I loved this little birthday girl and her gorgeous family!  S was so full of personality.  She loved crawling around the studio and was so proud of her new standing skills.  Mom and dad were up for anything and chatting with them made our shoot fly by.  We started our session with some sweet family portraits that I know they will love having with baby S while she’s still their little baby.  Then S stole the show!  From our simple classics in all white to our colorful cakesmash, this is going to be one huge gallery.  Enjoy your sneak peek!

Usually when I meet new people and tell them my profession, the first thing they say is “you must have so many beautiful photos of your daughter!”  Truth be told, I don’t.  The ones I do have however are cherished.  They are proudly hung in our home and they bring a smile to my face every. single. day.  With life moving so quickly I have to make a real effort to take portraits of my own family.  While I finally hired a portrait photographer to take our family portraits this summer (go me!), with G’s 3rd birthday already approaching I decided I had to schedule a shoot in my own calendar or she’d be in preschool (gasp!) before I got her back in front of my lens.

I’m so happy I did.

I am in love with this session.  I am in love with this girl.  These portraits are the first time I’ve looked at her face and the thought “my girl” replaced “my baby.”

Don’t get me wrong.  I was tired after shooting all day.  My wrist hurt from editing.  The enthusiasm for this set that I had while shopping had long since past and I’ll be really lucky if my body isn’t covered in poison ivy in 48 hours.  And let’s not forget that 6pm is not a toddler’s most stellar time of day by any means.  But I sit here looking at these images and I feel like I did the impossible.  I sit here mesmerized by them.  The thought “my girl” is replaced by “my angel.”  I captured something intangible.  And I feel it every time I look at them.  And I will forever.

And I’m so happy I did.

Have you ever heard the saying “the shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot”?  I always wonder how my family and friends must respond when they hear “You’re so lucky your “sister, daughter, friend” is a photographer.  You must have so many great photos!”  because sadly, none of us have a whole lot of photos taken by me.  This past year has been so busy that when I leave the studio, I generally leave my camera there too.  My right arm hurts, my memory cards are full, my batteries are charging, and I need a mental break and a nice glass of red wine.  If you ask my husband to see a photo of his daughter, he will proudly whip out his wallet and show you G’s 10 month photos.  She’s now 27 months.  You see what I’m saying?

My new years resolution this year was to take more photos of my own family.  I have taken some photos of G, but the raw files are still sitting in folders on various external hard drives, likely not to be touched until I retire and take up scrap booking.  With only a few months left in 2010, I’ve decided to renew my resolution and bring that camera out in my personal time.  Come to find out, it’s not so overwhelming when you set out to take one or two candids rather than a whole session.  In fact, it’s downright fun!  I had a blast chasing around my daughter, nieces and nephew (all ages 3 and under) this weekend to capture a few shots of them in their Halloween costumes.  Enjoy your preview family :0)

“In my life, as an artist, I will never create anything as beautiful as you already are…”
- Jesh de Rox

Oh her eyes, her eyes
Make the stars look like they’re not shining
Her hair, her hair
Falls perfectly without her trying

She’s so beautiful
And I tell her every day

She already has good taste.

It started a few weeks ago.  G’s second birthday was approaching and we decided we were going to go all out and get her a gorgeous redwood swingset for our yard.  She’s really into playgrounds these days so we were sure she would be thrilled.  The Walpole Woodworkers brochure was laying around the living room for weeks and we continually asked G if she was excited for the new playground.  Her reply EVERY time was “yes.  And Gu-ee-aana have birfday cake?”  Clearly she had priorities.  And of course the question “what do you want for your birthday” was always met with the same answer: “cake.”

On Thursday we had the swingset installed and after playing on it all evening, thoroughly exhausted, G stumbled inside and remembered something important was missing from her birthday surprise….. “Gu-ee-aaana have cake?”

We called our good friend and cupcake queen Kerri from Sweet Indulgence to make the cupcakes for the little party we were throwing G on Sunday.  When we asked Giuliana what flavor she wanted, she replied “how bout red velvet?”  She’s two.  She not only knows red velvet is a flavor, but she knows that’s the flavor she wants.  I love this girl.

Sunday afternoon rolls around and while G was napping we decorated the whole yard with ladybug balloons and red roses.  We thought G would be thrilled when she woke up!  Boy, were we wrong.  She was all dressed to head outside and she stopped dead in her tracks.  She wanted those balloons.  Inside.  I offered to bring one balloon inside for her and much to my dismay, this was how G felt about my offer:

“I WANT ALL OF THE BALLOONS INSIDE”  she declared as she banged her head on the floor.  Oh boy.  Welcome terrible twos.

Only one thing could save the day.  Cake.  Kerri’s cupcakes.  (Just voted RHODE ISLAND’S BEST by-the-way :0))  Kerri swung by before the party and as soon as she got out of the car, G perked right up.  She took one look at Kerri and said “I have cake!”  Kerri set up this awesome display and saved the day :0)

Giuliana turned out to be one happy birthday girl… and got to eat her cake too!

I’m about to head home for the weekend.  It will be one filled with a few  fun photo shoots followed by some time with my family celebrating mother’s day.  One of the best gifts a mother can receive is simply staring into the beautiful face of her children.  Soaking up all of the little details.  Last weekend after taking some product shots for Sweet Indulgence, I played around with the macro lens that was left on my camera and snapped some shots of G in the yard.  I finally peaked at a few of those shots today and had to share them.  They make my heart melt!  All I need on mother’s day is this little face smiling at me… or making some of the sassy faces you see below no doubt!  Couldn’t you eat her up?!  This post is also a gift to all of my moms who always tell me I need to post more photos of G!  Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

Baby L came to the studio on Friday but wasn’t feeling very well from his teeth :0(  Luckily he was so completely adorable that it didn’t matter one bit for his portraits!  We still got some great shots mom and dad!  Enjoy your preview!