SCENES FROM FATHERS DAY

We loved celebrating Father's Day with all of the special fathers in our lives. We had a delicious meal with my family and Jon's family. I have always loved that our families get along so well and feel like one big happy family when we are all together. It's such a special time when we can all get together! -- Jon is such a natural father and it's amazing watching him father Soren. Soren is crazy about Jon and so am I. ;)

OUR TRIP TO THE MOUNTAINS

On Saturday we got back from a week in the mountains. Jon and I were celebrating our 4 year wedding anniversary with Zach and Leah who were also celebrating their 4 year anniversary! We are definitely the "stay-cation" type, so the idea of staying in a cabin for a week, cooking our own food, relaxing, and taking it easy was right up our alley!

We drove up to North Georgia and rented one of those amazing vacation rentals (which is the best!) We also brought Soren along, which was a new adventure. This was our first big trip with him and he did really well! We had one little melt-down on the way to Zach and Leah's but he mostly napped during the rest of the drive and was great at the cabin. Going out and about with him more makes me so much more confident in taking him places!

I've been trying to really unplug a lot lately and that's just what I did on our vacation. I left my phone and computer in our room for the most part and just checked a few things here and there or used my phone to read books from my kindle app. It was just what I needed and so wonderful. I get into such a bad habit of checking my phone for the sake of checking it and wasting precious time. I'm trying to learn to just look at it during certain times of the work day and essentially putting it away after work and on the weekends. My heart is to be "all there" for my family and enjoy all of these moments. :)

To sum it up, it was such a laid back getaway and just what we needed!!

PS - Also, thank you all SO much for your incredible words of encouragement and support about our announcement yesterday. We have been so excited about this new journey and we can hardly wait to launch the site in July! 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

These pictures are so special to me for many reasons. First of all, we hardly ever get snow in Atlanta. Soren was born on a snow day and two weeks later (yesterday) we got to enjoy more snow together in our cozy neighborhood. :) As well, these are our first photos together as a family of three. We are just completely enraptured by Soren and love learning about him and getting to know him more everyday. :) Feeling pretty blessed to be celebrating Valentine's Day with my two favorite guys!

Wishing you a very happy Valentine's day from the Wallace family!! xoxo

THOUGHTS ON THE NEW YEAR

So here we are! It's a new year, as I'm sure you've been informed over and over again by every social network you visit. ;) I haven't spent much time catching everyone up on life and happenings. It's been a busy holiday season and Jon and I made sure to take time off to really soak up the holidays and special time with our families.

We celebrated Christmas as a couple, we also celebrated with each of our families, and then wrapped up everything with a quick trip up to Fort Mill to see Jon's extended family for a Christmas celebration. Let me tell you, being 35 weeks pregnant and traveling 4+ hours in a car isn't the best idea. But it was so worth it seeing everyone before the baby comes. Also, while we were up there, Jon and I realized it had been 5 years since he proposed to me. He proposed to me during Christmastime, on a bench in Fort Mill, right outside his grandparents' house. It was so special and perfect. The image above was our little tribute to our engagement 5 years ago. I'll never forget that feeling when he proposed. I felt hot and cold, shaky, "floaty", and filled with emotions. It was one of the best days of my life. The only other time I've ever felt that same overwhelming emotion was the day I found out we were pregnant with Soren. 

Speaking of Soren, we are officially sitting at 36 weeks and a few days. Everything is feeling more and more "real". I'm getting past the just wrapping my head around the idea of being pregnant and starting to realize a little life will come into the world soon that we'll be responsible for raising, protecting, and loving. I've found myself over and over again having images of seeing him for the first time, feeling his little body on my chest, hearing his cries for the first time, and it brings me to tears of joy. Something that's been pressed to my heart lately is the fear of losing him. I've seen so many wonderful mommies grieve the loss of their newborn or go down a hard journey of watching them fight for their lives. I have no idea how long God has planned for Soren to be on this earth. That's something I can't know and can't control. But what I do know is that no matter how long his life is I want to truly do my best to be a good steward of it and love him as much as possible. I think handing Soren over to God will become a daily prayer and action for me. From here on out I'll always be a mom, Jon will always be a dad, and Soren will always be part of our hearts. I am honored to be his mommy and I can hardly wait to meet him. I've never been so in love with someone I haven't met before. It's such a weird feeling. 

