I have a confession to make.  I have hair envy.  Bad.

But wait, Jessica, you have more hair than any sane person would even know what to do with.

This is true.  But my babies don’t.  Despite Mommy’s over-abundance of thick, curly locks, my own dear children enter this world very nearly bald.  And stay that way for a loooong time.  And have first haircuts a week before Kindergarten starts.

So when my Wednesday client leaned over to me as I was gushing over her truly beautiful son, said, “Wait ’til you see his hair,” and pulled off his hat, I squealed like a little girl.  Seriously, I did.  It’s a little embarrassing, actually.

7-day old Grayson was just absolutely darling with his long limbs and all that gorgeous, cannot-be-tamed hair.  He kept me on my toes with the sweet little baby smiles he’d flash nearly every time I brought the camera away from my face–by the time I raised it up again the smile would be gone.  After a while, though, I caught on and managed to grab a couple lightning-quick little grins.

Grayson on day 7:

Here’s a little smile:

And just the tail end of another one–look at that hair!

One more, up close:

It was almost a shame to cover up that darling head of his, but we did it anyway:).

And, oh, he made Mommy, Daddy, and I work for this shot, but we got it!

Grayson, thanks for making me smile.  I’m glad I got to see you do the same:).

I have been anticipating this session for months.  Almost nine months to be exact.  Since before I knew there would even be a session.  When I found out that one of my dearest friends here in New York was pregnant, I was so excited for her.  Truly, our move here would have been a completely different experience without the friendship of this family–they just took us under their wing and helped us to find a little sense of belonging after a cross-country move.  I have felt blessed every day to know them.

Most of the newborns I have the privilege to photograph are first or second babies.  Darling Mary Katherine is baby #5 for this family.  She is absolutely adored by her big brother and big sisters.  Getting a photograph of 4 children with their new baby sister is always a challenge, but these guys did just great.  And their parents knew just what to do, as we planned the sibling shots for the beginning of the session and then Dad took them home to play.  Three hours can be a long time when you are 2, or 4, or 7, or pretty much any age.  And I’d just like to point out, I am capable of shooting clothed subjects, even at a newborn session;).

Aren’t mom and dad so blessed?

This one, I just fell in love with before I even pushed the shutter.  Love it with all my heart!

One with her gorgeous mom, and my dear friend:

And since the session started out backwards (with family images first), we decided to keep the trend going and use my new antique buggy (yep, that’s an oxymoron right there) rather than go to the bean bag poses.  Why not?  I had the perfect model.

Finally, on to the bean bag.  As we were shooting mom was telling me how excited she was for her portraits so she could really see what Mary Kate looks like.  At first I was surprised, and then I realized she made perfect sense.  You spend so much of your time as a new mother with a kind of up-close tunnel-vision.  You see the side of her face as she nurses or his cute little belly while you’re changing him, but you’re always right there.  It’s nice to take a step back and really see a baby.  Moms are so smart.

Oh, and did I mention mom made this beautiful blessing gown?  Yeah, she is pretty much amazing.

Here she is, Mom.  A knock-out, I’d say.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for a beautiful day.  Baby girl, I can’t wait to come snuggle you again sometime very soon.

It’s always a pleasant surprise to have a client show up who pretty much makes my job a piece of cake.  When I opened the door for this absolutely stunning couple, I just knew my job was going to be so easy.  Dad was so obviously in love with Mom, and Mom was so comfortable in front of the camera (even if she did feel a little silly at times) and simply glowing with happiness.  Baby Nadia is so lucky to be coming to these wonderful parents, and I cannot wait to meet her.

A little taste of a wonderful session.

Thanks so much, guys!  It was wonderful getting to know you.  Can’t wait to see you again soon–with Nadia!

February has been a crazy month for me.  Rescheduling and some late-arriving babies has led to a fuller than usual month of sessions.  On top of that, my entire family decided to take turns becoming ill over this past week off of school (yeah, we know how to party in this house).  Jack got the brunt of it though and was diagnosed this weekend with bronchiolitis and an ear infection.  It’s not serious, but he does need to be on a nebulizer every four hours.  At the risk of getting too personal, his breathing issues (and lack of sleep on my part) have created some eating issues and nursing has not been going well the past few days.

In light of everything that’s going on with him, I would just ask for some patience as I work on getting everything back on track.  If you are waiting for a gallery, a sneak peek, or to receive an email response, please know I will get to everything just as soon as I can.  In the meantime, I appreciate your patience as I focus on my family’s health for a few days.

Speaking of patience, no post is complete without a picture.  So here’s a recent snappy of my impatient boy, who at 5 months decided sitting up and crawling were on the agenda.  He can now crawl the length of the house.  Someone please stop my baby boy from growing up too fast!

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I had such a fun time taking pictures of my own valentines that I couldn’t resist sharing a few.  Or considerably more than a few.  Forgive this photographer as she slips into adoring mother-mode:).

