I like when newborn babies sleep so that I can pose them all curled up, but James was pretty much wide awake the whole time I was there.  It was no problem though….just look at those baby blues!  I wouldn’t want to miss out on those.

Here are some details of his perfect nursery.  The “d” is the first letter of his last name, in case you’re wondering.

He really didn’t cry much.  A little cuddling and being fed was all he needed.This one melts me.  I love his smushed little face and you can see the tension in his forehead as he fights against sleep.Yep, we stripped him down and put him in a drawer.  Gotta love it.I think this is my favorite.  Father and son.Check out the gorgeous new family!

James is so adorable and is of course the center of attention as you can see below.  He has such alert, inquisitive looking eyes for just being a little over 3 weeks old. Congrats to Matt and Alyson!

Nicholas spent a good chunk of time sitting on his great-grandpa’s riding mower.  I think Jen is trying to convince him to come eat something but he was not giving up his throne.

Here is Nicholas’s “GiGi” dipping his toes in the baby pool. A very brief moment of shyness as new guests arrived before he was off running again…I caught some of the adults looking a bit drained by the heat.  I was one of them! Cake time!  This looks like some sort of ritual or like they’re trying to hide the cake, but really they’re just trying to keep the candle from blowing out while everyone is singing. Check out the killer Mickey Mouse cake that Jen made! This was a cute moment while opening gifts.  I watched as Nicholas opened the card and turned it around so that it was right-side-up.  I don’t imagine he could read it, but he certainly knew which way was up. This lawn mower from his parents was definitely Nicholas’s favorite gift of the day.  Now he can follow daddy around as all little boys should. Just one little tantrum before I left for the day.  Every birthday boy deserves at least one, right? He still had plenty of hugs and kisses for mommy.

See the post below for a few comparison shots of Nicholas through the years.

Aren’t they adorable?

Kate and Andrew were both naturals in front of the camera.  I think having each other is what makes it easy for them. We found this cute little table with flowers on it while wandering the streets.  The sun made them glow! Shooting into the sun can create some fun flare effects.  It also blinds me, but I’m willing to take one for the team.More from these two in August!

Here she is playing peek-a-boo with me using the bathroom door.  Every time she’d open the door, I’d snap a pic!

I know it hasn’t even been very long, but B already has a new baby brother!   Here he is at just two months old. He was such a trooper…didn’t complain one bit when I stripped him down for this photo. Check out those baby blues!

See, he prefers nakedness over an argyle sweater vest!

B gettin’ serious….and very, very close to me.  I think maybe she could see herself reflected in the lens.

I’ll let little ones look at the photos I take on the LCD to get them excited to be photographed, but sometimes that can backfire and all they want to do is play with my camera!  B is actually the one clicking the shutter in this photo. I aimed at the mirrored closet door to get a shot of us together.I thought this was so cute.  You can see an old photo I took of B on the computer behind her. Same serious look.

Getting a photo of the brother and sister together wasn’t really coming together as 2 year-olds aren’t too keen on being told what to do. I did get B lying down next to her brother outside for a few seconds though.

I love the light here as I was following B around the backyard.  She was on the move constantly and a very busy little girl.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, grandmoms, and mom-like mentors out there!  I had a very nice lunch with my own Mom today and appreciate every moment I have with her.  I love you, mom!

We met up at Savage Mill this past weekend. The weather was beyond perfect the whole weekend.  I had this fun portrait session on Saturday and then a relaxing Easter on Sunday with my family. Springtime is officially here thankfully.

I love this shot of the trio walking and took a similar shot when J was 16 months old.

Yay, everybody is looking!  Mr. Energy is not quite ready to sit still for a photo, but I was able to catch this by playing peek-a-boo from behind a tree.

This is when Julian spotted a tractor across the street which is one of the many words he can say very clearly. Tractor!  Shoe!  Mommy!  No!

Here is the always-lovely Julia showing off her 5-month belly and sassy green espadrilles (shoes!).I tried to convince Julian to get in the photo with his mommy, but instead he chose to imitate her pose on the other side of the bridge.  Too cute.

I got a lot of shots like this.  Julian would run right to me as I squatted on the ground. It felt like he was going to mow me down, but he knew better than to do that!I love their expressions here.  So happy and silly!

Carlos always likes to get a shot of me with Julian so I entrusted him with my camera and heavy 70-200 lens for this.  The black bag hanging off my belt in the back is the case for that lens…that should give you an idea of how big it is.

Okay, I challenge any parents of toddlers to identify what song Julian is acting out here.  Hint: It’s from a popular kid’s TV show and involves a chair.

Daddy loves that song, too.  Sorta.

Julian is a dancin’ fool….Carlos can play a song from his iPhone and J just lights up and starts gettin’ down.

There will be more to come from this family on my blog….guaranteed!

Moving on….it seems appropriate that my first post on my new site is featuring little man Jack considering that he was the star of my first real blog post back in 2007.  He was on here again at 8 months old and then 1 year.  Not only is Jack back here again at 2.5 years old, but he has been joined by little sis, Anika!

I had such a nice time last weekend hanging out with this wonderful family again.  I was excited to meet Jack’s grandparents who were in town for the weekend for Vicki’s birthday.  Jack was so cute with his “Pa”…pulling his mustache, giggling, and snuggling up on the couch with him.

Here she is….sweetie-pie drool-monster Ani:
This is Jack’s piggy face.  I’ve seen this before at past sessions…he’s an old pro now. Gettin’ serious with mommy: This was so cute.  Jack’s grandpa made a pretend “ouch” sound when Jack pulled his mustache and Jack thought he had really hurt him and started crying. Silly tears: I always love the family pics that capture the chaos….that’s real life. Vicki took this one with my camera.  I love these kids!

Oh, the drama! The smiley pic of him by the tree that I put in the first post was taken about 10 seconds after this one.

Here’s pretty Julia unsuccessfully trying to slow him down for a second.

I love the funny shots that can come out of an attempt to do a serious photo.

Here are a couple quiet moments.

This is one of my favorites. He looks wise beyond his years.

Teddy bear!

Happy Holidays to all!!!

It would be a shame to put up a blog entry without any photos, so here are a few more pics from Chase’s Halloween Bday party at the Woodholme Country Club in Pikesville.

Chase is one chill little man:

I wish I could say that I got him to make this face, but it was actually his Grandma who I asked to stand right behind me.

Killer cake:

This is one of Chase’s buddies.  I just adore how his one eye is peeking out!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving next week!!

Hopefully you will encounter many cuties like this today -

And NOT so many like this big gorilla -

Haha…even this little guy wasn’t fooled for a second and knew his daddy was in there.  Thanks for inviting me to take some photos at your super duper Halloween birthday party today, Chase!