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Introducing beautiful Mackenzie Marie, one week old. She was so awesome today!!! And all that hair, I'm jealous!!!
Introducing sweet Caroline, 6 days old. Charlotte is such a great big sister and so ridiculously cute!!!
Yesterday was the second maternity session I've done with this family, and mom showed up once again in the most amazing maternity dress!!!! Wow, so gorgeous!!!! Ela is going to be a great big sis, I can't wait to meet the new addition in a few weeks!!!! Even in the brown of winter, we found a little magic in the forest!
So in love with the very last family picture in this post! I think it is so sweet!
Introducing Everly, 1 week old, with some of the best cheeks!!!!
This little 3-week old peanut decided to make his appearance 5 weeks early. I'm so lucky that I got to snuggle him and run my fingers through all that hair! Introducing sweet sweet Jonah.
Introducing Isabella, one week old, welcomed by 3 year old big brother and sister Thomas and Alexandra. All three were so good today and made me laugh so many times!!! Such a darling family.
Three absolutely adorable little guys!!!! Baby Matthew (8 days old) was welcomed by brothers Jack (20 months) and Tyler (3 years). Aren't they so cute?!
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These two boys were such great little listeners last night, and so super adorable!!!! What a fun session! Up there with one of my faves for sure!
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PS, I love when people have dark walls with natural light, makes for such beautiful black & whites!
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Congratulations on the two adoptions! I am so excited for you!
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Now fill up your wine glass and enjoy my 2013 year in review! This year I had in front of my lens a 4 day old, a 100 year old, and everything in between: maternity sessions, birthday parties, adoption homecomings, cake smash sessions, engagement sessions, seniors, newborns, families and children... totaling up to 164 sessions! What a ride it's been!
PS, yes there is a pattern with the newborn sessions... I always wear dark clothes because half the time I get peed or pooped on! This way I avoid stains. Haha! Just another day in the office!
(More of me HERE)
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This is where they had their first date. Everyone say "awww" with me!
Some of the details...
Some of the cute little guests!
And my personal favorite....
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This mommy went through quite a journey before being able to bring her son home, but one that was well worth it! She always knew she wanted to adopt, but didn't sign with her agency until February 2011, as she had to wait until she was old enough! On November 5, 2102 she received her referrel and couldn't have been more ecstatic. In early December she made her first trip to Russia to meet her little guy and accept the referral. After an amazing week in Russia, she came home to rumors of a possible ban on American citizens adopting Russian children. The terror started to set in as she began hearing of regions in Russia canceling court hearings; each day that passed was agonizing. However, much to her surprise she received a call on Christmas day that she had a court date scheduled for December 28, the last working day of the year in Russia. Nine hours later she was on a flight! After 2 hours in court, she received a "Da" and was a mama! They left the court to go visit her new son who was suffering from a terrible fever and told there was bad news: the law was just signed banning Americans from adopting Russian children. No one knew what would come of this. The next day she left Russia and her sick little boy not knowing if she would ever see him again.
January was excruciating, but after a lot of worrying, praying and hoping it was decided that all families that had received approved court hearings would be able to bring their children home. A miracle! Her 30 day waiting period was up on January 27, 2013 so she was back in Russia on February 3 and picked him up on the 6th. That day he said goodbye to the only life he knew, and started his new life with his mommy. It was such a roller coaster, but it's so obvious that these two were meant to be together, and since being home he has been thriving and gaining weight like a champ! He was one of the last children to be brought home from Russia, one of the luckiest little guys I know! In the words of his mommy: "God had some amazing timing with everything...from the start. I would do everything all over again for my son. God knew what he was doing all along.. He taught me patience, strengthened my faith, and tested my perseverance. But most importantly.. There is one less orphan in the world and one new family created!" I just love this story!
Waiting. . .
The arrival!
Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for you two!!!
I went to JoAnne Fabric and bought some embroidery floss... I ended up getting a pack of 36 skeins of pastel colors for only $4.99 (normally $0.99 each)! I then went to Meijer and bought a pack of water balloons and some liquid starch (this was the hard one... I assumed it would be a cap-top bottle, but only could find a spray starch (vs. an aerosal can) but it worked great). The only other thing I needed was flour, but I already had some of that at home.
Once home we blew up the water balloons (with air, not water) and then made the paste by mixing 1 cup of liquid starch and 1/2 cup flour in a blender. We put the paste into bowls and dipped the string into the paste while wrapping the string around balloon. At first I dunked the string in the paste, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep it from knotting, so we ended up just feeding the string through the paste as we were wrapping which worked much better.
It took almost a day to dry completely, but once they were dry we got to do my sons favorite part... popping the balloons! I think we will probably make more this weekend, I love them!
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