I went to my appointment a couple days ago and the doctor said I was already 2cm dilated and that my body was doing what it needed to in order to begin preparing for birth. It's getting closer and we are over here getting anxious, nervous, and excited about the fact that he could be here anytime within the next few weeks!

I've been nesting like crazy!! And I think it's contagious because Jon has been right there alongside me getting lots of things checked off our to-do list. I keep joking with him that I've gotten more done in the past 3-4 days then I've gotten done in a whole month. This has been such a tiring and un-cozy trimester so I'm more than happy to fully take advantage of these bursts of nesting energy. We've been doing some basic projects like finishing up his nursery and doing lots of little things to get ready for his arrival and we've also accomplished a few home projects! We painted the dining room and my studio this past weekend and have been doing lots of cleaning and some decorating. I've also been working to get all of my ducks in a row for Maiedae to prepare for my leave. Again, lots of nesting energy over here...it's making me wonder if he's planning on arriving sooner that his due date. He's also SO low that I can literally feel him squishing my bladder and head-butting my cervix. He's in launching position for sure! 

Also, this is completely random but I recently took a little trip to Sam's Club and totally forgot how freaking awesome it is. I haven't been since I was a lot younger so going back with "adult eyes" was the coolest. I think it's my new favorite store. I'm planning to make a trip soon to buy in bulk and store up on things we go through quickly. Nerd alert! 

So, about this new year. Last year was filled with so many things...big changes for Maiedae, quitting my 9-5 job, lots of trips, getting pregnant, buying a home, finding out about my mom's cancer, finding out that my mom is cancer-free...lots of ups and downs and big emotions. This year is already bound to be a life-changer with the arrival of Soren. I'm also so excited that my mom is on the other end of her chemo treatments and will start to feel all better soon! I'm really looking forward to seeing what will happen this year and what it will teach me. 

I'm usually all about setting goals, but this year I wanted to simplify things a little and focus on accomplishing simple things. I decided to identify areas of my life that are important to me (wife, mommy, family/friends, Maiedae, personal development etc.) and work on one small task or goal within each. Something that could be adaptable and realistic but encouraging and challenging. I'm honestly still working through each of these but I'm looking forward to focusing on these in 2014. :)

Well, that's about all I have to catch up on! Seriously, thank you all for being such amazing readers and for supporting Maiedae like you do. It means so much and is such an honor to be part of. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and that this year grows you in so many good ways. Lots of love!!

CAPTURED: GET OUT OF TOWN

Sometimes you have really bad days. Sometimes bad days happen a lot easier when your pregnancy hormones are raging and all technology is out to get you. ;) Friday was that type of day for me. I woke up feeling bleh-sad-weird-unmotived and as the day progressed little things kept building up and making it more and more BLEH.

Jon knew my day was not-so-hot and being the loving and sweet husband that he is, he surprised me by coming home early from work with my favorite drink from Sonic at hand. He's been so attentive and sweet during this pregnancy. It's been so wonderful to have him by my side, taking such great care of me. I love him SO freaking much!! We had talked about going out of town on Saturday, but in a spur of the moment decision, and after realizing it was much needed, we decided to take a late night drive to Greenville, SC, and stay in a hotel.

We spent the majority of the day on Saturday enjoy the downtown area. We went to the Holiday Indie Craft Parade, visited a few pop up shops and ate some delicious BBQ at a local restaurant. We had such a laid-back, restful time, it was exactly what I needed. It has seriously been an emotional roller-coaster of emotions during this third trimester! I am SO completely thankful for a mini trip away and for Jon. I couldn't have made it through the weekend in one piece without him. :)  

CAPTURED: FAMILY MOMENTS

I so treasure family photos. Before my mom started her chemo treatment she wanted to make sure we got some good family photos taken. We set up a tripod in my parents' backyard last Sunday and snapped a few photos. These are so special and I'm so thankful to have them. :) I love these people!

