Category: babies

babies, babymoon, beach, dreamy, elodie, happiness, hawaii, love, marriage, photography, pregnancy, relax, travel

{Our Babymoon}

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I know not everyone is into the whole “babymoon” idea, but let’s be honest, Corey and I will take any excuse to go on a vacation! I, being the obsessive travel planner that I am, thought long and hard about what kind of babymoon I wanted to go on….

Due to work obligations, other travels we had planned, and the fact that I was getting more pregnant by the week, we only had a tiny five day window in December for our trip. I knew right away I didn’t want to go somewhere cold and adventurous (read: ski trip or anything like it). I knew I wanted sun, mostly because by that point in Portland you are really ready to escape the dreary rain and cold. I also wanted the vacation to be no-fuss, easy to get to (direct flight), and incredibly relaxing. 

Usually when we go on vacation we are planning out every day, choosing restaurants, hikes, attractions, etc etc. We wanted the opposite for our babymoon. Pure relaxation. No agenda. Just the huz and me and me and the huz. We knew we wouldn’t be taking a vacation like that as often once Elodie arrived, so that was our plan.

We ended up going back to our honeymoon destination because we knew how great the Hyatt was and were dying to stay there. We loved the food on the hotel grounds (which was great since we didn’t plan to leave). It was in hawaii – so hello, sun! And there are direct flights from Portland to Kauai, so boom – Kauai it was!

Minus one day of torrential thunderstorms and lightning, the trip was a dream. It was exactly what we had envisioned – pure relaxation and good quality one on one time. I couldn’t recommend the Hyatt in Poipu enough for any vacation – but especially a babymoon or honeymoon! A few photos from our trip below!
{Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}
babies, family, happiness, husband, love, marriage, photography, pregnancy

{We’re Having a Baby!!!}

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So….
{It says “We’re Pregnant!!! – Too bad the flash blew out the handwriting!}

Yippee!!!! Oh my goodness, I can’t even tell you how happy and excited I am that I finally get to shout our news from the rooftops! We’ve known for over two months now that little baby Denfeld is on the way, so it is such a relief to finally get to share the news with the world 🙂

I’m 14 weeks along and am just now finally starting to feel better. The first trimester was pretty miserable (aside from the first two weeks where I felt nothing and was convinced I couldn’t actually be pregnant!). But all-in-all, I know it could’ve been much worse, so even though I was nauseous 24/7 for 6 weeks straight, I wasn’t in the hospital and I only threw up, like, 10 times or something. So I’ll consider that a win!

So that should cover the “How are you feeling?” question, and as far as the second question we always get – will we find out the gender. The answer is h-e-l-l yes! We can’t find out soon enough! We should know by the end of this month, so stay tuned. And no, I have no “mothers intuition” of whether it’s a boy or girl… I seriously have NO idea! I wish I did! So we’ll all just have to wait and see 🙂

More to come… For now I’ll leave you with my sorry excuse for a bump photo. I vividly remember when Ashlee was pregnant she would say how her baby bump would be so much bigger after eating a burrito, and I couldn’t believe that could be true. Could food really make the baby belly come out? And now I can tell you with great confidence.. YES it does. This was the day after I enjoyed a huge Italian dinner, hence my more curvy state. When I woke up the next morning it was almost like it never happened. Boo! I’m excited for this little one to make more of an appearance in the next few weeks!
{First photo by Laura Nelson Photography – can’t wait to share more of our shoot with her! She is ah-may-zing!}
babies, dining al fresco, move, NW Portland, Portland, relax, restaurant, weekend

{Checking In}

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Well, after several comments from friends and family about my lack of blogging, I finally decided it might be time to check in! It’s hard to believe we’ve already been back home in Portland for a month (as of tomorrow!). I am happy to say that my reason for not blogging isn’t just because we’ve been busy catching up with people, but also just because we’ve spent a good portion of time just being lazy and getting settled into life in Portland! Corey are I have both been back at work for a while now (took a whopping 3 days off!) and have been living between my in-laws’ house and my mama’s house. We’re currently searching for a place of our own and hoping to be out of the parent’s house by the end of the summer. But I can’t complain about living rent-free and having dinner cooked for us when we get home each night. Yeah, we’re pretty spoiled at the moment!
A lot of people have been asking if we miss Amsterdam. Mostly, I must admit we’re just happy to be home. Everything feels so familiar and comfortable. But there are certainly times my heart aches for those canals or our perfect apartment where we made such amazing memories. There will always be a big, special place in my heart for Amsterdam.
So what have we been up to? Lounging by the pool, eating lots of home-cooked meals, venturing downtown for dinner + drinks with friends, welcoming our new nephew Ryder into the world, and working on checking things off our summer to-do list. Time is flying!
I have an overwhelming amount of travel posts to blog (some even going back as far as Switzerland in December!) and I can’t wait to get back to it. I keep telling myself this week is the week I’m going to get back to blogging. And somehow it just doesn’t happen. I know I just need to make it a priority! I’ve just been having too much fun being lazy 🙂 So bear with me… I’ll be blogging regularly again soon…
Hope you’re all doing well out there! I’ve so appreciated the few emails and comments I’ve gotten from those saying they miss my posts. It makes me feel so good, you have no idea! And a little guilty, but mostly just really good. I miss you guys and can’t wait to be a regular blogger again soon! Thanks for hanging in there with me! Below you’ll find a bunch of iPhone photos from the last month at home!

