Before James was born, I felt comfortable with babies and thought I had a good understanding on how to keep them happy. I had previous baby experience with my nieces and from working in a nursery when we lived in New York. David and I did a lot of research and we attended hospital classes to prepare to be fully responsible for another human being. I knew I would never be 100% ready for a baby until I was actually doing it. Now that James is here and I’m officially living the mom life, there are a handful of things that took me by surprise. A few things that I wasn’t prepared for. Here are 5 unexpected things that I learned as a brand new mom!
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European Weekend Trips
One of my favorite stages of life will always be the 5 months that David and I lived in Milan, Italy. We were fortunate to be sent there for a rotation with David’s job from February through June of 2015. David was immersed in the Italian culture in his new office and my “job” was planning our weekend trips. I happily did that almost every weekday morning at my favorite coffee shop drinking a cappuccino and eating a fresh pastry. We knew we wanted to take advantage of our time in Europe so we planned trips almost every weekend. Ahh, that was the life. We had three other friends (David’s co-workers) living across Europe during the same time so we got to do some traveling together. It was such a fun experience! I’m so glad that I lugged my camera around and documented our trips on the blog. My favorite places we visited were Switzerland, Ireland, and Tuscany! Here is a collection of our travels across Europe. Click on each city’s name to see the full blog post. Can’t wait to go back!
Our Adventure Themed Nursery
I’m so excited to share the nursery we put together for our sweet James! It took us awhile to organize and decorate his special space. It basically sat as our storage room while we accumulated baby goods and gifts until we were ready to put everything together. We knew we wanted a space that encouraged creativity and adventure. The “adventure awaits” map wall decor was my first purchase for the nursery. We used light, neutral colors (yess for white and gray!), our sweet friend Paige (of Two Peas Shop) custom created a growth chart for us, and we filled the bookshelves with colorful board books. Now that James is here, we use the changing table multiple times a day, read books together on the floor, and dress our baby in the sweetest little onesies. We look forward to watching James get bigger in this space and making this room his own. Thank you to our talented friend Tiffany for taking these photos during our newborn session!
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James’ Newborn Session
Our handsome little boy was born on June 30th. Just six days later (on July 6th, James’ due date!), we got in front of the camera with my sweet friend Tiffany McClure for our very own newborn session. I absolutely love photographing precious newborns and to have the experience with my own baby was the best thing EVER! We just couldn’t stop staring at his perfect face. I love these beautiful photos that Tiffany captured of our little family. I will forever cherish these images and remember how tiny James was in his first days of life and when David and I were just week old parents.
James is now almost 4 weeks old. Our little man, born at 7 lb 3 oz, is growing so much every day! He’s already over 9 lbs and looks bigger every time I look at him. He is pretty consistent in sleeping for 2 hours, waking up to nurse, get a clean diaper, then look around his new world before he drifts off to sleep again. His eyes are becoming lighter in color and that small white milia bump on his cheek is all gone. He’s growing more hair (mostly in the back of his head) and his belly button is the cutest little outie. We’ve nicknamed him King James and James-E (because of his middle name, Ellis). He smiles randomly and completely melts our hearts. He also grunts like a baby goat and farts all the time. He’s peed on us (and himself, the changing pad, and the floor) a handful of times. He loves the first five minutes of bath time and then loudly lets us know that he’s ready to be done. He’s currently laying on my chest in our baby carrier snoozing away as I write this. I may have looked down, rubbed his back, and kissed his head about a zillion times since I started this post. We are learning what works best for him and our new little family and we are so enjoying the journey!
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Our Frank Breech C-Section Birth Story
We welcomed our son, James Ellis, into the world on Friday, June 30th via a scheduled c-section because he was in a frank breech position. I was 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant. It was such a life-changing experience that I want to vividly remember for all of my days. When I found out that I was likely going to need a c-section, I was anxious and didn’t feel prepared. I then found some great blogs and stories online from moms who had similar experiences. I wanted to share my story to encourage other moms who either have breech babies, have a scheduled c-section, or who just need some extra support. Honestly, it really wasn’t bad. You can do it and might actually enjoy the experience! Below, I’m going to share what I recently wrote in my pregnancy journal.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
39 weeks pregnant! We get to meet our baby boy tomorrow! I’m feeling excited, anxious, ready, thrilled, in disbelief. It’s a very calm way for little man to enter the world. We know exactly when we need to arrive at the hospital, who our delivering doctor is going to be, and a general understanding of what to expect. We’ve had 39 weeks to prepare for his arrival and 3 weeks to consider/process a c-section. We found out baby was breech at our 36 week appointment and with attempts to flip him (chiropractor visits for the Webster technique, forward lean inversions off of the couch, lots of inverted yoga, etc.), he still stayed in his upright position. We checked his position yesterday at my last OB appointment. The doctor said “there’s still a chance he could flip by Friday, like a 1% chance but you could be that 1%!” If he flips by tomorrow morning, great. But otherwise, we are preparing to meet our little man tomorrow! We are scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 8:30am and surgery is scheduled for 10:30am. We are going to sleep tonight for the last time as just the two of us. Life changes big time tomorrow! Lord, we trust you. We thank you. We praise you. What a beautiful provider you are. We look forward to seeing your perfect creation in our son tomorrow.
