My girls are almost 9 months old.. time is truly flying.  I hope I always remember how they giggled and chirped with each other all day long and how our home and hearts feels so much fuller for their presence!

My girls at 7.5 months..

Dearest Jasper,

I have joined in a “Letters to our sons” blog circle where I will write you a letter each month just like I used to when you were a baby. Because even though you are a big boy now, you are every bit as precious and special to me as you were then – I should have never stopped writing to you.  This month it is a special “Mother’s Day” edition, which is so appropriate because you made this a very special mother’s day for me!

You were SO excited to share the beautiful art projects you made with me, and even more excited when you and Daddy gave me my cards and gifts on Sunday!  All day long you told me how much you loved me and wished me a Happy Mother’s Day:

But the truth is, you make me feel like EVERY day is mother’s day, the way you tell me how much you love me multiple time a day, or tell me that I am the most beautiful person in the whole world!

Just those words would be enough to convince me that you are the sweetest boy alive, but then you go and do something even sweeter. Like when your friends come over and you insist that they take home some of your pirate’s treasure with them as a gift – your generous heart makes me prouder than anything.

But what warms my heart the most is the love you have for your sisters – you tell me that it makes you sad how much you love them,  almost as though your little heart can’t contain the love you feel for them.

They are the luckiest little girls the world has ever known to have a brother like you – and I feel the same way. Thank you for making me a mother. Thank you for choosing me to be YOUR mother -the most important, rewarding privilege that I will ever have in life.  Watching you grow up into a big brother and a big boy makes my heart burst with pride!

xoxo,

Your mommy.

To read the next post in the blog circle, please visit Kimberly Shaw’s blog!

If you call and want a newborn shoot but your baby is already too “old” for a traditional newborn shoot, I have very often been known to tell you to wait until 6 months. Well, not six months exactly but rather whenever baby can reliably sit up on his/her own. It is probably my FAVORITE age to photograph!

Baby can sit, smile and look cute but can’t yet crawl or run away – it’s perfect! My twins just turned 7 months and are pretty good sitters now – of course the big fluffy bed comes in handy for any unintended toppling :)

Here are my little loves, sitting pretty!

And a couple laying down – I was hoping she’d play with her feet, but no luck!

If you have a sitter that you’d like to schedule a session for, don’t delay – as soon as they start being mobile they will give us all a run for the money :)

When my gorgeous friend and neighbor asked me to shoot a picture of her husband and new baby similar to the Athena poster, I said yes without hesitating because, as you’ll see they are the world’s most photogenic family!  But as soon as we hung up I had to go google “Athena poster” because I had NO idea what she was talking about!

As it turns out, she was referring to this image, which is apparently quite iconic in the UK where my friend hails from. In fact, in my small sampling of British women, about 75% said they actually had this poster in their bedrooms when they were teenagers!

We decided to shoot in my very modern BRIGHT and airy studio, so the feeling of our images is quite different than the original.  It’s hard to do dark and moody in a studio bathed in gorgeous natural light.  Incidentally, it’s also hard to take a real dad with his very own baby and tell him NOT TO SMILE at him!  See how the man in the poster is brooding (and the baby even looks a bit frightened?)  Well, as it turns out, dads rarely brood at their newborns (that comes a bit later!) but what they do do is light up with joy.  So we may not have recreated the exact mood of the original, I’m happy that what we did capture is the love and connection between this beautiful father/son duo.  See for yourself!

I even convinced mom to get in on the action – isn’t she stunning?

And, of course, being that I’m a family photographer, I couldn’t leave without capturing the whole family together..

That was a lot of images.. but can you blame me? It was hard to narrow down.  I’m so lucky to call these beautiful people my friends and look forward to many more shoots in the future!

It’s no secret that six months is my FAVORITE baby age. Well, not six months exactly – really as soon as baby starts sitting unsupported.  Baby who can sit up but can’t yet crawl, walk or run away? It’s the photography jackpot!

My girls just turned six months and aren’t reliably sitting unsupported enough to pose on a hard surface but a big fluffy bed is perfect.

Happy 6 months to my beautiful girls!

and two with Daddy: