Welcome to my little spot on the world wide web, a place that I hope to let you into my world behind the lens.
I have fallen head over heels in love with photography. I see it everywhere I go. My mind is always swirling and taking notes. It has become part of who I am. I want to make time stop through my images. Capture the things we just might otherwise forget.
Sweet newborn goodness. She was right at three weeks at the time we took these photos, that still qualifies for newborn status right? They change so quickly! That is one of the many reasons it is so fun to capture them while they are still so fresh and new.
I got to meet this family for a photo session this summer to celebrate the end of the family of three and to capture the now big brother. So of course I was super excited to meet the newest member. A sprinkle of pink can now be found in this household. A little sister to be picked on for many years to come by her big brother. Thanks for letting me come over and spend the afternoon with you all!
She was pretty awake for most of the session, just chillin'.
Ella is ALMOST 6 months. We had to squeeze in a session where time allowed so we are calling it her 6 month photos (what's a week off?) I got to do her newborn photos back in April, so fun and so stinkin' cute! (I didn't blog those, they were just on facebook) She is still a little peanut but has changed so much. But we must talk about this hair. Seriously? She has more hair than some 2 year olds. It is so adorable!
She wasn't so much wanting to be a model on this evening. Can't say I blame her. She was asleep from the car ride, so got woke up and thrown into model mode. "Wait, what about my milk?" Never mind the slight chill in the air. I know mom, aka Missy, thought we got nothing but we got some good ones! Here are a few of my picks from the night!
I see a Christmas card
Did I mention it was a little chilly?
We went super quick and wrapped her right back up.
Honestly, she was a total trooper.
Some sister love.
We tried didn't we Missy?
Sweet, sweet baby face
She wasn't so thrilled with this, I wouldn't give up quite so easy.
Does this not crack you up?
Not only is she chomping on her toes...the look in her eyes.
Love it.
Thanks Ella...maybe you will have more fun next time. I know I can't wait!
Wow, has this little cute thing grown! We took her 3 months photos this spring (here), now she is already 6 months old and very mobile. Often when taking photos of babies at this age they can sit but don't do much else. Just hang out. Well, not Madison. She can crawl and is trying to walk! She was happiest when we let her stand up hanging out on a chair. Either that or eat rocks, flower petals, grass, you know the usual. Too busy to smile at us most of the time. No doubt her mom and I looked silly trying all the usual games to get some laughs. Oh but the things we will do...
These thighs...
oh these thighs!
Gotta show 'em while we can and it is still considered cute!
Just hanging out
happy to stand
love it!
Hmmm, what can I do with this flower?
She is probably smiling huge here...that's ok, I love toes!
though it is hard to pick I do believe this is my favorite photo of the day!
how many times in life can we get away with this?
& be so
darn cute while just hangin' in the buff.
she was having lots of fun standing on the chair and was not happy when we got her down.
While we were in Colorado last week I had an inquiry come in from my website with a request to set-up a photo session and as I read it my heart sank. It was not the normal "we would like to get some family photos done" request. It was, we don't know how much longer we have with our little girl and we would like to take the opportunity now to get some photos taken of her.
Violet was born in late April with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This wasn't anything that was known prior to birth but it was discovered shortly after she was born. (you can read more about their journey on her care pages - click here - ) They had been doing chemo but just last week made some huge decisions to stop. Go home. Enjoy every moment with their sweet baby...at home.
This is a excerpt from their care pages:
Yesterday, Justin and I brought Violet home for good. We met with the doctors again, and the blast cells in her bone marrow are filled with disease and a transplant will no longer be an option. Dr. Manalang explained that she would do whatever we wanted to do and if we wanted to keep going, she would, however she did not believe the leukemia would go away. She said if we continued with another round of chemotherapy, Violet would get really sick (possibly end up in the PICU) and at the end of the day, the leukemia would still be there. So they told us to go home, think about what we want to do, and we would see her in clinic on Wednesday. After a lot of tears, Justin and I have decided we will no longer put our daughter though this pain. It would be completely selfish of us to continue. Dr. Manalang could not give us an exact time, but said Violet has more than a month and less than a year left. Either way, we will enjoy every minute we have left with Violet and we will make sure she knows how much she is loved. We may even go on a family vacation somewhere. This is not us giving up. This is giving Violet the best life for her. We will continue to pray for a miracle! We will continue to go to clinic and receive small doses of chemotherapy to prolong life as much as we can. There is also oral chemotherapy we can give her. We will know more about that when we meet with Dr. Manalang on Wednesday. Violet has completely changed our lives. She has taught us so much about love, life, family, hope, faith, and living! She is the strongest person we know, she is our little hero! I only hope and pray we can be as pure and simple as she is.
We set something up as quick as possible and I was beyond honored to meet Violet and spend some time with them this past week. It wasa dreary evening and Violet was coming off a rough day but we still managed to get some happy smiles from her. Amy had gotten her an adorable tutu and so we started there...
She thinks her mom and dad are pretty funny.
Having just met them I do have to say she looks like her daddy (minus the flower)
She was getting sleepy, pretty normal,
being a model is tough stuff.
Still a smile over dad's shoulder.
She did fall asleep but we went ahead and changed her clothes and attempted a few more. Sorry, Violet, I snuck one in of you getting changed.
She pretty much slept the rest of the time and we were all fine with it.
Nothing as sweet as sleeping babies.
love me some toes
She was all about her paci,
heck it even matched her outfit.
totally conked out
so, so sweet.
Violet knows love. She is surrounded by it. She has impacted every life she has come in contact with and I have no doubt hundreds more who have never met her. I know she has impacted mine. Hearts are forever changed by this tiny little innocent bundle.
I put together a short slideshow of some of the other images from the evening. (Please scroll to the bottom of my page to shut off my music so you don't have dual music going). I love this song by Mindy Gledhill . (click to go to her site)
Sweet newborn goodness. She was right at three weeks at the time we took these photos, that still qualifies for newborn status right? They change so quickly! That is one of the many reasons it is so fun to capture them while they are still so fresh and new. 
