little love turns one

Now that we've had a little bit of a respite from the crazy of the past few weeks, we have had some time to reflect on the fact that our little love is not so little anymore. One year ago we had just arrived home from the hospital ... a little {lot} tired and a little {lot} overwhelmed. The tiny nugget has grown into such a sweet girl with a personality that makes us swoon.  Language fails to describe the love we have for her - it's indescribable. 

Yesterday we threw a giant first birthday celebration for Spencer Jane and her bestie Emerson Blair. The mommies may have gone over the top for this one - it doesn't hurt that we eat, sleep & dream parties. Here's a few snapshots of the shenanigans! 

oh fiddlesticks

Well, we got our first full-blown virus. And by we... I mean Spencer and then me. It.Was.The.Pits. Funny thing is I think Spencer was more of a trooper than I was. I'm seriously a horrible nurse and even a worse sicky. Poor Dane, having to deal with both of us for a week. 

At first I was wary about even mentioning our 'first-virus' milestone here. I mean there is so much on the interwebs about SAHMs complaining about this or that and then even more about SAHMs complaining about the other SAHMs complaining and giving them a bad rap. It's a mess and makes me tentative about sharing my stories about the little missy. But, here's the thing, everyone's experiences are different and we all love a good story. Usually a good one includes the frustrations and the hard stuff along with the sunshine and laughter. We are big fans of keeping it real...and this week really wasn't my fav.  

But as  you can see ... ain't no virus gonna hold her down, oh no, you got to keep on movin' ... speaking of movin' - Dane ran his first half marathon this week too, and we couldn't make it to the finish line but we cheered when he got home. { ps. we started crawing and pulling up, I can't keep up!! }

as long as stars are above you

and longer if I may...

So, I'm obsessed with this song by Ellie Goulding - 'How Long Will I Love You'. You should look it up it's amazing, I could listen to it on repeat. Sometimes I wish I had a killer accent and could sing like an angel, okay I wish that a lot. Anyway, enough about my dreams that will never be. Dane and I have a few songs that have lyrics about stars and we decided that this song would be Spencer Jane's. 

This little gal of ours has received an outpouring of love since her debut in this world. She has had many visitors and has already been to four other states in her seven months here! I thought it would be fun to show some pictures of her visitors and travels... crazy how quickly these littles grow. 

Sleeping Beauty

No fairytales here, we have this incredible daughter that we can't help but brag about. It's my first Mother's Day and as the rain is pouring down outside all I can think about is how blessed I am. Even after two hours of reasonless screaming today I still feel overwhelmed with the fact that this year I have a daughter. This little, gorgeous person that looks up at me and grins while pulling my hair. It melts my heart. Then, of course, she lets out a man toot which makes both Dane and I double over in laughter. (Really it's bad enough it should be called a fart, but I can't bring myself to say that she does that, so it's a toot.) 

Anyway, I digress. We wanted to post some photos from Spencer's first photoshoot. We have this amazing friend, Jennifer, who takes the most beautiful photos (you have seen her work before JOJO Photography.) She came by when Spencer was just five days old and captured our little sleeping beauty. Here are our favorites...

Sweet Surprise

There's something extra special about celebrating the miracles in our lives. The reality is, getting pregnant isn't always easy. And after a time of waiting, we have been so blessed to have little Spencer Jane join our super awesome family. It's been incredibly humbling to have friends and family shower us with love, deliciousness, and prayers.

So today, Spencer received a special package from Uncle Erik (actually, we benefit from the contents more directly than her.) Erik shares my love of a good espresso, and included some special beans from Bow Truss, one of his favorite roasters in Chicago. Perfect gift for the guy pulling double duty as dad and on trauma call. He also knows that the way to his sister's heart is through sweet treats. Lucky for us, one of Erik's besties, Mackenzie, is an amazing cookie-making fiend. She really needs to start her own bakery... I mean seriously. Come over and try one and you'll agree... wait, we aren't sharing. Scratch that. You can see some of her amazing cookies here. So start making requests... we can all force her into business.

Okay, enough with the chatty Cathy...I don't get the keyboard too often with these things so I got a little carried away. Here's some pics of our special delivery.

feathers & arrows

We had a ton of fun creating Miss Spencer Jane's nursery. Dane and I have always found that DIY projects have brought us closer together (unless it involves wallpaper or backsplash tile - then it leads to the 'd-word' being thrown around.... literally.) Okay, so maybe we only can do some DIY projects together and the nursery was one of these. We poured so much love into her new crib...hahaha. 

As we brainstormed ideas we kept coming back to the adventuresome, brave female concept. And from there it developed a personality of it's own: outdoorsy but still feminine with wood, arrows, feathers and hints of coral. Dane did most of the hard work this time, while I sat around eating donuts & ice cream, yelling commands. (In a super nice voice, I promise.)

Here's a few pics. I seriously think that her room is the most cozy, amazing room of the house now. We are planning on posting about some of the projects here, but don't hold your breath...it would have to happen between diaper changes and midnight feedings.

The Deets:
Photography: JOJO Photography & Film
Design: Alchemy Styled
Crib: Babyletto: Hudson
Dresser: Craigslisted & some major TLC
Rocker: World Market & Rockers from Van Dykes Restorers
Bookshelf: Target
Side Table: Ikea and then painted by Stef
Wall Art: Society6 (Kelli Murray), lovingly handmade (mountains, deer head, instagram wall) 
Rugs: Rugs USA 
Pig: Land of Nod
Shelving: Pallet wood DIY
Stool: Richwood Creations 
Arrows: Fletcher and Fox
Lamps: CB2 & West Elm

Spencer Jane

Our little bundle of joy arrived on Thursday, February 27th at 9:18 in the morning. On Wednesday night I had to convince Stef that her contractions were real and that her cookie-baking wasn't going to keep the baby in. After about 12 hours Spencer Jane was born. She's an 8 pound, chubby cheeked gal that measured in at 21 inches long. We are completely in love! 

We made it home and can't wait to share more about our adventures. I can't believe they let us leave the hospital with her - we have no idea what we are in for. 

Christmas Photo Fiasco

Each year we try and come up with something creative and fun for our Christmas card. This year we wanted to announce our coming bambino and we just LOVE our owl mugs, it didn't hurt that we had a little baby mini owl mug for Dane's espresso addiction - perfect! We were about ready to go meet my friend Jennifer of JOJO Photography (she is ah-mah-zing and all of you should hire her for your photos.)

Anyway, we were about to leave and Dane managed to explode hot cocoa all over our white kitchen and himself - I'd like to say I'm super doting and that I was so worried about him but really it was a freak out moment complete with ripping Dane's tie off (don't get any ideas, lol) and a good amount of choice words about using our brains. We managed to get out the door with a new shirt and a wet tie. All of the commotion caused Bella to be more of a crazy lady than normal complete with jump flips on the end of her leash. (Those of you that know her well know that these are pretty impressive jumps!) Still, we made it and Jennifer worked her magic. I mean seriously - look at how loving and happy and put-together we appear - she's a miracle worker!! 

www.jojophotoandfilm.com

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