How you have gotten away from me this year.

Our amazing friend Amber Holritz (The Lifestyle Baby Photographer) came to document Sierra at ten months for us last month (yes, it’s been an entire month since we had these photos taken!) and I am just now getting around to blogging them!

Sierra is 11 months old now, and has changed drastically even since this session! But for now I’ll talk about her ten-month-old self reflected in these images!

When Amber came for our session, Sierra was just starting to wave, thus the photo below: family time in the living room centered around waving at each other. When Amber captured this photo, Sierra was only obliging us some of the time, but now, at 11 months, she waves liberally. Pretty much any time we enter a room with a person in it, she flaps her arm up and down like she’s trying to take flight. It’s oh so entertaining. We all love it to death.

Funny, funny face…

This was a morning session, so we stayed in our jammies. Except for Rich. He didn’t get the memo. 

Alana cracks me up. 

Alana is mostly awesome with her little sister, but sometimes we can’t anticipate what fabulous thing is going to come into her head…and then, before we know it, she’s executing some hair brained idea, like holding her sister this way:

Sierra is mostly very tolerant with an occasional grunt or shriek to define her boundaries.  

This photo is so funny to me! I don’t remember exactly what was happening here, but Sierra doesn’t look very thrilled I love how Amber is the photo ninja. In every session, she captures moments that I didn’t even know were happening  

I love this image that Amber captured while Sierra was eating. Typically she’s very intense as it relates to food, but this photo makes it look like she’s just hanging out, calmly waiting for her next bite! Don’t be deceived! 

Love. Her. So. Much.

At the time of this session, Sierra was walking with assistance from her little sit & ride car. Now she’s actually walking unassisted. It’s clumsy walking, but it’s walking nonetheless! 

It’s hard to be almost four years old. 

Reading on the couch! Reading a book to Alana while Sierra is awake looks EXACTLY like this…

First she might sit back and listen for a minute…

(such a sweet photo – holding hands)

But inevitably, she decides she really wants to rip the pages out of the book, or at least touch the pages, or eat them. And she gets upset if we hold her back. She’s crazy. And Rich’s face is perfect. 

No idea what was happening here, but it probably has something to do with the fact that Alana loves Amber and gets really goofy when she’s here  

She steals my heart every day. 

Scrunchynose face! 

I don’t remember what was going on here…family hugs with a side of slobber? 

Yay for self portraits with Amber!

Amber, Amber, Amber! I am having the hardest time EVER trying to describe how monumentally thankful we are that you’ve captured yet ANOTHER year of life for our family. It’s hard to believe that this crazy whirlwind of a year is drawing to a close. Thank you for every one of these cherished memories. And thank you for being part of our family. We love you.

It’s a GOOD THING we have the fabulous Amber Holritz to document Sierra’s first year, because honestly, there would be VERY FEW photos of her thus far! I never thought I’d be the mom to get “too busy” to take photos (because they’re so important to me), but I’ve unintentionally become that person over the past few months.

I used to think that second children didn’t have as many photos because their parents had lost their zeal for taking photos of every little thing that baby does. I now realize that theory was erroneous and ridiculous. I am just as excited about each new development of Sierra’s, just as giddy when she learns new tricks as I was with Alana. The lack of photos has EVERYTHING to do with lack of time. There is definitely a direct correlation here, and I might be more thankful for Amber than ever before, if that is possible. These photos mean the world to me, and I am certain their worth will only grow exponentially with time.

Here are some of my favorites, but head over to her blog to see our full post with slideshow and leave her some blog love (i.e. COMMENTS)

Since Sierra’s six month session, she has learned to sit up, crawl, and stand. In these two short months, I cannot BELIEVE how much she has changed. She is bold, adventurous, and unafraid.

She uses every piece of furniture in our home to pull up and stand, and is becoming so good at it that she lets go and stands unassisted sometimes. At 8 months. Oh my. It’s going to be an interesting few months ahead, no question

Alana loves Sierra fiercely, and spends every moment with her that she can. I pray that this will be a lifelong bond and that nothing will separate their love for each other. Even on my yucky days, or my stressed out moments, these two can interact and melt my heart. 

Ya, there are no words…

Thank you, Amber, from the bottom of my heart, for capturing the essence of our family, the way our life looks and feels right now, and the fleeting moments that we will never get back.

I mean, seriously, wow.

I cannot believe it’s been nearly two months since I last blogged. That MUST be a new record! I don’t think I’ve gone two months without blogging since the inception of my blog in October of 2005.

It’s been busy, to say the least.

