enJOYing the little things . . .

Baby Jackson

Jackson was just two weeks old in these pictures. Sweet little guy with a momma who really really loves him. His daddy loves him too, and I'll try to share a few of those pics another time.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's been quite the summer so far for me and the kids. Online classes have kept me up until the wee hours of the morning. Then there's gymnastics, swimming, storytime class at the library and ballet that keeps us on the go almost every day of the week. We've already visited every major museum in the city except The Field with Cousin Jakey. This week we're hitting up the Brookfield Zoo. Busy is an understatement for us this summer, but we're having a blast!

Little Miss Madelyn

Thanks to this baby girl's mommy & daddy for letting me hang out and photograph their new family of three.

Here's the little miss in black and white:

 

 

Here she is in color:

 

 

And finally, my favorites of Madelyn with her mommy and daddy.

New Big Sister

When I first met this sweet girl, I was completely wowed by her big blue eyes! She was a bit apprehensive upon my arrival as you can see in this photo.

 

We became fast friends though. Still can't get over the amazing color of her eyes.

 

By the end of our session, we were definitely BFFs! (Translation in case you need it = best friends forever.)

 

And now  some photos of the newborn who has given my new BFF the title of big sister.  It can be quite the challenge to photograph toddlers with their newborn siblings, as was the case here. Big sister was way more intrested in the blanket that they were sitting on (one that I brought with me) than her new little brother.

 

Little brother was wide awake for pretty much the whole entire session. Guess he wanted to party with the photographer. :o)

 

Wearing a diaper cover passed along from mom's side of the family.

 

Big sister and little brother - it was a pleasure getting to know you!

Baby Mia

Congratulations to our good friends Joann & Jere on their beautiful baby girl! My kids are excited that their circle of friends has grown, although it will be awhile before they can actually hang out and play with their new friend. Baby Mia was celebrating her two week birthday when I took these photos.

Big sister was oh-so-sweet and gentle with her baby sister.

A fun angle of Baby Mia, safe and sound in her daddy's arms.

New baby and beach photos

Here are a few teasers for my good friends Mike & Ria and their first baby, a very handsome baby boy, who is just nine days old in these photos. I had so much fun hanging out with the new family of three! Can't wait to get home so that I can work on all the rest of the photos from our session. :o)

 

  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Right now I'm blogging from Orlando in sunny Florida. Ronald, the kids, my mom and I drove all the way from Chicago. Crazy. I know. We took the drive down in two days. First day went smoothly. Second day not so smoothly. But we made it to Florida safely and with my sanity is still in tact. Ha.

Tomorrow begins our week of Disney. Miss Cadence and Clark are so excited to meet their favorite Disney characters. Today we hit the beach. Cocoa Beach to be exact. It was the kids' first time to visit the Atlantic Ocean. Here are a few pics from my sister's camera.

Here's Miss C buried in the sand with Cousin Jakey.

 

Rocket boy giving us his beautiful eyes, but my sister and I are calling this his Popeye look. Haha! We totally cracked up over this one.

  

Happy week! 

  

For Joann

First of all, thanks so much for helping me out on the tree mystery. Everyone who commented/emailed said that it's a hydrangea tree. Who knew you could graft a hydrangea bush and make it into a tree! I certainly didn't which is why I was stumped as to what kind of tree it was. I am definitely planting one in our yard.
--------------------------------------------

One of my long-time friends is pregnant with her second. Another girl. Oh how I'd love to have another girl! I had visions of dressing my daughters in matching girly-girl outfits the way my mom used to dress my sister and me when we were little. I might have to borrow this baby when she is born. (Just a warning, Joann!)

This is the big-sister-to-be. Is she not the cutest thing ever? No doubt that her baby sister will be as stylish as she is.

And here she is practicing how to be a good "Ate" (translation - big sis in Tagalog/Filipino) on her baby doll. Notice the eye poking and placement of elbows on the baby doll's head? <giggle>

 

A few family pics.

And finally, my favorite of the session. I think the pink polish on Big Sister's toesies is the best part!

Happy Friday!

Does anyone know

     

what kind of tree this is? I saw it last week at one of the local outdoors malls that we frequent. I'm thinking ahead and would love to plant this tree in our front yard in the middle of the flowerbed that I'm hoping Ronald will dig out for me in the spring. (Hint hint, honey!) Honestly, I'm not much of a gardener. No green thumbs at our house, at least not yet. But I am trying.

And here's a pic for two of our good friends who are expecting their very first baby next month.

Random stuff:

I'm enjoying reruns of "Party of Five" thanks to Comcast Digital Cable's On Demand. I had forgotten how incredibly good this show is, no wonder why it was one of my all-time favorites back in the day.

Rocket says "uh oh!" now which brings his vocabulary to a grand total of three. Dada and peek-a-boo are his two other words.

I let the kids watch a little bit of Superman the other day since he is Clark's favorite superhero. I told Clark that Superman's name is also Clark. He looked at me with wide eyes and said, "Nuh-uh!" He totally refused to believe me until he heard one of the characters call Superman Clark while he was in disguise, of course. The look on Clarkie's face when he heard that - oh, was it ever priceless!

Miss Cadence has been reading and spelling words for awhile now - all on her own. She's wants to go to school, but her birthday falls two months after the cutoff so she will have to wait to attend Kindergarten until next year.

Boy Number 3

Congratulations to one of my closest friends who gave birth to her third baby last week. His momma brought him into the world with one mighty push. Lucky girl.

Any day now

and this beautiful couple will be having a baby girl! I can't wait to do their little babette's newborn session.

Can you believe that she is already 36 months along when I took this photo? I swear I was already this big during all my pregnancies by 24 weeks.

Soon-to-be daddy

Soon-to-be big sister

-------------------------

Clark is sick with a fever, cough and an extremely runny nose. Everyone has been really healthy this summer. Bummer that he got sick. I expect that the other two will be sick within the next week or so. Unfortunately, even though I do encourage sharing in this house, germs and sickness are things I definitely wish the kids didn't have to share.

Babies are precious & Stormy weather

I had the opportunity to photograph this little 7 weeker earlier this month. I'm really happy with the way this particular photograph turned out. I had purchased this really cool decroative wall hanging made out of metal at Pier 1 for my living room back in July and it turns out that it's a multi-functional piece!

And check out baby's vintage bassinet. The previous owner was his daddy. Awww!

Have more photos to share from sessions I've had this summer. That's pretty much what's been keeping me busy these days.

---------------------
We're extremely waterlogged here in Chicagoland. We've had tons of rain all week long. Today my mom, the kids and I drove through the worst storm that we have seen around these parts in a really long time. We were on our way home from the mall. Had I known that there were tornado warnings (one tornado was sighted inbetween Ronald's work and where my sister lives - scary!!!) we would have stayed at mall. Thankfully, despite the rain, winds and terrible lightning, we made it back to my mom's house safely. You know what though? As crazy as this may sound, I think I prefer tornadoes over hurricanes and earthquakes any day.