First family vacay

And we're back... probably against our will.

For about the last week, the Venemas have been on our a mini-vacation in the Outer Banks.  Close friends of ours got married down there over the weekend as we decided to take advantage of the opportunity.  

I packed our bags and hit the road! Who would have EVER thought we would need so much stuff?! This will certainly be good practice for next Summer too!

Travel bed? Check! 

Clothes? Check!

Diapers? Check!

Formula? Check!

Bouncy seat? Check!

Wubba? Check!

Boppy? Check!

Baby? Check!! 

We stayed in a bangin' house with some great friends, including the bride and groom!  We were a little hesitant to stay in the "the house"  because we didn't want to damper the party, but who are we kidding?  Even sober with a baby in tow, the Venemas are a good time! Lainey had a great time hanging out with all of her new "uncles" and we enjoyed being with our friends, relaxing, and having a great time.  A lot of the time, it was rainy, but that's okay - the sun made some appearances too!

You didn't think I would leave you without photos, did you?!

I will admit though, we are terrible at the family photos... so you'll have to wait with your fingers crossed that the ONE family photo the photographer took at the wedding comes back to us! 

the Walkers

So happy to be an OBX baby

Sometimes we got dressed

Incredible sunsets on the Sound

 the one missing the beach,
Linda

A love song

This morning on my way into work, I heard a love song on the radio.  Now, I will admit...I sometimes wish I was sappier, a little more romantic if you will. I have my moments, sure, but all in all, 

we are a sap-free home.  

Unless it's about Lainey - then sappy tends to ooze out of my pores 

because I can't think about that little girl and not smile.

Now... this morning was not an unusual drive to work - 

no traffic

no crazy drivers

no rain.

Just a regular drive into the city.

Except for this love song.

I don't even know the name of it.

I barely remember the words.

But

It gave me goosebumps.

I stopped for a second and thought about my life.

Especially the love in my life.

I realized....

If a love song can make me think of my husband

and

give me goosebumps...

Then we must be doing something right.

Oh, how I pray you get to feel this love someday, Lainey.

It's amazing.

love, 
Linda

Newborn photos

Right before I went back to work, Lainey and I had the opportunity to work with my friend, Blair, from Mott Photography to do some newborn photos!

I can not tell you how much we enjoyed this photo shoot! Little Miss Hadley, Blair's daughter, even came to the shoot and kept me company while Blair was taking pictures.  Having Hadley there really made me excited for when Lainey gets big enough to interact and play. I certainly don't want to wish away these moments of Lainey right now, but a Momma can certainly look forward to what is coming our way!!

The few days leading up to the photo shoot, I pinned my little heart out on pinterest looking for some inspirations for the shoot and then tore my house up looking for all of the perfect props! Then, of course, I had to frantically put everything back together so my house was clean enough for company!

 Here are some of the photos from the shoot...

Having Blair at the house also made me miss the time I used to spend behind my camera; I used to say, "I only really see the world through my camera lens."  But in the last couple of years, work, school, wife life, advising alpha gam, and volunteering have consumed my life, all in good ways. And now as a new mommy, it's hard to believe there are enough hours in a day to add anything else, but since I am taking some time off from school and am putting lots of things in to perspective, I think I want, no... NEED... to find some time for myself to be creative again.   All of that being said, I am making a personal resolution to find some time to be more creative. So don't be surprised if you see a little more creative work showing up on here.

xoxo, 

Linda

Lights on in the nursery

Thank you Baby J!! We have electricity again! Now we can stop cooking everything on the grill and ordering take out! Momma's wallet couldn't take it much longer!  And probably Lainey's most happy thought of getting the power back on is that we can start hanging out with NeeNee again!  As some of you may know, I work for a local utility company, and so does my momma!  Well in the wake of the hurricane that stole our electricity, we lost our NeeNee to storm restoration and crazy around-the-clock work hours!! 

We still don't have cable, which means no TV or internet, but at least we can watch movies on a screen bigger than the laptop.


But enough about that... today is the day! The day that you have all been waiting for... a peak into Lainey's nursery!! Yes, yes, I know... this post is a little dated since oh, you know, we've been home for almost 2 months now! But whatevs - we do things on our own schedule, obviously!  I thought about using Instagram to make the photos looks super cool, but then I quickly realized, that wouldn't let ya'll see what the room actually looks like!  I do apologize, the photos are a little grainy, because I took them on my phone.  Maybe someday I will take "real" photos and share those... but for now, you take whatcha can get!

Where Lainey dreams

Where Lainey gets all pretty

Where Lainey snuggles and reads with Mommy