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend, friends! I'm planning some home projects and date time with Jon this weekend. Also, I haven't been able to reply to all of the comments yet, but thank you all SO much for all of your sweet and supportive comments on my post about my mom the other day. It meant so much to me and was such a blessing. Thank you for being so encouraging and sharing some of your stories with me as well. Love all of you bunches. :)

MY MAMA

It's taken me some time to sit down and write this post. I wasn't sure how I wanted to share and I needed some time with my family to process through the emotions. With us expecting our first child in February and moving into our first home, there has been something else that has been extremely heavy on my heart.

On July 31st, my mom turned 51. We decided to meet up as a family for dinner that evening to celebrate her birthday. My dad, brother, sister, Jon, and I were all there and it was so nice to be with family. Halfway through dinner, my mom got a call that she needed to take and walked away for awhile. Shortly after, my dad joined her. While waiting and waiting, a sinking feeling started forming in the pits on our stomachs. It can't be good news, it's taking too long. My parents came back to the table and sat down. I immediately asked what the news was, "What did the doctor say?" My dad hesitated a little which was just enough time for me to briefly believe everything was clear and OK. Only seconds later he said something that meant a huge change for my entire family, especially my mom. "You're mom has cancer. Stage 3 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma." The rest of what was said turned to a blur as I tried to process what my dad had just told us. I looked at my siblings, at my dad, and at my sweet mom and started weeping in the middle of the restaurant. I hugged my mom and didn't want to let go, I just wanted it to be alright, I didn't want to see her suffer and I wanted all of this to be a sick joke. Our fear had become our reality and our journey at that moment. 

The weeks following included many tests for my mom. It was discovered that the cancer had spread throughout all of her Lymph-nodes. Some were in a worse state than hoped for, which bumped her cancer from stage 3 to stage 4. We had hoped that the doctors might give her a choice of starting chemo or trying a "wait and see" method to watch the cancer and its progress over time. The doctor was very firm that the chemo needed to be started immediately. Her heart was tested to see how strong it was to withstand treatment. A bit of joy and comfort came over us to know her heart was strong, she was strong. Throughout these tests before treatment, something came back unexpected. The doctor found an "anomaly" on the base of her brain stem and needed to do further scans to figure out what it was. This news was devastating and meant a possible game-changer for everything. Waiting a week for the news about her brain lasted forever. In the midst of working on our paperwork to move and going through a lot of "life" I felt completely drained emotionally. I didn't want to think about life without my mom. I tried my best to stay away from those thoughts. My dad gave me a call during the week. I knew this call was important because it was around the time we would find out about the "anomaly". I held my breath as my dad told me, "It's nothing. It came back clear." This news brought me to tears, it was such good news, and I was so grateful. My mom's brain was OK and we just needed to focus on fighting this cancer. 

During this time I really started experiencing a lot of heavy emotions. I knew the hormones of being pregnant were there to factor in, I knew moving was naturally going to cause stress. Adding this news to everything made me feel so helpless. I've always been very good at dealing with my emotions. I could always talk it out, cry, and express myself in a way that made me feel better and clear minded. During the first few weeks of getting the news about my mom, I found myself dealing with overwhelming emotions. There were many times Jon held me and let me cry and cry as he prayed. I started feeling the load of anxiety and stress and worry about the health of my growing baby. I was struggling with how to cope and how to keep my eyes above the waves. I felt fragile and weak and completely human. Through the remaining weeks God began teaching me a lot. He reminded me of the importance of grief. When something changes in our lives we experience grief. Our lives were changing and I needed to be OK with going through my grief. I prayed for strength and He reminded me how big His grace is and how deep His mercy is. I began to find peace in knowing that no matter what happens, God is good. 

I've started thinking back on the ways God has provided through all of this. This pregnancy has brought my mom so much joy. It has brought all of us joy! Jon and I felt very called to move at the beginning of July. It happen to work out that we found a perfect home for us only 15-20 minutes away from our family. Thinking about being able to sit with my mom during her treatments and keep her company at home while I work is so wonderful. Jenny and I weren't supposed to go full-time with Maiedae until next year. Maiedae has found so much favor and grown so well that we were both able to quit our full-time jobs and, as a result, I have some flexibility to work remotely most of the week. My dad is in a great position at his job to be able to take the time he needs to care for her. And the fact that a mammogram caught this cancer (which is unusual), is so amazing. Left untreated and unknown this cancer could have taken her away from us within the year. I am SO thankful for these blessings and His goodness through this journey. 

