January 8th & 9th, 2020

January 8th, 2020. Eliot Lionhart, you are our greatest treasure.

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January 9th, 2020. finally spent some time today journaling about the weekend. birth is tender and transformative and these first five days of motherhood have been precious. it has been difficult to find words for any of it yet. it’s a lot of feelings and I’m just staying present & delighting in all of it.

48 hours

January 7th, 2020. we made it through 48 hours of being parents - with Matthias’ momma here supporting us so (so so so) much. this is dreamy. there’s so much I want to put on paper, but every time I mean to write in my journal, I just go back to looking at him again. I missed him so much during my herb bath tonight mom texted me a photo of the boys from the bedroom 😂 I love being a family of three.

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January 3rd, 2020

January 3rd, 2020. we took a break from family dinners for december since we were doing so many other family related activities and needed some nights off at the end of this pregnancy. since we got out of the groove of going, we totally forgot it was happening tonight until my sisters texted me. I sure didn’t think we’d be attending a january family dinner without a baby in tow.
charcuterie with leftovers from the wedding, chicken wings (seasoned extra spicy for the guys), green beans, and a walk a few times around the block with the husbands and babies. I love these very little big things.

January 1st & 2nd, 2020

January 1st & 2nd, 2020. baby watch 2019 turned into baby watch 2020. I guess we’ll be able to say things like “we started having kids in the 20’s.” 🤪 I wasn’t in a rush to have him OTHER than the fact I really want him here before mom leaves for Hawaii on Tuesday (the 7th). at this point I have no idea if that’ll be the case. maybe my womb is too cozy and I’ll be pregnant forever. but I’m hoping he’ll be arriving this weekend. all the prayers are so very appreciated.
and yes, the ornaments are off our very dead tree and packed away, but I’m still reluctant to take it down. soon, soon, but not today.

NYE 2019

December 31st, 2019. New Years Eve. 🤩🎉✨ Due date 😱 No baby yet, but my spirit isn’t crushed like I thought it might be if this happened. So that’s really really good. I feel like I’ve been running a marathon & I can’t beat the exhaustion. 2020 starts soon (though I might not be awake to see that happen) and we’ll meet Eliot when it’s the perfect time. Cheers to a new year🎉

December 30th, 2019

December 30th, 2019. spent as much time in bed today as I could and my whole body is grateful. had a long walk with just Byron & later a long walk with Matthias too. soon it’ll be four of us on those walks & that makes me swoon. organized all those freezer meals since half were still in the fridge & took what didn’t fit into ours to the Bonin home. dinner & drinks late into the evening with some of our closest friends. 2019 is full of things we love and it’s ending well.

the hiley wedding

December 29th, 2019. (of course our daily portrait is an iPhone photo in the apartment dog park after spending all day at the beautiful wedding venue.😂 you’d think we would’ve made time for a better portrait while we were at a pretty place all day, but the day was a blur!)
5 married Bonin siblings in the last 5 years. Dang, this next season of life is happening fast! We began set up at 9am and we were out of the cleared venue & on our way home before 7pm. Sam & Annalise had better things to do than hang out with us all evening, I guess. 😉The whole day was sweet & I can’t wait to hear it about it from my siblings & parents perspectives. For me, it was a joy spending my morning prepping the most beautiful charcuterie spread with Hannah Joy & helping Sydnie as she decorated & delegated work for the reception space. I loved getting ready with my sisters & seeing so many people we cherish after the ceremony. I am very much regretting that I didn’t take more photos of the day. 😭 I feel like all my energy was spent just being there on my feet trying to be helpful & managing some pain & so it wasn’t on my mind like it normally is. My back was killing me all day, so I made a rare exception for some acetaminophen. It felt like I would just about pass out if I didn’t do something though. I wondered briefly if we’d be having the baby on their anniversary, but no baby yet.

rehearsal dinner

December 28th, 2019. walked out of the mall at 8:40pm with something to wear for tomorrow. looks like we’re definitely making the wedding! I’m “a bridesmaid” with no dress & thankfully I’m not walking down the aisle or standing with the crew. and this is my first sibling to not have a first look, so the tradition of me shooting that is also out! this is going to be a really easy wedding for me 🤪 rehearsal tonight, which I didn’t really need to be at, but why would we miss it? and a super informal pizza dinner with 18 of the people I love the very very very most.
having a big family means there are always people & things (little & big) to be celebrating and I am thrilled about every bit of it.

December 27th, 2019

December 27th, 2019. celebrated Annalise tonight. I can’t believe another of my five blood sisters gets married this weekend😭❤️ I’m so excited to see her marry her person.
other thoughts:
* this mirror is really really dirty.
* I keep wondering if someday I’ll wear less black. I don’t know if it’ll ever happen.
* meant to take a photo with Matthias today because I love our daily photos being together, but we only were together less than a couple hours between work and the party & it didn’t cross our minds.

