Rich, Heather and Alana’s Blog

Franklin, Tennessee.

Just 30 square miles and a mere 40,000 residents but boasting more than the average city. It sits in the middle of the state, about 2 hours driving from here in Chattanooga…

…and it might just be my favorite place I’ve visited in this country. 

The reason for our second visit to Franklin? Our dear friends, The Hickling Family. I knew them from my years living in Fort Lauderdale, and then happily reunited with them as they moved briefly to Chattanooga before settling in Franklin. 

Franklin, I think I’ve mentioned before on my blog, is wonderful for a multitude of reasons. It’s family friendly. It seems every neighborhood proudly displays it’s own lovely park and playground. Everywhere you look is gorgeous; there is simultaneous natural beauty along with resident-prioritized care and cultivation. You can tell that people take pride in where they live. There is no litter, every lawn and green expanse is neatly manicured and tediously cared for. Churches abound, and the people are kind. The shopping is unique. The list of notable residents is ultra impressive. The developed areas peacefully coexist with the untouched fields and meadows. It’s just a little utopia right here in Tennessee! 

Dan and Becky invited us to join them for a Fall Festival, and boy, did I underestimate the kind of gathering this town could produce!

Rich, Alana and I arrived at the Hicklings on Saturday morning, just in time to head downtown for the fun. And there it was: all of downtown had been converted into a kid-with-parent-trick-or-treating-bounce-house extravaganza. We saw every Halloween costume ever invented, being sported by miniature people of all shapes and sizes. So cute! 

Alana went as a little ballerina, and somehow we failed to get a good full-body photo of her sitting on the floor with her poofy tu-tu. Just looking at her little eleven-month-old ballerina self made me deliriously happy. 

Apparently, she was happy, too: 

 

 

My wonderful, amazing little family. Ah, I am smitten. By both of them. 

 

I took the following few photos of my man and my little bitty. I used his awesome camera, but of course, I cannot take credit for these fully, since Rich had the settings already programmed for me. I tell you, the more I know about photography, the more I realize how MUCH I have to learn. It’s a complex combination of an artistic eye and a thorough understanding of the science and technicality of the camera and lens. I refuse to be one of the thousands who claim to know more about photography than I do

Nonetheless, I think I captured a few special daddy-daughter moments: 

Snuggles. 

 

Nuzzles. 

 

Cuddles. 

 

Sleepiness. 

 

Little Danny was adorable, and here, had just enjoyed sliding down a big bouncy yellow thing! 

 

Lauren was a good sport and went as hannah montana, even though they don’t really watch it at their house. She looked so cute, and enjoyed the trick-or-treating too! 

 

Alas, the weekend went by much too quickly, and we said our goodbyes and meandered back to Chattanooga, not so eager for the workweek to start just yet! 

 

Dan and Becky, thank you once again, so very much, for having us at your lovely home and all of the great laughs and chats. We loved it! 

 

 

Well, yeterday was really just too much fun. 

As my blog readers know, we have enjoyed a baby’s first year package with the fabulously talented Amber Holritz, baby lifestyle photographer extraordinaire. 

We’ve had five sessions so far: When Alana was a newborn at just two weeks old, six weeks, six months, eight months, ten months, and our sixth and final session will be at Alana’s first birthday.

So after our last session, I didn’t expect any photographs until the first birthday party next month. But happily, Amber asked if we would be willing to model for her first ever Baby Tag-A-Long session!

Shelby, a beautiful and sweet beginning photographer, had decided she wanted a mentoring Tag-A-Long session with Amber, which would include a meeting prior to the photo shoot, the actual session at our home, shooting in tandem with Amber, and then a meeting afterwards for post-processing and blogging. 

When Amber asked if we’d be interested in this opportunity, I thought for about, oh, maybe one-millionth of a second and then said yes (all while jumping up and down). 

And so, yesterday Shelby and Amber showed up at noon for an hour of mentoring, shooting, laughing, and, ultimately, producing stellar images!

Below are just a few of my favorites (it was PAINFUL selecting just a few) but be sure to head over to Holritz Photography to see more and enjoy not just one, but TWO amazing slideshows!

Amber documented Shelby in action: 

  

 

 

And these a few of the resulting images from Shelby! We love them! 

 

family time!

 

This is what happens to my hair 80 times a day. But still, I refuse to cut it! Rich and I both like it long. 

 

Sweet baby face: 

 

Walking practice!

 

Kissable toes: 

 

Um, ya. Her smile melts us. 

 

Simultaneously with mentoring and coaching, Amber managed to do quite a bit of shooting! I don’t know how she does it all do well, but here are some of my favorites by Amber: 

 

Clapping!

