March 31, 2014 by Stephanie

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks

Well personally, I want a big hot dog and a soft pretzel when I am at a baseball game, but that’s neither here nor there.

We love baseball in our house, which I am sure you noticed with our pregnancy announcement.

Opening day was today, and we are so pumped to have our beloved Royals back!

Tom was so pumped to get a camo KC hat!

Unfortunately, being a Royals fan comes with a lot of pain. We lost our first game today to the Tigers.

But never fear, the season is long! And I am sure we will bounce back!

We are not fair weather fans in this house!

I grew up in KC, and my mom’s house was down the street from the stadium. Many weekends we spent in the parking lot riding our bikes and watching fireworks on Fridays.

My brother and I collected baseball cards like it was our job there for a time.

We ate ice cream and applesauce out of our beloved small plastic baseball caps.

You just love the men in blue when you grow up in KC. And luckily I married a man who also loves my Royals, despite where he grew up being mostly Cardinals fans. He knows where the true sportsmanship is!

Our wedding was also unintentionally in Royals colors. Tom’s favorite color is blue and mine is yellow. That is how we picked out our wedding colors, and we soon then realized that we had matched our Royals.

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I have had so much fun over the years watching games. The Royals fans and the stadium atmosphere are top notch.

We stand behind our team no matter what.

The games are fairly cheap, and they do a great job entertaining between innings and pitches. It really is a fun time. Plus they have lots of give aways, so generally you are guaranteed some swag when you go. I can’t wait to live closer to take advantage of T-shirt Tuesdays!

Some of my Iowa favorites reuniting at the game

I had one of my bachelorette parties at a game. Seriously a fan, and I won’t hold it against my sister-in-law (pictured here) that she roots for the wrong Missouri team.

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My best friend and other half with their men, my mom, and my sister-in-law. They were keeping me distracted while Tom was on one of his Army adventures.

This was at an I-Cubs game in Des Moines, but they were playing the Royals farm team. So obviously we came decked out in blue!

My best friend and other half (two different people folks)

My dad and step mom at a game.

One of the fortunate things of my undergrad was that it was close enough to make it to some games with college friends one in awhile.

Match made in heaven with our fandom!

I think this was opening day one year with my Best Friend and Slugger!

My brother and I at a game. See wedding colors?

Tom and I were both born in 1985 when the Royals won the World Series. We were born to be Royals fans. So we are hoping that little birthing luck will be passed down to our Little Guy, and this will be a good year for our boys in blue.

If you were not aware, Lorde’s song “Royals” was inspired by the MLB Royals player George Brett. She saw a picture of him in a Royals t-shirt, and the rest of her fame is history. So it is only appropriate that someone in KC made a parody.

Do you watch baseball? Who is your team? Have you ever experienced a baseball game at the K?

March 30, 2014 by Stephanie

Something We Have Been Waiting For

I am announcing for real this time. We are ecstatic to share our news with you!

Our house will grow to 3 boys and 2 girls!

We couldn’t get them to stop drooling on the chalkboards.

So it turns out that many of the old wives tales are wrong, at least in my case. I guess our little guy is already stubborn.

Grace apparently is not excited about being outnumbered.

We are excited to move forward with planning for our little boy!

We have settled on a name which we will be sharing at a later date.

It is so nice not to call him “it” anymore!

Now enjoy some of our out-takes of our doggy photo session.

Grace was not happy about the chalkboard. She kept falling over like she was drunk.

Of course we have to bribe them with treats to sit still.

March 26, 2014 by Stephanie

Homemade Photo Backdrop

I love looking for new unique ideas to infuse into my photography.

One of those ways is with backdrops.

I like simple and classic backdrops that aren’t going to distract from the subject, but instead add to it subtly.

I saw something like this on Pinterest, and Tom and I were sure we could make it.

We got lumber and the laminate at Lowes. We got a great deal on the laminate, and we were able to get the look exactly like I wanted.

I thought I got pictures of the building process, but I can’t seem to find them.

We built a frame with basic 2X4s first. We wanted it to be fairly sturdy.

We got the interlocking flooring. Once pieced together, we secured it to the base.

The back and bottom are two separate pieces. Tom made it so it can come apart for easy storing.

There are two like this on the back. You just lift the screw up and you can take the two apart.

I really do like the sturdiness of this, but it can be a little bulky. I want to start looking for other vinyl flooring or paper that I could roll up. There is some great durable and thick fabric I have seen but it’s fairly pricey. This set up was really cheap to make since we found a lot of it on sale.

