We’ve had some really great weather here in Pa, and so I figured I would share a few pics of Ainsley enjoying Pittsburgh.

This was in our front yard one afternoon….. Just enjoying the warm weather before it is gone. Ainsley had fun checking out all of the fall leaves….

Right now she loves to show you what she has….. Sometimes she even gives it to you. She holds it out and says “this.”

Last week she just wouldn’t nap for me and since it was so nice outside, I figured we might as well take a half hour and try to go get some photos… So that we did! We drove around, found this little gem of a spot, and spent about 10 minutes there….

She had a lot to say!

Yup. Eating her scarf….  She just got her 4th tooth over the weekend…and I think that just might have been why she wouldn’t settle for a nap late last week.

I had a hard time getting smiles out of her…. She had lots to say to me in between putting EVERYTHING she found in her mouth…..  :)  And she was so interested in everything around her I could barely even get her to look at me!

Little outfit change….

And a trip to the park to play!

She LOVES the swings….

Sweet.Pea.

m.e.

Last year I had the joy of photographing this sweet little girl Ava and her parents, and was super excited to see them again this fall! It is so much fun to watch families grow… and I can’t believe how big Ava got in just 1 year! They grow too fast!

It was fun to watch her run around and explore…. and her dimples melt my heart!

Her mom, Stacy, found this awesome little gem of a location one day when she took a wrong turn…. it is a beautiful little spot! Ava agreed….

L.O.V.E. this.  This is family…. love and hugs…. and pure sweetness.

I brought you a stick….

This leaf is literally the size of her head!

She was so cute jumping… Made the cutest little faces!

We went to the house for a few pics in her Christmas dress…. played a little peek-a-boo….

There she is!

Thank you Stacy and Adam, and of course Ava for such a fun session! Loved seeing you guys and can’t wait to share more of your images with you!

m.e.

First of all… Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms out there! I hope that you had the most amazing day with your family and/or relaxing! Ainsley and Josh were super sweet, and when I came home in the afternoon from my wedding on Saturday they had planned a picnic! So, we headed to the park for our picnic…. we ended up having our picnic in the car, but it was still perfect! While I was shooting Ainsley hadn’t taken a very good nap, and of course she fell asleep in the car. We wanted to let her nap, so we just ate in the car… and looked out at the beautiful park.

And yesterday we had the perfect day together as a family… went for a walk, went to Iced Gems for a delicious cupcake and walked around the area… Josh & Ainsley gave me beautiful flowers, a sweet card, a gift certificate for a facial and a massage, the book Love Dare, which Josh and I are really excited to do (and need)   …. and to top it all off, Ainsley went to bed at 6:30  last night and got up at 7:30 this morning. So Josh and I had a wonderful date night together. It really was such a perfect day!

The only thing that would have made it better, would have been to see my mom, but she is coming later this week! I can’t wait!

Now on to the reason for this post…. Sophie!

I can’t believe how fast time goes by. It really seems like just yesterday I met Baby Sophie…and last week I photographed her 1 year session. It has been such a pleasure getting to know Stefanie, Steven, and Sophie… They are such a sweet, sweet family… and Sophie has turned into such a cute little peanut!

It is so much fun to watch her grow and change. We started with a maternity session. You can see Stefanie and Steven’s maternity session here, Sophie’s newborn session here, and I am not sure why, but I do not have her 6month session on the blog.  :(

Look at the sweet curls she has now!    They are so cute… and those eyes!!!

She was fascinated with eating the fence…

Daddy’s and Daughters….

There is always a lot of tossing… and swinging… and holding kiddos upside down…and of course giggling.

It’s just a dad thing…  :)

Mom and daughter… such a sweet moment!

Sophie is getting ready to start walking….She is soooo close!

And she loves her little ladybug…

We went to the playground for a few minutes… hoping for swings, but there weren’t any… Still got some great shots!

ADORE this field… so glad we stopped!!! My favorite pics of the day!

Thanks Stefanie, Stephen, and Sophie! It has been an awesome year working with you!!!

m.e.

You met baby Annabel last week… and I want to introduce you to another baby Annabel. She is a Saint Patrick’s Day baby… weighing in at 7lbs, 5oz. What a cutie! Congratulations to Kira and Jesus!!!

I was hoping to be there to photograph Annabel’s birth, but she came early and we were in Hawaii…  I know Kira was ready b/c she is teeny… and was starting to get pretty uncomfortable. Besides that, she wanted to meet her sweet baby! Remember Kira and Jesus at their maternity session?

I really can’t believe that Ainsley was EVER this teeny! I know she was… tinier even, but it has gone by sooo fast and I can’t believe how teeny Annabel seemed after playing with our 16lb baby girl!

Let’s just say Annabel was just the sweetest little girl. She was sweet and sleepy….

Love this scrunched up face!

Sleepy, sleepy….

