Ashley Murphy

I thought with Mother’s Day right around the corner “Motherhood” was an appropriate theme for this week. I was really hoping that I would have a picture of my baby girl to post for you, but she has decided to make her mommy wait a little longer. When I start thinking about motherhood I only know the beginning stages. I haven’t held my baby girl in my arms yet, but I know her movements. I feel her strong legs and get to hear her healthy heart. I know how much I love her now and can’t really fathom how much I will love her when she finally arrives.

This got me thinking, what does Motherhood mean? Dictionary.com says that Motherhood is the state of being a mother or the qualities or characteristics of a mother. I’m sure I could find another word to describe this definition, but LAME comes to mind.

When I think of motherhood I can only go off of what I know from my own mother and the little things that I’ve already started to do for Parker. The moment I found out I was pregnant my whole life changed. Not only would I be responsible for this tiny human being, but I would be responsible for her for the rest of her life… financially, emotionally, mentally, physically.  Once all that crossed my mind I really needed to find a place to sit. Was I really ready for that kind of responsibility?

They don’t lie when they say “ready or not, here she comes” because in hopefully a few days she will be here and as mentally prepared as I think I am, I know I’m not ready for her at all. So, here is my take on what motherhood is all about. Some of the things I list have come from my experience with my own mom, quotes that have tugged on my heart strings and the little things that hold true for my friends and family.

Motherhood by definition to me means “you forever have your heart walking around outside your body.” Motherhood before baby is born is a sacrifice of your body. You are so careful with what you eat, drink and even who you’re around. You sacrifice your body with stretch marks, never ending potty breaks, lack of sleep and weight gain. All the while knowing that through all the pains of body changes and labor you’re bringing the most precious gift into the world and this little baby is your gift to love.

I’ve always thought my mom and I have had an amazing relationship throughout my life and even now. With me about to become a new mom myself, I appreciate her more than ever. As an adult, she is my strength and my patience. She keeps me level and for the sake of  myself and others, sometimes sane. To this day there are moments I feel like I’m still in Elementary school and she’s holding my hand, taking me into this huge unknown building and introducing me to my very first friend, reassuring me that at the end of the day she will be there to give me a hug and a kiss. Any time I have a freak out moment in my adult life, she has always been there, offering me that same comforts she did when I was very small. To me, motherhood is everything she is and everything I hope to be for Parker. My mom is a bold opinion with a whole lot of stubborn, an infectious laugh, a comforting hug and a warm touch. She taught me to be strong and independent, to hold my ground and never settle for anything less than the best.

I asked a few people what Motherhood means to them and here are the responses I got…

“Motherhood is an overwhelming feeling of love and joy that only a mother would be able to comprehend. Teaching her how to love and believe in herself and that she can do anything in the world she wanted to. Motherhood is being responsible for someone’s life and bringing out the best in her.” – Simi P. 

“I think it’s about the love you have for your child. What you feel, the protection instinct. Your whole world changes over this little baby and you realize God has given you this amazing responsibility. It’s not about what you give materialistic wise, but just being a mom to him/her.” – Michelle G. 

“Creating a life with your soul mate and expanding the love you feel for each other through nurturing and growing your love as a family.” – My own mom 

 

If you’re a mother I would love to read a comment of what Motherhood means to you. I know I haven’t experienced all that motherhood has to offer, but I am looking forward to seeing how my bond will grow with my daughter. Make sure to tell your mom just how special and important of a role she has played in your life… Mother’s are sacred. I’ve always loved my mom unconditionally, but I never saw this side of things until just now. I will care for Parker the way my mom cared for me, protect her with my life as my mom has done for me, love her with all my heart unconditionally and without hesitation just like my mom has always done for me. Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful women that have chosen to be Mothers. You are loved and cherished beyond belief.

I know I’ve missed a few weeks. A lot of it has to do with my huge belly and how I can’t really get the shots I want most of the time. Without complaining too much, I’m sure if you’re pregnant or have been pregnant you can agree that squatting or doing anything close to the ground becomes a challenge in the end. Since this is a challenge for me, most of the time I would give up and say “screw it, I’ll do it another time.” As time went on I realized I was only letting myself get frustrated and letting you down since I wasn’t posting pictures for my project. So, I decided to suck it up and get my project done.

