*sigh*

What a beautiful little man he is. Little Charlie lives all the way in Birmingham–we stopped on the way up to the mountains for our Mardi Gras vacay to sleep for a few hours and photograph this precious boy. Charlie is the tiny cousin of one of my dearest friends..so he’s practically family.

Thanks so much, R, for your incredible hospitality to our bevy of wild boys–what a little motley crue we are! I just adored Charlie and hope I get the chance to photograph him again very soon!

Wednesday was an awesome day around here. My good friend, Cathy Schneidenbach of Seven Gables Photography, in Rhode Island, flew in for a few days of QT with another photog and to attend an amazing workshop in Baton Rouge on Saturday. We did some wandering around the Big Easy, had an amazing lunch at Rambla (one of the restaurants that I design for), and the met up with some of my favorite girls for an amazing “rock the frock” session. The original plan called for us to be at St. Louis #1 Cemetery at the corner of St. Louis & Basin (where Marie Laveau is buried)–but when we pulled up they were locking the gates for the day. I almost cried. In the end, we stayed put and took advantage of the amazing 300 year old brick and stucco gates that surround the cemetery. We had a blast! I’m so glad that the girls made the trek across the lake to be photographed.

Yes, my children officially suffer from PCS (Photographer’s Child Syndrome). Isn’t this the silliest picture ever? Maybe no one else will think it’s as funny as do. But the funny thing is..my kids now have a “fake” smile. They did not learn this from me. I’ll blame it on daycare. You will never hear me say “cheese” to then. But, somehow, they learned.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend with your loved ones!

*sigh*

I can’t believe this baby is already a week old. Amazing.

Kolt is the first baby I am getting to photograph in totally natural light in his own home. No flashes. No studio lights. In his environment. Isn’t that great!? I’m so in love with natural light photography and really want to continue to take my business in this direction. Not that there isn’t something to be said about my more traditional “black on black” newborn photography–it will always be classic and dramatic. But, this. This is…extraordinary. And isn’t that what I’m going for? No one around here has ever seen anything like this.

I just love this baby so much. I love my friends’ children as my own–and think I have a pretty special relationship with them. But, K is my first close friend to actually have a child while we are friends. All of my other friends with kids–they had kids before our relationships. It has been amazing to be on this journey with her. I have really treasured it.

Gawd, don’t you just want to eat him up!?

Austin comes up with endless ways to entertain me. One of my favorite things about him at this age are all the little quirky phrases, words, etc. he either mispronounces, misuses, or just invents. I remember my goddaughter at this age–she would say “baby” instead of “maybe” or “offer” instead of “flower.” I guess it’s pretty common, but I just love all of Austin’s funny things.

1. Anything he asks for, he wants it “biggie, biggie.” Sometimes even “biggie, biggie, biggie.” This means he wants his sippy cup as full as it can possibly be. Or his pile of ketchup on his plate to be towering.

2. He wants his clothes to be “clean-washed.” And he will smell them to ensure freshness.

3. He can “dude” anything by himself. Stop, Momma! I can dude it myself.

4. He calls his brother, “son.” As in, “Get over here, son.” Ridiculous.

5. Tickle= tickie, tickie

6. Clip my ‘ingernails.

7. I grow big, Momma.

8. plain=plane. i.e. “Do you want plain milk or chockey milk?” “Airplane milk, please. ” “Let’s not wear that plain t-shirt. It’s boring.” “I want to wear this airplane shirt, Momma.” Damn homophones.