G Family Session Part Deux, this family deserves a trilogy but for now will due with a sequel blog!!! I adore going to their property and shooting, every time I visit I find something different and always gives me such a great variety in photos in such a small location!!! We even did their family photos in the pond across the road where just a few days later Papa R found a poisonous snake... thankfully we managed to make it through this session without getting poison ivy or eaten!!!
Family Photos
Baby P Cake Smash
This little lady has graduated from the baby plan and oh my goodness she grew about 2 feet from the time we did her family session to the time we did her cake smash!!! She's so long and beautiful just like her sisters, I hate it for Mama J & Papa R! They're going to have it rough with three beautiful little girls... I feel like these little ladies are now my nieces I've gotten so close to all them! They're always so kind, well behaved, and engaging and I look for any excuse to go see them! Anyways, just a few weeks back Baby P had her cake smash and oh my goodness I can not tell you how many images are in their gallery that are just of the cake smash!!! (It's somewhere around 50!) Because there were so many photos I am so in love with just from the CS I'm doing a blog exclusively on this portion of the session and another one for the family! Her Mama & I share a love for all things Shabby & Frilly, which I guess you have to when you have 3 girls, and I loveeee outdoor sessions so this made for a perfect combination! Little Ms. P has so much self control too, we learned from her birthday that she is not a huge fan of icing so I made a nude cake covered in lots of yummy fruit for her! It was still surprising though when she didn't even break into the cake, she spent her session munching on the strawberries and dodging the blueberries. You can tell in some of the photos too where she hit a bitter one an was not pleased but overall she loved it just as much as we did!
Baby P Newborn Session
in Newborn, Family Photos
I've recently discovered that little boys sleep ten times better than letter girls... It last their whole lives for that matter! Little Ms. P was so good for her newborn session, even though she hadn't been feeling well for the last few days and was spitting up lots! I thought she wouldn't be comfy on her tummy because of how upset it was and shows going to spit up the whole session but I was wrong on both counts! Despite being over the 10 day marker she did some amazing poses, on her tummy and back, and to my pleasure didn't spit up once (she did get the hiccups a ton though)! This lady rocked some of my favorite props, some of which I've never used before, and gave me the chance to showcase the fabric to one of my favorite swaddle wraps!
Just like her sister in law too Mama C had a better figure post baby then I have after months of running and looked like a super model despite what I assume was only 4 hours of sleep (I look and feel dead after sleeping 6 hours, so unfair!) Papa J was such a good helper during the session too and despite having worked a ton the day before Mama C told me he was always overly excited to get home and hold this little lady all night (Dad goals ladies). This awesome family had the best color scheme/theme picked out as well. I LOVEEEE all things frilly and pink (I talk about it all the time) but they also wanted to include some of my cat props into the session! I'm saving those photos for their gallery, even though I'm dying to show them off! After spending most the morning indoors, while it was nice and cool outside, we decided to head outside and do family photos on a day where there was about 70% humidity, or that's what it felt like at least. Based on the weather the last few days you wouldn't know just two weeks ago it was miserably hot outside! Mama & Papa were so patient outside during family photos and somehow little Ms. P stayed asleep for a few photos in the garden (but even she was sweating!) My mom always strives to keep the garden up too, for this very reason. She's always tickled to death to see her flowers in my photos.
K & Z Family Session
In between all the babies I've had these last few weeks I somehow managed to get a little 1.5 year old in my grasps! I love all the babies and will always welcome them but it was nice to work with a child who was about 95% less likely to pee or poop on me. It just so happens this darling little ladies Mama was someone I intentionally made friends with in High School just so I could photograph! It only occurred to me later that she was more than just a pretty face, she was an incredibly sweet and an all around remarkable lady! The last time I saw Mama K was the last time I attended High School, which... I don't even want to talk about how long ago that was. People always seem to make a huge change in personality from 17 to early 20's but Ms. K was still just as flattering as ever. She was also just as easy to get along with as ever! We talked like we've been in contact all this time & as socially awkward as I am that's a super hard trait to find in someone!
As amazing as Mama K is she had some competition with Baby Z who spent most her session running away from me with my stroller. Z has the personality of a 16 year old girl and was definitely in charge of the session! She also had some of the best outfits I've ever seen (do they make pants like that in adult sizes?) and the most beautiful blue eyes!
