Introducing Brooke & Nate

These are my sweet friends Brooke & Nate & their March baby.

This little baby has been so wished for, prayed for, hoped for-

for a long time.

What a blessing to be witness to another one of God's miracles.

My eyes were teary as I edited these last night.

I am just so happy for them.

Time Flies...

18 months ago today,

Elizabeth Grace Craig was born.

Oh, how I miss that sweet little teeny tiny baby.

How did she go from this:

to THIS so fast!

*first photo taken by my sister-in-law while we were still in the hospital*

*all the others are iPhone photos*

Slumber Party

So remember the Conroe getaway I mentioned last week?

We had a blast!

I was there with 2 of my very best girlfriends, Becky & Kat,

and we all have baby girls, so we brought them too. ;)

Jemma (15 months) belongs to Kat.

Karis (4 months) belongs to Becky.

Elizabeth (18 months) is all MINE!

Some fun before they headed off to their beds for the night.

Were we singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider here?

Or clapping?

I can't really remember.

haha! i love this picture!

I love this picture too.

There's just something about seeing other people

love your baby. If you're a mom, you totally get it, right?

And then you start seeing your baby love and bond with

the people who love her-

the whole thing just makes my heart so happy.

E just went and plopped down in Becky's lap

to work on her beloved Magnadoodle.

She loves Becky AND that Magnadoodle SO MUCH.

Becky's been trying to get Elizabeth to say "Becky" for MONTHS.

There are a lot of words that E can say now, but for whatever reason,

"Becky" is not one of them.

Becky is also trying to teach Elizabeth to address her as:

"Favorite".

Becky's mama used to tell kids her name was "Wonderful",

so whenever they'd see her, they'd call out,

"Hi, Wonderful!"

B has decided she would like to adopt this practice

with my child and that she would like to be called Favorite.

So, while we were in Conroe, we worked on it.

Turns out my child cannot say Becky, but she CAN say Favorite.

I kid you not.

E & Aunt Fave

Jemma & Elizabeth have been little buddies since they were in the womb.

Developmentally, they're really in the same place now,

being just 3 months apart.

But personality-wise, they could not be more different.

It's so fun to see their little personalities emerging already.

Jemma is very active and adventurous. Doesn't sit still for a second,

and is quite the daredevil.

Elizabeth is calm and cautious. She can sit for 30 minutes

just reading herself a book or working on her Magnadoodle.

E followed Jemma around the whole time.

Jemma'd be just tearing through the house, always on the go,

and you'd see Elizabeth just following along behind her,

wherever she'd go.

It'll be fun to see them grow up together and if these traits stick around.

my baby (& some other thoughts)

Say hello to my little one.

We had our family photo shoot with our good friends,

Mike & Deb with MD Turner Photography last weekend.

Mike got this shot of Elizabeth and I just love it.

I'm going to make it into a gallery wrap! So excited!

I miss blogging about my baby.

Frankly, I miss blogging about ANYTHING other than

a sneak peek. haha! It's been a while, huh? ;)

This fall has been nuts.

Just straight up nuts.

Amazing, exciting, so much fun, ridiculously busy, stressful, & nuts.

This was my first fall (aka "Christmas card season") in business.

In the last 8 weeks, I've had 32 sessions.

Not 32 MINI sessions. haha!

That's THIRTY-TWO sessions to edit.

I try to give about 20 fully edited pics per session.

I don't "batch edit".

I edit each one individually in Lightroom & Photoshop

before it goes on the CD that you eventually find in your hands.

I had to pull my calculator out for that one...

640 pictures to edit one at a time.

Did I mention that 2 weeks before the craziness hit-

I shot my first wedding? haha! no, really. ;)

Do you really want to know how many pictures

I need to edit for THAT?

Trust me, you don't.

So, a week after your shoot, when you are wondering,

"What the heck is taking Sarah so long?"

now you know! :)

Y'all have been so sweet and so encouraging

and so very patient with me as I've navigated my

first fall as a photographer.

I am so grateful that you have trusted me to photograph your family.

(And for the record, no, I'm not taking on any more shoots this month.

Even though I am still getting email requests every single day for one.)

To be a better photographer to you next year,

I've started putting together a list of what to do

& what NOT TO DO next fall.

Things like:

1. The last photo sessions of 2011 will be on Sat, Nov 12th

so that everyone can get their pics for their Christmas cards

by Thanksgiving. (Isn't that brilliant?! haha!)

The only exception to this will be newborns.

Ya'll can't help when they're born! ;)

2. Shoot less sessions. A lot less. It's true.

I wayyyyyyyyy overbooked myself.

Which means it takes longer to get your pictures to you.

Boo.

Look, don't get me wrong.

I've LOVED being so busy and getting to shoot so much.

And I LOVE having a photography business

even more than I thought I would.

But I've been slacking a lot on my other job.

And the boss has been sure to let me know she thinks I'm slacking off:

Oh, I just miss her.

And my husband.

I've learned a lot of lessons this fall.

Made a lot of mistakes.

I am so thankful I have such a supportive, encouraging, handsome hubs.

And a happy, happy girl to call my own.

On that note- tonight I'm taking a much needed break.

E & I are stealing away to Conroe for the night

with 2 of my girlfriends, and 2 of her girlfriends.

I'll see y'all back online again tomorrow!

xoxo

Introducing Kelley, Justin, & Jade

I promise I take pictures of more people than just my friends.

But this Christmas card season, it seems that half my sessions

have been with very good friends of mine!

These are our sweet friends Kelley & Justin.

Kelley is also the creator of that fabulous

Fish Lips Photography logo that you see everywhere.

She is wicked talented.

Please let me do a "Trash the Dress" session for you!

9 months ago my cousin let me do a Trash the Dress session for her

and it was a BLAST. And honey, we trashed that thing.

See pics HERE and HERE.

Also, read my cousin's thoughts about the experience HERE.

Kelley didn't want to go THAT far, but she did want to get some fun

pics in her dress to celebrate their 4 year anniversary.

You can be married a couple months, or several years.

We can TRASH that thing, or we can NOT.

That's totally up to you!

I know if I really trashed my dress-

my mama would have a HEART ATTACK.

So, dude, I get it.

And ps- how much are you loving this location?

It might be my new favorite place to shoot!

This is only the 2nd time I've shot there.

The first time was for this shoot: HERE

If you ever have a specific idea in mind for a location for your shoot,

just let me know. If you saw it on this blog for someone's else shoot,

again, just let me know! I've never shot here in the morning,

but in the afternoon, it's DIVINE.

Brandi, Mike, Avery, & Luke

This is from a shoot last week that I did for my lovely friends

Mike & Brandi.

I've gotten to shoot Avery & Luke several times now,

but it was fun to finally get the whole family in front of my camera!

Have Yourself a Merry Lila Christmas

Meet sweet Lila.

She wishes you a very merry Christmas.

STOP TAKING MY PICTURE!!!

I'm sorry, y'all.

I just had to include that last one because, I mean,

how are you NOT laughing out loud right now?

That last outfit change sent her over the EDGE. ;)

Julia & Lydia bring their WHOLE FAMILY!

Amber's whole family!

These are our sweet friends Amber & Dave & their ridiculously adorable

little girls- Julia & Lydia.

I did a photo session with these girls back in May,

click HERE to see that session.

It is crazy to me, especially, how much Lydia has grown since then!

Aren't they the most gorgeous little girls you've ever seen in your life?!

I could take pictures of them ALL DAY LONG.

siblings

Here is Amber's sister and her cute family!

preciousness