I know I’ve been behind on week 16 – 18 so, I thought I would take a little time and explain what each theme is and why I chose the pictures I posted…

Week 16 - Reflection

As you can tell from my work, I love being outdoors and taking pictures of nature. When I saw that week 16 was reflection I knew instantly I wanted to do something with water. The hubs and I have been walking around the neighborhood recently and I thought it was cool  how after people watered their grass that you could see the reflection of the sky and trees by looking at the puddle of water pooling on the ground. So, I snapped a few pictures one night. It turned out to be quite the ordeal that I took a picture of water pooling in the street in front of someone’s house. I don’t know what the situation or circumstance was, but some guy saw me “taking pictures of his house” and needed to question me about it and honestly, he wasn’t too nice. *Yes, Chase was with me and no, I wasn’t taking a picture of this guy’s house* I flashed a sweet smile, said I was taking a picture of the street and kept on walking. Thankfully, nothing more came of it, but it did ruffle my feathers. It’s a pretty picture, but sadly wasn’t worth the trouble. Especially since I had a different vision in my head of what “reflection” was supposed to be, but sometimes you can’t be picky.

Week 17 – Mellow Yellow

I’ve been putting this picture off  because I always see the most gorgeous yellow wild flowers on the side of the road. I wish I could stop and snap a few pictures, but they only grow in spots where traffic is so bad I wouldn’t safely be able to take a good picture. I’m probably freaking my mother out with this post with all the dangerous shots I want to take, but I promise I do have a brain and occasionally use it. So, one day I’m driving to work and I see these gorgeous wild flowers in a neighborhood with hardly any traffic and an area that is no where near cars. Perfect. So, I grabbed hubby that evening and we went to take a few pictures. Hope you like them.

I know this isn’t going with the theme, but I thought it was pretty so I’m posting it…

I haven’t taken my weekly theme pictures, but I did find a little time to post a few pictures of Parker’s nursery. I remember when we first found out we were pregnant, her room was a guest bedroom filled with all of our mismatched furniture, a closet filled with items I didn’t want to part with, but didn’t know where to put and was a room that never quite seemed finished. When we found out we were pregnant, Chase and I sat in that guest bedroom knowing that life was about to change.

I sat in her room the other day and I can’t believe the transformation. Before we knew we were having a girl Chase re-did her closet. There was only a shelf and a hanging rod when we first began, but he added more shelving and lights to it. *I love my handy man* Now it’s filled with tons of baby clothes and toys!

I have to say, Parker’s daddy is pretty amazing. I got to do all the fun stuff like pick paint colors and bedding, but Chase is the one that did all the hard work. He put crown molding up, painted her room a sweet purple, added lights to the closet, assembled  her crib and rocking chair, installed a fan and made sure every detail was perfect. He’s a fantastic man… what can I say! So, here are the rest of the pictures of all the hard work we’ve put into our baby girl’s room. We are officially done and  waiting on her to arrive!

Je T’aime Beaucoup means I love you very much

I hope you love her room. We do! We can’t thank everyone enough for all the wonderful gifts that helped make Parker’s room beautiful. Now,tell her to get here! Mommy and Daddy are waiting!

Ohmygosh! We’ve had a lot to celebrate these past few months. We’ve had three baby showers, two birthday celebrations, crawfish boils, Easter, and we are still getting ready for baby girl!  It’s been a whirlwind of excitement and fun that I actually had to schedule a weekend of Do-Absolutely-Nothing because we’ve been so busy.

This weeks theme is Celebrate and with all the excitement that’s been going on, you would think that this would be an easy week, but my camera isn’t always attached to my hip and sometimes it’s hard to be apart of the excitement and take pictures of it. Monday I had a great idea for Celebrate, but had to choose between egging or being egged. I chose egging. Don’t know what I’m talking about… here is a glimpse into my family’s Easter/Birthday Celebration.

