And We Are Back...

So about a year and a half ago, I decided to start posting exclusively on my photography website to save time...lets be honest, I wasn't really posting much anyway! But after our sweet little man was born in March of 2012, I really did not have time to continue my photography business. I thought I would keep up the website since it was easier to post there and I had already pre-paid for it, but I never posted there either :) So the plan is to try to do one long catch up post to bring this blog up to date (yeah, I know it will probably be awhile before I actually do it!) and close the photography site. If anyone is still reading here, stay tuned! Hopefully I'll get a new post up here soon and start posting a little more faithfully...we have lots to catch up on!

Officially Moving Blogs

I think I mentioned this before, but I am officially stopping posting here and soley posting on my new site www.ashleygentryphotography.com. Please follow us there! I will still post about our life in addition to my photography. It's just too much for me to try to post on both. And this one will not have passwords or make you login to view...it's open to everyone.

Thanks for following us!

A Special Sunday

This past Sunday was very special for our family. Phil was elected as a deacon in our church and they had a wonderful service ordaining him. Brant and Brittany and Chris and Mary Lindsey all came as did Jared and Selena. Jared is like a brother to Phil and he actually married us. He closed the service with a prayer and Selena sang one of Phil's favorite songs, "My Redeemer Lives" during the service - which was absolutely beautiful. Our pastor preached a wonderful sermon and then the service was closed with all the deacons laying hands on Phil and praying for him and for our family.

We did get a quick family picture before lunch, but wish we had gotten one with everyone who came to support Phil!





In other news, I am thinking I am going to stop posting on this blog as I have purchased a new site for my photography and it is just too much to try to post on both...and lets be honest, I don't post very much here anyway! I was thinking I would just include our personal updates on the photography site since most of what you are interested in from this blog is pictures of Emma Cate anyway. Any thoughts? My photography site is not password protected so you would be able to go to it anytime. My very talented sister is going to help me start getting it fixed up in the coming weeks so stay tuned! www.ashleygentryphotography.com.

I'm posting about our pumpkin patch picking trip on that site so check it out!

Cutie

I just posted a slideshow of a few new hats and my little cutie modeling hers on my new photography site Ashley Gentry Photography The site is still a work in progress. My very talented graphic designer sister is coming to visit next week and I'm hoping she will have time to spruce it up some. I'll let you know!

Jake's typical position while Emma Cate (or anyone) eats.



Enjoying one of the cooler mornings from last week!

A Little Update

Things have been busy the last few weeks! I've finally started feeling better and am officially a week out of the first trimester. Starting to get my energy back which is wonderful because I've felt so useless the last few months! Emma Cate went with me to the doctor today for my 2nd appointment. She said everything seemed great - heart rate was 158. It seems like Emma Cate's was still in the 170s at this point...maybe this is a boy? I really have no idea and it looks like it will be the first week of November until we have another ultrasound so we've got awhile to wait.

I wanted to post an update on Emma Cate too mostly so I will have some record of all the new things she's doing since I've been terrible about writing in her baby book since she turned one! She is 18 months now and so much has changed recently. She is talking ALL the time saying new words every day. Just in the last few days she's started repeating a lot of what we say. Tonight Phil picked her up out of the tub and said something about "shake shake shake" to shake the water off and then I said "shake shake shake, shake your booty" and she repeated "shake your booty" as clear as I said it. It was hilarious, but we quickly realized we've got to start really being careful what we say! At her 18 month check she weighed just under 23 pounds so she's on the tiny side, but her doctor said she's very healthy and just petite. She loves to eat any meat with ketchup...especially chicken fingers and breaded baked fish. She LOVES Chick-fil-a and calls it "chick chick." We have fun stopping there when we are in Tuscaloosa. We are working on drinking more milk as she really only drinks one 4 ounce cup a day and her doctor says she needs 16-20 ounces. She just doesn't love it. The main foods she eats well are grilled ham and cheese, chicken, fish, mandarin oranges, strawberries, grapes, apples, peanut butter on anything, bread, broccoli, goldfish and cheerios. She also loves sweets and chips and coke and will tell you her favorite things are cookies, cake, chips and coke (I only let her have a sip of my coke every now and then but somehow she's learned exactly what it is!) I won't list all her words, because they are too many to keep up with now, but she still calls me "Ba Ba" instead of mama. Funny, but I'll answer to whatever she wants to call me as long as she is calling for me :)

Ok, here are some recent snapshots of Emma Cate. Sorry, no real order to these and they aren't great pictures, but this is what was on my camera. One is of some of the hats I've been making for gifts and/or photography props. More to come.

















Hope everyone had a great Labor Day! We are thankful for the rain and for my parent's coming to visit and helping us work in the yard and put in a drain in the backyard before the rain started. It worked great!