We ended up having to go to our first location the following day because the place was closing early and we got kicked out almost immediately... (jerks!) It gave me a good excuse to see these two beauties again though and was well worth the wait. Because I had planned for most of the session to be shot at the first location we ended up improvising the rest of the session and locations. Every park we seemed to drive by seemed to be having HUGE family reunions or people letting their giant dogs run around like crazy (it's a park, I get it, dogs will run around and they should be able to but it makes it SUPER hard to keep a kids attention so it was a no go!) We were also racing against the rain and these two stills somehow managed to give me some truly awesome shots on such a restricted time line with so many distractions!
Ms. Z was bein so good too I was able to get some shots of this pretty Mama & I think I'm going to try & sneak her pretty face in my senior gallery to see if anyone notices ;)
DW Maternity Session
Baby DW number 3 is almost here!!! This means at any given moment I can be driving up to KY to witness this little monster to make her/his big debut! Lets hope unlike his/her sister, they decide to arrive at a hard noon! Hopefully this isn't the last of the DW children, I know if Mama can help it she'll get two more out of Papa K, because they make the most adorable kids! Check out this beauty rockin one of my maternity dresses & her adorable munchkins (& handsome hubby) giving her some serious love!
E Family Maternity Session
Maternity Sessions might be my favorite... I think I say all sessions might be my favorite, BUT, that's because they are all awesome! Maternity sessions though mean that I will have a little one to snuggle and photograph soon!!! Judging by this handsome Dad and Mom though my next baby is going to be a doll!
Though we had only briefly spoken through sporadic text messages (on my behalf!) it was like meeting old friends and we spent the whole evening telling jokes and me keeping them much longer then necessary! If darkness wasn't creeping up on us these two might have been stuck there an hour or so longer! Mama E made being 8 months pregnant look so easy. She somehow managed to hike trails that I got winded on (but I also get winded rolling out of bed), scale rock walls, and looked like a super model all while doing it! If you were to see her from behind you would never have known she was pregnant, she was all perfectly round belly!
I don't know if I've ever met anyone as organized as I like to think I am. Mama E knew everything she looking for from her session, how to pose, the best spots to shoot, and was willing to wear just about anything I brought! She, much like myself, has a flair for the dramatic! Though I'm always overly excited about any session I have she had me ready to bring half my closet for her to try on before it was over! Surprisingly we ended up being able to narrow it down... Thankfully her husband was just as stylish and photogenic as she was. Unlike his brother who I don't think owns more then 3 shirts, Papa J had a large selection to choose from and made narrowing down outfits that much harder! He looked so good I even made him step aside and let me get a few shots of him by himself! They looked so good I even cut the belly out of a few of the shots and focused exclusively on them!
I already consider these guys more friends then clients and I'm so thankful this awesome couple was able to get to me before Mama C has her little lady. I'm more excited for this session newborn session then I have been in a while because of the AWESOME concept and color scheme these guys have picked out!
P Family Session
You don't realize just how long two years has been until you see a family you haven't seen in ages and they have one child running around and another who is just starting to sit up (that you had no clue they even had)! Two years ago I had amazing photo session with Baby C, who is now Big Brother C, and his amazing Mama & Papa! Nashville weather, as much as I love it, I hate it all the same. We had to reschedule twice to do rain and sickness caused by allergies, so the third time was definitely the charm! We did however end up finishing right before it started to storm, the storm that brought all this awful Nashville humidity, & I'm so thankful we had such a beautiful and cool morning to shoot! It's definitely not going to be like that again till fall!
Baby C had such a big personality, she was well beyond her years and such an incredibly happy baby!!! She was nothing but smiles (& tongue) her whole session and was reaching for her brother every time he was close enough to grab him. Big Brother C was a little ball of fire & despite what the photos might show he wouldn't sit still! There were so many exciting things going on around us, he was such an adventurer and was so incredibly fearless! (Hence why Baby C was reaching for him, she was trying to get him to hold still so she could get home & take a nap!) I don't know how Mama C & Papa R keep up with them!
