my sweet babes is sick and long forgotten Halloween.

our sweet little babes is sick again. 

man, I hate it when they're sick. 

london came down with a BAD stomach bug two weeks ago.

vomiting, dehydration, the works. we took her to the pediatrician one day, urgent care a couple days later and then they told us to get our butts to the ER (in so many words) 

she was so dehydrated she had to be admitted to the hospital overnight. :( 

needless to say, those few days at our house my heart was broken over and over.

to watch your sweet baby be sick is SO HARD. 

i felt so helpless. so sad for her. so worried. 

after she got on IV fluids at the hospital she was back to her self in no time though. 

THANK GOD FOR MODERN MEDICINE. 

then, it was just time to catch up on our sleep :) 

BUT barely two weeks later the poor babes is sick again with croup like symptoms ...oh man. 

we battled croup last winter 3 times when she was smaller and even though i feel like we know "what to do" better this winter, it's still hard to know she isn't feeling great. plus none of us are getting the sleep we need. 

we would love your prayers for a good recovery for London, and strength to walk through difficult times like this as her parents. 

we are SO thankful for her overall health and it's times like these where we realize what we really do take for granted...

(transition sentence here)

on a completley different note, i found some photos this week i had forgotten about from London's first trick or treating Halloween, so wanted to post them now. better late than never right? 

 happy halloween. very late...

back into BLOGGING...sort of ;)

so i was planning on a long and meaningful post to get myself back into blogging. 

then my sweet daughter caught a stomach bug this week and we have been dead tired all week. 

so, to ease myself back into blogging,  i'll just leave you with some images from the Porter Farm from the week of Thanksgiving. 

Landon's parents are legit Kansas farmers and their land and farm are gorgeous.

 london meeting her first miniature horse. 

 a fun collection of Nan's books on the farm. 

 Pop deciding what to order at the old fashioned soda bar in town. 

 enjoying his decision...

 the "swing set" landon grew up playing on.

utter cuteness.

hello 1980's jeep.

 taken by my honey out on the pasture. 

her first horse ride.

after a long hiatus...

i promise you i am getting back to blogging this week...

pre-thanksgiving on the Porter Farm.

it's A ...

are you ready for this friends? 

are WE ready for this? 

eek! 

well, we had our 18 week sonogram this week and...

as you can tell, London is very excited ;) 

we are so excited too! 

BUT, I don't know what I'll do with a boy. I'll need some advice. 

I have a girl and grew up in a family of 4 girls, so the idea of a boy is so foreign to me. 

the sono tech (when asking if we wanted to know gender) said first thing, oh yes see there's the scrotum. it's a boy!

oh my goodness. 

i can't wait to see what HE is like. 

will he play sports? like to play music? Star Wars? trains? 

I guess we'll know soon enough!

Sweet Baby Sean.

this is baby Sean and he is completely adorable!

i got to take his newborn pics and the time has flown since then for this little one. 

the Russell's and I met up recently on a warm fall afternoon and captured Sean at 6 months old. 

enjoy!

18 month check up.

last week landon, london and i visited the pediatrician for her 18 month check up.

i always walk in there with a long list of questions/concerns. I'm not kidding. and i always feel like such a silly new mom when i'm reading them off.

we have an amazing pediatrician though that answers every single question and really spends time with us. 

and London "passed" her well check with flying colors :)

when we have this next little babe, it will be nice to have done this all once already... not that having one baby means you're an expert, but to have that experience under your belt "should" be nice.

but wait...i bet baby number 2 will be SO different from london. so, it kinda will be like learning from scratch again ;)

i've learned since having my own sweet babes that I really do want to try protect her from getting hurt. 

whether that's a skinned knee, her getting teased at some point in school or a boy breaking her heart someday.

i wish i could protect her from pain and heartache. i know though that I'm not ultimately in control of it all and that the Lord will protect and care for London {and our other kids} in a way that I never could. 

in a way that is best for them and God's glory in the long run.

here's to trying to hold her tight and snuggle her and protect her as long as i can. 

and here's to letting her go and giving her to the Lord with an open hand. 

{i'm sure i'll struggle with that one A LOT} 

a sweet sweet baby shower.

a couple months back i helped host a baby shower for my dear friend ashley. i love her so much. she is one of the sweetest, dearest friends I have ever had.

ashley and her families lives have changed dramatically since June, when they adopted their sweet baby, Zion. 

you can read more about their adoption journey here.  and i recommend you do so. it is a wonderful story that reflects God and his glory. 

as I try and think of the right words that would summarize where they've been so far and where they're going...i can't! so much has happened in only a couple months. very hard things and very good things. 

it was so good to get together and celebrate ashley and zion and the precious child he is. 

here are a few images of how we decorated for the shower. 

i left my camera at home, so my dear friend erica took these for us.

thanks to erica, jami, and maria to hosting this event with me. they did A TON of the preparation and decorations for the event...as I was in my first trimester of pregnancy and basically sleeping through life then.

first day of preschool.

London started preschool this week!

or mom's day out or whatever it's supposed to be called.

she goes two days a week for a half day.

she seems to really like it so far. as much as you can at one and a half. 

here are some photos of us getting ready for her first morning of preschool.

london as a pirate. 

 

 pay no attention to my messy house in the background.

 contemplating what preschool will be like.

bubbles in the classroom.

our trip to Boston and our random photos.

landon and i just got back from a married trip {sans lons}to boston. 

it was AMAZING. 

to have time together. 

to wander the City, explore our history, have a quiet dinner together and hear music we love {the Weepies and Irish music.}

somehow though, we never end up taking the amount of photos we would like. 

i don't know what it is. 

we both really enjoy taking pictures....

but, it's like we get caught up in the moment and what we're seeing/doing and forget to capture our time together. 

so, we naturally took photos whenever we would remember. 

so, instead of these photos telling our story of our time, they end up being a random compilation of photos from when we remembered, 'oh yeah, we have a camera on us' 

so, here's our randomness. it does not at all share very well what we did on our trip, but they're fun, none the less! 

our cute little top floor studio we stayed at in Beacon Hill. 

oh my gosh. WAGAMAMA. i didn't even know this was in Boston and when I discovered it I literally screamed!  i've had it several times in England, and LOVED it and apparently this is the first one in the States. Woo hoo to a great British Restaurant.

 getting ready to board the Water Taxi on the harbor. 

 landon's creativity. 

Old Ironsides. Longest floating war ship in the world.

the good family.

a couple weeks back i got to shoot some close friends. 

{no not with a gun, but with a camera} 

it's been so fun getting to know the good's, because their daughter, campbell, is the same age as london.

so, we've had many a margarita...i mean playdate together....

here is some of my favorite shots from our time together.