Hello, Annie! | Metro East Illinois Baby, Toddler, Child Photographer

Little Annie is about to be 18 months old! Her mother and I are friends and I've been lucky enough to attend a couple of births with her (L is a doula). I contacted her the other day about picking up a few hand me down items for Annie and we decided on a little mini-shoot while they were here.

I'm really loving the "in-home" concept for this age group and will definitely be suggesting it to clients from now on! She quickly got comfortable in our playroom and we had a delightful time playing with the kitchen set and reading books while I snapped away. Bonus points for my own toddler sitting still for 15 seconds so I could snap a pic of her yummy curls, too. ;)

Enjoy!

Yes Annie, that's definitely where the bananas go... not exactly how they get in there. ;)



Beautiful smiles... check out her cute little TEETH!





"Where the Wild Things Are"



This profile shot just begged for a black and white conversion:



Toddler Toes



On the more serious side now...



Annnnnnd, she's all done with me. Just about 15 minutes of shooting and 15 gorgeous images for her Mama to take home. :)



Thanks for coming to play, Annie. :)

Love,
Chantel

Karma | Alton Baby Photographer

Or, What Happens When You Leave Your Baby With Me For An Afternoon (but that title was a bit on the long side).

This is Rhys.



His Mama did something extraordinarily kind for me the other day. I offered to take him off her hands while she ran my errands. Because, well, I know what it's like to want a little down time when you have a small child sucking up every moment of your day. And because it was AWFUL nice of her to take the time to help me out. And as Rhys was in a good mood, one of my toddlers was asleep, and I had my camera all handy and such... this happened.....















Would you look at that? Good Karma. Pay it forward folks. ;)

Love,
Chantel

7 Things You Don't Know About Chantel...

I was recently tagged in a post from friend/client/soul mate Abbi's blog "Musing of Motherhood" and now I'm supposed to tell you 7 niblets about myself and tag 10 bloggers. I don't actually have TIME to read blogs any more so I don't have 10 people to tag but I will happily rattle off 7 things you (probably) didn't know about me....


cell phone self portrait

1. I am addicted to coffee. More than the average bear. I have had this problem since high school (and a certain someone I met at the small coffee shop up the street from school every morning of my sophomore year) but this sort of crack-level addiction started when I had my twins. I literally had to be up for 24 hour stretches with only 30 minute cat naps to call "sleep" and caffeine kept me alive. I've quit "cold turkey" a few times, most notably last spring, and yet... yeah, I might be drinking a cup right now at 2 in the afternoon. ;)

2. I abhor the cold. In a way that's probably not completely healthy. Part of it is that I have a condition called Raynaud's Syndrome which means the circulation in my hands and feet is less than ideal. Temps below freezing actually cause me pain. I'm much happier in the heat and look forward to summer! Our current temp in DALLAS is 16 today. Brrrr!!!!

3. I have a running list of photography equipment that I'd like to purchase (or better yet, be GIFTED! HA!). The list is long, varied, and expensive. Next on my list? A Canon 5D Mark II and Canon's 28-70 2.8L lens. HEAVEN!



4. I'm seriously considering switching Breathtaking to weddings. I've got some research and details to settle (like the camera body and lens listed above) before I make the leap but since giving up births a mere two months ago I'm really missing the documentary experience. And yes, while what I do with portraits is somewhat documentary in style it's not the same type of storytelling. Births are a huge moment in your life that can never be replaced and retold. Weddings are the same (only much, much more scheduled *wink*).

5. I do my nails about once every year. It lasts approximately 48 hours before becoming chipped to the point of looking ridiculous. I posted this because I'm staring at this year's attempt and it's horrendous. Busy mom of six... not a great candidate for a manicure!



6. I used to be painfully shy. I'm not entirely sure how many weeks I chased my mom down the hall screaming at the beginning of Kindergarten but it was more than a couple. I hated school. At some point, for unknown reasons, I got over it and was actively involved in theater and student government in high school. Well, 'got over it' might be overstating. I'm still somewhat shy and unsure of myself. I just push through it. I like a good challenge.

7. There are three things I could not live without: chocolate, facebook, and my children. :)

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