A Mother and Her Belly

This is Brittany.

She is a soon-to-be-mother.

This is Andy, her husband.

(Andy and I were in the same grade in high school. Bart and Andy were best friends growing up.)

Don't they make a cute couple?

I can already tell this baby is gonna be a cutie.

I had so much fun taking photos of this girl, and her beautiful belly. Such a pleasure to photograph...and I told her every chance I could get.

Britt:

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to document your first pregnancy. You are gonna love being a mom, and I know you're gonna be good at it. I can't wait to meet the little guy, and have him and Jack grow up together, just like their Daddies did. :)

Updates Soon.

So this is Jack lately.

Doesn't he look so grown up?

I still can't get over it.

These wonderful photos were taken by my new neighbor, who I just found out is a professional photographer. I knew I liked him before (he has a sweet accent), but it was confirmed when he brought out his Nikon D700 at a neighborhood BBQ we attended last Sunday. We immediately spoke of photography and he gave me some tips and tricks. He's so kind to put up with my amateur questions.

Just the other day one of my dearest friends sent me an email asking for an update on my life...asking about events that happened long ago, that I never filled her in on.

What a good friend she is...

what I horrible friend I am.

Leanne, I hope to give you some updates on us soon...through the blog and the return email I have yet to finish. :) Remember you have to be patient with me.

Things to come:

Jack in the past few months, including:

birthday party

hospital trip

new eating habits

all around cuteness

"A-day-in-the-life" of Ashlee riding her bike to work

Photo session with my niece

Photo session with a beautiful soon-to-be mommy

I think that about covers it.

Becoming a Health Nut

I've been into becoming "healthy" lately.

This comes as no surprise since I get into this phase quite often...but I'm hoping it sticks this time. For example:

Bart gave me this for my birthday:

Beautiful, isn't it?

I'm in love with it. It is now my only form of transportation for work. That's right, I ride this beauty everyday to and from work as my form of exercise. I only live about 5 miles away from my work, but still...for a couch potato like me...its a huge work-out.

I bought this book from Border's on Friday (half off, thank you very much):

And so far, I've learned a lot about how my body processes food...and how my appetite comes from chemicals in my brain. It's super interesting. What I love most is that it teaches me how to be and stay healthy (no gimmicks, crash diets, or amazing miracle pills) instead of saying "this is what you need to do...just trust us". You have to teach a man to fish, right?

Although I do trust Dr. Oz. He looks pretty healthy to me.

And lastly, I've actually been paying attention to those annoying Nutrition Facts on the back of food packages lately. You know, these pesky little things:

For the most part it's been depressing...learning that all the things I used to eat were quite bad for me. But once I got past the "I'm going to starve since NOTHING is good for me" stage, I was able to find great alternatives. Lots of fruits and veggies have come into my life, including an oh-so-yummy salad that I just ate today.

It included:

• Spring Salad Mix (3 cups)


• Half an Avacado (small to medium size)


• Grilled chicken (with Costco's Sweet Mesquite seasoning) (half cup chopped)


• Three Cheese Vinaigrette Dressing (from Fresh & Easy) (2 tbls)

It was 300 calories of pure heaven! And for how much I ate, it was a feast.

So I'm really hoping this phase sticks this time, so I can finally loose those last couple pounds of baby fat I can't seem to get rid of. And so I don't have to be so doctor dependent later in my life...because I hate going to the doctor.

Happy healthy eating my friends!