Last night I found myself crying at this Target commercial.

Fact is, I’m a total wreck thinking about Grace turning 1 year old next month.  There is something about your last baby that you want to hold onto forever.  I found myself considering every piece of baby clothing as she outgrew it.  “Perhaps I should mount it like an artifact in a giant shadow box to preserve it for future generations!” 

It’s not just commercials, I’m feeling sentimental with every baby who visits the studio.  I’m remembering when I first held them or when mom was still expecting.  I’m even feeling sentimental about my own pregnancies, which if you know me, is a complete shocker.

It is no secret that I am not a happy pregnant person.  I thought I would be all earth-mother, glowing mom-to-be, but I was just unbearably sick, exhausted and a huge, broken-out version of my former self.  People always knew I was having girls.  That’s not a compliment btw.  Despite all of the discomfort, I’m now looking back on my pregnancy so fondly.  Dare I say, I think I’m experiencing a twinge of longing.

Since Grace’s Cakesmash is today, I thought I would use this Throwback Thursday to reminisce about how much has changed in one year.  Here are a few snapshots from the end of my pregnancy… most of which were taken by Mariah or Shaun.  These were all from the few weeks before we met our Grace.  I had to include one favorite from the hospital when Giuliana met her little sis for the first time.  Now I need to stop crying so I can go shoot this cakesmash!

Being inspired by all the fashion coverage these past weeks from Coachella festival!  Festival fashion is fun, free-sprited, and fearless! I combined festival fashion with one of my other favorite trend…neon!  I’d love to spend a day in the sun in this bright outfit!  The best part about festival fashion is that its over the top while keeping a laid back feel. So go ahead and put on a large stone necklace while rocking sandals and dance the day away! ~ Caroline

Skirt: H&M Skirt

Feather Earrings: Neon Pink Gold Glitter Dipped – Faux Leather Feather Earrings

Daisy Bracelet: Orelia Daisy bracelet set 

Marc by Marc Jacobs Pink Bracelet: Neon Pink Turn lock Charm Leather Bracelet

Sandals: MM6 Maison Martin Margiela

Crop Tank: Cream Floral Lace Swing Crop Top

Neon Handbag: Tory Burch Snake Cross Body Bag

Pink Necklace: Ombre Gradient Pink Neon Handpainted Vintage Rhinestone Necklace 

With the weather getting warmer this girl has already brought out the sandals!!  Theres nothing I love more than sandals.  They come in so many cool designs and colors; some are simple and sweet where others are beaded and covered in jewels!  They can make anyone look ultra cool walking down the street or soaking up the sun on the beach.  Here are some of my new favorite sandals I’ve been eyeing for this summer!  You can never go wrong with fringe! ~ Caroline

The denim trend has been very popular for the last few seasons now but no better time to stock up on the denim then for summer time!  My favorite denim looks are a cute denim button up shirt with white shorts, or try colored shorts.  If its still chilly out denim looks great with a pair of leggings and cute high boots.  Delia’s offer this nice medium toned denim button up while Ralph Lauren offers cool Native American graphics on the shoulder. I love the Ralph Lauren one, it’s my favorite! – Caroline

I went into my Pinterest account this morning, admittedly a bit neglected, and was completely overwhelmed by my lack of organization!  My boards were a mess: out of order, duplicate pins, repetitive topics, group boards, secret boards, business boards, personal boards… is your head spinning yet?  Mine was!

How is a girl to keep it all straight?  I decided to give things a little spring clean up.  For today’s Tuesday Tips I thought I would share the super easy way that I did it.  I’d love to hear from you if you have some great tips on Pinterest organization too.  Please help a girl out and comment below or share with me on facebook!

Here is how I got well on my way to cleaning up my Pinterest account:

First, I needed to get into my boards and label things appropriately.  Away with my oh-so-witty board titles like: “smile”  What the heck does that title tell me when I’m searching through dozens of pinboard names on the fly?  I also needed some broader categories to help differentiate my personal pins from my work pins.  So, I began changing titles.  All of my personal pins now have the heading My Life, for example: “My Life: Dress Me Up” or “My Life: Farmhouse Kitchen” or “My Life: DIY I’ll Probably Never Do”  All my session themes now begin with Themes. 

