Meet Ember

I'll admit it: I completely missed Ember's birth. Slept right through it. I had talked to Dana a couple of hours before I hit the sack where she told me that her appointment went well, and they were planning to have a baby within ten days. She mentioned nothing of contractions or impending delivery so I went to bed. Woke up the next morning. Took a shower. Got ready for the day and grabbed my phone. At that point I saw '2 text messages from Dana' and my heart skipped a beat.

First one at 12:09am: Havin' a baby...now go back to bed. :)

Second one at 5:46am: Ember Lee Neu 3:28am 7lbs 15oz

I texted back at 7:48am: Holy crap! I completely missed it!!

And promptly dialed her cell phone.

I will give Dana the opportunity to fill in from 12:09am-3:28am if she chooses, but suffice it to say it was relatively boring, with the grand finale of Ember Lee.

Flash forward to Kim meets Ember meets Kim's camera.

The blanket in these first two belonged to Dana when she was growing up. So SO cool!

This little piggie went to market...

This blanket came from Smith's Drug in Lemmon. They have the best baby blankets - just ask Max who was gifted one by Dana almost two years ago. The tutu was also a gift and if I remember correctly the giver was afraid it was terribly impractical and left the tags on in case Dana wanted to return it. Um, no. Besides, it is now forever enshrined as The Outfit Ember Wore When She Met Kim.

Sap Alert: You guys, Dana and I grew up together. We played house. Wrote each other letters smothered in puffy stickers. Chased boys at recess. Learned French. Sang duets. Burned many meals in her mom's kitchen. She taught me how to drive a 4-wheeler. But this? Watching my best friend hold her newborn baby girl? This takes the cake.

Here's my observation about motherhood. When baby #1 comes, the new mom is working so hard to make sure everything happens according to plan. For some, it is kind of like fumbling for a light switch in the dark. For others (like me) it is more like fumbling for a light bulb in the back of the closet wearing a clown costume. What I'm trying to say with that baby #2 is often times (not always) much easier. And while Dana breezed through the birth and adjustment after Easton came, watching her with Ember was pretty amazing.  She's amazing. And this picture below? My all time favorite picture of Dana. This moment has been there all along, for 28 years of her life, waiting to happen.

So here's to Ember.

May your beauty stand in the shadow of your compassion, generosity and kindness.

Welcome to the world baby girl.

She's Here!

We are thrilled to welcome Ember Lee Neu to the world! She arrived early this morning weighing just under 8 pounds. Baby, Mama and Dad are doing great, and Easton will be meeting his little sister shortly.

She was born on Dana's favorite day of the week: Wednesday.

More details, and pictures forthcoming. In 11 days I will get to meet her. Stay little baby girl!!

Congratulations to David, Dana and Easton on a precious bundle of joy.

Baby Love: Shelby Mae

Today's special guest on the blog is Shelby Mae. Born on May 25th, she is the answer to many prayers and belongs to some great friends. So while this post isn't exactly Life Between Friends: Dana + Kim, it still is very much about life between friends. And this is all Dana's fault. The end of her pregnancy is just around the corner and I keep trying to figure out how I'll be able to drop everything to hold her fresh baby in several short weeks! But enough about us. Here's the star of today's show.

As part of our business, I have a photography studio right in our store, and utilize the beauty of the great outdoors as much as possible. For newborn sessions, the kiddos are much more comfortable in their own home. Behind Shelby in these pictures is an old desk that sits in their front room. It made a beautiful background but didn't steal the show from this squishy sweet baby girl.

I was able to plan ahead a little for this shoot, since her mama and daddy knew she would be sporting pink. With two big brothers, its pretty certain getting a date with her will be no easy task. Thank goodness! :) This is one of my favorite shots of the day. The light spilling in through the window gives it such a peaceful feeling.

There is not a single picture of Shelby crying from our session, which is pretty unusual. She really is super calm. In fact, she let four little boys play around her all morning and was not bothered a bit. What a welcome relief!

The only thing better than a sweet baby is a sweet baby that belongs to a great friend who lets you snuggle anytime you want. The camaraderie between moms with kids of similar ages is really like nothing else. Shelby's parents came into my life after we were all parents. At the time, it was the biggest thing we had in common and someday our eldest boys will head off to Kindergarten together. (good luck Mrs. Peterson...) With Dana and me, we obviously became friends long before we became mothers. Our personalities and interest created a friendship, motherhood solidified it. We are truly blessed.

Shelby's biggest brother, Nathan, waited a long time for a baby sister and he is very thankful to have her. He is so sweet and wanted to make sure that the "bucket" was safe for his baby sister to sit in and help set it up and test it out. What a great helper.

I love me some sleeping babies.

This is the kind of picture I would enlarge and hang up in the nursery. Just a thought...

Shelby, thank you so much for sharing your family with us for a bit. You are a precious little being and loved more than you will ever know.

Hopefully soon I can get you a post filled with boys in tuxes, girls in dresses and a beautiful bride who surprisingly chose my brother to marry. Until then, happy weekend! I am not sure it could be any more perfect outside and we. are. headed. there. right. now.