Charlotte NC Wedding Photographer. Lindsey Lee Hartsell

Hello world wide web!  I'm back- well, sort of!  Our little man is 2 weeks old today and boy has the time flown by!

Shepherd Wesley Hartsell was born on January 28th and was 9 lbs 3 ounces and 22.5 inches long!

I thought there was no way in the world he would be bigger than Sharpe when he was born, especially because Shepherd was born 2 weeks earlier, but goodness he came out such a big and perfect boy!    He is such a sweet and good natured baby.  We are well over here and simply adjusting to life with 2.  People weren't lying when they said it was hard work, but we are managing pretty well and figuring it all out:)  Sharpe is a great big brother, but honestly, could care less.  He is starting to come around and take more interest in "Baby Shepherd", but for the most part his 2 year old self is a little unphased.  It probably has something to do with the undivided attention he is getting from all of his grandparents right now;)  I'm lucky to have their help, but one little boy is getting more and more spoiled by the second!\n\nAfter getting 4.5 hours of sleep in a row(apparently there was a feeding in there somewhere, but in my exhaustion I slept right through it.  Super dad Joe to the rescue), I feel a little less like The Walking Dead and a little more normal and out of my newborn fog....kinda.  Go 4.5 hours of sleep!  We did take some newborn pics which I will post soon, but in the meantime I wanted to post Shepherd's nursery.  A huge thanks to my dear, dear friend Meredith Beregovski with Georgia Street Design for consulting with me on the nursery details, talking me off ledges when I couldn't find anything I liked and thought the nursery would totally stink, approving my purchases when I did find stuff I liked, helping me find the most perfect fabric and designing the curtains, pillows and crib skirt, and for in general just being one of the greatest friends a girl could ask for.  Ya'll, get on her schedule ASAP.  Some of her work is soon going to be on a HGTV show that begins filming in the next few weeks!  Her work is the real deal and I am so proud of her!\n\nHope you like it as much as we do!  The little guy is still sleeping in our room, but I know he is going to love it in here when he finally does sleep in his own bed.

I knew I wanted a "dog" theme, but pretty much everything I could find was totally kiddie or cartoony- which is definitely not my decorating style.  If it's possible, I reached the end of Etsy.  To no avail.   After I found the Dog wallpaper, it really all started to come together!  All of the furniture was from Sharpe's Nursery.  He got big boy beds so his nursery furniture was moved into the baby's room.   I knew the queen bed had to stay(after debating and debating and debating some more), so after making Joe move the queen bed to literally every wall in the room so I could see how it looked, we finally landed it back to it's original starting point- in between the windows(I'm telling you, I married a saint!). Oh, and Meredith said it would look fine there the whole time, haha...I'm SUPER fun to work with;)

After finding the perfect wallpaper and furniture for her child's room, the next step for any creative mom was finding the right accents to complete the look. That's where the search for ottomans for sale came in. A cozy ottoman would not only provide a comfortable spot to sit and read stories but also add a pop of color and texture to the room. With so many options available online, from plush upholstered pieces to sleek and modern designs, finding the perfect ottoman to match the decor of the room was a breeze. With everything finally in place, any mom can sit back and enjoy the fruits of her labor, knowing that her child's room is both stylish and functional.

 New hardware for the cabinet from Anthropologie, and these cute little scottie dog hooks, too!

 Joe and I found the rug at Tuesday Morning up in Asheville just by chance one day.  Love Tuesday Morning! Wish I lived closer to one...although that might be a bad thing.  The mirrors we already had, they hung over the bed when it was a guest room, we just painted them navy per Meredith;).

 I love the fabric, curtain rods, pillows and crib skirt so much!  Meredith is the goddess of fabric.  As a fabric snob myself, I don't say this lightly, either!  She just has a way with seeing how everything is going to look.  She sourced these curtain rods, too!  I adore them!

Joe really wanted his Dog lick mat along with some "hunting dogs" dolls in the room.  After reaching the end of the internet for the 5th time, I was able to find some vector images of dogs for sale which I was able to turn blue and print as photos.  So proud of this little project! Oh, and Lindsey Lee Photography sells these frames in all sizes if you are interested!

