Place your bets.

Are you aware that I'm now 18 weeks pregnant? HOLY COW. Baby squiggles and wiggles and jiggles inside me. Loving the movement. And I'm feeling quite the huge. Someday (hopefully this week) I'll have someone snap some pictures of the belly and then you can all, "whoa!" with delight.

In the meantime, we have an all important ultrasound on Thursday morning. You know the one where they check for parts? That one. We aren't good with secrets and I enjoy being prepared. So, we'll be poking/prodding our child into submission and peeking between the legs.

The current kid ratio at our house is 2:1, girls:boys. We honestly have no feelings either way and will be totally thrilled regardless.

So, whatchya think?

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A matter of perspective.

A conversation with my newly minted 4 year old really opened my eyes. I thought I'd share.

Anna (out of nowhere): Mom, Why did Ariel's dad get really angry and break all the stuff in her water house? That wasn't very nice.

Me: Well, I think it was because she was disobedient. She did something he told her not to do. Doesn't that happen at our house sometimes? When I ask you not to jump on my bed, and you do it anyway? Do I get angry?

Anna: (nodding vigorously) Yes!

Me: See, Ariel's dad told her to never go to the surface again, and she broke the rules, didn't she? She went up to the surface, right?

Anna: Yes. So, her daddy got angry like you.

Me: Yes, exactly. If only she had been obedient...

And then in my mind, I played out the situation. If Ariel had been obedient, she'd probably have married some nice merman. And lived happily ever after with their mer-children and a successful music career. Not the fairy-tale but certainly a respectable choice! And yet she didn't. And she learned nothing! Because in the end, Tritan rescued her! And she got her Price Eric. Who, in my mind, probably started cheating on her a couple months after the wedding.

Psht. No rescuing for my kids! At least... I'm gonna try not to.

What made me really laugh about this exchange with my sweet girl, was that probably as few as 10 years ago, I could only see Ariel's point of view. Controlling father, unfair demands, etc. And now, as a parent... well, frankly, I don't think I want The Little Mermaid playing in my house anymore.

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Just can't get enough...

I must be pregnant, because these newborn images are making me all weepy!

Just sharing a couple more. And for those who asked, Aeris is exactly 2 weeks old in these pictures.
I used some of my more interesting conversions on some of these. I'm loving a more chocolately black and white lately. I just love the warmth I feel it adds.

And a nice color one. Wee girl is struggling with Jaundice, but was looking good at our shoot!

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Rhymes with Paris.

Sweet, sweet baby girl that I had the joy of photographing today. She did the appropriate thing and peed on dad.

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Sweaty palms, heart aflutter.

Bank account empty.

This is on it's way to me.

Sweet lovely megapixels Batman!

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obvious halloween title.

So, this year, knowing I would be way too tired to attempt anything so silly as making the kids' costumes, I put it off until last week.

Fortunately, Anna wanted to be a ballerina... the only thing I purchased were the shoes.
Miles, on the other hand. Well, the kid is just so stinking silly. So, he needed an equally silly costume. Thank you Target.
And yes, I'm definitely sending this over to Amy Karol.

And finally, Abbie. She was influenced by her dad. And therefore, he was put in charge of her costume. I wish I was kidding when I tell you he worked on the shell for 6 hours. But it could have been longer. I believe he intends to do a blog post about it (when he emerges from crunch time).

P.S. I did make the hat... but not for this costume. For Matt.

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Revamp.

Over the next couple of months, I'll hopefully be totally revamping my site. Making it a little softer, a little sweeter, possibly adding music and some other fun changes.

One thing that's not changing: my pricing. Isn't that good news?

And in the meantime, I've added a slew of new images to my site. Most are from new sessions, but a bunch are new images from older sessions that I've rediscovered and fallen in love with all over again. Go check it out. See if you can find you, or your kids!
(If you can't, it's not because I don't love you! And I'll be adding more! So keep an eye out!)
I've also added a new gallery for Interactions. Basically, my favorite part of my sessions are when I get to capture real emotion... and most often, that happens when the people I'm photographing aren't really paying attention to me.

I'll also be adding a fun gallery called Products. I have a bunch of wonderful products that I offer that I think people have a hard time wrapping their minds around. So, I'll be showing off some pictures of canvases, storyboards, and some mini albums. Some other great stuff too.

In closing, fun stuff going on the website. Go check it out!

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