Hats, pancakes, and coming attractions

I'm a little all over the place tonight, but it's just one of those days.

Over the weekend I shot a few product portraits for Kate of Tot-Toppers. She just created this new Safari Sun Hat:





How precious is that?!? (And our little model, of course.)





I've said it before, but she's got some really great stuff- if you haven't checked out her site you need to.

On a personal note, I am happy to report that tonight's well-intentioned "we should eat more veggies, let's have a vegetable-only dinner night" was scrapped at the last minute in favor of chocolate chip pancakes.

Still to come on the blog: the promised newborn session and a few shots from this week with triple-the-normal canine presence in my house... stay tuned.

Chunky cheeks

Last time I saw my old college roommate Kristie, she was an exhausted but happy brand new mom. It was last August, and we had driven down to Rome, GA to visit eight days after she and her husband Benjamin welcomed baby Toler into their world.

Fast forward to March and we were finally able to get together again! And boy, does eight months make a difference in the life of a baby. Kristie and Toler made it to Columbia last week for a visit and I couldn't believe my eyes. Little sleepy eight-day-old Toler had turned into giggling, teething, stick-waving, chunky-cheeked eight-month-old Toler.

We made time for a photoshoot on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion while they were in town, and Toler showed up ready to work the camera, just like he did for my first-ever newborn shoot. And he was so patient and well-behaved, despite all the traveling and visitors interrupting his life!














This one just cracked me up while he waved his little stick around in the air. He looks like a tiny adorable pirate. Arrrgh.





We made sure to get some shots of Kristie and her baby boy, since most moms spend more time BEHIND the camera than in front of it. This one makes my heart melt just a little.














These next two are from one of my favorite series' of the day. I loved the stillness of the black and white, but the light was too gorgeous to resist some in color.











Kristie and Toler, it was so great to see you guys. Thanks for making time for pictures while you were here. We'll do a family shoot with Benjamin soon!

The life of a three-year-old

Pure joy. You can see it written all over her face. 

And really, when you think about it, can you imagine a better life? Waking up to chocolate chip pancakes, spending the morning bouncing on the "jumper" in the sunshine, napping after lunch, and then spending the afternoon snuggling your new baby brother and dancing to High School Musical 2 with your sister.

Dylan and I spent Saturday in Bluffton visiting our friends Doug and Neely and their girls and newborn son. Dylan spent a good part of the day tossing the girls in the air (see above), while I snapped pictures of everyone like it was going out of style.

And while I was really there to document the newest member of the family, I kept finding myself totally caught up in the joy of a three-year-old big sister. It was really refreshing and fun to laugh so much. And I was constantly reminded of why I love doing this so much. Besides the fact that I have this awesome opportunity to capture memories for a family, it is just so much FUN.

We came home that night exhausted but really happy and ready to take on the week. (And I dare say the parents of three are even more exhausted, but also even happier.) I'll post pictures of their precious baby boy soon!

Spring has sprung

Today is the first day of spring! No idea what the phrase "spring has sprung" actually means, but I will tell you that I am excited for the portrait sessions and Spring cleaning that come as a result.

In Spring cleaning news, while everyone is running around cleaning attics and washing bedspreads, I decided to freshen up the internet a little. Hop on over to my web site and check it out! (And yes I mean hop. Like a bunny. There's a spring theme here if you hadn't noticed.) I didn't do a major site overhaul, just a few tweaks and changes to clean things up a bit, and I updated the portfolio page with some more recent work for the slideshow. Wahoo!!

And really, while we're talking Spring cleaning, if you want to know the truth I also spent a good portion of the morning cleaning my vacuum cleaner. I'm talking take-the-pieces-apart-wash-them-in-the-sink kind of cleaning. I know someone out there has seen that episode of Friends where Monica is DustBuster-ing her vacuum cleaner... yeah that was me at 8:15 this morning. On my day off work. True confessions of a clean-a-holic.

ANYWAY, as far as portrait sessions are concerned, it's going to be a busy weekend! I've got one precious kiddo lined up for this afternoon and a newborn tomorrow. So pumped! I'll be doing double-time trying to edit both sessions at once but I will post some of my favorites ASAP.

I leave you today with this artsy-fartsy picture of a tulip. Enjoy your first day of spring!

Shamrocks and Sugar

It wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without Ms. Lou's famous sugar cookies!



Ever since college, each and every holiday we can count on delicious homemade treats, iced and decorated for the occasion from Kati's fabulous mom. For my Irish husband of course, the St. Paddy's cookies are the highlight of the year.

Thanks Ms. Lou! (Kati, sorry your mom didn't send you any. Hope you enjoy the picture...)

Recovery

What, you may ask, do I need to recover from? Have I been ill or had major surgery? Was I in some sort of accident or the victim of a crime?

No, no, none of these things. I just had a rough morning. And by rough I mean it was actually not bad at all, except for an untimely roach incident before running a 5k in the cold rain. But as this is my blog, I have the freedom to be as dramatic as I want. (If you have a problem with that I suggest you get your own blog where you are free to be as realistic and un-dramatic as you want.)

