In looking back through this session, it was truly like three sessions in one. When I first arrived, our session was very lifestyle, very casual, just the three of them hanging out. I really enjoyed that little peek into their normal lives even though we could tell early on that baby girl was really, really tired. Like most babies, her normal schedule was off that day and we finally decided to let her grandmother rock her to sleep to see if a nap would help her get back to her happy little self. It did afford us a great opportunity to get some shots of just mom + dad, but...

...it didn't work.

Grandmother tried and tried to get her to sleep and as tired as she was, she fought and fought. Finally, she just gave up and fell asleep in mom's arms outside. I loved those moments:

And then out of the blue, about 5 minutes into her nap, she just woke up...bright-eyed, happy as can be, totally refreshed. I don't know how she did it, but that girl mastered the art of cat-napping right then and there.

Now that I think about it, this is really the biggest benefit of hiring an experience professional photographer to come to your home to take pictures. You truly never know how your kiddos are going to feel that day (actually, I tell parents to expect the worst ;-). It's got to be nice to get to take breaks as often as needed in your own environment. And what a relief to know you've got someone that's going to be there through the long haul to make sure your session is a success. I am SOOOOOOO glad we all stuck it out for these last few frames! Loved the sparkle of her eyes and the rosy glow of those "fresh from a nap" cheeks. She looks so doll-like here!

We did a quick little mini session to mark his 1/2 year birthday. He wasn't too thrilled with the grass, but his big sis found LOTS of things to spark her curiosity. The wind was CRAZY that day, but I loved what it did to add to the mood of the images.

Go shop some here. And when you're done with that, go shop here. Sigh.

Two major things in my life have caused me to obsess over the passage of time: my children and my job. When I was younger (and before I had kids), time seemed to move so slowly. I couldn't wait to graduate high school, I couldn't wait to finish college, I couldn't wait to be married, I couldn't wait to have a baby.

But now I want to put the breaks on everything. Everything is moving much, much too quickly. I just want this merry-go-round to stop for just a second and let me take it all in for a few minutes.

And unfortunately, my job makes me feel this way about my clients, too. I'm sure I must've seemed like that annoying aunt that pinches everyone's cheeks and says, "My, how you've grown!" when I saw them again for our session. I was just so overwhelmed with how much the children (well, some of them don't even seem like children anymore) had changed. See that adorable little red-head in the blue shirt? Yeah. This was him just a few years ago. And the littlest guy wasn't even a glimmer in mom's eye yet. But the older two...wow! They are now beautiful and protective and confident and intelligent young adults.

In her pre-session questionairre, mom wrote that she wanted to document where they were at this point in time: "son taller than his mom, but not dad. daughter getting so pretty and surviving as the lone girl. J being crazy. baby being snuggly." These words really struck a chord with me. I love how she noticed this important milestone for her family. I loved this little preview of what my life might be like in just a few short years. It makes me both happy and sad. I love when pictures can do both.