21 weeks

Wow, what a weekend! It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks and this weekend was no different. This will be a very quick post because I have so many pictures to edit and so many clients who are being so patient with me. My BFF Christy flew out from Nashville to co-shoot a wedding with me and it was amazing. See my photography blog for a preview of those images. More on that experience later.

Since Christy was here, we convinced her to take a few pictures of our family after church one morning. I wish she lived closer to us so she could take pictures of us all the time! The pictures you're seeing here are a few of the ones she got for us this weekend.

We let Emma bring Dubdee Bear into some of our pictures. That bear is a big part of our family right now. He pretty much goes everywhere with us. Besides, "Momma-Dadda-Momma-Dadda-Momma-Dadda-Momma-Dadda," and the words cheese, juice or shoes, the words out of our daughters' mouth most often are, "Uh-oh, Dubdee! Dubdee!" Emma loves him. Truly loves him.

And if you're wondering where the name Dubdee came from ... for months now, when we have asked Emma to say thank you, the way it comes out of her mouth is "Dubdee" or "Dubb-ee." When my mom and I did a quick Build-A-Bear experience with Emma this summer and we were asked to complete his birth certificate (so cute), we needed a name for him. I decided to use the unique word Emma made up to mean "thank you" as his name to help us always remember how she first expressed her gratitude. So, that's Dubdee Bear.

There's me and the boy at 21 weeks! Feeling pretty good right now except the round ligament pain is driving me CRAZY! Last night I stood up from where I was sitting on the carpet and immediately doubled way over in pain. Christy, who was still here visiting and witnessed the moment, almost laughed at me not because it was funny but because she said she totally remembered the feeling and how frustrating it was. Ugh. It was really bad this weekend when I was shooting the wedding. I know this part only lasts for a short amount of time while I'm stretching to make more room for our growing boy, but still. It's debilitating sometimes! It's much worse this time around than what I remember from my pregnancy with Emma. I still think that's because I'm carrying lower with this little man than I did with Emma.

Still no progress on settling on a name for our little man. And no more progress on the nursery yet either, though Babies R Us did call me to let me know that the crib and dresser we liked were both now available for ordering whenever we wanted to place the order. I've GOT to get his nursery cleaned out so we have room to put his furniture in it! Maybe I will be brave and post a before picture of the cluttered, crazy mess his room is right now. Scary!

These two (above and below) are some of my favorites.

"Where's the baby, Emma?"

Two of my best friends, Sara and Christy. Aren't they adorable? I got some really cute pictures of the two of them. I only wish we would have gotten some of the three of us all together. I didn't even get any pictures of just Christy and me, either! What was I thinking?

The Guilfoyles' hosted an awesome Sunday afternoon dinner of homemade baked potato soup, yummy bread and warm apple cider. With Christy in town, we got a bunch of us old high school buddies together for an afternoon of reminiscing and it was so fun. It's so cool to get together with friends you've known for many, many years. The inside jokes and the recalled memories just flowed the entire afternoon. Thanks to all the spouses who endured our reminiscing and listened to us laugh about old times all day.

Having Christy here was just so wonderful and I was actually pained to take her to the airport this morning so she could return to her family in Nashville. Like, I felt physically ill when I was driving away from the airport after dropping her off. I can't stand not getting to see my friends more often. My two best friends from high school/middle school live far away (Christy in Nashville and Amanda in Spokane, which isn't THAT far away but far enough that I don't see her more than a small handful times a year!) and I hate that! My other bfry (Sara) lives 20 minutes away and we go to the same church -- I'm so glad for that. :)

I want to share more about Christy's and my experience shooting our first wedding (which was just unforgettable in so many ways), but overall ... I am so blessed to have such great friends and family. We've been so busy the past two months but it's been because of lots wonderful events we've attended and I'm so grateful to have experienced them all. This is my favorite time of year and I know we've got lots more memories to make in the coming months!

Also, stay tuned because we got our dining room furniture this weekend too! I'm thrilled and cannot wait to go get more fall decorations to pretty-up the table and our new buffet/hutch. And to have family dinners around that table, of course!