Mrs. C. Alicea | Southern Maryland Portrait Photographer

When Cami got in touch with me a couple weeks ago to tell me that her birthday was coming up and she wanted some portraits done for herself, I knew we needed to start planning her session right away!  Cami has become a friend of mine and I had the honor of having coffee with her right after our session.  The planning was in the works and knowing we had a short amount of time to work with (her birthday was coming up, after all) we decided that a sunrise session on the water at Solomons Island would be more than perfect.  And after freezing our butts off at 6am in what felt like 20 degree weather, that coffee we grabbed was much needed!  Hahaha.  

Happy birthday to a woman who is beautiful inside and out!  

I had such a great time taking your portraits, Cami!  Thank you so much for spending your morning with me. 

Where's My Baby Boy?! | Southern Maryland Child Photographer

Me: "Ethan.  I hardly have any pictures of you!  Let's get dressed and head out to take some pictures."
Ethan: *face in the DS - slowly looks up at me* "Moooooom.  Do we HAVE to?"
Me: "Yep! Let's get out of this house!"

It took quite a bit of coaxing on my part.  He HATES any reason to 'have' to fix his hair.  But after several minutes of begging on my part, he complied.  I'm glad he did because I captured THESE! 

About an hour after leaving the house I sat down to edit them and my mouth dropped open.  WHERE did my baby boy go?!?!  Seriously!  Just last year he was still holding on to some child-like features.  And now, even though his shoes are untied, his jeans have holes in the knees, he laughs at talking muffin jokes and farts...he's clearly growing up.  And these pictures of him are evidence that I no longer have a baby on my hands.  I have a young man!  This scares me.  

And it also means that I absolutely HAVE to take more pictures of him.  As he is.  RIGHT. NOW.  Because I seriously feel like I blinked, and he was grown.  

This Is Our Life: I Wish I Could Freeze Time | Southern Maryland Lifestyle Photographer

So far, this Lifestyle Project 52 has started off strong!  We're now already into week 3 and freezing time - as it is at this very moment - was the inspiration for this week's entry.  Since I've been following my kids around all day long with my camera not too far behind me, I was lucky enough to snap this shot.  Thea was playing in her room while I sat in the hallway watching her.  She's so little.  She's so curious.  She's soooo brutally honest!  ("Thea, can you give mama kisses?" *Thea violently shakes her head no*)  EVERYTHING about her at this very moment makes me want to freeze time, as it is right now.  

Within seconds of me capturing this, she looked up just a teeny bit too far and ended up toppling over.  Hahaha.  She's so funny to watch! 

This is Our Life: This Makes Me Laugh | Southern Maryland Lifestyle Photographer

This week I've been working hard (with my little helper, of course) to try to get out from under this huge, growing, massive pile of laundry that seems to be never ending.  I usually take the baby into the laundry room with me, sit her down on the floor and begin sorting and loading and drying.  Once the washing machine is started and it fills up with water she'll usually start pawing at me and climbing up my legs.  She's actually deathly afraid of the washer.  But for some reason, this day was different.  

I sat her down, started another load and turned away to sort the rest of the laundry.  The next thing I know I turn to pick her up and find her with her face pressed against the machine watching the clothes tumbling around.  She was hopping up and down excitedly and since this was the first time she wasn't crying for me...I HAD to grab my camera.  

I laughed pretty good while I watched her being a little curious.  

This is Our Life - Project 52 | Southern Maryland Lifestyle Photographer

2012 brought along a ton of challenges.  But I'm happy to say that 2013 is here and I'm tired of looking behind me thinking of what I could have done better.  This year I've committed myself to participating in two 52 week projects.  One of them is a lifestyle project documenting our lives, as they are right in this moment.  This project is near and dear to my heart.  My family is growing and the years seem to slip past me way too fast.  So with the help from Paint the Moon Photography I'll be doing my best to make sure I capture something - at least once a week for a whole year.  

This past week's prompt was "nightly rituals".  This is my take...

 Bath time.

A Day at the Park | Southern Maryland Lifestyle Photographer

I needed to run some errands today and since I've been working hard at shooting my kids more (I know...sounds horrible - LOL!) I thought we'd stop by our local neighborhood park for about an hour.  It gave Thea some fresh air and time to chew on the dirty swing and eat leaves.  All kids need to do that, right?  Hahahah.  

If it wasn't 38* outside today and breezy, we could have stayed there longer!  The sun has finally decided to pop out from behind those rainy clouds and it was nice getting out of the house for a change. 

Our Winter Days | Southern Maryland Children Photographer

First, I have to say that I'm soooo super excited that 2013 is here!  It's a new year, new beginnings, new things to learn and uncover.  My new branding was created just a short month or so ago, and today I spent some time creating this blog/site.  So, WELCOME!  :) 

Our winter this year has been filled with more rain than snow.  This makes me a little sad because I've had my heart set on taking the kiddies outside to enjoy the white fluffy stuff.  Especially since my daughter's first birthday is coming up soon and I think it would be the most amazing thing for her to see snow before then.  Until then, we're mainly stuck inside...which suits the kids just fine!  (Considering Christmas just passed and they've got TONS of things to keep them occupied.)  

 

I'm actually totally ok with this arrangement!  Because my oldest won't be 'this' young for much longer.  And right now, he's very willing to spend his days playing with his baby sister.  <3

I'm still secretly wishing for some snow though.  Haha.