Love this moment between Christina and her Maid of Honor.

Sunset fell right in the middle of the ceremony so Christina and Josh opted for a first look to allow time for all of the portraits before the ceremony so we could take advantage of some yummy light.  I love this set from their first time seeing each other.How adorable are these two?Thanks to Jessica Horton for being my 2nd shooter and for always providing a different perspective.  My image is on the left, hers on the right.I had a few minutes with Christina before the ceremony and I could have photographed her until the sun went down.  So gorgeous!  It is weird to say how much I love her beautifully creamy skin?  Because I do. Love all these Grandmas waiting for the ceremony to start!I am so in love with these next two sets.  Christina and Josh walked down the aisle and straight outside.   It was perfect timing for taking advantage of the beautiful blue sky after the sunset!The reception took place at the beautiful Westin Poinsett in Downtown Greenville.  I loved the beautiful bokeh compliments of the huuuuuge Christmas tree!We went up to the roof for a few shots during cocktail hour.  Being on the roof and without heat from the sun, it was freezing and the wind was blowing like crazy but Christina and Josh still looked great!One of my favorite first dance shots from 2011!Delicious cake from Buttercream Bakehouse!  Seriously, the frosting was aaaaamazing.

Ceremony Site: Daniel Chapel, Furman University

Reception Venue and Caterer: Westin Poinsett Greenville

Florist: Twigs

Baker: Buttercream Bakehouse

Dress: Jenny Yoo

DJ: DJJB Music

Hair and Makeup: Aveda Ivy Salon

Katie and I have exchanged many emails and spent several meals together in the last 6 or so months sharing our ups and downs of pregnancy and our excitement over becoming mothers. It’s been so fun to have a friend that is going through the exact same thing as me and such a blessing to share this experience with her. I can’t wait for our babies to be born and for us to be able to continue to grow in our friendship through our children. We’ve already decided that our children will be best friends and will someday get married….probably on Fripp Island and afterwards honeymoon in Culebra. Perhaps our children won’t agree with the marriage we’ve arranged for them but either way we are going to have a blast sharing this thing called motherhood.

John & Katie, I can’t wait to meet your little man! I look forward to many play dates in our future!

Love this one.Doesn’t she have the prettiest smile?We took advantage of some random Harley Davidson parked in Downtown Greer. I thought it was appropriate seeing as how they are having a boy.I love this set of Katie.

Had to get at least one shot of our bellies together!!

Katie started out the day by getting ready at the Simmons-Bond Inn in Downtown Toccoa.

Crystal Genes was my awesome 2nd shooter and got some great shots throughout the day including this one.
Katie was so excited to see Alex for the first time.I love Alex’s reaction!Love this shot of Katie and her Grandmother.  The women in this family are just so loving…it’s adorable!The reception was held at the Cornelia Community House in Cornelia, GA.Katie and Alex (with lots of help from their family and friends) decorated the entire reception with antiques and thrift store finds.

Delicious cakes by Just Desserts.

Congrats Katie & Alex!  I can’t wait to see where life takes you as Man and Wife!

Weeks 22-27 to be posted soon!

One of my faves…

The boys were SO well behaved while I took a few pictures of just Suni and David.  I was soooooo appreciative.

The many sides of Jake.

Just as we were walking to our cars I saw these beautiful leaves and had to take advantage.

Love!

Christopher wanted to show Justin his leaf so he shoved it in his face.  Justin’s expression cracks me up.
Christopher’s Grandpa got him a “digger” for his birthday and he just loves playing on it!
So inquisitive…Definitely my fave!
Christopher looooooves bulldozers.This is what happens when you take a few minutes to get pictures of Mommy & Daddy.  Christopher didn’t want to miss out on any snuggling.Christopher turned his shoe into a camera.  Such an imagination!

Little boys are so so sweet.And just in case you couldn’t read that fine print on his t-shirt….there’s another baby Middaugh on the way!  Can’t wait to get him/her in front of my camera next summer!

And now, for the real reason that most of you are here….Week 21 belly pictures.

Now it’s time for Question of the Week! (FYI – I’m secretly disappointed in myself for not coming up with a better name than “Question of the Week”.  Feel free to chime in if you have a fun suggestion that is less boring.)  Here is a question that I have started getting a lot more often in the last 2 weeks:

“Aw, can I touch your belly???”

The answer that I say out loud: “Sure.”

The answer that I say in my head: “Yes, but ONLY because you asked.  Don’t think you can do this again without asking each time because you might catch me off guard and I might karate chop you.”

Some pregnant women are bothered by people touching their belly.  I totally get it.  I just don’t have a problem with it.  I haven’t minded it yet but that is most likely because I haven’t been approached by any strangers yet.  If I had to guess I would say that I will most likely be fine with strangers touching my belly under a few stipulations: They are a woman, they aren’t crazy looking and asking to touch my belly is not the first thing they say to me.  If I know you, I’m totally cool with you touching my belly….if you feel so inclined.  I’m proud of my baby bump and…don’t judge me….but I am a belly toucher myself.  I only ask others when I know without a doubt that they aren’t bothered by it.  There is just something so amazing about knowing that there is a baby inside a person and is only inches from your hand.  I loved touching my sister’s belly when she was pregnant with my niece and nephew and feel the same way about my friend’s baby bellies.  I would personally never touch a strangers belly at this point in my life but I reserve the right to change my mind at a later date.  Now, for those of you that are new to belly touching or are unfamiliar with the proper etiquette of belly touching, here are some important guidelines to remember.

