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It seems like just yesterday that we learned we were expecting Baby #2! And then we found out he would be a boy! Our hospital bag is (mostly) packed, the nursery is (mostly) complete (photos to come soon!), and our Christmas shopping is…you guessed it, mostly wrapped up! Oh, which reminds me that I should probably wrap all the gifts too! We had a lovely evening in October for our family portraits and maternity photos, thanks to the help of my parents and Reggie! I have to thank my dear sweet friend, Julia, for making me look and feel beautiful with her makeup talents! And a big thank you to my sweet and talented floral design friend, Linda, for making the perfect crown for me to wear! I have to admit that I wore it out to dinner afterward…and I didn’t want to take it off! I am so blessed with creative, talented, and kind-hearted friends and colleagues! We are beyond excited to meet our newest family member, and can hardly believe that we’ll be a family of four any day now!

Remington is going to be a wonderful big brother, we just know it! We’ve been talking about how special of a role it will be every chance we get!

Since my busy fall season closed, I’ve enjoyed spending extra quality time with my handsome little guy. We’ve gone to classes at the library, watched his favorite movies, like Finding Nemo and Toy Story 2 over and over and over! I’ve taken naps with him and recently built a gingerbread house together! Next on our list is to bake cookies for Santa Claus!

The past few months have brought about several changes for Remington. He’s moved up to the 3 year old class at school, he’s moved into a big boy bed, and shown more interest in potty training. He’s got one heck of a vocabulary, which continues to impress us daily. And he’s quite a character, especially when he plays with his toys using different voices as they interact!

We love you to pieces, Remington!!!

I had to get a few portraits of my handsome husband. Reggie is a wonderful father. He’s loving, patient, generous, helpful…and he can make us all laugh like no one else!

Usually I’m the one behind the camera, and this particular evening, I was pretty excited to hand it over to Reggie for some photos! Here I am at 29 weeks!

We still had lovely evening light, and I had to get some more photos of my handsome guys!

I love this one of Remington!

Giant fall leaves!

Remington loves to climb and ride on Daddy’s back!

Especially at home with Lucy chasing them around!

My loves!

Now I’m 38 weeks and feeling pretty good! It’s been great to have a little break to wrap up client work, to prepare the nursery, and to get some extra rest when possible. I’m excited to share nursery photos soon, as well as newborn/family photos, and many client sessions to come here on the blog during my maternity leave! Thank you all for your support and well wishes for our growing family!

You’re the best!

My Sweet Family | Awaiting the Arrival of Baby #2

Earlier this Spring, we learned that we’d be expecting a new addition to our family! We let Remington in on the news right away, because we know that with a new baby comes some big changes and periods of adjustment. Santa Claus will be pretty busy this season… Our due date is 12/25/15! We had a perfect summer night to capture this exciting time! On Monday, we found out if we’ll be decorating the nursery with pink or blue! Keep reading! 😉

My handsome guys!

Reggie captured some of the sweetest photos that I will always cherish! Remington has been giving hugs and kisses to the baby since finding out he’ll be a big brother. And it just melts my heart!

Remington’s favorite cuddly friend had to come along… Hi Goldie!

Drumroll, please! It’s a BOY!!!

I told Remington I had some surprises in store for him during our session. Confetti!!!

And by the looks of the image on the right, he’s going to be a great big brother! Poor Goldie was getting covered in blue confetti! 😉

Then it was time for blue silly string! Once he got the hang of pressing the button, he was unstoppable!

Yay for boys! We’re so excited that Remington will have a little brother! He’ll be able to share all of his cars, trucks, and trains with him! 😉 We truly feel blessed and can’t wait to meet the little guy!

Thank you to Reggie and my parents for helping with this special session, and for cleaning up all of the confetti and silly string! Love you all to pieces!

Stewart Baby #2 | Pink or Blue?

Creatures. Delicious. Amazing. These are just a few of my favorite words that have come out of our little guy’s mouth recently. And I do have to agree with that last one. Amazing. At 2 and 1/2 years, Remington continues to be and do just that for us each and every day. He has his sweet and cuddly moments, running up to us and giving us a tight squeeze out of the blue. He loves to run and race around our dining room table almost every day. And he’ll try new foods more often now too. Yes, there are the occasional toddler melt downs. The wanting to play rather than nap or sleep or eat. The pushing of parental buttons. All of that. That’s normal, right? No matter what, he fills us with such joy, such pride, such immense love, and we are so thankful to get to be his Mommy and Daddy! And ohhhh can he giggle! Right now, the funniest thing is watching him interact with Lucy. He just cracks himself up when chasing after her and hearing her bark and try to hide! And his laughter is contagious! I love it, and I just want to bottle it up! That and his singing! He’ll sing sometimes in his crib in the mornings. Just today he was singing snippets of the birthday song to Lucy (her birthday isn’t until June)! When it comes to taking pictures, he asks me to do so when I’m least prepared, when my iPhone is full, or when his curly hair is extra wild! Ha! The stars aligned earlier this week when my parents came to visit. We jumped in the car and within an hour I had some photos of my boy that I was so excited about! Remington loves anything with wheels, so he loved playing with this antique truck, which belonged to 2 of his great uncles! Hi Uncle Mark and Uncle Mike! You’ll be getting some prints in the mail soon! 😉

With all of my portraits, I love capturing a variety of expressions. Like Mr. Serious here!

