212/365: Rubber Ducky, You're the One...

Bath time is Hannah and Daddy time, but every now and then, Dustin gets stuck at work and I give Hannah her bath. I love that it's her thing with her Daddy, but it's a fun treat for me when I get to do bath time with her.

Now that she's grabbing everything, I figured it was time to introduce Mr. Rubber Ducky!

I think she's a fan!

After bath, snuggling her in her hooded towel has to be one of the cutest and sweetest moments you can have with your baby!

Some of Hannah's hair is getting pretty long, and when it's wet, it curls straight off the top of her head! Honestly, could she get any cuter?!

Dustin, we missed you tonight!! Some nights, when you're working, we miss you a little more than normal. Tonight was one of those nights, but we love you and we're so proud of your hard work!

(Photo credit to Dustin's wonderful co-worker, Eric! Thanks, Eric!)

211/365: "Your baby's perfect."

Hannah and I had a very busy summer day. We left first thing in the morning to try and find bathing suits for our shore trip this weekend. All three of us need one, but it was slim pickin's! Regardless, it was about two thirds successful.

After some shopping, we met up with a friend at the fountain in the shopping center. How much fun! Hannah just loved watching her friend and all the other kids play in the fountain! I swear, she's going to make friends where ever we go. She's dying to be able to walk around and chat with people!

Then, we went shopping for Dustin's birthday... the last of ALL the summer birthdays. Alleluia. Honey, I love you, but I also love when the birthdays are done!

We had a short visit with Aunt Shan, who helped clean out a blow out (thanks, Shan!) and then we were off to Hannah's 4 month doctor's appointment. Of course, she was cooing and smiling at the nurse through our whole visit followed by cooing and smiling with the doctor. Developmentally, Hannah's a rock star so far. Smiling, grabbing, head control, etc. She's 13.8 lbs (50th percentile), 25 inches long (75th percentile) and her head is also the 50th percentile. She got 3 vaccines, one was oral and boy did she make a fuss! She gave the nurse her notorious "lip" which was hysterical, followed by her angry grunt. I was told I'm going to have an actress. Oh boy! The shots were dreadful, as always, but she did great (and so did I!).

After such a busy day, you wouldn't expect anything less than this picture of the day, right??

Although we are so blessed and thankful to have such a healthy child, every child is perfect. Your child is perfect. 

210/365: Flowers & Sunshine

I had a shoot this evening in the Rose Garden, but we missed the rose season. I arrived early at the park to scope out some spots for pictures of an adorable 6 month old, and was happy to find the park had some beautiful flower beds. Black Eyed Susans are some of my favorites, so I couldn't help but snap a few pictures.

Though sun flare makes me a bit giddy, I think I like the first one the best. I like the balance of color and space. 

209/365: Bumper Jumper

Bumper Jumper... or Bumper Lounger??

I got Hannah's jumper out today and she had a great time sitting back and "hanging" out. She loved it! No jumping though... just a lot of spinning around and checking things out from a different perspective.

I had to readjust the height so she could touch the ground a bit better, but how cute are her little feet?

I think she loved that she was nearly eye level with Riley, but Riley didn't seem to notice!

Here's the blog post on my brother & his fiance's maternity photo shoot!

208/365: Little Miss Bella

Bella is a 70 lb. Pitt Bull stuck in a 3 lb Yorkie body. She cracks me up. She's so loyal, eager to be included in everything, protective, and a diva, too! She's my brother and fiance's dog and she joined us on their maternity shoot this evening.

For those of you not on Facebook, here's the sneak peek picture I posted from the shoot tonight... see Bella?

207/365: The Boy

I'm posting a day late, but definitely took the picture yesterday. So, it still counts!

Yesterday was my big birthday bash. It was wonderful! I can't believe  how many awesome people I have in my life and who wanted to celebrate my 30th with me! Thank you!!

Before the party started, my brother and his fiance came up early to spend some time with Hannah and so I could also take a belly bump picture of the boy. I'm taking maternity pictures for Michael and Safira tonight, but Safira wanted a silhouette shot like the one I took for one of my Tummy Tuesday pictures. I got a couple great ones and then decided to take a couple more from a different angle because of the light.

There's nothing more beautiful than a pregnant mama... especially when the bump is my nephew!

Michael loved hanging out with Hannah bear while I took Safira's pictures!

