william begging for kisses.  silly boy, she used her charm and irresistibility to steal your hat.  lesson #7 about pretty girls. they are all doing the perfect thing if you ask me! i LOVE THIS ↑okay this ↓ is my second choice  for which image to print and send back home to any aunts you have in england. my first choice would be the one just like this where finn has a whole bunch of tough finn attitude on his face.same age difference as my Briella and Bronx, just flip the boy/girl scenario.  so sweet to watch them together.  he is just as nurturing, protective and in love as Briella ismake it rain mum and dad!!!waiting patiently for their treats… not that she is rubbing it in…oh two can play the “deceive-you-with-sweet-charming-snuggles” game eh?wildman william. how cool is he?!
not in your hair little finney finn finn!
what else can i say? you guys are a blast.  thanks for the honor. xoxo

well…

yep! girl!  Meadow and i knew it all along, didn’t we Meds?  and Olive too, but she ain’t talkin  :)

   i had a some fun tonite looking back thru all her pics…watching her grown from a newborn to a little lady in just a few hundred clicks.

  i really can’t imagine a better sidekick for Meadow than a curly haired little Iris, or freckle faced Daisy, or can we have maybe a shy little Willow or Fern?

 
i’m excited for you big sister.  your new baby has some big sparkly shoes to fill  :)  i know you will teach her well.

***

oh and a little note, meadow let us keep the box in case anyone else wants to have a little fun.  just add balloons

who’s next?

do you forgive me jill?  it takes me almost as long to blog as it takes you to return texts!  :)  see what i did there, shifting the guilt to you?  i can’t imagine that you have your hands full or anything…

presenting the giles 5.  count em, five.  boys.  ”five boys?!” {i’m guessing that’s the raised eyebrow rhetorical question jill hears, oh every.day.of.her.life}if you are wondering how to get 5 boys to sit still for pictures, the answer is:  you don’t.  :)  but if you really want to try these things are helpful

a} one island they can’t escape from

b} one very hilarious mama

c} one dramatic dance to a sir mix a lot song that will remain unnamed.  is there more than one sir mix a lot song??

am i the only one impressed by the variety in this gang?  they have a blonde, a straight haired, a curly…  for having one boy after another, they aren’t lacking in uniqueness.  how fun.and this is baby Davis Giles.  i like to think she named him after me.  technically she didn’t know i existed until after he was born… but even if she had, there’s a chance that even considering all my flaws she may not have crossed that off her list and still named him Davis because it’s such a great name.  that’s pretty much the same thing.   handsome brood of young men you have there jill.  thanks for sharing them, and for your expertise.  i’ve put you at the top of my list to call in case of boy emergencies around here.   it’s all new to me, but i have a hunch that anything Bronx can cook up to raise my blood pressure will be old hat to you.  looking forward to our next session, and seeing how much my namesake has grown

“i want to be the kind of mom you are”

it came out of nowhere and

i’m quite confident that i’ve never received a higher compliment.

of course i have to push back and tell you that i was letting my kids have cereal for dinner as i received that text.  but then maybe that illustrates her point?  i’m not sure what kind of mom heather thinks i am, but i can tell you what i think.  i’m quite imperfect, and light years from the organized mother of the year type.  not what i would consider a role model, which by the way feels like a lot of pressure and undeserved admiration.  but it did make me stop and think.  the things that impress me most when i watch heather with hadley, are the things that i do purposefully strive to be as a mom.

i try to let my girls get messy and enjoy the smiles that come from eating half a pack of peeps in a white dress before a proper lunch.

i try to do lots of fun new things and make memories and take lots of pictures so that they and i have a hope of actually remembering them in spite of our pathetic short and long term memories.

i try to teach them to give love, and just as importantly, to receive love.

i try to be sarcastic with them because frankly, a child with a sense of humor is just so much cooler than a child without.

i try to remind them that there’s nothing they can ever do to make me stop loving them.

and, i try to remind myself not to sweat the small stuff, and that it’s all teeny tiny stuff.

{{both of those last two i learned as a child from my own amazing mama by the way}}

heather is the taller of the two gorgeous blondes you see below, and apparently, one of my biggest fans.  i hope she knows that the feeling is mutual.

at her age, a first time mom could easily fall prey to the judgment of other mamas, or worse, join them.  how dare someone choose luvs over pampers or let a child that walks have a binky?but heather seems to realize already that her energy is better spent trying to steal kisses from the amazing independent woman she is molding.and instead of wishing Hadley would hurry up and hit the next milestone on a baby tracker calendar, Heather seems to actually grasp the reality that people always warn you of {even when long teething nights make hard it believe}.  they grow up so fast!  you will blink and she will be driving to the prom.we set our priorities and values and have bold confidence that we are doing the best we know how by our babies.  and then we respect that everyone else is doing the exact same thing, even when it looks different.Heather, i just want to thank you for encouraging me, and tell you

i’m so proud of you.  i want to be the kind of mama you are.

you are an amazing mother and i hope we continue to have each other to lean on as we grow these little new and improved 2.0 versions of ourselves.
and by the way, if you are a mama reading this, you should know,

you are doing it right. and you are doing a darn fine job of it

even {maybe especially} if it looks different than us.

his mama said she would love some props and theme, so we settled on a very gentlemanly UP.  we were inspired by the Carl character, both young and elderly versions.  the weather was so perfect for the start of february in ohio, decent temperature and cool fog that burned off right when we wanted a different feel.  ben of course was the most perfect part, and we all had a blast hanging out and celebrating his quick first year. 

mallary & kurt, thank you for choosing me again.  it’s such a joy to watch my {BD} babies grow and document the changes.  he is so handsome and absolutely charming, not that i need to convince the two of you.  happy birthday sweet ben!