Riding My Horse

Emma Cate loves her rocking horse one of our sweet friends made for her. Isn't it beautiful! Since the weather has been so nice the last few mornings, we took advantage of it and brought horsey outside to ride in the cool breeze! She loved it!









We've been playing a lot outside the last few days. If it weren't for the nasty mosquitoes that for some reason love me and Emma Cate, it would be perfect!





Emma Cate has always loved babies, but she is getting more and more interested in taking care of them...her latest is changing their diapers and giving them a bottle. Getting ready to be a great big sister!



When my mom was here last week, she let Emma Cate wear her nightgown around the house and the left it for her when she went home so it's her new favorite thing to wear!



Ok that's all for now. I've sacrificed two nap times (meaning two naps for me) this week to blog...I haven't been quite as sleepy this week so maybe my energy level is slowly coming back. I'm now 10 weeks along so only 2 more until this first trimester is behind me and hopefully all nausea and tiredness will go with it!

Photos As Promised & Read The Fine Print

Getting great photos of my little stinker have been a little difficult lately. You see, she won't EVER sit still. I'm adjusting and trying to keep a super fast shutter speed to compensate, but I hate to use a flash so indoor shots aren't working out so well for us lately! See what I mean:



Little goose! She loves her muffins! The next one she managed to stay still for a second for me.



We have fallen into a good summer routine. We walk with my friend and her two little ones every morning and then come back to take a shower before playing. Her favorite part of this little daily routine is wrapping up in a towel and playing with my jewelry on the bathroom counter while I put on makeup or dry my hair (don't worry, I'm standing right next to her so she won't fall off). She LOVES jewelry!







Notice how her hair is straight in the above pictures because I comb it out when its wet. By the time she finishes playing, it's dry and back to ringlets!



I want to get some good pictures of her outside, but it's just been too hot and we've been staying indoors except for our early morning walks. And every time I get my camera out, she comes over and sits in my lap making it just a little difficult! I often wonder how I can get good pictures of other people's children for them, but can't manage to get my own little one to cooperate with me and the camera these days! Oh well! Maybe it's just a stage!

I'm a little embarrassed to even tell you this, but thought I would share out little ordeal in case it could prevent someone else from going through the same thing. Read the fine print, especially when it's something important like insurance! I've only had one doctors appointment for baby #2, but I had bloodwork done a few weeks prior right after I found out I was pregnant and wondered why our insurance didn't pay for any of it. I dismissed it thinking we hadn't met our deductible yet or something like that. But then on one of my morning walks with sweet friend, we got to talking about it and she told me I probably wasn't covered under our new insurance. WHAT? We had switched from a group plan to an individual plan in April when Phil started working in Aliceville more than York, but it was all Blue Cross and we never thought anything about it. Why would we have a waiting period when we had been with the same company for 6 years? Never crossed our minds. Well, we did. Long story short, after multiple phone calls to Blue Cross and a weekend of stressing (and adding up all the claims from Emma Cate's birth to get an idea of out of pocket costs of a pregnancy and delivery...totaling to $25,000) I was thinking I was going to have to delivery this baby at home with no meds! Just kidding, but I was thinking probably no meds since the epidural was almost $1,000. Thank the Lord, we realized we could join a group plan through the Alabama Pharmacy Association that had no waiting period on maternity. The monthly premiums are a good deal more expensive, but in the long run, a lot cheaper than paying cash for the pregnancy! So, everything is ok now, but we felt a little foolish!

Ok that's my embarrassing story for the day. Maybe it helps someone though! Have a great weekend!

Why I haven't been posting...

Yes, this is my excuse for why I haven't been blogging much lately...I've been sleeping during Emma Cate's naps leaving little time to blog! Yes, little Gentry #2 is due March 14! We are so excited! That means I'm only around 8 weeks, but we have known for over a month so it feels like I should be farther along...wishful thinking! We were so thankful to hear the heartbeat yesterday, a good strong 153 beats per minute. The ultrasound tech got Phil's hopes up telling him it sounded like a boy heartbeat. Really he would be thrilled with another girl though and we are just praying for a healthy baby.

This pregnancy has not been as easy as the first and I have been sick for several weeks now with a few good days thrown in every now and then. I don't think I realized how good I had it the first time and now feeling sick definitely makes it even harder with a toddler running around. But, this too shall pass and I'm thrilled to meet our new little one!



We've also made another big change in our life - we bought a minivan! (sorry not a great picture of EC, but I'm not going to lie...I'm hurrying to post this so I can go grab a quick nap before EC wakes from hers!) I know, I swore I would never drive a minivan. I was going to be an SUV mom, but in the last few months I've really wanted the space and convenience. We went to Birmingham for our anniversary weekend and went to look at minivans just to see what we liked with no intention of buying one anytime soon, but we found a preowned one that had everything we wanted with the right price so we went ahead and bought it. It worked out perfectly because my parents were in the market for a car and they decided to buy ours. I really love the minivan though and think it is going to be great for our growing family!

