This birth goes down in the record books.  From the time we go to the hospital till delivery was 18 minutes.  No, that is not a typo.  It was amazing.  There are only seven or so pictures from prior to the birth because it went that fast.

Dana & Jessica – thank you for allowing me to document Gavin’s first few hours of life.  He is so precious:)

♥ Heather

Take a peak at Gavin!!!  (everything is very tasteful:) )

I am remember very vividly the first time I met Bianca (Eloise’s mommy).  My husband and I were considering moving to the DC area from Columbus, Ohio for the PhD program in Criminology at the University of Maryland.  When we originally got the offer from Maryland it seemed too good to be true.  So, we took a little trip to tour the campus and “interview” some professors and students about the program.  We wanted to see it and feel it before we made such a major move.  The Chair of Graduate Studies ( I think I got that title right:) ) made us six appointments that day.  One of those appointments was with Bianca.  After multiple meetings already we walked into the all white conference room and met Bianca.  She was such a bright smiling face in the midst of so much uncertainty.  We had such a great visit with her and she told us the good and the bad of the program.  Both Brandon and I felt like she was so real with us.  It was so refreshing.  She didn’t care what funding level my husband had been offered or for how long.  She cared about us as people.  The thing that won me over is that she cared for us, not just Brandon.  She recognized that it is a hard move for the spouse as well.  I was won over:)  When we left Bianca to meet with Brandon’s future advisor I remember recalling to Brandon that if all people in the program were like Bianca then we could do this:)

Throughout the first three years of the program I have been able to get together with Bianca for dinner and girl time.  One night after a great dinner at Ella’s Wood Fired Grill, I came home and told Brandon that Bianca was pregnant.  She had not told me but I just knew.  Sure enough, a few weeks later she made the announcement:)  Both Brandon and I could not be happier for she & Nathan.  The beautiful baby girl, Eloise, is the result.

Bianca just graduated with her PhD (YAY!!!!!!) and will be headed to the the University of Massachusetts.  As I type this the movers are packing up their house and they will be heading out.

Bianca, Nathan, & Eloise – I had such a great time photographing your family.  We will miss having you around the help bring some reality to the UMD PhD Crim program.  You will be missed:)  Hope you enjoy the pics of your sweet family.

♥ Heather

Before the photo shoot started I was warned that the moment the camera came out Eloise would become very serious.  I think I heard a challenge in there.  Well I had some back up arsenal in the form of my husband:)  He is amazing with kids and can totally make them laugh and smile.  I think I won the challenge, but what do you think?

I LOVE watching first time parents with their first born.  It is such a special connection.

Seriously, does it get any cuter????  I won:)

If you have been a regular reader of my blog you know that I love baby feet:)  You will probably see baby feet from every baby session I do because I love them that much.  It is my blog though so I think I am allowed:)

Do we have a future Criminologist here? (the bars, get it?:) )

We ended the shoot with just a couple of Bianca & Nathan.  At this point it had gotten to be pretty hot and sticky, but we had to get a couple of the two of them.

A couple of weeks ago I was able to help capture a milestone for Tom and his sweetie Yardley.  A little before the party started I got a few minutes with the two of them for a few images.  I know that they are anxiously awaiting these pics so lets jump straight to the pics:)

Tom & Yardley – Thanks for inviting me in!  Hope that your 40th year is amazing Tom:)

♥ Heather

One of the benefits (also downside sometimes) of working from home is that I can rotate out laundry while I am working.  On days where I am on a roll I just dump all the loads on my bed and then fold it all at once later in the day.  This afternoon I walked into my bedroom to find my cat Pyper (11 yrs old) curled up in a large pile of sheets and towels.  Kinda defeats the purpose of washing them, but he was so darn cute!!  If  you notice in the below pic, he wasn’t just laying on top of the pile.  He had buried himself and made sure he was covered up (he loves this!).  I couldn’t resist taking a few pics.

