NYE 2019

December 31st, 2019. New Years Eve. 🤩🎉✨ Due date 😱 No baby yet, but my spirit isn’t crushed like I thought it might be if this happened. So that’s really really good. I feel like I’ve been running a marathon & I can’t beat the exhaustion. 2020 starts soon (though I might not be awake to see that happen) and we’ll meet Eliot when it’s the perfect time. Cheers to a new year🎉

December 30th, 2019

December 30th, 2019. spent as much time in bed today as I could and my whole body is grateful. had a long walk with just Byron & later a long walk with Matthias too. soon it’ll be four of us on those walks & that makes me swoon. organized all those freezer meals since half were still in the fridge & took what didn’t fit into ours to the Bonin home. dinner & drinks late into the evening with some of our closest friends. 2019 is full of things we love and it’s ending well.

the hiley wedding

December 29th, 2019. (of course our daily portrait is an iPhone photo in the apartment dog park after spending all day at the beautiful wedding venue.😂 you’d think we would’ve made time for a better portrait while we were at a pretty place all day, but the day was a blur!)
5 married Bonin siblings in the last 5 years. Dang, this next season of life is happening fast! We began set up at 9am and we were out of the cleared venue & on our way home before 7pm. Sam & Annalise had better things to do than hang out with us all evening, I guess. 😉The whole day was sweet & I can’t wait to hear it about it from my siblings & parents perspectives. For me, it was a joy spending my morning prepping the most beautiful charcuterie spread with Hannah Joy & helping Sydnie as she decorated & delegated work for the reception space. I loved getting ready with my sisters & seeing so many people we cherish after the ceremony. I am very much regretting that I didn’t take more photos of the day. 😭 I feel like all my energy was spent just being there on my feet trying to be helpful & managing some pain & so it wasn’t on my mind like it normally is. My back was killing me all day, so I made a rare exception for some acetaminophen. It felt like I would just about pass out if I didn’t do something though. I wondered briefly if we’d be having the baby on their anniversary, but no baby yet.

rehearsal dinner

December 28th, 2019. walked out of the mall at 8:40pm with something to wear for tomorrow. looks like we’re definitely making the wedding! I’m “a bridesmaid” with no dress & thankfully I’m not walking down the aisle or standing with the crew. and this is my first sibling to not have a first look, so the tradition of me shooting that is also out! this is going to be a really easy wedding for me 🤪 rehearsal tonight, which I didn’t really need to be at, but why would we miss it? and a super informal pizza dinner with 18 of the people I love the very very very most.
having a big family means there are always people & things (little & big) to be celebrating and I am thrilled about every bit of it.

December 27th, 2019

December 27th, 2019. celebrated Annalise tonight. I can’t believe another of my five blood sisters gets married this weekend😭❤️ I’m so excited to see her marry her person.
other thoughts:
* this mirror is really really dirty.
* I keep wondering if someday I’ll wear less black. I don’t know if it’ll ever happen.
* meant to take a photo with Matthias today because I love our daily photos being together, but we only were together less than a couple hours between work and the party & it didn’t cross our minds.

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December 26th, 2019

December 26th, 2019. thanks to motivation and help from Denet, today we officially finished all the freezer prep we were hoping to! there’s a whole lotta food in our home & I’m excited about all of it. 😂😍 why have I never done freezer meals before? is this like exclusively a mom thing? it makes so much sense!
I feel achy and crampy and ready for labor so we can be done with it and meet our boy. but today wasn’t the day. so other than alllll the foooddd prep, we washed clothes, organized birth supplies, changed sheets, cleaned, walked, and opened the most precious gift for Eliot from Emily. (he’s totally wearing the lion onesie as his first outfit, Emily!!) I’m ready for a baby, but in the meantime, I’m supposed to be prepping an epic bachelorette party for Annalise tomorrow night and dress shopping because I still haven’t gotten anything for her wedding Sunday. 🤪 to be totally honest, I didn’t think I’d be there! 😳😂 oh my...

December 23rd, 2019

December 23rd, 2019. Christmas Eve Eve. he was in bed with me a lot later than normal & was home right before 2pm. that makes it really feel like a Christmas break.
I spent my morning with Hannah Joy after seeing the midwife & listened to the Lifegiving Home for a couple hours while doing more little house things and trying not to feel guilty about taking some days off before our big life change.
tonight we walked a few miles & discussed decorating plans for future Christmases, snacked on our fridge full of leftovers, and finished our evening at corner pub with friends.

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December 19th-22nd, 2019

December 19th, 2019.

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December 20th, 2019. He was home early enough for a well deserved two-hour nap before the cousins Christmas dinner. A good day. 🥰

December 21st, 2019. weekend-ing in the best ways & tonight we hosted our annual christmas dinner with this crew. we love our people. ❤️ (and also, we did try to get ONE good photo, but we ended up with a handful of mediocre ones. it counts, right?😂)

December 22nd, 2019. During our walk this afternoon, Matthias commented that we should’ve brought my camera because it was so pretty. “Yeah, ugh! ... Actually, let’s just get one now anyway.” (thanks 2019 for the awesome cell phone cameras.)
We started these daily photos 91 days ago to reignite some passion in me for taking pictures of our own life, specifically with my professional gear. The burnout from shooting full-time these last few years meant we never really used my gear for us anymore & that kind of sucked. We’re doing this project to be intentional pulling out my gear for *us.* But we’re also doing this because we want to capture our life more often & honestly as it is right now... even if it’s just with a phone. So in a huge way this project isn’t about the equipment, it’s about being intentional to document something small together every day. To be excited about taking pictures of our own life. Someday it’ll be really cool looking back on these daily peeks into our life together pre-kids. (and as new parents, because we haven’t made plans to stop with Eliot’s arrival... whenever that will be!)