Ohhh… so I ended up buying the newborn beanbag from ShootBaby. I literally filled it the day of the session since we were away…. and  I was awaiting my beans. Filling that puppy should be a post of it’s own. Looking back it is pretty funny… but in the moment it was crazy… especially b/c I recruited my impatient husband to help me fill it (love you honey!)… Let’s just say…1. You HAVE to fill the beanbag with 2 people (or it will take 10 years and be a mess). 2. The person you recruit must have at least a teeny bit of patience.

I am super happy with the beanbag though, and can’t wait to use it again. It will open the door to a lot of new possibilities! It will become my little portable studio… Although it is pretty big to haul …especially with all of the other things I bring to sessions…

However… I got a new car this weekend! A sleek 2011 Ford Edge. Love it… and it has more space for our family.. and my new beanbag!

Enough with the tangents, and on with the post…

This little hat here I  A.D.O.R.E. I had been eying it up for Ainsley’s session since her room decor is little turquoise and pink birdies.. but I never got it. Since Annabel’s room is little birdies I couldn’t resist. It is made by Nini’s Handmades. She is amazing and has about 25 more hats that I adore… 

Look at those lashes! Watch out boys!

This I love… b/c she looks like a cute little chunky baby… even though she isn’t!!

Seriously… I don’t think I saw her eyes until the very very end of the session when everything was put away…

The beautiful happy new family!

Her little yawn… wish I  could import a sound bite of the little noise she made while yawning. Sooo cute!

Thank you Kira and Jesus! Annabel is beautiful! Ainsley can’t wait to play with her!!

m.e.

Before Hawaii one of my favorite people had her 2nd babe! So crazy! Pregnant ladies and babies are everywhere these days… but I suppose that is just our stage of life right now so I notice it more…

Her first daughter Lorelai was a teeny tiny peanut. She was a premie… and so Meg and Steve were so excited to carry baby Annabel full term. I took a few pics of Lorelai when she was born… the post was lost with my website issues… but you can click here to see a post of Lorelai’s first birthday.

We didn’t do a “session” of Annabel, but I snapped a few while we hung out…. Here are a few pics of the new Big Sister and the Little Sister. Lorelai didn’t really want to do photos at the time… but she did a few for some chocolate chips.

She is soooo sweet and gentle with the baby…

Sister Love….at least for now.

Ainsley had to get a pic with Annabel…. hard to believe she was ever that teeny!

This is a newborn and a 6 1/2 month old…. BIG difference!

Beautiful baby…

Gotta love those baby tootsies!!!

Her awake period didn’t last that long….

These pics are very similar… just snapped a few… in between trying to visit with Meg…Meg trying to lure Lorelai into photos…. the in-laws arriving in town…. keeping Ainsley happy… and we were all sweating to death in the 80 degree room (to keep it warm for the baby).  :)  So we just did what we could… while talking, laughing, sharing mom stories, and loving the babes…

Lorelai playing with Ainsley…

Thanks Meg and Steve for being such amazing friends… Congratulations on your 2nd beautiful baby girl!

Oh, and by the way…. Meg and Steve always do the March of Dimes Walk since Lorelai was a preemie…. so……. if you would like to sponsor them, click here to go to their page. It is such a great cause!

m.e.

If you have been following the blog, you might remember Baby Sarah.

Well, it is hard to believe, but she is already a year old! I can’t believe it! It is so much fun to watch families grow…. as a matter of fact, Sarah is going to be a big sister this coming August! So here she is… walking around like a big girl!

Love her big blue eyes! 

Such a cutie pie!!

Who would have thought that standing in a basket would be so much fun…..

and delicious!

Love how kiddos sit…. so stinkin’ cute

This might be one of my favorites of the day… Love those eyes… and the pudding on her lips….  ;)

This was Sarah’s tutu that she wore for her birthday party. We worked hard to try and get her attention for this series, but she was very into Baltimore Style Magazine…. A little fashionista in training….

And, just to see how much Sarah has grown, I have thrown in some images from her other sessions…

Starting with maternity. To view the entire session click here.

A pic from her newborn session. To view the entire session click here.

Sarah at 3 Months…. To view more of the session click here.

And this is from her 6 month session….

So, so fun!!! Thanks Beth, Ted, and Sarah for allowing me to document this wonderful journey!!!

m.e.

So it has been a long time coming, but I thought I would finally share some photos of our Ainsley Grace. As you may or may not know, we had our first baby August 20, 2010. I can’t even begin to express how much joy she brings into our lives. 6 days after having our baby, we had a fire at our house… our oven malfunctioned… and we spent the next 3 1/2 months living at the Residence Inn. The bottom line is that it could have been worse. Yes, it was scary…and at times it was really hard, but my family is safe, and that is all that I could ask for. The things that we lost are exactly that…”things”  They are meaningless and replaceable….

So all of that to say… apologies for the blogging hiatus. I am hoping to blog much more regularly again, but with a new baby, a fire, moving in right before Christmas, a website crash, and then enjoying the holidays we are finally resuming some normalcy. We had grandparents here almost every other week, which was great and we feel so blessed by their love and support, but we are really enjoying some time together as our new little family…

And with that being said, I am excited to get back to the world of blogging.

So, here is our little peanut. August 20, 2010. 6 lbs, 4 oz, born at 5:46pm.

