Fa La La La La | tis the season

I've skipped a few Holidays.. + I promise to back track because we've had some super fun ones.. but I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

With two kids having near-the-holiday birthdays, life is pure chaos anyways for us from October - January.. and I usually end up doing my Holiday shopping mid-summer then hiding all the gifts in various closets, bins + drawers… which leads to me reorganizing all those spots every year when I cannot find the gifts I hid..

We're spending the rest of our day with some friends that have most definitely turned into family here in Oklahoma, I couldn't imagine life any different. It will be so very hard when/if we ever leave this great state!

We didn't go over board with the kids, but I really did try to pick them out things this year I knew they'd like and want vs just gifts that I wanted them to have… which we're probably all a little guilty of from time to time.

Emma requested on item, a "puppy surprise" which really spoke to my 7 year old heart, and was apparently a HOT items his year, so we had to track down a specific dalmation one online… the ONE item we paid nearly dbl for.. woo-sah!

What was the MUST HAVE on your children's christmas list?

It was also a very Frozen holiday for us… I must admit I won't be sad when this movie frenzy has ended.. Please Disney, I'm pleading with you, create another movie QUICK! Until then, we're loading up on Elsa Dolls + Anna Jackets!

Do you wanna build a snowman?

[You're welcome.. I know the song is stuck in your head now!]

 Josh was so pumped to open W's gifts ;)

W woke up this morning with another tooth coming in + just isn't quite feeling himself.. which broke my heart, I thought for sure this morning would be a favorite for him.. as he LOVES ripping up paper! I'm now crossing my fingers he feels better in time for his birthday, and doesn't get worse as we head to Nashville tomorrow.

The top of my list for him, was a striped canvas teepee, and I scored a major deal on one for him.. I also imagine it will show up in many of photoshoots this spring!

Effie was also outfited in some new fashion wear this holiday season! She has a matching cheer warmup suit + hair bow with Ems.. and an Elsa dress.. lord help us.. this doll is E's vintage 1969 18' doll (similar to an american girl) that I couldn't pass up on ebay a few years back. It's one of the only dolls that E has held onto over the year + still loves matching outfits with.. I had high hopes she would love Barbie's, but have since let that dream go… Maybe one day Ill have another girl I can share my Barbie collection with?!

Recently, we had some holiday themed photos taken by a GREAT friend of mine Stacy | Stacy Bando Photography + were secretly hoarding them to share today!! I'm so fortunate to have amazing friends who happen to be photographers, too! I LOVED dressing up in our holiday wear, and enjoying the good ole Oklahoma wind ;)

Have a FABULOUS holiday with your friends/family + good luck in the New Year y'all! -

Oh Boy!

As a mom, I LOVE photos of my children 

even if they're not perfect.. 

because I deem it as one of those "life as it happens" kinda things: 

if you don't snap now you'll miss it forever.

As a photographer, I feel like everything has to be perfect.. 

so, I'm constantly in limbo.. 

nevertheless, here is a sneak look into little W's newborn photos,

 perfectly imperfect.

{ to see more, visit The Captured Blog }

Here are BOTH my sweet babies.. ugh I just want to squeeze them!

W's nursery is travel themed.. Ill be debuting that soon,

(PROMISE) so we HAD to have some photos of him being packed away ;)

-xo

Oh Baby!

Despite Daddy Dunphy's NEED to be on-time obsession, 

our little bean was in no rush to come out of his bubble.

Like with E, I prepared for my due date,

 it neared, it came & it went.

So, I was given a date to be induced... talk about anxiety.

I thought waiting for baby to come was bad - 

no, being given a time to waddle into the hospital makes life get chaotic. 

All of a sudden I had TONS to do and not enough time to do it..

W's Birth Story:

I will be as brief as possible, as it was painful enough to endure the first time. ;)

I went into the Labor & Delivery Department on Fort Sill at 7 am on January 2.

 After checking in, changing, seeing nurses & doctors and getting settled into a room, 

I was finally hooked up to labor inducing drugs by 10:30.

 Hours upon hours passed with zilch in the progression area 

(although I wasn't starting from the bottom.. I had progressed since the beginning of my final month).

(I didn't take any pain relief drugs for the LONGEST time.. and josh enjoyed watching my pain on the contraction-o-meter)

Around 4:30, once my OB got finished with his normal day shift, he came in & broke my water. 

Prior to that my epidural failed & then only worked on half my body, 

even with someadjustments, I still ended up with a Hot Spot.. worst. thing. ever.