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December 18th, 2019

December 18th, 2019. his ability to sink into our bed & look shorter than me is astounding 😂 10/10 cozy here watching our show. not sure how we got on a Dick Van Dyke kick, but that’s been our go to recently. we don’t like to have screens on every night because they can definitely steal quality time from couples, but it is fun when we get to laugh together at a show we both enjoy. asking for a friend: can you be an adult and never have owned a headboard? 😬 (this photo definitely looks related to the one we took Sunday, but it’s different... other than the fact I’m wearing tanks my mom gave me in both. Thanks, Terri Wessinger Bonin 😍🤩)

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December 17th, 2019

December 17th, 2019. today: byron finally made it to the groomer. Matthias worked a normal day, with a little bit of a later start than normal. I got someee work done this morning, at least some of the meaningful things I wanted to, but mostly I spent my day with Bailey shopping & organizing the master bathroom counter space. a day with a friend is a day well spent though. and hey, one more thing completed that I was hoping for before baby. one day closer.

December 16th, 2019

December 16th, 2019. Working until our little one arrives, but slowing down to accommodate for more sleep since I’m hearing it’s the last time I’ll get to sleep for a while. So I’ve enjoyed some very cozy, quiet, late mornings in bed, including this morning while the rain brought in this nice cool weather. Ahhh. It’s feeling like December.

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December 15th, 2019

December 15th, 2019. slow, slow, slow. a wonderful Sunday that included a hot coffee in the cool weather at a new (to us) bakery, enjoying the breeze & outdoor seating & a cinnamon roll as big as my face. (we didn’t eat it all. 😳)
hiked about three miles this afternoon in Spring at a park I haven’t been to before. Matthias found it a few months ago while hunting Pokémon. (hahah!) Byron jumped in a lake & then rolled in sand to dry himself off. he had the time of his life, of course. we said he would absolutely not be getting in bed with us tonight. and well, here we are.

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December 14th, 2019

December 14th, 2019. a weekend of celebrating. ❤️ Rose graduated from SHSU yesterday. Sydnie graduated from A&M this morning. Anddd the most beautiful wedding shower for Annalise this evening. 😍🥰

I didn’t mean to or want to take a photo with such a similar pose three days in a row, but that’s just how it turned out. just going with it. the light in our apartment is 10/10 ☀️✨

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December 13th, 2019

December 13th, 2019. Two of my friends have had their babies in the last 24 hours. (One of those was due the day before me! She wins🤪) Another is on baby watch and over 40 weeks! I’m over here feeling like I might be pregnant for another 12 weeks or something. I am ready to have himmmm! But I need to finish Christmas shopping and there are a gazillion events happening in the next 16 days leading up to his EDD, including a bachelorette party I’m apparently hosting😂 woooo! Lots of things to keep me distracted!

December 11th & 12th, 2019

December 11th, 2019. Day 80 of self portraits. We celebrated by going all out for these. (obviously I’m 🦁...😜😂)

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December 12th, 2019. the last three nights Matthias has had meetings after work, so he’s made it home a lot later than normal. today, he made it home by 4:15, buttttttttt I was away shooting Rose’s senior photos... only for a sister would I be shooting at 9 months pregnant and spending precious moments away from him😂❤️ he spent his time alone napping (because, of course) & when I made it back he didn’t waste time suggesting a location for our photo... I think probably because he was just ready to do it & get back in bed with a bowl of potato soup. I love our thing. I love taking photos with this guy. I love his big red comfy robe and the ridiculous amount of pictures we have of him wearing it. I love that he is quick to make fun of me if I complain about my hair or clothes or whatever else. I love that we’re having a baby together.

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almost there

December 9th, 2019. Constantly torn between “slow down” and “DO ALL THE THINGS” before we have this baby. 37 weeks along tomorrow, so, in theory, I have about 3 weeks left to both relax & do everything 🤪 we’ll see how this goes. Listening to advice from anyone who wants to give an opinion, so feel free to tell me your story, or regrets, or the things you’re so glad you did during your last few weeks before parenthood.

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December 10th, 2019. My favorite part has to be the tree reflected in the window. 🎄

December 6th & 7th, 2019

December 6th, 2019. What exactly is the limit on sleepy iPhone selfies? (Pretty sure we exceeded it a long time ago...)

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December 7th, 2019. warm december sun. so warm we have garden roses still blooming outside of our master bedroom window & can walk byron in sandals and shorts. our apartment is a dream, and the property is nice to walk. we looked at so. many. places. before ending up here. being settled makes all of that stress seem so distant, so insignificant.
I’m 9 months pregnant & we spent our saturday home. slept in, coffee in bed. some more boxes, some work on my laptop, lots of time in the kitchen & lots of time in pajamas. happy, happy, happy.

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