Maternity Photos

When I was 32 weeks pregnant with little one we decided to document my pregnancy and have some maternity photos taken. I am so thankful that we did because I just love these photographs and that our photographer was able to capture such a special moment in time. This unique time when our family is still just the two of us and the anticipation of our little one joining our family so soon brought so much excitement and joy to us. We had our photos taken in mid-November, my belly was nice and round but I wasn't huge to the point where I was so uncomfortable and feeling terrible. We definitely lucked out with the weather, it wasn't too cold and there was still plenty of Autumn leaves on the trees.

Monica with Monica Marie Photography took our photos and she did an amazing job. If you are in the Cincinnati area, definitely look her up. She does a great job at capturing the moment and making you feel totally comfortable having your photo taken. Todd hates having his picture taken and he felt very comfortable and said how much he loves these photos. Plus any photographer that can capture a photo of BOTH of our hyper active dogs looking at the camera at the same time gets an A+ in my book. :)

Sweet little baby,
We can't wait to meet you. We are so thankful for these photos to capture this special moment with you still growing in my belly. It is hard to believe in just a few short weeks we will be holding you in our arms.

Love,
Mom

Thanksgiving Weekend 2014

We headed up to Columbus on Thursday morning to have Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family. My grandparents had everyone over for lunch and it was great to see our extended family.
On Friday we did a little Black Friday shopping, really, we only went to the fabric store to pick up the rest of the fabric fabric for our baby's quilt. Hopefully I have time to finish this in the next month before he or she arrives! Then we went over to Todd's sister's house to meet our new baby niece. She was born this week and is absolutely precious.

Friday night we went back up to my grandparent's house for a baby shower. My aunts wanted to host a baby shower for us and invited all the women in my mom's extended family and many of my college friends. It wonderful to see so many friends and family that I haven't seen in awhile. I'm so thankful they were in Ohio for the holiday and able to come into town for the evening.

Saturday Todd and I went to the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. Every year we try to get tickets for one game through my membership with the Alumni Association. This year we couldn't attend the game we got through the ticket lottery and we were pretty bummed out. My parents get season tickets and ended up with two extra tickets to the Michigan game. So, we sold our tickets and jumped at our chance to attend this game. We love OSU football and what better game to go to than this rivalry game. I was a little nervous to go, being an hour and a half from home and 8 months pregnant, but we had a great time, plus the extra insulation the baby provided me kept me nice and warm! :)

This was such a fun day date with Todd. We love going to games together and cheering on our favorite college team. Our seats were way up, but I don't mind sitting up higher at football games, it is easier for me to see all of the plays and everything that is going on in the game. After the 3rd quarter, some seats opened up near my parents, so we moved over to the north end of the stadium to sit with them and watch the last quarter.

We had a great time at the game and tailgating before hand. And it is always fun to be at a game where the Buckeyes win!

After the game we went back over to Todd's sister's house for Thanksgiving with his family. After dinner we made the trip back home. We had a great weekend, lots of time with family and friends. We are so blessed and thankful for those near and dear to us. I think we'll be staying close to home now until our sweet baby makes his or her debut!

Home Tour: Master Bedroom

Our little Cape Cod style home does not have a master suite with a big walk in closet or en suite bath. We have a roughly 12x14 room on our main floor with a tiny closet and use the full bath located in the hall. We've had to get creative with our furniture selections and storage solutions. We store off season clothing either hanging in the guest bedroom closet or in a box in the basement. Our bedroom furniture currently consists of hand me down dressers and nightstands from family and our DIY upholstered bed. (Tutorial to come soon!) We would love to get new dressers and nightstands that are more our style and also more functional for our needs, but for now these work. We'll set up a bassinet or pack and play in our room once the baby is born so he or she can be close to us those first few weeks before moving to the nursery. I absolutely love the paint color and our cream bedding. It is so relaxing, the perfect bedroom retreat.

The paint is a custom color match to a Porter Paints color. It is a blue, green, gray. I love that as the light changes in the room, the color changes too. Here is a good comparison of the same shot during the daytime and at night.

Source List: 
Paint - Sherwin Williams paint, custom color match to Porter Paints Scarborough 501-5
Bed - DIY project, made by us. Tutorial to come soon!
Night Stands - hand me downs from family
Lamps - hand me downs from family
Dressers - hand me downs from family
Drapery - HomeGoods
Drapery Rods - Home Depot
Comforter - Hotel Collection from Macy's
Euro Shams - made by me
Wall Sconces - Crosses are gifted from a friend. Sconces by closet are from Hobby Lobby
Frames - Hobby Lobby and Kohl's
Humidifier - Bed Bath and Beyond
Hamper - West Elm
Vase - Bed Bath and Beyond

If I missed anything and you want to know where it is from, please comment below.

Pumpkin Patch 2014

Every year for as long as I can remember my family has gone to the same pumpkin patch. We always take photos in this big pumpkin they have set up. It is so much fun to look back on photos as my sister and I have grown up and seeing how much we have changed over the course of the last year. This weekend we made our annual trip and decided to bring our dogs along for some of the fun. Niah wasn't so sure about having her picture taken, she is cracking me up in these photos.

I'm so excited to continue this tradition with our family and to come back next year with our sweet little baby.

Couples Baby Shower

This weekend Todd's parents hosted a baby shower for our sweet little one. Most baby showers are centered around the mom and baby, which is fine, but dad is just as important in the baby's life as the momma is. So, in order to include Todd in the baby shower fun, his parents decided to host a couples shower. It was so much fun!

We didn't play tons of games, but the ones we did play were great, and centered around both parents and baby.
The first game was a guessing game. They had 7 photos of me and 7 photos of Todd from our childhood (ranging in age from infant to high school). Everyone had to guess how old we were in each of the photos. It was fun seeing which photos our parents picked out for us and guessing about who our baby will most closely resemble.
The second game was a "Meet the Parents" game. It was a multiple choice and had questions about each of us as kids, our relationship and our little one. Such a fun game and perfect for a couples shower.

We were having so much fun we didn't take photos until almost everyone had left! Check out this fruit bowl that Todd's sister and our niece put together.

Todd's sister is due with their third child in just a few weeks. I am so excited for our little ones to be so close in age. I'm sure they will be the best of friends!

Sweet baby, you are so loved and we can't wait to meet you in just a couple more months!