Our Anniversary :)

I have been married to my sweet husband 2 years today!! I cannot believe that it has gone by soooo quickly. It seems like just yesterday that I was counting down the days to our wedding. I absolutely could not wait to marry to him! We were engaged for 9 months and I thought it was the longest 9 months of my life. But the day finally arrived and it was even more perfect than I imagined. I wanted to share some pictures of our very special day :)

 

Our Wedding Bands and Program

My Dress!! 

 

My sweet Sorority Sister Elizabeth did my hair! She stayed with me all day to make sure my hair was perfect at every moment!! Thanks Elizabeth!!!

Getting ready :) I was soooo excited!

 

 

 

This is right before Nathan saw me for the first time :)

He looked so handsome!! 



 

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!

 

 Our florist Justin Myrick was AMAZING!! I loved absolutely everything he did :) This is the beautiful bouquet he made for me!

 

Isn't that veil BEAUTIFUL!! This was my "Something Borrowed" from some very special family members :)

 

Nathan doing one of his favorite things :)

 This is not really my favorite picture of me. . . but I love it of Nate! He is such a cutie :)

 

This is us with my mom and dad!!

 

I love my dad!!

 

Me and my mom! Doesn't she look stunning :) September 23 is also her birthday and she was kind enough to share this day with us forever! Happy Birthday Mom!! I love you!!

 

Here are all my beautiful Bridesmaids!!

 

Bridesmaids and Groomsmen!

 

The country club we got married at is right on the river. And it is an absolutely gorgeous place! We were so lucky with the weather that day. It actually rained a little earlier that morning but was beautiful for the rest of the day. I can still remember what it felt like outside :) Here are some more pictures of me in front of the river!

 

This was taken right before the ceremony started. I was looking at all of the guests arriving! We were extremely blessed to have so many family and friends there!

 

 My dad walking me down the aisle (or stairs at this point haha). I love this picture of us :)

 

 Getting Married!!

 

 The moms!

 

Here we are saying our vows. My grandfather did this part of our ceremony. It was really special having him participate in marrying us!

 

The exchanging of rings :) We were so lucky to have our close friend officiate the ceremony for us! Thanks for everything Chad!

You may now kiss your bride!!!

 

Mr. & Mrs. !!!!!!

 

 Right after the ceremony!

 

 Our First Dance!

 

Cutting Nathan's Alabama Stadium Cake!

 

Cutting my Cake!!

 

 Here is a better picture of my cake!!And I LOVED it!! A very special friend of mine made this cake for me!! She was so generous to spend the time on it that she did. . .and I know it took a long time!! Thanks Rhonda for making the cake of my dreams :)

 

 

We had such a great time!!!

 

My sweet friend/bridesmaid Laurie caught my bouquet!!! She got engaged 2 months later and married in June!!! I guess there really is something to the "catching of the bouquet" ;)

 Singing Happy Birthday to my mom!!

 

Enjoying the last few minutes of the reception :)



 

About to leave!! Because our wedding was in the fall and on the weekend of an Alabama game we left to shakers!! (and no we didn't get married during the game. . .our wedding was on a Friday night)

 

JAMAICA Here We Come!!! Oh, and ROLL TIDE!!

 

 Very Special Thank You's to:

 

My sweet cousin Bailey!! She coordinated the entire wedding! Mom and I couldn't have done it without her!! I told her at the beginning the "look" that I wanted. . .and she came through times a million!!! Thank you Bailey for all the time you spent making our wedding perfect!! I appreciate it more than you will ever know :)

 

My Photographer Wes!!! I don't have a picture to show because he was BEHIND the camera literally ALL day!!! Thank you Wes for making our wedding day last beyond the day of September 23, 2011!! Our beautiful pictures are something we will always treasure!!

 

And my wonderful parents!!! They gave me the wedding of my DREAMS!! Thank you so much for all you did to make this day perfect!! I love you both so much!!! 

 

 

Here is a link to a clip of our wedding video HERE!!! Thanks Sam for capturing our day!!! This video makes me cry every time I watch it :)

 

And We Lived Happily Ever After!!

