Oh these two

They are quite the pair! I'm so thankful for Kennedy - for the help she is to me and willingly so. Kennedy has been camping with her Daddy this weekend and it's given me a glimpse into my life without her during the day and it's not super fun! I'm glad she'll have so much fun when she starts school, but this Momma is going to miss her terribly. Poor Avery has been asking non-stop where she is and I know that scenario will be on daily repeat once Kennedy starts school. I'm going to soak up and savor all the sweet moments like these ones:

Kennedy loves to help me feed brother but brother gets so tickled at just the sight of her that I'm not certain how much of the food makes it into his little belly.

It's so cute, I keep letting her help me even though it makes a complete and total mess.

This little one is growing up so fast. He is such a joy!

I really am trying to take in every day and laugh when they are funny, not get stressed when they make a mess and daily let go of the fact that my house stays a wreck because I know he'll be the age of my big girl before I know it. Speaking of my big girl, she lost another tooth - that's four now! Losing both of those top teeth has really changed her appearance, don't you think?

We were at my friends house on 4-11 and Kennedy kind of disappeared for a little bit which isn't like her. Before long I heard her calling me from the bathroom so of course I go rushing in because the whole thing was a bit atypical. As soon as I close the door behind me I see blood all over her hands and in the sink and I'm all "what happened"?! She tells me that she was playing with her friend and when she fell into a nearby pillow her tooth got knocked. I ask her to open her mouth and oh my word y'all - I was not prepared for that Mommy moment. Her tooth was partially hanging on to her gum but it was attached on the inside towards the roof of her mouth. In other words, I could see into the top of her tooth - gag!!! It's funny how adrenaline can kind of take over in those moments - she was kind of a mess, shaking, sweating and half crying. In all honesty, I think she was more embarrassed than anything which is just kind of funny to me now - I mean: what is there to be embarrassed about? Anyhow, I jumped right into action and had her lay down while I composed myself enough to figure out how the heck I was going to get that tooth the remainder of the way out because it definitely HAD to come out. I decided pushing it in the other direction was the best option so we did the ole' standby count to three like with a band aid and I put my thumb up under it and out it popped. It popped up and landed on one of her eyes - remember she was laying down on her back. Tooth: 0 Mom: 1! Once she got over the shock of the whole situation, she was most excited about an upcoming visit from the tooth fairy. Here's my little toothless wonder:

Love those freckles!



Some of the late goings on

The little man - he is a teething machine. Our current count = 6! I kid you not - kid's got teeth! This is the best shot I've gotten of what he has up top but those eye teeth are through the gum now - crazy!

Grey doesn't seem very interested in crawling, even with his favorite persons encouragement!

He is sitting up like a champ and is now scooting along on his hind end, but that's about the extent of our mobility. Hey, I'm in no hurry brother!

 We so rarely capture smiles from Ave, that I had to share her in "airplane" action with her accompanying big grin.

Honey was recently here for an extended visit waiting for her new granddaughter's arrival. My girls were so excited when she came over that they waited by the window and then ran to the door to greet her.

I'm happy to report that Avery is potty trained and this picture was relatively soon after that development and therefore she felt the need to show Honey her new duds: "big girl panties!"

L-O-V-E

I saw this idea on Facebook but I think it came from Pinterest and was actually more so an idea for the bathtub - to keep toys within reach, but it works nicely in the kitchen too.

kiddie cage, baby jail, or whatever else you like to affectionately call it:

I still don't understand why it is that whenever new baby toys are put out or new baby ideas are implemented the older ones want in on it:

I mean, honestly - give the kid his toys back, he's in jail for crying out loud. Listen, I'm completely open to putting the big girls in the pack-n-play if this idea is so appealing ;).

I kid, I kid.....

 We had lots of fun with Honey and she got some serious Avery love as usual:

Before there were two legged children in our lives, these two got most of our love and affection (along with the ones who've "gone" before). We don't even really take pics of the poor pooches anymore, but Tim was grilling recently and snapped them in their sunbathing glory. Although they aren't as spoiled as they used to be...they are still pretty spoiled.

I find few things more beautiful

than a pregnant woman. Maybe that sounds weird, but it's the truth! I mean, it still blows my mind...the way God created us, to create another - unbelievably miraculous! Being here, in NC and seeing my sister regularly throughout her pregnancy really beat all (to steal a line from my Grandaddy). Naturally, because I adore being behind the camera, I offered to take pictures of her before she delivered her sweet baby girl. Now, I should state ahead of time that I am not a professional nor do I claim to be - I simply love taking pictures...documenting memories and capturing special moments so I, (and others) can remember them forever. Photography has gotten so much about editing and tweaking and "touching up" that it has changed the "game" a bit in my opinion. I'm blessed (thanks to my in-laws) to have a wonderful camera and that fact alone is responsible for about 60% of any good images I manage to capture. For me, I love the creativity of photographing things and people - angles, colors, moments. I confess that I dream up images/poses, etc. way before the actual moment they are taken. Nowadays with Pinterest you can get a ton of things but truthfully it's just me and my brain and my camera right now and that's about all I can handle. So...in light of all of the aforementioned I feel like we got some pretty good shots. These are my favorite:

I got some cute pics when I was doing my "light check". These two were in the "touchdown" pose - thanks to her Uncle Steve my child actually knows that phrase and position. 

I'm not sure what this goofy girl is doing here, but I thought it was cute nonetheless.

One of the things I adored about seeing Melissa pregnant was witnessing how much D LOVED her belly - seriously! He was constantly pulling up her shirt, talking to baby E and kissing it, laying on it, snuggling it - so stinking cute I just can't even describe it adequately to y'all.

Her hubs did it right and gifted her with an anniversary band with the little one to comes' birthstone. Score Daddy!

I can't recall what they were so tickled about in this shot, but I love the end result!

The whole time I was taking her pictures, I kept saying "beautiful, gorgeous, & oh my word" because I just couldn't help it - all of those things were perfectly accurate.

 

and it was a wrap! Some sweet moments with Daddy finished up our "shoot".

That sweet baby has since made her arrival and I've had the privilege to take her pictures and she's a beauty. You'll have to come back to see her soon :).