To see just how much this family has changed check out BB C's 6 month session with me! Still the cutest pumpkin I think I've ever seen!!! http://www.chelseameadowsphotography.com/blog/2015/11/13/fe2dqbzud2e3tsnywfwfd1jvpu7fya
Little Ms. R Pageant Session
No matter how often you work with a family or how well you think you know them they always seem to have a way of surprising you! That was very much so the case for Ms. R, even though I was literally there when she was born and have worked with her multiple times since then I was taken back how much of a little fireball she was on our private session together! Without her big brother or father around I got to focus exclusively on this little lady for her Pageant photos and she was such an incredible delight. Her personality is much too old for her age, she is so incredibly well behaved, exceptionally smart, and is just all around funny. The hour we spent playing peekaboo to get these beautiful cheeky smiles was by far the best hour of that day! If this little lady gives the judges in Texas just an ounce of the personality she gave me she's going to knock it out of the park!!!
Little Ms. R's floral headband by the super awesome 100AcreBoutique
Baby N Newborn Session
in Newborn, Family Photos
I always talk about how newborns are one of the most challenging sessions I ever have but the most rewarding... well... this little dude was easy peezy lemon squeezie! At almost a month old Baby N definitely had me a little nervous for his session. After about the 10 day period most babies don't want to cooperate nearly as much as we would like and are less likely to sleep or do certain poses... HOWEVER, Baby N slept the majority of his session and preferred being photographed outdoors, which is my favorite place for babies! He loved basking in the sunlight and made me want to exclusively shoot outdoors from now on. His wonderful mama gave me creative control of his session and thankfully she was just as big a fan of bonnets with ears on them as I am! I was finally able to use some props I have never gotten to use before and I couldn't have picked a more handsome guy to break them in! He looked good in almost every color and I made sure to keep him and his mama the whole 4 hours I generally schedule for my newborn sessions!
Mama A and I got along from the get go because we both have such awful senses of humor and we both have the same taste in style. Even though we had only exchanged a few texts I knew I'd love her company and she did not disappoint! When we were discussing what she was going to wear for her session I 'politely pushed' the white gown I had in my inventory that I had yet to use and she thankfully obliged! She rocked her outfit and it matched perfectly with Baby N's knit outfit from Boutique De Marzian!
I don't think I've ever had family photos of as smoothly as I did with this session. Every newborn session I try and lay out a plan to make the session go as smooth as possible however it all depends on how the babies are when they arrive and generally never goes the way I had intended! For this session we were able to save Mama/son photos till the very end and it's of course when Baby N slept the hardest! Every move came so naturally to Mama A and N just went with whatever she did,I've never had to maneuver a baby as little as I did for this portion of the session, everything just looked amazing. Despite just having a baby too Mama A looked so amazingly beautiful! I actually had her model for me for a few minutes while N slept in his car seat and nearly forgot we were doing a newborn session!!! I could have spent a whole hour just taking photos of her by herself.
I'm about 3/4 done with this gallery and I'm so madly in love with the outdoor photos I def put the studio photos off till the end. I don't think I've ever had such a hard time choosing photos and I feel like I need to redo all my packets now and update it with the photos from this session! I can't wait to show this awesome family their full gallery and I can't wait for more beautiful mama's and babies like this to come my way soon!
Baby S Newborn Session
in Family Photos, Newborn
Almost 3 years ago, at the start of my newborn career, an awesome couple (& even cooler friends) welcomed their first child into the world and you best believe I jumped at the opportunity to shoot their baby! After hours of planning, because back then it didn't take me weeks to actually plan because I had no idea what I was getting myself into, I welcomed Mitchell & Brittany into my home studio and walked myself right into a whirlwind! I spent some time dying cheesecloth (which has ZERO stretch to it guys, don't believe all those blogs!!!), buying fabrics, the works, excited to use literally every newborn prop I had at the time for her session. I've got to say I psyched myself up for so long, after seeing all these sleepy adorable baby photos online and thinking that that would be the cutest thing ever to add to my portfolio, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Newborns have definitely been one of the most complicated, yet most rewarding, models I have ever worked with. I never imaged how much newborns pee and poop, especially when naked, nor did I think that it would be so hard to get them to sleep for more then 5 minutes! Isn't that what newborns do? Eat, poop, and sleep??? The photos you see online are a dirty lie and make it look so easy!
