Has it really been 6 months?  It seems like I was just taking Reese’s newborn pictures.  Not only is Reese sitting up and acquiring teeth but she’s just as smiley as can be, she just melts my heart.

While its not entirely deliberate, we inevitably take similar shots of Reese as we did with Brayden at the same age.  Which is pretty cool for both comparison and creative framing projects, look at these two on their chairs…

And on the bed…

We realized this was our first real summer shoot where we could go outside and play so we took advantage of that…

No, RVA isn’t for Richmond, Virginia, Reese’s monogram is just a happy coincidence!

I can’t believe this picture actually happened, its about as likely as a unicorn sighting, not only were both babes looking in my directions but the dogs were too!

Darling Reese, you are growing so fast, please slow down!  I hear I might be coming to photograph you showing off some crawling skills sooner than we thought and I know that your brother, who reminds me so much of my own little guy, will stay sweet until then.  Amy and Jeff, I’m so glad we have good cause to hang out this year, I always enjoy our coffee talks over the art of parenting.  Here’s the slideshow and click here if you would like to visit the gallery.

Posted by Mel @ 7:32 pm, in Portraits, Wee Ones | No comments | Permalink

Baby Lucy was almost two weeks old when I cam to visit her and her big brother Trey.  First I got to scope out Lucy’s sweet, girly-girl nursery with Ellen.

Meanwhile, there was some serious playing going on downstairs.

Lucy, on the other hand, was napping so we took advantage of that.  Its funny how newborns teach us to notice small features like lips and just how perfect they can be.

Ellen and Tim had really hoped for a photo of the whole family together and, especially, one with Trey holding his baby sister.  So once the wiggles were out, we got everyone on the couch.

That lasted approximately 5 seconds and then it was time to go outside and get more wiggles out.  GOAL!

So then we thought we would try again.  And again.  Trey was not so sure about holding his sister, at least not in front of me, but I didn’t mind because these photos will be especially priceless in the years to come regardless!

We tried everything to get Trey to take a picture with the whole family together.  Bribes.  Popsicles.  Pleading.  But in the end, the only thing that worked was good, old fashion tomfoolery.

Congrats, Ellen and Tim, on the newest addition to your beautiful family… I’m looking forward to watching them grow together!  Here’s a slideshow from the day as well as the gallery.

Posted by Mel @ 3:40 pm, in Newborns, Portraits, Wee Ones | 1 comment | Permalink

A couple days before the shoot, I asked Jill what she wanted to remember most about this particular time in Cannon’s life and I loved her response so much that I hope its OK to share it here:  ”Is EVERYTHING too much to ask?  He loves playing in the water, still loves baths and splashing himself, cuddling with his monkey and bear, “racing” with daddy, chasing bubbles, his love for sweeping the floors, the way he pats my back every time I pick him up, his love for crawling through my legs, throwing everything… even things he shouldn’t (we’re trying to deter this but its so damn cute), the way he can tear through a book shelf, his curls, his giggle when Todd and I kiss, his jealousy when I love and cuddle on Louie, the way he claps and says, “yay!” when a song ends on the radio, his keen sense for seeing a bird at half a mile away and yelling “tweet, tweet” in excitement, his insistence on wearing my high heels after I come home from work in the evenings and that sweet little belly of his.  Can you capture all of that and more?  Is that too much to ask?”

I tried not to fixate on each adorable vignette she described because I didn’t want to shoot to feel staged but her words gave me some great framework for seeing through the lens and ideas to try when we found a lull.  We started by setting up the baby pool in the backyard.  I liked this portrait of Cannon’s curls:

He looks just like Todd in this one, its crazy!

Of course we pulled out the bubbles to see what he might do…

When we needed a break from the hot summer sun we went inside to hang out in the playroom.  I did get to see a daddy race…

As well as some hoops and peekaboo with mommy:

Jill and Todd are in a new house so we didn’t want to do too much indoors before their furniture arrived, but still, we had to carry on the tradition of a family portrait with Louie on the bed somehow!  The guest room was a fine substitute…

And playtime ensued.  One of the greatest things about having a baby boy nearing two is that they are both rambunctious and fairly indestructible!

After daddy left to go back to work, Jill humored me because I wanted to see how well Cannon could walk in heels (sorry Todd, we just had to).  Cannon walks a lot better in heels than me, as it turns out!

Bear and monkey made an appearance as we started winding down.  As did baseball binky, much to Jill’s chagrin.  But I didn’t mind, baseball binky is kind of perfect.

All day I fixated on getting the back pat that Jill described.  Because its true – whenever Jill picks him up he pats her on the back.  Except when he is tired and Mel is begging him to do it, of course.  I was so bummed that I didn’t get it until I went through my capture… I didn’t remember taking the photo, it must have been when I first arrived but you can even see the motion of the pat!  I’m a professional but I can admit that sometimes, I still just plain luck out.

If you watch the slideshow closely, you’ll see some other memories that Jill mentioned but I’ll let you find them.  Eighteen months is indeed sweet, I’m so glad that Jill wanted to take these!  Here’s the gallery so you can check out more…

Posted by Mel @ 1:12 am, in Portraits, Wee Ones | No comments | Permalink