That’s right, I’m about to random your socks off.

First, here are some of the Anthropologie goodies I bought for my birthday. Brian and I headed into Chicago on February 5, BY OURSELVES, we went to Victoria Secret where I was fitted for REAL BRAS that actually lift. Wow, what a difference. (Of course, I still mostly wear my nursing bras because of Sir-Nurse-A-Lot but still, these new bras mean that 7% of the time, my boobs go upward and not down. It’s amazing, really. Then we hit Anthropologie on Chicago Ave, just off of Michigan. Twas beautiful.

my finds.

I believe my eye was leaning towards blue that day.

…we had dinner at The Italian Village and then headed to the Anthro on State Street. Twas amazing. I can’t get over how spoiled I was. Brian even insisted on carrying every single shopping bag the entire trip. He mentioned making this my birthday tradition and I was like “oh, geeze, no way, nuh-uh.”

yeah, right! I was too shocked and excited to respond, I think. Our final stop was at Panera to pick up goodies for the next morning.

Yesterday, Brian surprised me with an Anthropologie box with the rest of the coffee mugs to that set for Valentine’s day. (and maybe, JUST MAYBE a VS goodie but shhhh…my Mom reads this blog.)

Eli’s surgery was yesterday. I can’t believe I’m throwing this into a post about random things because there is so much detail that it may be just too much. I want to just focus on the fact that it’s done and this morning he was so happy. Oh and maybe that he and I had the best sleep last night that we’ve had EVER. The night before Brian and I hardly slept at all, like, literally. We had a perfect hotel room and Eli went to sleep like a perfect little baby, I laid down at 8:30 my time, maybe closer to 9 and woke up every hour or more. Then Brian got paged for work and did not go to bed until after one when we had to be up at three. ugh.

But Eli? He’s a champion and yes, we had some definite difficult moments yesterday but also some super sweet ones, too. We are so thankful to have this done. The surgery went perfectly, it was a bit more invasive than I thought it would be but that’s okay. He should be back to normal in 3-4 weeks. (I’m sorry I’m not sharing the details, I just want to protect the privacy of my little one!)

Here are some sweet photos of our brave guy:

I mentioned last week that I’ll be heading to a photography class next week in another part of the country. This is something that I registered for last August with very limited availability. The fact that A.) I am able to go and B.) that I got in and that C.) my husband is just as excited as I am, are all wonderful, amazing things. I will not be linking to this workshop because I’m finding that maybe some people don’t quite appreciate originality and authenticity as much as I do, or as much as they should, especially when starting a photography business and because this is a huge investment for us, I just want it to be something that I discovered and something is part of ME and Beth Fletcher Photography. (sorry for the longest sentence ever.) I just think it would be best to keep it within my walls. In other words, I’m finding others doing exactly what I’m doing with their photography business that live very close to me and that makes me uncomfortable and probably sad, so I must protect this business of mine and keep it me and keep others from becoming me, too. (does that make sense?)

This doesn’t mean I won’t be sharing with you guys, oh, please! How could I not? It’s just that some things, have to be mine. You know? (I’m totally cringing as I write this, I don’t want to come across as a jerk or as someone who thinks she’s better than she is because I do not, it’s just disappointing to see what I’ve seen lately because I’ve been so forthcoming and it scares me, I think.)

(and it’s not to say that I don’t get ideas from other photographers, in fact, I do! My favorite thing about the internet is that I can sit down and get a huge dose of inspiration from people sharing the creativity and their art, but it does just that, it inspires me to craft my own art.)

(and also, if you’ve emailed me with questions, asking for advice, etc. I am not talking about you. In fact, YOU are the real deal to me. I love that you are seeking help in a private forum and I am completely honored that you’ve come to me. I believe in mentoring and hope to some day be a very devoted mentor to others, when I feel good enough to be one, of course.)

(oh man, maybe this should have been a separate post.)

(sorry for all of the parenthesis.)

Anyway, Eli will be traveling with me, I think he’s super excited for his first plane ride. or would be if he knew what a plane was, of course.

Oh and I believe I promised you some newborn photos, yes? Here you go!

Can you even handle these cheeks?