best. photographs. ever.

Amelia Moore has done all of our photographs for the last 3.5 years.

Our wedding.

Our first anniversary.

My pregnancy.

and Reuben's newborn days.

We wanted to get one more session in with her before we moved. She reccomended going down to Riverside Park so we could get some in front of the skyline to remember our beloved Nashville.

You guys.

I'm BLOWN AWAY with how amazing they are!

I'm SO in love with them and can't wait to print them all out and cover the walls of our new little town house with them!

If you live in the Nashville area and are looking for a photographer, I HIGHLY recommend Amelia. Check out more of her work HERE!

life lately

This strange season has been full of a lot of repetition.

A lot of outside time.

A lot of mug making.

A lot of hanging out in my room while I get ready and playing with necklaces to stay entertained.

A lot of baths. Boys are apparently naturally stinky.

A lot of laughing.

A lot of time at Papa B and Bella's. Home gets boring.

And a whole lot of missing Dada.

sick and changes.

Reuben was crazy sick last week with roseola.

It was super pitiful.

And a major time-suck.

I've missed blogging.

This week is Clint's last week home with us full time.

He officially moves to Knoxville Monday.

I may be minorly freaking out and not able to blog much for a little while.

Wish us luck and pray for us!

five on friday

[ONE]
teeth

Weeks like this week make me wish teeth didn't exist. Reuben's got his top molars popping through and his bottom molars AND top eye teeth are next. All four gum spots are super swollen and red. It's awful. And why does it just have to be so bad at night? Why can't he be a complete grump during the day and then sleep like an angel at night? Instead he's happy as can be during the day and an angry monster at bedtime. Bedsharing was attempted last night out of desperation, but he was kicked out by 10:30. Nobody was happy and at least we were both semi-ok separate. He does look so dang cute asleep though!

[TWO]
silhouette

My husband surprised me this week by buying me a silhouette portrait! I've had my eye on one of these for over a year, but could never justify buying one. It's on sale (HALF OFF, Y'ALL!!!) and now that we're moving and I won't be working full time, I'll have a ton more time to mess around with it. The possibilities are endless. My creative juices are already flowing!

[THREE]
consignment sales

I went to my second consignment sale ever and totally scored this week! I got a Combi Cosmo stroller and two pairs of shoes for Reuben for only $27!!! We desperately needed all three items. The only stroller we have is the one that came with our travel system. We love it and it's been great on all day trips, but it's like driving a boat. It's huge. So this is perfect for trips to the zoo or the mall--places where we don't need a day's worth of stuff with us. Plus, the shoes are perfect for little man who's been zooming all over the place now. He loves them!

[FOUR]
profiles

I was messing around during lunch the other day and made this from a photo I took of Reuben. It's far from perfect, but I absolutely love it. The little baby mullet and double chin... be still my heart!

[FIVE]
dada's home!

Clint's been gone since last Friday and BOY have we missed him! "Dada" has been coming out of Reuben's mouth more than ever. The boy loves his dada. It was so sweet to see him reunited this morning when they got back to the church. Mama is happy to have him back too! It made me a little nervous about us being separated while he works in Knoxville, but I'm trusting God's got it under control and our house will sell exactly as soon as it needs to!


HAPPY FRIDAY, Y'ALL!


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five on friday

First off, if you didn't read yesterday's post, go ahead and check that out. It's a pretty big deal! We're so thankful for all the support and prayers during this transitional time.

Now, let's get down to business.

[ONE]
baby babbles

Reuben's getting to the age where he's babbling all.of.the.time. Most of it is intelligible, but I'm also starting to understand pieces here and there. This week, he's started saying outside... but in baby language, it's "ow dah!". The kid is obsessed with the chickens at my parents farm and ALWAYS wants "ow dah".

[TWO]
Muppets Most Wanted

The Muppets Movie from 2011 is one of our family's favorite movies. It's incredibly clever with some really catchy music. Knowing that we'll be 3 hours apart in a month, Clint and I are trying to squeeze in as much quality time together as possible so we decided to go on a last minute date after Reuben's bedtime tonight and Muppets Most Wanted seemed like the perfect idea.

