You have until MIDNIGHT!

The Fish Lips Photography GIVE-AWAY ends at MIDNIGHT TONIGHT! We have not had a whole lot of entries at this point, so you stand a GREAT chance at winning one of our FOUR PRIZES. To see the initial information about the give-away and how to enter, just scroll down this page a little bit. Or, click HERE.

I have some friends, who are, shall we way..."technologically challenged". Some of you don't know HOW to post a comment to let me know all the things you are doing/have done for the give-away. So, I went to Becky's blog and basically copied and pasted a tutorial here for you:

At the end of every post you will see something that looks like this: "Posted at 6:36PM 2 comments"

1. Click on the word "comment." Then the Comment Box should pop up.

2. Scroll down to the box underneath the comments-- it says "Leave your comment."

3. Click in the box and write your message.

4. Choose an identity:
-If you have you have google account: the first one lets you sign in.

-If you don't have a google account, click "anonymous." *However if you do this, I won't be able to know who posted the comment. So be sure to sign your name in the comment box after your comment. *

5. Click "PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT"

6. You are done!

***Being a Facebook "FAN" is the same as "LIKE" or "FRIEND". To become a FAN, click HERE (if you do not have a Facebook account, obviously this does not apply to you.)

***If you have ANY questions about how to enter the contest, just email me at sarahelizabethcraig@gmail.com. There are no dumb questions. I will make sure that you are properly entered if you are worried about it.

I will announce the winners in the morning! Good luck!

Elizabeth's 2nd Haircut

Soooo, my baby girl was born with a lot of hair.

A LOT.

At the risk of over-sharing (deal with it)-

when I was pushing her down the birth canal, the nurses were like,

"Oh my goodness! We can see her long, dark hair!"

I remember thinking, "What? Hair? Long hair?"

I was practically bald as a baby, so this is NOT what I was expecting.

If you didn't know us then, click HERE for pics of her as a newborn.

Yes, we were able to clip a bow in her hair from the moment of her birth.

She's technically already had her first haircut.

By the time she was 4 months old, it had grown A LOT,

and was looking all kinds of scraggly.

Click HERE for pics from her first actual haircut.

It hasn't been cut since then, and it's grown A LOT,

so I took her to Little Lords & Ladies on Westheimer.

Judy did an amazing job. I HIGHLY recommend her.

I want her hair to be long, so I told Judy to just trim it

and even it out so it's not so crazy looking.

Elizabeth's Nana came along for the grand event.

What a BIG GIRL!

She did GREAT! She just sat in that little car-chair and laughed and smiled

and didn't fuss for a second. Judy was AMAZED. She couldn't believe

Elizabeth was doing such a great job. Her Nana remarked,

"She likes beauty treatments as much as her mom does."

Yes.

Aubrey. Again.

If you are looking for the Fish Lips Photography GIVE-AWAY,

just keep scrolling down the page a little bit.

If you are looking for complete and utter cuteness,

look no further.

Remember Aubrey, Elizabeth's best friend?

Seriously, how could you forget her?

I mean, she's only been on this blog like a million times by now. ;)

I love this little munchkin.

I want her and Elizabeth to be best friends forever and ever.

She kisses me on the lips.

And I'm not even a relative.

If you are confused now, you should click: HERE.

The Hubs walked by the computer while I was working on this blog post,

pointed at THIS picture, and said, "I like that one."

I almost fell out of my chair.

If you know Ryan Craig, you know what I mean.

If you don't have the pleasure, let me just put it this way:

Normally when he sees one of my pictures like this, he says,

"You cut her head off. Did you mean to take a picture of her feet?"

I'm not kidding people.

That's what I'm working with here.

Sooooooo, I don't ordinarily bring my baby to photo shoots, BUT,

this particular shoot was in her Nana & Papa's backyard,

and it was her best friend Aubrey,

AND her beloved Miss Becky & Baby Karis joined us

for a delightful morning in the sunshine,

so how could I NOT bring my baby to THIS photo shoot?

After the shoot the girls played in the...er...gravel pit in my in-laws backyard.

It's the Craig version of a sandbox.

Yeah, that's how we roll.

And can I just say:

how completely ADORABLE is Elizabeth in those FALL CLOTHES?

I went to Carters last week & bought her 3 outfits because the poor girl

has no fall clothing yet, and at Mother's Day Out last week they were like,

"Um, your baby is freezing in here everyday."

So they put somebody else's random mismatched socks on her feet that day.