The headboard was the same as we used the guest room.  Just tried to find a way to masculine it up a bit.

\n\nHope you enjoyed the tour of his room!  I am taking some time off this month and next to be with our sweet Shepherd and Sharpe, but am looking forward to getting some amazing things up on the blog, too.  Be sure to check back.  Oh, and happy snow days ahead (fingers crossed!).

So I REALLY wasn't going to do maternity photos...like, really.  We had such a busy fall, I felt like I missed the window of "cute preggo lady" and had moved on to "people are giving me that sympathetic look at Target preggo lady" .  The swelling, the puff, the waddle.  I'm not kidding.  In TJ MAXX last night I totally had a sympathy conversation with the random woman in the bathroom.  All this to say, we had these cute selfies (us + our cameras + a trigger) that we did with Darby when I was pregnant with Sharpe, and my mom has been on us to do the same shots with baby #2.  I thought it was a great idea, I really did, it just seemed that we should have done it, oh, 10 weeks ago!! Now that baby boy will be here in 10 days, I suddenly regretted that we hadn't done it and so we made it happen.  Just getting my hair and makeup and self ready + sweating + finding something that fit was enough to make me realize we should have done it much sooner, but nonetheless, it got done.  Selfies round 2!  We weren't focused on getting a variety of shots, but on getting literally the same couple of poses we got the first time around.  I think we did a pretty good job:) So, here I am- about to POP!  Hello big round belly!  I can do this- 10 more days to go:)  

Yup, another year down!  Gosh, I know all the "old people":) talk about how time flies, but it's just so true!  Honestly, I can't even get my mind around this year.  As I sit here exactly two weeks from my due date of Baby Hartsell Boy #2, I am really lost for words for this year!  It was too much, all of it.  I'm overwhelmed by it, but in the BEST way possible.  I'll try and recap because I think it's important to reflect and just see what all we accomplished as a family and in business.  You can read 2012's recap here…that was fun to go back and do, too!

(I'm going to share pretty much just a lot of iPhone/instagram photos because well….the pro photog mom sorta fell apart in 2013.  Not as many pro photo shoots- and most of them that we did have I've already shared already on the blog, so sharing some you may not have seen.  Go back and take a look at all the pro ones sometimes, they are pretty cute, too:))

We started the year with a one year old.  That was fun, really fun.  Our little late walker decided to get on the walking bandwagon sometime around 13-14 months…this is after pretty much furniture walking for 6+ months.  We kept thinking he'd take off, but he just never did.  Still off the charts, our little boy brings us SOO much joy.  I know I brag on him too much…but he is such a smart, sweet, and darling little man.  Just easy! very easy!  Everyone keeps saying the next one won't be the same, and I say hush it!  Don't jinx this good thing we have going here!  I can't believe how much he has grown in this one year.  He went from our crawling, paci loving guy to talking up a storm in full sentences and developing so much of his personality.  Luckily because of his sweet nature, the grandparents never minded keeping him for, oh you know, 3/4 the weekends of the year.  They saved us!  We would get updates and photos to our phones while working of whatever cuteness he was up to.

(started the year still crawling…so little! and still bald!)

We had a busy spring and early summer in business- lots of fun weddings, which I will get to.  We joined our church officially and Sharpe was dedicated on Mother's Day.  Once school was out, we headed to the beach!  We took most of July off to spend as a family- and boy did we:) Practically moved down to my parent's place at Oak Island where we were totally on Island Time.  Saw lots of friends along the way and spent lots of time being…well…lazy.  Our fall was to be the busiest we have ever had…so we were "Getting Ready to Get Ready".  Spring was also when I got my second bun in the oven, so lazy days were just what we needed a few months later!  We played and played and played on the beach.  As fun as it was this year- I know this coming summer he is going to be such a perfect age for the beach.  Although, you know my whole family is see-thru, so the sun situation is really just a problem.  We are all just so white!  It takes a traveling caravan to get us and all of our sun protection down to the beach.

