Oh, You Crazy Time Change!

This morning I met up with one of my favorite little clients for her first birthday pictures.  Her mom asked me a long time ago to do birthday pictures for her and we have both been very excited about it.  Her daughter is so much like Mya that we call her mini Mya.  😉  Well this morning, she proved us right.  She is still like my Mya.  Poor thing did not want her pictures taken.  She had her birthday party yesterday and was so wound up that she didn’t go to sleep until midnight and then had to be up an extra hour early because of the time change.  On top of that, she was shivering because it was pretty chilly outside this morning.  After us trying for a while to help her feel better, we finally gave up and decided to just come back this afternoon and try again after a nap.  It’s just not like her to be fussy when I take her pictures.  She’s usually just so peaceful.  So I’m looking forward to meeting up with them again, but in the mean time, here are a few that I got this morning.  Isn’t she just so beautiful?!

This one made my eyes fill up with tears because I’m just a big ole sap!!  I just couldn’t stop thinking about these two dancing the father daughter dance later down the road at her wedding and it made my heart just ache because right now, she’s such a daddy’s girl.  She just wanted him, nobody else, to hold her and it was just precious!  And here come the tears again!  Ugh, so embarrassing sometimes!

Look Out Bill Gates!

Today I had the longest newborn session I’ve ever had, about 4 hours, because I met the little guy that is going to do great things in this world.  He seriously is ready to take on the world.  I have never seen a newborn who is so alert and so strong!  This baby is one week old and was already holding his upper body and head up with his arms and was looking around!  For a long time!  I mean, I’ve seen some strong babies, but woah!!!  Thank you guys for being patient with me.  I know you’re exhausted right now and I appreciate you letting me take the time to get some good shots for you.  I’m so excited for you and it brings back so many memories of when Mya was born.  What a beautiful life you have in front of you!

My favorite shot of the day!  What is a family?  It’s this right here!  So much love and so many new adventures yet to unfold.

Check out those lips and that red hair!  Soo precious.

Happy early Easter!

The Worst Experience of My Life!

So yesterday was  a gorgeous day!  The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and Mya was in such a great mood!  While she was taking her nap I thought, “I think I will take some pictures of Mya today.”  My aunt sent her the cutest little rain jacket with matching umbrella and I promised her I would take some pictures of Mya in it.  This was the day!  So I emailed a friend about borrowing some rain boots and everything was set.  I had all of our stuff layed out by the garage door.  When Mya woke up, I told her that we were going to go take her pictures.  She actually seemed excited.  I was so thrilled.  This was going to be great!!  Well, we went and got the boots and on the way to the park the sky started getting darker and darker and Mya started a little bit of fussing, but I told myself, “Stick it out.  It’s going to be fine.”  We pulled into the park parking lot and by golly there were only about a million people there!!  Things were just looking worse and worse.  On top of the bus load of children that were there, Mya was screaming by this point and it was sprinkling.  I didn’t care.  I got my camera, the screaming child and all of our little props and carried her to this beautiful, somehow empty part of the park.  I must have looked like a crazed photographer because everyone was staring at me and my insane child.  She was screaming, “Noooooo!!  Noooooo!  No pictures!”  LOL  Seriously?!  I tried everything I could think of to try and get her to calm down, but nothing worked.  She wouldn’t put the rain jacket on, wanted nothing to do with the umbrella, was kicking the boots off.  The umbrella was blowing away.  Her nose was running all over the place.  She was pulling the rubber bands out of her hair.  Wow.  Ummm, okay.  But I was persistent.  We drove all the way over there.  We weren’t leaving until I got at least one good picture of her in this freaking rain jacket!!  Somehow I did.  All I had to say, was “Yo Gabba Gabba”  in a really silly voice.  She was hysterically crying, would laugh, and then would scream and cry again.  It was the craziest, worst little photo session with her that I could ever imagine.  And of course, that one picture just wasn’t enough.  Mya, please, can we just get one more with this adorable little hat that I just ordered.  Same thing all over again.  Finally, we were done and I took her to the park to swing and play.  By the time we got home, I was in bad need of a massage and several glasses of wine.  I am so dreading her 2 year pictures.  I have the outfit all ready and have been so excited about it.  Not anymore!  Ryder is dreading it too.  Is it okay for a photographer’s child not to have 2 year pictures because I don’t think the “Yo Gabba Gabba” is going to work next time.  🙁  Heaven help us!  So here are the pictures that I got:  Screaming, and 2 smiling, in between the screaming.  I’m kicking myself for not videoing this for your viewing pleasure because I just don’t think people really can get the full picture of what I go through to get cute pictures of my child!  LOL

