I have noticed that when a blog is 1. personal and 2. very close to my heart- I put it off and put it off in thought that eventually it will be there perfect time on the perfect day at the perfect moment to share it… well, the problem there is that perfection is overrated and if I wait for perfection things will never get done!! 

Seriously though, I am 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant so if I dont share this today then there is a good chance that you’ll see an actual photo of Baby H before you see the images from our maternity session!!

Ok so where do I begin- um- amazing?  Cry worthy?  (Literally had me in tears) Gorgeous? Everything I could have hoped for and more??  Those are all accurate statements to describe the images that I am about to share.

Let me first say that these images were so very important to me.  Pregnancy has been such a beautiful experience and I have truly enjoyed this season of life more than I ever dreamed possible.  You hear A LOT of horror stories about pregnancies and woman that had horrible experiences…  Its a little bit terrifying and intimidating… I was almost convinced that the moment I became pregnant I was going to be an unrecognizable, miserable person!

Fortunately for me, I had such a beautiful pregnancy. Overall I felt great, I was mentally prepared for the symptoms I was experiencing, and there was so much joy in my heart that I literally couldn’t muster up much of a complaint even for those symptoms because I know how fortunate I was to be so blessed with an overall easy pregnancy.

With that being said- as excited as we are to meet her- I know that part of me will miss this feeling of having our sweet girl growing in side of me.  The beatify about photography is that you’re able to relive a moment over and over again each time that you look back at the images- so I knew that this session had to be perfect because I would cherish the images just as much as I cherish our wedding photos!!

Ashley Powell is such a dear friend of mine.  Our relationship is one that has blossomed from nonexistent to amazingly close in only about a years time.  Literally I met her for the first time in June of 2015 and we didn’t talk much again until this past January and suddenly a beautiful friendship grew!  

She is a milestone photographer and her work is just so gorgeous!!  To top that off, she lives in Roanoke and the mountains have always held such a special place in my heart so I knew from the very beginning without questions that all signs pointed to our maternity session being held with her!  Of course she was more than ecstatic when I asked and that made me even more excited to work with her because she was already so joyful about the session and we hadn’t even began to talk about the details!!

Brad and I planned such a short trip for this August session- a 4 hour drive out, a sunset session followed by a dinner date with friends, an overnight stay at The Hotel Roanoke, an early wake up call, and a 4 hour drive back home!  Yes, it was literally less than a 24 hour trip!!  BUT in the midst of busy season for me and a busy work schedule for him- it was necessary and we made it happen!! 

I was 30 weeks pregnant when we took these images and its funny to think back on because 40 weeks seemed like it was forever away at that point and yet here I am expecting our baby girl’s arrival at any moment!!

I try so hard to maintain a positive attitude no matter how I am feeling but I’m sure that all moms can relate when I say that that becomes increasingly difficult at 39 weeks pregnant haha.  Im uncomfortable, I havent slept well for weeks (seriously 3 am and I are bff’s for real because I’m wide awake from that point on), and I feel like my emotions are all over the place! 

The crib has been put together for weeks, her cloths are clean folded and organized, her diapers and all of the things are lined up and our hospital bag is packed, ready to go, and has been checked about 20 times! 

We are so ready to meet this sweet girl!!!  With all of that being said, I know that this last week or so of pregnancy is something that I should be so grateful for and believe me when I say that I am cherishing ever little baby kick because it is a gift that so many aren’t as fortunate as we are to experience. 

I am blessed to have had such an amazing pregnancy, blessed to have a healthy baby girl growing each and every day, and so blessed to have experienced one of the most amazing gifts of my life!

My husband has been such an amazing support system the last 9 months.  He has been a calm and steady shoulder to lean on when I begin to feel overwhelmed.  He has been there for me every day in every way whether I was having a great day and feeling amazing or having a weird day in which I was a sick, emotion wreck! 

I love him so much to begin with, but this entire experience has only made me fall even more in love with him… The beauty there is that I honestly thought that there was no way I could love him more, and yet here we are about to welcome this sweet girl into the world and my heart melts like you would not believe over how amazing my husband is.  He’s so good to me and going to be the most amazing daddy to our little girl.  I could cry just thinking about the two of them together already!!

The beauty of our session is that Ashley not only captured my sweet baby belly so beautifully, but she also captured Brad and I’s love for each other in a way that I have never seen photographed before.  Every image, every laugh, ever nuzzle- oh my heart is so full looking at each and every image because each and every image shows our relationship so perfectly.

I know that eventually I will write a blog post about my experience with pregnancy and all those fun details combined with being an entrepreneur and I’m sure I will blog about my new adventures of being a mom- but thats all another post for another day.. 

For now I want to savor these last few days of being pregnant and just enjoy this season of life that is soon to come to a close.  These images are such a good way to reflect on the last 9 months of our life and are a perfect gateway to an even more amazing season ahead.  My favorite images from our session are below!!

Images by Ashley Powell Photography

www.ashleypowellphotography.com

Instagram @ashleypowellphotography