Since I intend to win Mother of the Year this year,

I thought maybe I should get that girl some clothes.

And it was finally cool enough to wear them this week OUTSIDE!

WOOHOO!!!!!! HELLO FALL!!!

And I know this post is supposed to be all about Aubrey,

and that I've totally derailed by this point,

but I could NOT deny you this:

Becky was with me at Carters and I was trying to decide which ones to buy,

and B said, "You HAVE to get this one. It is SO Elizabeth."

So true.

FLP GIVE-AWAY!

To celebrate the launch of the BRAND NEW WEBSITE (http://fishlipsphotography.com), let’s have our first ever GIVE-AWAY!

Grand Prize: FREE session & CD of edited, high resolution images!
3 MORE Prizes: $25 OFF session & CD of edited, high resolution images!

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Post about this contest & about the new website in your Facebook status.
2. Blog about this contest & about the new website.
3. Tweet about this contest & about the new website in your Twitter status.
4. Email a minimum of 10 people about this contest & about the new website.
5. Become a fan of Fish Lips Photography on Facebook.

Each time you do one of these your name will be entered into The Drawing.

*Note: You may repeat the same task, but it will NOT increase your number of entries. In other words, you can tweet ten times about FLP, but it will still only be worth one entry. Don't annoy your friends. ;)

What MUST be included in your blogging & posting & emailing & tweeting: A link to my blog AND a link to my new website.

Sample: “Sarah Craig of Fish Lips Photography is having a GIVE-AWAY! Go check it out on her blog: http://thecraiglife.blogspot.com/2010/09/flp-give-away.html. Also, check out her brand new website: http://fishlipsphotography.com!"

After you’ve finished everything, post a comment here on my blog with all that you’ve done. If you do all 5, your name will be entered into the contest 5 times with 5 chances to win! We will have 4 winners, and you can only win one prize.

What if I'm already a "fan" of FLP on Facebook? That's cool, just let me know in your comment. That still counts as an entry.

What if you've already done a photo shoot for me before? Well, lucky me! And lucky you, because ANYONE can win this- not just new clients!

DEADLINE for entries is on Thursday, September 30th at midnight. The Drawing will take place Friday morning and winners will immediately be announced here on the blog. Good Luck!

*Photo sessions take place ONLY in Houston, Texas. Winners must book their session by December 31st, 2010 and the session must take place by June 1, 2011.*

Introducing Will & Luke (& Jodie)

Will is turning 1 TOMORROW!

Luke is turning 2 next month!

This is my sweet friend Jodie and her precious boys.

She is such a rock star mama.

The Process (or part of it anyway)

I know I blogged their sneak peek a few weeks ago, but I couldn't resist adding one more. This is what ALWAYS happens to me, 100% of the time: I do a photo shoot, and by that night I have uploaded all the pics onto my computer and looked at them all. By that night, or the next day, I've picked out my top 5 favorites, edited some or all of them in Photoshop, and then put them on the blog as a "sneak peek" (because I am, after all, the girl who has always and will always shake the presents underneath the Christmas tree b/c I canNOT wait to see what's inside). So then a couple weeks go by, and I am busy editing other photo sessions (because I am always more behind than I want to be, though I am trying really hard to change this) and then I sit down to FINALLY edit THE session and WHAM! It ALWAYS happens. How did I miss that one the first time around? Or this one? Or, oh my goodness gracious: THAT one! That is what happened tonight as I started working on Miss Tiffany's pics. I saw this one, and my heart skipped a beat. I love everything about it. I'm trying to look at this picture objectively, but it's hard because Tiff is one of my good friends and I absolutely love her. But just looking at the pic itself: could she look any happier? Surrounded by her three sweet men. I love how Ashton is looking at Andrew who is looking at Archer who is looking at who knows what! And there is sweet Tiffany, just beaming her joy into the camera. What a blessed woman. That, my friends, is why I love photography. I get to capture, for just a moment, your joy. And I am unspeakably grateful that you give me the opportunity to do so.

PS: how FAB does my new logo look on this pic? Snaps for Kelley! ;)

Introducing The Logo

She's finally finished! The "Official" Fish Lips Photography logo.

I love her. Don't you?

It helps to have a friend who's a graphic designer.

My very good friend, Kelley Ramsey of Gleam Design Studio,

is super talented and one of the coolest people I know.

She created the PERFECT logo for my business

and I could not be happier with it!

