One of the things that I try to do a couple of times in the off season is share some shots that either I or others have taken of us. We spent time with my sweet friend Sawyer Baird back in the fall and I love these images of our family so much. They are already on the wall in canvas form. 🙂

These little boys are growing like weeds. read more

I had hoped to get to this posted long before now, but I am now and mom of 3… and it’s no joke. THREE still sounds so crazy to me! ‘Baby Knox’ as his big brothers affectionately call him, came into our life on February 23rd at 11:41am after a long, LONG, 15hr labor. I am not going to go into his birth story now mainly because it was incredibly difficult for me and even reliving it through writing is not something I really want to do. For now. Hopefully I will have to energy to write about it in the next few weeks. Although his labor was my toughest yet, Knox has been a dream since… He regularly sleeps 4.5-5 hr stretches at night and is just a super chill baby. As long as he is not hungry or tired, he likes to sit back and watch the craziness that is his family. I love him so much already.

I’ll be honest. Having 3 has been a pretty tough transition for us. When Canaan came along and Oli was only 15 months, everyone told us how hard it would be at first. Yet, it was surprisingly easy… we got into a good routine with them and settled into life with two pretty quickly. So when I got pregnant with Knox, although we did not plan to have another baby that soon, I thought things would be the same way. Not. At. All.  Knox is a great baby but still has to be fed every 2.5-3hrs and there are only 2 of us, at times just 1… me. And 3 of them. I think my biggest struggle is consistently feeling like someone is being neglected and not being able to tend to all three at one time. I think it is probably more me than them though. Oli and Canaan have both fallen in love with their baby brother and love to give him kisses constantly. Although this has been a tough transition, we are slowly but surely getting there and I  love that these three boys are going to grow up so close in age. I pray daily that they’ll best friends for life.

Just a little about Knox’s name since it was a pretty unique experience this time… Both of my other boys have family names as their middle name and we had originally planned the same for Knox. But, a couple days before Knox’s due date some of our closest friends from our church, our Pastor’s family, unexpectedly lost their 13 year old son, Ezekiel. This was obviously devastating for them but also for our entire church family as we are a very close knit group. Matt and I had never gone through anything like this as a married couple, it was such a rough week and it still very hard at times. All the while I was hoping and waiting for a baby to come along. So on my due date Matt and I went to run some errands while his mom watched the boys. At lunch we both shared with each other how God had put it on our hearts separately to change Knox’s middle name to Ezekiel. At that time, we agreed to continue to pray about it and make the final decision when he was born. Soon after this conversation, Steve (Ezekiel’s dad) posted about some things he had found on Ezekiel’s iPod. I read the post with tears streaming down my face in awe of how a 13 year old boy could write such profound things. God had clearly captured his heart. I knew from that moment that I not only wanted to name Knox after Ezekiel to honor Zeke’s memory, but I also wanted to teach all 3 of my boys about the young man Ezekiel was for years to come in hopes that they too would have some of the same Godly qualities. What a role model Ezekiel is for them. Here is a small excerpt from what Steve shared,

“And then he wrote his goals in life. There were only six…but they were all so profound. 1. Be a great dad one day 2. Be the man my dad thinks I am. 3. Be a man that doesn’t think about himself but others first 4. Believe that if I trust in The Lord I will be in paradise 5. Be inspirational to other people 6. Remember that everything I have is because of the Lord. He entitled this document “Things I will do if I have a good life.”

If you would like to read the entire post it can be found here.

So if you’ve made it this far, here are a few more pics I shot in the hospital of our precious new guy, Knox Ezekiel Tucker.

Here is Knox at a week old.

And of course no post is complete without a couple shots of my big boys. Love them so much.

Once I finished my last portrait session before maternity leave, I got pretty inspired to start tackling some personal work. First up, my niece Emerson at 6 months old! This girl is definitely the little princess in our family, which I don’t mind because because that means my little sister had to give up her princess title. 😉 Emmie is now sitting up, smiling all the time and drooling like crazy! We did an impromptu session at my house a couple of weeks ago and I love these images of our little Cabbage Patch doll. Now that I’ve started rolling, I have some pretty lofty goals on getting personal sessions edited, so look for more images of my family coming soon. Enjoy!

Natural childbirth is not for the faint of heart. I thought going through a natural childbirth of my own was hard (and it was), but it was not until I saw my 4-foot 11-inch, 100lb sister going through it that I really saw what enduring pain was. It is so hard to see someone you love be in so much pain with the knowledge that you can do nothing about it. Phew…. Amy’s labor was LOOONNGGG and trying. She would go through literal hours of contractions and only dilate 1cm. Amy labored until 9cm dilated then just stoped dilating and finally agreed to an epidural after being told it was that or cesarean was highly likely. We arrived at the hospital at 11pm on Sunday night and my sweet niece Emerson was born at 3:38pm on Monday afternoon. Not a wink of sleep was had by anyone since Sunday morning, so needless to say we were exhausted but so overjoyed that Emerson Marie Carter had finally arrived. 6lb 12oz, 19″, and so loved.

I am by no means a birth photographer but I did enjoy capturing some of the moments of this incredible experience. Amy has not yet seen these pics although I do have permission to post them! Thank you Amy & Brian for leting me be in on such an incredible experience, it is one I will not soon forget. Say tuned for Emerson’s sweet newborn pictures coming soon.

Today marks 3 years since the day Matt and I said ‘I do’. Time has truly flown and yet in so many ways I feel like we have been together forever. This might be because we have actually known each other 11 years, or it could be because SO.MANY.THINGS have happened in the last 3 years. Like big, life changing things.  Looking back, it is hard to believe we have fit it all in.  In this small amount of time we have managed to-

Get married, Matt work in 2 different jobs, start this business, have our first child, have our 2nd child & live in 2 different homes.

I don’t think I would mind if the next three years were a little less eventful but no less joyful. The time I have been married to this man has been the best of my life. I pray every day that this time would go slow, when we are young, when our babies are small, because all I hear from those who have gone before us is that we will always look back on these days as the best of our life. I am sure that is true to a point, but as long as I am with my husband (partner, best friend, everything…), I really feel like I will be looking to the future with joy. Ultimately, my satisfaction is in the Lord and I am thankful that Matt would have it no other way, but I am truly thankful that God would see fit for Matt to walk beside me in these days on earth.

In addition to the many life events, we have also had SO MANY photo-shoots in the past few years. Each of them commemorated a significant event and I believe deeply in capturing as many moments as possible on camera. So I thought I would share one picture from each of our professional photos shoots since we got engaged. It was super fun digging up these pictures and I hope you enjoy.

To my love- I am so thankful for the Godly man that you are, how hard you work for our family and what an incredible dada you are to our boys. I pray that the next 30 years would be only half as fun as these first 3. We are truly blessed. I love you!

Engagement- Oct 2009 Photo by The Schultzes

Married- March 19th, 2010   Photo by The Schultzes

Pregnant with Oliver- June  2011   Photo by Rachel of Millie Holloman Photography

Oliver’s birth- August 10th, 2011  Photo by Red White and Green Photography

Family Portraits, Oli 6 months- March 2012  Photo by Heather Fink Photography

Pregnant with Canaan- Oct. 2012  Photo by Heather Fink Photography

Canaan’s birth- Nov. 11th, 2012  Photo by Heather Fink Photography

Family Portraits, Oli 18 months Canaan 3 months   Photo by Rachel Red Photography

I can’t believe how fast the last two weeks have gone by. It was just yesterday that I thought I would be pregnant FOREVER and this guy would never make an appearance, and now we could not imagine life without him. Here is a little bit about how he came into the world…

