Joshy!!!!

I am pretty much in love with my nephew. He's made me an aunt for the 6th time.  I have two beautiful nieces and 4 handsome and wonderful nephews. I am a well seasoned aunt. Yet, Joshua just makes me melt into this puddle of goo whenever I see him, hold him, play with him, or even think about him. It's not as though all of my other nephews or nieces are not near and dear to my heart. I love them all, very much. When my oldest niece, Bonnie, was younger and then when Will was born, I was still figuring out babies. I enjoyed them, loved them, but wasn't very motherly like at all. I was all "Auntie April". By the time Luke was old enough to play with, I already had a kid. Likewise with nephew Caleb and niece Rosemary. Totally in mommy mode at that point. Now...all the other kids are big. Bonnie is almost 12(WHHAAAAAATTTT?!?!?), Will is 9, Cate and Luke are 8, Caleb is 5, Simon & Rosemary(affectionately called Moe, by me) are 4 but nearly 5, and Liam is going to be 4 this May. The "babies" are not babies anymore. So hanging out around Joshua is totally different. All of my kids are self-sufficient. We are a bottle-free, crib-free, diaper-free family. Our kids are growing up! But Joshua...he's new. He's tiny and sweet and fat and cute and makes gurggley sounds and is just finding his own little personality. And he LIKES ME!

In a weird twist of fate, I was present for the birth of 4 of my 6 nephews and nieces. I wasn't there when Bon was born because Seth and I were not really dating yet at that time. I was there when Will was born, I literally watched Luke come into the world, and I was there at the hospital when Caleb and Rosemary were born. But I was at my in-laws with Caleb when Joshua FINALLY made his grand entrance. So I am closest to Bonnie and Joshua, even though they were the only two that I wasn't there for when they were born. hahaha!

So, while I could never pick a favorite out of the lot of beautiful nieces and nephews, Joshua just as a tight hold on my heart these days. I think I am simply enjoying being able to enjoy the closest thing you can get to your own child without it being your child. For so long, my own kids took so much of my time and energy and attention that I was not able to fully enjoy this. Well, now...I can.

Being able to enjoy a baby that isn't mine is actually quite grand. I cannot explain it exactly. But what I do know is that this little feller has stolen my heart and I adore him and I am so thankful that my own kids are old enough to wipe their own butts and feed themselves so that I have have two readily available arms to hold this little miracle that is my nephew, Joshua Abel Brown. I love you, Joshy!

why I am still not a grown up

Me, today



In case you were wondering, yes. My husband does have the patience of a saint.

Bring it on, Spring!

So...Christmas is over now and so is my birthday. I'm 27! I actually told Simon the morning I turned 27 that it was my birthday and he looked very shocked "YOU have a birthday!?!?" I guess for a kid, your parents are ageless, they are just your parents. No need to put a number on them, it's kind of nice when you think of it.

I made a slew of New Years Resolutions, mostly spiritual. Make time to pray the Rosary, be more patient and forgiving of others, no gossiping(I never get to talk to my best friend anymore, so this might actually stick this year! Miss you Jess!), Be a better Catholic, essentially. I also decided that I needed to be healthier after pushing my body to the brink of diabetes this Christmas, hahaha, just kidding. But seriously, I think I ate more sweets and crappy food in 3 weeks than I did the rest of the weeks of the year combined.  But I guess that's one non-spiritual side effect of Lenten fasting is that I get a chance to reverse some of that damage. So...while I am not fat by any means, I have a very superficial goal of being back into a bikini by beach time, which is only 4 or 5 months away.  But who reads this blog to hear about all that junk, huh?

Here are some(and by some, I mean a ton) pictures from my Christmas break....y'all wanted to see my family, right?

Cate sang with 2 other girls at the Christmas program at her school. That's my little shrimp off to the left. I couldn't get a good shot of her :-(


Foooooood








wiiiiiine








Nephew, Joshua, isn't he precious?


Seth took Simon hunting for the first time...that lasted for about 10 minutes No, they didn't kill anything.


The kids made a gingerbread house with Aunt Vickie(who will likely be mad that I put a picture of her in her jammies on my blog)




Liam made a lot of messes


The annual Ingram family picture got stranger


Cate turned 8 on the 23rd and decided on the 21st that she wanted a party at the skating rink. Good thing we know the owners!








I got to spend time with my favorite people






I think this was the only night that Seth and I didn't have company at the house.


It was a wild, crazy, fun, and awesome Christmas. Now it's all back to reality. The tree is gone and Winter still hasn't fully arrived in Georgia(which is fine by me if we skip winter this year all together). I am looking forward to all the great things this year has to offer and my countdown to spring has begun. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Welcome to 2012!

Katie's Bridal session

Remember Katie? That hot chick up there in the header picture? Well, she is a married woman now! That's right, I rang in my New Year by celebrating the union between Katie and Ryan on New Years Eve, but before we get to the wedding pictures, we have to back track a little.  Now I have been sitting on this bridal session since Summer with orders not to post until after the wedding. I am very excited to share them now.

I am in love with Katie's wedding look. She was so sophisticated and glamorous!

The Bauer Family

I have a special place in my heart for procrastinators seeing as how I am one myself. So when Tara emailed me and asked if there was any way I could work them in just before Christmas...I had to find a way! Truth be told, I had been wanting to get my hands on this family since the twins were born, so I jumped at this chance to work with them. It went great and within 24 hours of shooting the session, Tara and I had already worked our butts off to get some prints AND Christmas cards ordered. We're good, I'm telling ya...goood.