  it’s been a while…  she was busy kicking breast cancer’s @$$.  here’s her last post on the blog.

and the next chapter in her journey, which i’m honored to document, is adoption.  with all that cancer business behind her, she and tim are ready to start their family, and adoption is the road.  we got to hang out a bit, and it was so cool to see their excitement about everything in their world these days… adoption classes, creating a portfolio, home visits… the whole process is a bit overwhelming just to hear about.  for sure, they will be formally prepared for the baby they will some day call their own… much more so than many of us who have planned or unplanned babies. 

she is the short quirky, spunky, artsy jelly to his tall methodical, electrical engineering peanut butter.

of all the things cancer taught them, it seems obvious it must have given them an appreciation for carpe diem and finding humor wherever you can.  for sure they know how to laugh at me

and each otherand themselves.and i’m sure, while most of us take such things for granted, they learned to admire each other’s uniqueness so much…“Bridget, tell Tim ‘i hope our baby learns to have your….”“and Tim, ‘Bridget, I hope our baby learns to have your…”

i don’t know what was whispered after the “…”.  that’s for them:

to be reminded that before everything, there was the new immature love they had for each other.

 and since everything, there is the strong mature love they have grown thru’ their struggles and time together. 

what i do know is that they are waiting, planning, hoping and praying for a baby.  if you or someone you know is pregnant and considering adoption, perhaps the Beattys would be the right match.  a little girl with a B name or a little boy with a T name will soon change Bridget & Tim to Mommy & Daddy.  I cannot wait to share that chapter with you all!

i’ve been super busy shooting like a mad woman thru’ october and november.  this was one of my last shoots before i ran away to the mountains with my BDs for a break.  

how thankful must Ellen and Michael be to have these 3 little girls?!

they have a lot to be thankful for in fact.  Ellen, Villanova tennis star, and Michael, of NBA and UK basketball fame, spend their time now enriching the community thru’ their Moksha yoga studios in Cincinnati and NKY, and pouring profits back out with local and international outreach programs.  you can read more about all that here. 

for our time together, i got to skip around with the three little beauties and we pretended like it wasn’t 30* out.  the bright sun was a good start.

we spied on mama and daddy, chased the farm kitty (or some of us ran from it), had a mini camping adventure, raced down the tree lined gravel, snuggled to keep warm….

…they even pulled mama into a few rounds of ring around the rosie and got major air from 6’10″ daddy!3, 4 and 5?  these dolls were serious troopers out there in the bitter cold.  i wish you girlies full bellies and warm lazy turkey day naps.  can’t wait to meet up again for more fun, and if the temp is above freezing, even better

and in the spirit of black friday, i guess i should remind all of you that if you send your 2012 session deposit in before the end of the year, you lock in the 2011 rate.  AND if your next session is within 6 months of your last, you save another $50.  AND if you want to present your deposit as a BD gift certificate to the BD addict in your house {i’m looking at you Mike Martin} i can email one over for you to pop into a picture frame and hang on the tree.  the flurry of family, friends and holiday parties starts now thru’ new years.  i wish you all safety and sanity.  til next time, cheers!

this means i got to spend more time with a family i love, and be part of a great gift, freezing this stage in holly’s life for her w irreplaceable images.  this time… when she’s young and drop dead gorgeous and has two blondies hanging onto her legs pretty much ALL the time.  pretty sure she wouldn’t change a second of it.  she’s a hot wifey and amazing easy going mama.  she’s a great friend, so easy to be around and respect and look up to and learn from, even if she is younger as she accidentally reminds me over and over again ;)  if there were an award for being most the single most excited and supportive in my life about our baby BD#5 {due in just one week!} i think it would have to go to her.  i can’t tell you how it feels to have that energy and love poured out on you, but i can tell you it’s exactly why she is my doula and i’m so glad she will be there when he arrives.   

hello joel’s new screensaver!apparently there’s a well kept secret in the world that only moms of boys get let in on.  i’ve been a mom for 9 years and i never knew this, but suddenly moms that have boys, and especially moms that have boys+girls keep telling me something along the lines of “my girls are great, but there is something SO special about your relationship with your boy.  i can’t explain it but it’s incredible.”  holly looks like the perfect “boy mom” for me to go to for lessons in snips and snails and puppy dog tails.

holly i hope through these images you see how much i adore you and i’m so grateful to have you in my life.   big props to joel for booking your session and helping you make such cute boys.  i love you all!

to boys and sweat and giggles and bashfulness and pure feel good smiles.  happy summer to you all.

 Noah-Cayd-Avery

i’m quite sure i’ve never been more impressed by two parents.  i happily expected sheer chaos from this shoot.  one year olds are crazy enough in singles.  the fact that we enjoyed such a seamless session together blew my mind.  i don’t recall a single tear or tantrum.  with the three of us there, we each had only one to tote from spot to spot and i was blissfully exhausted by the end.  when they told me that they both work outside the home on opposite shifts and it’s usually just one or the other of them home alone with the gang, i couldn’t believe it.  Andy gave Leah all the credit for keeping them on a tight predictable schedule.  i can’t tell you how much i admire you guys- Leah, for even being able to carry three babies for those long months in the womb, and then to look as gorgeous as you do on top of it, and the pair of you for making such an amazing team.  you inspire me.  it makes me so happy to see a happy marriage, and when you guys publicly acknowledge each other’s hard work and express your love and appreciation for each other on facebook it’s so refreshing and uplifting.  i’m so blessed to have met you.  thanks for choosing me.sleepy eyes we wore them out so much that they could hardly keep their eyes open to enjoy their first cake

happy birthday, happy birthday and happy birthday.  and a hug for you each!