Come Fly With Me

Weston's Nursery has been a work in progress for almost a year,

 before we were expecting him, 

before we moved across the country, 

before we knew he - was a him.

We wanted something different, something that wasn't sports, or princesses, 

or pink or blue.. 

a room that wasn't a typical nursery, 

because we're not entirely into all the cute-sie baby colors or decor.

With that in mind, we chose a Travel Theme & found this canvas map of the United States 

with colors we loved & started collecting pieces to match it.

The chalk board above was an antique mirror originally purchased for Emma's vanity,

once it broke, we de-mirror'd it and painted it to coordinate with the nursery.

With the map's color scheme we matched paint for the 

dresser and found accessories in stores, 

at antique malls & estate sales across the country.

Before I ever got a positive, 

I also began collecting cloth diapers in every brand imaginable.

(more on those later)

We've never painted as much in our lives as we did preparing this nursery;

 the dresser, the crib, plane mobile, (soon to be) monogram'd canvases & the name letters!

Weston's Mobile was created by hanging vintage toy planes (painted to match the nursery) 

with clear fishing line to embroidery hoops & then stringing them from tiny hooks in the ceiling.. 

::the vintage baby scale came all the way from Brooklyn,NY::

I wanted giant (even bigger than here) letters for his room,

 but with a lack of wall space these were the biggest I could have.

 These were hand painted, then hung together with ribbon 

& eventually attached to the ceiling with a hook.

I chose this vertical configuration vs a standard horizontal wall decoration 

to brighten up a corner and save space for other prints!

Painting these letters was a total labor of love.

I scored this lamp on a clearance at Target, it couldn't have fit more perfectly!

The wooden camera can be found on Etsy & Vintage Kodak is part of my personal collection :)

{sweet W looks SO much like daddy there}

We collected prints from all over as well

 and think these are some great rules to live by for all gentlemen, 

regardless of age!

Weston's Nursery will always be a work in progress, I envision it morphing from a Vintage Travel to a Vintage Circus theme over the next few years as well.. who doesn't love circus tents & hot air balloons?

UPDATE :: See how far W's Nursery has came this year  | view it now :: Weston's Nursery UPDATE

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

Baby Moon-ing at the Beach

It's becoming growingly popular (and absolutely fabulous) to take a "baby moon";

like a honey moon, it's a vacation prior to the birth of your newest family member.

So, I made one simple request, the beach.

Being recently stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC - we were used to having easy access to the ocean
.. and would often just drive to the beach for the afternoon or weekend.

Here in Oklahoma, we are not as fortunate however. It took some planning & a few days of school missed for our E, but we drove the 8-9 hours to Galveston, TX,
then relaxed in an awesome condo for the weekend.

We loved the condo SO much. it was JUST enough space for us -  living room, kitchen, master

 bedroom & two bunk beds. We most definitely look forward to renting it out again!

we spent a majority of our time in the sand.. and waves  :)

Or at the pool.. I read an entire book pacing in the water.. gotta stay fit while pregnant :)

Even at night, we ventured back to the beach (considering we were ocean side anyway) to watch the waves crash into the pier.

with great eats, fun treats & an amazing view... I cannot wait to take our sweet baby to the beach, too!

-xox

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