Family Photos

Introducing, our first ever professional family portrait! Yep, Ryan and I haven't had professional photos taken since our wedding 7 1/2 years ago. Each year we think, "Hmm, should we do that?" and then never get around to it. So here it is. The iconic "We have 2 young kids" photo that will probably be displayed in our home for the rest of our life. I'm sure one day we will look back and giggle at how young we all look. We got to take photos together with the rest of the Bradley crew back in November and I love how they turned out! 

How did my baby girl grow up into this beautiful kid? 

 His eyes. Oh goodness.

Such a little man pose.

All of our Bradley family:

Amanda, Brian, Mallory, Papa, Nana, Greg, Melody, Kayden, Kiersi, Ryan, Kate, Jensen and Eva.

How Prayer Changes Us

Recently I started participating in a year long documentary our church is filming about the way prayer changes us. As I have been processing through my experience with Jensen's birth and time in the NICU I keep going back to each moment and reflecting on how prayer changed that moment. As soon as Ryan and I learned that I would be delivering Jensen 4 weeks early, we began texting friends and family and posting on social media. Within minutes we received tons of encouraging messages and the prayers kept coming all afternoon. Before our little guy had even made his big entrance, he had been prayed for by over 100 people! How amazing is that? As we prepared for surgery, prayer changed my heart by reminding me of God's sovereignty. God created Jensen. God knew that this was the day Jensen would be born. I was nervous, but the power of those praying friends and family encouraged me to trust in God's plan for that day. Then it was time for me to head into the operating room. I'll be honest...between the unknown of how healthy Jensen would be, the intimidating operating room, and the idea of being cut open, I felt like I was about to freak out. Then something inside of me thought to just start praying and praising. I started humming and quietly singing Bless The Lord, Oh My Soul to myself over and over and over again. I don't know if anyone else in that room heard me, but I know that Jesus did. Shifting my focus from fear to praise helped keep me calm until I finally heard Jensen's first cries and knew that I had done it! 

As I transitioned from delivery to recovery and we learned that Jensen would need some real time in the NICU, prayer continued to give me strength. The hardest parts was the nights. Nobody sleeps well in the hospital, but it is especially hard when you are in physical pain and separated from your tiny baby. It wasn't just his healthy problems that made it hard, it was not being able to hold or even touch him in those early days. I'm the kind of mama that gives my children a thousand hugs and kisses each day, so to not be able to hug and kiss Jensen early on was heart wrenching. That first night I woke up in the night crying. Ryan and I turned on some worship music on my iPhone and I spent those middle of the night hours quietly praying and singing along with the music, sometimes aloud, and sometimes just in my thoughts as I tried to sleep. Prayer changed me in those nights by reminding me that God was my strength and my comfort. Singing worship songs to get through the night helped me to focus on the fact that God is good. Always. That God loves me and my son. Always. The circumstance was not what I wanted it to be. The physical pain was real. But the presence of God was equally real. 

During the days that we were in the hospital, and the days when we were at home and having to go back and forth to the hospital twice a day, I was blessed to have a few close friends who would call and text me to check on me and encourage me. I love these real, genuine friends who I knew were sincerely praying for me and Jensen. I appreciated so much that it was okay for me to not "be okay" with these friends. One of my sweetest memories is sitting and crying and praying with one of my best friends who came up to the hospital to hang out and talk with me. Having close friends who love the Lord and can remind you to keep trusting and hoping is one of the best things you can have on your side during a tough time. 

I know it would be easy for somebody to read this and ask, "Yeah, but did prayer really change your circumstance?" And my answer would be a giant YES. Yes, Jensen was born with premature lung disease and yes that was hard and not what I would have chosen. Prayer gave us hope and encouragement. Prayer reminded us of who God was over and over again. Prayer connected us to the friends and family who helped us so much during that draining week - by bringing us meals, by helping with Eva, by being willing to listen when we needed it.

And the biggest, best moment of all - when we got the call to tell us that Jensen would be coming home EARLY! On the Monday I left the hospital the head NICU pediatrician had said to be prepared for Jensen to spend another week to two weeks in hospital care. I believe God healed our little boy and made him strong - and we got to bring him home only 4 days later! Ryan, Eva, and I were all in the car when we got the phone call and as soon as we told Eva she said, "Thank you God for making my baby brother get better." That's right, sweet girl, God is an amazing healer!

Nursery Reveal

I am so excited to share these photos of our little guy's new nursery!!! The term "nursery" almost seems silly to me because I really planned and designed this room to grow with Jensen. Maybe not until he's 18, but hopefully through his childhood years. I used these rooms as inspiration {Pinterest 1, Pinterest 2} and then made it my own creation based on what we already had, our budget, and my own artistic skills. My first priority was color scheme {red, navy, bright yellow} and then I mixed in various little boy themes {airplanes, vintage, sports, cars, etc.}.