My mom is so full of grace. She has done better than all of us throughout this time. Yesterday she got her port put in, in order to help her receive chemo. Today she starts her first round of chemo treatment. She has been showered with so much love and prayer during this time. I am so thankful to everyone who has gone out of their way to show her how much they care. I love my mama like crazy. She is so special to me and I look forward to this time of helping to care for her and spend time with her. My sister and I are planning to have some pamper nights with her to help her feel as beautiful as she is and cared for. :)

Thank you so much for listening to my heart and for making this an encouraging and uplifting community. Also, a huge thank you to my friends who have been praying hard for my family during this time and have been such a support system for us. Lastly, I am so thankful for Jon. Through all of this he has been such a rock and such a support. He has challenged me, let me cry, held me, and spoken words of truth in my life on a daily basis. I admire him so much and am so blessed to be his wife. 

"Keep the earth below my feet. From my sweat, my blood runs weak. Let me learn from where I have been. Keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn." 

TEXAS STYLE COUNCIL RECAP

Yesterday, Jenny and I returned from an amazing weekend in Austin attending the Texas Style Council. This was probably our all-time favorite conference of the year. We had so much fun networking, meeting new people, meeting friends in person, learning, and enjoying Texas. :) It started on Friday night. We were invited to attend a dinner hosted by Minnetonka. We got to meet a handful of other amazing bloggers that have worked with Minnetonka, got a peek at their new line of shoes, ate delicious food and mingled with some awesome ladies. You can get more details from our dinner over on Tieka's blog! After the dinner on Friday, we attended a clothing swap party hosted by Lulu's. It was hectic and awesome. Jenny and I each scored some great pieces that we're excited to wear. :)

Saturday and Sunday were filled to the brim with amazing classes taught by awesome bloggers. There were so many incredible sessions to choose from it was hard to pick! Saturday ended with an amazing dinner with some of my favorite ladies and a "Prom" party complete with a dance-off and superlative awards. Jenny and I were able to connect with a lot of great companies during that time and have fun with our new friends. Some of these blogging ladies sure can dance!! Sunday was the last day, but we ended it with an after party and more great conversations. It was so sad to leave on Monday, but we were so thankful to have the opportunity to attend the conference and connect with so many amazing people. I knew I liked a lot of the bloggers attending, but after meeting them, I just love them to pieces! What a supportive and encouraging community to be part of! Can't wait to go next year!!

Top photo credited to Tieka of Selective Potential 

A THANKFUL HEART

It's hard to believe how much can change in just a few months. In May, Jon and I celebrated our three year wedding anniversary. It has truly been some of the best years of our lives and we've loved being married to each other. When we first got married, we thought about waiting two-ish years to start trying for a family. After year two passed, we still felt that waiting feeling in our hearts and decided to hold off on family starting. As 2012 started coming to an end, slowly but surely our hearts started growing towards parenthood. We soon realized that 2013 would be the year that we started trying and that we hoped to get pregnant. It was so neat to see our hearts shift from wanting it to be just us to wanting, dreaming, and talking about little Wallaces running around. We also found ourselves having quite a few of those, are we old enough to have kids!? moments. Even though we're in our mid-twenties, it's been really weird to wrap our head around the idea of being parents and bringing children into the world.

One conversation I've had over and over again with Jon is just the fact that I find it so incredible and odd that I've never been pregnant before and yet my body knows exactly what to do. Both good and bad feelings/symptoms, it's been exciting and interesting to know what my body is doing and that it's growing a baby. There. is. a. human. inside. of. me?! I may or may not have done the iconic alien coming out of my stomach scare to Jon when he was trying to be sweet and rub my stomach...