Once I had the camera out I had to make sure I got some pics of my other kiddos.  Below is my other kitty, Promise (8 yrs old).  She is now the middle “child” and keeps to herslef a little more these days.  Although if I am watching TV she is always next to me on the couch:)

Last, but not least, is my youngest “child” Bella.  Can you believe how big she has gotten???  She is now 9 months old and weighs just shy of 80 pounds!  Lately we have been going to the local dog park a lot.  She loves all the other dogs and tires herself out big time (which I love)!

This couple is amazing.  I have been friends with them for almost three years now after meeting them at our church, DC Metro.    Some of you might remember them from this shoot that we did almost a year ago.  It has been such a joy to watch this couple prepare for this little one’s birth.  They have such a deep, deep love for her already and it shows in everything they do.  They have personally challenged me very much as well.  As a family, they have taken huge steps of faith that although might not make sense to the people around them, they followed God.  They trust that while this pregnancy caught them by surprise a little, they knew full well that God had a plan.  They have been blessed so many times over because of walking in faith that God has got their back.

Ray & Summer – Thank you for being an example to so many others around you.  You have amazing hearts and I know that this little girl will be so blessed to call you Daddy & Mommy.  I can not wait to meet her (& find out the secret name:) ).

♥ Heather

Ray’s only request with the maternity pictures was that some of the pictures reflect where they currently live.  As most people in the DC area they do not expect to live here their entire life so he really wanted to remember this time in the nation’s capitol.  So, we started at the Lincoln Memorial.

Memorial bridge in the background…

Doesn’t Summer look amazing???

Almost exactly a year ago we took this image……

So I thought it would be fun to take a similar one now!  Oh how a year can change your life…

Then it was off to the Capitol….and I promise that the sky did really look like that!

At this point we were all so hungry that we forgot to get any bare belly shots.  Summer really had wanted some, so we met up the other night to make sure to capture the belly before she delivers (she is due 7/5/10).  When we were talking I had a vision of what I wanted.  So I asked Summer if she was up for and thankfully she was.  I can not even begin to express how happy I am with these images.  As I was processing them today tears started rolling down my cheeks before I even realized it.  For an artist, to create something that moves you like that is priceless.  Thank you Summer – you are truely beautiful.

Just taking a moment out from processing an amazing maternity shoot to share an image that I grabbed while on that shoot.  I have now lived in the DC area for almost 3 years (wow time flies!!!) and I am not sure if I will ever get used to seeing our nations monuments on a regular basis.  When I started shooting professionally so many years ago now I never imagined that I would be doing a maternity or wedding photos on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a baby shoot at the Jefferson Memorial, and so many more.  Will I ever get used to seeing these landmarks???  I hope not.  When I see them I think of my dad (who passed away a few years ago from cancer) and how he and so many other have served our country.  I want to remember that it is by God’s grace that I was born into this country of freedom.  So I hope that they still make me pause when I see them….

Well, I got zonked!  A few weeks ago I was up way late (another trend these days) working on my new website (yay!!) and something literally took over my computer.  I could not do anything and I truly mean that.  Of course I started freaking out and my hubby started trying to research the virus on his laptop.  The really crappy thing is that if you didn’t know any better you would have totally thought it was legit anti-virus software.  I have seen some that look fake but this did not look fake in the slightest.  Finally I just had to shut down my computer.  I sent a very desperate email from my husband’s computer to a friend from my church who has helped on other tech things.  A very long story short……the virus ate my operating system, had one main virus, 4 sub-viruses, was undetectable by any virus scanner,  and anytime it was connected to a network it re-downloaded everything.  Yeah it was nasty.  Thankfully though, I finally have my computer back and am starting to catch up:)  Also, I didn’t lose any pictures!!!  I make a habit of backing up once a week or so anyways on an external hard drive, but I hadn’t backed up for that week yet so I would have lost some stuff.  Thank you Jesus that my files could be saved!!!!

So, if you are waiting on a pics or an email; they are coming… I am catching up:)  Thanks for the extra dose of patience right now:)

Since a post is never as fun without a picture, take a look at this cutie from a couple of weeks ago.  She is a doll:)