New Ultrasound Photos & our maternity portraits!

Introducing, once again, our little guy, aka - “baby brother,” “baby hamburger” (he got this one when he was 6 oz – about the size of a burger – gotta love my husband!), “baby helicopter” (he got this one when we heard his heartbeat), and “what’s his name.” Now, he weighs about 2.5 lbs and is 28 weeks into his incubation. We had another ultrasound on Tuesday and got some great photos of him. (Here are his first ultrasound photos.)

He was playing peek-a-boo with his feet when we tried to get a glimpse of his face, flexible little man! I love that we can see his face filling out now. He looks a lot like his older sis, so far. He was trying to kiss his elbow while we were watching, too (already showing off by attempting the impossible!)

I also wanted to share our maternity portraits by the amazingly talented Nicole Jeren of Simplytold Photography. She flew down to help me shoot a wedding two weeks ago and we made time to squeeze in a quick session.

We took a quick jaunt out in a field right at sunset. They are just gorgeous. (Side note: If you live in Northeast Ohio, I implore you to hire her to do your portraits.) Nicole is gifted and works very hard to give her clients beautiful glimpses of their own real life. As a photographer, I hardly ever love how I look in photos, but in Nicole’s photos, I look like me. She catches my best angles and makes me feel comfortable. Of course, it helps that we are best friends. (You can see a few more maternity portraits here.)

So, here’s our growing little family. We are still taking name suggestions, but the deadline is November 8 (although I think it would be pretty cool if he were born on the 11^th).

Nicole, truly beautiful work. You just keep getting better. I love watching your progress and talking the biz with you. I am so blessed to have you as a best friend and that we can get together as often as we do. I miss you, friend.

Ray & Stephanie ∙ Maternity Portraits

Pregnancy is one of the sweetest stages of married life. Those nine months are the perfect amount of time to wait for one of the most joyful days of life. God gives us that time to prepare, plan, dream and bond. And those last few months, when sleep is nearly impossible are only preparation for those late night feedings. Can you imagine if pregnancy lasted like a week? No way!

Well, little did we know at this maternity shoot that Ray and Stephanie only had one more week to prepare for little Emma Claire. Luckily the weather was good at the beach! We headed down to Swansboro to Stephanie’s family beach house to add to the great memories that have been made there. It was a bit chilly, which made for some cute cozy photos of Ray and Stephanie. Their heights are perfect for Stephanie to lay her head on Ray’s chest. So sweet! I love Stephanie’s jewelry. And I especially love that she went with tights for some of the photos!

I can’t wait to meet little Emma Claire and shoot her first portraits!

Ray and Stephanie, I had such a great time with you two at the shoot and dinner afterwards. We can’t wait to move to Kinston! We are so excited you decided to move there, too, and go to Grace!



Josh & Dez ∙ Waiting for Baby Aslyn ∙ Maternity Portraits

Dez & Josh are having a baby!  This is exciting for so many reasons. For one, they are going to be AMAZING parents. They are simply the two sweetest most uplifting people I know. Little Aslyn will definitely have no self esteem issues.

Two, they are my first bride and groom to come back to me for maternity portraits. This is one of my favorite things about being a portrait photographer. I get to mark the milestones in my clients’ lives and share in their joy.

Dez and I went on a trip to Ireland when we were in college and from that point on we’ve shared a lot of great memories. Josh and Dez were the bride and groom in my second wedding ever. They took a chance on me and gave me some beautiful portfolio images. My blog was not around back then, so I included some of their wedding images below.

Look at these two! Their joy just jumps out of these photos!

Josh and Dez, thank you so much for giving me this wonderful opportunity.  I am so thrilled it worked out!  I love these images and I hope you do, too. One of these days we’ll be able to have a real visit with you. We’re praying Baby Aslyn is healthy and strong! Love you guys!