{Maternity} Josh & Sarah

This is a bit of a popular couple/family on this blog and after their gender reveal session, next up was their maternity session! And since their son was born a few weeks after the session, you'll see them again here soon as a family of six!

I always have a blast with this family and I always have to work a bit at getting the kids to feel comfortable and natural with me. But it always comes together and I always leave my sessions with them smiling because I've had so much fun with them!

There are not many people that have such a perfect basket-ball baby belly like Sarah does, but it's just so perfect and round and she always looks amazing pregnant! Enjoy some summer-y photos of this cute family.

























{I was so excited that they let me in on the secret of the baby's name. We had to lock the kids in the van and set the picture up so their oldest, Braedon, couldn't read the name}

{Gender Reveal} Josh & Sarah

If you've been here before, you'll likely recognize this couple. Sarah contacted me somewhere around the end of her first trimester/end of her second trimester I believe, to do a gender reveal session with her and Josh. Um yeah, so exciting! This also meant that Sarah drove half an hour to deliver the sealed envelope from her doctor indicating what they were having. This is kiddo #4, their third together, and also their last (that's the plan, anyway).

I closed the door, waited for Sarah to drive away and then excitedly opened the envelope to see what news it held. I somehow imagined it would be a piece of paper indicating in huge font, 'boy' or 'girl.' Not so. I had to carefully read through every corner of the paper to see what it said. Bottom corner held the secret. And it was pretty exciting to have that secret to myself (well, and my kiddos).

We discussed several ideas for how we would reveal the baby's gender and settled on helium balloons. I knew of the helium shortage and so I asked around and found a local store that had helium balloons. I went into the store and spoke with the owner the day before and had everything arranged. I went in the next morning...only to be told they ran out overnight (who uses helium overnight????). Seriously panicked. The next store I tried had helium but would only do Mylar balloons; thankfully they had the color I wanted, even though they were stars instead of just round balloons.

Then came the challenge of getting them to pop out of the box I had. Oh man...husband to the rescue and patience from Josh & Sarah as I ended up being late. The balloons didn't quite pop out of the box as I had hoped, but it was a great learning experience and I think their reaction was the best part of it all.

Sarah and Josh - thanks for involving me in this very exciting session and congratulations!

{Josh was "Team Boy" while Sarah was "Team Girl"}




{LOVE their faces}






{High-fiving for finally 'making' a boy - haha}


{I did not intentionally do a collage of kissing pictures, but seriously, these two are so kissy, I think there may end up being another baby - HA!}

{Maternity} Justin & Racheal

Racheal is my husband's cousin and at a family gathering on Canada Day last year, she was already mentioning that when they started their family, she wanted me to do pictures. If my math is correct, she may have already been pregnant then and either didn't know herself, or had just found out. Very exciting!

I was so happy we hit a sunny Spring day and got to talk pregnancy, birth and all those fun things! They did not find out what they were having, deciding to be surprised at the baby's birth. When she picked the DVD of pictures up from me, some of the things she was telling me led us to believe it was going to be in the next few days and sure enough it was! But I will share all the newborn pictures and details in an upcoming post.

For now, enjoy this beautiful couple as they waited for their first baby!

{Maternity} Chris & Shereen

I'd like to introduce you to some very special people. My brother-in-law, Chris (that would be my husband's younger brother), his wife, Shereen (fellow Dutchie - yeah!) and my two nieces! Yep, they are expecting twin girls in a few weeks and so I assigned myself to the task of their maternity and newborn sessions. Well, let's face it, I will always be snapping pictures of them as they grow, but these are two special sessions and I told them I was doing them. Well, they had the option of hiring another photographer if they didn't like my work but that I would still be doing them. Thankfully, to my knowledge, they're letting me be the sole photographer.

We went out to see them on a very sunny, blue-skied, cold Saturday. We walked down to Granville Island and then around to Kits Beach. By the time we hit the beach, the sun was nearly down, the wind had picked up and we were half frozen. Huge kudos to Shereen for taking her jacket and gloves off every time I asked, and Chris for taking off his toque and gloves at my every request.

As much as I wish we had more time to fully enjoy the process (and get a few bare belly pictures), I don't think any of us would have enjoyed being that cold for much longer. I love how they turned out and I simply can't wait to meet our new nieces (affectionately named Honey and Racey by our 4-year-old son. It's changed a few times, but these were the most recent names).




{Clearly, I need to spend some time working on my collage sizes as it practically cut out those two pairs of cute Toms!}

{Such a fan of Padraig Cottage booties!}



{Bottom left: I love their casual arm placements...so cute! And bottom right: HA!}

{Maternity} David & Erin

I met this sweet little family on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon at the beach. Our boys are close in age, so we swapped notes and stories about life with a nearly-four-year-old. And Tim lived up to that "boyish" standard of being on the move and not very interested in looking into a lens, so we worked with it. I could not get enough of his long eyelashes - does it seem to anyone else that boys seem to be blessed with those naturally long and gorgeous lashes?

I found out that both David and Erin are commercial airline pilots and while that can be a busy, stressful and away-from-home job, it seems they've got a pretty good system worked out so they're not away for very long at once.

Since our session, they've welcomed a second son - congratulations!

Thanks for letting me follow you around the beach on such a lovely day to capture your growing family; I hope you are finding a groove with two boys to take care of!