As soon as I heard Katie and Brett were expecting again, I was so excited to put another in home newborn session date on my calendar! Sweet little Ellis arrived safely into this world and was welcomed home by the one of the BEST families on the entire planet, I’m quite sure. Katie and Bret seem to bring babies home as other big things are happening in their world, and little Ellis was no exception! What I love about stepping into their world for an hour or two is that I feel like I’m stepping back into my own home a number of years ago when we were having little ones. Laughter, joy, chaos…LOVE. Their galleries tend to be rather large because they let me photograph ALL of it–the few posed images, but mostly the unposed–full of the real and authentic moments that go by in just the blink of an eye. That’s the beauty of still pictures. It holds time, and in later quiet moments you can go back and see what was there all along. Katie’s walls are full of their family pictures, her shelves hold albums of their time in front of the camera together, letting her children have no doubt where they belong and how much they are valued and loved every time they walk through the room.
This has been a heavy month. As many of you know, our nation is grieving the incredible losses in Texas this past weekend. To even imagine the anguish some parents are going through even this moment takes my breath away. And two of my own just recently returned from the other side of the world where you can drive and drive and drive and never actually drive out of the incredible poverty that impacts millions–especially vulnerable children. Every time we go, we long to give countless children even a taste of what little Ellis and his siblings have here. A family. Love. Safety. And if it isn’t too much to ask…joy. That is why I LOVE what I do, and why I feel the weightiness of these precious moments together. It’s important. More important than we’ll ever know. To us. And to them.
And so here we land…a gallery full of pictures of the sweetest baby and his incredible family. Love, craziness…all of it! I both laugh and tear up every time I edit through their pictures. Family life–just as it should be. Scroll on down to see some of my favorites…