And this sweet thing sure had me fooled.  I would have never guessed he’d be anything other than a handsome blue-eyed boy.  Turns out he’s a charming one year old with dark, chocolate brown eyes.  At the beginning of his session, Brayden was determined to be quite serious and not show us his smile.  Thanks to the help of his mom, big brother, and sisters we were able to capture a few but I think his serious look is quite handsome, too!

Lately, I’ve really been enjoying designing customized wallets to offer in each of my clients’ galleries.  I absolutely love showing them off when I’m out and about and know more than a few parents and grandparents that think these little wallets are grand.

We started our sessionin the living areas of Luka’s home and then moved into his nursery.  I was fortunate to be able to capture a lot of natural light which helps soften the sometimes challenging skin tones of newborns.  Below is one of the storyboards being offered in Luka’s gallery.  A storyboard combines multiple images and are available in many sizes but this one happens to be 12×12 square.

 As with all newborn sessions, we had a few breaks for feedings, changes, and cuddle times with Mom.  We ended our time together with a quick jaunt to this sweet family’s front yard.    The outdoor images are almost always some of my favorites.

As part of the First Year Photography plans, Luka’s family will have many images to remember the sweet moments as this newborn grows and changes over the next year.

These pictures are a little sneak peak of Emme’s 12 month session.  Emme wasn’t all smiles and we had to work to capture these images but it was well worth it.   

Happy Birthday, Emme!  I look forward to watching you grow into a sweet little girl who can make anyone smile with her beautiful smile.

I wanted to do something a little different with this post and share a few of the custom wallets that were designed for Connor’s gallery.  Custom wallets are die-cut to give them rounded corners and can be designed with any of your favorites from our sessions.

At five months, Emiana enjoys bouncing in her jumperoo, being outside and eating grass, babbling, and trying lots of new things.  We had a fabulous time on our first visit together to Silver Dollar City. 

This month we also celebrated my first Mother’s Day as a mommy.  We enjoyed getting dressed up and heading out to eat at Nonna’s, one of my favorite Italian restaurants.  I thoroughly enjoyed our time together but found myself still somewhat heavy hearted.  I wanted to be a mommy for a long time before we were finally blessed with Emiana and, during that time, Mother’s Day was definitely the most emotionally challenging day.  I realize many people, including some we know personally, find themselves in the place where we were just a short time ago.  Hang in there and know that although it often feels like a lonely place to be that others do care deeply for you and are thinking of you.

Wasn’t the yellow and blue just perfect in the gardens?  Before the end of our session, this cutie enjoyed a few rounds of Pat-a-Cake.

I love to support other local businesses, especially those operated by the ladies.  Erin is an incredibly talented baker that I have know for several years.  Together with Erin’s Baked Goods, I’ll be offering First Birthday cake sessions, with a cake and balloons, added to a regular session for only $15.   You can even schedule your full first year session and a separate cake session to be sure we have plenty of time to capture all the special moments of this milestone in your child’s life.  These sessions will feature Erin’s beautiful and yummy giant cupcake sweetness customized to match your color scheme. 

Click here to see how much this cake was enjoyed from head to toe!

Erin’s Baked Goods offers cakes for all your special occasions and she would love to work with you to design the perfect cake for your celebration.  I wanted to share with you just a few of my favorites that would be perfect for a child’s birthday party.

Erin also designs elegant cakes for other life celebrations.

Be sure to visit Erin’s blog at www.erinsgoodies.blogspot.com to see many more examples of her talent.  Don’t miss out on the candies and cookies either.

 Well, our little girl is just blooming into her personality lately.  She makes us smile and laugh so much. 

 This blue dress and hat were Emiana’s Easter outfit for this year.  I’m sure the day is coming, but right now she doesn’t mind all her hats and bows except when she’s riding in her car seat and they migrate down over her eyes.

Our little photo sessions don’t always go as planned.  The blooming photo above was one I wanted to try.  However, it had to be immediately followed by a bath as our girl started getting rather blotchy.  It went away almost immediately but I think I’ll just cherish this shot and not try it again.  Don’t you just love her little swirly bellybutton?

 There can be something particularly challenging about three month sessions.  I believe it has more to do with this specific developmental stage versus personality because I’ve experienced it with many different three month old children.  Sweeties at this age are not as easily lulled to sleep as a newborn yet still do not stay happy and alert for long periods of time.  So often when we are expecting to capture more awake moments, we still usually end up catching some adorable sleepy moments as well.  With a little extra patience, a feeding, and some clothing changes, we were able to capture some of Kaydence’s awake moments and some sweet dreamy ones.  Enjoy! 

I wanted to share the image above because in this photograph Kaydence reminds me of her big sister Chriah.  Chriah had a good time playing during her sissy’s session and she was a great helper trying to cheer up her litter sister.