From 5:30-7:06 pm I was in the most ridiculous pain I'd ever experienced - no joke. 

And then as quick as it came I was handed an adorable LARGE baby boy!

{W will always be a miracle baby.. I unknowingly had more than average fluid for him to float in, causing him at some point to do a loop and have a true umbilical knot.. 

that thankfully wasn't ever pulled tightly}

(regardless of blur, this is the very first photo I ever took of baby W - so sweet)

Such a happy daddy!

We introduced our sweet boy (via social media) the next day..

 and took the first night to just enjoy and share our newest little love

 with close family & friends.

E, who'd been staying with friends got to meet her new baby brother the following afternoon as well!

Note their matching bows (that was transformed into a bow-tie for W)

love these two!

I didn't take TONS of photos of W at the Hospital as it was a very 

"living in the moment" experience as well..

 but these are a few I did manage to snap before we headed home.

Mr. W's first car ride.

heart breakers right there :)

-xo

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Fact: I Love Christmas lights.. 

We would probably have a tree in our living room or at least lights all year if it wasn't frowned upon.

My Christmas Tree can be found up and lit shortly after Halloween..

 yes that early - We're that family.. 

Second to Christmas lights, I LOVE wrapping presents. 

Every year I hoard brown paper bags from the commisary 

so that I can wrap everyones gifts and personalize them.

Fact: we've had this SAME colorful roll of wrapping paper (for oversized/odd shaped) gifts 

for 3 years now too.. because we barely use much of it.

Lucky for us, E is still at the age of just LOVING to unwrap things. 

So hitting the dollar isle for tiny's makes shopping for her easy (and economical).

(not sure why this looks so blue)

Both josh & I took some profile photos on christmas eve..

truth be told, we had really hoped our sweet baby would be here by now to celebrate the holidays

& give us a tax break... lets be honest..

The Holidays were "good" to him as well :)

We hope you ALL had the happiest holiday season as well :)

-xo

Hey Hey - Baby's on the Way.

Maybe it's because we live so far away from everyone in our "bubble" that keeping secrets has been easier for us, than most.

But, we are super excited to let everyone in on our BEST news this year..

We're expecting a sweet sweet baby this winter!

Even more specific - we're considering postponing Christmas (only kidding!), as Emma is already a Christmas Eve child, being due December 30th - and having a birthday myself in early December makes things kinda crazy in our house!

We recently sent out a few announcements to some close family/friends - I wasn't kidding when I meant we keep things on lock down in our bubble.

I know we live in Oklahoma, but can you believe that this was less than a mile from our cute little home? Talk about middle of nowhere America.

(yes, even Emma's School is on a dirt road)

Just because we weren't publicly broadcasting our little grower - doesn't mean we weren't documenting. :)

Even Daddy got in on it - and if you know me, you know that I'm hoarding these photos to take one JUST like it of baby in Daddy's hands once he or she arrives :)

As we're so far away - and not coming home until after the arrival of our sweet little bean, (and been asked repeatedly if we're having a shower/sprinkle)we fully hope to have a Meet & Greet at some point with all of you, we created a little registry to keep personal track of the things we are still collecting for baby.. feel free to check it out @ Target.com (under Joshua Dunphy)

Lastly - we've not & don't plan to find out the gender of our little miracle.. We figure we went through so much to simply have him or her - that boy or girl, we're so excited & hope you are too!

-xo

Home is JUST over that Mountain.

Well per the army way.. nothing ever goes as planned.. but it goes the way it was supposed to.

We intended to live on Post again, we like being close to everything & with any city there are rough areas -- that we weren't too sure about. 

But, unfortunately waiting months in an hotel - wasn't in the cards for us -- lol because we're not gluten for punishment.

So in two VERY STRESSFUL days of dealing with realtors we found a neighborhood we loved then a house in it that fit us perfectly.

We've spent the past 3 weeks trying to get everything together... and make it home again..

& the cats have entirely made themselves comfortable...

Seriously, how cute are they??

& as much as I would have been entirely content continuing to home school our Emmy, we happened to be zoned for the BEST school district/elementary in our area & she wanted to go..

The Bus driver/Principal ( I know how funny, right) picks up each kid at their house.. and then drops them off in the afternoon -- Did I mention it's a super small school?

She seems to be doing good in her new school.. aside from the early morning wake-up calls :)

& she LOVES getting dressed daily with a purpose. lol that's my girl!

I will soon share more photos of our new home.. as we get it just the way we like it.. 

stay tuned :)