MichaelAnn's Newborn Session | Social Circle, Ga.

Isn’t she so perfect, with the cutest little noggin! I just love her profile.

I’ve known Liz, MichaelAnn and Ella’s mom, for about two years now from church and our weekly bible studies over those years and all of the events we do together. I remember, before Ella started school, she would always come to bible study in the mornings with her mom. As soon as they walked through the door, Ella would belt out in her sweet, tiny but big voice, “Hello! I’m here!!” No matter what we were all doing and no matter how invested we were in conversation with one another, we all would turn to Ella and give that sweet baby the warm welcome she commanded from our massive study group. She is so very precious! And, such a sweet big sister, too!

I asked Liz how they came up with MK’s unique name. Michael is her husband, Austin and his dad’s middle name, Ann is Liz’s middle name and Kelli is Liz’s dad’s name. It’s a beautiful mixture of their loved one’s names.

That last photo! Oh, MK is the snuggliest baby girl! While I was rocking her to sleep, Liz snagged that photo of me loving on MK. Thank you Liz! I am so grateful to get to capture moments like these for my close friends!

Sam, Ben and Elizabeth's Valentine's Session | Social Circle, Ga.

I was back in the new studio yesterday with my sweet little friends, Sam, Ben and their sister, Elizabeth! I love these babies and their family so much and it is always fun to get to see them all together!

Can you believe that in my 12 years as a photographer, I have never hosted Valentine’s sessions?! I have always wanted to but I never have. This year I decided to just make it happen! So glad I did because this is seriously the sweetest! Elizebeth totally ran the show over here and gave us some pretty cute poses too! We even did a milk bath session for her and she rocked it!!

Harrison's Family Newborn Session | Social Circle, Ga.

These babies are SO perfect and it’s been the best day evah! My great niece and nephew, HattieMae and Harrison - I am completely in love with them and was so very excited to have their family over to break in my brand new studio space! My niece, Haley, even came over and shot with me for the first time! She is learning the art of photography and it’s been so much fun reconnecting with her!

Harrison was born the day before Thanksgiving! Not what his momma and daddy, Jason and Shanna, had planned! But, what a beautiful surprise and just one more blessing to be thankful for at such a special holiday. One month later and we finally got to do his “newborn” session. Oh gosh. I felt so terrible not getting to do his session sooner. Most newborn sessions are done with the first two weeks of their new life. However, throughout the course of those three weeks someone in my family has been sick or recovering from sickness. Everyone but me! Somehow I was able to completely miss all the sickness - thank you Lord! So finally, here we are after Christmas and now he’s 10lbs 9 ounces!!! He’s such a big boy! And once we finally got him good and milk drunk, Harrison sleep right through his “newborn” session like a champ!!

Now let’s throw is back 22 years! When Trey and I were dating, I remember on Halloween evening, while I was dressed up like an angel and Trey was dressed up like a devil - red face paint and all!, Trey’s sister, Shalayne, came home from the hospital with Jason and that was the day I held him for the very first time. He slept in my arms while we sat on their couch and we loved on him. Now, I’m holding and loving on his babies! Life is so beautiful!

Kylee's Senior Session | Downtown Social Circle, Ga.

A few weeks ago, Kylee and I met in downtown Social Circle to take her senior photographs. She showed up in this gorgeous iridescent dress! It was so perfect for her! We walked all over town finding all the fun little nooks! I asked her momma, Wendy, if she would like to write something up for her to share here on the blog. . .

Dear Kylee,

From the time you were born, we’ve joked that you and your sister are 10 years apart because God has a sense of humor, but in truth, we have loved having two nearly “only children”.

From the beginning, you were a happy, creative, and out-going child. We have enjoyed watching you grow into the confident young lady you are today. Not influenced by peer-pressure, name-brands, or popularity, you love the way Jesus loved. You are independent and responsible. We’ve been amazed by your decisions to try new things such as drama and flag corps, and we’ve been impressed by the work you put in to become successful at them.

As you continue to write your story at SCAD, your love of period clothing, sewing, musicals, drama, and costuming will take you far, maybe all the way to the stars. We want you know that we will be proud of you no matter where you land, because of who you are, not what you do!

Love, Mom and Dad

Rocco's First Easter + PPD Update!

I hope everyone is had a wonderful Easter with their friends and family! This year is Rocco's very first Easter celebration! Look at how adorable he looks in his little bow tie!!!! Trey didn't want him to wear that cute little bow tie. . .Deanna and I snuck it on him for photos though!!! Oh my goodness!! I'm so in love!

This year we went super non-traditional with our menu and served Tacos! My mother-in-law picked up some of El Charro's famous cheese dip and it was OH-so-good!!! And of course my sister-in-law, who is also an amazing baker, made some yummy desserts! We ate so good and then I had everyone go outside for photos! haha, Maybe that was bad timing! Eating MEXICAN and then photographs! Suck it in folks!

I know this is on the more serious side. . .but now that I’m getting back out there, lots of you have been asking me how I’ve been and I really appreciate you guys thinking of me! When Rocco was four months old, in (October 2017) I was hit really hard with postpartum depression. We were actually on vacation with our brand new family of five when it all started. I cried the entire trip - all SIX days! I felt SO guilty for crying every day and that guilt made it all feel so much worse!!! I felt like such a burden to my family, steeling their joy at one of our FAVE places - the beach! I was a mess and I pretty much stayed that way until the end of February 2018. 

That’s when I started focusing more on work and that really helped me! I also stopped nursing as much (we are down to only once a day now). This made me sad and happy all at the same time. Rocco never nursed very well. Heck, he hardly drinks a bottle well! He just seems so unhappy and frustrated with drinking anything. It’s taken a lot of pressure off of me but put pressure on me as well! I nursed both my girls until they were over a year old. I wanted to nurse Rocco that long and I've felt guilty for not nursing him as much. I just wanted to experience the same closeness I did when I nursed my girls but with Rocco too. I started feeling like a failure AND a burden. . .I wanted to end my life. I thought about it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY! I just felt like if I wasn’t around then my family would be happier.

During that time a lot of changes were happening. My gym of over four years stopped offering childcare. That meant I couldn’t workout because I didn't have anyone there to watch Olivia and Rocco. I lost my “gym family” and my routine! Although, I hadn’t been going super regular due to Rocco waking about three times in the middle of the night ( I was too exhausted) in my mind it was the routine I would return to when he did start sleeping! The thought of losing ALL the things that seemed normal totally rocked my world!

I started praying that God would bless me with a NEW normal AND QUICKLY!!! Shortly after praying for this, I decided to do The Juice in the Raw Cleanse. I wanted to do something totally for myself! I felt amazing after the cleanse! The very next week my sweet neighbor Brittany invited me to workout with her in a new group that had just formed! And then two weekends after that my girlfriends and I went on a girls trip to Helen, Ga.! God was so good to me!! I needed ALL of those events to happen! I seriously feel like a HUGE weight has been lifted off of me!!! I feel like me again!

This has been one of the hardest PPD journey's for me! I have been so incredibly frustrated with myself! Although I've experienced PPD before and I knew this wouldn't last forever, I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel! I doubted everything about myself and my confidence dropped off the face of the Earth! It wasn't until I started praying for healing AND was open to it, that my life started to have light again!

I just wanted to thank everyone for their continued prayers, support and love they have shown me over these really difficult months! You guys are SO incredible and I love every single one of you!