Now Big sister H was definitely a challenging newborn. Despite being fed and kept up before our session she was literally awake for the whole thing and loved the fur I laid her on so much that she peed on it more then once! She never cried but was the biggest wiggle bug I have ever seen! It was also the first time Papa M had been pooed on and it was an amazingly funny experience. Even though I wasn't nearly as knowledgeable about posing newborns/didn't have all the fancy cute props I have now, I still love the family photos I did from H's newborn session. Mama B & Papa M look so incredibly proud of their beautiful little girl that it doesn't matter her fingers weren't flat, her wrap wasn't smooth, or her arms were literally spelling out YMCA the whole time, the photos are still so sentimental even I can look past all the fine details to see the true beauty of the family.
Fast forward almost 3 years and M & B are welcoming their second beautiful little girl into the world and it wasn't an option for the now 4 to once again visit me! Baby S was just as beautiful as I imagined her and Mama B has a hotter postpartum body than I have on a good day so I was incredibly jealous. She also had more hair then I thought a newborn could have and her mama picked out a beautiful color pallet so I was incredibly excited to piece everything together! Following in her adorable sisters footsteps Baby S was awake for a good chunk of her session and was more interested in why I was moving her around so much then sleeping. Despite being such a wiggle butt we did manage to get her to sleep for a good 15 straight minutes which was all I needed!
Big Sister H amazed me at how well she handled her little sister! I've never seen a sibling so young walk around (or try to at least!) with 'their' baby with such ease as H did! She sat down and proper her upright, cradled her, the works! This little mama is going to be a huge help to her parents! S wasn't too terribly pleased we kept moving her around while she tried to sleep but still managed to look like a gerber model for her family photos!
Purple knit blanket - Baileys Knits
Puple wrap and headbands - Emmy Blue Headbands
Purple Bonnet - Pinkytinks Boutique
Purple and Yellow headband - Pixie Blossoms
White floral headband - Pixie Blossoms
Ivory Headband and wrap - Emmy Blue Headbands
Baby P 6 month Session
The first BLOGGED session of 2017 is well deserved to be shown first for the excessive cuteness!
It's crazy how fast 6 months goes by when it's not your child! Somehow it's already been 6 months & little Baby P was extra sweet & cuddly for her 6 month session. She was much happier to see me this time around & had thankfully forgotten how much I disturbed her while she slept during her newborn session! After planning for many weeks trying to work around this sweet princess being sick & Nashville's inconsistent weather we finally caught a lovely day in between the rain & wind to shoot on this awesome families beautiful property! We spent the first part of the morning going through the older girls (who are the best mini mommies) closet & my goodness I've never seen such a wardrobe with such exquisite taste! It was easy to see why mama J had such a hard time deciding between outfits. I can't decide what the best part of this family is. How sweet Ms. P is, how social and easy Mama J & Papa R are to get along with, or just how incredibly awesome the R & G are! The older girls, G & R, always acted like they were so happy to see me & have always so social & well behaved anytime I have met them, in ever setting! I always try & squeeze extra time in between photo taking to frolic with them & catch up on the latest gossip ;)
Little Miss G & R were also kind enough to watch their baby sister while I snapped a few photos of Mama J & Papa R together! The two newlyweds looked so great together & photographed so well I could have spent another hour with them just taking couple photos, but we just so happened to shoot on super bowl Sunday & that takes precedence over most things!
Believe it or not the hardest part of this session was getting Ms. P to look at me! There was lots of tasty grass all around to be eaten & having photos taken on game day wasn't exactly what this cutie had in mind! She fell asleep for a portion of the shoot & things became so much easier! You could also tell just how adorable & squishy her cheeks were when they were smushed up against her Mama!
Though Ms. P is halfway through graduating the baby plan I'm always going to be looking for an excuse to work with these little girls & their awesome mama & papa! I've already recruited the little ladies to model some of my handmade dresses for me soon! I'm starting to try & slow down finishing these photos because I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when I finish!!!
