Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Stroller

How many of you have children who received more gifts for Christmas than calories you devoured on Christmas day?? Holy cow, there are still presents I have yet to unpackage and put away. Side Note: what is UP WITH ALL THE PACKAGING! Seriously, how many super thin wire tie-thingies does it take to keep a baby doll in place. And don't even get me typing about the little kitchen set we bought her; apparently every teensy-tiny item  requires its' very own little plastic baggy which of course is thrown in another baggy, which of course needs to be encased in a Styrofoam shell surrounded by larger tie-thingies... my word! By the time we would get one gift unpackaged, she had already moved on to the next one - MAN!
Okay, done with that rant... In all the wonderful gifts she received there are a few that she just absolutely loves. One of them being her baby stroller. This is a stroller for her babies (that seems pretty self explanatory, but for those of you who don't have toddlers, that may have been a "huh?"). As you can see, she adores this toy... for herself!


I told her the stroller was not for her; evidently the news of that was shocking!


A close up of the disbelief:


I told her it was for her babies.
So what does she do, she goes and gets one of her babies
and plops back down in the stroller.


I will share a few other of her favorites over the next few days.
CLUE: another one of her favorites is showing in each of these pictures :-D

Happy Tuesday!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

A Christmas Miracle

Sixteen months ago I was at home on maternity leave when I received a frantic phone call I wasn’t expecting. It was from my friend Nicole who had just shouted “a baby is being placed with us in 45 minutes!” I couldn’t believe what I just heard. Months earlier, Nicole and her husband went through all the paper work, house inspections, and so much more that I couldn’t even begin to type about, in an effort to become foster parents. I was so excited for her and bombarded her with many questions she didn’t have answers to. All she knew was that he was a boy, eight months, and would be there within the hour. I wished her luck, told her if she needed anything give me a call, and hung up the phone with goose bumps all over my body! I was so happy for her!!

A few days later I packed up my own new bundle of joy and went to visit Nicole and meet this new little guy. When I saw him for the first time he was a ball of adorable sitting in the middle of the living room floor, he had the whitest hair that could grow out of a baby with the bluest eyes you have ever seen. I could tell he was confused, looking around trying to grasp his new surroundings and become acquainted to all these new faces. But one thing that I noticed right away was the connection he had with Nicole. I noticed when she picked him up, how he laid his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes in comfort and warmth, with her he knew he was safe.

That was sixteen months ago. In those months there have been more questions, tears, triumphs, ups and downs than any one person, or one family, should have to endure. But how far would you go to fight for something you new was yours? How far would you go for your baby? The persistence paid off and last week it was made official during an Adoption ceremony. When Nicole asked me to photograph the event, I was so thrilled, as a friend I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, but to be able to photograph and memorialize the day in images, I couldn’t have been more honored.

Here are a few images from the big day!

 Getting ready
 
Considering it was a blizzard the day these two were married, it only seemed fitting
 that this day too would consist of blizzard like weather.

So handsome
Helping Pepere open the M&M's
Enjoying the M&M's


IT'S OFFICIAL!


Big Brother
Family!



I asked Nicole the day after the ceremony how it felt now that he was "officially" theirs. She told me it really didn't feel any different because she always knew he was theirs. She said that probably didn't make any sense, but I told her it did. And she is right, from the first time I saw them together, I knew he was home and you know what... even at 8 months old, I think he did too.


"I'll never forget the day he was placed in my arms. I was terrified. He didn't cry, he didn't protest, he just looked at me and laid his head on my chest. From that moment on, I knew I was his Mom. 16 months ago this roller coaster ride began and today it ends with the adoption of my precious child.
I love you, .... I carried you in my heart..." - Nicole to baby M



 Happy Sunday!

Monday, December 20, 2010

A Quick Snack!

The holiday season is in full swing around here and between last minute shopping, Starbucks Peppermint Mocha latte sipping, wrapping, removing baby E from under the Christmas tree, laundry, dishes, and what ever else may come up; there is barely enough time for anything... including this little blog. So here is a quick post on a super easy, remarkably quick, "MOM, I have to bring a snack to school tomorrow" (at 9:00pm) holiday snack anyone can pull together.

Candy Coated Pretzels!