Friday, June 30, 2017
We set our alarms for 6:45am. We cuddled, laughed, and anxiously climbed our way out of bed. We finished putting the last few things in our hospital bags, showered, got dressed and were out the door at 8am. We called our moms on the way and received their encouragement, parked the car, left all of our stuff in the trunk, took a photo in front of the hospital, and walked in hand in hand at 8:30am.
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Dear Baby Boy, We’ll Meet you Tomorrow
Dear baby boy,
The moment your Dad and I have eagerly waited for is almost here. It’s so so close. At 10:30 tomorrow morning, you will see this great big world for the first time. There will be lots of lights, loud sounds and new people. We’ll be experiencing the whole thing with you, just on the other side of the curtain. We can’t wait to look into your eyes and hold you in our arms. We’ve watched you grow inside my belly for the past 9 months and are looking forward to watching you grow for the rest of our lives. We are here to protect you, teach you, and love you with our whole hearts. We can’t wait to officially make you part of our little family.VIEW POST
Jameson, Lauren, Adam – Tampa Newborn Photography
On a Tuesday afternoon earlier this year, Lauren stood up at our faculty meeting at school and announced she was pregnant with her first baby and due at the end of June. I thought to myself, “I have to be her friend!!” since only a few knew it at the time, but I was also pregnant and due just a week after her. Shortly after that meeting, I ran into Lauren in the parking lot and shared my news. Ahh so fun! We watched and encouraged each other throughout the past year as our bellies grew, when we both found out we were having boys, and even when we found ourselves in the same childbirth class at the hospital. Lauren and her husband welcomed their sweet man last week. Little Jameson is here and he is perfect. I am so excited for this growing family and can’t wait to make more memories together as our boys grow up!
Our Maternity Photos and 38 week Update!
We are having a baby next week!!! I can count the remaining days on two hands!! The past nine months have been such a journey. Thankfully, it’s been better than I could have ever hoped for and makes me a little sad that it’s coming to an end. I have loved being pregnant and I am so thankful that I can say that. There have been some struggles along the way but they’ve all been short lived and part of the experience. Ever since we got that positive pregnancy test around Halloween, it’s been a peaceful and joyful pregnancy journey. Thank you, Lord. Last week, David and I met up with our favorite photographer, Emily of The Ganeys, at Philippe Park for our very own maternity session. Oh my looove. I will cherish these images forever!! I will look at these photos and be grateful that this man is my husband, that he was able to successfully recover from a scary accident and be out of his back brace before baby arrived, that my body was able to create and nurture a tiny human, that I’ve never been more confident and comfortable in my body than now, and that our little family is growing in the best possible way. 
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Adeline, Gideon, Trevor – Tampa Newborn Photography
So excited to introduce you to this little cutie, Adeline Isla! I had the pleasure of photographing her in her new home, with her new parents, in her new world. Such a privilege! This sweet babe’s parents were so calm and gentle with her. Gideon and Trevor are taking on the new role as first time parents like champs. I loved all of the beautiful details in Adeline’s nursery – it’s the perfect spot for this precious girl.
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Our Little Man’s Baby Shower
Last weekend, David and I headed to Orlando to celebrate our little man at our Baby Shower! We were halfway to Orlando when I realized I left my camera at home (cue the tears) so all of these photos are from our iPhones. It was such a great afternoon of catching up with friends and celebrating our baby boy. I got to hug some college girlfriends I haven’t seen in a while and rub the bellies of two other pregnant friends! We played some fun games, ate delicious food, and we opened so many wonderful gifts. A few of the most memorable gifts were a onesie that my sister made that said “Hand picked for Earth by my Pop-Pop in Heaven” in honor of our Dad, a handmade, crocheted lovey blanket by our youngest sister (19 years old and taught herself how to crochet!), and so many books with sweet messages inside to stock up baby’s library. I’m 34 weeks pregnant now and counting down the days until we get to meet our little man! We can’t wait!!
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