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.


front
inside

inside back

back

Snapshots

My sister asked me if I have been taking any other pictures besides Emily's portraits and my answer was, "no". I am usually the snapshot queen and with taking care of the three kids I have not had my camera out as much as I would like. So, here are a few snapshot of the kiddos (minus Jared - who HATES having his picture taken again). The next portrait-type picture I want to take is of the three kids together. Stay tuned :)

Josh will always stop for the camera - for a second.
Hanging out on a blanket in the family room.

Just being cute.

Emily's daytime nap spot.

My "other" Mom

I thank my lucky stars that I get along so well with my in-laws. Not many people can say that. Mom Mom Kathy, as the kids call her, has been such an enormous help to our family as well. She has been coming over to occupy the boys and help out with Emily as much as she possibly can. I cannot thank the "moms" enough for all that they have done!!!

Father's Day

It would seem fitting to have a picture of Drew with all 3 kids on Father's Day, however, I didn't seem to remember to take one. We went to Jill's house for a barbeque, Father's Day celebration.

This is basically what Emily did all day. Josh and his flag obsession continues.

Jared is like a fish. He LOVES the water.