To access your boards, hover your mouse over your name in the top right corner of the screen and select “boards” from the drop down menu that appears.

To edit your board simply click “edit” at the bottom of the board.

Then you can change the title, who can pin, etc.  You can also add more searchable text into the description and give it a Category.  I haven’t gotten that far yet… baby steps.

After all of my boards were renamed, it was time to group them so that they are visually organized for me.  To rearrange the order of your boards, simply click the “rearrange boards” icon located just under your profile when you are viewing your boards.

Then you can simply drag and drop them so that all of your similar boards sharing the same headings and categories are grouped together.

The last step for me was “cleaning house” and deleting all of the little boards that only had a few pins in them.  For pins that I wanted to save, I went in and “repinned” them to broader categories.  Then, I trashed the whole board.  It was scary for my inner-hoarder, but I made it through and you can too!

Deleting can also be done by going into the edit feature of the specific board you want to delete.

I still have a whole lot of “spring cleaning” to do in my Pinterest Account, but now at least I don’t have a panic attack upon login!  Next step, picking pretty board covers, but that’s for another day.  Have some Pinterest tips to help me out?  Please leave them below!

Happy Pinning!

~ Heidi

If theres one thing I can’t live without it would be my poncho! I love ponchos because they are warm, convenient, and they have such a great boho beachy look. I keep one in my jeep so even when it gets a little chilly out I still look stylish! These two fashionable ponchos come from Billabong. They have plenty of fun fringe and I love the colorful bold horizontal stripes. Keep warm when the sun goes down in these fun fringed ponchos! – Caroline

Welcome to FAQ Friday, where we accept questions on our Facebook wall and select the 2 most popular questions to answer for you here! Let’s get started!

Here are our top three questions from this week, with 9 and 14 likes at the time of posting:

“I was wondering about your floors/wall/backdrops….I love the creams you guys are always using and was wondering if you have purchased these from somewhere if so where? Also do you have a favorite place you like to buy props from?” ~Amber

Mariah’s Answer: Hi, Amber! We got our beloved cream floor from Photo Prop Floors and Backdrops. A lot of our props we use are from yardsales, Etsy shops, and places like HomeGoods and Target. If something catches our eye or matches our branding, it joins the collection at the studio! For example, this highchair was sitting outside a little antique store while Heidi was driving by. She couldn’t pass it up, and we painted it turquoise and gave it a weathered finish at the studio!

“What do you do when you have a little one that is just on the move and all of your tricks don’t work?!” ~Kari

Hi Kari!  I’ve learned that after they hit their first birthday, and until about their 3rd birthday, they are in the “NO” zone.  That means they are likely to say “no” to just about any idea we have when they know everyone is watching and wants them to behave in a certain way.  When they make up their mind that they want to do, or not do, a certain thing, trying to go against that will just waste your energy.  Instead, I try to look at what they want to do and find a way to create a beautiful portrait out of it.  For example, if they want to run, I clear the space and let them run, dance, jump, race… and I snap away.  A few minutes later they have forgotten they are getting their picture taken.  Once they see me as a playmate rather than a grownup, they will be more likely to get into my sets and play.  And, if they still want to wander around the studio, I just follow their lead.  In the end, parents want beautiful portraits of their children being themselves and being happy.  If my best laid plans for the session don’t work with that, we scrap it!

