I have the utmost respect and admiration of military families. I think it takes an unfathomable level of faith and personal strength to be apart for months at a time and still find ways to maintain that sense of family. These three were beautiful together and oh, that baby boy! He is just about as precious as he can be!!! The bugs pretty much swarmed us the entire session, but he was so very patient. He kinda nailed his photo session ;-)…especially the part with the helicopter…just like one his daddy flies. Well…not just like, but you know what I mean. (Another sweet image HERE).

When my sister had to check into the hospital due to PPROM–quite literally the day after her baby shower and and just one day shy of 25 weeks–the time was so tenuous. Pretty much all of her pregnancy has been tenuous and full of worry and fear. Not knowing how much longer she would be able to carry the babies, we did a few quick pictures of her beautiful belly as best we could in her hospital room. Love how Uncle Chad expertly covered the IV’s and hospital bracelets ;-).

My sister has been in/out of hospitals since January and spent every.single.day cooped up in a hospital here in Austin for the last FORTY days and counting. Really. Incredible. And things are still going well, girls are still getting stronger. These chickadees have made it PAST 28 weeks (a magical milestone) and PAST 30 weeks! They are so amazing! And lest we forget to thank Uncle Chad, who has taken diligent care of his wife while working full time and trying to maintain the house. Yup. This family is full of fighters…in a good way.

Oh, I can’t wait to meet these girls and let them know how proud we are of them. And of their parents. Not much longer, my friends. We could welcome them safely any day now and that is in an amazing place of happiness to be in right now. Sigh…

All this to say, I have joined in our family’s team for March of Dimes in Austin this May. While Jen’s babies are doing well and we don’t know when they’ll be born yet, we are much too aware of how many babies are born prematurely and the immeasurable challenges they face because of it. If you have just a few minutes and few dollars to spare, I would be so grateful if you would consider sponsoring me in the walk.

xoxo,

Me

I already knew these guys were awesome parents when I first worked with their family back when their eldest was a few months old. And now they are awesome parents to two sweet, beautiful little boys. I totally dig their style and laid-back nature. We had such a fun time at baby N’s newborn session…he made the cutest little faces! I love that we wore big bro out, too  ;-). Check out my FAV photo HERE and then my close 2nd HERE!

Side note: Clients and future clients – may I highly recommend getting a professional to do your hair/makeup for your photo session like this mommy did? Katie at Modern Muse Beauty does a fantastic job and honestly, it takes SO much pressure off of you before your session. Especially if you have small children…especially for a newborn session when you are trying so hard to get ready AND get a little one ready AND you are running on zero sleep. You can book her HERE – just select Pinkle Toes Session as the service needed and Katie will get in touch with you.

What? You don’t already follow me on Instagram? Well, you should because you never know what might happen on there. For example, back in December, as part of my 12 days of giveaways, I gave away some spring Mommy & Me wildflower mini sessions to some of my clients. And let me tell you, the wildflowers this year have been so amazing, it could NOT have been a better prize ;-). Beautiful mommies doing what they do, beautifully!

They drove in from Houston to do their session and we had big plans of working outside in colorful, downtown Austin. The weather, however, had plans of its own. Thank goodness they happened to be staying in the ultra fabulous W hotel and we were able to get permission to shoot in/around the hotel. We tried…we really tried to go outside for a few minutes. The wind that day was crazy and their beautiful spring clothes didn’t do much to save them from the chill so we had to move indoors. No matter. These guys are a pretty FUN family and we found plenty of ways to keep ourselves entertained even while in a little hotel room. Mom’s dress, by the way, um…LOVE! Also, HERE’s what every mom should do at least once with her children ;-).

…we tried to give him cake, lol! Oh, he was priceless, even when he was totally confused by the whole cake thing. Those bright, sparkly eyes and that charming smile…oh my…he’s a living doll! He has certainly blessed his parents with being one of coolest little dudes ever! It was an honor to celebrate your big-oh-one on your special, special day! Also, loved mom’s expert dodging of the cake at the end ;-). Too funny! (Another sailboat FAV!)

I love it when I get the chance to work with families year after year and follow how they and their children grow and change. Since before even big sister was born, I’ve photographed this beautiful family, and now they’ve added a sweet little red-headed angel to their nest. Congratulations, you guys! She’s so perfect! [See one of these images with a change in focus HERE.]

It has been such a pleasure to follow their family through expecting #2 and now all the way through the arrival of #3. They are so blessed with three adorable children and take everything in stride. I know life isn’t always easy with three littles, but they sure do an excellent job of parenting with grace and love. A big congrats to you two on your beautiful family of FIVE! (You can see their most recent pregnancy portraits HERE). Another version of the bassinet image HERE.

Okay, maybe the idea was a little crazy: three small children (two of whom prefer to crawl in two different directions) + a truckload full of farm animals, but doesn’t matter because it was COMPLETELY worth it. We pretty much had it all that day (including a little lamb which helped create one of my most favorite images EVER) but one animal you will notice that is missing is a pig. We had two of the most adorable little piglets show up that afternoon, but those little dudes are FAST and both the baby humans and the baby pigs were equally terrified of each other. The whole thing was quite comical, actually…trying to corral three children and a bunch of baby animals. We made it happen though and we definitely celebrated the twins’ birthday(s?) in style.

I feel like I’ve been with this family forever. We have certainly shared a lot of memories together over the past several years and it was an honor to help celebrate the 1 year birthday of their baby girl. For tradition’s sake, we revisited the same place we did big brother’s one year session, and even did a little bit of photo re-creation. Funny enough, I think it was just as cold as it was last time we were there, lol. And don’t miss this shot of speedy as she crawled up the stairs and out of sight, over and over and over again ;-). Oh, I do adore her!