I LOVE Lucy!

I love Lucy! And this past Sunday afternoon, as HOT as it was, friends and family gathered at a local park to celebrate Lucy's third birthday with monsters, cake, semi-melted icecream, princess dress up clothes, and plenty of sand for all!

I feel like Lucy is my little niece and you may be thinking she that she might even be my child by the amount of pictures, however she is in no way related to me. But I DO love Lucy all the same! You see, I am best friends with Lucy's aunt, Andrea, who introduced me to Lucy's mother, Christen, who is also a photographer & took pictures at our wedding, then quickly become a great friend, then became my business partner and then we started this little business called Studio2B...and the rest is history. So in a round about way, yes, Lucy and her sister, Olive, are my little nieces or at least in my mind they are. So just bare with me and allow me to share with you the cutest little girl in the entire world. Lucy.

Love that smile!

The Buies gave her this "Fancy Nancy" baby doll complete with matching gloves and shoes. We also gave her a Fancy Nancy tiara, sticker book and reading book. Lucy loves all things girly - shoes, gloves, and PINK! :)

Daddy, Ryan, had a little too much fun with Lucy's new dress-up clothes. :)

Lucy's little sister, Olive, had a blast hanging out on the monkey bars. She reminds me of a little monkey! So cute!

Buie had to say good-bye to his fury friend, Captain Jack, before we left. He's worse than I am!

Me and Buie were sweating so much but glad we were able to be a part of Lucy's special day!

Babies are popping out of the woodworks!

Seriously, people! Stop making babies! No, really! Stop it! I'm going broke buying baby gifts! Actually I don't really mind the baby gifts that much as long as you let me take pictures of your babies. You don't even have to pay me. I just like taking pictures of babies and with all of these showers I've been attending I have a feeling I will be taking LOTS of baby pictures this fall. :)
This past Saturday I helped to host a baby shower for my dear friend Jessica D. (And yes, it is necessary to specify the "D." I have many friends named Jessica. It was a popular name in the early 80's.) Anyway, I hosted the shower with the lovely ladies in the picture above, half of whom are pregnant. I am not one of them, even though I may have fooled you in the picture. I am never wearing that shirt again, by the way.

I have known Jessica since we plegdged together in the same Sorority in college but didn't become really close until we lived together after college with the two lovely ladies above. Those were good times. :) All three of us share a love of cats and each owned (at least) one while we lived together. haha.

These three lovely ladies are all in the same pledge class as me and as you can see are all expecting. Stefan, the one in the middle, went into labor on Sunday, the day after the shower and had a beautiful baby girl yesterday! :)

Jessica and I share the same birthday (July 19th) and her little man, Dean Oliver, is due around the same time. I am crossing my fingers that he will be born on our birthday. Congrats to Scott and Jessie!~ Can't wait to meet him!

Fibromyalgia Awareness

Today is May 12th. For many of you it is just another ordinary day. Many years ago, for me, it was, as well. Until about four years ago, I had never heard about Fibromyalgia until a doctor diagnosed me with it along with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. These two illnesses usually go hand in hand, but what are they and how do they affect you?

Today is May 12th. Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. I write about Fibromyalgia not for any other reason other than that - awareness. Perhaps you are struggling with many of the same things I struggled with for years and don't have a clue what's "wrong" with you. Do any of these symptoms sound familiar? Pain, unrelenting fatigue, memory & concentration issues, sleep disorders, exercise difficulties, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), chronic headaches, & even migraines, jaw pain, aggravating factors such as PMS, weather, stress, etc. If you have most or ALL all these symptoms on a regular basis you might want to talk to your doctor about treatment. I was and still am dealing with every single one of these symptoms on a daily basis. You may think - HOW in the world? I have learned coping treatments and I have learned how to make my life as stress free as possible. Stress makes Fibro worse.

Things that I have learned to enjoy and embrace with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:
walking (as oppossed to running which is hard on your joints)
hot baths
massages
sleep
saying no
the occasional muscle relaxer (when the day gets the best of me) :)

Do you have Fibromyalgia or know someone who does? How do you/they deal with the symptoms?

April Tornados Bring Baby Showers...or something like that...

The past two weeks have been crazy at the Buie household. From dodging tornados to painting extra rooms and planning baby showers there is never a dull moment. This past weekend was no exception, especially since it was a holiday - Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers out there or soon to be Mothers. It seems that everyone is pregnant right now doesn't it? I currently have about four close friends that are expecting and know of about five or six other people that are "friends of friends" that are due sometime soon as well. Something's in the water! :)

On Saturday morning, me and my friend, Alicia, threw a baby shower for my sister in law, Nicole, who is due with the first baby in the family - Landon Andrew Walker - on July 4th. We are soooo excited I can hardly stand it! We thought it was appropriate to throw the shower on Mother's Day weekend since this is Nicole's first Mother's Day AND both of our mothers (Landon's grandmothers) were able to come up for the shower. My family are HUGE Dallas Cowboy fans and Craig, my brother, wanted a Dallas Cowboy themed nursery if the baby was a boy. Well, Nicole has taken his request and made the nursery the cutest Dallas Cowboy themed nursery possible. It is straight out of a Pottery Barn catalog with just a few Dallas themed accents like this cute frame designed by Christen Byrd. Check out her work over at BabyByrds.

I can't wait til I can fill this blog with pictures of little babies! :)

Alicia's head shots

Head on over to Cara Beth photography to see more of my gorgeous friend, Alicia, and some of the shots I took of her this past week. And while you're at it, you should become a follower of Cara Beth Photography. :)