Maternity Photos

Posted in Baby, Family by klmatthews16

I wanted just a few maternity pictures this time around…mainly just to capture a few photos of our family dynamic before it changes again here in just a couple weeks when our little boy arrives, and my sister was kind enough to do that for us. As I’ve mentioned before, Kinsie usually doesn’t nap anymore, except in the car in the late afternoon. Earlier that morning, she had a little bit of a runny nose, but she was still acting like herself all day. We met my sister in a park about 10 minutes away, and of course Kinsie fell asleep on the way! We let her sleep in the car for a few minutes while we took a few pictures of just me and Ryan, then we woke her up when we were ready for her. When she woke up, she was miserable. Her nose was runnier than ever, she was cold, slightly feverish, and wouldn’t stop crying. I felt so bad for her since I knew she didn’t feel good, but I really didn’t want to have to reschedule because it was already hard enough finding an evening where we were all free and it wasn’t raining. We pulled all the stops…music, silly faces, a random stick from the woods, her blanket…not much was pleasing this kid. Somehow in the mix, we were able to get a few good ones. Of course her blanket is in all of them, but that is pretty typical of her right now. She’s OBSESSED with her blanket. Luckily we have two of that same one, so we are able to swap them out from time to time to wash them. The only way she wouldn’t cry in the pictures was to have that blanket wrapped around her, so that’s what we did! Let’s just say maternity photos with a second child are MUCH different than with the first, and you just have to get what you can get! Anyway, here are some of the good ones we were able to get!

9Jul2014

A New Business!

Posted in General by klmatthews16

I am so excited to officially announce that my sister, Krista and I have started a photography business! Leigh and Kay Photography (Our business name incorporates both of our middle names) is up and running and ready for new clients! Like I’ve mentioned before, photography has always been a passion of mine. I’ve always enjoyed taking pictures, but became obsessed when Ryan surprised me with a new Digital SLR Nikon camera last summer. Of course my obsession grew when Kinsie was born, and she has been my lovely little model anytime I want to practice! Krista has been doing photography on the side for a few years as well, so we recently decided to join up and start a business! Not only do we get to do what we love, but we get to spend more time together! My sister and I are extremely close and have always had a special relationship that not many siblings have. She has always been my best friend and my number one supporter, so you can imagine how excited I am to work with her!

If you can, take a moment to browse through our website, www.leighandkayphotography.com. If you are interested in booking a session or have any questions, feel free to email me!

21Jun2014

9 Month Adventures

Posted in Baby by klmatthews16

Our baby girl is 3/4 of a year old! Where has the time gone? Miss Kinsie Kay is as spunky and rambunctious as ever! I have been on summer break for over 2 weeks now, and I have loved every second of my time with her. Of course, she gets bored if we just hang around the house, so I try to take her on a few adventures a day. She enjoys any little trip whether it be the grocery store or the park or zoo. She is loving sleeping in and spending time with her mommy all day (at least I hope!) She is as happy as can be and is constantly smiling, babbling, and on the move!

At 9 months old….

She can army crawl like a beast.
She still only has 2 teeth, but has 4 more that are close to popping through.
She rolls, scoots and sits up in her crib whenever we put her down to sleep.
She likes to crawl up into our laps when playing on the floor.
She likes to beat on things like a drum (perhaps this is the influence of Uncle Nate?)
She loves to grunt, groan, roar, and make all kinds of other “monster” noises.
Her happy place is in the pool.
She looks just like mommy as a baby.
She likes taking “big girl” stroller rides (without the car seat).
She is the best shopping buddy and loves to sit in the shopping cart.
She’s the best model for when mommy practices her photography.
She is constantly moving and squirming and is surprisingly strong…which makes her mom and dad feel like they are wrestling an alligator all day!

Having fun during our photo shoot

Beautiful girl – her eyes are looking more and more like daddy’s!

We just can’t get enough of this little ball of sunshine!

20Apr2014

Easter Blessings

Posted in Family by klmatthews16

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live ever after dying. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” John 11:25-26

Our first Easter as a family of 3 was a wonderful one! Not only did we get to spend the entire day together and with family and good friends, but it was also a beautiful day! Kinsie is getting more of a glimpse into the Spring season and so far, she is loving it! We started the day by attending the Easter service at Traders Point. Our pastor had an amazing message about the true meaning of Easter and how monumental it really is. If you weren’t able to attend an Easter service on Sunday, or you just want to hear a powerful sermon, I would highly recommend listening to ours here. We absolutely LOVE our church and are so grateful for the Spiritual growth we have made since we became members a little over a year ago. Every year on Easter, they have a “spontaneous baptism,” where people who are feeling moved by the Holy Spirit can get baptized right then and there during worship. It is unbelievable and such a powerful way to respond to the Gospel! It was on Easter last year that Ryan officially gave his life to Christ and got baptized. It was a moment I will cherish in my heart forever.

After church, we went to my parents’ house for brunch and an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Now I know our crew only consists of a 2-year-old and 2 babies under the age of 1, but we wanted to live it up for our first Easter with the girls. They loved it! Briggs ran around and collected eggs for himself, Kinsie and Kerigan. Ryan and I took turns walking Kinsie around to collect eggs that she could reach, and to be honest, she really seemed uninterested. In fact, she was much more interested in the grass, mulch and tree bark. She is definitely her father’s daughter!

Kinsie enjoying the gifts that the Easter Bunny brought her!

Easter Egg Hunt with the kiddos!

We spent the rest of the day with the family relaxing in the beautiful weather. Days like this where we can all be together are such a blessing, especially since Ryan, Kinsie, and I don’t get as much time together as we’d like. Whenever we do though, we embrace every second!

