Olive's newborn photo shoot

Gosh I am sooooo behind the times, but I really wanted to wait until Olive's newborn announcement had gone out to all of our relatives before I posted the pictures to the blog.  That was definitely more than a month ago... my sincerest apologies.

These photos were taken by the fabulous Mercie Ghimire.  She did my maternity photos while I was pregnant with Olive and took our family photos last fall.  We love her.  She has such a special light about her photography that makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

Maternity Photos

These are our amazing maternity/family photos taken at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook in Culver City by the very wonderful and talented Mercie Ghimire Photography.  We had an absolute blast running around the trails and exploring nature and Mercie did an amazing job working with us crazies. Noah especially loved the snail, "Turbo", that we found while running around the hill.  That poor snail didn't make out so well in the end, but Noah sure did have fun with him that afternoon.

I will admit... I LOVE photos. Shocking? I think not. ha

I was always heartbroken that I didn't get to have a life time of pictures with Mason.  I had a few maternity photos that my brother-in-law Jeff snapped that I will always cherish, a few cell phone pics and a few digital camera pics that I managed to snap from my wheel chair while he was hooked up in the NICU, but honestly... that was it.  I was seriously drugged up during that time in my life. I was on pain killers and magnesium to prevent preeclamptic seizures.  I am so thankful that I do remember a lot from that time, but honestly,  those memories will always carry a weird glow around around them.

Fast forward to my pregnancy with Noah.   We had no idea whether or not we would be bringing a baby home with us or not, so I swore up and down that I would photograph and document as many moments as possible.  That's how this blog happened.  That's how I became a photo-a-holic and how Noah became probably wayyyy overly documented, but I don't care.  He's my child and I want to shout to the heavens how much he is loved and cared for just as I wish I could be doing for Mason.  So we had our family friend do the maternity photography and Noah's newborn photography and have tried to semi keep up with family pictures because these memories are something I honestly want to keep up with.

Fast forward to now.  This baby... I am probably not quite so on top of things.  Not because I don't want to be, but because I am tired, busy with Noah and just plain BLAH.  I still wanted to make sure we did professional photos while I was pregnant.  I want her to know about how she grew, our hopes and our dreams for her and anything else that she might spring up in our lives.  So as silly as it might be to some people to do all these family photos and things... they are really important to me.  I want to have these memories and photographs to look back on and I really want my children to have them as well.

Photography Class Photo Session

I mentioned before I was taking a photography class and that I was feeling really insecure about the work I was producing.  I think it didn't help that I was smack in the middle of planning Noah's birthday party, having lots of family visitors and in the middle of computer crisis.  It all seemed to be happening at the exact same time and completely stressing me out.


Right as I was starting to get the hang of things... the class is OVER. hah.  Isn't that the way things usually work?  Anyways, the class ended up being great.  I learned a lot about natural lighting and using features of my camera that I wouldn't normally use.  I also learned that sometimes a photo does not have to be technical to be good (technically)? haha yeah exactly!  My instructor, Kellie Hatcher, was pretty amazing and a very informative instructor, not to mention she gave great feedback.

Anyways, I wanted to share my final project from the class as it is the one that makes the most sense to someone who is not knee-deep in the lessons.

This is my attempt to photo-document the last morning of Noah being o-n-e.

Florida Family Photoshoot

Right before Thanksgiving, my siblings, signifiant others, niece, nephew and parents all took a trip to Naples, Florida.  We decided ahead of time that we would surprise my mom with a family photo session with a local Naples photographer, Kimberly Joy Photography.

Anyways, we just got the photos back over Christmas break and they are AMAZING.  Kimberly is AMAZING and our family looked AMAZING.  I thought I would share with you her beautiful work. 

Enjoy! 

Christmas Cards

This year, we had our Christmas photos taken by a friend of mine (Mercie Ghimire Photography) I met through a mommy and baby group Noah and I belong to.  I have been dying to share them with you guys, but wanted to wait until after we had sent out our Christmas cards because I didn't want to spoil the surprise for the recipients.

Hope every one of you had a blessed and merry Christmas.  xo

long time coming: Maternity

Early on in my pregnancy with Noah, I KNEW without a doubt that I wanted maternity photos.  In fact, I knew I wanted to document as much of the pregnancy as possible just in case we didn't ever bring a baby home with us and I wanted to remember as much as I could about this precious baby inside of me.  So I searched the web for a great family photographer in Los Angeles and was lucky enough to find a photographer who did a wonderful job.  

Anyways, I have been wanting to share these photos for FOREVER, but I was waiting to get the rights and everything squared away... so here they are! YAY!  These were taken by the amazing photographer Cynthia @ Cynthia Spivack Photography.

birth announcements

It's taken me a while to share these with everyone and I am just getting around to mailing out hard copies to close family members, but here are Mr. Noah's birth announcements created and photographed by Cynthia of Cynthia Spivak Photography. 

I STILL cannot believe how precious this little guy is and these sweet photos give me chill bumps! There are many more photos from the session still to come, so be on the lookout for those sweet cheeks!