Chic Christmas Moments

This Christmas went above and beyond! The season is about giving and family, and above all a sense of coming together to feel truly blessed in all that life has to offer. This Christmas was Abby's first Christmas, and while she had no idea what was going on, the abundance of gifts under our tree went mostly in her direction. There was a special moment on Christmas Eve when Kyle said he wanted to give me a gift early, and he presented me with this:

A Sony Bloggie handheld video camera. It shoots HD videos, and takes still pictures while it's recording! So not only will we never miss any of her first moments (I'll be leaving it with our nanny), but we got to record her waking up on Christmas Morning. Now, some might say that the HUGE smile that ensued after we told her Santa came is pure coincidence, but I disagree!
Christmas brought a new Tory Burch bag....it's a brown/grey wool with a bronze(ish) metallic logo on it. It's large enough to not only fit my computer, but also double as a diaper bag (and a fabulous carry on bag for travel)! Abby was spoiled with all kinds of clothes and enough toys to fill her (first) toy box. Of course, we started her Disney collection with several DVDs as well.
Most importantly, we got to spend time with family, and it was truly a blessing to see everyone with Abby and Abby with everyone. It was just this time last year that she was about to come into our conscious thought and change our lives forever.....

Until Next Time...

Dabble

Pictures with santa

I am SO excited for this guy to come to our house in a couple of nights

Yes, I do really mean come to our house. Last night Kyle and I went to Southpoint for Abby's first visit with the man in red. There is the chance that next year she will totally lose it and run screaming from the man with the bag full of gifts, although Kyle is determined that will NOT happen, so we wanted to get it done this year. She slept through the entire thing, then of course on the way home screamed. My interpretation of that is "I DIDN'T GET TO TELL HIM MY WISH LIST!!!!!" I wore my red "I believe" shirt with Santa's face on it, and potentially looked slightly young to be a mom, but I was happy.

I love the holiday season and the magic that comes with it (YES I said holiday season and not just Christmas because not EVERYONE celebrates Christmas this time of year). I'm always excited to get elbow deep in flour and make cookies and come up with clues for my gift tags. Those two things are probably my most favorite traditions of the season.

This year my mom and I included Abby in our cookie dough making, we have a few more cookie types to make and actually make the cookies hopefully today with Kyle. Next year we'll all be covered in frosting and will probably end up with more in our hair than on the cookies and I can't wait!! The clues, my family always writes witty clues on the gift tags to perplex the recipient as to what might be inside. We take it as a personal challenge to stump each other and then go "OHHHH" when we open gifts. Personally, I think it makes spending all that time wrapping gifts MUCH more enjoyable!

Speaking of wrapping gifts....I must finish doing that!

Until next time....

Dabble

The space in between

With all the craziness of the holidays in full swing, a business to run, an 11 week old to handle, and some sort of personal life there seem to be few moments of "in between" time. I'm sure that no matter who you are, the holidays do this to just about everyone and I have to wonder, why? I enjoy spending time with my family and decorating the house, lighting the candles, and getting the MASSIVE tree. I even enjoy cooking and hostessing, and finding that perfect gift. Christmas has always been just about my favorite time of the year. I think it's a comfort thing for me. Even after my parents were separated, we still did Christmas together. There were a couple years when I was in college that I did my own thing with each of them, but once I got married Christmas became a "family" event again, and now with Abby I don't think I could keep the Grandparents away!
Even still, I find myself close to tears in moments like the one I had this morning. Abby is going through her 3 month growth spurt a bit early (surprise surprise) and has been fussy, hungry, tired, and clingy for the past few days. She had a hard time going back down this morning after her 6am feeding so I pulled her into bed with me and we cuddled. Before you tell me to "stop that habit so she doesn't get used to it" or "that's so dangerous" I will tell you that she spent her first at least three weeks of life sleeping in our bed, not something I had intended to do AT ALL, she is still alive and well, and every night for the last week can be put down in her pack n play to go to bed while she is drowsy and put herself to sleep....we will do what works for us with the given situation. Anyway (mini vent over), she nuzzled into me and was so peaceful. In that moment in between all of the craziness I learned another level of the value of my bond with her and made a silent wish that all children and parents would remember that this kind of love is supposed to be unconditional, remember that especially during the holidays.
My job might be something I love, but it also makes me insane at times. Sure, in not too many years I will probably be able to say that about Abby, but there is nothing I wouldn't give up for my family. I think that if we took time to notice the little moments in between all of the craziness, we might be able to hang on to a bit more sanity when it comes at you from all angles.
As we get ready to put our Holiday cards together to send out, I am thinking about what to put on the inside message. When I look at the front photo for our card, something most of you will see in the mail and I will post after we mail them out, I see the future. When I look at our future, it's all about the little moments in between. I don't see the craziness of work, or the upcoming "terrible twos", I see all of the blissful moments. So why is it so hard for us to see those when we're in them?

Until next time....

Dabble

Snapshots

As anyone knows, life is full of those little candid moments you want to remember forever. This is the main reason I LOVE photography. My main item on my Christmas wish list is a camera upgrade especially now that we have an amazing little girl that we want to capture every moment with. I also have snapshots in my brain, like the moment Kyle proposed, or when I saw those two lines on the pregnancy test. For other moments in life we turn to our favorite photographers.
For our wedding we had the mastermind of Mr. Matt McGraw (out of Wilmington North Carolina). What I loved about him was that he captured his light in the camera versus in photoshop. Frequently he'll post "before and after" shots on facebook showing people how you can use the craziest of lighting and make what you want out of them. Here's an example:

This was taken after our wedding at about 4pm in the afternoon, full sunlight on the beach of Bald Head Island, NC. If i had taken this picture it would have been washed out, and the guys wouldn't be silhouetted at all. I saw this photo in the camera...this is how it looked, this is the look of photographic genius!
We love Matt, and hope he will forgive us for ease of scheduling, and yes I'll admit a little bit of cost effectiveness, we've brought another photographer into our list of favorites.
Britten Berry went to high school with Kyle and did my maternity pictures. Both of these photographers make me feel completely comfortable in my own skin, and whatever I may be wearing whether it be my wedding dress in freezing rain and wind for my bridal shoot in Boston with Matt, or draped fabric with a large 32(ish) week pregnant belly bare and exposed. This is central to any good photographer in my opinion.
Common to both of these photographers is the photojournalistic quality. I don't want overly posed pictures on our walls, we want our life on our walls the way we'd live it. Sure, some moments are staged to look natural, especially dealing with infants (that's always fun). Here are a few of my favorites from my maternity shoot:

We recently had Britten come back to take photos of Abby and get some for our Christmas card and I got the slide show preview yesterday...SO excited!! Eventually, our house's walls will be covered in pictures of snapshots of our lives, and I'll get to mix those in with the snapshots I hold so dear in my mind.
If you'd like more information on either photographer, check out their websites (tell them I sent you, and for all my fellow Red Sox fans, forgive Matt's Yankees hat!)
http://www.mattmcgrawphotography.com/
http://www.brittenberryphotography.com/


Until next time....

Dabble