I was beginning to wonder if this session was ever going to happen for us. You see, we already rescheduled twice because of rain and then wouldn’t you know it, in the wee hours of the morning of our third try, I got a call from this family 😉 and I ended up camping out at the hospital. My goal was to still hold their session that day, but we’d just move it to the afternoon. But as we all know, babies like to be born on their own schedule and I seriously didn’t think I would make it downtown that day. Somehow, it worked out, and as soon as I finished up the birth photos, I hoofed it down to them. I’m so thankful they were so patient and understanding that day! And I have to tell you, that baby girl sure made it super easy to have a wonderful session. They truly don’t come sweeter than her. Just look at those squishy cheeks and that hilarious duck face she makes. Sigh…

Once we had finished exploring the inside of art gallery in THIS session, we got to enjoy the AMAZING fall-like weather outside that afternoon. A note about this next set of images I’m about to post below: at the beginning of the session, I told them to independently think of their responses to these fill in the blanks, “My wife/husband is_______” and “This baby is _________.” You should know that they did not see each other’s responses to those questions and in fact, this post will be the first time they see what each other wrote. I found this little experiment to be quite telling…

And finally, we thought we’d end the perfect evening with one final statement about this time in their lives. It’s all about:

Another huge thank you goes out to Art on 5th and also to Katie at Modern Muse for the fabulous hair/makeup job. Very much looking forward to documenting this little guy’s birth day in just a few months! Oh, yes! One more thing…you gotta see how crafty his mama is:

She made those awesome letters HERSELF!

Normally after a photo session, I only have time to sneak peek just one image. But this session deserves its own blog post sneak peek because I have a lot of gratitude to express. First and foremost, I want to thank this beautiful couple for serving our country…willingly and proudly. I want to thank them for driving all the way into Austin for this very special day. I want to thank dad-to-be for spending his birthday doing something so sweet for his beautiful wife. I want to thank Dr. Seuss for being the inspiration for their nursery and this photo shoot. And I want to give a HUGE round of thanks and applause to the folks at Art on 5th for letting us come into their space and for being so incredibly warm, kind, and accommodating.

6-7 years ago when I was working for Texas CASA, I used to walk on my lunch break and explore downtown. One day, I stumbled upon Art on 5th and I was blown away by the Dr. Seuss gallery. When I first started communicating with this couple, she mentioned their love of Dr. Seuss and I immediately thought of this gallery. I am so thankful to Joe and the rest of the gang at Art on 5th for opening their doors to us yesterday.  I would highly, highly recommend a visit (or two, or three) to the gallery. Such a treat for the eyes!

(Part 2 HERE)

So I looked up “cool” in the dictionary the other day and I happened to see THIS family ;-). Seriously, who else elects to have their family portraits taken inside the awesome office space of Google in Austin. These guys, that’s who. I could have stayed there all day and played with all of the fun stuff and the kids just LOVED being there. Lucky ducks. Oh, and did you see my absolute fav image I sneaked from this session? Oh, yes. Cool, indeed.

So this AWESOME reversible skirt came in from her Auntie Dee. Little girl has been begging me for WEEKS to do a photo shoot. We go to do the shoot today and she was totally not into it. Why is that, I ask you? PCS? [Photographer Child Syndrome] or just the makings of having a girl child?

As I promised yesterday, here is the silver lining to all of those “clouds.” See, I told you she turned it around ;-). I just adore her mom’s sense of style. Always have.

…things aren’t always hunky-dory. I find it somewhat humorous that one of my most “liked” images on Facebook came from a session where sooooooo many tears were shed. Bless her heart, for as adorable as she was (and as STUNNING as everyone looked), it was just NOT baby girl’s morning that day. Somehow, we managed to get through (and mom, we have *plenty* of wonderful images coming your way). Will blog more soon, just thought this was a nice reminder of how much effort can go on behind-the-scenes (moms, dads, and photographers alike) to create images that look effortless.

I didn’t realize the significance when her mommy suggested this place for her 9 month photo session. And then…while we were shooting, her mommy said that one year ago they had gotten married there. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! Well now that is an idea I totally dig! Loved the urban, city-chic vibe of this photo session. And I loved that we plopped down an adorable little girl with chubby baby legs right down on these fancy, urban, city-chic couches ;-). That last image up there? That’s my fav. (Recognize her? To review, you’ve seen her here, here, and here ;-). And another newborn baby grows up right before my eyes. Sniff, sniff 🙁

Our photo sessions are always fun, always colorful, always an adventure and I’m going to tell on myself here…they’re always easy. They just seem to flow naturally…very organic and not forced and that’s what makes it so easy…even when it’s 150 degrees outside…even when someone is having a crying fit, it’s still easy because they both embrace parenthood with a GREAT sense of humor and a relaxed nature. I am pleased to say that I learned a new word at this session:

hangry

adj. han·gri·er, han·gri·est

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