Baby Doll Eyes

I haven't seen Miss E since she was a newborn, but at 6 months old now, that newborn look has faded, and she has become a little doll baby!

I think she just has that porcelain skin, and bright blue eyes that you see little toy baby dolls have. Precious!

Big brother, E, loves "baby sister"! He gave her lots of hugs and kisses and had no problem snuggling next to her!

I couldn't decide the cropping on this picture. I like how in the full-length version, you see brother holding her hand, and her cute, curled toes...

But in this one, you see brother's cute expression more, and I just like the cropping better in general... I was torn, so I just posted both!

*My friend, K, and her little Andrew are here now, and we are going to spend the afternoon together. More blogging tomorrow!
:)

1 month later, and already grown

I photographed A one month ago, but we decided to cut that session short and try a re-do.

And what a re-do we had! He was such a happy, little guy, and definitely wins the award for great eye contact! My littlest clients are usually too interested in mommy & daddy to look at the crazy lady wielding a camera in their face, (and of course, how can I compete with their favorite people?!) But A was a pro. He'd play with mommy and daddy, smile, then look at me!

Love that finger! Sweet little guy is pondering something.






Can't you tell he's grown?
I sure can.

What happens when you put a little guy down that learned a new trick?

R.E.L.A.X.

(I feel like I need to fill you in on our anniversary events since I let you know that it was our day!)

"Relax" - that was our theme.

The morning started off with my hubby bringing me flowers, a card, and making our favorite breakfast.
Then I had a shoot later in the morning, then when I got home, I had to finish packaging some orders, and we had to pick up some pictures from my lab and mail them out on the way to our destination. (Work doesn't stop just because it's a special day!)
But after we arrived, it was all about relaxing...

We booked a room at Hotel Zaza in uptown. It was wonderful, to say the least! We walked around the swanky hotel and felt so spoiled just getting to be there! (We never splurge on ourselves. We're really quite easy to please and simpletons, *see extravagance of "favorite breakfast" listed in the paragraph above*, but giving ourselves some R&R was deserved, we felt.) We were pleasantly surprised with how nice our room was. We didn't splurge too much and get a suite, or anything, just their standard room, but even that was nicer than other "4 star" hotels we've stayed in! We had dinner reservations @ 7, so we didn't have too long to lounge, but one of the reasons we booked Zaza was because of their pool area, (or the "Urban Oasis" as they have dubbed it), so we made our way down to the pool to what....? RELAX before dinner. (Oh, one of our favorite things was that in the lobby, they provided little chocolate mousse/fudge/truffle bites, which we probably took more than the average person should, but they were there for the sampling, and we were treating ourselves, darn it!) Down at the pool, the water was too cold to get in, so we rested in the hot tub instead. We put a towel under our heads as a pillow, sipped tea, and let our bodies float carelessly. Oh my, I'm missing it already...
After laying out to dry off, we went up and got ready for dinner.

The restaurant was one block from the hotel, so we just walked over there. It was so fun being around the new buildings in uptown, and the busy-ness of being in Dallas. We really never go down there to hang out, so it was like we were visiting from out of town! (When we came home Thursday, we both said 'I feel like I've just been on a road trip', like we went on vacation!)
Our dinner at Sambuca was absolutely delicious. It was kind of funny.... I ordered lamb chops, and Stuart ordered a rib eye, and as soon as our food came out, after we tasted our own dish, we both gave each other a bite of the other's, and Stuart looked at me, (after I had figured out I evidently wasn't quite a fan of lamb), and asked if I wanted to trade! So as our waiter walked by us to see how we liked our food, I was fishing my lamp chops off my plate and putting them on his, as he was shuffling his steak onto a side plate to give to me. A little comical, but it worked out!
One of the best parts of the restaurant is they have a stage for live music! It sort of seemed out of place, because the decor inside is very "posh", but we really enjoyed the one-man-acoustic-guitar performance we had! He played the whole time we were there. (We left after a couple hours, but he was still playing!) He played songs everyone would recognize and we hummed along to ourselves. After we finished eating in the first hour, our waiter pointed out the little alcoves/nooks they have on the side of the dining room with pillowed seating to lounge and ...what..? RELAX. Of course we took him up on that offer and spent our second hour there in that corner all to ourselves, sipping our cocktails and listening to our acoustic concert. Yes, it was as serene as it sounds.
Relaxing does make a person tired, letting your body know just how hard it has worked when you actually stop and don't let it work. (Does that make sense?) So we made our way back to our hotel and fell asleep at the crazy-party-animals-that-we-are hour of 10:30!
After sleeping in until 9:30 the next morning, (Yes! 11 hours of sleep!) we went back down to the pool and just waded our feet in the water and laid out as we read the paper and drank coffee for an hour or so. (RELAX) Check-out was noon, and we were walking out of the door at noon! (We wanted to soak up every ounce of the Zaza goodness!)
After we left, we drove down to the place where Stuart was going to pick out my anniversary gift to him. Knowing that he loves getting his hair cut where they put a hot towel on his face, and spend a little time pampering him, (... yes! I was surprised to find out as well that men like to be pampered! And why shouldn't they? I think the "macho" thing is all for show...) I thought he would enjoy this store. We got him "the 4 elements of the perfect shave" combo. (He used it this morning and loved it!) And with a purchase after a certain amount in the store, he can go back and get a traditional barber shop shave for free, (the real reason why I wanted to get him something from this store, because I know he'll love getting that shave!)
Anyways, so we walked around the mall there, and had lunch, (more relaxing...) then made our way back to Denton. After dropping our things off at home, we went to see Baby Mama! (I know, the fun doesn't stop with us!)
:)

