Oh such beauty.   I admit.  My heart fluttered a bit when I saw the above shot.  These two together just melted my heart.

I am getting pretty excited to meet the little fella that will make this trio a foursome.  Could he possibly be as adorable as his big sister?   I love Ella.  I love this family picture and I give full credit to Ella for it.  That is not where I put her.  Like any small ball of energy, she had her own idea about where she should be seated.  When she cuddled mama’s leg like that, I was grinning ear to ear in approval.  MUCH better than my first idea.  Sometimes when I let toddlers go, they surprise me with what they come up with.  Never count the pint sized ones out.  Tori teaches me that every day.

Thinking she is going to be a great big sissy.  Lovin’ on brother already.

Pregnancy looks so good on N!    Beautiful, beautiful mama…

The first time I met Ella, she was about six months old.  I have grown quite attached to this munchkin and loved the time with her.  She was such a cuddle bug.  I really wanted to take her home with me.  She, and her sweet cousin Maddy are as precious as they come (Maddy was recently on the blog too for her 2 year shoot).

Had to try a silhouette with a toddler in the middle.  Sweet little addition.

I feel so fortunate to GET to spend time with this sweet family again soon.  I have had the awesome opportunity to get to know and work with several family members (C’s sister and family and N’s sister and family) and I love the whole lot of them.  See you soon C and N!  Can’t wait!

I am so excited!  This week our little Lucy will arrive!  Yipppeeeeee!!!!!

The beautiful blonde above is my cousin Jamie and her wonderful honey Shane.  I was born when my Aunt Beck was 16 years old.  When I was 16, Aunt Beck had Jamie.  She was “mine” from Day 1.  Most adorable baby girl ever.   Is Lucy going to look like Jamie?  Oh I hope I hope I hope.  Can’t wait!    (But if she sports Shane’s hair I am going to be TOTALLY okay with that!!!!)

I love the above picture of these two.  I told Shane to make sure he didn’t look like he was choking her.  I have four brothers and three sons.  I should have known better than to say that.  Once it leaves your mouth, they just can’t resist.

I had so much fun photographing these two.   We were worried about the heat but it turned out to be that AWESOME weekend in May where it cooled off for a minute.  Super nice day.  They took me to dinner afterwards and then chatted on our couch with me and Jim until the wee hours of the morning.  I laugh until my stomach hurts when I am with this dynamic duo.

I think my cousin looks beautiful pregnant and I have loved watching her excitement grow right along with her baby belly.   My bet is on an 8 pounder.

Shane gets an A++ for picture day.  After his third shoot with me he said “I know what you’re after Doni” and then he gave it to me.  I had told them both at the beginning that I wanted to see the natural interactions between them so that we could capture that for Lucy and I would know it when I saw it because I know these two very well.  Shane ignored my camera and did what he always does – he loved Jamie.  I love how he loves that girl and she thinks the sun rises and sets where he stands too.  Lucy is going to know it to when she is old enough to interpret these pictures of her parents and I super love that fact.  (You say things like “super love” when you have four kids.  The lingo of four year olds is pretty hip).

Jamie has perfect cheeks.  When she was a toddler, I used to stick my fingers in her mouth (my very clean fingers) and measure the thickness of her cheeks between my index finger and thumb.  It was unreal.  They must have been one inch thick.  I cracked up when the ultrasound tech this week told them that they could actually SEE Lucy’s cheeks on an ultrasound.  LOL!    Perfection.

Shane and Jamie – I love you two to pieces and I can’t wait to have Lucy in MY arms.  A.D.O.R.E.

S is one beautiful expecting mama and was brave enough to face the June heat to capture this moment in time.  I was scared to death the heat would get to her so we brought plenty of water and I tried to shoot fast.  (I *tried*.  I am not fast at this job.  Too much of a driver to get it done quickly so that is one risk in hiring me.  Expect a 2 hour shoot.)

Recognize this little cutie?   At 2, a photo shoot in June was not high on her priority list but we still got some shots of Miss Busy Bee that I loved.   S hired me to do Kennedy’s 6 month and 1 year shoot so it was so fun to get to see her again at 2.  Adorable as ever.

See you again next month J, S, and K!

Ahhhhhhh…the celebration of new life…melts my heart every time.  Baby girl is due next month and I am looking forward to meeting the little darling.  My husband Jim has been working with J for about six years now so it was fun for me to get time alone with this sweet couple and interrogate J on HIS version of what happens in the office (hee hee).  It was no surprise to me that Jim is often late for dinner because of late evening parking lot chats with J.    It was also great to meet M in person.  We have had the opportunity to establish a friendship via email but face to face time is a bonus.   I hope we get more of it in the future and I can’t wait to do newborn pictures!  Lots of pictures of Dad and Mom already head over heels with baby so I’ll get on with it…

Pregnancy shoots are awesome for silhouettes (IMHO) and it’s a rare find to get a semi-clear ridge line so I was very happy to find just the right spot. 

And if you are wondering…no I am still not taking new business.  I did previously schedule a handful of newborns for the beginning of this year (one in Jan, Feb, and Mar) but that is all I can take right now.  Troy is still needing most of my time so there just isn’t enough time left in a day to schedule any more sessions.  I am keeping a contact list though for those wanting notification when I start back up this year so if you are interested in being on the contact list, please let me know.  I think I will just have to ease back in once he is a bit more independent.

Thank you J and M!  It was fun getting to spend an afternoon with you and I can’t wait to meet your daughter!