Canaan’s birth was the complete opposite of Oliver’s birth. This is a very good thing since I labored with Oli for about 12 hours. I was at a wedding (as a guest) the Saturday night before Canaan was born celebrating friends and even doing a little dancing, but I felt no signs that he might soon be on the way. But at 3:30am Sunday morning I woke up from a dream that I was feeling pain and in fact I was, about every 7-10 minutes to be exact. I woke Matt up and we timed the contractions for a short while. I came to the conclusion that although the contractions seemed regular, they were not painful enough to get me out to bed so I would just go back to sleep and if they continued I would know it was the real thing. I only got about 30 more minutes of sleep and things were definitely getting worse. I woke Matt up again about 5:15am and by this time I knew we would be headed to the hospital at some point. My contractions were definitely 5 minutes apart lasting for a minute or longer, so we decided if they continued at this rate by 6am we would call my midwife. At 5:58am I couldn’t bare to be in the bed any longer so I went ahead and got up to take a shower and get ready for the hospital. You may be wondering why we weren’t in a huge hurry, but my labor with Oli was so slow that I just had it in my head to take it slow so I would not get to the hospital too early. Matt called the OB office and let them know what was going on with my labor. About 6:30am I got a call back from my midwife, she asked me a few more questions and seeing that I could not talk during contractions (only breathe through them) she told me we needed to leave for the hospital NOW and that 2nd babies come lots faster. Matt was in the shower at this time so I let him know that they wanted us to go to the hospital immediately. We still had a few packing things to do as well as get Oliver’s carseat in my mom’s car but we finally made it out about 7am. At this point the contractions very intense and I told Matt that it would be a dream come true to be 7cm when we got to the hospital but I was probably about a 5. We arrived and were checked in by 7:30am and the nurse soon let me know that I was in fact 7cm! Some of you may know that we had a natural birth plan for Oli, but I ended up needing the epidural at 9cm because of the long labor and Oliver’s loss of oxygen toward the end. I was not dead set on a natural this time because I knew how my last one went, but when I saw how fast the labor was going, I knew we could do it this time which was very exciting for me. It was only an hour and a half of laboring until I had reached 10cm and was ready to push. Pushing was the only thing I had not felt with Oli and so this was going to be new for me and boy was it difficult! We soon learned when Canaan was born after about 30 minutes of pushing that things were so difficult because Canaan was 1.5 lbs larger than Oliver and 2 inches longer! He was born at 8:58am. I am so thankful that Canaan’s birth could be natural although I still say labor is one of worst things ever. But as my Memaw told me, and this will always stick- ‘Labor pains are some of the easiest pains to forget’. SO true, I forget more and more every time look at this sweet face.

Oli has done amazing with his little brother. I was very concerned that he would get jealous and act out toward Canaan but I can honestly say that he has so much love for his brother already. He has kissed Canaan  more than any of the rest of us combined and when C cries, Oli takes him whatever he thinks might make him feel better whether it’s toys, paci’s or anything else. Here is Oli meeting Canaan for the first time. Melt my heart…

This baby has been so precious to me. He slept 5hrs the 3rd night he was home and has really had no trouble as of yet adjusting to life outside the womb as of yet. My entire pregnancy I struggled with feelings that I would love Oliver more b/c I couldn’t imagine loving another baby as much as I love him. But just because I couldn’t imagine it does not mean it was there, now I have TWO that I love this much.

God has truly been good to us.

It has been forever since I posted about anything personal, mostly because I have been swamped with work. I am going to try to get better about it, promise! So what better place to start than my little monkey’s first birthday? Oli actually had 2 birthday parties this year. If you know me, you know that this is not uncommon at all, birthdays are a pretty big deal in our home. His first party was for him and his little friend, Adelai. You may remember that they were born on the same day and are pretty good buddies. Here is a little mini-session I did with the two of them when they were much smaller. Heather and I put a lot of work into this party and we had another photographer shoot the party. We should have those images back any time now and I will get them posted.

Oli’s second party was a really just a small get together for immediately family  to celebrate. My grandmother had already bought Oliver a little Thomas the Train and he LOVES it, so we decided to gear the party around that. It was an awesome weekend celebrating our little man, the only downside was that unfortunately he was feeling pretty under the weather for both parties. He was not his outgoing self that he usually is, but I think he had a lot of fun anyway.