This is the view when you open the door to Jensen's room. The crib and changing table were both used with Eva. I sewed the drapes myself! I was pretty proud of how the turned out for it being my first attempt. I orginally really wanted navy striped drapes but I'm actually glad I went with yellow to contrast the rug. Also we will have black out curtains behind them, but I took them down to let the natural light in the room for theses photos.

PS Part of the fun of this post was using the new Cannon EF 50mm 1:1.8 lens that I got for my birthday. I feel like I am no where close to being a good enough photographer to be worthy of this awesome lens, but you have to start somewhere. So if you see a photo that looks especially cool, I probably switched to this lens.

The bunting banner above his crib was one of the few things I actually ordered from Etsy instead of sewing myself. I wanted a mixture of patterns and by the time I figured in the cost to buy strips of different materials plus the time it would take to make this, and questioning my ability to cut a perfect triangle and then sew it evenly, I decided it was way cheaper and easier to order it. Even the husband agreed on this one.

For crib sheets we went with geometric patterns from Amazon. We also have a fun navy print but this is what is waiting for Jensen first. 

I love this rug. I debated about getting a rug for a while....I wanted it to be the right size and some rugs are sooooo pricey. Then I found this one on Amazon and decided to put it on my registry. I am so glad I did! It really pulls the room together and makes the room actually seem bigger. 

This is our changing area. Nothing too fancy. The shelves above were left in our home when we purchased it so I chalk painted them red. The picture board on the right was from my room growing up. We actually have a bigger one in our guest bathroom that matches that we use to hold all of Eva's bows. 

I found this great changing pad cover at Kohls. The ones we had for Eva were pink and green so Jensen needed one that was more manly. 

I found this laundry basket at Target. I like how it mixes the navy stripe with the khaki and I thought it looked good to contrast the yellow vertical stripes on the curtains. 

How cute is this train? My mom picked this up in Kansas City and I think it is perfect. 

Okay, so I honestly do not love bracket shelves. This also came with our house and I had originally planned to take this down. Then I thought about how I would be leaving holes in the wall that would need to be fixed. And I do like that it has additional shelves that we can put up if we need more spaces for things like toys or books. So I kept it.

These model airplanes were put together by my late grandfather. I really like the idea of mixing in a few heirloom pieces to give the room a bit of vintage feel.

I already shared this silhouette photo of myself on Instagram and Facebook but I wanted to show it  one more time. Guess what? My husband took this photo of me using my iPhone 5s. I found a blog that gave tips for how to do this on your own, versus with a paid photographer, and it worked really well! I downloaded 2 camera apps to get the look I wanted and it was so easy. I took it exactly one month before Jensen's due date so that I could remember how pregnant I was right at that moment. I'm sure one day we will relocate this to somewhere else in our home but for now it is perfect for the nursery.

My old baseball glove. I know, I am not athletic, so I'm not sure why I had this little glove, but my grandparents saved it for almost 30 years before giving it to me. It even has "Katie" and "1987" written on it so I guess I got it when I was about 4 years old.

This book makes me laugh. Ryan's brother Greg gave Jensen The Dangerous Book for Boys for Christmas so I figured it needed to be displayed somewhere until he is old enough to enjoy it. 

The final corner includes my dad's old dresser that I chalk painted and our gallery wall.

For the top of the dresser I found an inexpensive lamp from Target and a vintage looking clock from Amazon. I may have spent way too much time a little bit of time searching for just the right clock. I know it's just a small alarm clock but I wanted the look to be just right and I wanted an auxiliary connection for my phone or iPod. Then I finished off the dresser with a bomber plane model that my was part of my grandfather's collection. It even has a tiny man glued to the back left that looks like he is about to jump out! How cool is that? I might still find a way to suspend this from the ceiling near the window but I haven't decided so for now it has landed on the dresses.

For the gallery wall I mixed some old frames that I chalk painted in red with a few new brown frames. I used a wooden classic sports picture and printed off a few free prints from Pinterest. Then I painted a big yellow sign! Okay, I saw this a while back on Etsy but for the size of the products I could find I felt they were way too expensive. Then I remembered that I had some extra wood and yellow paint in our garage. I wish I could have artistically painted on the lettters but I cheated and used a sharpie. Regardless, I like it. It's not perfect but it's for a little boy's room and little boy's aren't perfect, so it works right? 

My wonderful husband managed to fix the broken springs inside our glider so I am happy to use the same one I used with Eva. Instead of a nightstand I got a faux leather storage cube that my mom had and wasn't using anymore. I actually like this idea because it is easy to store extra blankets or bibs inside so that everything is right there when I'm nursing.

My final piece of art! I made this all by myself. I took an old canvas that a friend was throwing away and painted over it to make it my own. When I first showed Ryan my idea sketched on paper he lovingly said, "It looks like something a kid would draw." Then I reminded him that Jensen would be a kid so I was completely okay with it looking like a simple drawing. I think he caught on to my vision :) So yes, it is simplistic, but I really like it. And I painted it myself so that means it was made with love, which is absolutely the best kind of artwork.

