Last week I had the pleasure of going out to photograph the R. family and their new little guy.  At 11 days old, he was absolutely precious and did a fabulous job – we bundled him up, undressed him, stuck him in a hockey sock (mom and dad had awesome Vancouver 2010 Olympics goodies), brought him outside, and like a champ (or a true future model) he was a trooper throughout.  It was one of those odd October weather days we have been having where it was about 70 degrees outside so I *loved* being able to take advantage of the colors of the leaves with his orange wrap and matching hat.  Just perfect!

And mom and dad were awesome to work with.  I told them that they just have a chemistry, a dynamic about them that you don’t see often with newborn parents, especially first time ones.  I remember day 11.  It was not pretty, either pregnancy.  We were exhausted, Matt was unsure of the whole “how-to-be-a-dad thing” the first time, I was grumpy, he was grumpy, we were both probably slightly delirious as well.  If I showered and got coffee, life was really really good.  Not so here.  Not that I have bad newborn parents in any way, but some couples just have a different spark to them.  A. and N. were definitely one of those.  It was delightful to watch them interact both with each other and with their son – so sweet and loving yet silly and lighthearted at the same time.  I loved it.  🙂

R. family (and Stumpy-dog) it was so great to meet you guys.  Enjoy your sneak peek and enjoy your little one, the time is sure to fly!!

Some people really awe me.  Someone who, for example, runs every day up until the day they deliver and then goes through a placental abruption during labor and an emergency c-section.  You know, that kind of a person.  Yeah, pretty amazing to me!!!  Meet 12 day old baby A. – the end result of both of those things.  Though the birth wasn’t what anyone puts on their birth plan, look at what an adorable baby came out of it!  So so sweet and cuddly.  Mom and dad contacted me last week for some newborn shots of their little girl and we got together on Tuesday for our session.  Twelve days old and just perfect.  (Just beware, however, if you would like to fix your son up with her, they have told me she’s not dating ’til she’s 30 😉 ) And I have to say that obviously mom is awesome, but dad, he’s pretty darned good for a first time daddy – did some fabulous rocking to get her to sleep for us.  Either she already has him wrapped around her little finger, or he is just so smitten that he doesn’t mind rocking and staring at his new baby girl.  Might just perhaps be a mixture of both.

I have said it before, but I just love seeing new life.  I love my job.  Congratulations P. family, enjoy her!!

You hear me talk on here often of “this forum / message board” that I am on.  About three and a half years ago, a bunch of us were on the Nest.  The Nest.com is a spin-off of the Knot which is a wedding planning website.  The Nest is where you are sent after you get married.  There were a bunch of us on there and we started discussing photography, photographers, etc.  There were enough of us on there that were interested in it, that we spun off and made our own board.  And since that point 3.5 years ago, I have become part of this wonderful community of gals.  We have seen lots of people come and go. Our board has had as many as 200 members and as few as 50.  The regulars that have stayed all three and a half years probably number around 40.  As you can imagine, we have all become pretty tight on there.  I have met over 50 of the girls in real life.  I have gone to get togethers with those in my area, I have traveled to Las Vegas for a girls weekend.  I have gone to the Outer Banks for a girls weekend / workshop.  And I have traveled to photograph some of them.  This last category is what Morgan falls into.

Morgan has been on the board for a while, over a year.  We became friends as we all do and then she told a few months ago when she was about six months pregnant that she wanted me to come out to Chicago to do her newborn session.  Now timing a newborn session is tricky enough because you never know when a baby is going to arrive.  But timing a newborn session that is several states away?  Even more difficult.  We set the date for two weeks after her due date.  That way we figured even if she went late, the baby would be no more than a week old.  This was a great plan.  Morgan even “discussed it” with the baby, telling her how important it was to stay in until her due date.  That was until she decided (ahem!) to take a four mile walk around Lake Michigan with her husband.  Needless to say, later that night, she was in labor.  THREE WEEKS EARLY.  FIVE WEEKS BEFORE I WOULD GET THERE. I was a little nervous.  Five weekers are typically not easy to photograph.  At all.  They don’t sleep much, they don’t sleep as deeply, they don’t bend, etc.  In fact, they tend to cry and scream and be awake (and cross eyed) at lot.  But fortunately, Quinn is the daughter of a photographer.  Though it took a little bit to settle her, settle she did.  And very well.  And very deeply.  It was perfect.  No, she didn’t curl as much and no my hats didn’t fit her head and yes she was much bigger than most babies but she was still utterly precious and perfect.  We did some more typical newborn shots and then several family shots.  I have some of my favorite family newborn shots from this session – there is just something about that emotion that the first brings.  🙂  (The photography Gods must have been smiling on me that morning – I even had no traffic into the city AND got to see Wrigley!)

So Morgan and Steve, enjoy her.  She will be big before you know it.  🙂