.:un bebe:.

In a conversation with my dear mother today she made it abundantly clear that she was sad that I had not posted for so long. I have folders on my desktop with beautiful photos of amazing people ready to be blogged but I keep getting distracted! So, this blog is for my mother. And, of course for Erica, Pablo, Lucas, and all of their dear friends and family who have been waiting so patiently for Lucas!

Pablo and Erica met many years ago in the mountains of Colorado--a place where both of them were foreigners. The Lord put the two of them together in a way and a time in which neither of them expected and they fell in love. Their whirlwind courtship ended in marriage less than a year after they met. Dear Erica, who was one of the few who wasn't learning Spanish in the group of girls we hung around, was an adament speaker of German. How like the Lord to send her of all persons a Latin man!

Pablo and Erica have now been married for almost two years now. They've left children up to the Lord and so were delighted after a year into their marriage when they found out that Erica was expecting. Baby Lucas Juan will most definitely be an evangelist with a name like his!

Funnily enough, Erica and I had been working on scheduling maternity photos for her for several weeks. After several schedule and weather conflicts we finally settled on last Tuesday afternoon for the photos but lo and behold, I got a message from Erica the morning of our scheduled photoshoot that she was in labor!

So instead of "baby bump" photos we now have Lucas himself at day 7! I had forgotten how precious newborns are. I love the feel of their skin and all of the new imperfections that surface so quickly! The little zits, the peeling skin, the red splotches... everything that makes new parents call their doctors in a panic asking if what they're seeing growing on their baby is indeed normal. I love their little fingernails and their tiny wrinkly toes. The way so many of their faces look like little gnomes with wisdom beyond their years.

It's safe to say that Erica and Pablo are getting used to this new schedule of no sleep. They decided after the first rough trimester with Lucas that they aren't so sure they want another one. (But just between you and me, we all know that they'll have another. Theresa, Erica's mother, promises she'll convince them. Lucas is way too precious not to win their hearts enough to prompt another little one!)

Thank you, Erica y Pablo for welcoming us into your home and letting us take pictures of this little bitty one! Thank you, Lucas, for inspiring me. You'll thank your parents some day when you're old that they let me take pictures of your little bitty body in the buff. And thank you, Lucas, for making me feel special by not peeing on me when your little diaper was removed.

Umbilical cords!

I know this photo is partially blown but there's something so magnificent about Lucas in this photo. I couldn't bring myself to deleting it. It's that stillness and solitude of a baby asleep that makes us believe for a moment that all is well in the world.

I love photographing Erica. She has this beautiful face that is so timeless. I've always thought she looked so classically beatiful but when she was cradling Lucas and fixing his tiny hands and the light was streaming in she looked so much like a photo of Madonna and child.

Proud Papa! Erica y Pablo han decedio que Pablo solo hablar con Lucas en Espanol para que Lucas puede hacer bilingual! (Pablo, como estaba mi espanol?)




We were all admiring how adorable Lucas was when Brian broke our sighs of admiration with, "He sure does look a lot like a rotisserie chicken." Thanks, Brian.

I will end this post with what Pablo may call "behind the scenes" photos. I would call them outtakes. When I told Pablo to kiss Lucas you'll see what he did first and then second. Then you'll see that Lucas takes his cues from his papa, even at seven days. Check out his face in the last one. = )






Don't you just love babies?

.:more babies!:.

As I've stated before, when I started doing photography I never thought I'd be shooting portraits. Weddings were it. Plain and simple. Easy. But then I had to start paying attention to arranging people at weddings (it's a lot harder than it looks!). Then people started asking me to do portraits. Needless to say, I wasn't quite sold. But baby pictures? No way! Then along came Gaige, who stole my heart and was SO easy.

Today we did Anderson. Brian and I lugged all our gear over to Allie's house to take photos of Anderson, who will turn 1 on Wednesday. Earlier this week, she said "Are you sure you can do mobile toddlers, cause he's mobile..." I chuckled inside, thinking she didn't know about my secret weapon: Brian (who can seemingly entertain and keep the attention of any human under the age of 10 when necessary). But when she said mobile, boy did she mean mobile. We did several different settings and I was terrified none of the pictures would turn out since as soon as we put him in a spot he raced off crawling! It was a funny madhouse as Allie, Brian, & I worked together to get something usable. It wasn't until the end that Allie remembered that she has a magical DVD/CD of Baby Praise songs that mesmerizes Anderson and keeps him still. She put it in and it was PHENOMENAL. Instantly he stopped moving and was fixed to the screen watching these strange images of babies and rabbits pop across the screen while "Here I am to Worship" was sung softly in the background. All in all, though, we got some GREAT pictures. He was a doll. So fun.

And Brian decided perhaps he wants to start a business where he babysits for wee little uns all day and photographs them in the meantime. We'll see...

.:baby sitting:.

Brian and I did our first overnight babysitting last night. We had Gaige, our sweet baby friend of whom we did our last portrait session. We couldn't resist setting up a makeshift baby studio to try out our new pseudo backdrop. He is the most delightful, even-tempered baby ever (except for his 3 a.m. bout in which Brian and I struggled to find out what was making him scream and then to make him stop screaming! We found out today we did the baby no-no by picking him up, he thought it was time to play again.)

Candace and Eric dropped him off in his cute little Mizzou jersey last night which was, of course, perfect for picture taking! I keep telling them he needs to be the next Gerber baby! (The first photo is a remnant of my unsuccessful attempt to make him a faux-hawk this morning...)

.:gaige:.

So tonight Brian and I went to take our first "baby" portraits for some friends of ours. We got to use some of the new lighting equipment both outdoors and indoors and try to get creative to make it look like a studio. He is the most adorable baby. I was rather pleased with the results. This one was my favorite.