baby love.

if you followed my old blog at all, you recognize these sweet girls.

i nannied for them for over a year and a half and basically we're best friends.

but today, a new one came to town.

introducing,

annabella hope hayes.

she couldn't be more perfect.

today, june 24th is her birthday.

it's also mine and alyssa's (the eldest) half birthday.

she was born right after 7 this morning.

i was at the hospital by 8 and played and loved on addi and alyssa since i couldn't go back into recovery.

i went back after picking up ryan and walked in on amber and the nurse right before attempting to breast feed for the first time.

i had seen photos of anabella all day but this was the first time i had seen her.

i had felt her feet and butt and elbow and hands when she was inside of amber.

seen her a hundred times in ultrasounds and was there the moment they found out she was pregnant.

seeing a baby that i have known for 9 months was more overwhelming than i expected.

amber handed me the baby and i lost it.

i just starting sobbing and i couldn't stop myself, it just kept getting worse.

so there i was,

holding a baby, the nurse not knowing who i am, crying my eyes out.

i have just never seen something so beautiful.

amber then explained to the nurse that i had been with her the entire pregnancy and maybe that would make sense why i was a MESS.

i just honestly cannot believe that she is out!

it seemed so normal for amber to be pregnant and so mindblowing that anabella is here.

i can't wait to watch her grow and get to know such a miracle baby.

welcome annabella.

headshots.

last weekend i met up with my good friend stephanie for coffee and photos.

she usually lives in nashville, but is back in her hometown for the summer.

anyway, she was in town for a few days so we caught up and she took a few updated headshots for me.

i think she did a great job,

these two are my favorites.

love you steph!

summer so far.

it's only been a day,

but i feel like most of spring counts as summer.

here's to a great summer.

my first married summer.

my first summer with copper.

hopefully my last summer in nashville.

been keeping busy nannying for some families,

my old boss is having her baby girl thursday and i'm supposed to come immediately after to meet her!

i'm excited.

summer so far has been good.

i've been evaluating my life,

who i am and what i want,

and have definitely been cutting things out...

like sodas, and friends who are just plain toxic.

here's to a happy, healthy and {hopefully} drama free summer!

{besides, who really needs that kind of stress?}

today.

marks one week of having another dog in our home.

i have a million forms to fill out in order to change my last name.

i need to renew my car registration.

is one thing after another going wrong.

is two days before our 6 week anniversary of being married.

how to deal with a post abused dog...

{copper and owen}

we still haven't fully committed to keeping her yet but i think we probably will.

her owners are supposed to come back anytime between tomorrow and thursday so we'll make our final decision then.

she comes out of her shell more every day and it's funny to see her female personality in contrast to owen's very male personality.

we definitely treat her differently, but she is a different dog with a different history.

she hasn't really eaten since she has been here,

mostly cause owen tries to eat all her food, so i have been a little worried.

{to preface, she sleeps in the living room and owen sleeps in our room}

so last night she finally ate an entire bowl and i guess her stomach was really upset,

and the poor thing pooped {the sick kind} on her blanket,

which shows she knows it's wrong since she chose to do it on there and not in the middle of the room.

i guess when ryan walked out this morning she looked really nervous and afraid about it,

but we didn't reprimand her, she couldn't help her and we were more excited that she finally ate!

oh and if we keep her, we're renaming her cooper.

we have a hard time saying copper and it always comes out cooper anyway.

weekend update

good morning babies!

hope your weekend is off to a great start!

first, i wanted to let you all know that my mom is doing great.

she is home now and can drive and do mostly everything but she is really sore and has some awful bruising.

so if you guys could just pray that her recovery would be a little speedier and more gentle it will only help.

also, we have now had copper in our house for almost 48 hours and things are going pretty good.

she took a while to get used to me and is still not really going near ryan but he also hasn't spent any time with her because he has been working two jobs.

owen has been acting like a 4 year old child when a newborn shows up.

grunting when he is trying to fall asleep if she moves or sighs,

steals all his bones and lays on them.

lays on her blanket...

haha oh my little owen.

in other news,

i had the best massage of my life yesterday.

our chiropractor gave us each an adjustment and a massage as a wedding gift and man i am feeling good today.

except i kicked my butt at the gym on thursday and my thighs and butt are still sore,

so i am exchanging my normal saturday morning workout to lay out by the pool instead.

;)

then when ryan gets off work we'll be taking the dogs hiking to try to get copper used to him.

if anyone is looking for a really sweet loving dog, let me know!

wedding certificate

since emily from oncewed posted about my wedding today,

i have gotten a ton of requests and questions about where i got this vintage inspired wedding certificate...

here you go ladies...

vintage marriage certificate.

xo

we're on oncewed!

oncewed.

sneak peak on Oncewed

I am SO pleased and SO very excited to announce that ONCEWED will be featuring my wedding!

I looked at her site the entire time I planned the wedding and even bought my dress off of it.

Oncewed features the most beautiful and original weddings

so as you can imagine I am very honored.

check out the sneak peak on

www.oncewed.com

should be up tomorrow or the next day!

oh my bleeding heart.