We love you little man! We are more thankful for you than you can ever know. I have smiled more this first year of your life than I have in all my previous 28 years combined. The Lord has used you to bring so much joy to mine and your daddy’s life.

When Oli woke from his afternoon nap, everyone was waiting for him to make his grand entrance, which he did of course on Thomas the Train. As you can see, he was pretty surprised to see everyone there. 🙂

This next moment was the most memorable part of Oliver’s birthday. I got him off Thomas and he just stood there and started walking toward me! He had never taken a step before this and had barley stood on his own. I think he was so overwhelmed by the people that he just started walking without even noticing. Within a week he was doing circles around our house. I love that I got this on camera!

A little unsure about the cake at first, but it didn’t take him long to discover how yummy it was!

I love this sweet smile.

Saying, ‘all done’!

Three days, one newborn session, one family session, two weddings… makes for one tired pregnant photographer. And one baby who is getting lots of cuddles on this Monday.

With all the sessions I have been shooting lately, it is hard to beleive there was time to fit in a session with me in FRONT of the camera. Thanks to the lovely fellow photographer but more importantly FRIEND, Cheyenne Schultz of The Schultzes, I was able to finally get some real life head shots taken. She was so gracious to make this happen before I blow up like a whale (again). Here are a few of my favorite shots!

Make sure to click around the website to see these new shots, as well as some other updates and changes!

Stay tuned tomorrow for an extra long sneak peek and Dayna & Mikes Wedding coming at the end of the week!

A couple of months ago, Oli and i got together with my friend Heather and more importantly (for Oli) her daughter, my little guy’s main squeeze… Adelai. I have been waiting for the right time to share these photos and I think Valentines Day is perfect!

I know I have mentioned Adelai and Oliver’s special relationship before but in case you didn’t know, Oliver and Adelai were born on the same day- 8-10-11. Not only that but their mommies had the same due date of 8-4-11, are both photographers and go to the same church. So Oli and Adelai get to see A LOT of one another and we don’t think they mind it one bit. It has been so great seeing their little baby personalities come out… Oli is the laid-back pensive type, always observing his surroundings, but he does NOT mind letting you know how he feels at all times (with pterodactyl-like squeals). Adelai on the other hand is the soft spoken, toe pointing, always on the go busy little bee. If opposites really do attract, these 2 might actually fulfill their parent’s dreams and end up together.

I can’t get over how precious our two little monkeys look in their cloth diapers. Oliver is on the right and Adelai is on the left in the next image. Heather and I both shot these photos. Make sure to check her out at Heather Fink Photography.

a little behind the scenes action.

This post is coming a little late seeing that Halloween was a couple of weeks ago… When I’m busy with back to back sessions and editing, I don’t get much time to work on images from my own life and it seems that things have been that way since Oliver was born. Hence, the 5 pictures in his album on facebook. So last night I took the time to prepare these adorable images from Halloween week for the blog and I LOVE how they turned out!

*Make sure to scroll to the bottom to see Oli’s Halloween costume.

It was my friend Heather’s idea to carve the pumpkin and put the babies inside. Oliver’s little friends Adelai and Haddon got inside the pumpkin for pictures as well, check out Heather’s blog for those shots. Because there was so much to take in, and because Oli had never been inside a pumpkin before, he just wouldn’t give us a good smile no matter how ridiculous my sister would act. He just sat back and observed the the world around him, but I love all his little expressions anyway:).

Here is our little golfer man on Halloween. I just might turn out to be one of those moms who does the handmade Halloween costume with clothes from home. I tried ordering a Scarecrow costume in an infant size but when we received it, it was literally big enough for a four year old, so I had to wing it… and I’m pretty happy about how it turned out.

Words can’t express how much Matt and I love this little guy. He is such a joy to us and we love acting completely crazy just to hear his sweet laugh. Hopefully as the season calms down, I’ll be share more pics of our little cutie!