My Beautiful, Beautiful Babies | Dallas Children's Photographer

I'm a lucky lady. My plan was to have four children and I did that. In fact, I had four children in as many years. And then I was allll done. Having four children in four years is quite the logistical feat. But life had other plans and I became a mother of six quite by surprise. When I found out about my fifth pregnancy I was.... less than thrilled. In fact, I think the day the test went pink I actually cried. But then I got used to the idea and it started to grow on me. By the time we got to my 20 week prenatal appointment I was accepting that my life was going a different direction than what I had planned and I was ready to welcome another baby into our family.

And then, on that fateful day, my midwife leaned down to me in a private moment and said...

"Is there a chance your dates are off?"
"No...why?"
"There's an awful lot of baby in there..."

Twins. Two babies. One boy and one girl. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Two babies.

And now they're almost three. Had someone asked me if I wanted to have twins and if I wanted to have them seventeen months after their older sister and if I wanted six children all aged six and under I would have laughed and asked them if I could have some of whatever they were smokin.

But we don't always know what's best for ourselves. And this is what I got out of the deal:





And the big sister who welcomed them with open arms and loves them to the very bottom of her big, big heart:



She and Claire are "best fends" :)




Lucky, lucky girl.

Chantel

High School Buddies! | Alton, Godfrey, Bethalto Family Photographer

This is why I love Facebook. These girls were two of my best friends in high school but as often happens when people graduate and move onward into their lives, we lost touch. 15 years later we talk almost daily on that great social networking site called Facebook. And I love it. They both enrich my life and I'm very glad to have them around. Even more exciting is that when I move back to Alton (more coming on that soon in another blog post!) they will get to be IN PERSON friends... even better!

I went on a weekend trip (ALONE! Without kids!) in October and got to spend some time hanging out with them both. We had a fabulous evening enjoying the local nightlife which is something I rarely get to do as a mom of six! We met up the following day at a local community college which has the perfect grounds to use as photography backdrops. I suspect it will be a haunt of mine later this year.

Bethany has a cute little boy and a very sweet husband. She was still sporting an adorable baby bump back in October which eventually turned into a sweet baby girl named Evie (watch out for images of her little self this spring!). They were a blast to shoot as we have very similar personalities. That Lucas was a little ham. ;)







Next up was Nicole. Now, Nicole and I got into a lot of fun and a little bit of trouble in High School. Some of my fondest memories involve zooming around our little home town in her silver Jetta. She's just as much fun now as she was then. Love her. :)





And THIS little cutie!!! I think my daughters are going to love her to bits. She so totally has her mother's evil little gleam in her eye...





A favorite image:



Love you guys and I can't wait to be around more often! :)

Tiny and Determined | Dallas, Carrollton, Allen Newborn Photographer

"Determined" being code for "the hardest newborn I've ever run up against". My apprentice/friend Chelle often calls me "The Baby Whisperer" and clients are always commenting on how calm and patient I am when handling newborn babies. They pee, they poop, they cry, they fuss, they refuse to settle... but they always, always eventually give in and give me what I want. Usually fairly quickly and I've, um, gotten a little spoiled. Perhaps it's the six newborns of my own that I snuggled and rocked and shushed into deep slumber? Perhaps it's just an inborn ability. Whatever it is, I rarely have issues getting a baby to settle for a session...

And then I met Noah.

Noah didn't want to cooperate. I tried every trick up my sleeve. And then tried some more. Finally the only way it worked was that I would get him settled, snap two shots, and then have to start all over again. But he did give up some beautiful images....eventually... and I've never worked so hard for it in the three years I've been shooting newborns! Even the most difficult give in to me in the end. It's just a gift.

So here is Noah, in all his sweet baby glory:













Good goly he's sweet! Almost made me want another. Almost. ;)

And Sometimes A Client Becomes a Best Friend | Dallas Family Photographer

It doesn't happen often. MOST of my clients become friendly but rarely can I say that a client becomes a BEST friend. To be fair, Abbi and I met online before she actually hired me to shoot her family but it was the first time we ever laid eyes on each other. And I loved her as much as I thought I would from the second we said hello. She emailed me yesterday and said "WHAT!? Are we not awesome enough to be on the BLOG!?" Heehee.... Meet Abbi and Co, Breathtaking fans:




















She's cute, huh? I'm a lucky girl to be surrounded by so many strong, loving, funny women. :)

Chantel

The Beauty of the Gaylord Texan | Dallas Family and Child Photographer

I've spent a LOT of time recently at the Gaylord Texan here in Grapevine. See, they put up an amazing INDOOR Christmas display. And it's huge. And varied. And bonus, there are still plenty of NON-holiday areas free of festive decor. Which means, in a nutshell, I can shoot in a variety of locations and everyone stays warm and comfortable. And did I mention it's free because it's a hotel lobby? Ginormous, glass ceiling and all... still a hotel lobby. You only have to pay to park and there's so much to see and do my clients often make a day of it and stay to play after we're done. When I offer it as a location my clients who don't like the cold much usually jump at the chance and as such, I spent almost every weekend in November and December shooting there! Here's a little of the fun:



























Nice, yes? I love it there! And I'm betting you will, too. ;)

Remember Last Minute Minis? | Dallas Family Photography

Oh my, am I behind! Playing catch up is awesome though, cause then I get to relive some of the fun that was had during the INSANE holiday season! I mostly had to keep my head down and plow through that craziness and now is my opportunity to kick back and smile at the gorgeous images that came out of those mad weeks. :)

Last minute minis were such a delightful day! We were at the absolutely beautiful Texan Gaylord in Grapevine, Texas. In fact, there's a whole other post coming with images from my many long weekend days at this stunning resort. It's incredible! I met up with three clients, two new and one favorite. Here's a little of what we pulled out of our time together:

Sweet Christmas Baby | Dallas, Carrollton, Garland Newborn Photographer

The birth of sweet baby Joon was the last for awhile for Breathtaking and he came just before Christmas. His big brother Huck was born by the light of the Christmas tree just two years before. How lucky for me to be there for both boys' births! I got to go back just 6 days later (once recovering from a bout with the Flu-YUCK!) and shoot Joon's newborn portraits. After a couple of challenging newborn sessions Joon happily surprised me by going to sleep and easily bending into each pose I asked of him. He's a beautiful, PLUMP little guy with a darling stork bite on his forehead. I expect he'll bring his sweet parents and big sister and brother many years of joy in the future. Enjoy. :)