So our amazing 1.5 days of anniversary celebration has certainly set a precedent for future anniversaries!

Now it is back to work. Which we are blessed to have such amazing clients who I cannot wait to photograph in this soon-to-be-summer sun!
Did I mention we're pretty booked?! If you would like a Birdseye session, we are currently booking mid-June. (5 weeks out)

Also, for newborn and maternity sessions, please book those as soon as you know that we are the photographer for you. For maternity, we want to try and capture you in full bloom, but before it gets to be too uncomfortable for you to move around easily, (34-36 weeks) - so those, of course, are very important to be scheduled timely! We try to reserve some slots for last minute maternity sessions, and surprise newborns that come early, but we only have a few that we are able to hold.

And now, some snapshots from our past two days:
(bear the poor point & shoot camera quality!)

(yes, I'm blinking, but it's the only one of the front of the restaurant... I should stay behind the camera...)

With This Ring...

3 years ago today, as I was preparing to walk down the aisle to my favorite person in the world, I was nervous, excited, and ready. I could not wait to be with this wonderful man every day for the rest of my life. And at that time, I didn't even know the extent of my man's wonderful-ness, as I do now.

He: takes care of me, provides for us, makes wise decisions, always makes me laugh, gives good shoulder rubs, loves our puppies, knows how I like my hamburger, is a good driver on road trips, loves the same music I do, has such a dry sense of humor that often no one but me knows that he's joking when he is being his sarcastic self in public -(love that!), rides the big tall roller coasters, slow dances with me in our living room, sings in the shower, is understanding if I have to work late into the evening, knows that I love celebrity gossip and will fill me in if I've missed the latest headline, cooks for me everyday, goes on walks with me and the dogs in the evenings even though he is tired from his day, will change the channel off of sports if I sit to watch TV with him to find something that we will both enjoy to watch, will run errands with me just so we can be together, and of course the list could go on, but most importantly, he loves me.
(And I him!)

Happy Anniversary, my special someone!

New Guy in Town

Remember these gorgeous brothers from last summer?

Well, there is now a new 7 lb., 15 oz. surprise sleeping in their house.

And what a wonderful surprise he is!!!

I think he looks like the perfect mix between his two older brothers. That is so fun to think about....that middle brother, M, is now a BIG brother himself! I remember holding him when he was the size of new baby brother, M.

For the first half of our session, he just wanted to eat and eat. According to his momma, he'll eat 'til it's leaking out of his nose...hungry, little guy! But once we got his tummy good and full, he slept so sweetly for us.

Quite the opposite of his two big brothers!!!
These goofy guys are best friends, and at only 19 mos. apart, they get to grow up in life going through similar stages. What a lucky baby brother they have who will glean double the wisdom from two loving, intelligent, and sweet little men.

Did I mention goofy?! All I asked them was to lay on the floor here, and of course that translates into, "one of you play dead, and the other start snoring!"
They make me laugh.

May Cover

I love getting to work with the fabulous women at the Denton Connection. I've heard some horror stories of working with publications, (like arguing over the style of images, disagreeing about the content of the cover, the cropping, etc.), but my past with the DC has been nothing but fun memories and great friendships!

Look at sweet baby R and his mommy that made the May/Mother's Day cover! I love that it's a black/white cover! That is not very common, which to me, makes the cover bold, and POP all the more!

Yummy!