Things you should know about this session:
1. LOVED working in this part of town. It is so rich with color and culture! So happy mom took me up on this idea!
2. We walked. A lot. A whole lot. I'm not good with directions ;-).
3. This little man has got to be the happiest kid on earth! I smiled the whole time while editing his session.

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.

I have a true admiration for his mommy's vision for documenting his first year of life: newborn, 3 months, this 6 month session (more pics below), and I'm proofing his 9 month session as we speak. We have carefully documented each of these incredible leaps every three months--each session very different from the next--and then we put together a beautiful Heirloom Album for each session. I literally gasped when I went back for his 9 month session a few weeks ago and saw the collection of these albums proudly displayed in the living room.

It.Looks.So.AMAZING.

And I just cannot wait to see all five of them together after we celebrate his 1st Birthday. Can you imagine how much fun it's going to be for their family to sit down together and flip through these albums over the years? I'm jealous. I wish I had the foresight to make something like this for each of my babies.

So, before I go back to his 9 month pics, I'll leave you with some more from his 6 month session:

For her senior portraits, she said she LOVED cityscapes and we were fortunate enough that evening to be blessed with the most wonderful sunset glow on the city of Austin. As far as I know, she's heading up to New York City (a slightly bigger cityscape) to pursue a career in fashion. Very excited to see those dreams come true for her!

First we flew planes and skateboarded...

...then we played piano overlooking the city...

...followed by more skateboarding...

...and snuggles from mom.

Then we practiced some edible spelling...

...football...

(I hope he appreciates his spectacular peepers)

...and of course some baseball:

(omg, LOVE the tongue).

More snuggles from mom and then to cap off the evening, a nice bike ride: