

For us, those two days in the hospital were a very special and important time.  Initially, I had wanted to be released early so that we could get settled into life in the comfort of our own home.  In retrospect, with Chloe happily staying with friends, those two days relatively alone in our quiet little hospital room proved to be the most priceless and beautiful time of smothering sweet Vera with cuddles and kisses while relishing in the miracle of this second sweet little girl entrusted to our care.  These next two images are some of my favorites and I will cherish them for the rest of my life. Graham sitting in a dark hospital room singing Vera to sleep for the first time. A precious little girl in the arms of her daddy. Her hero. Her superman.

I have so much that I want to write about.  These past four weeks have been the most surprising blessing.  My heart has been overflowing.  It has been so different than I expected it to be.  It has been so much more full of joy and peace and love than I expected in those anxious months leading up to becoming a “mom of two” (something that I was terrified of becoming to be honest).  I promise to write more but right now there is a little one who needs me and I want to soak up every moment that I get with her in my arms.

I recently did a two part shoot for my sweet friend and fabulous graphic designer Ashlee Proffitt that I have been itching to share!  As a part of some rebranding and new projects that she has on the horizon she wanted a few images that capture the half of her that her clients don’t get to see but is the driving passion behind everything that she does, and thats being a mom to her two boys (and little girl on the way!).  Ashlee is an incredible example of what it means to be a businessowner-entrepreneur-mom…the mom-ing is her first priority and everything else that she is able to accomplish flows out of that passion without disrupting her priorities.  I love her.  And I love these little boys as if they were my own:)  Here are just a few of my favs from her shoot! Enjoy!

Meet the Winn family! We met up on Saturday evening for this family’s first (gasp!) professional portrait session! hehe.  Sweet little Meredith was instantly smiles and Riggs (who is almost my daughter’s age) did not disappoint with his dashing good looks and all-boy energy level.  We had a nice long session with time to get a little  bit of everything before the sun went down…we even had time to snap a few of just mom and dad – what a concept!  A self-described “classy but fun” family, I think these images capture both in addition to heaping piles of love:) Here is a little peak at some of my favorite images from their family session!