Deer headband - Dearest Dreams
Red Headband - Pixie Blossoms
Q Boys
As fall quickly came to an end I found myself shooting one of the most bittersweet sessions to date. After years of hearing about how wonderful these two little guys were & seeing multiple cell phone photos I finally had the chance to work with N & J, before they moved half way across the country with their parents. They did not disappoint, they were even more handsome in person than in their photos & right away N warmed up to me & showed me his play room as well as other things in his Papa & Nana's house (meanwhile J hid from me & screamed every time I got close!) Once we got to our location though it was a completely different story. While N was more concerned with the most awesome stick that he had found J was definetly a fan of having his photos taken & was such a ham! I ended up getting to carry him around and get lots of kisses, which were very much so appreciated! Check out these handsome little guys & their adorable outfits! Nana A picked out a great theme & location!
Baby R Cake Smash
Another Baby R graduated from the Baby Plan this month! This pouty lip baby just gets more handsome & is probably the #1 reason I'm so dead set on having a boy when the time comes! (Come on now Blake) I can't think of a better way to start fall than with a session with the most handsome little one year old boy, the most stylish mama, & the most handsome papa! We've had this location planned for more than 6 months & thankfully they had a lovely display out that made an amazing backdrop for our session.
Cake Smashes are probably my most favorite part of the Baby Plan, but they're also the worst because it means I won't get to see my little ones as frequently! Baby R's Beautiful Mama (who I always gloat about how I want to be like whenever I have children) had R's theme picked out early & made the set planning so easy! She knew exactly what she wanted & also made the two blue banners you see in the set, which really made it 10 times better! Looking back now it would have been so boring without them! I normally only share a few photos from the cake smashes but R was just too precious & I couldn't help but showing a ton of them! Baby R was a little grumpy at the last part of the family session & we were thinking for a moment that we were going to have to postpone his cake smash, however, as soon as we brought it out he had a complete attitude change & was willing to tolerate me for the rest of his session! As Papa N cheered him on (in the best 'Dad voice') Baby R kept saying 'Mhhhm' so it must have been a pretty decent cake!
Baby R Cake Smash
So I think it's safe to say that it's time for the DW family to have another baby because, not only are both their children so incredibly perfect but Baby R just graduated the baby plan!!! I had the privilege to see this little lady come into the world, to hold her when she was only a few hours old, & now to see her crawling around with so much personality... I don't know how you parents do it! I get emotional just thinking about it...
Baby R & her awesome family came to visit me for like the 10th time the other week & we had such fun splashing in the water & causing mayhem! I've never had such a relaxed session nor have I seen children so well behaved when there were so many things to get into! We almost had a little accident where R almost fell in the water but Papa K was thankfully there to catch her! I think Mama T & I both screamed...
Can you guess this little ladies Cake Smash theme?
Can you tell M & R are related? They look identical!!! M was soooo good while R ate her cake! He waited for his turn to steal some of the delicious blue icing from her & even let him mama have some! I'll tell you, doing cake smashes on a diet is one of the hardest things I've done... never have I ever had to resist the urge to clean out the icing container while making this cake as I did that night!
T Family Session
Last weeks family came all the way from Ohio!
Ms. A contacted me late last week & we were able to manage a quick and precious 'family reunion' session! Her sister, little doe-eyed brother, parents, & fiance accompanied me on one of the warmest mornings of August & I couldn't be happier with the images! I had only originally had the pleasure of knowing A through in passing & through the grape vine so it was such a pleasure actually getting to spend a little time with her (& who I'm going to now have to recruit to model for me whenever she's available!) & I am so grateful her family gave me the opportunity to work with them during their very short stay in Nashville!
Baby P Newborn Session
in Family Photos, Newborn
One of the many wonderful things about living in Nashville is that everywhere you go you can find gorgeous scenery (& it's home to some of the most amazing people!!!). One of the downfalls to living in the area is that the summers can be unbearable!!! However, the weather was just slightly less unbearable than normal the day I got to work with the adorable Baby P & her family! After my long line of boys I've finally had some beautiful girls to work with & I must say the sessions have gotten a bit out of hand! I've probably stripped my prop stash & have attempted to use every little item I own on the ladies I've had the pleasures of working with recently!
Baby P was born on 7.12 at 7:12 & the day I got to work with her she weighed 7lbs 12oz! I had the best little assistants & Mom & Dad had the two best helpers I think anyone could ever ask for! Sister G & R were such good little mommies & were so well behaved our session. They were so polite, kind, & such good listeners, which is all I could ever hope my children to be. Everything came so naturally to the soon to be husband & wife (& they all photographed so darn well) I couldn't stop taking photos!
