Motherhood...

Motherhood is a sweet adventure. I had no idea what was ahead of me when I was first pregnant with our Jude. I didn't know how incredible, wonderful and crazy it would all will be. You just can't fathom the amount of love you'll have for your child, or know how sweet those unforgettable moments of rocking your little one will be; smelling that perfect baby breath as they sleep on your chest. Ahhhh, bliss! You also can be blindsided when you encounter those days when you are sleep deprived, covered in spit up, your kitchen floors look like they haven't been mopped in a year, and it sounds impossible to face the grocery store, or any event outside of your house before noon. :) Haha! We've all been there, haven't we?! And I'm so glad to have other mothers in my life to enjoy this sweet journey with! Because we can laugh about the crazy days, but also relish in the sweetness of it all, together!

Mauria's friendship is such a blessing to me. She's expecting her 4th beautiful baby, 1 month from today, and I couldn't be more excited for her! She's always so cool and calm, taking everything-kid in stride. She's a pro. She and Craig decided not to find out the baby's gender so that it would be a true surprise for them on delivery day! (I will probably be living by my cell phone that day, waiting to hear if I was right in guessing that she's going to have a girl! We'll see! ;) )

Mauria, you look gorgeous, and motherhood always looks good on you. Love you, friend!
xo,
Bethany

Marisa Maternity Shoot

Marisa looks fabulous! I had such a fun time getting to capture her, and her beautiful baby bump this past weekend! I'm so excited for her and Drew to be welcoming their 3rd baby soon.







This was such a cute moment. I was photographing an upclose photo of Sydney's sweet face lying on mommy's tummy when the baby moved! This was Sydney's reaction...

Soon to be a family of 5!






I love this sweet shot...



Marisa, you're gorgeous!
Congrats you two!

Thank you Jamie!!

I know, I haven't blogged forever! I can give an update on that later! :) But for now I'm so happy to get to share some maternity photos that my sweet and talented friend Jamie from Eugene, JAZ Photography, took of me.

Thank you so much for this priceless gift Jamie, capturing this precious season of life for me, Josh, Jude, Selah, & baby boy! You are amazing and made this whole experience SO much fun!!

So, when Jamie first offered to do maternity photos for me I was really excited! I don't think I've had professional photos done by another photographer since I got married 8 1/2 years ago. I couldn't get over how sweet and generous of an offer it was! As the date of our shoot got closer I began to get really nervous. I began having thoughts like, "How will I do on the OTHER side of the camera? What if I hate every one of my silly facial expressions or something? Or what if I look ridiculous trying to "act natural"? Well, I put those fears to the back of my mind as I was finishing up my shooting season before taking time off for "baby rest", and one evening Josh took a picture of me and Selah at the park. I was thinking I was looking all cute and pregnant that particular day and when I saw the photo of myself after we got home I gasped. I looked TIRED. Not like, "Oh, 8 hrs. will take care of that." More like, "a pregnant mom of two toddlers who works late into the wee hours every night" tired. :) So at that moment I decided I was going to email Kim King and ask her if she'd do my make up for my maternity shoot. I knew her through Facebook because she does professional make up for a ton of weddings and hs seniors, etc. She was awesome. So nice! She made me look like I'd gotten a good night's sleep so that I wouldn't have to fear the camera. :)

We did this photo shoot down in the Corvallis area at my mom's place. My mom has 17 acres of rural property and I thought it would make a really neat setting for natural maternity pics. Jamie took a few family photos of us first and then Josh, Jamie and I trecked around shooting pics until the sun went down. The three of us had a blast together and laughed practically the whole time. Jamie made us feel SO at ease and took all my worries away. I cannot say enough nice things about her! If you ever get the chance to meet her or hire her for photos, you will love just being around her. To view Jamie's blog and two posts of our shoot, click here.

Josh, Jude, Selah and I are SO excited to meet this little man come New Year's. His nursery is coming together and he is so very loved already!

Thank you again Jamie for blessing us with your talents. Hugs to you friend! :)

Little Everly...

My friend Mauria and her husband Craig will soon welcome their third baby to the world, little Everly. She will be greeted by two big brothers who already love her.

I am so excited to meet that sweet baby girl! If she doesn't come in the next couple weeks then she'll be born on my birthday!

I snapped a couple photos of Mauria last night at her house. She looks fabulous for being less than a month from her due date! Mauria, you are beautiful!!

For those of you into photography, we took these at 7pm last night and it was dark and rainy outside. (It's typically still light out at that time, but not last night... it's was icky out! But it was no probelm) :) So we opened the blinds on a window at the front of her house and I had Mauria face the window so we'd get the most light on her face. I snapped just a few. My ISO was up as high as 1200, and I shot at f/2.2, 1/80 second. I just held my camera extra still since I had a slower shutter speed. Shot with my Canon 5D Mark II and my 50mm f/1.2L lens. No fill flash.

God's perfect timing...

I cannot wait to share Ana & Sam's beautiful story with you, but I'm up too late, so for now I'll just share a few of Ana's maternity photos we took this weekend because I didn't want to wait to post them. :)
Isn't she gorgeous?!

Ana's heart is so beautiful. I've only known her for a couple weeks and I feel like she's an instant friend. God's timing is perfect, and it brings me so much joy to see the great things He's doing, and has done, in her life. More to come soon...

Sweet Baby Lydia

Remember this beautiful family?

Well, look who is here! Meet their precious baby girl, Lydia.

Big Sister... almost

Sydney is such a beautiful child; I always think she has a face that could be in a storybook.

And she's going to be a big sister end of January! Whether she'll have a little brother or sister will be a surprise!! How fun!
Doesn't Marisa looks fabulous?!





And a fun little flashback...