8 Months

How does the time keep passing by so quickly?  Wasn’t my son just born a couple months ago?  No, it’s been 8 months!  8 months since I held my little boy for the first time.  8 months since we changed from a couple to a family.  8 months without getting a full night’s sleep.  Haha!  That last one is definitely true, but it’s been worth it.

Our little Goose is turning from a baby into a little boy, and he is just getting cuter and cuter every day.  These days we are working on his crawling…..or lack thereof.  He can spin on his belly, but has yet to figure out how to get up on all fours.  Which is a wonder, because he has no problem getting his knees under him with his tushy in the air in the middle of the night.  In fact, that is his favorite sleeping position!

Another new thing we’ve been working on the past few days is having him stand by himself without us holding onto him.  He’s always had pretty strong legs, and could support his own weight since he was about 3.5 months old, but he didn’t understand that he had to hold onto something to keep from falling over.  Well, this week he’s finally figured that out, and now he loves standing!

Grayson is definitely an animal lover, and he lights up anytime Kaylee (our Saint Bernard) or one of our three cats comes in view.

These days, I’m pretty sure that Daddy is his favorite person.  Yah, I know he loves me, and I’m normally the only one who can calm him down if he’s having a meltdown, but you should see the way he looks at his Daddy.  He squeals in delight whenever he sees him and grins from ear to ear.  There’s just a special bond between father and son.  It’s so wonderful to watch them together.

These baseball pictures are from a couple weeks ago, but they are too cute not to share!

This one is the current wallpaper on my phone.

Our little slugger!  I can’t wait to take him to his first T-ball game!

Baby Girl “A” | Hendersonville, TN

When I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Grayson, I joined a facebook group of ladies all over the U.S. and Canada who were all pregnant and due the same month as me — May 2012.  In the past year, the 200+ members of this group have supported each other through births (premature, on time, and late), one heartbreaking death, midnight feedings, and milestones.  It has been so amazing to be a part of this wonderful group of women, and Grayson has over 200 virtual friends to grow up with.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting five of these ladies and their kiddos in real life, and my most recent meet up was this past weekend, when I had the pleasure of photographing my fellow Tennessean’s daughter.  (In case you were wondering, there are 3 of us located in Tennessee).

Those eyes!  I die!

“A” has already learned to clap, and she enthusiastically demonstrated her new talent.

We have several talented moms in our group, and one such mom designs and makes wedding dresses.  A’s mom, Autumn, commissioned our fellow May Mom to make this beautiful flower headband out of her wedding dress.  The flower is detachable, so it can have multiple uses.

They brought along three dresses that A’s grandmother wore when she was a baby.  This is dress #1.  I love this little pucker that she’s giving me.

Here’s dress #2.  Cute and yellow.  Looks like it’s straight out of the 1950s….which is probably is!

And this pretty blue dress is #3.  I love her beautiful red hair with this dress.

At 8.5 months old, she has already started crawling (something we’re trying to teach Grayson to do)!

And has seven teeth!!!

Mama’s necklace was a nice distraction when she started getting bored.

You can really see just how gorgeous her eyes are in this photo.

Here are a few more from our session.

And here’s a little one of the three of us.  Unfortunately my little man couldn’t be in the photo because he was sick (for the first time in his life).  I’m happy to report that he is doing much better now!  I hope to meet these beautiful ladies (and Daddy) again!

“W” Family Photos | Hendersonville, TN

I took these pictures last year, but realized that I never shared them with you!  Now that I’m doing photography professionally, I thought it would probably be a good idea to display some more of my work!

These kiddos were so fun to work with!  They’re at the age where they love being in front of the camera and totally ham it up!

This photo shoot was especially fun since my husband and I are friends with the “W” family.

It was fun trying to come up with ways to pose 4 people.

This was one of my favorites from that day.  I told them to play like they did at home, and this was the result.

Look at those gorgeous blue eyes!!!

Touchdown!!!

We stopped for a little game of football in between photos.

 

Baby “B” | Hendersonville, TN

I had the pleasure of photographing my friend’s beautiful 10.5 month old baby boy the other day.  It was extra special, since my 7 month old son, Grayson, got to meet and play with him.  We don’t get out much, so this was one of the first interactions Grayson has had with another baby around his age.

Look at those gorgeous blue eyes!