I have always had a soft spot for animals,

especially abused dogs.

mostly because they are still so loving and loyal and just got dealt a bad hand.

I came across a family at the dog park yesterday that just lost their home and have to move up to indiana with their parents.

{they were middle age and have a 6 month old and 4 year old, as well as 3 dogs}

essentially they can't take their most recent rescue, Copper, with them.

and although she has fostered and placed many dogs she is having a difficult time with Copper.

Copper is about a year old and 6 months ago they found her on the streets, injured and starved.

she was obviously abused due to wounds and attitude towards men.

she was really edgy and paranoid and submissive.

the family took her in, nursed her back to health and have worked very hard to reverse her attitudes towards strangers and men.

but because she isn't a "puppy" and has an abusive background the local shelters and rescues say she is unadoptable and that they would just put her down.

which is so devastating that she is so young and has such a hard life and will just die if they don't find her a home.

so of course,

ryan and i said we would take her.

haha.

it's going to be hard because she has a problem with men and male dogs and even barked at me when i had my sunglasses on but she is in no way aggressive and cowers away if you get closer while she barks.

but the shelters say that's bad behavior and they couldn't adopt her out.

again, so sad.

she is excellent with their other dogs and babies and after a day or two she gets used to anyone and just curls up in their laps.

if you know anyone in the nashville area that would be a great fit for this dog or is looking to have a loyal and loving friend that would never leave you {once you put in the work to earn her trust} please get them in contact with me.

she is coming to our house tomorrow for the weekend to see how she will do and if it would even be possible to foster her and to see how she does with new strangers. so if anyone wants to meet her i'll be glad to introduce.

i know though, that we'll probably end up keeping her because our hearts ache for her past and we can really love her and it's hard to really just give her to people not knowing if they have the patience and love and wont just drop her off at a shelter.

here she is.

please repost this on your blog

or post a link to this

so we can get her into the right home.

pray for my mom's surgery.

this morning my mother will be undergoing a huge surgery.

she is having her breasts removed to decrease her chances of breast cancer from 87% to -5%.

please keep her in your prayers today.

i know she is nervous, and i wish i could be there with her today.

i love you mom.

happy monday!

today ryan started his first day of work at his brand new job!

at meinl cymbals here in nashville,

so i got up at 630 to make him lunch and breakfast and drive him all the way over to east nashville.

my plan was that this would be good so i would then go to the gym and work out and then lay out by the pool.

so,

it took me 40 minutes to get from east nashville to green hills.

freaking fail.

and then the pool is still closed cause it has yet to pass all these tests since the flood ruined it.

so now it is 1030 am and i have nothing to really do haha.

i have to pick up ryan from work at 5 and then we are going to a friend's house to swim and bbq.

so after the gym i went by the store to pick up a side.

easy: potato salad.

as i was looking at the difference between "american potato salad", "southern potato salad", "mustard potato salad" and "egg potato salad"

{in my work out clothes}

an old lady kroger employee looks at me as i am picking "american potato salad" and says,

"HA yeah that will make you look really good"

UHHHWHAAAAAATTTT HAHAHAH

then she says,

"yeah we take out all of the calories"

WTF?!

eff my life.

more wedding photos!

just a few photos to hold ya over.

photographer's blog

austin just posted a blog with all his favorite wedding photos of us.

go HERE to see them.

i'll be posting more soon too.

the minor details part one

our photographer austin gros,

gave me a preview of 100 photos from our wedding,

i'm actually getting next week 3000 photos

{i can't even fathom looking at 3000 images!}

and i can't wait,

i also couldn't help but throw a few posts about my wedding with the photos i've received.

you will have to just deal with the millions of wedding posts that will come up.

this first post is about the details i put in our wedding.

and i know once i see the many of other images of details i'll do another post or two because there were many other pieces {not pictured} here that made our church become our wedding.

we had zero money to start out when we got engaged in february 2009,

so a diy wedding seemed fitting.

i kept a very low budget and made most everything myself.

i wanted a whimsical, simple, vintage wedding.

and that's what i got.

enjoy.

our cake topper, we had a general bird theme going, you can also notice the twig on the cake.

{cake photos to come in the future. i designed the cake and the bake shoppe did a wonderful job}

our version of a guestbook.

{our vintage typewriter}

the rings.

the favors.

heart shaped bird seed,

found on etsy and it was wonderful.

i also ended up with a ton extra.

so they are hanging all over our yard.

the theme of the reception.

we didn't serve dinner, to mainly cut down on cost and because i feel it's awkward.

we had an open bar, and dessert bar two hours after the ceremony ended.

{we used that time to take photos together 20 minutes away}

and we spent most of the reception dancing!

i saved an amazing amount of money by going to a wholesale florist and doing all the arrangements myself.

i collected vintage and antique vases from garage sales and goodwill for over a year and put the flowers together the day before the ceremony.

xo

a wedding photo preview

austin gros,

sent this gem over to me today.

i just about died.

{click on it to enlarge, you're going to want to}