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December 26th, 2019

December 26th, 2019. thanks to motivation and help from Denet, today we officially finished all the freezer prep we were hoping to! there’s a whole lotta food in our home & I’m excited about all of it. 😂😍 why have I never done freezer meals before? is this like exclusively a mom thing? it makes so much sense!
I feel achy and crampy and ready for labor so we can be done with it and meet our boy. but today wasn’t the day. so other than alllll the foooddd prep, we washed clothes, organized birth supplies, changed sheets, cleaned, walked, and opened the most precious gift for Eliot from Emily. (he’s totally wearing the lion onesie as his first outfit, Emily!!) I’m ready for a baby, but in the meantime, I’m supposed to be prepping an epic bachelorette party for Annalise tomorrow night and dress shopping because I still haven’t gotten anything for her wedding Sunday. 🤪 to be totally honest, I didn’t think I’d be there! 😳😂 oh my...

December 23rd, 2019

December 23rd, 2019. Christmas Eve Eve. he was in bed with me a lot later than normal & was home right before 2pm. that makes it really feel like a Christmas break.
I spent my morning with Hannah Joy after seeing the midwife & listened to the Lifegiving Home for a couple hours while doing more little house things and trying not to feel guilty about taking some days off before our big life change.
tonight we walked a few miles & discussed decorating plans for future Christmases, snacked on our fridge full of leftovers, and finished our evening at corner pub with friends.

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December 19th-22nd, 2019

December 19th, 2019.

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December 20th, 2019. He was home early enough for a well deserved two-hour nap before the cousins Christmas dinner. A good day. 🥰

December 21st, 2019. weekend-ing in the best ways & tonight we hosted our annual christmas dinner with this crew. we love our people. ❤️ (and also, we did try to get ONE good photo, but we ended up with a handful of mediocre ones. it counts, right?😂)

December 22nd, 2019. During our walk this afternoon, Matthias commented that we should’ve brought my camera because it was so pretty. “Yeah, ugh! ... Actually, let’s just get one now anyway.” (thanks 2019 for the awesome cell phone cameras.)
We started these daily photos 91 days ago to reignite some passion in me for taking pictures of our own life, specifically with my professional gear. The burnout from shooting full-time these last few years meant we never really used my gear for us anymore & that kind of sucked. We’re doing this project to be intentional pulling out my gear for *us.* But we’re also doing this because we want to capture our life more often & honestly as it is right now... even if it’s just with a phone. So in a huge way this project isn’t about the equipment, it’s about being intentional to document something small together every day. To be excited about taking pictures of our own life. Someday it’ll be really cool looking back on these daily peeks into our life together pre-kids. (and as new parents, because we haven’t made plans to stop with Eliot’s arrival... whenever that will be!)

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December 18th, 2019

December 18th, 2019. his ability to sink into our bed & look shorter than me is astounding 😂 10/10 cozy here watching our show. not sure how we got on a Dick Van Dyke kick, but that’s been our go to recently. we don’t like to have screens on every night because they can definitely steal quality time from couples, but it is fun when we get to laugh together at a show we both enjoy. asking for a friend: can you be an adult and never have owned a headboard? 😬 (this photo definitely looks related to the one we took Sunday, but it’s different... other than the fact I’m wearing tanks my mom gave me in both. Thanks, Terri Wessinger Bonin 😍🤩)

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December 17th, 2019

December 17th, 2019. today: byron finally made it to the groomer. Matthias worked a normal day, with a little bit of a later start than normal. I got someee work done this morning, at least some of the meaningful things I wanted to, but mostly I spent my day with Bailey shopping & organizing the master bathroom counter space. a day with a friend is a day well spent though. and hey, one more thing completed that I was hoping for before baby. one day closer.

December 16th, 2019

December 16th, 2019. Working until our little one arrives, but slowing down to accommodate for more sleep since I’m hearing it’s the last time I’ll get to sleep for a while. So I’ve enjoyed some very cozy, quiet, late mornings in bed, including this morning while the rain brought in this nice cool weather. Ahhh. It’s feeling like December.

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December 15th, 2019

December 15th, 2019. slow, slow, slow. a wonderful Sunday that included a hot coffee in the cool weather at a new (to us) bakery, enjoying the breeze & outdoor seating & a cinnamon roll as big as my face. (we didn’t eat it all. 😳)
hiked about three miles this afternoon in Spring at a park I haven’t been to before. Matthias found it a few months ago while hunting Pokémon. (hahah!) Byron jumped in a lake & then rolled in sand to dry himself off. he had the time of his life, of course. we said he would absolutely not be getting in bed with us tonight. and well, here we are.

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