Happy Birthday Charli Grace! Charli Grace is named after her late grandfather, and I am told that she resembles him. Charli’s mom, Melanie, and I go way back to middle school, and she has always been such a sweet girl. I had fun at Charli’s first birthday party! It was fun to see some of my high school friends, too. I think Charli was a little overwhelmed, but what baby is not on their first birthday? She had a crowd and got tons of cute outfits for her birthday! There are definitely cuter clothes for girls than boys. It’s probably a good thing that I had a boy because I would be broke. She loved her cake and cupcakes, made by Melanie’s mom, Elaine. She said she is “not a professional” but I think she did a pretty darn good job! She even used marshmallow fondant, which tastes much better than regular fondant. The cupcakes were yummy!!

You might say that all babies are miracles, and of course they are, but baby Graham was born in January at 28 weeks.  He weighed 2lbs 8 oz at birth and is now over 7 pounds.  I am amazed every time I hear stories of babies being born that early and that small.  What a wonderful world we live in to allow for these miracles!  I just met Crystal and Blake this weekend and had the pleasure of taking pictures of their new family.  Crystal is a friend of my sister and she had been keeping me informed on how Graham was growing and doing so well.  She also sent me a link to Crystal’s blog, documenting her journey as a new mom.  It’s amazing how you don’t have to know someone to become captivated by their stories.   I asked Crystal if is was ok to share her blog because I think photos are more powerful with a story to go along with them.  She also wants to share her experience with anyone else who may have to go through something similar.  So needless to say this was not a typical newborn session done in the first week of his life.  Graham did really well for his pictures, but he kept faking me out.  He acted really sleepy but somehow managed to stay awake through almost the whole session.  The good side of this was that I got lots of pictures with his eyes wide open, but the down side was trying to get those snuggly, sleepy posed shots.  I had a good time and Crystal and Blake had lots of fun ideas they wanted to try.  Graham was so cooperative, letting us put him in everything from a guitar case to a  baseball glove.  We had to do the cruel “snatch the paci and snap” trick several times, but he didn’t seem to mind too much.  What a sweet baby!

~Kristy~

Wow!  Graham acted true to the saying, “sleeping like a baby.”  I couldn’t believe how well he slept and gave us time to pose him and play with him for a couple of hours. Of course we had a few helpers, his brother and two sisters.  They really seem to love their new brother, and what a nice round number too- 2 girls and 2 boys.  They all took turns kissing on him and holding his little hands.  I remember Kinley’s newborn session just a couple years ago.  Her brother and sister were just as sweet with her then.  They are a great bunch of kids!  I love all of Graham’s sweet baby rolls and chunky little cheeks.  That’s exactly how my two girls were, so I’m a little partial.    He was 9 lbs 12oz at birth last week.  We did his pictures at 5 days old and he couldn’t have been more cooperative.  You never know how newborns will do, or kids for that matter, but he snoozed and snoozed.  I did get one picture with his eyes open once we made him mad at the end.  I think I see a little bit of Owen in his face.  Congratulations Amy and Landon!

~Kristy~

I always love taking pictures of this sweet family!  We started taking pictures of their family around this time last year, when Brooke was still pregnant with Emma.  I got to do newborn, three month, six month, and now one-year photos of Emma Kate.  She has changed so much and is much happier now than she was at her newborn session.  I think the biggest difference was the marshmallows.  Brooke and Chad were cracking me up popping mini-marshmallows into her and her sister Eli’s  mouth.  What a great and clean idea to keep them happy!  Chad couldn’t help eating a few too but was very well-behaved.  Eli and Emma also loved the pretty flowers at UT Gardens.  They smelled them, played with them, and maybe picked a couple.  I think there were plenty to spare and they won’t be missed.  I love all the photos of the girls together.  They are so sweet!  I will miss seeing them every few months now that Emma’s first year is over.  I love our Baby’s First Year Package but always hate to see the year end.  I love seeing how much babies grow that first year.  Look at Emma’s dark hair at her three month session.  Thanks guys for a great year of pictures!

~Kristy~

I had to post this picture.  It’s similar to one from six months where Emma has a handful of Eli’s hair.  She’s a puller!

It was great meeting Heather and Michael and their girls. Emma and Riley were so sweet and calm.  I know, I know…why can’t they be like that at home?  That’s how it seems to work a lot of times.  Riley was full of smiles and seemed pretty independent for 18 months old.  Emma loved playing with and collecting the dandelions and little shells out of the gravel.  It’s the little things!  I think we should all be like kids, taking more time to smell the flowers and enjoying the simple things around us.  I loved their cute pillow case dresses from Etsy that Heather had made for their photo session.   She had a great Pinterest idea too- using the letters for Emma’s four-year photos (see the collage below.)  Thanks for a great session!

~Kristy

Back before Christmas my husband and I were hanging out on Market Square, and there were lots of local vendors set up with arts and crafts. We fell in love with this piece made from an old window frame by Lauren Crowley.