Here is some of my work with this backdrop.

Baby 4

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I was able to fit a family of four on it to do some indoor shots, but I will mostly use it for kids. I really want to focus eventually on infant/child photography and the size is perfect for that.

March 25, 2014 by Stephanie

What Are You Having?

I am having a baby. Duh…

This is one of the most common questions behind “How are you feeling?”

First of all, sex and gender are two different things. Sex has to do with anatomy, gender has to do with the person’s decision of how they would like to be identified. Sex is biology, whereas gender is more focused on cultural norms and identity. Or at least this is how I have interpreted it; society seems to think differently than I do with all these “gender reveal parties.”

So yesterday we found out the sex of Baby W.

I successfully didn’t open the envelope before I got home to open it with Tom. This was an intense couple hours of waiting!

We wanted to find out for a few reasons. Finding out for us, makes the baby more real. We are still in a state of shock most days that this baby is actually happening. We could put a name to our ninja baby, instead of calling by “it” or various pet names. Finding out for us means that we can connect more to this little nugget. We aren’t really changing how we plan and what we buy for the baby since we are staying pretty neutral. But knowing something about our baby, allows us to come together more as a family. It may sound weird, but it was what worked for us. I know many people who are surprised during labor, and that works for them. I think this is a decision that is up to each couple, and we should respect why they decide to find out or not. As long as they are going to love that child no matter the outcome!

Plus finding out ends our name debate. We can finally focus on what we are going to call this little human. This is the hardest thing for Tom and I! (This topic is a post for another day.)

You will have to come back this Sunday for the big reveal on Baby W.

I know I am cruel.

I thought it would be fun to see how accurate some old wives tales are on predicting the sex of babies. (I stole this idea from Alex at Munchkins and the Military.)

I got these from this site. Some of them were kind of odd, so I didn’t use all of them.

Rumor has it that if you are carrying your baby high, it’s a girl. Carrying low? Stock up on blue. Similar tales say if you carry in front, you’ve got yourself a little boy, and if you expand horizontally, it’s a girl. I can’t really tell on this one. I have only filled out in front a little, so I am going to say BOY.
Legends say that if you are having a little girl, she’ll steal your beauty. So, if you’ve got acne and other not-so-pretty skin blemishes, you’ve got a little princess coming your way. Dry hands and cold feet are signs of a boy. So, if you’ve got these ailments, break out the baby blue. I have had acne really bad for me, and no changes in my hands or feet. GIRL.
Your baby’s heart rate might be an indicator of its gender. If your little one’s heart rate is under 140 beats per minute, you’re having a little boy. If it’s over, get ready for your little girl! The heartbeat has been in the 170s until yesterday when it was 156. GIRL.
Craving sweets? According to some, that means your going to have a little girl. Salty and sour cravings indicate a boy. I have really only craved meat and peanut butter. I guess the peanut butter puts me on the side of BOY.
Chinese Predictor I have put it in by both conception date and due date, and they both come up GIRL.
The Mayans used a similar method. They looked at your age at conception and the year your baby was conceived. If both are even or odd, it’s a girl. If one is even and one is odd, oh baby — it’s a boy! At conception both Tom and I were 28, and it was 2013. BOY.
Morning sickness means pink. If you’re stricken with a queasy stomach during your first trimester, think ribbons and bows. If you sail through your pregnancy with nary an upset stomach, it’s blue all the way. As you all know, I have been so sick. GIRL.

So according to all of these “predictors” we are having a girl. Wouldn’t you like to know if it is correct?! Come back Sunday to see which of these are right!

What do you think we are having? (Family and friends who already know keep quiet!)

March 24, 2014 by Stephanie

Talks with Tom #21

We went to Noodles and Company yesterday. This particular location has only one way to get in, but it is really obnoxious and through a busy thoroughfare. There is an exit only lane that is much easier to access, and each time we go there I think I am making a quick entry by using this lane. And each time I have this “Oh shoot” hesitation as I go through the “Do Not Enter” lane.

This was Tom’s response when I panicked that I was going the wrong way.

Tom-What is Noodles and Company going to do? Write you a spaghetti ticket?

We also had a conversation about arcade games that we want in our future game room.

Tom-I really want the original Ninja Turtle arcade game.

Me-Did you hear they are making a new movie?

Tom-Yes, Megan Fox is going to be April.

Me-Oh really? I didn’t know that.

Tom-Were you seriously trying to dump Ninja Turtle news on me? I am a member of very Ninja Turtle fan page. Seriously.

I learn something about Tom every day.