I have to be honest, I was a wee bit disappointed. It was funny...ish. I didn't love the storyline and the songs weren't nearly as catchy. It was cute and I don't regret seeing it, but it definitely lived up to the general rule of sequels not being as good as the original.

[THREE]
bathtub woes

Our house was a foreclosure and it's come with plenty of issues, one of which is our bathtub. There have been these stains that I absolutely cannot get out. I found a concoction of vinegar, borax, and dawn dish soap on pinterest that I was convinced would work. So much so, that I even took before pictures to put on here before the after photos I'd get. Here's one:

Here's after:

Ok, so that's the same picture, but seriously. NOTHING CHANGED. UGH. So now we're thinking we're going to have to just get the bathtub refinished. I've tried everything I can think of and none of it is working. That being said, has anybody ever gotten a new bathtub liner? Looking for some hope, here.

[FOUR]
teething tongue

Reuben's got some molars breaking through his gums and he's decided sticking his tongue out makes him feel better. It's out 99.9% of the day and it's so dang adorable.

Oh, please excuse the massive pile of clothes in the background. Our friends gave us three boys worth of handmedowns so I was in the process of organizing them. Our house isn't always that messy ;-)

[FIVE]
the first of the lasts

Wednesday was Clint's last regular Wednesday night in the student ministry and the night they told all the students we were leaving. It was definitely bittersweet and there were plenty of tears from the both of us. It's really surreal that we're actually leaving and that was the first thing that made it sort of start sinking in. I'm just so proud of Clint and how God's used him in the student ministry. I'm excited to see what's next, but it'll be hard to leave this behind.

Happy weekend, y'all! Hope you have some fun plans!

hope: our next chapter

A few weeks after Reuben was born, Clint and I both had a strong feeling that God was calling us away from Long Hollow-our church, workplace, and family. We've both been here since we were kids and our whole world kind of revolves around it. Both of our families go here, we both work here, and just about every single one of our friends either goes or works here. We felt like God was wanting us to go somewhere new and stretch ourselves to grow, both as an adult and as a Christ follower.

To make a year long journey a short-ish story, over a year's time, Clint's had close to 10 opportunities present themselves to him. He hasn't looked for a single one. When the first one presented itself about a month after we felt the nudge from God, we were sure it was it. We even flew out to San Antonio to interview with their staff. We loved the people, the church, and the city, but found out it wasn't what God had planned for us. We were so disappointed, but then another opportunity arose in south Florida (who doesn't want to live there?!) and we figured THIS was it-why God shut the door to Texas.

But it wasn't.

And neither were the 5-6 things that followed that.

Most of them were just talks. "We may be having a position open soon. We'd love to talk to you about it" and then nothing more would come of it.

But every single time, we'd get our hopes up.

It's hard even thinking back on it. It's easily been the most frustrating year of my life. I've been so mad at and irritated with God. I felt abandoned. He had given us this sense of moving on and here we were, stuck where we've been for the last 12 years.

I had lost hope.

Then a friend called Clint and said he was going to throw his name out there for a position if it was alright with him. Clint said sure and then told me about it. I just chuckled and said whatever. I hardly thought anything of it.

And then when our friend called back and said they were interested, a little spark lit up in my heart. I wanted to think this could be it, but I was terrified to get my hopes up. They'd been let down and stepped on so many times. This scenario was too perfect. There was no way God would make us wait for a year just to hand us something so perfect, right?  (My spirit was clearly in the wrong here, because scriptures tell us over and over again that that's exactly what He does!)

The next morning, I read this verse:

God is the God of HOPE! He desires that we overflow with hope. But not in our own power- in the power of the Holy Spirit.

At that point, the spark grew to a small flame and I started to really hope in the Lord-that he was faithful to fulfill our desires from him and that his timing was perfect. I asked some friends to pray with me and for me because I knew if this didn't work out, it was going to be really hard on me.

One thing led to another and...

It's exciting and scary all at the same time. We know without a shadow of a doubt this is where God wants us, but the unknowns are creeping up on us and it's hard to not let them get to you.

If you pray, pray with us that the Lord will continue to guide us through this process. We've got to sell our house and find another one-something neither of us has ever done. We'll also be separated for a while as I stay here with Reuben and continue to work until our house sells or until August, whichever comes first (definitely pray it doesn't take that long to sell our house!!!).