206/365: Helping Daddy

Well, I made it. I'm officially the big three dash zero! I don't feel like today's my birthday though. The day was almost more ordinary than any other day, but wonderful all in the same. I spent the morning with my sweet peanut, and Dustin came home early from work to set things up at the house for my party tomorrow night. I spent a lot of time hanging out in the yard with Hannah and Riley as Dustin did his handy man stuff. There was a moment where I thought, 'man I'm lucky!' Sitting in this beautiful yard with this amazing husband, little girl and dog (poor Grayson was sitting in the window longing to be outside with us). So, although the day was uneventful and ordinary, I have a pretty great life for 30. By the way, don't feel bad that today was non-celebratory, the big bash is tomorrow. Dustin hasn't let me help one bit in planning this party. He has done everything.... including.... wait for it.... hiring a cleaning lady! Yup! Didn't even have to clean the house today!

Speaking of the big bash, Dustin was setting up a tent in the backyard.... and Riley helped.

It was obviously exhausting.

Oh! AND, as a birthday gift to myself, I launched my website! Crazy. That's all I can say. Just crazy.

205/365: Golden Hour

This evening, I met up with my best friend and her boyfriend to take some photos of them at a local park. It was an overcast day, even a little cloudy, so I was bummed knowing that I wanted some nice sun shots for the shoot. Well, I was super giddy when the clouds parted and those rays showed themselves! On my way home, this was in front of me at a stop sign. Oh, how sunsets make my heart happy!! I just love them.

And here is some Hannah love for you. She makes my heart pretty happy, too.

204/365: Want a Piece of Me??

I took Hannah's 4 month photos today. I did them quickly to beat cranky morning nap time mood, and ended up getting pretty shaky shots and I'm SO annoyed. I hate bumping my ISO up too high because of the grain, but in order to get the correct exposure, my shutter speed was way down = camera shake. Grrrr. I think I would have rather had grain! Darn, oh well.

Anyway, I caught this one and think it's hysterical. It's as if Hannah's saying "Want a piece of me?! I'm 4 months, now!"

203/365: Me Monday

Being a mom is amazing. Before you're a mom, you think about the time you'll no longer have. You know... no more sleeping in, no more napping on the couch if you want, no more grocery shopping alone, no more lazy Sundays. For me, I don't necessarily miss those things because I enjoy being a mom so much.

This is something I thought about today while Hannah was napping. She takes AWESOME naps. I can't complain. Today, I raced to get as much done as I could during her nap. It's amazing how productive I am in such a short period of time! So, although there's a feeling of "time's up" when I hear that she's awake, I'm also so happy to see her smiling face... I forget about all the stuff I still need to get done or the time I "no longer have."

When I grabbed Hannah after her nap today, while she was still super sleepy, I snapped a couple cuddle shots. I just love her so.

202/365: Phillies Phan

Today was one of those days where I used my camera a lot, but didn't have a lot of time to take a solid POTD. Before I left for a first birthday photo shoot, I snapped Hannah in her awesome shirt that she got from her Uncle Michael and Aunt Safira. She's a young Utley phan.

Though Hannah slept for nearly the entire time I was gone, Grandma came over to help take care of her because Dustin's been furiously working to finish the basement before my upcoming birthday party. It was a good excuse to see Grandma!

And, if you're interested, here's the most recent blog post for a family photo shoot I did! Heather and I have known each other since fifth grade! I can't believe we're nearly 30 with babies. How cool!

201/365: Second Generation Friends

Heather and I were attached at the hip in our early middle school years and have remained in touch all this time. I'm sure it helps that our parents are still neighbors. Regardless, how cool is it to both have babies a few months apart?!

Today, Dustin, Hannah and I met Heather and her family to take some family pictures. The night before, I had asked Heather if she'd want to try and meet before our 9:00 am time to beat the heat, if the babies were up early enough. We were all for it. Then the morning came... of course, Hannah woke up at 8, I quickly got her ready, nursed her and we rushed out the door just in time to arrive at our location nearly 30 minutes late. Ugh!! I felt awful! THEN to top if off, when I opened the door, I saw that Hannah completely blew out her outfit. After a 15 minute baby wipe bath, we were finally ready to take pictures.

The pictures are great, I can't wait to share them! At the end of the shoot, Hannah and Colin had a moment together. Hannah was flirting already... I'm not sure how Colin felt about it, but boy were they cute!

200/365: A Whole New World

Watching Hannah grow is absolutely amazing. You see her learn something new everyday and she takes in so much. She's developing a sense of humor, enjoys music, loves her fur brothers and actually enjoys tummy time!

