Happy Halloween!

Get it, the dog's costume is a ghost, hence she is opaque?

Indian Summer

Every year in October, the weather turns chilly and I get excited for the beginning of autumn. I relish the crisp mornings with a steaming cup of coffee in my hand and the beautiful colors of the leaves on the trees as I drive down the streets of my town. I take a weekend to pull out all of the winter clothes that I packed away in the spring and sort through them to see what is still going to fit this year and what we should pass on to our friends whose children are coming up behind us.

Invariably, as soon as I am finished with the sorting and the stocking and the washing and the putting away, the weather turns warm again for a week or so. Shorts and T-shirts, sleeveless dresses and sandals, where did I store those again? So back into the closet I go to find something for the kids to wear during this Indian Summer.

Last week was our last week of warm weather and I had a chance to photograph Little L in a very special outfit that was given to us by our dear friend the Herbalist. This is a vintage pinafore set from the 1940's that was salvaged from a home remodel. It has a little scene embroidered on it in black and white of a kitten and some yarn. I found this toadstool in Hobby Lobby and had to have it because I had pictured this scene months ago and I am so happy I was able to capture it before it was too late. Thank you, Indian Summer.

Baby got Boots

What is it about babies that they always are drawn to over sized boots? Elle keeps stealing G's and clomping 'round the house until she invariably trips and bonks that precious noggin on the floor. Silly monster.

Bestill me heart

Little L, G and Little guy are watching home videos from when Little guy was a baby. Every time baby Little Guy says, "bye!" Little L responds with a wave and a smile "Bye, Bye!" Oh, they are so sweet!!

Better late...

Than never. This lovely lady was pregnant with her 6th child when I took this picture, and she was gracious enough to schlep all of her other 5 kids out wither her so I could work with them during a portfolio building session. When I got home I looked at all the amazing images and was so excited to get to work on them, certain that they were going to be stunning... Later, when I sat down to edit them, I realized that I had somehow accidentally deleted 98% of the files. I was so embarrassed and sad about the situation I could hardly stand it. I learned that I must immediately buy a stand alone memory drive and set it to automatically back up all of my files nightly, which I did.

I haven't had another instance of lost files int he two years since, but did finally edit some of the 2% that were left from this session. What a lovely mama - can you believe this was baby #6??

Juicy...

I can't believe this one is five months old already!! Gorgeous little man.

Bad to the bone...

When I was nine I had a best friend named Tanya. She was a smart girl, very friendly and funny, and she had brain cancer. She underwent chemotherapy and bone marrow transfers and almost survived - but didn't. So, when my kids were born, I did my best to get their cord blood donated so the stem cells could be used to help sick kids. And then, when I was in DC for a memorial for C.O.P.S. after my brother died a few years back and there was a National Marrow Donor Program truck outside the memorial area, I made sure to give them a swipe of spit and my contact info so that in the unlikely event I was a match for some sick kid, they could find me.

That was three years ago - today I got the e-mail that I might be a match. At first, I hesitated, knowing that marrow donation is painful and that I have a needle phobia. When I was in the hospital a few months ago for a migraine and they had to do a spinal tap to rule out a brain hemorrhage, I was all but hysterical.

Then I thought about the person who might need my marrow - how they are being stuck with way worse than just one needle, and how they could die - really die- without a transplant. So I bit the bullet and called the NMDP response line... now we wait.

Be the match.

Whoosh!

Last night I was laying down with Little L next to me, watching Top Chef and playing with her toes while she slept. I remember when I could fit both of her feet in the palm of my hand with room to spare, and now just one of them is almost too big to hold... her bitty little toes used to grip anything that they touched, and now they just stay relaxed when I play piggies with the chubby little buggers. I remember when Little Guy's found his toes for the first time, he was so surprised to find out they existed. And that made me remember when G was born, and how we used to have to take her in to get her labs done and they pricked her teensy newborn heel every day to check her biliruben levels because she was so jaundiced from being Coombs positive. I couldn't bear to go in with her when they were pricking her little heel, I just sat outside the room and cried until they gave that baby back to me, and then I clutched her to me for a long time before getting her settled back in her car seat for the trip back home. That was horrible.

One time, when G was about 6 weeks old, we were in the elevator at the pediatrician's office building. A lady got in with us and asked how old she was... after I told her that G was coming up on six weeks, and she told me, "Oh honey, it gets better." I remember thinking, but how could it get any better than this? I was tired, sure, but oh so happy. Now, almost seven years and three kids later, I still think that. It can't get any better than this. I just wish the days didn't go by so fast so I could appreciate it more.

If you come to my house enough...

I will shoot you. G's BFF stayed over last night, so of course I had to have her pose for some portraits. We grow them gorgeous here in the south, that's for sure.

Life's a beach!

I again had the pleasure of photographing Miss Marissa and her family while I was down in Naples last month. It was so much fun to see the kids again and see how much they have grown and changed since last year... they are an adorable and spirited bunch, for sure!