A few weeks ago, I got to spend a beautiful morning with this little cutie pie. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I LOVE working with newborns that are a little bit older than that golden “10 day rule.” Rules were made to be broken anyway and I quite enjoy the level of comfort, ease, and interaction you can get with a baby that’s just a little bit older and parents that are just a little bit wiser. For what it’s worth, I totally dug mom’s sense of style and I’m just going to have to have her decorate my whole house someday. See my favorite image BIGGER.

Whenever I do a newborn photo session, I always think back to the maternity pictures…especially for first-time parents. It’s fascinating watching a young couple become their roles and witnessing all of the excitement that comes before a baby arrives as well as the newly found love after baby is born:

No. Literally. When I walked through the door and saw just how much this little guy had gone from baby/toddler and turned into a little boy and I pretty much went crazy. I mean, we have a history together…even before he was actually born, and so you can understand my shock when I realized that his white-blonde hair had turned into more of a sandy blonde hue and his vocabulary had grown exponentially and he is becoming all the things that my own kiddos are becoming…older…grown up…more independent. I get choked up just thinking about it, actually.

Okay. Enough about that. This may have been one of my more memorable sessions with his family, mostly because it was so relaxed and so much about being together at home…as a family. I am WAY impressed with his dad and his “labor of love” he undertook when building that playscape by hand. My heart swells to think about the memories they have created for their son. Well done!!!

And of course, you MUST see my absolute fav from this session HERE.

My client friend Whitney is an incredible mother to these three and her energy and patience and love for her family inspires me to be a better mommy myself. I admire how she seems to live in the moment and appreciate both the fun times and the challenging times with kiddos. I always enjoy my time with their crew, it is always an adventure and it is always fun.

While editing these images, it hit me pretty hard that #1 I’ve been working with this family since baby girl was one and #2 about a year ago, I was editing the BIRTH images of the youngest Mr. Man up there. It really is difficult to comprehend and accept the passage of time and I was pretty wistful thinking about the day of his birth. And then I realized I never even blogged his birth images. I think that’s partly because, while I didn’t know it at the time, it would be the last birth session I would take. After my husband’s brother got sick, I decided that I could no longer photograph births in an effort to spend more time with my family. How fortuitous that this would be my last birth, though! It was SO fast! Don’t tell anyone, but I may have run a few stoplights on the way there and I was literally running down the hall, cameras swinging, trying desperately to make it there in time…

See? He was born literally within a few minutes of my arrival! (Remember this?) So fast, that I decided to come back the next day when he got to meet his siblings for the first time and photograph that:

Wow! That was quite the trip down memory lane. I can’t imagine a more perfect birth to complete my six year birth photography career. Thank you so much, Whitney, for that wonderful, wonderful honor and experience!

This sweet and simple newborn session for baby sister was in such contrast to the bright, sunny, fun, citrus-y, summery maternity session we had for her mommy (you won’t want to miss one of my most favorite maternity images from that session HERE). I loved baby girl’s calm nature…she was so unaffected by her energetic, bouncing big brother. She was unaffected by the big ol’ storms that rolled through during the session, too. And seriously, I said it before, but she has the most perfect newborn skin I’ve ever seen! She is the perfect baby sister and the perfect blessing to her family!

Since I first met Bev three years ago (and under the most stressful of circumstances), her world has changed just a little bit…and I would say for the better. I am so very impressed with how she took charge of her birth experience with this little chunky monkey and fought for what she knew she could do and searched and searched to find a doctor who believed in her just as much as she believed in herself. I hope she will get around to sharing her story someday online because it is truly inspirational and I am just in awe of what she did. Even during baby E’s newborn session, she kept exclaiming, “I can’t believe this baby came out of me!!!” I agree. I can’t believe it either. She is soooooo petite and he is sooooo…well, er…well nourished. He has the best personality already and truly captivates everyone who dares to lock eyes with him.  It was something else to watch how his big brother took such care of him. (Speaking of big brother: wow, he’s changed a tad since I saw him last).  More favs I couldn’t fit in this post HERE, HERE, and HERE. 😉

P.S. I am choosing to blame my clients/friends for my serious Kendra Scott addiction. That’s what I tell my husband, anyway.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with this family for several years now, and walking through their halls is very much a walk down memory lane of my time with them. One of the best things about getting to see a family year after year is keeping up to date with the kiddos’ latest and greatest obsessions. This year, it was a sword and “Slithers.” Slithers is her pet rubber snake and the way she cares for her is absolutely priceless. She has built an entire palace for Slithers, complete with a wardrobe of evening gowns, a full kitchen, a car, and a bathroom…with a toilet. Slithers is the most spoiled rubber snake I have ever met. 😉

This is baby B and he’d like you to know a little bit more about him:

Favorite color: It’s a toss up between orange and blue.

Favorite food: Mama’s milk

Favorite place to sleep: in someone’s arms

Favorite time to sleep: only as long as no one else is asleep

Favorite thing to do after a long, hard day of being cute: lounge in his favorite orange chair

Favorite big sister: this one, of course!

Favorite photographer: his mommy (but Pinkle Toes is pretty cool, too 😉

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On the topic of favorites, here are some of my other favorite images HERE, HERE, and just added today…HERE.

As cliché as it may sound, it really does seem like just yesterday I was photographing his big brother as a newborn baby. I really do enjoy getting to carry on the photo session tradition with siblings…I find it so fascinating to see the similarities and differences between them. And I like to imagine all of the fun things they’ll do together when they get older…especially when they learn how to gang up on their parents. Believe me, I’ve been on both sides of that one ;-). [My absolute favorite image from this session can be seen HERE.]

As evidenced by the second image up there, little man didn’t quite know what to make of me at first at his session. I first met him when he was just a babe, so I can understand that he probably didn’t remember me. However, little did we know, the true way to little boy blue’s heart was by letting him strip down and hop into a dub of water! Oh my word! You would have thought all of his dreams came true in that one little moment. His mommy and I kept commenting that we made it the best day of his life…and considering he’s only been around for 365 or so days, that is probably very, very true 😉 Fav image from this session pictured HERE.

I’m sorry to be blunt, but Gerber’s got nothing on this little beauty! She defines all things that are cute and adorable and snuggly and baby-like and she does it with the determination and grace and drive of a fighter. Her scar makes her even more beautiful than she already is and it was an honor to get to spend some time with her a few weeks ago. Personally, one of my most memorable and moving photo sessions ever. {Another fav HERE.}