Busy Busy Busy

I feel like I am always busy. I guess that is a good thing though. I have been having so many photo sessions with friends since I have been back in NJ! I started inviting myself over friends' houses with newborns and I even went to Ocean City, NJ for a beach family shoot. I really am having fun capturing memories for my friends. Here are some of my latest...


I promise you that the colors of these photos look much better IRL. For some reason the colors get funky when I upload them to blogger.

Boys will be Boys

I was at the computer one day (which is in my bedroom) and the boys were on my bed. I look over and Jared is "performing surgery" on Josh using his tools. What an imagination huh?

A Visit with Dean

My friend, Kate, came to visit a few weeks ago and I never posted the pictures from that day...so here they are. Dean is 6 months and I will be taking his 6 month portraits very soon. He is just starting to sit up on his own and those pictures are so fun to take because they cannot get away yet!

It looks like they are having a discussion about the stuffed animal.

Of course Josh had to get his kisses in!

Back to Sleep

Well I didn't follow directions this time around. We have been putting Emily on her belly to sleep since the very beginning. They say that babies should be put on their backs to sleep because when they are on their bellies they fall into a deep sleep and "forget" to breathe. She does use a pacifier and I use white noise in the room, both of which prevent SIDS. She has been such a good sleeper from the beginning and I am convinced it is because she is most comfortable on her belly. Fortunately little Miss also prefers to be left alone while sleeping. She does not enjoy sleeping in your arms. This has come in handy since I have two other children to take care of :)

Yes she is still in the pack-n-play in our bedroom and yes I have her dressed in snowman PJ's.

Emily's Stats

I took Emily for her 2 month well visit today and she is weighing in at 10 pounds 1.5 ounces (25th percentile) and she measures 23 inches long (50th percentile). She is still a peanut but you can definitely tell that she is growing because of how different she looks. She is smiling more than ever now and she is beginning to coo. She actually laughed at the boys in the tub 2 nights ago and then again when they were playing basketball last night. I love watching every little milestone as they grow.

How time flies!!!!

I cannot believe our baby girl is 2 months old already!!! She is becomming a much happier baby and making my life a little easier by staying in her bouncy seat for about 5 minutes.

I was able to get ONE shot of her smiling and without her fist in her mouth. Thank goodness it was in focus :)

The rest of the pics looked like this...

Doll Bed

So I opened my big mouth to my mom and told her I was looking for a particular photo prop. She has been on the hunt for it ever since. To be honest with you I can't even remember what I told her I was looking for because there are so many items on my prop list. She was bored on the day I was talking to her about it and that is when the madness began. She has been prop "hunting" ever since. Who knows how many antique stores she has been to. Anyway, she called me while she was at an antique store in Turnersville. I asked her to look for a doll bed and she found one - for $15. Although I would love to have a newborn shot of Emily in the doll bed, I am happy with these shots. This was the day after she had a bad day so it was so nice to see all of those smiles! I love how she sticks out her tongue while smiling. My mom also bought a ladder that I will be using, as a prop, very soon so stay tuned!

Potty Training

Josh decided to tease me when he was 18 months old. He started to poop on the potty. He wouldn't tell me that he had to go; I could just tell that he was going and I would ask him if he wanted to sit on the potty. He did this about 4 or 5 times. He quickly lost interest. Recently he has been showing interest again. He usually wants to sit on the potty before and after a bath or when I am changing his diaper before bed. I don't have the time, or patience, and this point in the game to really potty train him. Hopefully, his interest will keep up and when Emily gets a little older I will be able to devote more time to his training. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be as easy with Josh as it was with Jared. Only time will tell.

Boys

I must say that although the boys can give me a run for my money (Josh most of the time) there are moments that I am very thankful and fortunate to have the boys I do. Emily has her good days and her bad days so there are times I feel I am upstairs trying to calm her down for hours. I can pretty much trust that the boys will be fine, downstairs, by themselves. A few days ago I found them both in Jared's room, on his bed (which Josh is not allowed to get on by himself but that is another story), reading books. It was a sweet sight knowing that they can occupy themselves and get along with each other while I try to comfort their sister. I am excited for Jared to start kindergarten this September but I wonder what Josh will do without his big brother around?

Mommy and Me

I was thinking the other day that I don't have one picture of our entire family. I really need to make a conscious effort to put myself and Drew in more pictures. I asked Jared to snap a few of Emily and myself the other day. He always does a pretty good job.

Profile Picture

Everytime I visit my blog to write a new entry I think to myself how I have to change my profile picture and update my information. That profile picture just makes me giggle and smile everytime I look at it though. I hate to get rid of it because it makes me so happy. Josh looks enormous, yet so little at the same time. The boys are no longer 9 months and 3 yrs. and we have a new addition to talk about. I better get on that!

Busy Busy Busy

So I have been interested in photography for a little while now. Drew bought me my first DSLR (Canon Rebel) for Mother's Day 2 years ago and I have been hooked ever since. I wanted the camera to simply take better photos of my own children. I have been very fortunate to become very good friends with a photographer while living in Mass. She has taught me a lot about photography and even more about post processing photos. As my photography skills started to improve, close family and friends asked if I would take pictures of their children. Since I have moved back to NJ I have upgraded my camera and started taking even more pictures of people other than my own children. The past three weekends I have had photo shoots and I enjoyed every minute. I love photographs for the memories so I love to provide photographs for other people for the same reason. Here are my favorites from the past 3 weekends.

Happy first birthday Kara!!

AJ & Michael

Happy first birthday Brynn!!

We had fun with a cupcake smash.

One month old

I cannot believe our baby girl is a month old already!

Emily was NOT happy about leaving Mommy's arms to be put on the chair for a picture.

Life sure is tough when you are a month old!

In between screaming I got some cooperation.

There's the pretty girl. Too bad her hand is blocking her smile.

All 3 Kids

I still can't get over the fact that I have 3 children. Anyway, it is difficult enough to take a decent picture of one of my kids, let alone all 3 together. Remember how I said, "stay tuned" for a picture of all three . . . well here is my LAME attempt at taking a picture of all three. Josh is pretty good in front of the camera but he wanted to be all over Emily while taking this picture. Jared wanted nothing to do with it of course and Emily would not look up at ALL!! I did try again a few days later and they were worse if you can believe that! I will have to settle for these for now. Emily just keeps getting bigger by the day so I want a good picture NOW! I really think you can see the true size of her next to her big brothers. I am curious to know if she is going to stay this petite because she sure is petite!

Sweet

This picture just melts my heart. Jared had asked to hold Emily and it killed me to tell him he had to wait until after I fed her. I was afraid the moment would be lost but Emily was screaming at the time so I had to feed her. After she was finished, Jared still wanted to hold her so I quickly grabbed the camera. It looks as if she is looking at him while he is talking sweetly to her. He talks in a high pitched voice while talking to her and always calls her "pretty girl". Jared can be so sweet when he wants to be.

Necklace

My wonderful friend Kim, who I miss dearly, sent me this beautiful necklace in the mail last week. She told me something was going to arrive but I had no idea it would be one of these necklaces. She recently purchased one with her boys' names on it and I loved it. I am so lucky to have such generous friends!!!

Accordian Albums

I had this idea to make these accordian albums in my head for awhile now and I am soooo happy with the way they turned out. I have taken numerous newborn pictures of Emily and I wanted some way to show them to people. I also wanted to give something to my mom and mother-in-law as a thank you for helping out so much. These are 3in x 3in so they fit perfectly in our pocketbooks.


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