Little Ms. P Slept through the first half of her session, the miserable outside part, but barely slept once indoors. There were too many exciting things going on! Despite all my little baby tricks this little lady definitely did not like being naked or sleeping on all my soft furs, even if she was tightly wrapped up, however I still managed to get some pretty awesome shots in between feedings!
I'm so thrilled this little lady is now enrolled in the my Baby Plan because now I'll be able to see her & her family multiple times over the next year, not including their Aunt C's wedding in just a few months!
Baby C 6 Month Session
It just so happens that most of my babies on 'The Baby Plan' this year are all going to be graduating about the same time!!! It makes me so sad to see all these sweet squishy little babies that first came to visit me less than 2 weeks old growing up so quickly! They're all developing such wonderful personalities thoughand are just as much fun to work with the older they get!
Baby C and her beautiful mama came to visit me for her dreamy 6 month session the other week and I'm still in awe of how adorable this matching Mama and daughter were! I caught C right before she started cutting teeth so she was so laid back and sweet her whole session but wouldn't stop chewing on her hands!
Baby R 1/2 Year
The fact that I'm doing Baby R's 6 month session makes me super sad because it means he's halfway through the baby plan which means I won't be able to see him as frequently soon!!! Baby R is the epitome of cuteness and style, he's everything I would want in my own son, & his parents are everything that all parents want to be!
Baby C Family Session
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!
As a special Easter treat I have a very special blog that I've been dying to share all week! Last weekend (when it was about 30 degrees out/sleeting) I was finally reunited with the beautiful Baby C & her gorgeous parents! A few days before our session Luisa & Rey had gotten married, which we've all been waiting for them to do forever, so this session was extra special! It was Mom & Pops first time being photographed as a married couple & I was almost as thrilled to do a few photos of them together as I was shooting Baby C (who is now 9 months old!!!) Rey is absolutely crazy about both the women in his life & though most sessions are spent keeping the little one happy these two parents spent a good amount of time exchanging these sickeningly sweet little glances between one another, holding hands, & just being down right adorable. Rey would just sit there & talk about how beautiful C was & compliment her & her mother without even thinking about it. If they hadn't been exactly the same way at our last session I would think that it was just the fact that they were still overly giddy being newly weds but these two have such a strong & inspiring relationship between each other that it was hard to let them go! Had it not been 30 degrees outside with the wind blowing like crazy (again, it started sleeting not long after!) I could have kept them there for hours!
Anyways, here's Baby C rockin her adorable little Easter dress & one of my favorite Pixie Blossom Headbands!
A big thanks to Auntie for coming out & helping & another HUGE congrats to Mama L & Papa R!
Baby A Cake Smash
Who remembers the maternity session I did last winter with the beautiful woman that made my camera/travel bag (Nikolette Bags) WELL! One year later I was finally reunited with this adorable family and was allowed to do the photos for Baby A's birthday! I sadly wasn't able to do his newborn photos, I mean... how dare they live halfway across the continent... so I've been anxiously waiting this day for some time.
Mama Courtney & Papa Dan were in Nashville for a very short time visiting family & they graced me with the presence one cold & windy morning! Apparently every photo session they've ever had was when the weather was awful, our maternity session it was so incredibly cold, it was raining when they had their engagement photos done, and on this day in particular it started sleeting! The cold weather meant I couldn't cuddle on Baby A nearly as much as I wanted to. This handsome little dude was such a happy baby and was so incredibly animated it was hard not to get a good photo of him. He loved interacting with his mama & papa and you could tell he was accustom to having his photos taken all the time.
Though we were all incredibly excited for A's Cake Smash he didn't share our enthusiasm! He got just messy enough to give the illusion that he enjoyed the process! I wish I had as much self control as A!
Even though he was unhappy being covered in icing he loved splashing his feet in the sink, which was probably the cutest thing I've seen in forever, and exploring the sun room where I have my studio set up. He was so happy when he didn't have to look at the cake (I tried to explain to him that it wasn't a real volcano!). Check out Baby A rockin his Dino hat & 'considering' his cake!