As many of you know, I’ve been really into photography lately, and like to practice my new hobby any chance I get. It just so happens that I have a beautiful little model who is usually willing and happy to help her mommy out. We had a fun little Easter photo shoot, with the help of daddy making our sweet girl grin from ear to ear!

Happy Easter from the Matthews family!

11Jan2014

Snow Days

Posted in Baby, Family by klmatthews16

As most of you already know, I’ve been very nervous to go back to work and leave my baby every day. I’ve been on maternity leave since Kinsie was born and I was supposed to return to work on Monday, January 6 when Christmas break ended. However, God must have known that I wasn’t quite ready to leave Kinsie, so He gave us some snow. A LOT of snow! This was definitely the biggest snow storm I have ever witnessed. Not only did we receive approximately 12 inches of snow, but we reached record low temperatures of -15 degrees. The roads got so bad, almost the entire state was on a “red” travel restriction, meaning it was illegal to be driving on the roads except for emergencies. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am NOT a winter person! I would not be sad if I never saw snow again, and I fully plan on moving south once Ryan is finished with medical school. With that said, this storm was not exactly my cup of tea, but I was BEYOND grateful for this snow storm, because it allowed me, not 1, not 2, but 5 extra days with my baby!

Leading up to the storm, everyone acted like it was the Apocalypse and stocked up on milk and bread as if they’d be snowed in for weeks. We all knew it was coming though, and with it, hope that I might get a snow day or two. Ryan was supposed to start classes on Monday also, but there is always less of a chance of a college campus canceling classes than an elementary school, so we knew he probably needed to go back to Muncie before the storm got too bad just in case he would still have class. After 3 wonderful weeks of him being home with us, he had to leave on Sunday morning, right after church was cancelled due to the weather. It took him almost twice as long to get back, and of course, once he was back, he found out his classes were cancelled. So we were snow in away from each other. Luckily I still had Kinsie and the dogs to keep me company, but I was so jealous of all the people who were snowed in with their entire family, and angry at the people who were already complaining about their family driving them crazy after only a day of being stuck in the house together. I am the type of person who needs alone time, but not too much. I was getting very lonely without Ryan, and I know he really missed us being in Muncie alone without any cable or even any studying to do since his classes hadn’t started yet. I am SO thankful for my in-laws who ventured out in the trecherous weather to bring me dinner and to shovel a pathway for my dogs to go outside. Speaking of the dogs…it was so cold one morning, when I let them out to go potty, Addie ran right back in and pooped in the house! She was so embarrassed, and I honestly couldn’t blame her for not wanting to squat in a foot of snow and negative temperatures! Poor girl!

Because of the storm, our satellite went out for about 3 days, so I couldn’t watch TV. This wasn’t a huge deal for me because I don’t watch a ton of TV, but I still had to find things to do when Kinsie was napping. I ended up reading an entire book in just 3 days. (The book was called Bloom by Kelle Hampton…amazing book, I HIGHLY recommend it!) Anyway, Kinsie and I had to find things to do so we wouldn’t get bored (yes, even she was getting bored), so I used our time as an opportunity to play around with my camera and take pictures of my sweet girl.

Making funny faces

Watching the fish

Lazy pups

Baby snuggles and a good book…doesn’t get any better!

Luckily on Tuesday, my dad decided to be a rebel and go against the travel restrictions to come pick me and Kinsie up to go to their house so we wouldn’t have to be alone anymore. I mean, being lonely and stir crazy is considered an emergency…right? Don’t answer that! Because school just kept getting cancelled, we got to spend the next few days with my family, which made being snowed in much more tolerable. We still really missed Ryan though!

I couldn’t believe that we ended up getting 5 snow days in a row. God gave me 5 extra days with my baby and I couldn’t have been more grateful for that extra time with her. Unfortunately, reality starts on Monday!

16Oct2013

Kinsie’s Newborn Photo Session

Posted in Baby by klmatthews16

I am so lucky that my sister, Krista, offered to do our maternity photos AND Kinsie’s newborn photos. She has done such an amazing job on all of them! She also took pictures of our birth experience, which as you saw in my previous post, are amazing as well! Krista is 35 weeks pregnant with her second child, is in the process of moving into a new house, and has an almost 2 year old son, so needless to say, she has been VERY busy…yet she still made the time to take these pictures for us, and did so with a smile and a loving heart! THANK YOU Krista for being so wonderful and helping me with so much throughout my pregnancy and as a new mom!

Although newborn pictures look so sweet and peaceful, they are usually much more stressful to actually take! Between trying to keep them asleep and happy, maneuvering them to the positions you want, and having them pee or poop on the blankets and baskets, it is quite a task! During our photo session, Kinsie mainly just wanted her pacifier the entire time and would wake up and get mad if we tried to take it from her. She also has this obsession with putting her hands on her face, so we had to hold her hands down quite a bit. Other than that, she was a winner! Here are her newborn photos…

Cousin Briggs picking out a good book to read to his baby Kinsie

Admiring his baby bousin

10Oct2013

Before and After

Posted in General by klmatthews16

Like most women, I am a major advocate of Pinterest. I feel pretty lucky that it started up right in time for all the major events in my life. For example, I used it to plan my wedding, my classroom, my house, the baby’s room and much more. I mean, what did we all do before Pinterest started?? I know Ryan appreciates it too since I’ve gotten many recipes from the website and if you know him, the way to his heart is his stomach!

Anyway, on Pinterest I found so many great photography ideas to do during and after a pregnancy that I had to make sure that I did myself. I was SO happy that I did these photos and I highly recommend doing these before and after pictures if you are pregnant. Enjoy!