I personally believe there should be some sort of rule about roaches jumping out of your nightstand and running around on your bed (thank goodness I was not in it) when your husband is not there to deal with it. I ran around the house screaming for a while, but that did not seem to accomplish much, so I eventually had to kill it myself. And because of that I am terrified to open my toilet all day in case it managed to resurrect itself from the dead and swim back through the sewers to my house for revenge.

Because of all the commotion I was unable to eat breakfast and was 10 minutes late to pick Sara up for our race, which means we were 10 minutes late getting to the parking area, which means I was REALLY annoyed when the parking lady sweetly told me that there were no more parking spaces for runners. I thought of the many replies I could offer as I surveyed the vast, empty grocery store parking lot and wondered how this was possible as only eight cars were parked there, but instead I kept my mouth shut and drove us through the pouring rain to a parking garage a mile from the start line.

We parked and ran to the start line, grabbed our timing chips, and joined the other runners just in time for the starting gun to go off. At this point we were very close to just bailing all together and heading to Chick-fil-a, but it was too late and we got swept up in the crowd of too many runners on too narrow a road shoving each other along the course. Luckily the rain had slowed, but it was still cold and I spent a good portion of my run wedged up against a man who reeked of beer at 8:45 a.m. I realize this was a St. Patty's race, but seriously people.

We finished, I felt sick (remember, no breakfast this morning), walked a mile in the cold back to the car and went home.

Which brings me to my present state: showered, warm, sitting on the couch, drinking hot chocolate and trying to convince myself that there are people worse off than me and I should really get up and vacuum. But first can I please come over and use your bathroom?

Spring cleaning

I am a really clean person who likes to have a really clean house. As I was going through some old pictures today, I came across these:





These were taken exactly two years ago today as we returned home from our honeymoon and began wading through our newly merged belongings.

That makes me feel a little better tonight. I need to vacuum and probably dust a little, but wow. Things could be worse.

Stay tuned for a photography-related post, coming soon.

Things I am excited about

1. Still pumped about my new Tot Toppers (see previous post).



2. Spring weather and DST. I love it every time a season changes (though normally we don't progress from 30 degree days to 80 degree days in a six-day span.) These little buds came out literally overnight on the tree in our front yard.



3. The BFF got engaged!! Check it:



Kati and Stephen are getting hitched and I am so excited. I love weddings and I love my best friend, so what could be better?? (And yes, I have already reminded her that the shorter her engagement is, the less she has to put up with my helpful planning and ideas.)

On that note, I am off to bed or this time change will get the better of me. Night.

Two under two!

I know that two kids under two years old must be handful, but I bet it is fun, too! Jesse and Charlie were so good for their photo session and really, you can't ask for much cuter than these boys.

Here is three-month-old Charlie blowing bubbles







Love the baby toes



and the baby booty





And here is big brother Jesse!





Something about this image being out of focus just makes it perfect to me.













I LOVE this picture. Look at that face!



AND that amazing hat- how adorable is it?? The amazing Kate of Tot Toppers, besides being supermom to these two boys, also knits like a champ. She makes the MOST precious baby and toddler hats. She whipped up Charlie's green and blue one just for our photo session.

This one doesn't show off the bright colors but Charlie is just cracking me up. Seriously, look at that pose. Ready to model.



And she made his bright orange sweater which you can see in my preview post. When I saw her collection I knew I needed some hats for my baby sessions.

Seriously, check out her website if you know any babies who want to look adorable. They're going to need hats. Kate designed a few hats for me and I can't wait to use them at my next photo shoot. Thanks Kate!

Year two

This week Dylan and I celebrated our second anniversary. Yahoo!

The nice thing was, the day wasn't really that remarkable. Sure, we went out and had a nice dinner, but in the end it was just a regular Tuesday. And I like that. Don't get me wrong, anniversaries are worth celebrating, it's just that I loved how NORMAL it felt to be married for two years. Nothing earth-shattering, nothing mind-blowing, just the every day ins and outs of our life together- each day is a celebration in itself. I love that about being married.



(Also, I would love to go back to St. Martin, but that will be another year!)

Looking back at this picture from our honeymoon always makes me smile. I love how absolutely happy we look there, heading to our cooked-to-order French breakfast in tropical paradise, but even more I love that this morning as we stumble around the house half awake trying to feed the dog and eat some cereal, we are even happier than we were that day.

Love you Dyllo.

Go shorty, it's your birthday

It seems like the birthdays just keep coming around here. We celebrated our good friend Mary's birthday today with lasagna, some sort of amazing coffee ice cream dessert, and a fire in the fireplace at her parents' lakehouse. Call me crazy, but I think a cold rainy day makes for a perfect birthday. This paper hat is pretty festive, too:





Happy birthday Mary!!

In other news, despite the temperatures in the 30's today, the dog's seasonal clock has told him that it is time to start shedding for spring. (I would consider his fur loss more of a molting, but whatever.) For the next few weeks, clumps of fur will roll through our house like tumbleweed, even if we vacuum daily. Incidentally, Riley does not realize that the tufts of brown fluff I discovered on the couch when we got home this afternoon are a DEAD GIVEAWAY that he has been sneaking on the furniture again. Jerk.