1. Always Ask.  It’s rude and kind of creepy to not ask.  And don’t be offended or upset if the owner of the belly says “no!”

2. The Belly Button is Your North Star.  Stay in the general area of the belly button or right above the belly button.  Don’t venture any further south or north or you will most likely lose all future belly touching privileges.

3.  Don’t Rub.  Just put your hand(s) on the belly and don’t move around unless the owner of the belly says that the baby is moving and tells you or shows you where to put your hand so that you can feel the movement.

4.  Don’t Overstay Your Welcome.  If you are just touching the belly and the baby is not kicking, you need to get in and get out in under 10 seconds.  At least that is my rough estimate.  Even if I know someone very well but they put their hands on my belly and just leave them there for an extended period of time, it makes me uncomfortable.  Touch the belly, feel it’s magic and move on.

Please remember that if you have questions that you would like me to answer in a future Maternity Series blog, leave me a comment with your question and I’ll consider it!!!

*I MUST give credit where credit is due.  This photo series was not my idea.  The idea itself is not original to me in any way.  What is original to me is my belly and my words.  Any and all credit for the Maternity Series idea should and hopefully will go to Pacing the Panic Room.  I have unfortunately seen several similar series since he first introduced it and few of them gave proper credit.  I ask that anyone that uses these images will ultimately also give proper credit to Pacing The Panic Room.  Without the inspiration of his series, I highly doubt that my series would exist.  Thank you!

I’m pregnant.

So in love with my husband.

And the happiest I’ve ever been.

Jason and I are having our first baby in January 2012.  When I first found out I was pregnant I was dying to share our news.  But the practical side of me kept our secret (for the most part) until after our first ultrasound where we heard our baby’s heartbeat.  That sweet beautiful heartbeat. 179 beats per minute belonged to the most loved baby in the world and was growing inside of me at 10 weeks.

We had a gender ultrasound at 16 weeks because, well, I REALLY wanted to know the sex.  I’ve never claimed to be a patient person and this was no different.  I had been trying for weeks to get Jason to guess the sex of the baby for weeks and he just refused to make a guess.  As we sat in the waiting room before our ultrasound, I whispered “I really think it’s a girl but puh-lease don’t tell anyone if I’m wrong.”   No one expects mothers to have accurate gender intuition but I just didn’t want anyone to know if I was wrong about the baby that was…ya know…GROWING INSIDE OF ME.  Regardless, I was confident in my “feeling”.  Ever since I found out I was pregnant I had dreams that it was a girl all except for once.  They were all dreams about being a new parent.  Things like bringing the baby home from the hospital and realizing that we didn’t have anything we needed to care for a newborn, breastfeeding and anything else that new parents can have anxiety about.  The focus of the dreams wasn’t the sex of the baby but I always woke up remembering the sex and only one dream had a baby boy in it.  Then I had a dream about a week or two before the ultrasound that solidified my hunch.  I dreamt that I was holding a baby that was a couple months old.  It was swaddled in a blanket and all I could see was it’s head.  It was sleeping.  And for the whole dream I was just staring at this baby in awe and just could NOT get over how it…she…looked exactly like me when I was a baby.  The shape of her face, her nose, her lips, her chin. It was like I was holding myself as a baby.  But the one thing that was different from how I looked as a child was that this baby had Jason’s hair color.  That color where it’s not red but it’s not brown and you can’t really figure out what color it is.  That was her hair color.  I loved that dream and I wish I could repeat it every night.  But seeing that baby in my dream was nothing compared to seeing our baby in our ultrasound.  It had grown so much and now had obvious fingers, toes, lips, eyes and ears.  And it was a she.

Click here to the see the first of my posts documenting the pregnancy and check back weekly to see belly updates.  I back dated the first post of the series to put it in the proper week of my pregnancy…for those wondering why I am blogging in the past.  :)

Now that I’ve raved about how much I loved this session, I need to rave for a bit about how much I love this family.  Christy and my oldest sister, Kelli, have been best friends since Kindergarten.  Kelli was 5 when I was born so basically Christy has been best friends with my sister for my entire life.  Twenty six years.  That just blows my mind.  I always remember Christy being around but I never really new her very well.  By the time I was in elementary school, they were in middle school.  By the time I was in middle school, they were in high school and so on and so on.  In 26 years, I knew a lot about Christy but never really knew who she was. But after this session, I feel like that has completely changed.  Who she is shows in her love for her family.  It is evident in every encouraging and loving word that she speaks and every adoring look she gives her husband and children.  The way her family loves each other is almost indescribable.  It’s so obvious and blatant that there aren’t even words for it.  You just have to see it to understand it and I just hope that these images do it justice.

Christy,  Matthew, Ross & Rayna.  The Martin Family.

Love these of Christy.Sweet boy.These two give meaning the saying “like father like son”.  Seriously….they are twins.
Love this mother-daughter set.  They are so adorable together. A few minutes with Mommy and Daddy.
Christy. You are so freakin’ gorgeous.Love this sweet set with mom and son.Rayna is quite the budding photographer.  I love that Christy and Rayna can share a passion for photography!Christy, I have one word for you.  CANVAS.Love this.

Martin family, I adore you. Thank you for asking me to join you for a afternoon of fun and a little picture taking.  xoxo.