15 months

Dear Elizabeth,

You are now 15 months old. You continue to delight us everyday. You are hilarious. A charmer. Always smiling and laughing. You are totally a social butterfly, a night owl, an extrovert (words which have been used many times to describe your mama, and never to describe your daddy). A little bit of a drama queen (those words might have been used to describe your mama as well. once or twice.) You're not walking yet, and you don't see any reason to start anytime soon. You are a very fast crawler. You love babies (real ones and toy ones), stuffed animals, and giving kisses. You wave bye-bye. Sometimes. When you feel like it. You have all kinds of neat tricks that you do for me when it's just us. Like when I ask you, "Elizabeth, where's your belly button?" When we're home alone, you get a great big smile and pat your belly button with your little fingers. When we're around other people and I want to show off your tricks, sometimes you just ignore me. Or you look at me like, "Mom, I am NOT a performing monkey." You definitely have your own mind. The other night, your daddy was feeding you some Gerber baby food (you will eat nearly anything pureed, but solids- you are much more picky. You will eat pureed peas, but not whole ones. No matter how mushy they are. You refuse to eat strawberries or blueberries, but you'll eat chicken nuggets all day long.) Anyway, daddy was feeding you a jar of "turkey & vegetables". You refused to eat very much, even though we KNEW you were hungry. There was a jar of sweet potatoes on the table as well. You pitched a little fit, pointing at the sweet potatoes and grunting & whining. So, after we switched to the sweet potatoes, daddy gets this genius idea to feed you everything else, but pretend like it's coming from the sweet potato jar. He'd sneak a scoop of turkey where you couldn't see him, and then turn around with the sweet potato jar and act like he was scooping it out of there. You fell for it every time. Both jars are filled with orange goop, I had no idea you could tell the difference based on the pictures on the label. Smart girl. Also, I have to whisper the word "graham cracker" in our house because if I say it to where you can hear it, you will LOSE YOUR MIND. There is nothing on earth you love more than a graham cracker. You are trying to talk. Well, let me rephrase that. You talk ALL THE TIME, but it's your own made up mix of words and we have no idea what you're saying. But you will talk to me, and use facial expressions and just chat away like we are having a real conversation. It's hilarious. Part of me longs for the day I know what you're saying, and part of me cherishes this sweet time filled with your baby talk. You like to dance, but so far your dancing just extends to this funny little head bob you do, in rhythm, to whatever music comes on. I'm not the type to raise my hands in worship in the sanctuary with everyone else (blame my Presbyterian roots on that one), but in private, I do it all the time. In the car we'll be listening to worship music, and I'll start raising my hand. I'll look in the rearview mirror and see you watching me, waving your hand just like me. It just slays me. To know you are watching my every move and mimicking what you see. What a reminder of the precious responsibility your daddy and I carry. I worry you'll pick up on my tendencies to cuss like a sailor, or to be judgmental of others, or my selfishness. But then when I see you picking up on how I raise my hands in worship, I am relieved to know that you'll pick up on my good tendencies, too. Copy me for now, little one, but one day I pray that you will know Him and love Him on your own, and raise your sweet hands all on your own, in worship to Him. You are a such a treasure, Elizabeth Grace. Your daddy & I thank God everyday for allowing us to be your parents here on earth.

I love you baby,

Mama

Beach, Day 3 (Part 2) (The End)

Well, I promised you more pictures of Miss Avery & I didn't want to disappoint.

Elizabeth was too busy crawling around for me to get any decent shots of her.

But I particularly like the one I posted yesterday.

She was too busy exploring to stop and look at my camera.

E has LOTS of extended cousins, but these are her first cousins-

Ryan's brother's cuties, Sophia & Chloe

It doesn't matter that I took a thousand pictures this weekend.

I will always be missing the ones I didn't take.

Like some better ones of these 3 girls together.

Dearest familia,

We love you.

R, S, & E

my sweet and happy girl

Introducing EmmyKate & Easton

Could they BE any cuter?

NO!

pictures without people in them

*all pics taken with my new Lensbaby Composer*

Beach, Day 3 (Part 1)

By Day 3, Elizabeth was head over heels in love with the beach.

(I took this photo, but I can't take credit for the rest of them.

I'd gone back up the house after taking this picture and put my camera up.

Thankfully, Ryan's cousin Sandra brought hers out a little later and captured

all these shots of E playing for me. Didn't she do an AMAZING job?)

Elizabeth with her cousins

Luke tried to tell her "no girls allowed",

but that didn't really fly with his mama.

party animal

sleepy girl