Many of my mommy friends have been putting their 3-4 month old babies in their exer-saucers. I honestly forgot we even had one! Hannah's still tiny, but I figured we would put it together since she loves sitting up so much. By the way, it is unbelievable how many parts came with this silly toy! I took me a good hour, at least, to put it together. When I did, though, Hannah thought it was pretty cool. She has to sit awkwardly and can't quite reach the bottom, but she was amazed by all there was to look at. I think this will quickly become one of her favorite things as she gets a bit bigger!

199/365: All Boy

My sister in law and nephew stopped by today for a visit. She said Alex was so excited to see Hannah aka "baby", that he wouldn't finish his cereal this morning. Now that's cute! I snapped some photos of him in the backyard, and just love this one. It screams "boy".

Here are a couple more cute ones.

198/365: Oh, the Faces of Hannah!

Hannah makes approximately 30 faces a second, I swear. (I wonder where she gets that from?!). When she was doing some tummy time today, they were full force. She's also starting to learn to chew her tongue, so this simply adds to the entertainment.

The above is one of my favorites of many...

Oh my sweet girl. My heart is so full!

197/365: Blue Eyed Boy

If I had a macro lens, I would have taken a picture of the itty bitty baby spiders that were infesting my car today. Eeew! I noticed two of them when I put the groceries in the trunk, thinking at first that it was a couple ants. Then when I got in the driver's seat and was headed home, there were several climbing out of the crack of the window, hanging in front of me from the visor, climbing up the windshield, crawling over the dashboard... I couldn't believe it. There's no doubt that a mama spider laid her eggs somewhere in my car and the eggs hatched!! Oh.my.god. Long story short, Dustin moved the car seat base to his car and he's going to go shopping for an insect bomb because I'm not driving that car again until all those little buggers are out!

Anyhow, I think the heat is sucking away my energy. I wasn't very photo inspired today. So, on days like these, I simply pick up my camera and start hitting the shutter button. This is a shot I got while lying on the love seat for a quick couple minutes as Hannah napped.

196/365: Me Monday

As I put Hannah in her adorable footie pajamas for the night, I realized I didn't take a picture of the day, and then also realized it was Me Monday. This picture took some effort, between finding the tripod, my new shutter remote and setting it up... Hannah was a great sport. Her head is chopped off, but it captures our moment together :).

On the other side of the camera, you'd see this...

Yes, Grayson is still hanging out in his paper bag. I'm telling you, he loves them.

Here's one of Papa John and Hannah that I took yesterday... who loves whom more?

195/365: Where's Grayson?

Those of you who follow me on Facebook are familiar with the "Where's Grayson?" game. Basically, anytime I find Grayson in an inconspicuous spot, which is often, I try to take a picture without revealing where he is and people need to find him. It's turned into quite the game, despite having dwindled a bit since taking on this 365 and Hannah hogging the camera!

Today, I unpacked some things from a paper bag, Grayson's favorite! As soon as it was empty, he climbed in, so I snapped a shot.

I also got some cute pictures of Hannah with her Papa John today when we visited Grandma for her birthday (Happy Birthday, B!!), but I'm too tired to upload and edit! I had a maternity shoot this morning (here is a sneak peek), edited this shoot from yesterday, and had already uploaded and edited the picture of G. So, I reached my photo taking and editing limit by 9 pm! Maybe I'll cheat and add them to my post tomorrow.

194/365: Marley

Hannah and I went to visit Aunt Shannon and her mom (her ma hadn't met Hannah yet!). Well, it turns out that even though Hannah has two fur brothers, she thinks Marley is just the funniest thing there is! We sat on the floor and every time he licked Hannah's face, she'd crack up! It was such a sweet thing to see. We're going to have to teach Riley to lick! I think he's the only dog I know that doesn't lick people to give kisses.

193/365: All Things Cute

I met a friend for lunch today and she gave me some itty bitty barrettes for Hannah's hair. Ohmygosh are they cute. Thanks, Heather!

But there is quite possibly nothing cuter than a zipper up sleeper on a little babe. Especially my babe. 

192/365: Look Who's Talkin'

Hannah has been little Miss Chatty the past few days, especially when I put her on her mat. She becomes so excited that she's learning to grab things, that she screams and squeals the entire time she's lying there. I had left her playing while I ran to get clothes to fold; when I came back, I noticed how the daylight was only shining on her and nothing else in the room. Thankfully, my camera was on hand (isn't it always??).