After my last blog post (from our trip to Dauphin Island), we returned and had only one week left with my sister and Nick before they moved to Rapid City, South Dakota. We spent as much time with them as we could, and then had a little bitty going away party for them. Here are the last couple of photos we took with them before they left. We miss them terribly! We are hoping VERY much to be able to see them around Christmas time. Any longer and I don’t think I’ll make it

After Nick and Amber moved away (boo!), we had Sierra’s six month session with the phenomenal Amber Holritz.

As usual – not to sound cavalier – she blew us away with her ability to capture moments and memories for us that will grow in value as time passes.

Here are a few of my favorites from the session, but be SURE to head over to Amber’s blog and see the whole post, including a slideshow! 

When Amber arrived, we were giving Sierra her first few bites of solid food ever! It was squash and she wasn’t a fan. But with the knowledge that I have in writing this blog post a month past-due, I can say that Sierra has been doing great, eating like a little champ, and she now enjoys squash (along with lots of other fruits and vegetables

Another funny thing about waiting so long to post this blog, is that at six months exactly, Sierra was still toppling when she tried to sit. Like in the hilarious image below. Now, she’s been sitting for over a month and is doing so brilliantly. AMAZING how much she’s changed in a month! 

I love all of these self-portraits too much for words  

After we had this session with Amber on June 27th, I left for Fort Lauderdale to help take care of my mom post-surgery and ended up staying for a whole month! Thank you to everyone who prayed for her and brought meals! We are so thankful for all of you! Her surgery went well and she is mostly recovered, though she still needs to take it easy.

To Amber, for another incredible baby session. We are always at a loss for words to describe our gratitude for the family treasures. You are a treasure.

To my sister and Nick: We love and miss you more than we can say. You’ve taken part of our hearts with you.

To my mom: I love you and it was an honor to help take care of you. You’ve always taken incredible care of me. Pleeeeaaaasssseeee take it easy so you can heal!

And to my blog readers, sorry for being MIA, and I hope you are all doing wonderfully!

Sierra has changed SO much since her newborn session and we had so much fun with her expressions and all her smiles! Amber definitely captured Sierra’s personality perfectly and we could not be more thankful for these memories.

Amber’s self portraits with the girls have become some of my favorite images as well  

Amber, WE LOVE YOU. Thank you for being part of our family. Count. 1…2…3…4..5!

Our dear friend Amber photographed Sierra’s Birth Story, and came back two weeks later to photograph a newborn session for us as we settled into life with TWO sweet daughters.

Be SURE to check out Amber’s Blog for Sierra’s Newborn Session (including slideshow), and leave her some love. No, really, do it. Photographers love blog comments. But I wanted to post just a couple here as well. Thank you ALL for your amazing meals, prayers, support, love, and for visiting us! We appreciate you SO much, and we are overwhelmingly blessed by you!

I will be back soon with some photos of life around the house during this first month, so stay tuned!

And to Amber, you know that I don’t have words sufficient to express how much we love these images. And how much we love you. The end.

Today Sierra is one week old.

This fact alone must mean that I am doing at least a little better than I was with Alana, because I didn’t manage to sit down at a computer to type up my thoughts until Alana was two weeks old. I documented my experience with Alana’s first two weeks here, and I cried tonight when I re-read that post for the first time in a long time. I identify with everything that I was feeling then, because it echos the same sentiments that I am feeling now. The only difference is that this time I KNEW it was going to be really hard. I remember the sleep deprivation, anxiety, and (inexplicable) loneliness that I felt then, and I feel it all again now.

I echo our thanks and gratitude for the outpouring of love and support, and I reiterate our apologies for not being able to get back to everyone individually. If you have sent an email, a Facebook message, a tweet, etc, we appreciate it so much and truly, your words mean the world to us. We are doing as well as can be expected in these trying first few weeks.

We are so thankful for a healthy, beautiful baby girl, and we are so thankful for God’s grace throughout the labor and delivery and throughout this first week. Seriously, I don’t know how people do this without support. I don’t know what I would have done thus far without my mom. She came up before Christmas and is going to be taking 3 days off work so that she can be with us through this Sunday. She has been cooking, cleaning, taking Alana on all sorts of adventures, and even taking night shifts with Sierra. And I STILL manage to be tired and super emotional. It seems ungrateful to feel that way, but it also seems that I can’t help it.

I really am SO THANKFUL for my mom, and for friends, family, and a healthy baby. I’m also SO thankful for the friends who have already brought us delicious meals. THANK YOU.

I just really, really struggle when I have a newborn. My emotions are all over the place. One minute I am thinking to myself, “It’s all going to be okay. You can do this. It is going to get easier, and you won’t even remember this season in detail.” Then, minutes later, I am in tears because I am so exhausted and overwhelmed at the thought of somehow learning to take care of TWO sets of needs at the same time. I fear the transition once my mom leaves. I fear the inevitable loneliness when Rich goes back to work and I’m here, with a 3 year old and a newborn, responsible for nursing Sierra throughout a huge chunk of my day and also meeting all of Alana’s needs, all while being super tired from night time feedings.

