to my little girl...

My Little Miss,

As we sit here in the light of the Christmas tree together in the stillness of the fading afternoon, my heart is totally overflowing...as I gaze down on your peaceful little face I can't help but feel such overwhelming gratefulness that your daddy and I have been entrusted with your life.  You have no idea how much we love you, how you melt my heart each and every day with that bright smile in your eyes and your toothless little grin that is so incredibly contagious.  Just a short time ago we held you for the first time, and today my arms ache to hold you if they've been empty for more than just a few hours...

At this point in your journey you have no issues with sleeping when we put you in your bed at night, but you aren't so interested in staying asleep during the day when try to put you down. You will however stay sound asleep if you are being held.  I determined early on that I was going to treasure every moment I could with you, that I wouldn't wish away today for the days when you were older and could do this or that, but to seize every moment I could, and today is another reminder to do just that.  Yes, there is laundry to be done, carpets to be vacuumed and other housework that could be done, but those things will always be there...you won't always lay in my arms this way, I know there will come a time when you will be quite content to do this sleep thing on your own...and so for today I choose to forget everything else that could be done.  I choose to sit here in the stillness and hold you close...I choose to kiss your chubby cheeks and stroke your little fingers while trying to memorize every detail of your beautiful face.

I know time goes by way too fast and someday, much sooner than I will want, you won't be quite this little, and so for today this our moment is just you and me...

The Hook Family Smiles...

I love getting Andrea's call in the fall asking if I will take their family photos!  I've had the privilege of capturing their smiles and their boys' personalities for four years now and I think I have more fun with them each and every year :)  I took a peek back through some of our shots from past years and had to smile at how their boys have grown into quite the young men...and Brent and Andrea just keep looking better and better!  Here's a peek into our photos from this year...

ready to welcome her home...

When we found out we were expecting, there was little question for either of us as to whether we wanted to know if we would be welcoming a little miss or mister - we wanted to know! One of my major reasons for wanting to know was that I really wanted to create a gender specific nursery, a space that would be created just for her. I remember growing up how much my room meant to me... It was the one place that was mine, my haven and quiet place. Now I know that our little miss isn't going to notice the fabrics in her duvet cover or the fabulous shelf her Daddy built just for her when she comes home, but nonetheless it was important to us that right from the beginning, this space was created with heaps of love just for her... And I'm so happy with what we have created together. I love the fact that this room is not just my creation but the creative product of both Justin and myself. We have both spent hours looking at furniture and fabric and actually putting all the pieces together...and we couldnt be happier with the results!

We welcome you to our little miss's nursery...

We fell in love with this wall art the moment we put it up...I think it gets cuter every time I look at it :)
One of our goals was to create a space that she could grow into, I think with these fabrics we succeeded.
I love how the crib skirt and duvet cover turned out...exactly how I had them pictured!

The mobile actually came with a red cover but red didn't exactly fit with our color scheme,
so a quick switch to a bit of left over pink fabric and it was perfect!
The rocking horse actually belonged to Justin's mom when she was a child and fits in just nicely :)

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of my mom rocking me and so nursery would not have been complete without a rocking chair...I'm sure there will be many hours spent loving our little monkey in this chair...
We knew we wanted a shelf in her room and Justin created this perfect display shelf out of old barn wood
and it couldn't be more perfect...

We knew these monkey bookends would be a perfect accent on her shelf the moment we saw them!
And of course a few Curious George books and childhood classics were perfect to display with them :)
I loved the idea of curtains in her room, but wanted something custom...
so a pair of IKEA curtains with a bit of co-ordinating fabric added to them fit the bill perfectly

a little rounder...

Someone asked me the other day if I still had a blog...I answered yes but had to admit that it has been FAR too long since I had posted anything. Today I was thinking about it again and figured in light of the pending major life change that we are anxiously awaiting, that today was a good a day as any to start hammering away at the keyboard :) Life has changed a little since the last time I posted here a little over 6 months ago...or should I say I've changed a little lol!

I'm a little rounder out front, am moving at less than my usual brisk pace and have pretty much lost all ability to bend at the waist :) Back in November we found out that we were expecting and we couldn't have been more excited! We spent the next several weeks planning how we would spring the news on each of our families and sharing the news was a whole heap of fun :)

We have been very blessed with a relatively easy pregnancy and I've been very healthy for the most part (with the exception of the first trimester lol... That was kinda rough, but so much easier after that!) and now here we are literally days away from our little monkey's arrival... I officially finished work yesterday and now it's just nesting and a waiting game. We are definitely more than anxious to meet our little miss and be able to hold her in our arms...the next several days feel like they can't pass fast enough:)

A few shots of the growing basketball lol!

Week 13, 20 and 28

Week 26, 34 and my hubby and I at week 36

Me today at 38.5 weeks :)