I did want to thank all of you, my friends, and family for being so supportive, encouraging, and celebrating with me yesterday. It was SO exciting to finally make our news public. Every "like", comment, phone call, and text made my day and was SO encouraging. When we first found out, I was only 3.5 weeks along (super early) and we had planned to wait and tell our parents on Father's Day, which was several LONG weeks away. We didn't realize how difficult it would be to keep our secret until we were actually around our families and friends. It took all we had not to shout, "OMG WE'RE PREGNANT YAYAYAYAY!!!" Well, we totally caved and ended up telling our parents a week before Father's Day. Slowly after that we started telling our friends. It was a fun secret to have, but it was more fun to share for sure!! Some of my favorite reactions came from my parents, Jenny and Drew, Anica, and our friend Patrick. All involved shouting, some tears, and lots of excitement. They were so hilarious and memorable. :) 

I've definitely been more distant from my blog over the past two months taking time to rest, be sick, and celebrate with Jon. I'm excited to finally get back into the swing of things and be able to share more of what's on my heart with you. I've decided to start a baby series on the blog that will include journal entries of my thoughts and personal experiences, inspiration boards for baby stuff, nursery decorating, and ways I'm preparing myself for becoming a mommy. I can't wait to share my thoughts with you. Ever since we found out I've been doing a crazy amount of reading, journaling, pinning, and thinking...so I've got LOTS to share. :) 

Again, thank you SO much for all of your encouragement, celebration, and love!!! We are SO thrilled and SO excited. Yay for baby Wallace on the way!! 

HELLO NEW YORK!

Photo Via

Currently on a plane flying to the beautiful city of New York! One of my favorite things about working for Maiedae is our travel time and getting the chance to go to new places and meet new people. Tonight we are going to a fun dinner, Thursday we will be attending the ALT Summit conference all day, Friday we will be exploring New York, and Saturday we will be flying back home. We seriously have way too much to do and NOT enough time.

Jenny and I are rooming with two other amazing/inspirational blogging friends, Maddie and Janee. Instead of spending an insane amount of money on a hotel room, we decided to split an apartment/loft and stay in it together. We found an incredible space in a great location and saved so much more than we would have getting hotel rooms. I love being able to feel like I'm temporarily living somewhere. Can't wait to share photos with you! I'll also be taking plenty of photos via Instagram so be sure to follow me there, too! @maiedae 

HAPPY THREE YEARS

It has ended up being a week of celebrations (unintentionally) for our anniversary, but today is our official three year wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that three years ago, today, I was getting married to this stud of a man. We've been together for so long and I love all of the history we've shared. I feel so blessed to be Jon's wife and so incredibly happy to be married to him.

I often tell Jon that these past three years have then the best years of my life. I'm looking forward to all of the phases of life we get to experience together. Right now, we have been so content and thankful to just be married, we look forward to the future and raising a family together, we look forward to growing old, supporting each other in our passions, building community together and doing life side by side. He is my favorite in the whole wide world. 

I put together a mini playlist of some of our favorite songs. We usually have varied taste in music and have found a few the we LOVE listening to together. Some of them are from high school and others are more recent. :)

Does She's So High bring anyone else way back?? 

CAPTURED: TENNESSEE

I wanted to be sure to share a couple snapshots of our time in Tennessee! I spent most of the time "unplugged" and didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, but made sure to capture a few. :) I seriously love getaways. We spent most of our time in the cabin playing games, watching movies and cooking yummy food.

We went with another couple, Zach and Leah, who are celebrating their 3-year anniversary the day after us so we've become anniversary buddies. :) Is it bad that I'm already counting down the days until our next trip? I'm thinking the beach is next up on our list!

CAPTURED: MAIEDAE RETREAT TO SAVANNAH

Besides having a super productive and relaxing time on our retreat, Jenny and I spent tons of time taking pictures and exploring. I love being able to say goodbye to a great memory with beautiful photos in hand. I've really grown, over time, to love taking pictures. I love it as a personal hobby and am always looking for ways to improve. 

Now that I'm back home, I'm already missing the beautiful city of Savannah and can't wait to go back again soon. ALSO, I've already mentioned this, but I'm completely stoked that Jenny is full-time with Maiedae now, seriously! It all feels so surreal!

Hope your week has been wonderful, friends!!