Baby Bowen

It's baby season in my circle of friends!  I was so close to the finish line as Moses just started Kindergarten with Chloe to follow next year and now, I, too, have one last little bun baking in my oven.  Holding these fresh tiny babies feels brand new as it's been so long since Chloe was this small!  I am frightened for how I will re-learn and re-adapt to this phase of motherhood, but my heart who knows all too well just how quickly time passes, is eager to cradle another delicate and precious little life in my arms one last time.

Congrats to Jess + Jared on their newest bundle of joy and trouble!  

 

"These days, these days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do, and all the times I had the chance to"

-Nico Case

 
 

Beach Bump with Lindsay Elliott

There is a baby inside of me .  My third delicious pie-to-be, baking to perfection within the confines of my body and soul.  There is so much mystery surrounding a pregnancy, so many curiosities and questions that feel like they will never be answered...  

And then they arrive.  A few weeks early or a few days late, they finally arrive.  They take in their first breath of air and proceed to try out their tiny little lungs.  

I'm stuck in the mystery.  I look at Moses and Chloe, 5 and 4, and feel like I have known them my whole life.  Their personalities, once a tightly wrapped up present, now so obvious and fitting.  Their physical attributes that continue to gradually morph as they grow older year after year now make me wonder even more what will this third one look like?!!!  It's a little different with interracial kids because the range is much broader.  The gradations of skin tone to the possibility of black hair, Moses' thick dark mousy brown mop, or Chloe's borderline blonde loose tresses… the possibilities are endless!

I vowed that if I had a third child that I would take tonnes of photos since I hardly have any at all with my first 2 pregnancies.  I have kept that promise, even if it is me posing on my bed in front of my mirror while one of the kids stands and repeatedly presses the camera button.  I had my first maternity session over the weekend with my good friend and talented photographer Lindsay Elliott.  It was a bit of a collab.  I sent photos of ideas I was hoping to get as well as scoping out the light at different locations out here at Centennial beach.  She got everything I wanted.

One of the ideas I had was to be right in the water wearing some sort of loose and sheer drapery.  I was over the moon when my girlfriend and talented seamstress Joanna Delaney offered to help me out with putting something together in between her busy schedule of wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses.

So thankful that after a few days of rain, the afternoon's hot sun managed to warm the water up to a very pleasant temperature!  

I love this.  

Oh, Little One, who will you turn out to be?

Sometimes I wish I were more academic rather than creative, but on days like this where I can collaborate with other like-minded creators and talents, I know I got the better deal.

Alright.  It is off to bed with me and this belly...

 

xo

 

 

Love on The Bluff

There really are no words needed for this sweet little family session, though I will offer a little bit of background history:

I received a surprise email from Christy last week inquiring about family photos with her three handsome boys.  The last time we saw one another was back in 2001 when we graduated from LFA!  13 years later, she has found herself in love with Sunny Tsawwassen and just happened to spot me in our local rag.  13 years later she looks as beautiful as she did back in high school with a beautiful family to match...

The most perfect little family!

 

 

Wren Verona

After all the editing and compiling the photos for this post together, I'm at a loss of where to begin with Little Miss Wren.  I've known the Schmidt sisters since Grade 8.  Like many other girls, we were shuffled against our will to attend Little Flower Academy, an all girls Catholic school.  Yes.  I'm one of THOSE girls…  The girls that attended Blessed Sacrament Elementary were a tight crew and I was introduced to Ashley Schmidt via a number of her friends.  I was intimidated by her height and how she loved to play pranks on her friends.  Her sister, Nicole, 2 years older terrified me all through high school.  Ashley and I have continued to be friends after all these years, growing much closer in the last few.  It was only until Nicole gave birth to her first little guy, Rook, 3 years ago, that we began to hang out and I learned she was much less terrifying and a lot more hilarious.

I am so grateful to have such wonderful and loving friends in my life and I'll say it a million more times, I am so honoured to photograph their life milestones and growing families.   It's so special to be able to see such a long time friend welcome their first baby into the world, to share that love and wonder with them, to see the features of a face you've known forever suddenly appear in a brand new miniature version, and to see their heart transform before your very eyes as they fall in love with this tiny little person.

It is insane the things first time mothers do during their last weeks of nesting, Ashley and Ivan handmade this beautiful bird mobile.

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Beautiful Wren

I look forward to seeing you grow up
and to count the many ways you will be like your Mama.

 

xo

 

Beach Bump with Alvaro, Stephanie + Emilia

It was a sunny afternoon when my cousin Nik introduced me to Stephanie at The Beach Grove Cafe here in Sunny Tsawwassen.  It was 2010 when our bellies met, Stephanie pregnant with her first, Emilia, and I pregnant with my second.  We drove into Vancouver on Saturdays to attend Prenatal Yoga and 4 years later here we are with our daughters in the same dance class and once again... both pregnant!  She is due in two weeks and I am 9 months behind her.  We seized the beautiful sunny weather and headed to Centennial Beach for an evening Family Session.  

These last days as a trio are coming to a close and, soon, will be nothing more than a distant memory.  As my family will soon grow from 4 to 5, it was a beautifully surreal experience to capture some memories of their last days as a family of 3.  As difficult as it is to imagine what the mysterious little newcomer will bring to the family, it quickly becomes just as difficult to imagine your family living without this tiny new life.