About this series: Besides being the signature to Luke’s email, this blog series features the things we’re loving as we start each Monday morning with gratitude and coffee!

View previous editions here:
Love & Coffee #1

Here’s what we’re discussing over our morning coffee on this week!

• We had our first ever family photos taken this week! Becka (our studio manager here at Luke & Cat and portrait and wedding photographer at our sister company Our Little Ranch Photography) took us out on the ranch and took photos of the 3 of us as well as just me and Luke! We hadn’t had professional photos taken of just the two of us in quite a long time! We are saving the family photos until we send out our Christmas card, but here’s one of the ones of just the two of us!

• These sticky pecan cinnamon rolls have been both the joy and bane of our existence. I had the idea of ‘jazzing up’ canned cinnamon rolls, which led me to finding this recipe. Four gooey-uncooked attempts later, we finally had a successful run with these! We halved the recipe and cooked it 30 minutes covered and then 10 minutes uncovered.
• Cat’s family’s cattle ranch hosted an educational summit for cattle ranchers on Friday. We were invited to speak about how ranchers can use photography (both professional and DIY/iPhone) to connect with their customers and help them to sell more cattle. It was an interesting merging of our two worlds, and we loved it! Did you know we live on a working ranch? 
• The Astros! We’re officially bandwagon jumpers. Several years ago, we were die hard Astros fans because one of the ranch’s customers was on the team. We went to tons of games to watch him play and had a blast. The past couple of years we’ve kinda been off the Astros fan grid mainly because we were super cheap and cut our TV package way down and didn’t get the channel anymore! But we’re loving watching the World Series and rooting for our hometown team!
• We about spit our coffee out when we saw that two of our fall editorials from our past Life & Craft Workshops were featured by Southern Living. It's such a treat whenever an older shoot resurfaces with new press. Thank you to Two Be Wed for their work in getting these national features for the Ralph Lauren Ranch and Romanticism Revisited editorials! 
• We have no heat! We made it through the coldest October night since 1923 (36°) with no heat! The backstory: when Knox was less than 1 week old, we smelled gas in our house. The gas company found a tiny leak under our home, and protocol was to pull the meter and turn off the gas. We thought the only thing that was using the gas was our hot water heater, so we bought an electric hot water heater and never turned the gas back on. Last week, our heater wasn’t working because (surprise!) it is a gas furnace. The gas company stood us up on Friday, leaving us Friday (44°) and Saturday night (36°) with no heat. We had a ceramic space heater going in Knox’s room while Luke and I survived with a fluffy white down comforter on our bed. We’re hoping to get heat today. Until then, I’m working with ear warmers on my head!

Love & Coffee (Buttered Pecan Creamer is everything!)

Luke & Cat

Besides being the signature to Luke’s email, this blog series features the things we’re loving as we start each Monday morning with gratitude and coffee!

Here’s what we’re discussing over our morning coffee on this week!

• Knox is 4 months old! Our son has been with us now for 1/3 of a year! Where does the time go? This morning we were up early for his 4 month checkup, where he continues to get good reports! We’re raising a tall one… in the 75th percentile for height! We’re still waiting on that first real laugh, which could happen any day now!
• And…. Knox can finally sit in his Bumbo chair and look us in the eye while we have our morning coffee! 
• Instagram grid prep. I finally decided to dedicate some significant time to planning out my feed and trying to make it look more visually cohesive. This included carefully curating the portfolio images that I share and making sure that the personal photos of our life (my favorite things to share on Instagram) that I post fit in well with them. I’ve had to take some new photos (of myself, of Knox, of wedding details, etc.) but I am really excited about how everything is working out. Planoly has become my new best friend and has made planning out my grid so much easier!
• New styling stuff! We just added several styling boards and ring boxes to our ‘stash,’ to get ready for our workshop. We wanted our attendees to have great things to practice with, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t super excited to play with them myself this week and take some new detail photos for… what else… my Instagram!
• The Walking Dead return. Is anyone else still watching that show, or just us? The premiere was pretty good in our opinion, but how in the heck does Negan still make it out alive after all of that?
• Is cold weather here for good? The first cold front was a few weeks ago, but it got hot once again. This time, it looks like cool mornings may be here to stay. We’ll be working with the screen doors open just as long as we can.
• Our own family photos are this week! Becka from our sister company (Our Little Ranch Photography) is taking our first ever family photos on the ranch tomorrow. The number of outfits we ordered and returned to choose the right combo has been quite entertaining!
• The sounds of the week. We’re still finalizing our Spotify playlist for this month, but so far, we’re throwing it back to 2011 and listening to Bon Iver’s self titled album on the turntable. 

Love & Coffee, (See you next week!)

Luke & Cat

I heard somewhere that when it comes to raising children, "The days are long, but the years are short." Boy, that rings true as I look at our 3 month old little boy!

Here’s an update on Knox Harrison Neumayr and some of the highlights of his first 3 months!

• Took his first overnight trip and stayed in a hotel on the Williams family vacation to Schlitterbahn Corpus Christi.

• Rode out Hurricane Harvey and fell in love with watching weather radar on the television.

• Found his smile at about 7 weeks and has been smiling ever since.

• Got to meet Pa when he and Mimi came from Indiana for his baby blessing at church.

• Likes to go hang out at Nannie and Papa’s house and see his Uncle Dude, Aunt Gaggle, and cousins Mollie and Ann Catherine.

• Rides on the mule in the evenings but can’t stay awake even if he wants to.

• Favorite book is Go Dog Go. “Do you like my hat?”

• Sleeps 11.5 hours through the night since 10 weeks old.

• Doesn’t like to nap during the day, have a wet diaper, or be naked.

• Wakes up smiling and laughing in his crib.

• Is working very hard on holding his head up.

• Takes a bath every night because it is his favorite time of day.

• Is ticklish on his right cheek.

• Gets passed around at church and held by lots of sweet friends!

• Goes through around 15 burp rags and at least 3 outfits per day.

• Stares at Dad anytime we go out to eat and just waits for him to make eye contact.

• Ends up wearing his moose outfit or green panda outfit anytime Mom dresses him because those are her favorites.

• Has watched 3 Texas Aggie football games from Nannie and Papa’s house.

• Is in the 75th percentile for height and because of that, wears 6-9 month old clothes.

• Loves when Dad holds his fist and pretends to give people ‘knuckle sandwiches.’

• Likes to listen to Sam Cooke and dance with Mom in the dining room.

Here’s one very important thing I learned: caring for a newborn is tough! I have so much respect for all of you other parents and of course, my own parents for all they did for me! At least in the Casa de Luke and Cat, we’re running on a specific cocktail of exhaustion and elation, with different balances of the two from day to day. It’s rewarding work, but hard work!

It’s crazy to think that it’s been a quarter of a year with Knox in our lives and in our home. We’ve been slackers on taking regular photos of him, but I know 3 months is a milestone that’s worth documenting!

We’re looking forward to the next months - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, sitting up, hearing that first audible laugh, and getting to see his Aunt Cassie and Mimi again and meet his cousin Hunter when they comes and helps us put on our workshop in November!

Lots of Smiles & Coos,

Luke & Cat (and Knox, too!)