“How do you manage your newborn and toddler sessions to ensure you get the most shots from each of them within a particular timescale? Do you have poses that you always start with or a workflow for your photoshoot sessions?” ~Nicky

Hi Nicky!  When I’m photographing toddlers with newborns, which we do often here, I always do the family portraits before the individual newborn portraits.  Toddlers have a very short attention span so I try to get all of their images taken first.  Then, they are free to play and have a snack while I focus on the newborn.  Depending on the age of the toddler and the parents’ requests, I usually have certain poses in mind.  Older siblings between 1-2 years old do not take a great deal of direction, can’t hold a newborn yet, and are unpredictable in their reaction to the new baby.  For that reason, I keep everything light and fun with this age, making games out of all of our poses and just trying to get them close to the baby.  I’ll often pose the newborn and then try to bring the older sibling into the portrait.  For older toddlers and children I try more advanced poses where they are laying with or holding their new sibling.  I always keep mom and dad with their hands nearby for the safety of the newborn.  I would much rather photoshop out a supporting hand so that we can keep baby safe and comfortable!  The family portion takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and then we do all of the classic newborn photography.

Check out all of our FAQ Fridays!

We also do workshops now! Check them out here!

Many find the thought of pulling off an entire sleepy newborn session with a room full of people, kids jumping around the bean bag and parents trying to keep everyone happy on 2 hours of sleep a bit overwhelming!  Our quiet newborn sessions used to focus on only the newborn for just that reason.  Then, I photographed this session.  Mom expressed to me before our session that she really wanted to capture the full family.  She was willing to pay two session fees!  Well, that wasn’t necessary, I was up for the challenge.  I loved every moment.  It was one of my favorite sessions I’ve ever photographed and still is to this day.  This session made me see how beautiful and meaningful it can be to capture a family welcoming a newborn baby.  When I had my daughter Grace almost two years later, I ended up wanting to capture family and sibling photos even more than I wanted fancy newborn poses and props.  When I look back at the photos of Grace as a newborn (a time already a bit faded in my memory), the images of Giuliana staring down at her in awe are the ones that still bring tears to my eyes.  So now, at our studio, we offer two different types of newborn sessions.  You can choose a Newborn Session that focuses on your darling bundle of joy in all of their perfect sleepiness or you can opt for a Newborn and Family Session that captures those sweet sleepy poses in addition to all of the love showered on baby by their welcoming family and older siblings.  Newborn and Family Sessions are even more beautiful taken in your own home if you prefer to have us come to you!

This Throwback Thursday I wanted to share with you some favorite images from this gorgeous family newborn session taken in 2011 so that you can see the beauty in getting the whole family involved.  ~ Heidi

There is nothing I love more than warm weather!  Even with all the snow continuing to pile up, I’m looking forward to throwing on this beautiful floral dress designed by QSW.  The Avalon dress is one of the newest pieces featured in their 2013 spring line.  Keep an eye out because floral prints will be blooming everywhere soon enough!  Check out the rest of Quiksilver Women’s line here!  ~Caroline

Our first baby girl was a bit of a surprise for Shaun and I.  We were a few months married and just 26 years old when we found out we were about to become parents.  Most of my girlfriends are just now getting married and starting their families.  I am overjoyed to watch them become mothers for the first time and sentimental thinking back on those first few days of motherhood.  There are some things in life that must be felt to be understood.  There is nothing in the world like holding your firstborn child.  Awe over the miracle of new life and creation envelopes your long nights and foggy days.  You feel at once completely extraordinary for bringing this new life into the world, and yet strangely connected to every other woman and all of humanity.  Every quiet moment, every tiny detail, every rise and fall of your newborn’s tiny chest is momentous.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  I wish I could relive every teeny tiny newborn breath.  And I wish for everyone I know to know that joy.  Every mother does.

I was so thrilled to visit two of our college friends 2 weekends ago and meet their new baby boy.  As you can see, he is quite adorable.  I couldn’t wait to hold him, but I was also excited to be able to capture a few mementos of this time for their family.  Mom took all of my advice and worked hard so we could get a few sleepy shots while I was there.  I brought along my camera, one blanket, and a handful of hats.  We got baby T down to his birthday suit and took a few pics around the house.  It took all of 15 minutes!  You can even see my makeshift set up below.  Beautiful newborn photography can happen anywhere.  The beauty is found when you focus on the simplest of things… love

I hope you enjoy these portraits J and D.  Congratulations!

And here is a little behind-the-scenes for ya   See, it really can happen anywhere!