babies, blate, expat life, travel, weekend

{This Weekend…}

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It was so much fun to head to London for the weekend to celebrate Lauren and her twin girls!
We had a bumpy start on Friday night.. But all was well by Saturday morning.
It was a pretty low key weekend filled with girly chats and brunch dates. My idea of perfect!
I even got to take some photos for Lauren and her hubby to mark this special time in their lives. I can’t wait to share! 
Sadly, I’m still sick, so I’m back to bed today. Learned my lesson last week that I won’t get better unless I rest, so I’m making that a priority!
What did you do this weekend? Anything fun? Hope you have a wonderful Monday!
babies, DIY, dreamy, fall, happiness, love, marriage, tablescape, wedding, weekend

{Meghan + Jeff 10.19.12}

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I was finally able to make some room on my computer and edit the photos from Meghan + Jeff’s gorgeous wedding! Yay!

Meghan and Jeff got married at a gorgeous venue out in Canby, Oregon – Postlewaits Country Weddings. It was truly stunning inside an out – the grounds were perfectly manicured and the barn was heartstoppingly (made up that word?) beautiful. Since I was in the wedding I didn’t get to take as many photos as I would’ve liked – but snapped as many as I could! I wish I could’ve gotten more of the details. They left no DIY undone – from the photobooth to the wishing stones, to the readings to the cocktails, to the grooms cake… I mean, the list goes on and on. It was such an honor to be a part of their day – they are such a genuine and beautiful couple. The laughter they share together is contagious. And best of all, they made the cutest little baby girl you ever did see. Enjoy the photos!

{Photos ©  Liz Denfeld}

babies, love

{Sneak Peek: Evelyn Zoe Newborn Photos}

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I’m so beyond grateful Evelyn Zoe decided to show up a week early so I could meet her when I was home for the holidays! She is the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen! I was lucky enough to take some photos for Megs and Jeff and I couldn’t have been happier to share in the excitement and joy over their new baby girl. I’m only showing a peek at the photos for now as I know Meghan and Jeff are planning on using a few for their birth announcement and I don’t want to ruin the surprise for friends that read my blog, but I just had to brag about gorgeous Evie and share at least a couple! 


Meghan and Jeff – You made an incredibly beautiful and precious little girl. She is so ridiculously lucky to have you both as parents. I can’t wait to watch Evelyn grow, watch how she changes your life and witness the love you clearly have for each other now multiply for this little one. Congratulations!


babies, love, Portland

Meghan + Jeff + Baby Mott

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We’re back in Amsterdam! Really hope you enjoyed all the wonderful guest posters while I was away. Thanks again to Kate from Embarrassment of Riches, Kelley from Kelley Maria, Megan from A Suitcase and Stilettos, Julia from Mr. & Mrs. Globetrot and Kae from Paper Morning. I can’t thank you all enough for filling in for me while I was enjoying time at home! 


While I was home I saw lots of friends and family, went to the wedding of two very special friends, attended a baby shower for one of my best friends and even got to do a couple fun photo sessions. Over the next week or so I hope to share tons of pictures from my trip back to Portland. (I just reread that and realized I said “friends” way too many times for one sentence, but I’m too jet lagged to come up with something better!)


You might remember Meghan from the Gender Reveal party I threw for her and her fiancé   {new development!! sooo excited for these two!!} back in August. Well, last week, we got together and took some fun maternity/engagement photos. They were pretty much the easiest couple in the world to take pictures of as they both looked perfect in pretty much every single photo and are so madly in love you just can’t help but smile looking at these! I’m by no means a professional and photography is just a fun hobby, but it means a lot to me when I can help capture these special moments in my friends’ lives. Here are a bunch of my favorites (I’m really bad at narrowing them down…)!


{Photos © Liz Denfeld}
babies, love

Gender Reveal Party!

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One of my very good friends, Meghan, and her man, Jeff, are expecting a baby! Megs is my first really close friend to get pregnant, and I am so incredibly excited for her! I was so sad when I realized I would be in Amsterdam for the last half of her pregnancy, not to mention the first couple years of her baby’s life. That’s one of the things that makes living abroad so hard. We’ll inevitably have to miss some important events in our friend’s and family’s lives. But I wasn’t going to let myself get off that easy. I wanted Meghan and Jeff to know how much their baby meant to me – so I offered to throw them a gender reveal party! They were totally into the idea, so I started planning!

Here’s how it worked: Meghan and Jeff went to their ultrasound appointment and told their technician to keep the gender a secret from them. She then wrote the result down, put it in an envelope (along with the ultrasound photo) and sealed it. Meghan and Jeff then gave me the envelope to guard with my life. With the help of my cupcake genius friend, Jenna, we punched out the center of 80 cupcakes, filled them with the frosting color that corresponded with the baby’s gender (pink or blue!) then frosted the tops so you couldn’t see any evidence.  Then, everyone  at the party bit into their cupcakes at the same time as Meghan and Jeff, and all found out together what they were having. Take a peek!

{Photos & Video © Liz Denfeld}
babies, love

Little Baby Lucy

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The thing I like most about my job is how much I truly love the people I work with. One of those people is Lisa. Her and her husband, Tom, recently welcomed their first baby into the world, Lucy Rose. She is such a precious little bebe and hardly fussed at all during the whole time we were shooting. I’m so lucky I have such wonderful people in my life who let me practice this hobby I love so much 🙂 



{Photos © Liz Denfeld}