We will miss our friends and family here much more than I could ever convey over a blog post, but guess what? We're only 2.5 hours away! That's a day trip. So come and visit us!

he liked it so he put a ring on it

Clint proposed four years ago today! I know it's sort of a silly anniversary to want to commemorate, but my thinking is that if that hadn't happened, the wedding and the baby wouldn't have happened either.

So it's kind of a big deal.

Here's my point of view of it all.

Miriam and I decided we would go to Chattanooga for a girl's trip over my spring break. Clint and Jonathan (her husband) would meet up with us and then Clint and I would head home while Jonathan and Miriam stayed for a few days to celebrate her birthday. Clint had already told me he wasn't going to propose on the trip, but I had a little freak out moment and made him absolutely swear to me that he wasn't so that I could go on the trip and just enjoy myself and not be looking for him to propose every step of the way. He swore he wasn't going to, and I went on my way, bummed to not be getting engaged, but happy to enjoy some time with Miriam.

We got to Chattanooga around dinner time and decided to go to Chilis. After that, we got checked into our hotel to just hang out and relax. Jonathan called Miriam and told her he'd bought something expensive without asking her and she got frustrated and went out to the hallway to have the conversation so I didn't hear them fighting. We laid in bed that night and I kept talking about how Clint needed to propose soon. I had bought some belts from Urban Outfitters that I wanted my bridesmaids to wear, but I bought way more than I needed and needed to return the rest but I couldn't talk numbers of wedding party until we were engaged. (What a stupid thing to worry about... for real.)

The next day it was raining and gross so we went to breakfast across the river at Aretha Frankenstein's and then decided to go antique shopping. While we were out, I was wondering where the boys were, so I gave Clint a call and he said they'd gotten stuck in traffic, but should be there in about an hour and that we should just to the coffee shop where we were meeting and wait for them. I thought "No way! I'm not stopping shopping to just go and sit at a coffee shop."

So we kept shopping. Duh.

An hour passed and still no word... So I called again. He said they'd stopped to take pictures at a scenic view and they'd be there in 45 minutes and to wait for them at the coffee shop. Again, I thought no way. They'd only gone a few miles in an hour so I wasn't going to waste time.

Finally about 20 minutes later, we got a call saying they'd be there in 20 minutes or so. I was finally ok with going to the coffee shop.

We got there and Miriam said she wanted to show me this cool courtyard area she'd told me about a few weeks before, before it started raining again, but she had to go to the bathroom first. I said I'd wait outside and then she said she'd just go after we saw it.

We turned the corner and Jonathan and Clint were standing there. I thought, "Oh cool! They surprised us early!" and then I realized Jonathan had a camera and Miriam was getting all sappy... What?

Clint told me to put my umbrella down and come over. I finally figured out what was going on...

He said (and this is word for word) "I know I promised I wasn't going to do this today but...

Will you marry me?"

And I squealed yes and jumped up and down like an giddy school girl. There were laides passing by and they started clapping and Miriam was crying and it was kind of perfect.

Little did I know, from Clints point of view...

He decided the second he got out of the car with  me that he was going to propose the next day. He told Jonathan and Jonathan somehow miraculously timed his phone call to Miriam while I was in the bathroom at Chilis. So when they got in a "fight" that night, they were really just talking details. They had a plan, but the plan and the back up plan got rained out. So they were texting constantly on the 12th, trying to decide what was going to happen. When Clint told me they were an hour out the first time, they were already there. He was trying to keep me surpised but I don't think he realized how stubborn I was going to be. He and Jonathan waited outside in the rain for two hours!

Definitely ranks in at one of the top 5 days of my life!

worth it.

Sunday was just one of those days.

Clint was leading worship, so he left before I really woke up.

Reuben fussed on and off from 4:00AM on so, before Clint left, I had him bring Reuben in bed with me. Great idea to get more sleep... until Reuben (who's basically my alarm clock) decided to sleep until 7:30.