My dad’s birthday is April 9th and normally is close to Easter. Every Easter we visit my parents and the games begin. Do you know those confetti eggs they sell at Walmart and Target? Well, this tradition has been going on since I was born… we used to start saving eggs at the beginning of January and color and fill them with confetti. Then on Easter you would have your carton(s) of eggs and crack them over your family members heads. It may sound terrible, but it is a fun, colorful mess! Since we’ve been doing it for so long we know how to make the maximum amount of impact with the confetti… your underwear, pants, shirts and bras are not safe. Like I mentioned, it’s a fun colorful mess. Well, I saw what this weeks theme was going to be and thought it would be awesome to capture the confetti war, but it was egg or be egged. The camera had to wait! I wasn’t about to have that stuff put down my pants this year (my sister got it all down my back and in my bra…brat!)

I know you guys would love to see pictures of this, but I can’t crack eggs, take pictures and try to waddle away… go ahead… get that mental picture. So, instead I decided to post a collage of pictures of our recent celebrations the past few days. I hope you enjoy the fun we’ve been having.

Have a great weekend! See ya next week! Also, I have a surprise blog coming soon… I’ll give you a hint… it’s a glimpse of baby girl’s room.

Okay, let me have it. I know I’ve been terrible with posting pictures once a week. I am so tired and get a little caught up in the theme  and what I want to do that I don’t make the time to capture a picture I can actually take. I’m very sorry, but at least I’m still blogging. The closer I get to my due date the more I feel little things slipping away… like my blog.

So, for week 13 it was Get Emotional. I had this amazing idea about capturing one of my friends kids as they were being emotional… happy, sad, angry… you name it, but then I thought about it and I don’t know how I would feel if my friend asked me to take a picture of my child crying. Would they make them cry? So, I thought it was probably not the best idea in the world. Plus, with everyone’s schedules lately, when was I going to find the time to go over and snap a few photos. How busy it’s been with just 6 weeks to go.

I’m really sorry that my blog has turned into a full on baby blog. I guess I write about what I know and right now pregnancy is what I know. I’m sure things will even out as I begin to take more family photos that aren’t my own.

So, since I had to nix finding a kiddo to make happy, sad, angry faces at me I decided to do something a little different. When I see Parker’s little outfits I get very emotional because I know in a few weeks she will actually be wearing these clothes. So, here is my “Get Emotional.”

I know it’s more fun to have one blog a week, but if I don’t post week 14 now I’m going to be behind again… forever! So, here is week 14 – Give me a Drink! Boy, do I wish I could actually have that unopened bottle of wine… soon… very soon!

I know, I know… I’m behind on my weeks, but after this blog I will be fully caught up and ready for week 13! Week 11 was Beauty in the Everyday Details. I know a lot of  you think that I would take a picture of my blow dryer or something that I use everyday, but seriously I can’t get enough nature shots. This probably won’t make a ton of sense, but I try and find beauty in everything. It makes for a better world when you see the beauty in something or someone. 

I’m not a huge fan of spiders, but I definitely see the beauty in what they contribute. So, enjoy my Beauty in Everyday Detail…

It’s definitely a short blog this time around… week 12 is Vintage Charm. I have a ton of vintage stuff and know of a few places with lots of vintage charm, but thought this was pretty…

Sorry everyone. I’ll have a better blog for you next week. Until then, have a great Friday and weekend!

I am playing catch up this week because I missed last weeks blog and pictures. The theme for last week was “A Perfect Pair.” It makes me chuckle a little when I think about all the things that make a perfect pair… like shoes. hehe! When I really had to choose something to photograph I knew instantly what I wanted to do.

When I think of a perfect pair, I actually think of my marriage to my amazing hubby. No, I’m not saying we are “THE perfect pair”, but then it comes to our relationship I believe we compliment each other like no one else could. When I’m overreacting to something, he’s my logic. When he’s too reserved, I’m his wild side. When I’m sad, he’s my happy. When we are both mad, we’re a force to be reckon with. He’s the perfect side to me. Don’t tell him I used “perfect” to describe him… I’ll never hear the end of it.

I think our wedding rings represent A Perfect Pair.

His ring…

My ring…

Our rings… perfection.

Since I missed last week… keep checking back to see Week 11 soon!

