GRAY'S NEWBORN SHOOT

Like I mentioned in the post on Gray's birth announcement, we had the wonderful Johanna Cosby capture Gray as a newborn when he was 10 days old. Again, he was not too stoked about being arranged and posed while he was trying to get his beauty rest, but the picture's still turned out beautiful. After looking through some of Johanna's past work and seeing her gorgeous, airy family portraits, I decided I wanted to take the majority outside of our new family of three. I'm so glad I decided to do so since Gray didn't love the posing! I'm a huge fan of candid photography so these are right up my alley! I'm in the process of framing some of these for Melrose. 

Here are just some of my favorites -- 

WEDDING SUITE: kristen and aaron

I recently designed a wedding suite for some sweet friends, Kristen and Aaron, that got married over the summer at Lake Martin, Alabama. The bride sent over the pictures from her photographer, Leslie Hollingsworth, and I wanted to share these beauties. We used a classic photograph of their ceremony venue, Church in the Pines, as the focal point on several of the pieces. Paired with pretty turquoise envelopes and a fun script - it was the perfect combination for a lovely, lake wedding! 

If you are interested in custom design work, please contact me!

GRAY'S BIRTH STORY

This post took me a while to write and organize but I wanted to make sure I didn't leave out any details or pictures, so that I could really capture what the day was like. My original due date was Friday, June 7th and I really wanted to see if my body would go into labor on its own so I didn't have an induction scheduled until the following Monday, June 10th. I was blessed to have a pretty easy and enjoyable pregnancy so I didn't mind going the few extra days if needed. Friday night with the hubs was extremely laid back and if I would have known that would be our last night as a family of two, I would have chosen something fun to do - but instead, we spent the night on the sofa eating a frozen lasagna I had made and watching a Law & Order: SVU marathon. All in all, it was a perfect last night!

I started having contractions that week and by Friday night around 10 p.m. they were getting closer together and more intense. I still thought I would make it to the induction on Monday so the hubs and I were planning a lovely steak dinner for Sunday night to enjoy our last night of "freedom". Instead, I woke up around 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning with stronger contractions and started timing them at about 7 and 8 minutes apart. I knew I had a little more time to labor at home, but I woke up Brandon and gave him the warning. He proceeded to put on my eye mask and said wake me when it's time - haha! At 4:30 a.m. I made the decision to get up and get ready because they were about six minutes apart at this time. Brandon called the hospital at about 5 a.m. and they said pack a bag and come on in, it's time to have a baby! Here some pictures that help capture the day!

My last two "selfies" before heading to the hospital:

 Making coffee and double checking my hospital check list:

 5:31 a.m. - headed to the hospital!

 We felt like tourists taking these pics, but the weather was so foggy and overcast that I wanted to remember it!

Enjoying ice chips while in the "holding room" before I was admitted to the hospital and given a room. 

Officially in room 333 ready to start the delivery process!

All ready for Baby Grayson's arrival! 

Brandon sitting in the doctor's chair massaging my feet to prevent numbness from the epidural. I wanted to be able to at least wiggle my toes! 

We had the idea to take a picture of the wall clock after every "experience" to help us remember the day. So here's how the day went:

Welcome to the world Baby Grayson! 

His first bath!

After two days in the hospital, we were ready to head home and love on our new bundle of joy.

Welcome home to Melrose, Gray!