So we woke up late. Rushed to get ready. Reuben fought his diaper change and putting on clothes tooth and nail. No time for either of us to eat a real breakfast, but no cash to pick up something on the way. We live 15-20 minutes away from church and we got in the car 10 minutes before service started.

We walked into the worship center during the last chorus of the last song of the worship set and turned around and left to walk into the choir room to see Clint and go into the mother's room to listen to the sermon/nurse/try and squeeze a nap in for Reuben.

Well little man was not having any of nursing or napping since he'd only been awake for an hour. So I fed him a few grapes I'd grabbed running out the door and let him crawl around while I half listened to a sermon/half made sure he wasn't destroying anything.

Then it was time for the nursery. It was his first week in a room away from me since he turned one the day before. He moved up to the "Crawlers" room, just a few rooms down from the itty bitty baby room where I serve. He started screaming the second he was out of my arms, and didn't stop screaming unless he was on the cart where all the fussy kids go. It was heartbreaking to hear my baby screaming at the top of his lungs when I couldn't do anything for him.

When it was finally time to pick him up, I realized I'd lost my pick-up tag. I went to his classroom, hoping they'd let me just take him since most people know us, but they wouldn't (which I do appreciate security wise!). He saw me leave again and started screaming louder until I got back with a reprinted sticker. He didn't even really calm down once he was in my arms. He was whimpering this pitiful little whimper and was breaking my heart all the way to the car.

We finally got in the car and he fell asleep and, of course, considered that his nap time. He didn't fall asleep again until around 1:30 and ended up sleeping in my arms until after 4:00. He was exhausted.

After all of that, I found myself frustrated we had even gone to church. If we had just stayed home and watched it online like I'd wanted to do the day after his party, none of this would've happened. It would've been a pleasant, stress-free morning.

But then God reminded me of something Clint had said the night before. He said, "Worshiping God is important to us. We have to start teaching him that NOW and making a routine of it. Going to church can't be optional. It's worth it."

Those words reminded me of a blog I'd read addressed to parents of young children in church. I went back to re-read the blog while I was holding a sleeping babe in my arms and these words stuck out:

"I know how hard it is to do what you’re doing, but I want you to know, it matters. It matters to me. It matters to my children to not be alone in the pew. It matters to the congregation to know that families care about faith, to see young people… and even on those weeks when you can’t see the little moments, it matters to your children."

So as I sat there, cuddling Reuben, I thanked God for the blessing and privilege of being the one to teach him about God. It's a huge responsibility and one that I can't take lightly. He's entrusted Reuben to me as a gift. To raise him up into a godly man who will impact the world for the Kingdom of God.

So that awful Sunday morning that we had?

It was worth it.

halloween happenings

I'm not naturally a huge fan of Halloween. No particular reason. But this Halloween was really, really fun!

Last you heard, I hadn't finished Reuben's costume. And I didn't even work on it Wednesday night because I wanted to go to church for the last night of our student crusade.

So after work Thursday, there was a mad rush to get everything done.

And it came together beautifully!

I decided my little Valentine's Day baby needed to be Cupid.

I had some 6-9 month onesies sitting around from a project I'd done so I sketched out a stencil on some freezer paper and colored it in with red fabric paint. My mom found his Old Navy red corduroys at goodwill and they were the perfect color!! His "bow" was a strip of cardboard painted with gold paint with a piece of yarn tying it together. I made his wings out of cardboard with cut up tissue paper bunched and glued on the back. I attached them with the hem of an old t-shirt hot glued on top and taped on the bottom. His arrow was an arrow I bought from the dollar tree and modified with some felt and more tissue paper.

I spent a total of $1.09 on the arrows from the dollar store. If I had bought the pants, it'd have been another $3.00 ish. Pretty thrifty if I do say so myself!

We didn't go trick or treating since it'd basically be me and my husband going to the door asking for candy. We just went out to eat and then took pictures of him in his whole get up. He was VERY interested in chewing on the end of the arrow.

He threw a MAJOR fit when I took it away from him. Like a shaking, screaming, and crying kinda fit.

He's dramatic, that kid.

The following night was our grown up Halloween fun. Our friends threw a storybook themed murder mystery party and it was so fun!