Oh, Remington! You are such a source of joy and inspiration to me, and I love you so much!

XOXO, Mommy

P.S. A huge thank you to Gamma and PaPa for helping with this fun session! Love you!

Remington | 2 and A Half Years

Reggie and I stayed up late chatting with friends about life and old times. We had come back to their home to pick up our son Remington after photographing a surprise proposal at the Circle of Lights in downtown Indianapolis. It had been such a wonderful day! First, Remington and I met my good friend and her husband from New York for lunch before walking around the Indianapolis Museum of Art. It was so fun to introduce them to Remington! He hammed it up for them all afternoon and gave them hugs before we left. It was one of the warmest December days, and we had the windows down a bit as we listened to Christmas music on our way home for his nap time. This holiday season has been filled with hustle and bustle, as it always is, but I feel like we’ve taken time to create memories too. We’ve taken Remington to see Santa, he’s met Rudolph’s girlfriend Clarisse, we’ve watched our favorite childhood Christmas movies (and we still have some that we want him to see!), and we’ve driven around looking at holiday lights and decorations. We’ve also spent quality time with family and friends. And that has been so needed and so fulfilling! We’ll be doing more of the same over the next several days, and I can’t wait to watch Remington enjoy the magic fills this time of year! Thank goodness we wrapped gifts a few days before Christmas Eve this year! Last year we waited until the last minute to help Santa get everything ready! And my new favorite trick for wrapping gifts…hot glue instead of tape! Why didn’t I try this sooner?! So enough of my pre-morning-coffee rambling…let’s get to the main reason that I’m so thankful this year! My sweet little family! They love me, and they spoil me every day with hugs, kisses, laughter, and adorableness! They allow me to do what I love – meeting and photographing wonderful clients for some of their most special moments in life. I’m so very thankful for the continued support of family, friends, and clients who’ve made this year another amazing one! From my family to yours, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Here are some favorites from our summer and fall impromptu family portraits!

These portraits were taken on a gorgeous summer evening at a small park that I’ve driven by so many times and never noticed how perfect it would be for some photos!

Happy Holidays!!!

Wishing You a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2015!

Last night I sang you a special song all about spending your 2nd birthday at the zoo. After all, you said “Bus!” so I knew exactly which tune you were requesting. Then you said “Choo choo!” and “Fraff!” And just like that, I changed the words to honor what a fun day we had with you! (I think The Wheels on the Bus may forever be stuck in my head!) Earlier in the day, we hopped in the car to venture downtown Indianapolis to visit the zoo. It was just one surprise we had in store for your special day. During our drive, we mentioned all of the animals we hoped to see…bears, elephants, lions, ha’s (monkeys)…and your favorite one of all, giraffes!

The weather was perfect! Sunny and cool! And it felt like we had the whole zoo to ourselves since it was a Monday! We saw the sea lions, a polar bear, and some jolly walruses before checking out the underwater dome where the dolphins darted happily around us.

In the distance, we heard the whistle of the train. We knew we would definitely ride the train! We opted for the TAP (Total Adventure Package), which allowed us all-day access to rides, animal feeds, and the dolphin show (we’ll have to check that out next time!). We boarded the train and got a behind-the-scenes look at the zoo. From there we rode their newest ride, the Skyline, overlooking the new orangutan center! Very cool! Even your new little dog, Brownie, got to go for the ride!

From there we headed into the Plains exhibit where we were so excited to see that it was feeding time for the giraffes! This was such a neat experience! While eating carrots today at lunch, you mentioned “big ‘fraffe…carrot!” I don’t think you’ll soon forget this moment!

You enjoyed roaring at the lion!

And saying hi to these big guys…

All day you said you wanted to see some ha’s, so we searched and found baboons…Luckily, you’re not yet aware of the difference between monkeys and baboons! 😉

You also wanted to see 3 elephants…check and mark!

Early afternoon, some gray clouds began rolling in and raindrops fell. Fortunately, we were near the exhibit that housed this adorable bird! So we shared his roof for a few minutes!

You got a kick out of watching the flamingos strut their stuff.

We rode the carousel, and you chose to sit on the mighty elephant as we went round and round and round. Rain started to settle in for the day, so we made our way home. But not before checking out the Desert to see some “‘nakes”. Somehow, much to your Mama’s chagrin, you have an interest in snakes! Eeek!

You fell asleep in the car, and I smiled at your Daddy. We had such an awesome time with you for your birthday at the zoo! And we think you did too!

The day before your birthday, we invited friends and family over to celebrate! The week leading up to your party, it was all you could talk about! “Party!” and “Bir-day!” Oh, and we couldn’t forget cake! You were so excited for cake! Your great Aunt Janie made a delicious giant cupcake and matching cupcakes for your party, complete with sprinkles and little monkeys!

We sang Happy Birthday and you got a little help from some friends with the candles!

You opened some gifts and happily shared your toys with all of your friends. Sharing is fun, isn’t it!

Why the serious face? Well, it just so happened that I planned your party right when you usually take a nap! Silly Mama! 🙂 Luckily, Grandma was on hand to rock you right to sleep as soon as the party ended! You hugged your new little dog, Brownie, as you drifted off to la-la land.

When you woke up from your nap after a fun-filled day at the zoo, we had a few more surprises for you…we know how much you love a good “sur-trize”! Some mega-blocks, play-doh, and a t-ball set kept you entertained for the rest of your birthday evening.