She was due September 5th… so she was ready to meet the world a little bit early.

This is my favorite pic of her….

She takes after her daddy…. and is a MARVELOUS sleeper! Really. She has been sleeping though the night practically since birth. I mean it. We had to wake her up to feed her for her first month every 4-6 hours otherwise she would just sleep…. I could count on my hands the number of nights that I didn’t get much sleep… Not going to lie… it has always driven me bonkers that Josh could sleep so  much, but I am now very thankful for his sleeping habits…

We feel so blessed, and think it is God’s funny way of convincing us to have another…. but I am pretty sure we will not have another easy baby like her. She is truly an amazing blessing from God.

Love this just because of the ridiculous size of the bow and the skirt… they make her look like such a teeny peanut…

See?!? The petti skirt is huge… but so, so cute! And the blanket that she is laying on is Ahhh-mazing! My mom crocheted it, and I promise that it is the softest blanket you have ever felt.

Have I mentioned that she likes to sleep?

So, I know there are a lot of Raven’s fans out there…. but we had to get a photo of Baby Girl with some kind of Steeler theme… Don’t mind the Superbowl Patch in the corner.  Baby Girl and Big Snack…  

So these last photos are actually at the hotel… There were a million more photos that I wanted to take of Ainsley, but with our situation it just wasn’t possible… So here are a just a few more…

So much more to share with you…. but this will do it for today….

m.e.

Meet Baby Julianna…. Such a cutie! She is about 5 months old for her session….. and she made her appearance 5 weeks early!  She was ready to come into the big ole’ world…..

Kim (mommy) was telling me that she was at Home Depot…getting some things to work on some house projects, and labor started…and her precious baby was here!

So cute! Love her expression!

Here is the sweet family… Joey, Kim, and Julianna…

Loves little toesies….

Love Kim’s face…. Such a sweet moment of mom and daughter.

It was a long day for Julianna…and I we tuckered her out.

Thanks Joey, Kim, and Julianna!!! Such a sweet, sweet family!

m.e.

There is a family that has taken care of my husband for the past 5 years… and I am so grateful for them. When my husband Josh moved to Maryland, he met Randall at work… and they became great friends. Every Wednesday night Randall’s wife, Stephanie, hosts “movie night,” and my husband heads over to their house to spend time with Randall, and a few of their buddies….

Stephanie is the other (often better) wife that I am referring to. Not only does Josh head over there for some much needed man time, Stephanie makes dinner for the boys every week! So, generally speaking I am off duty on Wednesday evenings…..and quite honestly, I am terrible in the kitchen to begin with. Wednesday is the day that I have always known my husband would be fed well… no thanks to me. For his sake I wish every day was Wednesday… He did not marry a domestic goddess, and I am the very first to admit that!

Stephanie and Randall, thank you for being so wonderful to Josh all of these years and taking care of him…. and being so kind and generous in every way. We appreciate you more than you know!

I did a family session with this family about a week ago… and we headed over to the local park… Randall and Stephanie have 3 boys… Caleb (the oldest), Ian (the middle guy), and Lucas (the teeny guy)…

They are gorgeous children!!!

Super sweet kiddos…. but Stephanie and Randall’s hands sure are full with 3 boys!

Stephanie and Lucas…

This might be one of my favorites of the day…. Here is Ian!

And the whole family…

This little guy is BRAVE!!! He was 100% fearless, and would have climbed anything if he were just tall enough…

Caleb….

The future football star… Maybe he will play for the Steelers?!

Thanks Randall and Stephanie! We love you guys!

m.e.

I met Alex and Therol about 2 years ago. A great client of mine who has referred so much business (Thank you Judy) recommended they contact me for some photographs… and I am so glad that they did! We did a session at Centennial Park… You can view their session here. They were super cute and so much fun to photograph… so I was THRILLED with Therol contacted me about photographs with their new addition, Ethan!

He is just a little charmer! He will be turning 1 shortly…and he did such a great job, especially considering the heat that day that we shot.

Ethan and daddy!

I have to say that this is my favorite photo of the session. It is so much fun to spend time with new parents… I think I love it because I am about to head into that journey myself and I am excited, but also frightened… The photo below of Therol and Ethan honestly makes me tear up. I look at it and it makes me feel selfish for the parts of our pregnancy journey that I wanted to turn back… I just look at that image and see the  P.U.R.E.   J.O.Y.  that Therol has on her face because she loves being a mom so much. I adore it, and it is a reminder that the new chapter of our life will be scary, yes, but also the most amazing journey that Josh and I will ever take. Thank you Therol for showing me how amazing parenthood is by your simple interaction with Ethan.

He is getting ready to walk…. needs a little help right now, but I am sure that he will be cruising around in no time!

The Happy Family…

Love, love his eyes!!!!

The sign clearly said, “No Wading,” but it was hot…. and it looked fun….

Thank you Alex, Therol, and Ethan! I had such a great time with you guys. It is such a blessing to watch my clients lives grow and change. It is such a privilege to document!

m.e.