Grey Likes Baby

Christin of We Heart Photography sent me these beautiful shower photos. She tells the story so much better so here she is:
My sister-in-law Ashley is a girly girl to the max. With big, pink lips, perfectly porcelain skin, and the sweetest voice I’ve ever heard, I often refer to her as a “real-life disney princess”. So, when she and my brother Matt found out they were pregnant, it seemed like it was destined to be a girl. On Christmas morning they opened the best gift they could ever have imagined, a little pink baby outfit, telling them that their baby WAS a girl! (See that full story and photos HERE)

Once we knew it was a girl, my sister Carrie, Ashley’s sister Brooke, and Ashley’s best friend Gabrielle set out to throw a perfectly girly baby shower. Ashley’s inspiration for baby girl’s bedroom is the Paris macaron shop, Laduree. This instantly became our inspiration for the baby shower. We thought pink, lavender, mint, and cream. We thought desserts and pom poms and sweet gold details. We started the evening with Ashley’s favorite dinner, tomato soup and adult grilled cheese, and ended it with macarons from the LA macaron shop, Bottega Louie. We drank tea out of mismatched vintage teacups and played a few fun games. My favorite detail came at the end of the night when everyone got to go home with an essential oil, all-natural candle from Mr. B’s Luminaries. They were the perfect favor, not only because of their French Lavender scent but also because the jars they are in are actually recycled baby food jars. So fitting for a baby shower!

It was a beautiful evening filled with adorable, girly details and so much love for our sweet Ashley and baby girl.

Photography: We Heart Photography
Favors (baby jar french lavender candles): Mr. B’s Luminaries
Desserts: Bottega Louie
Framed maternity photos: We Heart Glamour
Invitations: Etsy
Other paper goods and banners – Carrie Chesnut, sister-in-law to Ashley
Inspiration: Laduree in Paris 

I recently read a post by Lisa Jo Baker wherein she created a list of things she wants to teach her daughter. I loved it and thought it was personal and tender and hopeful and honest – and it inspired me to jot down a few of my own hopes for my soon-to-be-here daughter. So without further ado, here is my list of twenty hopes, ideas, and lessons for my little miss:

1. Be brave. In all things, as often as you can. If given the choice between fear and courage, lean into your courage and trust that you have what it takes to come out the other side of whatever hard thing you are facing.

2. Your body is beautiful. I beg you not to be at war with yourself. Be gracious and tender and loving with each part of you – your arms and thighs and face and hips and stomach are made of miracles. They are holy. You are holy. Every part of you.

3. Perfect is overrated. Please cross perfection off your list and focus all that energy toward discovering who you already are. I promise you – that is where the good stuff lies.

4. Develop eyes that see beyond the glittering images most of the world is trying to portray. Have a keen street sense and intuition about the people you encounter, there is always more going on than initially meets the eye.

5. Exercise compassion at every turn.

6. Learn to live open-handed and generously. Work hard not to let the things you collect become too important or powerful in your mind, life, and heart. It’s the people and our experiences that cannot be replaced – not things.

7. Never settle for anything less than someone who makes your heart flutter, your mind spin, your spirit soar, your character grow, and your lips smile uncontrollably. Find the guy that makes you laugh and swoon. Marry no one less than your best friend.

8. Marriage has the power to be a forever thing. Take the long road view and recognize that every hard thing you face, you will face together with your best friend. Nothing that seems too big in the moment is meant to be solved in a moment. Give it time. Time is a great healer and revealer.

9. It’s okay if you can’t bake. Like – if you are the kind of un-baker that can barely open the pre-made cookies and almost always burn them. You don’t have to be Betty Crocker to own a piece of the kitchen.

10. Find your thing and do it with joy. Singing? Painting? Dancing? Writing? Debate? Student Council? Chess? Seriously – whatever it is, own it and love it and make no apologies.

11. Be honest. No one has time for games and the time and energy spent avoiding the truth is never worth it in the long run.

12. Sometimes we have to let the sun set on our anger, so don’t feel guilty if you need to sit and be mad for a few extra days. Just make sure you don’t sit in your own anger for too long. Seek resolution and healing in whatever ways you can.

13. Turn up the volume and dance like a crazy woman. We waste way too much time worrying about being mature and often end up terribly inhibited. Observe a four year old standing in a room when music is playing – and work hard to be just like them. If you have kids some day, they will help you with this, I promise.

14. Look for reasons to laugh out loud. Even if it feels silly. Even if the joke wasn’t that funny. Let your heart be free and the rest of you will follow.