We like to sit on the living room floor and play together:

 

Alana loves to play with my coasters, and here, she is excitedly showing one to us: 

 

Sticking tongues out!

 

I’m not entirely sure why I am laughing and she’s so serious here, but I thought it was a nice contrast. 

She understands the word “hug” now, so when I hand her a doll or toy and say that word, she immediately hugs…so cute! 

 

Silly moment: 

Sweet moment (best daddy in the world): 

And of course, the self-portrait!

 

Amber and Shelby, thank you for the amazing fun and the authentic moments that you have captured for us! We love you girls! 

Alana has become very helpful to me as of late…assisting with the vacuum, crawling all over the dishwasher, emptying the cabinets of Ziplock containers, and always eager to toss objects into toilet bowls. I’ve been busy chasing her around, to be sure, and every moment has provided it’s share of entertainment

 

Here, Alana is very concerned about which of her 3 pacifiers she should employ. I usually have one in her crib and the other two in the diaper bag, but she recently discovered them and now she knows where I keep them. So, she empties the diaper bag in search of them, and even knows how to throw the plastic cases on the floor to crack them open. She faces a serious dilemma when she has one in her mouth and comes across the other two. She actually sits there and switches every few seconds. It is hilarious, and I really need to get it on video!

Here she is, deliberating…

 

I’ve talked about how Alana actually enjoys lemon, so I decided to let her try a pickle recently at Panera Bread. She loved it! So, below is her first encounter with a pickle, and she ate mostly all of it!

 

She also managed to get her first mosquito bite last week! So sad! It got very large and red, and is going away SO slowly! Mean, bad mosquito! 

 

Alana hanging out around the house…

  

 

Last week, Rich’s great aunt came in town for the weekend, and we all had a wonderful time seeing her for the first time in several years! Thursday night was a special time, as we had a girls night out making holiday centerpieces! Here I am with my mother-in-law Paula, sister-in-law Susan, and niece, Alex! 

 

And here is the lovely, sweet, and hilarious Aunt Gerri! 

 

We had a few more family get togethers while Aunt Gerri was in town, and here is Alana with her cousins Jake and Ben! 

 

Then on Sunday evening we enjoyed a going away dinner party for our friend Apryl, who is moving to California!

A little mommy-Alana time! 

 

Family fun! 

 

Goodbye for now, Apryl! We will be praying for you, we are excited for you, but we will miss you! See you soon!

 

Last week brought another fabulous session by the incredibly talented Amber Holritz, and another set of priceless images! 

Alana is ten months and oh, so busy! Amber was able to take some photos while Alana was in her highchair and contained, but once lunchtime was over and Alana was free, there was not a moment of calm! 

 

Alana is standing, and has even mastered clapping or waving while she balances…

 

And she tastes everything, of course! 

 

Daddy time! 

 

Family time! (note the canvas on the wall: the photo below is a picture of a picture of a picture!!!) 

 

We tried to put Alana on the Ottoman for a scale shot, but she was much too active. So, Amber caught this shot of us attempting to keep her from falling

 

We attempted to snuggle on the bed, and this was what happened. There was no snuggling going on! 

 

Mommy time. She was getting sleepy, so things calmed down a bit…

 

Important self portrait with Amber! 

 

Be sure to check out the Holritz Blog for a ton more photos and an amazing slideshow as well!

Once again, thank you so much to Amber for her expertise in capturing the everyday, natural moments that happen in our home! We love you and we love our memories!!! 

Last night, Rich and I decided to enjoy the beautiful evening by taking Alana to our neighborhood park. We thought It would be fun to take a few photos while we were there, taking advantage of the gorgeous evening light and documenting rapidly changing Alana! Rich brought his camera along and captured these wonderful memories! Thank you so much, honey!!!

We arrived to a nice cool breeze, which made Alana’s peach fuzz stand straight up, resulting in a little blonde mohawk ;) I love it! 

And here we are at the playground!

Gorgeous sun flare! 

Alana caught right on and grabbed the bar like she was about to catapult herself down the slide! 

I decided I wanted to be the one to take Alana down a slide for the first time ever! 

Sweet Pea:

This set of pictures have to be some of my favorites to date! I set Alana down in the sand, fully assuming she’d enjoy it and play…when instead, she immediately started bawling; screaming like I’d completely traumatized her. Check out how cute she is!

Clearly, she hated the feel of the sand on her legs and feet, and refused to touch the sand with her hands. She kept them up the whole 60 seconds that Rich took pictures

Happy again! Once I picked her up, brushed the sand off her hands and snuggled with her for a moment, she forgave us for the severe injustice! 

 

Have a great week everyone! Go to the park, go down a slide, and sit in the sand. Unless it makes you cry, of course