Along came baby...

A few months ago I shared this picture of my dear friend Beth....

Last week I had the privilege of watching this sweet girl come into this world. Her mama labored hard and well and then...

Lyla Grace was born.

I have now had the honor of being present for the birth of both of Beth's daughters. There are few things more special than being part of a person's most painful and beautiful moments.

Miss Lyla so kindly allowed me to spend several hours with her the other day for a fun photo shoot, so more pictures to come soon.

Because everyone deserves to know how much they're loved...

I love this little girl with all of my heart. I want her to grow up and know that when she was just a baby, she was loved so much, that there were people who cared for her and snuggled her and covered her sweet face with kisses. There's not a whole lot I can do for her other than send her along with some pictures of herself so that one day, when she's big, she'll know that someone cared enough to document her life.

I want her to know that I would have taken her home with me if I could.

I want her to know that people played with her and did everything they could to help her develop into a normal baby.

I want her to know that she smiled and laughed and cooed.

I want her to know that I loved her enough to crochet her legwarmers and hang mobiles about her crib and hold her every single day.

I want her to know that she deserves a life better than the one that was handed to her and that I pray for her future, that she would grow up in a family that loves her, that's patient and gentle, that helps grown into a beautiful and kind young woman.

Lexi turns 1

I have really cool friends. I haven't really mentioned then here because I don't take pictures of them very often, but they're really awesome. They all live down the street in the same apartment building. There are 3 guys (one being Eric) and then there's this cool family...

And they have this cool baby....

It's pretty awesome, all these people living in close community. And especially awesome because of Lexi. If you've ever watched a 24 year old guy try and change a 1 year old's diaper, you'd understand.

We celebrated Lexi's 1st birthday last week. I just love seeing what a cool enviornment she's getting to grow up in... with all these people who love her. She's a pretty much the coolest baby ever. And super fun to photograph. Especially when I get to use her dad's really fantastic camera.

Here's me and Lexi... we're good friends. Also, really fun because I was the her delivery nurse.

Take a look back at Lexi last year...

i heart faces: Motherhood

When I saw this weeks challenge at i heart faces I immediately thought of this picture. For those of you who don't know, my paying job is as a labor and delivery nurse. I spend my days taking pictures and my nights coaching woman through labor. I've talked about this here before, but this past January I traveled to Uganda to help deliver my dear friend's baby. I snapped this picture of her and her hubby as she labored. I have seen a lot of labors and a lot of deliveries, but none as amazing as this woman. She suffered through 36 hours of labor in a foreign country where the luxury of an epidural or any pain medication is not available.

This picture was taken about 20 hours into labor as she worked her way through contractions. This here is the picture of motherhood, of suffering and enduring enourmous pain for your child.

Happy Mother's Day T!

  Go check out the other great mom pictures at i heart faces...

(see previous posts for pictures of baby K)

I finally finished editing the pictures I had of Karis! Obviously, one shouldn't take 300 pictures of the world's cutest baby and expect to be able to sift some out of the editing pile. No, I should have known that I would feel the need to edit every single one of them. So, once again, here's another batch of my sweet Ugandan born baby...

There, of course, will be more coming later. And some cute one's of the rest of her family.

But now, I need to go take a nap because my work just called and needs me to come in on call. Yay for working 5 nights in a row.

i heart faces: Soft and Sweet

This week at i Heart faces that challenge is soft and sweet. Who better to show off than sweet Karis?

This lovely little girl was born in Uganda to two amazing parents and also has two super cool older siblings who were recently adopted from Uganda.

Not only is Karis super adorable, but I love how her life started. I love that she came into being in the process of this family's quest to adopt. I love that I got to fly half way around the world and help deliver her. I love that she gets to start her life in such an amazing place with amazing people. I love her!

Go check out the other entries...

i Heart faces: Everything but a face

One sweet bottom....

Hop over to i Heart faces for more entries...

The wallpaper I don't have...

I always wish I had amazing wallpaper to use as backgrounds for photoshoots. Unfortunately, I do not (especially when photographing kiddos in Africa). I recently learned this technique for photoshop. There's a great tutorial here if you want to learn.

Sweet Kisses

Meet the big sister and brother. They love their little sister.

I think one of my favorite parts of being part of Karis' birth was getting to see her big brother and sister with her. They adore her... especially G. E is perhaps a little jealous of how much of mommy's time the new baby takes. He's no longer the baby after all, and that's a hard adjustment. This was evident by the sweet kiss that was followed by a bop on the head.

P.S. This family has a fantastic story, but we'll save that for another day (and another picture).

i Heart faces: To Uganda for Karis

Meet Karis.

One year ago I met her amazing mom while living in Uganda.

A year later, I traveled half way around the world to help deliver her.

The day her mom went into labor I was camping along the Nile. When the phone call came in, I lept from the tent, quickly stuffing everything into my bag, running straight up a hill, down a dirt road, jumping onto a boda-boda (ugandan motor bike) and flying the 8 km down the bumpiest, dustiess (is that a word?) road you've every seen, then transfering into a matatu (a ugandan taxi) packed with probably 15 other people, and traveling the 2 hour road to Kampala.

It was 36 hours of labor and 5 hours of pushing.

For some reason the hospital required that we take off our shoes and put on someone elses (apparently the odd selection of sandals were cleaner than our own).

She was born on January 14, 2011 in Kampala, Uganda.

We delivered her barefoot.

She was so worth the trip!

This week's i Heart faces challenge is "Best Photo Face in January."

Go and vote for Karis. She's #296.

Welcome Karis...

Karis Annaleigh

    

Photo Shoot

Here are a few more photos from the shoot I did a couple weeks ago. Perhaps a few more to come in the near future as well.

A Walk in the Park...

This week I officially began my picture taking again and did a photo session with this cute girl and her big brother. More pictures to come soon....

And she keeps on growing

Almost 2 months ago I got to see this little girl come into the world.

What a blessing and a joy to be able to watch her grow!

Before and After

I've been going through some old pictures of these sweet girls and catching up on my editing and thought it would be fun to do some before and afters....

black and white baby

Another day of sweet Lexi in black and white rocking her red stroller (I know you can't tell it's red, but it is) on a walk around North Park's campus with her mama and auntie Jenny while the rest of the fam played soccer on the green space.

I love having a baby to photograph! I've missed all my kids since moving back to Chicago and am finally feeling motivated to get back out there and start up my business again. Now to find some families who need pics of their kiddos.

Baby Face

As a baby gets older they begin to discover the art of expression. I will admit that most of these faces can be attributed to gas and other such bodily functions, but once in a while you get a true smile. A reflection of this tiny person's feelings of joy. You can see it in their eyes. I love the time I get to spend with this sweet little one, watching her grow and change. I love that I get to be a part of her life.