Sweet Girl

This morning, I took pictures of this sweet girl.  I’m on my way out the door for another session, but I just had to share at least one picture!  Makes me wish that I had pictures of Mya like this!  Thanks to the super cool mom and dad for letting me come into their home and hang out for the morning.  More to come later today!  (Okay, added some more!)  And some more, and some more!  She’s just so adorable.

The cutest baby room I’ve ever seen!

The proud, big brother:

Gotta include some vintage.  🙂

Howdy Neighbor!

I took pictures for my neighbors this morning. I know I’ve said it before, but I’m going to say it again. We have the BEST neighbors in the world. Ryder and I moved around a lot as kids so it was important for us to move into a home where we could get to know all of our neighbors and to have a place where Mya could grow up with friends. We have found that place. I feel like we are a small little community right on our block. It’s so great! We are very lucky! So these neighbors are so cool! Their house is across the street from ours and when we moved in, they were the only other house on our street that was completed and had people in it. So we met them first. We knew they were some really great people right from the start! I took pictures for them a while back for father’s day, but this time, it was the whole family. They were so open to any suggestions. We even broke a few rules at the park, oooo, wild and crazy! 😉 I had a great time with you guys and always love seeing you. See you again soon, neighbors!

LOVE this hill!!!!  It’s my favorite place to take pictures!

Good grief!  Don’t they just make you sick?!  Ugh!  😉

Thankful!

Today I am thankful for so many things.  I have such a wonderful husband who really supports me and my business.  There is no way that I could ever do this job that I love so much without him.  He really takes on a lot more of the parenting responsibilities than most dads when I’m working.  And he doesn’t even complain, not once!  He actually really enjoys spending the extra time with Mya and Mya loves it too.  When I get home, they are usually just coming back from the park in the wagon with the dogs and the basketball and it’s like I’m not even there because they are so giddy.  I love it and I love them!  My husband is the most giving, caring man.  He showed this to me just a couple of months after we met.  I was amazed at how selfless he was and I knew that he was a keeper!  Just 5 months later, we were engaged!  I wasn’t letting him go!  😉  I love you, honey bee!

I am so thankful for my precious, adorable, funny, insanely smart little girl!  I won’t write too much about her because it always makes me cry.  I’ll save those posts for our family blog!  Happy 2nd Turkey Day, my sweet love!  (I’m really thankful that we got to soak Mya’s cast off today!!  Woohoo!!)

Something else I am thankful for is my mom.  She raised my sister and I completely on her own.  She was young and it was hard for her.  She worked so many hours trying to provide for us.  Raising Mya with Ryder and just a part time job is hard enough for me.  I can’t imagine what it must have been like with 2 children, only 14 months apart and a waitressing job to try to make ends meet.  But somehow she did it and we have ended up being best friends.  I love her more than anything and I hate that she lives on the other side of the country.  She does call us several times a day most days so that Mya will really know her and she does know her, just from the sound of her voice!  You are an amazing woman!

I am also very thankful for the wonderful friends that I have made here in Austin.  When I first moved here, I moved away from Atlanta, where I had a lot of close friends and my family was just a few hours away.  Now here I was, in the middle of Texas where I didn’t know a soul.  It was hard!  I have met some amazing women and mothers, especially since Mya has been born and I am so thankful for them and for the support that we give each other.  How moms do it without the support of other women I will never know.  Women need each other!  So thank you, friends!  I hope that I can always be there for you like you have been for me!

I have so many things to be thankful for everyday but today is the day that you are supposed to make it public knowledge so there ya have it!  I feel so blessed for all of the good that has come into my life.  It took a while to get here.  Made HUGE mistakes along the way.  Took a few wrong turns but somehow I have made it to this place in my life called pure happiness.  What more could a girl ask for!

Here are some pictures of my mom with Mya.  She wanted pictures of them together.  I hardly have any because every time she is in town and I get out the camera, she says, “Not now!  I haven’t done my hair/makeup!”  So we made it a point to actually go somewhere and take some real photos.  Mya was not easy, as always.  I expected it.  She wouldn’t look at me, didn’t want to stop picking up the acorns and whatever else she found, but these are real pictures of what it’s really like.  That’s something I try to explain to parents.  My photos show you and your family how you are, not just sitting there, posed with these perfect smiles.  It’s you!  So here they are!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I hope that you have a chance today to really think of the things that you are thankful for too!

Heavenly

I finally got to do some newborn pictures this morning with my new props and  camera.  I was so excited!  I drove to Elgin to take pictures of my friend’s sweet baby boy, Hamilton.  Isn’t that the coolest name?!  I told them that if we ever have a boy, I might have to steal that name.  😉  He was a total sweet heart and was pretty cooperative.  Once we got him to sleep, he was pretty good about letting us move him all around and change his hats and locations.  And his parents were so open to any idea that I had, moving furniture around, taking him outside.  Those types of parents rock!  Thank you guys for being so flexible and for trusting me.  Thank you also for letting me take his first real photos and for letting me come to your home.  I loved every second of it and it made me realize that I think I might want another little one, …someday soon.  🙂  Congratulations to you and your beautiful family!

Love this one in black and white too, couldn’t decide which one to share:

Just realized that he is facing the same way in every picture.  Hmmm….that must be his best side!

Show It!

My session got rained out this morning 🙁 so I thought that this would be a good time to show some ways to show your pictures in your home.  I just ordered a ton of prints, canvases and mounted prints for our own house because we just didn’t have any family pictures up around the house.  I felt like it was such a shame.  I’m a photographer and I have great pictures stored on my computer of my Mya and none of them were hanging up!  So here are some examples of things you can do with your photos!  These you can order through ezprints.com right now or you can order these through me starting in January from your on-line gallery.

This is a canvas that I ordered for Mya’s room:

This is a side view.  It’s so cool because the picture is wrapped around the canvas.

This is a mounted print that I ordered for our entry:

This is a side view.  It’s very thin and you can order it ready to be hung.  It’s so easy and it looks great!

I also ordered one for our bathroom.  It’s a canvas of this picture, but the lighting in our bathroom is just awful so no actual picture of the canvas.

These are some more creative ways to showcase your photos.  I know that a lot of people are unaware that these even exist!  They, of course, cost more than prints on paper, but they look amazing in your home and can make a big impact, especially in large prints!

Newborn pictures coming tomorrow from this family.  I’m so excited!! So check back tomorrow for some good old fashion baby chub because he is one big boy!