Baby Huck - Newborn photo's

Some of you may not know this, but Kayla and I are first cousins, best friends and more like sisters most of the time. . From the time we were little girls, until now, we have always been close and have always been there when our "fair weather friends" came and went. I can't imagine not being close to her and I'm so excited that we get to be mommy's together.

Huck will (hopefully) be about 7 weeks older than our little girl Ayda Jean and I can't wait for the two of them to meet and grow up together. I hope that Gabe, Huck and Ayda will be just as close as Kayla and I are. :) Here are a few pictures from Huck's newborn session. Hope you enjoy!

Isn't he just adorable!! And I have to say that they are one beautiful family!! For this little guy to have to have been born 2 weeks early I'd say he was right on time :) 

-Melissa-

Gabe at 2.

So tomorrow will be two weeks ago that our little guy turned 2. It's hard for me to believe that the Lord blessed us with such a sweet and loving boy to take care of over 2 years ago!! I can remember the exact moment I knew I was pregnant with this bundle of joy. I was at work and I knew I was late, but my body had just gone through some pretty intense distress and I thought it was just taking a while for things to get back to normal. But after the persistent egging on from my mother I took a test and it took about 2 seconds for it to read positive. SO many emotions ran through me all at once but the one that stood out the most was joy. pure joy. I had a little baby growing inside of me and I couldn't wait to get home and tell Tim! We still lived in North Carolina and we were getting ready to head home for Christmas and we couldn't wait to share the news with the rest of our family!! Now, almost 3 years later the joy I felt that day has not only sustained but has continued to grow every minute of every day. Gabe is so funny, loving and kind. I think I laugh more hours in a day now that ever before. He continues to change and evolve into this little person that I couldn't be happier to call mine.

Our little girl is due in just 4 short weeks and before the madness begins I wanted to take time to right down just a couple things about the coolest kid I know.

 At two, Gabe is saying so many words that I can't begin to count. He speaks in full sentences most of the time, which makes things so much easier and enjoyable for us because he communicates so well! He is potty trained except at night. He would live outside if I let him. He LOVES dinosaurs and anything with wheels. His love of books makes me smile. He idolizes his Daddy and wants to be just like him (it may be the sweetest thing I've ever seen). He is very strong willed about the things he wants which can make me want to pull my hair out sometimes, but I hope he is always that passionate about the things he wants to achieve. He could live off of grapes and tomatoes. He doesn't like most meat but put any type of vegetable in front of him and he'll try it. Running is possibly his favorite thing to do. Mommy and Daddy can kiss any 'ouch' better. Catching frogs (meaning mommy or daddy catching them) makes him squeal and laugh so hard that it's okay if the frog pees :). He brings more joy into our lives, and so many others, than we could have ever asked for and I know he is going to be the best big brother in the whole world. I hope everyone gets to experience the love of a sweet two year old one day because I can honestly say there is nothing like it.


 Gabe, you are such a little light and I can't thank our gracious Lord for giving you to us enough. I pray that as your parents we will be able to teach you and raise you up to be a Godly man. I know the Lord has a plan for you even now and I can't wait to watch you grow and do those things that he has planned for you. I  love you more than you know and I can't begin to imagine life without you!!

Love,

-Mommy-

Kayla and Jesse - Maternity

This post is an interesting one... These maternity pictures were taken 3 weeks ago when Kayla was just over 37 weeks pregnant.

 

Well, since then I have gotten to do the birth story of their precious baby boy Huck and a newborn session! Needless to say a lot has happened since this muggy Thursday afternoon! Here are just a couple of the great shots we captured and I can't wait to share all of the other sweet moments from the past few weeks.

-Melissa-

Justine, Kasey and Chloe

Hi there! Some of you may know that photography is something I truly enjoy and have dabbled in some here and there, but while I'm pregnant I have really been taking it slow and not committing to much... But every now and then someone will ask and I can't 'just say no'. :) Especially when it's such close family friends!

Justine is my best friends younger sister and she has the most adorable little girl named Chloe. Chloe has such a cute and spunky personality for being just shy of 3 and I think these photos definitely portray that. Justine's boyfriend Kasey was sweet enough to gift her a session for her birthday so when she asked I knew it would be so much fun and had to say yes!!

Here is a sneak peak of some of the shots we got during their session. With every session my goal is to capture my subjects just as they are and I hope you can feel the love and hear all of the giggles that were shared in these sweet moments.

Aren't they the cutest?!? Catching Chloe on the trampoline was hysterical! So glad I got to spend an evening with these three and capture some of their funny, sweet and precious moments.

Until next time,

Melissa

DIY Twine wrapped sconce

Hey there! It's been a while since I posted, I've been so busy with trying to get all of my projects done I haven't made the time to post any of them! 6 months ago we lucked up on a great rental property that we just couldn't pass up. We would love to build, but Tim and I both agree that right now is not the time... so we found the next best thing. We are renting a house that was built in 1917... that's right, just 4 years shy of being 100 years old! I love old houses and the charm that they hold and this one is no exception! The house was remodeled in the 70's and has been a rental since the late 90's. Our land lord is so trusting and nice to let us pretty much do whatever we want to the place to upgrade it, which is amazing! The only thing we can't touch, unfortunately, is the wood paneling that was installed in the 70's... and still holds true to it's era. But I shouldn't complain... we're getting to have so much fun redoing and decorating and it's perfect practice for when we do build :).

Trying to upgrade and change things in a rental can be tricky sometimes because of not wanting to spend large amounts of money, when in the end it's not going to be our home. Keeping that in mind we have tried to prioritize what is most important and what can be tolerated. But to spruce things up a little I have really tried repurposing some of the decor items that we have collected over the past 4 years to save some pennies. I actually have 2 of these sconces that I changed to hang on either side of our bed and I love them! They were definitely unplanned and something I just sat down on the couch one night and started not knowing what the finished product was going to look like.

Because these were so unplanned I don't have a great before picture, but hopefully this gives you an idea of what they looked like before-

I just happened to find this picture of Tim and Gabe just a couple of days after he was born with the sconce in the background... not terrible, but definitely not the style in which we're going for in our new space.

hopefully you can see I really just grabbed the twine and started wrapping as tightly as possible and just decided as I went where to wrap and not to wrap. You see in the before picture that the pair was a pewter color, which was fine, but after I wrapped the twine I knew it was going to have to change. I grabbed some white paint and literally rubbed it on all of the exposed metal with my finger. No precise method or needing to get it completely covered, I just painted until I was pleased with the way it looked.

I love our "new" wall decor and they go perfectly in our "new" room. I can't wait to reveal the whole thing at once but I couldn't stand not to share these upcycled babies. I'm in love with them and so glad I didn't chunk them... because it definitely crossed my mind :)

What do you think of the sconce? Do you have something tucked away that could be turned into something new? What have you used twine for recently?

Until Next Time

Melissa