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I have been loving all the maternity sessions I've been blessed to be a part of lately! A woman carrying a baby is one of the most beautiful things to me. A couple weeks ago, my friends Caitlin and Darryl asked me to document this special time in their lives. I have to be honest, I was a little nervous driving to the location in the POURING rain. This photography thing is quite reliant on the weather. Thankfully, it cleared up right away! We walked around downtown and a small park in The Villages at Sumter Landing. Both of these were new locations for me, so it was fun to explore! Caitlin is just the most radiant mother-to-be. She was so willing to do just about anything, including hopping over a fence, to get the shot! Her and Darryl have such laid back, fun personalities - my job was easy. I am so looking forward to them becoming parents to this sweet baby girl in a few weeks. There is no doubt in my mind that she is going to be quite the beauty!

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If you live in the Central Florida area and would like to have me as your photographer, please visit my photography page for more details and pricing!

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Past updates: 1 month | 2 months

// Sadly, I missed Hannah's 3 month update due to moving/vacation/etc. but I'm here to share what's been going on with our baby girl this month!

Weight/Height

We went to her 4 month wellness checkup last week and she is a healthy 14lb 13oz (75%) and 25in long (90%!!) If she keeps up this rate, her and Micah are definitely going to be looking more like twins! I have a feeling she'll start to slow down the growth as she gets more and more mobile.

Sleep

We finally moved her into her own room this month! I waited about a month longer than we did with Micah, but that was due to us moving into a new home. I didn't want to get her adjusted to a new room, only to move in the next couple weeks. So she's been officially sleeping in her crib for about two weeks. Her sleeping schedule has been so much better since making the transition. We put her down at night around 9pm, then she usually wakes up for a feeding around 3-4am and goes right back to sleep until her brother wakes up around 8am. She naps around 10am for about an hour. Then, she takes a good long nap (at the same time as her brother, praise the Lord!) from 1-4pm. That's when I get all my cleaning/editing/pool time in. Woohoo! (But of course there are days when everything is thrown off schedule and I rip my hair out because I'm so tired and nobody will sleep for me - but thankfully, it doesn't happen often)

Sizes

She is wearing size 3 diapers (insert wide-eyed emoji)! Basically, we just skipped right over 2's. hahaha. She could technically wear 2's, and Micah could technically wear 4's… but since they BOTH can wear 3's, we'd rather just buy one size in diapers and not have to worry about it! She's also in 3-6 month clothes and some 6 month onesies.

Eating

She is eating great! Still nursing exclusively. At our last appointment, the pediatrician mentioned we could start rice cereal anytime. I may wait until she is sitting up by herself though before introducing any solids. If she starts waking up more in the middle of the night, I may start earlier - but since she doesn't seem to be starving, I'm not rushing it. :)

Milestones

She is rolling over from tummy to back! And she's ALMOST rolling over from back to tummy. More like from back to her side. And then she's content chilling out on her side for awhile, haha. I know she'll be rolling everywhere soon enough - so it's completely fine with me that she's not going anywhere yet. She has a great laugh and is still smiling all the time! She's also reaching and grabbing things now. :)

Likes

Pacifier, being held and swaddled, laughing, hanging out in the pool, and just being with people in general. She is a calm and easy-going baby.

Dislikes

Her car seat. Although, I will say she is getting better! She would scream and cry anytime we drove anywhere. And I mean that literally. I googled many things and almost chalked it up to motion sickness and figured we would have to suffer through it until we turned her car seat around, but out of nowhere she just quit crying. Ironically, it happened after a traumatic event in the car one day. We were driving to church and she started screaming (like usual) when we were halfway there. I tried to calm her with music, my voice and reaching my hand back to rock the car seat at stop lights. Nothing helped. When we finally arrived, I ran to open the back door and saw that her headband/hairbow thing had fallen IN HER EYE. It wasn't just covering her eye, but part of the elastic had wiggled it's way into her right eye and it was red and obviously irritated. I felt… horrible. It was like the "boy who cried wolf" scenario. I had stopped so many times before to check on her while she was crying, and there was never anything wrong. So I had gotten used to the fact that she just didn't like her car seat and would cry forever in it. And of course, this time something actually was wrong. She wouldn't open her eyes without crying for the rest of the morning/afternoon - it was so so sad. I was about to take her to the ER after several hours of this, when she finally started keeping them open more and more. And the redness and irritation was gone by the next morning! Praise God it wasn't anything too horrible. Needless to say, we don't wear headbands in the car anymore.

Things I Don’t Want to Forget

The way she stares up at me while nursing, or while I'm rocking her to sleep. Her eyes are so sweet. So full of life and expression. I can't get over the fact that I am blessed to be a mama to this sweet little girl. I'm trying to hold onto my children with "open hands." Knowing they are gifts from the Lord and ultimately they belong to Him. I don't want to ever forget that.

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What do you think? Can you see the resemblance? :)

It's been awhile since I've been moved by a song that isn't a worship song. When I saw the music video to Colbie Caillat's "Try" spreading on Facebook, I watched it and had tears in my eyes. I know so many women, myself included, that feel like they need to "try" so hard to get people to accept/like/love them.

It is so tiring.

I know for me, personally, this song has an even deeper meaning. I know my worth is not found in my outward appearance or actions. I know that I have a Savior who loves me unconditionally. Who accepts me. I don't have to "try" to earn His love.

Ladies, don't just hear the message in this song. Believe it.

I chose to record this video without any makeup on for two reasons: 1) Because, let's face it - with two kids now, putting makeup on is a luxury. ;) 2) More importantly, I wanted to show that I believe these words.

(And even though I BELIEVE them, forgive me, I sang a few of the lyrics wrong... but the correct ones are below, ha!)

Disclaimer: the second verse talks about "getting your sexy on and taking your clothes off," I hope it is obvious that I am not endorsing such actions - the song is satire and encouraging us to do the opposite of what the world expects of us. Save the sexy for your future husband, that's my message. ;)  

  Put your make up on Get your nails done Curl your hair Run the extra mile Keep it slim, so they like you

do they like you?

  Get your sexy on Don't be shy, girl Take it off This is what you want,

to belong, so they like you Do you like you?

  You don't have to try so hard You don't have to give it all away You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up You don't have to change a single thing   You don't have to try, try, try, try You don't have to try, try, try, try You don't have to try, try, try, try You don't have to try Yooou don't have to try   Get your shopping on, at the mall, max your credit cards You don't have to choose, buy it all, so they like you Do they like you?   Wait a second, Why should you care, what they think of you When you're all alone, by yourself, do you like you? Do you like you?

You don't have to try so hard You don't have to give it all away You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up You don't have to change a single thing

You don't have to try so hard You don't have to bend until you break You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up You don't have to change a single thing

You don't have to try, try, try, try You don't have to try, try, try, try You don't have to try, try, try, try You don't have to try

You don't have to try, try, try, try You don't have to try, try, try, try You don't have to try, try, try, try You don't have to try Yooou don't have to try

You don't have to try so hard You don't have to give it all away You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up You don't have to change a single thing

You don't have to try, try, try, try You don't have to try, try, try, try You don't have to try You don't have to try

Take your make up off Let your hair down Take a breath Look into the mirror, at yourself Don't you like you? Cause I like you