Nashville.

I am finally, finally posting photos from my trip to Nashville late last month. Sorry for the delay, dear readers. I procrastinate. And then I get busy with REAL things. And then I procrastinate again.

River and I flew in to Nashville on March 20th, and we left the 26th. I was extremely blessed to sit next to incredibly patient people on the plane. A couple of them were moms. They had to have been. One lady without saying a word, made River’s bottle like a pro, reached down into my bag for me when I needed something, and held her while I ate my sandwich. She was awesome. Everyone else I sat in between on each plane was almost as helpful as she was,  except for the guy having a panic attack next to me from Houston to Nashville, but once he settled down and stopped creeping me out, he was nice too. You know, when he wasn’t pulling his hair or trying to steady his breathing, or checking his watch literally every minute… anyway, I was incredibly surprised by how helpful people were to me. I thought I would be treated like junk for bringing my baby on the plane, but River was an amazingly good traveler. She even napped in my lap.

I don’t really know where to start.

I’ll start with this. I put parchment paper in the broiler.

Woopsie.

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I can’t focus on exactly where I’m going with this post, but to keep myself from putting this off until tomorrow, I’ll just post in chunks. Bear with me.

Cutie pie cousins, Enoch and River, who are the same size.

I started calling Enoch “lines and dots” because he has so many of them when he smiles! You never know where to look.

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Josh and Enoch.

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One of my favorite nights in Nashville was the night I took their family photos. You can view more of my favorites from their session at MirabalPhotography.com.

Okay. Deb and I laughed hysterically for 5 minutes straight because of this last photo. We decided that she looks like a very solemn momma orangutan. I swear, every time I see an orangutan at the zoo holding her baby, she’s making this face. Stephen doesn’t get it.

Count those chins. Three.

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More Enoch…

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Before I go any further, I have a confession. I am incredibly shy. It’s something I wish I knew how to fix. In Nashville I learned that I have fans! I am so grateful that I’m not writing this to 3 people. It’s validating to know that people… well, like me. And to my self-proclaimed stalkers, I promise, I stalk you too. Really. I’ve seen your wedding photos, family photos, I know your kids’ names (creepy?), I know who you’ve recently started dating, I know what country you’re moving to, I’ve gotten emotional looking at photos of your births… I loved finally meeting you all. I feel like I already know you because of Deb. In my head I kept thinking, okay, Brittany, take photos of all these ladies. Have Deb take pictures of you with them. I really planned on documenting all of you, but I totally chickened out. I even tried praying for courage before entering social situations, but all I could muster as a prayer was,  ”God, please help me not be so awkward.”

One of these instances was at a “mother blessing” for Deb. She shared the birth story of Enoch. Some of the ladies in her community shared their wisdom and prayed for her. It was really intimate, and a great thing to do for new mommas. I was brave enough to photograph Deb, Enoch, and Jude, who was so, so cute.

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River loved Josh.

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Another time that I should have been whipping out my camera like mad, was at Bible study. I didn’t. Bummer.

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What else… River took silly baths in a bath bucket.

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I got to spend a lot of quality time with Deb. We watched a semi-crappy movie, watched Darryl Pandy in action, almost peed our pants over text fails, almost peed again when we decided Orangutan Sadness would be an awesome band name.

It’s crazy how fast 6 days went.

The humidity did a number on my hair.

We obviously both use our hands a lot when we laugh or something.

I miss Deb. I missed Deb the second I walked away from her at the airport. And as creepy as it sounds (I’m just all around creepy right now…),  I remember how baby Enoch’s hair smelled when I left. I miss Josh too. But leaving Deb this time was different. She’s been with me through some of the most significant things in my life. I know that sounds exaggerated, but it’s true. I remember laying on a hammock one night under the stars, asking the Lord to direct my life. At that point I knew I was going to marry Stephen. He had no idea. We didn’t even start dating for another year, but I just knew it. Anyway, Deb came out and laid on the hammock with me, and even though she and I hadn’t really gotten to know each other before then, I knew she was going to be my sister one day. She was my first roommate, I confided in her. She was in my wedding, and left the very next day to live in Nashville. I called her when I was heartbroken because I wanted a baby. I wanted her with me when I miscarried our first baby. She was there for River’s birth. I miss her.

This time it was different to leave because– we’re mommas together. She and my babies have a little bit of the same blood (creepy? true.) It’s hard to explain.

Anyway, there you have it. My Nashville trip in a nutshell. Whatever that means.