A couple weeks ago John and I had the pleasure of doing a shared shoot with our friends Holli and Erin. (Didn’t know you could do that did ya? Interested? Email me and I’ll give you the details on how a split session works.) They split the session between the two of them and we had one big shoot on a Sunday afternoon at Erin and Kevin’s house. It was SO much fun! I thought I would be all organized and do Erin’s family first and then Holli’s second. But we bounced around taking photos of both families off and on and it gave everybody time to take breaks, feed the baby, etc. I’ll be posting Holli’s session soon. Prepare for some CUTE pregnancy belly shots!

So here’s Erin and her little guy Preston. We met at a La Leche League meeting (go breastmilk!) this past summer and have made one of the fastest friendships I’ve made since I met Amy Conner on the first day of Cheerleading practice my senior year as we bonded over a shared worry that people would realize we really shouldn’t have been on the team. But I digress. Back to Erin, miss Hottie mommy.

…and her hubby Kevin who John has made fast friends with too. They would probably be even closer if Erin and I would shut up for longer than 2 seconds and give them a chance to talk. 😉

Preston and his beautiful eyes.

Here’s one where Preston is looking a bit less surprised. : )

I’ve heard some interesting stories on the photography forum I follow about dad’s being grouchy on photo shoots. Not Kevin, he worked it out! Erin, we need to make you a tiny print. Wouldn’t this be the best photo to put in a locket?

I really like this one. Something about the repetition of both daddy and baby looking down makes me happy. I think their lips look exactly the same here too, don’t you agree?

Of course, here’s the photo I posted in my sneak peak yesterday. John and I are dying to get this shot for ourselves with Miles, but it’s really hard to do with just one parent holding his hands and one behind the camera. (We may need Bobbi+Mike to the rescue for that one!)

Of course we had to get some shots in the nursery.

I had to include this one just for fun. Erin was walking by this mirror and John just happened to snap it the moment she came through the frame. It wasn’t even posed. He’s such a little genius. I’m busy up in people’s faces and John is hiding out bouncing photos off mirrors.

So I never take Miles with me on shoots. I have taken him to shoots at the mocha lounge when he was younger, but now that he is mobile, no way. Put a camera in my hand and I’m not thinking of anything else and that’s not a good thing when your baby is along for the ride. I’ve had plenty of super nice clients tell me it’s ok to bring Miles along to shoots, but because I can’t multi-task he usually stays home. However, there were plenty of adults for this shoot, not to mention a pack-n-play available, so we brought him along. I had to share this photo of Miles attempting to blow bubbles in Preston’s “fish tv.” (We call the bubbling water sound machine a “fish tv” if you weren’t sure what I was talking about.) That kid cracks us up!

Because of everything that has been going on in my life these past couple of weeks since that shoot, Erin and Holli were worried it would be hard for me to work on these photos. (They were amazing and of course told me that I didn’t even have to process them. As if! These are some of my favorite shots ever!!!) I have to say that these photos just remind me of how happy and fun life can be and is. It also helps me focus on the life and love that we do have. As I have processed these I have been going through my own personal grief from loss but I have to say that as I was working on the photos I couldn’t help but have the biggest grin across my face the entire time. So thank you to Erin, Kevin, Preston and Matt and Holli for giving me such a wonderful distraction.

It’s INCREDIBLY late and I MUST go to bed.