belly to baby (part: baby)

Lucas was 6 days old when we had these pictures taken.  Our photographer came to our house and was so so patient to get all of these amazing photos. We kept stopping to feed him so he would go back into a sleepy milk coma :) 

 Here are a few (and by a few, I mean a lot!) of our favorite newborn photos of Lucas.  How can you pick favorites?  They are all incredibly cute.

sweet baby lips. don't you just want to kiss them?

my FAVORITE picture. Lucas is wearing the owl hat his Nanny Farrin got for him.  And I have to admit, that sweet grin preceded a big toot!  I'm so glad she had her camera ready :)

And don't you ever forget it, kid.

This picture took forever to get!  He was being squirmy and kicking the rings off.

Daddy's hands.

Who doesn't love a squishy baby tooshie?

Of course Lucas had to get a picture with his pup.

Again, we are so thankful to have captured Lucas in such beautiful photos when he was so little.  Because let me tell you, this kid is growing fast!  I wish I could freeze time to soak him in even more.

Photos by Crystal Weaver. www.memoryweaverphotography.com

belly to baby (part: belly)

I am so glad that we chose to do maternity and newborn photos.  We used an incredible photographer, Crystal Weaver, who did both sets of pictures for us.  (Be sure to check her out: www.memoryweaverphotography.com)  Our maternity photos were taken at Mordecai Park in Raleigh when I was 36 weeks pregnant.  It's a really neat place that I never knew existed until Crystal suggested it for our pictures.  Even though it was pretty cold outside that day, we had a lot of fun!  Here are a few of our favorite maternity pictures...

Pretty amazing how that is the little face of our sweet boy.

This picture makes me laugh. Don't get me wrong, I think Brandon always looks really handsome, but we call this his Zoolander face.  There are 4 pictures like this, and you can see the intensity of his facial expression increase with each picture.  If you look at them like a flip book, it is absolutely hilarious.  He was into it. 

I am thankful to have these pictures to help us remember being pregnant.  While I was pregnant, I thought I would never be able to forget how I looked and felt during this time. But after Lucas was born, It's amazing how quickly I started to forget!  Even looking back on these pictures, it's a bit surreal.  For the most part, I loved being pregnant.  But 41 weeks of being pregnant was enough :)

neighbors.

I think good neighbors are rare.  And when I say 'good neighbors,' I don't mean the people who wave at you from the mailbox and occasionally let you borrow a cup of sugar.  I'm talking about the neighbors who care about you...who ask how you're doing and actually listen to the answer.  People who speak truth into your lives and have an impact on your family.  People who help you grow individually and as a family unit.  People who make sure you are keeping your sanity when life throws your curve balls.
We had good neighbors.  Heck, we had great neighbors!

It's been bittersweet on our street lately.  Our great neighbors across the street, the Runkles, have moved to Hillsborough.  We are so sad to see them go, but are very excited for their great new house to accomodate their growing family!  They welcomed us with open arms the day that we moved in 3 years ago, and since then we have come to call them some of our closest friends!  They have watched us grow from newlyweds to parents of a dog, then parents of a sweet baby boy. We have had some really fun times living across the street from each other, and we have enjoyed every minute of being "Mrs. Ashley and Mr. Brandon" to their kids.  It truly is an honor to be able to live life with these guys.  We have had so much fun having lunches together after church,  watching the superbowl and other TV shows together (i.e. the Bachelor/Bachelorette hehe), and just walking across the street to hang out.  Here are some highlights of the past three years in pictures:

Katelyn helping me bake cookies (with Lexi's help!)

Last year on Katelyn's 5th birthday, modeling the apron I made her

Katelyn helping Mr. Brandon rake the leaves

Kim and Daniel were lifesavers when I had a run-in with our electric hedge trimmer when I was home alone...they took me to the urgent care and stayed with me while I was getting stitched up until Brandon got there.

Every Christmas, it was a running joke (but very serious to the boys!) about having a Griswold-style Christmas.  Can't wait to see what kind of Christmas decorations they bring to Hillsborough ;)

Katelyn loves playing on our iPad with photo booth! This is one of  at least a hundred silly pictures we have of her.

Jackson and Katelyn playing in Lexi's crate (no, we did not put them in there!)

I will never forget the day we told the Runkles we were pregnant. We were at Chick-fil-a and they were giddy with excitement!  One week later, Kim and Daniel came over and told us they were pregnant too!  We were thrilled to be able to walk through this crazy stage of life together.  Our due dates were 3 weeks apart.  We were quite the sight, walking the trails together praying for labor to start!

It's a boy! And another boy!  Ben was born on March 5, and Lucas was born on March 12.

Katelyn meeting Lucas

Here they are! Love these boys!  Ben at 7 weeks old, Lucas at 6 weeks old.

Kim, Daniel, Katelyn, Jackson, and Ben, we miss you guys already!  Thank you for your friendship.  Our new neighbors have some very big shoes to fill.  You guys are such a blessing and we have been so thankful to live life alongside of you!  We love you!

marriage betrothal.

Are arranged marriages allowed around here? Because we would like to announce that Lucas's future wife has been born!!! We are THRILLED to welcome Ella Grace Watkins into the world! She was born on April 21, 2012 at 10:45 a.m. North Africa time, 6lbs. 2 oz. Her mom and dad, Emily and Chris, are some of our very best friends that are living overseas right now. We miss them very very much but will get to see them in June when they come home for a bit. Lucas and Ella have skyped already, and it was love at first sight. He thinks she is really pretty :)

CONGRATULATIONS, Watkins! We love you!!!

road trip!

We successfully took our first road trip! We traveled to Asheville, baby and dog in tow. We actually didn't bring nearly as much 'stuff' as I expected that we would, and we survived! Lucas did great in the car. We left Durham on Tuesday afternoon and stopped in Morganton so that he could meet his crazy girly cousins, Savannah, Lily, and Carly, and also his Uncle John and Aunt Gina.

As you can tell from the pictures, the girls completely doted on Lucas the entire time. Lily and Carly in particular were fascinated by the little guy. Highlights were Carly wanting to 'help' Lucas suck his pacifier by sucking on it herself, and Lily asking me if she could squeeze his nose...

And clearly, Uncle John needs a little boy, as evidenced by the pride in his eyes at the deer head on his wall.

After a dinner and visiting with the Setterlind clan, we went the rest of the way to Asheville to MiMi and PaPa's house. We stayed there Tuesday and Wednesday night and had fun visiting with them.

Lucas enjoyed hanging out with PaPa.

Lucas got to play with the soft blocks that Aunt Sis made for him! They are adorable, and he loved them.

Lucas also got to enjoy a play mat that MiMi bought him for Easter! It came equipped with all kinds of cute hanging toys, including owls of course.

Thursday, we headed to Nana and Poppy's house. We had a mission...to surprise Nana for her birthday! Unfortunately, I blew the surprise, per usual. But we still had a great time. We enjoyed a great birthday dinner on Thursday night, and on Friday spent the day walking around downtown Asheville.

We enjoyed the beautiful weather on the back porch.

Lucas played crazy games with Poppy!

We got lots of snuggles from Nana (isn't that frog butt SO cute?!)

And for some reason, Nana and Poppy's couch is the BEST for napping. The yellow blanket was mine when I was little. It has been very loved :

So...our first road trip was a success!