The baby valentine (On a side-note, is it weird that my barely 5-month old thinks he can crawl and sit up?  He can’t quite manage it completely, but he sure thinks he can.):

The little valentine (She is beyond excited to hand out her valentine cards at church today and roams around the house randomly bursting out in exclamations of, “I love you more than chocolate!“):

Okay, the one on the right just kills me:).

The middle valentine (Super sweet, and so hard to get a real expression out of now.  We caught a couple, though.):

The big valentine (So beautiful, but so, so crazy for candy.  We managed to tame a little valentine sweetness out of her for a second.):

And a little more like reality:

Yep, that’s my girl!

If you made it this far, I commend and thank you!  Hope your Valentine’s Day is full of sweetness, hugs, and, kisses–candy or otherwise.

The name “Evangeline” means good news, and I’m sure her arrival was nothing but good news when she finally decided to make her appearance almost two full weeks late.  I think mom and dad will agree that she was worth the wait–such a darling, darling little thing.  And those plump squishy lips–perfection!  Evie started out a little feisty, but after a little food, mommy time, heat and white noise, she fell into a blissful slumber and we had so much fun together!

Evie - 7 days:

With her gorgeous mama:

Handsome daddy:

A new favorite image of a brand new family:

Oh my goodness, those squishy lips!

Even closer:

Little smile:

And my new basket I’ve been dying to try!

Evie, you were the best news I had all day:).  Thanks for coming to play!

This baby girl is just that: absolutely and 100% adored by her mama.  I don’t know that I have ever met a mother so completely in awe of and in love with her baby girl.  We talked about that moment after you have your baby when you think, “Oh my goodness, she’s mine.  I can’t believe she’s mine and I get to keep her forever.” It just gave me such a thrill to watch this new mother wonder at the life she has created–and she truly is a stunning work of art.  Baby Isla is just a little bit of perfection.  I have a feeling that “no” is going to be a difficult word to come by in this household.

Isla was awake when she showed up for her session.  Rarely have I seen a baby this little so alert, yet calm.  She definitely knew how to work the camera:).  And isn’t that sweet little mouth just begging for some kisses?

Caught a little smile!

With her beautiful, infatuated mama:).

And this just might be my very favorite from the session–just love the simplicity of it:

Erin, thank you so much for sharing your precious little one with me today.  I just loved every minute I was able to spend with her–you are a lucky, lucky woman!

I truly think there is nothing dearer to a mother’s heart than seeing how much her children love each other.  Case in point, yesterday my Julia was getting in the tub to get ready for church and asked, “Is Bella going to take a bath?”  “Yep, and Emily too.”  Her response: “Emily too?!  All my friends?!  All my friends are going to take a bath?!”  I am still smiling about it.

Saturday I had a session with the darling-est (yep, I’m going to say that’s a real word) 7-month little girl and her wonderful big brother.  You could just tell she adores him by the way her eyes just tracked him around the room.  He was so, so sweet back to her–so patient and kind and interested in her.  How lucky they are and will be to have each other as they grow up!

This one just made me giggle–he was trying to get baby sister to smile (On a side note, how fabulous are their outfits together?  Mom did such a great job!).

This is a better representation of their actual relationship:

After a few abysmal attempts on my own and some coaching from Henry, I finally made it through the whole alphabet without any mistakes–who knew my sleep-deprivation had gotten so bad?  He’s one smart cookie:).

And I could not get over gorgeous Lila’s delicious rolls, beautiful eyes, or those LIPS!  Mom and Dad are in trouble for sure.  I have his same shot w/a smile, but oh, how I love the hand placement, those wide eyes, and her little mouth in this one.

A session favorite–can you see her grabbing his foot?

Thanks for such a fun morning guys, and for alphabet lessons!

…and this is pretty much how we all feel about it:

When I asked baby girl at the airport if she was excited to go home and sleep in her own bed, she answered with a resounding, “No!”

“Well, where do you want to go?”

“I wanna go at another Hawaii!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Ah, baby girl, I don’t blame you.  We had a wonderful time visiting with my parents on Kaua’i.  We almost didn’t make it, as our itinerary changed without our knowledge and we missed our flight out.  Five hours, many phone calls, and a couple of really helpful employees of both United and Alaska Air later we were on our way.  We stopped over in Seattle and stayed the night at my parents’ home (we got to see some old friends and my little sister for a few hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and arrived in Hawaii 24 hours late, but not too worse for wear.  The girls are all great travelers and Jack slept much of the various flights.  Even so, the return trip home was a little brutal–leaving Hawaii at 11:30 p.m. Friday night and getting in to Albany at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday.  I was feeling pretty much done with travel for a looong time.  However, walking out to the car in 10-degree temperatures had a little part of me thinking, “I wanna go at another Hawaii too!”

I’ve just now had a chance to catch my breath and am starting to return phone calls and emails.  A couple of galleries are due to go out, and they should be up tonight or tomorrow morning.  I am excited for all the babies I have coming up this month and can’t wait to meet them.  Keep checking back for both newborn yumminess and the little bit of warmth I was able to capture and bring back from our trip!

Despite the cold, it’s good to be home:).