five photos.

a friend of mine tagged me in a fun post on good old fb - the post is you're supposed to pick 5 photos that make you feel beautiful. i'm not sure where it started or why. at first, my thoughts were ugh i don't have time for this! but then i really started thinking about it. and i think it's a neat thing to do. we're always finding beauty in other things - our babies, our spouses, the outdoors, photos of others.....but not usually in ourselves.

so then i was kind of excited about this :) instead of post it to facebook, i thought i'd make it into a little post on the blog. it can be yourself alone, or a photo with your hubby showcasing your beauty as a wife, or maybe it reminds you of a beautiful time or place from long ago that you won't ever forget about. wherever you find beauty in yourself, share it. i think it's a great thing.

here are 5 photos i found (there were way too many pics and i'd be up all night if i went through them all). enjoy.

i love it when jae kisses me on the forehead.

it's just such a sincere, sweet kiss & it makes me feel so loved.

my daddy walking me down the aisle. he was trying not to cry 

& i was trying not to trip.

we're a lot alike and i love that.

this has always been one of my favorite pictures from our wedding day. i'm not even totally sure why, but it just captured a perfect funny but i'm going to love you forever even though you just shoved cake up my nose moment & it makes me happy :)

one of the very first moments as a family of three 

& the new momma role started setting in.

very surreal and very beautiful.

 this picture is from years ago. before jae, before marriage. it's from a time in my single-lady life when i wasn't sure what i was doing or where i wanted to go. i can appreciate this time more now because it hugely helped shape me & prepared me for things (and people) to come. like jae.

motherhood right now.

(idea taken from natalie jean)
motherhood right now means...

.gracie getting up earlier on the days i don't need to be up early than the days i do need to be up early. go figure.

.LOTS of mom carrying gracie around because heaven forbid she sits down by herself for 30 seconds while mom puts some clothes on or brushes her teeth.

.the beginning of baby pulling her cute headbands off. they're way more interesting to play with and eat then wear on our heads.

.lots of tears when it's either bath time or changing diaper time. both are pretty frightening things, turns out.

.seeing more & more the pain joy of letting your baby experiment with new foods and then having getting to clean up the aftermath. it's just beginning.

.tons of snuggles and open-mouthed kisses and bear hugs with little tiny baby arms reaching as far as they can around your neck. the BEST.

.the sippy cup with water to save the day! seriously, it entertains her for multiple minutes at a time, if necessary. lifesaver.

.many walks around the neighborhood to pass time and give momma's arms a rest from holding the baby.

.zo pup kisses, even after baby has pulled that poor dogs tail and ears a million times.

.waiting somewhat anxiously for baby to start crawling. she's moving around more when sitting or laying (she'll kind of scoot on her bum or spin herself around in circles on her belly) but no obvious signs of crawling yet. i have mixed emotions about it.

.eating lots of fruits (i think they're her fav), but still pureed. solid foods kind of gross her out still.

.feeding the dog puffs and yogurt melts and other various food particles because it's way more fun to throw them off the side of her high chair tray then actually eat them.

motherhood right now is: super sweet, tiring, exciting, rewarding, challenging.