So if I have any prayer warrior friends reading this post, would you pray for me? I need to let go of my fears, embrace my new role as a mom of two, set aside the loneliness I feel when I am stuck at home alone caring for the girls, and learn to cope with the lack of sleep.

A dear friend of ours, Gabe McClintock in Calgary, Alberta, Canada sent an awesome congratulatory email to us when Sierra was born last week. In that email he included this poem called “Loving Two” which hit home for me and honestly, made me cry while sitting in my hospital room. It’s beautiful, honest, emotional, and I look forward to experiencing the latter part of the poem as time passes for our little family. I’m hoping my readers will appreciate this poem as much as I already do.

Loving Two

I walk along holding your 2-year-old hand, basking in the glow of our magical relationship. Suddenly I feel a kick from within, as if to remind me that our time alone is limited. And I wonder: how could I ever love another child as I love you?

Then she is born, and I watch you. I watch the pain you feel at having to share me as you’ve never shared me before.

I hear you telling me in your own way, “Please love only me.” And I hear myself telling you in mine, “I can’t,” knowing, in fact, that I never can again.

You cry. I cry with you. I almost see our new baby as an intruder on the precious relationship we once shared. A relationship we can never quite have again.

But then, barely noticing, I find myself attached to that new being, and feeling almost guilty. I’m afraid to let you see me enjoying her—as though I am betraying you.

But then I notice your resentment change, first to curiosity, then to protectiveness, finally to genuine affection.

More days pass, and we are settling into a new routine. The memory of days with just the two of us is fading fast.

But something else is replacing those wonderful times we shared, just we two. There are new times – only now, we are three. I watch the love between you grow, the way you look at each other, touch each other.

I watch how she adores you — as I have for so long. I see how excited you are by each of her new accomplishments. And I begin to realize that I haven’t taken something from you, I’ve given something to you.

I notice that I am no longer afraid to share my love openly with both of you.

I find that my love for each of you is as different as you are, but equally strong. And my question is finally answered, to my amazement. Yes, I can love another child as much as I love you—only differently.

And although I realize that you may have to share my time, I now know you’ll never share my love. There’s enough of that for both of you – you each have your own supply.

I love you—-both. And I thank you both for blessing my life.

Author Unknown

And so, that is a recap of our first week around here and the emotions that accompany it.

Sierra is doing well, is back up to her birth weight of 7 pounds (after losing half a pound), and the pediatrician says she is doing great. We are so thankful, so blessed, and so excited about the years to come in our family of four.

A little over three years ago when I was 37 weeks pregnant with Alana, Nathan shot an incredible maternity session for us at the Chickamauga Battlefield. We love those images and they will always be super meaningful to us. Last week, when I was 37 weeks pregnant with Sierra, Amber shot a 2-part maternity session for us. The first part, in our home relaxing together, was ultra fun and crazy energetic. Well, let me clarify, Alana was crazy energetic. I was exhausted as is customary for my pregnancies.

We had a great time together, and I’m always so thankful that Alana is so comfortable with Amber since she is such a good friend of ours. Alana doesn’t even skip a beat when Amber comes over with her big black camera. She ignores it and just wants Amber to play with her. So, basically, this results in a completely authentic photo shoot in which none of us feel like we have to be anything other than who we are. As Amber blogs/states, “Real life is beautiful.” We have come to believe that, even when we don’t feel like our life looks particularly beautiful, it truly is. Love is beautiful. Family is beautiful. Meaningful interaction documented is beautiful. So for this, we are extremely grateful for what Amber has captured for us. Alana (and soon Sierra) will be able to look back on her young life and SEE how much we loved her. She’ll SEE what life looked like during these ages and stages. And hopefully she will never doubt our love for her.

So with all of that said, here are just a few images from our session with Amber, but be sure to check out her blog for more images and a slideshow!

I have grown to love and appreciate these self portraits that Amber takes with Alana during each session. Basically, since the moment that Alana was born, she has photos with Amber. At every stage, as she has grown, we have these priceless photos of Amber and Alana. They make me so happy. 

And then, as if that weren’t wonderful enough, she was up for a part two. I had a vision in my head of a family photo shoot: A lovely winter day, cold but not too cold, hats, scarves, and mittens, with rows of gorgeous christmas trees in the background. At a Christmas tree farm. Not a Christmas tree “lot.” The kind of place where you cut down your own tree. Rich and I have been talking about Christmas traditions and we thought that choosing and cutting down our own tree each year might make a fun new family tradition. And I loved the idea of it to double as a photo shoot location.