Kelsey

 

 

 

 

 



Our Baby "Must Have" List

I had NOOO idea just how many baby things there are out there to pick from! It is pretty overwhelming. And of course as a new mom I have no experience with any of these things. Luckily, I have had a lot of friends that already have babies telling me about all these "Baby Must Haves"...so I decided to compile a list of everything and do some research of my own. Being on bed rest has given me lots of time to do this! I thought I would blog about some of the decisions I have already made and then once baby girl gets here I will share our experience with them :)

 

ONE: Cloth Diapers

This is the first big decision Nathan and I made together (and yes...he has been just as involved in this decision as me). I know what you are thinking...because trust me everyone is already giving me their opinions about it. Don't get me wrong, I very much welcome the advice of others (after all that is how I compiled this list) however, my decision to cloth diaper does not affect anyone other than me and my family. Needless to say...I have already made up my mind about this and there is no going back :) A few of the positives about cloth diapering include:
1. HUGE savings! I have heard it is around $2,000 per child and because we plan on having several children this is definitely a plus!
2. Environmentally Friendly! I think this is self explanatory.
3. Helps Potty Train Quicker! Today's disposable diapers have become so absorbent so that the child does not have to feel "wet". However, when the child feels wet they don't like it. Cloth allows them to have a more "wet" feeling and in turn gets them on the potty quicker! :)
4. Less Diaper Rash!! Cloth diapered babies have fewer diaper rashes than babies that use disposable.
5. CUTE! I have never liked the look of disposable diapers. But these cloth diapers are super cute because they come is several different colors/patterns.
 

 

Since this is such a huge decision...I have devoted a TON of time to research. I have watched numerous demonstrations on different types of cloth diapers (amazingly there are like a million cloth diaper brands and types to choose from) and read even more reviews and personal experiences. With that said, I have decided to go with the BumGenius Freetime Diapers. This is an All In One Diaper(AIO if your up with your baby lingo) and everyone just raves about how simple and easy it is to use :) I plan on having a stash of 20-24 diapers. The great thing about them is that they grow with your baby. They come in snaps and Velcro but we are going to use the ones with the snaps. I also love how they come in all kinds of cute colors! We are really anxious to try them out!

 

You can find these diapers and more HERE!

 

TWO: Travel Crib

I have had lots of friends use the pack and plays that have all sorts of features that go along with them. Most of these friends also used the pack and play for their baby to sleep in beside their bed. But I have actually decided to go with a travel crib that is pretty basic. I am going to use a bassinet beside my bed until we move little one to her crib. Her nursery is right beside our room so I don't plan on her staying in our room very long...we will see how it goes :)

 

 

This is the Baby Bjorn Travel Crib. The thing I love the most about it is it's easy set up :) Watch THIS video and you will see what I am talking about! With a husband that is as time conscious as mine I don't think we can go wrong with it! It is also super light weight and SAFE (which is our number one concern with everything we want to use).

 

You can find the travel crib HERE!

 

THREE: Bath Tub

Who would have guessed that there are so many baby bath tubs!

 

 

This is the Puj Tub and the thing I love so much about it is how easy it will be to store. A lot of the baby tubs I have seen are bulky and I just don't have room for that. This will come in handy because it flattens out and can hang :)

 

You can purchase one of your own HERE!

 

 

FOUR: Swaddles and Sleeping Bags

I see these everywhere (well at least everywhere online haha). I think most people I know these days are using swaddles but I haven't heard as many people talk about the sleeping bags.

 

This is the Aden & Anais Easy Swaddle. Like I said earlier I have seen a million different brands of swaddles but this brand has come up the most!! And the people I know that have used it have LOVED it!! So we plan to use these with baby girl while she is little bitty :)

And this is the Aden & Anais Sleeping Bag. The thing I like about the sleeping bag is that it helps keep baby warm without using a blanket (we will not be using anything in the crib with her because of the risk of SIDS). Nathan keeps our house a little chilly so this will be a great alternative to a blanket.

 

You can find these swaddles and sleeping bags plus more Aden & Anais HERE!

 

 

FIVE: Bouncer

A lot of people have told me about all these different kinds of bouncers and swings that we just have to have...but honestly I don't want 50 bouncers/swings sitting all over the house. I would rather have the minimum amount of these larger items as possible.

 

 

This is the Baby Bjorn Bouncer. It has 3 levels of reclining and the baby's movements are what causes it to bounce (No Batteries Required). Another plus is that it folds up flat for easy storage! And it can be used for newborns all the way up to approximately 2 years old! Notice the picture on the right...you can purchase a toy that connects to it for baby to play with! :)

 

You can find this bouncer HERE!

 

 

SIX: Baby Monitor

I am one of the worst worriers you will ever meet! I know this is a terrible way to be and I work on it daily. I already worry about my precious baby girl so much...and this is only the beginning. So of course I have been looking into all types of monitors. I know we will use some sort of video monitor but I have also had a lot of people tell me about the monitors that track breathing.

 

 

This is the Angel Care Monitor. It will let you know if your baby stops breathing while they are asleep. I have heard some people say they are great and I have heard others say that they give a lot of false alarms. But one of my friends put it best...she said I would rather get a false alarm than my baby stop breathing and me not know about it. And I feel the exact same way. I am very anxious to see how this will work for us!

 

 

This list is only the beginning :) I am still researching so many other products so I know this list will continue to grow!!

 

I look forward to sharing our experiences with all of these "Must Haves"!

 

Kelsey