Where to start?! Hubby and I decided to take a mini vacation away before baby arrives. Since we have quite a few friends that are already parents we try our best to listen to them and take their advice when it comes to “what to expect after the little one arrives.” They told us to go somewhere, anywhere before having our baby girl because we probably wouldn’t be traveling very much in our near future.

Deciding where to go was somewhat of a challenge since we had to knock drinking, partying and smokey places off our list of activities. My husband used to live in Lafayette and has always talked about how beautiful it is there. He told me several times that he wanted to take me sometime in the future and the timing just seemed to work out. We both took off Friday – Monday, left early Friday and headed towards Cajun Town.

When we got to Lafayette we stopped at this church, St. John’s Cathedral… it was beautiful!

and even though the church was beautiful it was the tree that was extremely impressive. Here are a few fun facts I learned while we were looking at this tree… St. John Cathedral Oak is one of the largest oak trees in the US, it’s estimated to be almost 500 years old. The diameter of the trunk  is 9 feet 2 inches… the circumference is 28 feet 9 inches! I was blown away by how massive this tree was. I loved how the tree is so big that some of the tree branches got so low to the ground they literally went into the ground and came back up like a normal tree limb. I highly recommend making this a stop. I didn’t take too many pictures of this tree because I was so distracted by it’s size I forgot to pick up my camera.

Here are a few pictures of our hotel room, the view and the donut place Chase said would change my donut eating life… I’m forever changed!

There were a few small kinks in our trip, like the 80 degrees and sunny weather we were expecting turned into 50 degrees and raining weather. When I woke up Saturday morning and saw the dreary sky I literally acted like a 5 year old that was just told we were no longer going to the Zoo. I couldn’t believe it was raining and cold!!! All I packed were shorts, tank tops and tennis shoes. Thankfully, I brought a pair of jeans, but we decided to brave the weather I needed a jacket. We found a Macy’s and were on the hunt for a jacket that would fit this pregnant momma and be cheap. Score with the Marshmallow jacket! I tried it on and asked Chase how it looked…

“it looks good.”

“Are you sure, you promise?”

“Yes.”

He was just trying to get me out of the store and with $14.00 price tag I couldn’t really argue with him.

“Hold on, I see a mirror.”

“You don’t need to look in the mirror, you look fine.”

“Oh, Dear Goodness! I look like a fat, giant Marshmallow!” “I don’t even look pregnant, I look like I’m smuggling… something in my jacket.”

We got a good laugh out of the whole thing and I could let my appearance slide since I didn’t actually know anyone in that area. We decided to go to Jefferson Island that day and it was a lot of fun. We got rained on as we decided to venture out into the garden areas, but when it finally stopped raining it was beautiful.

Okay, I’m especially proud of this next picture. It made me laugh for hours after it was taken. Enjoy the awesomeness!

I was so tired after Jefferson Island, but as you can see from the pictures it was a ton of fun and gorgeous… even with the rain. Our next stop was Vermilionville. Also very beautiful! I hope you’re not getting bored or overwhelmed with all the pictures. We are almost done!

That was our mini vacation in a nutshell! I hope you enjoyed our trip! If you ever get a chance to go check out a few of these places I highly recommend going. It’s so beautiful and relaxing!

Sorry I’m a little late with this blog. My hubby and I went on vacation and just got back from Lafayette. It was kind of a mini trip before baby comes and it was so much fun. I think I’ll do another blog soon with all of the fun pictures we took on our vacation, but I had to share a few for this weeks theme, Is That You Spring?

This picture is from a field we saw on the side of the road. We were driving to Jefferson Island and I had my eyes closed and all I hear is my husband say, “wow, that’s pretty.” I open my eyes and it was just a field of yellow wild flowers. I was so excited! I wish I wasn’t so pregnant so I could have gotten a little closer to snap a few more pictures, but the field is just beautiful.

This next picture was taken in Vermilionville (don’t ask me where that’s at). It was absolutely beautiful weather and I loved all the pretty flowers… they smelled so good.

Trust me, I have so many more awesome pictures to show you from my vacation, but I’ll leave you with this last picture I took on Jefferson Island….

I really want to blog more and post all my pictures, but I’m just way too tired. I promise to post more pictures soon!