But when we arrived at the farm, things weren’t exactly as I’d hoped. It was absolutely freezing, for starters. And with the added wind chill factor, it might’ve been the shortest photo shoot ever. It. was. so. cold. And there were llamas. And broken down vehicles in the yard. And it was smaller than I’d expected. And the trees were, um, quirky. They tended to be either very small or very large. And it was a variety of tree I wasn’t familiar with, so they just looked kinda funny to me  So we just laughed. And shivered. And snuggled. And laughed. Unmet expectations can really be very funny.

Amber’s friendship went up another notch that day, if that were even really possible. She just documented our laughter, our freezing cold discomfort, and was a total trooper. And so, Amber, thank you for these perfect photos of our imperfect time at the Christmas tree farm. I think they will always make me laugh and bring me joy. Here are a few of my favorites, but head over to Amber’s blog to see the full post and her commentary on the outing

We found a tree that we liked, quirks and all, and Rich cut it down, hauled it back to our car, and inside we all hopped, as fast as we could, to begin to thaw out.

My hilarious belly, with my even more hilarious belly button. Pregnancy is a miracle, yes, but it’s also a cruel, cruel joke which strips me of all dignity  

And so, there you have it. Parts 1 & 2 of our “Preparing for Baby Sierra” sessions with Amber. Be sure to head over to her blog and leave her some love. After all, she seriously froze her butt off for us

Next up on the blog: My 30th Birthday celebration, which took place just a few hours ago

{Yes, I said last MONTH, which implies just how far behind I am on blog posts right now}

…Amber came to do a family session for us since it had been a while since our last one when “Alana’s Second Year” of photo shoots concluded (which I summarized here).

I don’t think I realized just how much Alana has changed until Amber emailed to ask what we wanted captured from this particular session…what things I never want to forget from this stage. When I took a minute to think about it, a flood of things came to mind about what Alana is doing/saying that are very recent and have never been documented.

For example, since the last session, she has moved into her new “big girl” room, graduated from her high chair, and gotten a new table and chairs for eating and for drawing/crafts. Not to mention all the ways that she is changing in her personality and speech. She’s speaking full sentences all day long, and she entertains us incessantly with her wit.

I’m just going to post a FEW photos from the session, so be sure to head over to Amber’s new blog to see the full blog post AND slideshow

I always love the self-portraits that Amber takes with Alana, and this might be my favorite of all time! Love, love, love it!

Well, Amber, I feel like a broken record but THANK YOU for another amazing session…we will cherish them always and forever! We love them ALL so much!

Rich and I discontinued the family/baby side of our business last year (with the exception of existing clients), and we LOVE to refer our family inquiries to Amber. Lifestyle Baby Photography is her niche, her expertise, her passion, and her specialty. And, if you’ve followed my blog for two seconds you know that we’ve had an amazing Baby’s First Year and Baby’s Second Year package by Amber.

So, go check out her new website and leave her some love! And then hire her to document your family in a beautiful and authentic way.

And just for fun, here is a VERY wonderful screen capture from her new home page…complete with a photo of my little one from a recent session

**Much love and congrats on your newest accomplishment, Amber! xoxoxo

Along with Alana’s first birthday party a little over a year ago, I blogged a summary and linked to each of the 6 sessions that were part of her first year, which can be found here.

Then, we excitedly embarked on a “baby’s second year” with her, which involved 4 sessions of Alana’s second year. And since we just had our fourth and final session of Alana’s second year, I think another summarization is in order!

Be sure to check out the brand new photos and slideshow from last weeks’ session at the bottom!!!

Here are a couple of photos from Alana’s 14 month session:

And a couple from her 17 month session:

A couple from her 19 month session:

And here are several from last week, her twenty-six month session. But be sure to check out Amber’s blog for the slideshow!!!

Greeting “Amboo” at the front door

Puzzle fun!

Giving Amber a “fist bump” (or “knuckles”, if you prefer) She’s a cool cat.

One of my all time favorite photos of Rich and Alana. Precious.

So proud of herself!

Coffee! (She loves it so I have to practice major portion control with her. Two or three sips a couple of times per week.)

Kisses!

Dance party! We LOVE dancing together in the living room at least once a week As you can tell from Alana’s face, we have fun.

Self-portrait. Honestly, these are some of my favorite photos from each session because they mean to much to me! Amber has provided our family with hundreds of captured moments that we will adore forever and will allow Alana to know exactly how much we have loved her from day one. She will be able to know what life looked like for these first two years of her life, what we did together, what we laughed about, how we looked all together, what our home looked like, and on and on I could ramble.

Amber, we love you more than we could say and we love the amazing personalized art that you have memorialized for us.

Whew. Thank you, thank you, thank you Amber.