They're Having a Baby!

My dear friend Amelia and her wonderful husband Greg are having a baby! Soon! So we gathered on a warm summer night (at their commune - more on that later) to capture the beauty of them and this pregnancy.

There is nothing quite so wondrous as that 9 months that precedes the birthing of new life. It's an emotionally complex time where new parents-to-be spend half their time present in their actual lives and the other half daydreaming about what's coming next.

Amelia and Greg were born to be parents and will elevate the calling to a high art. I have every confidence in stating this as fact. You can't find two more sincere, intentional, loving people.

Who manage to combine all their depth and intelligence with great warmth and laughter and joy.

And there's something so magical about witnessing this incredible bond between them now. The dance they're doing in supporting one another, sharing the experience together even though it's so different for each of them. Honoring one another and strengthening as a couple.

Now, to the commune. See? I promised I would pick that up. It's actually not a commune. That's my personal joke. It's a community really. They went in with some other like minded friends and bought this giant fabulous house together. And they live mostly in harmony all together, sharing the trials and tribulations and joys and celebrations of daily life. There is support all around them. And help and company. It's very groovy and the coolest urban experiment I know.

And I've wanted to take the following picture ever since I found out Amelia was pregnant. Because they are quite purposely not going it alone. And as this group of Presbyterians were laying on hands there was this hum of energy in the air, intimate and poignant.

Congratulations to you all - we're awaiting the new arrival to your community with great anticipation.

Sophie B

Mom: "Once upon a time, there was a little girl. What was the girl's name?"
Daughter: "Sophie!"

Mom pauses...
Daughter: "No, Mei Ai Zhen"

And thus begins the story of how a Mother and her child found each other from half a world away.

Miss Sophie literally explodes with happiness.

And her Mom, her single Mom, wanted to capture her at this age. She's just turned 5, she's on the cusp of Kindergarten and big girl-ness. So we wanted to seal in her sweet, exuberance before she grows into the next stage of her childhood.

Luckily for me Mom likes twirling pictures, and Sophie loves to twirl.

We tried to make the shoot about Sophie. We really did.

But mostly she just wanted her Mama. Wanted to play with her, be with her, be photographed with her. And when her Mom is going it alone (something I so acutely admire), without a daily witness to the joys and trials, I was happy to get some pictures of them together. So Sophie can see her Mother's devotion.

But also, so Mom can see how much her daughter truly worships her and feels most at home wrapped in her arms.

SuperMom

I had the luxury of yet again visiting my dear friend Sarah at her fabulous home in Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival. In January. This "sneak peek" is long overdue...

The Smyths have good news and bad news. The good news? Eric has a job he LOVES in California and they are trading in their snow shoes for flip flops. The bad news? Saying goodbye to a life they love in Park City. And the fact that Eric works in CA all week and Sarah is taking care of their three children all by herself.

I loved how often she engaged with each kid, gave them some individual attention all while managing to keep the place clean and entertain me. It helps that she's got big kids who love their house and their Mom and have a pretty good sense of what they can and can't get away with.




The one demanding most of the attention is Baby O. Who is on the move and very fast, like his sister and brother were. But with that face? And that personality? Who wouldn't want to follow him around all day? I'm as smitten now as I was when he was a baby.



I wanted to get pictures with Mom in them since Dad isn't around during the week to see or capture all she's managing. She doesn't get a lot of sleep, doesn't sit down, is in constant motion with running the household, feeding and transporting the troops, planning her upcoming move to another state. And she still manages to keep in touch with her friends and family far away, and plans and organizes get togethers with her friends and neighbors in town. She's handling it all with a grace and competence I am sure I couldn't muster. And she'd be the first one to downplay all she does. But I want to publicly acknowledge her for being a total Rockstar Mom.

And I wanted pictures of her with O, because before long he will be a big guy and we'll wonder if he was ever small enough to hold and cuddle.



Great job Sarah. The happy faces of your beautiful children are the evidence you need that you are doing an amazing job. Thanks for the inspiration.

Matters of the Heart

I have my own personal Thanksgiving tradition and that is to photograph the Lambert family. Usually I wouldn't show you such holiday card worthy shots on the blog at this time of year because I wouldn't want to steal their mailbox thunder. But their card is out, the first to arrive in our mailbox. They took a cruise on spring break and used fun pictures from that trip. It's a photogenic family so it's no surprise they had so many great pictures to choose from. But I simply must mark the years by taking their picture whether they want or need it. My pictures are my love song to them, an outpouring of admiration.

Their old English sheepdog Poppins is getting on in years and so we wanted to get some pictures of the family with her. She was lovingly cooperative.