Future basketball star right here!  His mom loved this one, and said that it looked like one of those high school basketball team photos.  It would be cute if, in 16 years or so, they do a side by side comparison with his actual high school basketball photo.

I love photographing bright colors, so when he showed up dressed in this colorful shirt I did a little silent happy dance.

Goodness gracious!  When I saw this Winnie the Pooh outfit, I made a mental note to dress Grayson as Pooh Bear next year for Halloween.

One of my favorite photos from that day.  I just love the adorable expression on his face!

Melanie wasn’t expecting to be in any of the photos, but I’m so glad I was able to capture these precious moments between mother and son.  You can tell this little man loves his mama!

Another favorite.  He just loved that blanket (which used to be his mama’s, if I’m remembering correctly).

Bonus photo!!!!  Bentley and Grayson meeting for the first time!  They’re future best buddies….they just don’t know it yet.

Throw Pillow Tutorial

After almost a year of staring at the not-so-attractive throw pillows that came with our couches, I finally decided to make new covers for them that were more my style.  Luckily the original covers came with zippers so they were easy to remove.

Here is what our couch looked like with the original pillows.  They’re definitely not the worst pillows I’ve ever seen, but I thought some gray chevron fabric would give the nice modern and chic touch I was looking for.

Here’s what you’ll need to create your new throw pillows:

  • 2 yards of fabric
  • sewing machine
  • rotary cutter or scissors
  • cutting mat
  • straight edge fabric ruler to run your rotary cutter along
  • pins
  • 18″ Pillow Insert

Start by cutting a 19″x19″ square from your fabric.  We are going to be sewing with a 1/2 inch seam allowance, so you’ll need your fabric one inch bigger than the size of your pillow.  My pillows are 18″, but if you are using a smaller or bigger pillow, just adjust the measurements accordingly.   If your cutting mat isn’t big enough like mine, you may have to fold your fabric in half to get a straight cut.

Next, cut a 19″x24″ piece of fabric.  This will be for the back of the pillow.  You’ll need it longer than the front piece so that we can create an overlapping pocket opening for the pillow to slide into.

Turn that longer piece of fabric horizontal, measure 8 inches from the right (or about a third of the length of the fabric), and cut all the way through so that you now have two separate pieces for the back.  In total, you will have three pieces of fabric for your pillow.

Press a 1 inch seam on each of the back pieces where they used to meet.

I also pinned the seams I just pressed as an extra precaution, but this isn’t necessary if you are careful when sewing.

Next, sew your seams on the two back pieces of fabric about 1/8 inch from the rough edge.

Lay your front fabric piece right side up.  Then lay the smaller of the two back fabric pieces on top of the front piece, right sides together.  The seam you just sewed should be in the middle, not on the outer edge.  Now lay the larger of the two back pieces down, with right sides together.  The two back pieces should overlap, and the seams will create the pocket for the pillow.

Pin and sew around the entire pillowcase using a 1/2 inch seam.

Cut your corners at a 45° angle to reduce bulk.  Be careful not to cut where you have sewn.

Flip your pillowcase right side out and push out the corners with something pointy, like scissors or a knitting needle.

Now all that’s left to do is insert your pillow!

Ahhh!!!  I like this so much better than the original pillows!  My house is on it’s way to becoming modern and chic!  I might just have to make new throw pillows for all the bedrooms as well!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  Let me know if you have any questions, and I will be happy to help.

Merry Christmas!!

It’s that time of year again!  I feel like I was just celebrating Christmas and New Years only a couple months ago!  But in that time, I have had a baby boy and watched him grow to be an active little *almost* seven month old.

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday.  Nothing beats the smell of apple cinnamon candles burning while you decorate your Christmas tree!  For the past few years, that job has been solely my own, but I look forward to next year when Grayson can at least help a little.  He’ll be 19 months old by then, and I’m sure will be into everything, but at least he’ll be more excited about the holiday season than he is this year, when all he knows is that there’s some big green thing with pokey things sticking out all over and shiney twinkly lights that are fun to look at (although he doesn’t know the words to describe it yet like I just did).

I had so much fun taking Grayson’s Christmas pictures this year.  He is so curious about everything, and loves touching and exploring new objects and textures.  I had to take away the glittery ornaments because after just a few seconds his hands, face, hair, and feet were covered in glitter!

