Ah, my sadly neglected blog…so, so many weddings and sessions to share! But, I’d like to introduce you to the best reason anyone could ever have for a delay:

Baby Ian:

Dad’s eyes (whoo hoo!)
Mom’s Chin (sorry about that, little man)

And for all of you that have asked: Thank you – we’re doing great! (Except the cat. Who knew cats could get jealous? We’re trying to buy her love back with treats and new toys). I can be kind of a private person about some things (I can hear some of you snickering…but, it’s actually true.). However, I wanted to answer some of the questions I’ve been getting from friends, clients, moms, and moms to be:

~ Ian was born at UCLA Santa Monica Hospital and they were amazing!

~ Not to be TMI, but I’m getting this question a lot so here’s the very quick answer: The birth went well, thank you. As far as the labor: I didn’t go though labor. For various reasons we had a scheduled C-section-it went well and we were shooting our first wedding within 2 weeks.

~ His personality so far is incredible. I have no idea what I ever did to be this lucky. He only wakes up during the night when he’s hungry (and, because he also seems to have his mother’s build this is every 3-4 hours) and really only cries (rarely) for specific reasons. This may change (especially since I’ve put it in writing), but at this point I’m just cherishing it.

~ Thank you for the various offers to bring Ian to portrait sessions this season; I really appreciate them. But, mommy needs to work and focus on her awesome clients (and he has Nana and Granddad visiting from Ireland. It’s awesome: I come home, and the baby is sleeping, my laundry is folded, and stuff around my house-including a shattered decorative cinderblock from the 1950′s we thought we would never be able to replace-is beautifully repaired. Nice)!

~ The best book I purchased was: The Wonder Weeks. Thank you SO much to Petal and Thorn for mentioning it on your blog; it’s been a lifesaver.

~ The best baby product purchase: that’s a tie between the Fisher Price Infant to Toddler Rocker and The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD. If you’re expecting and aren’t familiar with this-buy it. Buy it now. And get these to go along with the DVD.

~ Surprisingly, he is not the most photographed child in the world. Sadly, he’s an iPhone baby. We had a portrait session with Schlick Photography when he was a newborn and honestly, Courtney has to be the most patient person on the planet. The one day Ian decides to “voice his opinion” about being naked and photographed was, of course, at his newborn session. Despite that, Courtney did an amazing job and we love the photos. Our favorite from the session:

A few days before that, to prepare Ian, (and because he was asleep and we could get away with it) mommy and daddy decided to take a few (and show off the beautiful Etsy and handmade by Nana hats he has-Besides, when else would I be able to get my wee man to wear bunny ears?):

~ Motherhood is…humbling. I can explain it best with a photo. When I found out I was pregnant with a boy (and we knew from very early on) I did 2 things: 1. Cried (sobbed, actually. Pulled over to the side of the road and absolutely sobbed) with relief that he was healthy as far as anyone knew and 2. started looking at boy things. Boy things aren’t as cute as girl things-fact. I swore I wouldn’t be one of those mothers who dressed my son in “silly cutesy things with dogs on the butt.” Fastforward a few weeks later:

This photo just breaks my heart everytime I look at it. It was taken when he was about 3 weeks old-notice the frog theme. I don’t even LIKE frogs but for some reason, seeing my wee man with a little froggy hat and little frogs on his feet just kills me. I was SO sad when he outgrew this. Motherhood has changed everything I thought about myself…an absolutely humbling experience.

~ Yes, we wanted to know the gender…well, I wanted to know the gender and Brian wanted to be surprised. We got the call at about week 12 (we had CVS testing done and a small bonus is that you know between weeks 10-12 the gender of your baby. No waiting for 20 weeks in this house) that Ian was, well, an Ian as opposed to say, the girl name we picked out. I called Brian to give him the good news and asked if he wanted to know the gender. He paused – and about 4 seconds later caved (my mother didn’t even pretend…she wanted to know immediately). Arsenal baby products were purchased soon after.

~ And finally, please don’t feel bad about offering unsolicited advice-even about baby weight. I welcome any and all advice.

We can’t wait to share some of the weddings and sessions we’ve been working on over the last few (er, many) months…and maybe a few more of our wee man along the way.