The boys are both actors in the Alley Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol. They are both lovable, precocious and theatrical. But A has dreams of being an actor and has logged more Equity stage time than I have in my 10+ years as a "professional" actor. It's in his DNA and I have every reason to expect him to continue his dramatic success.
And then there's D. Who gets a lot of attention for his adorable looks and precious size. I mean, come on, the kid personifies charming and cute.

And together? Well, just take a look. Who needs words....
K & S both teach high school (upper school for the fancy types) at the Kinkaid School in Houston and both of their boys are students there. (Terrific students I might add.) Kinkaid as you may or may not know is in the middle of a culture war maelstrom which you can read about here. Suffice it to say Kate's English students are witnessing their own personal Crucible right there in their own school.

NOT an easy time. The Lamberts take their work ethic and commitment to the school and community very seriously. But that school and community has become a foreign place of late which would leave anyone feeling shaken to say the least.

So this family is focused in, now more than ever, on what matters most to them. The love and comfort they feel together. On what they wish to teach their children. And holding on as tightly as they can to their one sure thing - each other.

Baby Magic

Meet Jacob. Can you say sweet?!?

It's no surprise really. His mother and my husband went to business school together (swanky elite b-school no less) and she was commonly known among our crowd as the nicest person in their class. I don't think anyone would dispute that title. So I have no idea why I was so taken aback by how sweet her little baby Jacob is and how quickly I just fell.in.love! Apples don't fall far you know.

Knowing his mother I should have expected that. The other thing I didn't expect was that she would have her act so completely pulled together. Showered. With make up. And clothes without baby drool and spit on them.

She looked so pretty I just wanted to take her picture all morning. Seriously. I had to restrain myself and focus on that baby. But I was so mesmerized. And it's not just that her body is at this perfect voluptuous shape, and that she has the most amazing blue eyes you've ever seen, and a sparkly smile that lights up a room. It's that she's literally glowing from the inside. The love she has for motherhood and this baby and this family of hers comes shining out of her. She has a sincerity and a confidence and such joy that she brings to every single little task of parenting. I truly felt like I was under a spell and when I left I was walking on air. So moved and inspired and, well, HAPPY.

I'll be quiet now so you too can bask in the glow of these two....

And my very favorite picture from the shoot.....

I think these two have a magical future ahead of them. With this much love and sweetness, how can they not?

The Miracle of Normal

That's my fancy new logo. My husband was smart enough to befriend the nicest guy in his office who also happens to be a brilliant graphic designer. And in exchange for photos of his family in perpetuity he designed a logo for me. We had a brief email exchange in which I said very little about actual design. I wrote of mood, feeling. And somehow he was able to cull, from a sentence I sent him in an email, this logo that says everything I want it to say about me and my business. He's a genius.

Long overdue and with a heart full of gratitude and humility I arrived at their charming home to begin the first of many gazillion photo shoots with their family.

This is C. A completely normal 8 year old kid. Active, healthy, good student, loves his dog and sports and video games.

What is not at all obvious from looking at him is that he is a miracle of modern science. You see just a week or so after a perfectly normal 6 month old check up little baby C was in the PICU on a ventilator. So sick there were periods of time when they wondered if he would make it. And after running a series of tests and trying to determine what was going on with the little guy they discovered he had a rare genetic condition called XHIGM Syndrome. So they were faced with not only the challenge of getting him through his current bout of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia but also looking at an uncertain future even if he were to survive.

Ironically enough, baby C was taken off the respirator after 3 weeks and breathing successfully on his own on September 11, 2001. That's a date that means something to all of us. Can you imagine all this family was facing that day?

So he was in the clear for now but there was still the genetic condition to worry about which basically compromises the immune system. The cure for the condition? A full stem cell bone marrow transplant. Neither parent was a complete match. Their only hope was to have another baby who could be a match. They turned to IVF and some mad scientists. Two rounds and 27 embryos and only 1 was even viable. And that special one just so happened to be a complete match, a girl (girls are carriers and don't have the condition) and, lucky for her and her future, she wasn't even a carrier.

Meet 6 year old E, lifesaver extraordinaire....


E just explodes with life. She has enough not only for her and her brother, but for her entire family, block, town, city, state and country. She's joyful, enthusiastic and quite possibly the silliest little thing I've ever met.

When E was a year old she was able to give a successful bone marrow transplant to her brother which effectively cured him of the condition.

And it's clear she feels some ownership.

It's impossible to imagine all this family has been through. They've each had their own unique experiences and journeys and jobs to do. But having recently celebrated the 5 year anniversary of the success of the treatment, their life is simply normal. A gift and a blessing they hoped and prayed for in their darkest days.

And C & E are like any other siblings. Rough housing, annoying one another, playing together. But there's something between them you won't find in other families. A quiet undercurrent of all they've been through. Some intangible bond that is rather breathtaking to witness.


Miraculous aren't they?