15. Stand barefoot in the warm green grass as often as you can.

16. Search for the things that bring you joy. You may be surprised when they pop up, because they aren’t always grandiose, but if the scent of your newborn baby makes you close your eyes and smile, allow yourself that experience. Slow down enough to notice when the things around you are filling you with happiness. Fresh flowers. Strong coffee in the morning. A favorite song on the radio. Dark chocolate anytime. Let yourself linger in the moment of joy when it comes.

17. Sexy isn’t all push-up bras and short shorts. Sexy is when you feel good in your own skin. In fact, just do yourself the favor and forget ever trying to live up to someone else’s version of sexy right now. Grow up loving who you are and how you are made and that confidence will be a powerful driving force as you become a woman.

18. Invest in a great journal and some really nice pens. Self awareness is so key in life and investing your time and resources here will save you a multitude of retraced steps when you’re older.

19. You can always come home. You don’t need a good reason. Call your mom. Call your dad. Call your brother. Family is forever and formalities don’t exist with us. When he breaks your heart, when she slanders your name, when the dream doesn’t pan out and mascara tears are running down your rosy cheeks, come home. When you just need to feel mom’s hands playing with your hair like she did countless times as a little girl, come home. When you want to learn to make that pesto chicken dish, come home. When you need to hear your dad’s voice saying that you are amazing and worth it, come home.

20. The God who made you, who made every gorgeous living thing, loves you with a mighty love, beholds you with a perfect grace, and pursues you with a relentless desire to know you. Seek the Great Creator and hold fast to the truth that you are, have always been, and will always be enough just as you are.

Dearest little miss – I know this list could easily be one thousand items long, and growing. I can’t wait to add to it as we meet you and grow with you in this life together.

Love,
mom

PS – Well done on the under the rib kicks lately, girl. You are getting so strong!

Here’s my vote for some of my favorite little girl swimsuits for Summer 2013.

1. Roberto Cavalli // 2. Juicy Couture // 3. Guess Kids // 4. Little Marc Jacobs or Zappos // 5. le top  // 6. Roxy

This family was photographed in Elizabeth City, North Carolina (there’s enough charm in that name to sink a ship) and they have some of the most genuine and moment-capturing family photos I’ve ever seen. It just makes you want to jump in on all the hugs and happy family time (and it also makes me want to cut bangs). Enjoy, and may these get your heart excited for the warmth of spring that is well on it’s way.

Photography: Melissa Stallings

It’s the most surreal experience I’ve ever known, waiting for a child to come and truly NOT knowing WHEN she will arrive.

I’m full of wonder.
What will her mouth look like?
Will I cry when I see her?
How long will my labor last?
What will it be like to have her fingers curl around mine?

I feel completely normal right now. Same as I did two weeks ago… or even two months ago for that matter. I go through my day multi-tasking between work, coffee with friends, popping in and out of the house on errands, and the only reminder that I am pregnant is occasionally getting stuck when I have to squeeze past someone and realize that turning sideways is actually WIDER than just walking straight through. [Note to self: If the shoulders and hips can’t fit through, turning sideways ain’t gonna make it better.] So really, other than the total lack of spatial perception when it comes to my belly, I feel the same.

But soon, I won’t just walk out the front door with my purse and keys. It will be a little mini circus, starring one new mama, arms full of baby, baby bag, possibly baby carrier and who knows what else in a grand procession to the car to load, fasten and secure all previously juggled items for something as basic as a trip to the store.

Yep, it’s ALL about to change and I can sense it.

I have this funny habit… any time I get a new bottle of shampoo, lotion or anything else that takes a long time to get through… I always wonder: what will my life be like when I finish this bottle?
What will happen in the duration of time between peeling off the plastic protection cover and the final upside-down-tap to squeeze out the last few drops?

I opened a new bottle of shampoo a few days ago.
It occurred to me that THIS bottle of shampoo will be in use when our baby girl is born. I will squeeze this bottle over and over again during the early months of sleep deprivation and figuring out all sorts of things about motherhood. This bottle will be with me through the most major transition I’ve ever known.

My due date is just 12 days away.
My little belly button has now inverted itself into what I call ‘the done button.’
She could be here any moment.

In the meantime, I continue checking little things off the list:
Prewash her newborn clothes, check.
Wash & ready her diapers, check.
Get a new washer because the other one JUST died for no reason… awesome. Check.
Install the car seat, check.
Pick out her outfit to wear home, half-check [still mulling this one over].