(at the beach.  getting a little more hair and he shot straight up! no more baby rolls)

Back from the beach and back to reality- our craziness in business started back up in August along with Joe heading back to school.  I was going to miss my helper!  Rejuvenated, we got back in the swing of things, but boy was it crazy!  Sharpe started back to preschool 2 days a week and we tried to get back in our routine of lots of work and lots of weddings and amazing seniors and families.  We did pretty good.  We found out we were having another little boy somewhere in here, and we couldn't be happier(I knew the whole time it was another boy!).  I was definitely a little relieved, what was I going to do with all of that boy stuff if not?!

I would be remiss to not mention a few things in here that were critical to our year.  I turned 30 on the 30th of August.  It was fairly uneventful….but mostly because our family experienced great loss in early September…the death of my beloved DD.  My mothers mom lost her battle with Parkinson's/Alzheimer's after a rough couple of months and a few very short weeks of touch and go.  In the middle of what all we had going on in business and life, this was hard. very, very hard.  We had a packed calendar of weddings to shoot but I tried to be as much help to my family as possible- and primarily to my mom who takes on the burdens of our whole family without complaint.  That's really all I can say about that without turning into a puddle here at the computer.  I miss her so much.  It was a hard time and continues to be a process to move through.

(a shot from our wedding 5 years ago.  4 generations.  DD on the far left) 

Fall marched on and we tried to keep the pace.  Our wedding schedule was so crazy there wasn't a ton of time for fall outings, but we managed a few.  We knew it would be a crazy fall, which is why we took so much time in July, but we still managed a trip to the pumpkin patch and a few other fall play dates as a family. Oh, and had THE BEST TIME thinking of what Sharpe should be for Halloween and making his costume.  These are just the sort of things that keep us up at night!  Super Darby and Super Sharpe were a big hit!

 (playing with his bestie Griffin at school, Halloween and a trip to the pumpkin patch!)

 Fall turned into Winter and  as we neared the end of our crazy, crazy wedding run our steam was running low, but we looked forward to a few things we had planned on the calendar.  One being a trip to the Polar Express up in Bryon City.  Also shooting our annual Christmas card- which is also something we go a little nuts over.  I am also VERY pregnant at this point, so trying to get everything ready for baby…which, for the record, is still not done 2 weeks before he is to arrive.  The holidays were great- we shot a wedding right before and right after- but Sharpe was SO FUN to be around.  He loved to "open peasants" and some of his favorite gifts were toy cars and his fireman dress up outfit.  Not too sure about Santa, he soaked everything in!  He also celebrated his 2nd birthday. Since we did it up big for his first birthday- we just kept it low key at home with pizza and the grandparents for birthday #2.

And then it was New Year's!  Yup, that's how quick it happened folks! Such a fun year with our little guy.  In Business...

We shot 31 weddings as a company- 29 for Joe and I and 2 for our associate.  It was crazy busy and crazy fun.  Celebrating with people on the happiest day of their life is truly life-giving!! What a gift!  In April I attended a workshop in St. Louis- learning lots of new tricks of the trade and continuing to try and learn more about our craft.  We really spent most of the year perfecting our workflow and trying to make things more efficient- and some great changes were made.  We implemented a new delivery system for weddings and I revamped my senior sessions.  We shot lots of Photo-Fusion Videos(which we introduced at the end of 2012) and took so much pride in our work.  Shooting most of the year pregnant added a little extra element of stress, but Joe picked up any of my slack and I am super happy with the body of work we produced for our amazing couples this year.  Thank you for trusting us with your moments!!!!

2013- lots of these fall weddings still to hit the blog!

And that was 2013, people!  It was crazy long at times, and crazy short at times.  Our little family will grow by another 2 feet, and I am just so excited for what 2014 holds for us.  We still have a FEW wedding dates left in 2014, so if you know any friends/family/people you like getting married, we would love for you to pass our names along.  Senior and Families, too!  We wouldn't have this business without those people out there that are constantly referring us and telling their friends about us.  We consider you partners in this work!  Thank you Thank you Thank you for sending love our way all year long.  We count our blessings every night for all of our cheerleaders, for the support of our family and friends, and of course AMAZING CLIENTS!!  We are truly blessed.   Joe and I hope 2014 showers your family with love and we can't wait to share more in the days and weeks to come.  Thanks for reading!