I am addicted to Pinterest, and there were some amazing ideas for baby Christmas pictures!  So, of course, I tried two of the most popular ones.  This lights photo would have gone better if it wasn’t already past Grayson’s bedtime, but I managed to get this decent shot before he had a complete and total meltdown.

This was my favorite out of all the hundreds of photos I took, and it was displayed prominently on our Christmas card this year.

And who could forget this gem?!

“Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal!”

Here he is showing off his sitting-on-hard-surfaces skills.  He finally learned that he can support himself with his hands if he starts tilting one way or the other.

My mom came to visit a couple weeks ago, and Grayson had so much fun playing with his Nana.  She even stayed home with him one night so Steve and I could have a much needed date night.  We went to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2.  Soooooooo good!!!!!

I can’t wait until Christmas day when Grayson gets to open all his presents.  I’m sure he’ll be more interested in the wrapping paper, but it will be fun just the same.  And I will have my camera ready to capture those precious moments of his first Christmas.

The Laundry Basket

For years I have been carrying piles of laundry from our bedroom, and now Grayson’s bedroom, to the laundry room just using my arms.  That has made for several trips back and forth, picking up dropped socks and undies along the way.  Well, last week, when my mom was visiting, she bought us a laundry basket after I asked her to take some clothes out of the dryer.  I don’t know why I’ve put off buying one all these years, but it has certainly come in handy!

Grayson has enjoyed it too!  It’s a little play pen for him, and the day my mom gave it to us, I took some picture of him sitting in it.  There are probably very few babies out there that don’t have some sort of picture of them sitting in a laundry basket.

Lazarus had to come over to investigate.

Grayson has gotten so used to me shoving a camera in his face that he will rarely look at the camera anymore, so I had to acquire the help of my mom to make him smile.

And boy did he smile!!!

You know that country song, “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck”, well there’s just somethin’ ’bout a baby in a laundry basket!

He’s so little in it!

The only reason he’s looking in my direction for the photo is because I held his favorite stuffed animal, Pooh Bear, above my camera.  Oh the things I’ll do to get a decent picture!

“Alright, Mom, can we be done now?  I’d like to get back to playing with real toys!”

Mr. Grinch

While I was going through some of the Christmas photos that I took of Grayson, I discovered this gem and thought it was so hilarious that it had to have a caption!  This will be a little surprise on the back of our Christmas cards this year.  And if you happen to receive a Christmas card from us (Mom), I apologize for ruining the surprise, but it was too good not to share!

 

It’s Election Day!

Today is Election Day!  I hope all you voters stay safe and make a smart, well-informed decision on who to vote for.  We need a president who will lead our country in the right direction and get us back to being a “Nation Under GOD.”  Our children’s future depends on it!

And in 2048, make sure to vote Grayson for President!!!!

Spicy Mexican Rice

If you read my last post for Tequila Lime Chicken, you saw that I promised the recipe for the Mexican Rice that I served along side of it.  Well, you will not be disappointed!  This rice was very tasty!!  This recipe can also be found in the Pioneer Woman’s cookbook and here on her blog.

I halved her recipe since I was just making it for my hubby and me, but there was still enough for 4 people!  I’ll list the ingredients that she includes, and you can tweak it from there.  Just know that this quantity will probably serve 6-8 people.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 2 tbsp canola oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 cups long-grain rice
  • One 10 oz. can Rotel Diced Tomatoes w/ Green Chiles
  • One 14 oz. can whole tomatoes (I used crushed tomatoes because we don’t like big chunks of tomato)
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (a little goes a long way with this!)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2-3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • Fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Chop onion (the smaller the dice the better, in my opinion)

and garlic

and add to the hot canola oil.  Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the onions are nice and translucent.

Reduce your heat to low and add the rice.

Cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly so the rice doesn’t burn.

Add Rotel,

canned tomatoes,

yummy cumin,

salt and cayenne pepper.  Stir to combine and cook for about 2 minutes.

Add the chicken broth,

and bring to a boil.  Once your rice is boiling, turn the heat down to low, cover, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until rice is tender.  Once all the liquid is absorbed, give the rice a little taste to see if you need to add more liquid.  Once rice is cooked thoroughly, you can add the chopped cilantro for garnish.

Doesn’t that look tasty?!  Well, it was!  I hope you enjoy!

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