There you go. My months of dreaming and planning and collecting all summed up. I'm only 5% sad when I walk into Hobby Lobby and see all the pink and gold things I would have used for a little girl's nursery. Just kidding....maybe 3%. I am happy with the way things came together to create a special room for our little guy.

Maternity Photo Shoot

The day after Thanksgiving we set up with my friend Erica to take a few maternity photos. Erica is not a professional photographer - just a friend with a great camera - yet I was SO IMPRESSED and OVERJOYED with how these photos came out. Thanks Erica for capturing this sweet time for our family! I know how even now it is special for me to look back at my maternity photos with Eva and explain to her how God was creating her inside of me. I want my children to know how happy I was to be pregnant with them even when it was hard. It's also such a unique time to be able to embrace that your body is changing...and expanding...because it is growing a human in there! I love that our culture now thinks it is beautiful show off the pregnant belly because it really is so amazing!

 {Not a maternity photo...but soooo cute, could you blame me for including this one?}

Step Out From Behind the Lens

Have you ever found yourself not wanting to be in a photo? As a mom it's much easier to take a million of the precious child in front of you and opt not to be in them. But then I come across photos like this one of my grandparents holding me on my first Easter. They look so beauitful and joyful! Maybe not picture perfect in a model sort of way, but perfect in a capturing the moment way. I can hear my Grammy's laugh when I look at this photo.

It's photos like this that are a reminder that it's important to step our from behind the lens. That a lack of shower or makeup, an extra few pounds, or a face that is aging shouldn't stop anyone from being in a photo, at least some of the time. Just like I want to remember each stage and season of Eva's life, I was her to be able to see that I was there too. I want her to see what her grandparents and great-grandparents looked like at her Easter's when she was little. I want her to see the laughter on her grandmother's beautiful faces. So the next time somebody wants you to be in the photo remember that it's about so much more than your perception of how you look in the moment. A few awesome examples:

Me, right before I was wheeled into the ER for my c-section with Eva. No make up. Hours of labor. Crazy tangled hair. But I remember that excitement of knowing my baby was about to be here and that's what I see in this photo.

Eva and Mallory with their great-grandmother, Mamaw on their first Thanksgiving. Can't you just feel how tightly and lovingly she was holding those sweet little girls? I bet her heart was so happy in that moment!

Eva and my Dad. My Dad may be a bit camera shy but you can see that they are both laughing and enjoying each other in this moment! I can flash back to seeing them wrestling and giggling on our playroom floor.

Take more photos :)

What a {LOVE}ly week

 

As we wrap up this week of love I wanted to share a few photos, starting with the ones above which are the "Behind the Scenes," of our Valentine's Day photo shoot. Behind every sweet photo of a child, like the one I posted yesterday, is the hard work of a mama (or professional) who is trying to get that child to look cute. When I took the photo for the Valentine's card we sent Eva's grandparents I snuck outside while Ryan kept her entertained. I find that it's best to have everything ready to go before trying to take a photo. We got her to ignore the bright sun and smile big, and then I rewarded her with some sidewalk chalk fun! In the photo above on the left, she is actually running away and hiding from me behind a wall, and her face ended completely covered in pink and purple chalk.

 

Earlier this week Eva did some finger painting with purple, pink, and red paints. This was my first time to open the Crayola finger paints that we have and I liked how they painted and dried, but they have a funny odor. Has anyone else noticed that? I'm just thankful that they are washable because when we do finger painting the paint ends up all over the place.

 

On Valentine's Day we had a few friends over to decorate cookies. Eva's friend Ellie helped her put gobs of frosting and sprinkles on the cookies. The more sugar the better, right? I was hoping Eva would use her hand to spread the pink icing on the cookies, but after dipping her hand in it she put all that icing right into her mouth (we set aside her cookies just for her). I don't give Eva sugar very much but it's fun to bend the rule on holidays :) While the girls played I got to hold baby Reese for a minute. I love this little guy so much! And then we took some cookies down to the people at the office (share the love, share the calories).

 

After a much needed nap time Eva and I went to the park to burn off some of those cookies we ate. She decided to try going down the slide on her tummy and had a blast. Also while we were there another little girl and boy were playing with her. The four year old boy went up and gave her a hug and said, "You're so cute. I love you." And so it begins....

 

Finally Ryan came home just in time for dinner. I surprised him by picking up pizza from Italian Bistro, his favorite pizza place. I called ahead a few hours early and asked them to place the pepperoni's in a heart shape. They laughed but it turned out great! And last, our family Valentine's: Ryan got me the movie The Blindside, Eva made Ryan a card at the library this week, Eva ended up getting 3 new animals for her Little People Zoo; and I surprised Ryan with these cards and notes of encouragement. Check out my friend Rebekah's blog for the Free Printable of these fun cards. I used all 8 and hid them places for Ryan to find throughout the day, including while he was at a conference.