Life As It Is.

Baby Julien.

Little Julien, itty bitty like his mama.

This photo almost fools you into thinking that he slept, but make no mistake, hungry little man wasn't having it. I had a wonderful time with him nonetheless.

Baby Sierra.

Sweet baby Sierra, who didn't want to sleep. She's such a petite little one. So happy for Sierra's mommy and daddy (Doug & Katie)....Sierra is going to be such a blessing to their lives.

You may remember the "before" image of Sierra:

Baby Ethan.

I don't know what has taken me so long to do this post about one of my favorite people in the world. In July, I had the amazing privilege of photographing the birth of baby Ethan. Don't worry, I'm not going to share those photos with you ;) Ethan's mommy is my bff (when she calls, Seth hands the phone to me saying, "It's your BFF") and I have been blessed enough to photograph the births of both of her children. I can't say enough what an amazing experience and blessing that is. It knits those precious souls into my heart.

Ethan is a beautiful baby with his olive skin, dark hair that styles just like his daddy's, and his adorable chub. Plus, he is delightfully snuggly (I could hold him all day). I'm done with my babymaking days, but thankfully, I have little Ethan nearby to squeeze and love on :)

Ethan just shortly after birth (Sarah's babies like to make their appearance in the middle of the night):

And several days later after finally getting released from the NICU:

Baby Luke.

Baby Luke at 5 days. He was a joy to photograph and it really is such a blessing to photograph this family for so many reasons. For one thing, I've photographed this sweet family through the stages of life...engagement, wedding, and the addition of two little ones. Also, I think you can see in the images how much Jeremy and Stacy love their children.

Baby McKenna

Our church family joyfully welcomed a new addition a couple weeks ago...baby McKenna. I was excited to be able to photograph her. At six days old, she was absolutely perfect. We were able to quickly coax her to a deep sleep and then she let me move her around, change hats, and pose her to my heart's content. I had so much with her! Babies like her are why newborns are one of my favorite types of sessions. I photographed McKenna's big brother a few years ago and it is so exciting to see their family grow. Congratulations, Travis and Sabrina! Miss McKenna is beautiful and she is an amazing baby model!

It's a lot of work being my mother-in-law.

All of these cute hats were created by my mother-in-law. How lucky am I to have my own personal hat-maker? There's no end to the list of hats I'd love, so in her own words...."Job security!!" She has made me around a dozen hats in the last month or so and I am having so much fun using them on all the newborns and babies I'm photographing right now. Carla, thank you....and keep em' comin'!!

Cheeks.

There are so many things to love about babies, but cheeks has to be in my top five. Don't you just want to squeeze her sweet little cheeks?!

Newborn Photography

 Thanks to all of you who voted on the photo a couple days ago. I was leaning towards printing it in B&W (for a display), but you all changed my mind! This is that same little sweetheart.

This little sweetie was so easy to photograph. It was easy to get a large and diverse collection of images for her mom and dad because she was so good. She wasn't as sleepy as we would have liked (I think she was eleven days old, so we had slipped past the sleepy stage), but she was content and delightful nonetheless. And there are always tricks to making babies "look" asleep! I always recommend that newborns have their first images done as early as possible. I know it can really be difficult to take your newborn out in those first days, but really does make all the difference in getting those priceless, amazing photos for your home.

 

And, mom and dad's favorite....

Indecisive.

Sometimes I just can't choose. Color, or black & white? I need your opinion.

Twin photography.

There is a real sense of responsibility in creating photographs for a soldier preparing for deployment. I can only imagine how important those photographs are during that time away from their family. So I appreciate the privilege that it is to be a part of something that has such meaning to a family. I'm proud to have my photos stuffed in a dirty, sweaty helmet or placed in a pocket of a uniform, or in a wallet. I couldn't help but tear up as I thanked this dad for his service to our country and the sacrifice he is going to make being away from his precious babies for so long a time. Thank you, J&C, for your service and sacrifice.