We didn’t buy it on the spot, but kept talking about it and decided to get in touch with her. We ended up working out a trade — the window frame for a photo session with Lauren and her dog. I enjoyed taking pictures of her and her sweet dog, Beau. I loved his typical, labrador cheery attitude. Please check out Lauren’s Etsy store! I’m really loving the wine cork/chalkboard combo!

I’ve been searching for something for my mantle for months now. I’ve bought several things and returned them. I’m happy to report that I’m loving this frame on the mantle! I’m not posting a pic just yet….I want to wait until I add a few small finishing touches to compliment the frame.

Check out her store! If you purchase one of her frames, I’ll give you 20% off a photo session! Here’s a few images from her session.

-Amy

We forget each time how tiny newborns are! Cameron was only 3 days old for these pictures. Big sister Caroline couldn’t have been any sweeter with her new baby brother. We knew she would be a doll because she did so well for us last year at her first photo session with us down in the Old City.  Jennifer and Joey were so easy-going and didn’t care what we wanted to try with Cameron.  He was ready for anything too!  He got a bit fussy a few times but nothing his paci couldn’t fix.  He was great for his newborn session and put up with us dressing him, stripping him, moving him around, posing him, etc.  I hope he slept well for Mom and Dad that night.  Like Joey said, those all night feedings are the hardest part of having a newborn.  The cuteness and cuddles hopefully make up for it and it passes so quickly, you forget how hard it was in the beginning.  Welcome baby Cameron!

I am so happy for Brooke, Corey, and big brother Gavin.  They added a sweet baby girl to the family a couple of weeks ago.  With newborns, we typically try to schedule their sessions within the first 10 days.  This is usually the time when they are still sleeping really well and they are flexible enough to ball up and mold as we want.  Kendall was 16 days old and luckily couldn’t have done a better job with her session.  She slept through most of it but opened her eyes for me to get a few cute shots.  We did her brother Gavin’s newborn pictures a couple of years ago and he was not quite as cooperative. Most of his pictures included his little blue paci.  I have known Brooke for several years now.  She and Corey were nice enough to entrust me with their engagement photos when I was first starting out in my journey as a photographer.  Even better, they were brave enough to pay us to be their wedding photographers.  That was our first paid wedding and we are so happy they believed in us!  I love the families that we get to work with year after year.  I did Gavin’s newborn pictures, one year pictures around Christmas, and then two year pictures this past fall.  I love seeing seeing the kids and families grow over the years, especially when they are as cute as this family!  Baby Kendall is the perfect addition!  Could she be any cuter?

~Kristy

I feel like we’ve been waiting on sweet Molly for a while now.  I did maternity pictures for Sarah at Norris back in the fall and it seemed so long until her due date.  There was still Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so much more before her due date.  I’m sure for Sarah the time went by much slower.  I know how anxious she was and those last months seem to drag by.  I was also so lucky to be at the hospital to take pictures during Molly’s birth.  It was an amazing experience!  You can see a slideshow of the pictures here.  You might need a Kleenex or two!

I love newborn photos, that is when the baby is as easy as Molly was.  You never know with newborns.  They basically get to call the shots and you have to work around their schedule.  Molly was 12 days old yesterday and couldn’t have done much better.  She took a few snack breaks and bathroom breaks…one that Daddy was lucky enough to catch.  We kept her nice and warm, while Sarah and I sweated, but it was worth it.  She managed to sleep when we needed her to.  Her brother, Kayle, did great too!  I think he loves being a brother.  I couldn’t narrow the pictures down to one favorite of them together, so I added a few.

Sarah had so many cute blankets and clothes, that we couldn’t get to them all.  We did manage to get some really cute shots!  Molly is so sweet!  I even caught a sweet smile for her Gigi.  I think she loves her new hat and sweater that her Gigi made her.  One thing I have to say is that Sarah has some very talented people in her family!  I saw so many cute hats, blankets, paintings, etc. that her family made.  They should start their own Etsy store!  Thanks again Sarah and Wheat for letting me do newborn photos!  I hope you love them!

~Kristy~

With all this rain and the holidays, we were lucky to have a nice day for Maddy’s one-year photos.  It was a bit cold, especially once she got covered in icing from smashing her cake.  She really got into it and ended up sitting in her cake by the time it was over.  Did she like it?  I don’t know.  She didn’t really eat any, but she sure had a blast destroying it.  Her mom, Kerry did a great job on the cake.  It looked so cute before Maddy got a hold of it.  I took Maddy’s nine month photos a couple months ago and I can’t believe how much she changed in that short period.  She is really starting to develop a personality.  She’s always done great for her sessions, but she really let her personality shine this time.  She was hamming it up for the camera and full of smiles.  I’m going to miss doing pictures for her every few months.  Happy Birthday Maddy!

~Kristy~