Visit my business website for more info about Indianapolis Wedding and Family Photography

Welcome to my blog! You'll find my life, both professional and personal, documented here in the form of photographs and short quippy paragraphs.

Leave me some love in the form of a comment. Cheers!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

A little something different.

I was asked to photograph my friend Kat's band, The Whipstitch Sallies. It turned out to be loads of fun, and I couldn't help but to post a few of my favorites.

He now has two of them missing.

Don't worry, though. My kids are sort of like sharks. Before they lose the first row, there is already a second row of teeth above the gums to take their place.



Hey Norah, you are nine months old!

I took a much needed break from photographing in December. Since baby number five is on it's way, it's a good time to reconsider how often I schedule photo sessions. I like photographing families, but it's become clear to me that I need to scale this portion of my business back. One or two a week is just too many and has left me with no time to photograph anything else (including my own children). I'm thinking one or two a month is a better idea. Hoping this will allow me time to photograph my neighborhood, my kids, a couple seniors, some weddings, and hopefully a home birth or two.
That being said, I'm so happy to photograph this girl any old time. We always have such sweet, relaxing sessions. And her eyes are just so big.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Happy Christmas Everyone!






If you want to know the sex of our baby, look in this envelope.

A couple of weeks ago, we got a chance to see our baby via ultrasound. All looks well. The baby was wiggling, flipping, and covering it's face. The ultrasound tech kept saying that it was a little thing. I was trying to decipher the entire time if that meant the baby was too small, but at the end, all the measurements read 17 weeks 2 days which was right on. Baby looks to have plenty of fluid, a three vessel cord, a four chamber heart, and fully formed spine and brain. The placenta is high and in the back. All suggests that baby is healthy which most likely means we won't have another opportunity to see the baby before he or she is delivered in May.
We had the tech write the sex down and put it in this envelope. My family has looked. Stephen's family has opted to wait. Some friends have been eager to look, and many are afraid they'll spill the beans. I've been carrying this envelope around in my purse so if you see me, and you would like to know, just ask.
If you find this whole thing silly, we've achieved our goal. We've found out before. We've been surprised. We've had girls. We've had boys. This approach is new and fun and devoid of seriousness. We know there is a good chance someone will slip. In fact, I feel like the ultrasound tech already did. It doesn't matter. I'm just trying to enjoy this sweet and fleeting time. The baby will have all that it needs and will be wholeheartedly loved no matter the sex.

Friday, December 14, 2012

So glad to be taking pictures for myself again.

So I was complaining the other day to my friend Julia that my house gets so little light.  The house sits just a few feet away from each house on either side which prevents very much sun from streaming through our side windows.  So even though our kitchen (which was added on at some point in our house's history) is freezing cold during the winter, I look forward to being greeted by the sunshine coming through our back windows.  I took the blinds down awhile ago and hung these in the windows for the winter.  
What's even more wonderful is when I turn the corner in our kitchen to get to our scary cellar I'm greeted by this shadow.  
The sun streaming through the window also showed me that this plastic fruit bowl on our table has a pattern on it.  Who knew?  Well, I like looking at it as I'm cutting peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apples for two of my favorite toddlers.


What do you get when you cross the words elephant and advent?

Friday, December 7, 2012

Faith Comes Softly

I went up the stairs to turn the lights off at bedtime yesterday.  I was in a hurry because our home group was waiting downstairs.  Let's be honest, I'm usually in a hurry because by 8:30 I'm lacking patience and mommy energy.  As I was turning out the light, I said "Mommy loves you and Jesus loves you."  Julian surprised me with this.  He said, "Hey mom, I already prayed on my own.  I asked Jesus to come into my heart and now I have the Holy Spirit with me always."
This was super out of the blue.  D'arcy is happy to drink the Kool-aid, but Julian is a little slower and a little more skeptical.  I think our last conversation about God went something like this, "Hey mom, If Gabe is going to heaven because he believes in Jesus then I'll believe in Jesus so I can be with Gabe."
All I can do as a parent is share my faith and how important it is to my life, and, of course, to live it.  My hope is that the God that I believe is alive will capture and permeate the hearts of my kids.  This process cannot be forced.  It was so meaningful that he decided to bring this up on his own.  

Julian's mom (tap tap tap), is Santa real?

Our official position is this: Our kids do not get gifts from Santa, but I don't mind them enjoying the jolly old man.  That's why you may have seen the picture of Maggie sitting on Santa's lap at the Fletcher Place Holiday Kid's party.  She jumped right on his lap, put her little hand on her chest, and said, "I'm Maggie."  Our kids also received letters from Santa directly from North Pole, AL today thanks to my friend Melissa in San Antonio.  My little ones ripped theirs open and enjoyed having me read them.
Stephen is always eager to remind them that the "Corporate Demon" is in fact a figment of imagination, and I'm always encouraging them to enjoy and believe in him if they want.  We BOTH encourage them to NOT destroy other little children's dreams and declare Santa isn't real.  Julian hasn't been listening to that advice.  Yesterday, I was working at the school's book fair.  Once I was finished, I headed to Julian's classroom to pick him up.  Julian was excited to see me and dragged me over to help him pick up the blocks he and a few other boys had been playing with at the end of the day.  One of the little boys tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was Julian's mom.  He then proceeded to say, "Well, Julian told me something while we were at our desks today."  This little boy's lip begins to quiver.  "He told me that Santa wasn't real (Julian says behind me "He isn't!") , and I need to ask you if he was right?"
I asked him if he believed and if Santa brought him presents. "Yes."  Then I told him not to worry about what silly Julian says.  He seemed relieved.  I'm wondering if I need to send an apology to all the parents in his class.
Last year, I blogged about why I can't pull Santa off even if I wanted to.  Queue (or is it cue?) 2012 example.  I pulled from the attic a Dora doll complete with her baby brother and sister.  D'arcy received this doll the year she became a big sister, and I put it up in the attic until Maggie was old enough to enjoy it.  I shoved the bag it was in into my locker until I could take it upstairs.  Maggie must have been attempting to pull out some of my shoes to wear when she happened upon the bag.  She  excitedly came into the living room exclaiming that she had found "her babies!"   I grabbed them, and put them back up in the locker and she had a bit of a meltdown.  We worked through it, and I thought all was well until naptime.  I told her to grab her baby to take with her to bed.  She ran to my locker, pointed up to the top shelf, and told me her babies were up there.  Sigh.  At least I know she'll like it.