I don't have a belly pic right now, but it's already showing. I heard it happens faster with the second child, but I have been shocked that my shorts are already too tight to button comfortably.

Ok, so now maybe everyone will forgive me for the blog posts being few and far between! Sleep is just so much more necessary right now! We are so excited and glad we could let you in on the news!

Oh, and a HUGE thankyou to my sweet friend Amy for picking up a double stroller for me that I bought on Craigslist! I had been on the lookout for a double BOB stroller because I walk with a friend everyday and have heard the BOB is really wonderful - of course also really expensive so I started looking on Craigslist and Ebay. Found one in Pensacola that was exactly what I was looking for and a great price, but who wants to drive to Pensacola? My sweet friend Amy! She lives in Dothan and drives a lot for work and just happened to be going right through there last week so she offered to pick it up for me. Then that gave me the perfect excuse to head to Birmingham on Friday to meet her and my college roommate, Katherine, (who is also newly engaged! congrats Kat!) for lunch and a quick visit and to pick up the stroller.



It was so great to see these girls and get to spend some time catching up! Also got to have a few quick minutes with my longtime friend Laura...reminder Laura and Ben - you are still supposed to be making a weekend trip here soon!

Ok, headed to take a short nap! Will post again soon with new pictures of Emma Cate - I promise!

Yes, It's Been a Month

I know. I'm sorry. Blogging has been very low on the priority list. Here are a few pictures I've taken in the last few days.

When she wants to go outside she grabs her shoes and brings them to me.





And this is the face I get when I don't do what she wants, when she wants it!



Very serious



She LOVES to be outside walking around and playing especially chasing the dogs.








Emma Cate is such a precious angel and I am so thankful for the opportunity to stay home with her. I did have my first getaway this weekend - going to market in Atlanta with my two sister-in-laws and mother-in-law. We had a great time, but I did miss little goose! My family was so sweet to come stay with her while I was gone since Phil was at work during the day.



She has been super clingy in the last few weeks since I weaned her. During the day, especially late afternoon, she cries huge crocodile tears if I'm not holding her. I'm hoping this is just a passing phase!

Mmmmmooooooooo....

...Emma Cate's favorite thing to say! She LOVES BigDaddy's cows and moooo's all day long especially when we drive past their house.

This week BigDaddy took Emma Cate to feed the cows some corn husks and I tagged along to take some pictures.









She got a little scared when they got close, but in the end she loved them!

We've also continued to have fun with the dogs outside. Jake is still doing really well with his new fence and we are loving being able to be outside with them and not having to keep him chained up or on a leash. Emma Cate loves her puppies!

Sunday Afternoon

I've been told I don't blog anymore. Every now and then I post an "Emma Cate update" but I don't "blog". So, here is a random blog post for you!

I love Sunday afternoons. I've probably mentioned this before. Especially when Phil was working an hour away every day and we didn't see him much, Sunday afternoons were our main family time of the week. We see him more now, but I still love our Sunday afternoons. We usually spend most of the time outside and today was no exception even with the heat. Emma Cate loves getting in her little pool - usually fully clothed, if we put her swimsuit on, I don't think she'd be as interested!



The dogs have loved being outside since we installed the underground fence. We have been really cautious with Jake because he's always run off as soon as he went out, but after running through and getting shocked one good time, he's pretty much stayed in the boundaries (today he did run through, but came right back...not sure what that means). It has been so nice to be able to let them run and play and not have to keep Jake on a leash. We are just hoping it continues to work!



Lucy is quickly catching up with Jake in size and even giving him a little competition when playing fetch.



Ok, headed to bed! Was that a random enough post? I think so! :)

Memorial Day Weekend at the Beach

As usual, I am trying to get a post in while cooking dinner with Emma Cate pulling on my legs and running all over the kitchen jabbering...so I'll be brief, but I know all you care about is pictures anyway!

We spent a long Memorial Day weekend at the beach and it was lovely! Phil's parents recently purchased a condo at Fort Morgan and while we have stayed there before, it was a quick trip for a wedding and we never even saw the beach so this was our first real time down there. My sweet parents were kind enough to offer to keep our dogs for us for the weekend so we broke the trip up and spent an night in Montgomery with them on the way down and back. We were gone 5 nights total and let me just say Emma Cate slept better than she ever has thanks to her new travel crib. We recently invested in a Baby Bjorn Travel Crib and it was worth it! She has never slept well on trips, causing me to dread any traveling because I know she won't sleep which translates to I won't sleep. Travel has been very draining the last year, but I think now we are on the upside!

But here are the pictures!

She didn't really want me taking her picture so I don't think we really got any smiles...just some very serious, thoughtful looks!

















She loved playing with Big Daddy



And our only attempt at a family picture didn't turn out so well!



It was a great trip and while we are glad to be back home, that beach breeze would be really nice in these close to 100 degree days we've been having since we got back!