I was Princess Anastasia and Clint was Prince Galahad. I was supposed to wear a ball gown, but even with the weight I've been losing, I couldn't get my prom dresses to fit and didn't want to spend money on renting one so I went with plan B.

I found a dress from my 8th grade dance recital that fit (explain that one to me!) and decided to doctor it up a bit. I hot glued a ribbon around the middle and little rhinestones I already had all the way around the ruffle on the top.

Clint just wore a suit and I made little tassle things for his shoulders out of cardboard, yarn, and felt and a sash out of some leftover fabric.

It was easy and FREE!

Out of 20+ people there, only ONE person got the murderer right! It was someone I totally didn't expect. It was so fun and everyone looked so great!

So that was our halloween fun!

What sort of mischief did you guys get into for Halloween?

our sorta-kinda beach trip

So our beach trip turned out to be a spend-45-mintues-at-the-beach kinda trip. But it was perfect.

Reuben got to play in the grass while we packed up the car before we left. He honestly hasn't had much exposure to it yet because he was too little to take outside during the spring and it was too blazing hot for me to want to hang out outside this summer. He was really unsure about it.

We didn't officially get on the road until around 7:00PM. And quickly discovered traveling at night is not ideal with Reuben. I'd heard all these wonderful stories of babies sleeping the whole way and never making a peep... not him. He was angry he was in his carseat and not asleep. I mean, it wasn't horrible, he only cried for about an hour combined, but it wasn't ideal.

We got there around 2:30 and got him tucked into his pack n play. I'd never actually put him to sleep in one, but he loved it so I did too.

We spent about 2 hours the first day trying to fix breakfast. We'd brought pancakes, sausage, and eggs because it's such a quick breakfast for us at home. The condo only had two small stainless steel pans. We'd never cooked on one before and we burned about 4 pancakes to a crisp before figuring it out. Even then our timing was completely off. It was a mess. But we ate! VICTORY!

Then we got in our bathing suits and went down to the pool. It had a fun little place for babies to play in fountains, a big pool, and a lazy river.

Awesome.

I just wish the water hadn't been 33 degrees so that we could've enjoyed more of it.

I was sure the second I sat Reuben down in the water he'd freak out, but he loved it! He rode around on my lap in the lazy river and had such a good time.

After a late lunch, we headed over to the beach. Reuben was pretty indifferent to it all, but we had fun watching him!

Dinner was at a place called TackyJacks and all the seating was bar level, so they had one of those highchairs that attaches to the table. Genius. And so, so cool!

After Reuben went to sleep, we stayed up playing too many games of Clue. We're a wild bunch, you guys. And by the way, I won a game! woo hoo!

Day two was way too cold to do anything in the water, so Whitney and I decided to go to the Tanger Outlets.

Duh.

Problem: Only had one car. Austin had to work and the last thing Clint wanted to do was tag along with us. So we decided to all go eat at Lamberts: House of the Throwed Roll (YUM!) and Clint would drop us off while he went to see Gravity by himself. Great idea... until you walk around for 3 hours with a baby in an Ergo (didn't bring the stroller), shopping bags, and a really heavy diaper bag. And Whitney is 25 weeks pregnant so she was no better off. It was rough, y'all.

Total first world problems.

 Reuben took a great nap in the ergo though. Look at those lips. I'm in love.

The day ended with another yummy dinner and more Clue.

Our last morning, we ate up some leftovers, packed up, and headed out to the beach for an obligatory family beach picture since we completely forgot the first day.

I have no idea how we went 4 whole days without getting any pictures of the 5 1/2 of us. Reuben literally thinks Austin is the funniest person on the planet. He smiles and laughs at him so much! He and Whitney are so, SO good with Reu. I can't wait for their baby girl to be here in February!

The drive home started off wonderfully! Got on the road around 2:00 and Reuben blissfully fell asleep for a few naps.

Then the sun went down.

And the tears started.

About an hour from home, I was desperate for relief, so I broke out some Baby Einstein and Baby First TV. Baby boy was so angry he was watching it, but it stopped the screaming so I consider it a win.

Overall it was a wonderfully weekend getaway! I can't wait for next year when Reuben's got his little girlfriend, baby girl Rion, to play with.

Yay for more babies!