Later at the park:  Happy now!  But at one point I got my camera and she instantly starting screaming and crying again, “No pictures!”  Okay, okay, got it!  You’re not going to be a future model!  Geeeez!

New York State of Mind

So as of lately, there has only been one thing on my mind:  New York!  I just want to be there.  I just want this house to sell and quickly.  I will tell you, having to have our house look like a showroom at all times is really stressful!  Last weekend, we had an open house and so we knew when to really have the house ready so that was easy.  We took the dogs and Mya to Ryder’s mom’s house for the day.  That was easy.  And yesterday, I got it into my head that people aren’t going to come and look at the house on a weekday.  So I relaxed a little.  This morning I took Mya to the park.  The weather was so beautiful.  We had so much fun together, until she fell and bonked her head really hard!  🙁  We had a relaxing trip to the grocery store, which is almost unheard of in our household.  But while I was there, Ryder, who is in N.J. for work right now, called and said that  a realtor wanted to come and see our house.  WHAT?!!!  I instantly felt like I was going to throw up.  I had to rush through the store as fast as I could, get home, put the groceries up, get the house ready, get the dogs in the car, all while trying really hard to keep Mya from pulling toys out and leaving them all over the house.  By the time we got into the car, I felt like a total maniac!  And it was lunch time and Mya was saying, “Eat, eat eeeeeeat!!”  So what did we do?  Something we never, ever do!  We ate fast food!  In the car!  With the dogs.  LOL  Mya thought it was fun though.  I put her in the front seat to eat and it was like a little picnic.  So I am just really ready to be in N.Y.  I want to be there while it’s warm before the winter hits again.  I want Mya to experience Central Park in the summer with all of the free concerts and fun places to go.  I just want to be there!  I’ve got Mya saying, “Buy our house.  New York!”  hehe  She sometimes whines and cries when she’s tired and she’ll throw, “Neeewwww Yoooorrrrkkk!”  in there somewhere.  It’s hilarious.  Ryder and I look at apartments on-line constantly finding apartments that we love and just want to go and move into, but we can’t until this house sells.  So if you know anyone who is looking for a 3 bedroom, 3 bath house with  a bonus room with a kitchenette, outdoor living with a fireplace, lots of upgrades, limestone exterior, on the green belt with lots of really cool neighbors, email me!!  “I will sell this house today!”  I often feel like the realtor from American Beauty when I’m vacuuming our house each day.  😉

Someone’s Turning 2!!

Last week I did pictures for this sweet girl’s baby brother and this week it was all about her!  She’s turning 2 next week.  I have known her since she was a little baby.  It’s hard to believe that so much time has passed already.  Her momma was one of the first people that let me do photos for her, when I was doing them for free.  And man, they were something else.  LOL  I’ve done pictures for her since, but I’m happy that she had faith in me after that first attempt….scary stuff!  This morning was so perfect!  The light was just perfect.  We were the only people around.  And it only took an hour!! Thank goodness because right at the hour mark, all of a sudden, there were about 25 people there with chairs, a preacher, and bagpipes.  A wedding was about to start any minute.  Woah, that was a quick setup!  Thanks guys again for letting me do pictures for you.  I love your family and I’m going to miss all of you when we move.  🙁  Happy birthday, sweet girl!!