You will need:
  • 1 Bag of mini pretzels
  • 1 Bag of Hershey Kisses (I used the Holiday White Chocolate Candy Cane kisses)
  • Colored Sugar
  • Oh and wax paper or tin foil
  • and a Cookie Sheet
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with the wax paper or tin foil. Line up as many of those little pretzels as you can fit on a sheet. Unwrap all 529,358 kisses (yes, I know there are not that many in there, but after the 10th one it will feel like there are). Place each kiss on top of a pretzel, carefully transfer cookie sheet into pre-heat oven. Bake for 4-5 minutes or until the kisses are melted. Remove from oven and sprinkle colored sugar. After each kiss is sugar coated, place the cookie sheet in the freezer for a few minutes until the chocolate has set. And there you have it - you are suddenly  the Mom/wife/girl friend/co-worker of the YEAR!!

There are many other variations to this recipe, some people substitute Rolo's for the Kisses and I have seen recipes where they use M&M's on the top instead of the sugar - to each is own! In my book when you have chocolate melted over a pretzel, you can not go wrong!

Happy Monday!

Monday, December 13, 2010

It's A Family Tree-dition

I have recently read some blog posts about family traditions around the holidays, specifically Christmas. Growing up I can think of a few traditions we had, for instance I would always be the one to put together the nativity scene, usually one handed while using the other to back hand one of my brother's who wouldn't leave me alone (even back then I was a fantastic multi-tasker). Another one I can think of was me always being the first one up on Christmas morning. I would tip toe out to the living room with the innocent anticipation of catching a glimpse of the Big Guy, I would scope out the loot and go wake up my brother's. Together we would go wake up my parents and then we would all sit in the living room and open our gifts. Even today while typing this I can feel the rush of excitement I would feel as a child in that living room playing Santa handing out every one's gifts.

Family traditions don't have to be big things, expensive items, or amazing spectacles; they can be simple things too, like all being together in the same room for one hour, one morning, or one day.

This will be our second Christmas with our daughter and to be honest I CAN'T WAIT!! I can't wait to see her little face on Christmas morning, to see her tackle boxes and devour wrapping paper, but most of all I can't wait to create the moments which she will remember for a lifetime. Okay, so she probably won't remember this Christmas, but I will.

I am hoping over the years we will create our own Christmas traditions, ones that she will remember year after year and will hopefully one day want to share with her own family. One tradition I hope to carry on is us going as a family to pick out and cut down our own Christmas tree. Last year we did this and this year we did it again, and has been something I have looked forward to all year.

I am happy to share with you some images of our little Family Tree-dition!






So I just realized I have no pictures of the actual tree... my bad. I guess watching a toddler and a yellow lab in a Christmas Tree lot takes precedence. But I can tell you one thing, it is tree-riffic!

Happy Monday!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Winner of the Photo Shoot Giveaway!

The nominations are in!

I have read them, re-read them, and then read all of them one last time. I will admit this was a lot harder than I thought it would be. In all, I received eight amazing nominations, but I kept coming back to one. It brought tears to my eyes the first time I read it and I am sure when I am done with the shoot and am sitting in this very chair editing the photo's, I will cry again.

I am pleased to announce the winner of the Photography Session Giveaway was nominated by e-mail from Jenn who wrote:

"I have a friend I work with everyday. He is always willing to lend an extra hand for what ever task is put on his plate. Meanwhile in the back of his mind he is planning things that most men wouldn't dream of doing. He is a single Dad to a beautiful young girl (6 years old). A couple of years ago he watched his beloved wife battle cancer. She was a tough lady but unfortunately this horrible disease took her too soon; before she could watch her daughter grow, before she could grow old with her husband. Now Rick, works full time, travels about 40 minutes to and from work everyday, and has to do all of the household chores that would normally be completed by 2. First things first always is his daughter."

It will be an honor for me to photograph this father and his daughter!! A huge thank you to all of you who took a moment to nominate someone for a free photo shoot, this giveaway is definitely something I will be offering for years to come.
 

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Maine Children Photographer

Burrr! Yes, that is right, Burrr, it is getting cold here in Maine. But too not cold to stop me and one of my favorite six year olds in the world from getting some fabulous pictures. My sister-in-law called me up and asked if I wouldn't mind photographing this little aspiring model and with a face like this, how could anyone resist?! It was cold and yes there was even snow, but that didn't stop us from getting some stunning photographs. Enjoy!



LOOK AT THAT FACE!

This could be an ad for gorgeous!

This last one was too fun not to share!

Happy Sunday!