Penny's Six Month Photos/Our Family Pictures!

remember Penny's adorable newborn photos?

well, the amazing Shannon Leigh Studios has created magic again...

I mean, could she BE any cuter?!

Also, Shannon was amazing enough to capture some family shots of us - here are three of my favorites!

aren't they great?

If you're in the Atlanta area and looking for a newborn/child photographer we have nothing but AMAZING things to say about Shannon Leigh Studios! Shannon is amazing and so great to work with! 

Sarasota Sunshine: Days 3 & 4...

[check out our first two days of vacation here]
so after the holiday party friday night - we woke up saturday morning feeling a liiiiiittttttle under the weather [ahem, hungover]. of course, Penny wanted nothing to do with it. she was WIDE AWAKE and ready to play...

we headed out to brunch with my mom and then from there walked around downtown Sarasota a bit, hit up the farmers market [which we LOVED, if you are ever in Sarasota on a Saturday morning definitely check it out!]

then we headed off to the beach for a bit and took in the beautiful sunset...

from there we headed to dinner and walked around St. Armands Circle (thanks Melissa for the recommendations!). we headed back to the hotel, put PJ down and hung out for a bit and then crashed. The next day we woke up and met our friends Mike & Carin for brunch and met their son Mason (aka Penny's future boyfriend). It was a blast to hangout with them for a bit, swap baby war stories and just catchup.

such a fun and relaxing weekend! we had a great (but exhausting) trip home and by the time we landed in ATL Ms. P was down for the count!

luckily she went down easily when we got home and wasn't thrown off too bad from the trip as far as her schedule, mood, eating, etc. Thanks Sarasota for the sunshine & relaxation! DJ has already been back since our trip and I'm looking forward to getting back there sometime in the Spring (more time on the beach, yes please!).

fingers crossed it's sooner rather than later! I would do anything to be in a warm sunny location rather than rainy cold and grey Atlanta right now! BRRRRR... is it Spring yet? anyways, happy almost last saturday night (sunday morning?) of 2012!

Sarasota Sunshine: Days 1 & 2...

earlier this month we took a fun family vaca to sunny Sarasota, FL! we went down for DJ's holiday party and to spend some time with my mom - it was win-win. My mom hadn't seen Penny since she was a week old so it was so fun to watch them together and for her to see how much P had grown/changed in six months. Also, since DJ works remotely it was great for him to spend some time in the "office" and for me to meet his co-workers!

here are the highlights of our trip - there are a LOT of pictures so I decided to break the posts up... get ready...

first up, the flights! yup, it was P's first flight and she was a little champ! she did great the first flight. I nursed during take-off and landing and she slept for the majority of the flight, the second flight was not bad - she wouldn't nurse during landing and cried for the last five minutes or so before we landed but hey, could be worse!

on the plane --

we had a quick lunch with DJ before he headed off to work...

I headed off and checked into the hotel... BEAUTIFUL. just what we needed!

then PJ and I headed to Target to pick-up the essentials (diapers, wipes, baby yogurt, etc.) that I didn't want to fly with. P was beat and she took a little siesta in her stroller (ermahgawd - her thighs)....

we had a relaxing dinner with some of DJ's coworkers that night and then put P down -- we got a little creative... bathroom, nursery? all the same!

the next day we met up with my mom and she was smitten from the start...

mom spent some QT with PJ while I got a much needed haircut...

and then, off we went to the holiday party - which was a blast! so fun to dress-up and have a fun night out on the town (thanks grandma for babysitting)!

so those were our first two nights in Sarasota - another post with our next day of vaca coming up soon!

Max is 2!

wow. time is flying by... our sweet nephew Max turned two this past weekend! it feels like yesterday that we were flying to Georgia for our wedding shower and to meet sweet Max just weeks after he was born...

then we saw him in October of 2010 and he was even bigger...

(gah! his sweet cheeks remind me of Penny's in this picture!)

...and this time last year we celebrated his first birthday... so sweet! 

one of the biggest reasons I'm so happy we moved to Georgia is that we're near our family and we get to spend so much quality time with them and watch these sweet babes grow up (and that Penny can grow up with her cousins)!

...AND of course - I left my camera at Mat and Summer's house so I don't have pictures from Max's birthday (coming soon) but I will leave with you of a few recent pictures of our favorite little steamroller!

what a sweetie, huh??

birthday party pics celebrating our favorite newly turned 2 year old... coming soon! 

our first father's day...

[father's day 2012 - june 17, 2012]

happy [first] father's day to my best friend, my love, and the best daddy in the world! 

happy father's day danny j! 

Penny and I love you so much and we're so lucky to have you in our lives! 

I'm so lucky to have someone as caring, giving and supportive as a husband and Penny is lucky to have such a hard-working, loving and dedicated daddy!

clearly, these two are quite smitten with each other...

I think we have a daddy's girl in the making on our hands...

[can you blame her?]

...and I think someone is going to be wrapped around his little girl's finger... 

[can you blame him?]

...and me? 

I just love them both so much!

[can you blame me?]

introducing samuel martin...

samuel martin

born 3.4.2012, 4:33am

8lbs 13 ounces, 20.5 inches

exciting news in our little world! our newest baby nephew [aka sweet pea's future best friend] was born over the weekend! Mat & Summer came to hunker down with us and the fam over the weekend due to the storms that were looking not too hot over their neighborhood - so we were lucky enough to spend some QT with them before all the excitement took place.. we even made a "birth"day cake in hopes that we would be able to celebrate our nephews birth the next day [and because we all like cake] - and it worked! when I went to bed at midnight on Saturday Summer was monitering her contractions and her and Mat were talking through the possibility of going to the hospital - when I woke up at 7:30 I had a text from Mat saying that the newest "baby j" had been brought into the world!

we were so excited to go over and spend sometime with them the past two days when they were in the hospital and to say DJ and I are in love with little Sam is an understatement - he's so perfect and sweet and it makes me even more excited for sweet pea to join us so I can marvel over her perfection.  in case you're wondering why I didn't blog about this baby boy yesterday ["is your dog really more important of a baby boy than your nephew?!"] it's because they were still deciding on a name and I wanted to wait to announce this little bundle of joy until we had a perfect name to go with his perfect little face, checks, fingers and toes!

welcome to the world samuel martin, we love you so much!

this post also makes me nostaligic of when we met sweet max, he was so little and the smallest baby I had ever seen or touched until well, this weekend.