We were expecting Sam to show up around December 28th last year. Instead he decided to come 3 weeks early. Ashlee’s blood pressure was way to high so she ended up having a c-section on December 7th. Best day of my Life! It was agony as all the family waited to hear that the baby and she were fine and that there were no more complications. After a couple of hours, which seemed like days the proud daddy called to say everyone was great. We were all beside ourselves to see Sam so Daryl face timed with us and we saw our precious baby boy for the 1st time. After what seemed like another few days we all got to go back to Ashlee’s room and see and hold Sam. I have to say I was a bit of a baby hog as I got to hold Sam 1st and I totally forgot for a few minutes that there was anyone else in the room but Sam and me. These photos are Sam’s 1st photo shoot. They were taken about 12 hours after he was born.

No one noticed until late the 2nd day after Sam was born that the tag from WakeMed said baby boy but had a F (for female) on his tag.

Daryl was excellent at making baby burritos.

Not even 24 hours old and he is so expressive! That has not changed one bit. Yesterday he was 10 months old. From newborn to 10 months in a blink of an eye. I have been trying to spend as much time with him as I can as I know how fast it all flies by. So I will update you on his progress along with the house in the coming weeks.

A couple of years ago I was feeling a bit restless as I was now a empty nestor. I loved my home and gardens and everything that Larry and I had created over the 16 years we had been in our home in Apex. I think we had run out of projects there and were doing a good job of maintaining  but it was beginning to feel just that,maintaining. So, we started thinking about what we were going to do going into our golden years so to speak. We seriously kicked around the idea of selling everything and moving to St. Martin and starting a new business there. I LOVE St. Martin but knew I’d miss my kids and friends as well as my clients to much to go so far away. Ashlee sealed  that idea when she announced that we were finally going to be grandparents. So…… I found a new project. I should say huge project. A year later we are still working on it. 

I have always loved white brick. I have always loved old homes. The date this was built was 1925 so check that box. And it had TWO sunrooms. I was hooked. That whole front porch had to be torn out and redone. Here is what it looks like now. Still trying to decide on what kind of railings I want.

Here is a view of the porch today,decorated for Halloween. Yes Slim and his dog Pickins made the move with us.

I love the blue slate. This was what was here and it was broke and cracked in many areas.

The steps came out and I chose this look for the risers. I am thinking of black wrought iron railings for the steps and porch. Let me know your ideas.

Look for my post tomorrow when I will share my precious grandbaby Sam’s 1st photo shoot.

Forgot to put these in the pregnancy shoot post and I had to add them because I love this shot. I really like them both ways. What is your favorite?