Lincoln's Birth | Orlando Birth Photographer

About a year ago I was at dinner with some friends who were in town. I looked down at my phone and realized I had missed a few text messages. They were from Julie. It said she was having contractions but she wasn't sure if she was in labor or not. She was going to pay attention, time them and let me know. I could hardly concentrate at dinner because I kept thinking about whether she was in labor or not, what I needed to pack and who I was going to leave Greyson with. Finally at the end of dinner I jumped in the car and called her. She asked, "How will I know if it's really labor?" and then all of a sudden a contraction came. I could hear the tears in her voice as she breathed through the contraction. 

"That the real thing, Julie! I'm packing my bag and will be on my way." It was 8:30pm by the time I started the 4.5 hour drive. I've never felt like I needed to get somewhere so fast! I would have been devastated to miss it. By the time I got to Naples she was resting pretty comfortably with an epidural in place. She was insistent that I get some sleep since it seemed like it would be a while. There was no way I could get any rest! We spent lots of time "trying" to rest with the lights off but we couldn't. Every few minutes we'd start talking to each other, anticipating what was to come. 

Once morning time came around she got herself ready…. a little makeup goes a long way when you're stuck in a hospital bed. Around one o'clock it was finally time to push. I remember them saying she'd be practicing for a while so I started to get my camera ready and figure out exactly where I wanted to stand. After one practice push the nurse told her to stop. Her push was effective and it was actually time to have him. She didn't need to practice. If you know Julie, thats just how she is. She is efficient… no practice necessary. Why would labor be any different for her?

A few minutes later she was pushing again and seconds later he was born. What a moment. It was so surreal to be in the room and watch that sweet baby take his very first breath and meet his mommy and daddy for the first time. My best friend became a mom in that very moment and life as she knew it changed. Life really is such a miracle and this moment was such a great reminder of that. 

Julie and Paul, thank you for letting me be a part of this special day. It truly was an honor to capture these moments for you!  

I blogged sweet Lincoln's newborn session here. 

A year later.... picking oranges and names | Central Florida Photographer

One year ago today, my life changed. Not just one of those bumps in the road, or small little changes. A forever kind of drastic change. It was the afternoon of November 17th, and my mom wasn’t feeling well and after seeing a few doctors that week, she ended up checking into the ER. As my dad and her left for the hospital, Luis and I left to take Greyson to get his first true haircut. As I buckled my seatbelt, my eyes filled with tears. Luis thought I was crying because we were going to chop off all of Greyson’s curls, which, let's be honest... under normal circumstances he would've been right. I hadn't wanted to part with those curls at all. But that wasn't why. I knew in my heart that my mom wasn’t okay. I knew it was serious. I believe she knew it was serious, even though she never actually said it. 

A couple hours later, my fears were confirmed and there it stood before us. The word you never want to hear. My dad said over the phone, “It’s CANCER.” 

It was in her lungs and it appeared to be in her liver. My world stopped. That night we sat at the dining room table and cried. My mom made it clear she didn’t want to do chemo. She wasn’t interested in treatments that couldn’t cure her and would only prolong a low quality of life. She had always said that would be her reaction but now her words were real and painful. We had no idea what to think but she agreed to see all of the doctors and get as many answers as she could, for us. Over the course of the next few days we found out what type of cancer it was and that it had spread throughout her entire body from her skull to her knees. There was no chance of survival. The doctors estimated that she had only had it for a few months because of testing she had done six months prior that would have caught it.

On Monday, November 25th, my 29th birthday, we met with an oncologist for the first time. He told her that if she wanted to  survive the next couple of weeks, she didn't have the luxury of waiting to start the chemo another week, and with their office being closed for Thanksgiving break he suggested a quick plan. He told her that with 6 rounds of chemo, spread over 18 weeks, we could expect to have another 8-24 months of good quality of life with her. After discussing it we all decided that time was something we all wanted. She made me promise that if she went through the chemo, she could name our next baby. We had been trying for baby number two for a while at this point.

So, 36 hours later she was admitted to the hospital to start her first round of chemo. I remember sitting in her room all day, just the two of us, waiting for the unknown to begin. She keep offering up the craziest baby names you’ve ever heard, while reminding me that I HAD promised to let her pick. It lightened the moment and took away the fear, even if only for a brief second. 

She finished her chemo treatments and passed away six weeks later. But it gave us a total of six months with her that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. She never wanted to do the chemo, but being the selfless wife and mother that she was, she chose to do it. It gave us time to grieve with her and time to say and do everything we wanted to do with her. Those were the most valuable six months of my life. No doubt the hardest six months, but I am so thankful to have had them. She taught me a lot. More importantly, the Lord has taught me a lot about who I am, who He is and, even, who my mother was. 

A few days before she passed away she handed me a tiny, tiny bracelet that I had seen thousands of times before. It hung on her dresser as far back as I can remember. But for the very first time she told me the story behind it. She said that after years of trying to conceive and experiencing her first miscarriage her grandmother found this bracelet on her property. She picked it up and noticed it had my dad’s initials (S. Johnson) surrounded by blue and pink beads. She gave it to my mom and the following month my mom was pregnant with me. As she handed it to me she smiled. I cried. I knew that whenever I saw those two pink lines I wouldn’t be sharing that news with her. We found out we were pregnant six weeks later. Although I couldn’t call her to tell her, it felt like she was a part of it.

It’s been a hard year; one I never believed I'd make it through. But here I am. Expecting our second baby and marveling at the goodness of the Lord. I still miss my mom more than words can describe, but she taught me to enjoy this journey called life. Well, Luis and I decided to uphold our end of the deal and let my mom name this little boy. She picked a name when we were pregnant with Greyson that she absolutely loved..... LIAM, which means “strong willed warrior or protector.” 

Liam’s middle name will be Thatcher, which means “one who mends.” This name seems incredibly fitting for the season of life we are in. When we picked Greyson’s middle name (Micah, which means, “who is like the Lord?”) we wanted it to be a name that we could always point him back to and remind him who God is. We hope to be able to do that with Liam as well- to point back to this season of life and talk about how the Lord upheld us and mended our broken hearts during our darkest hours. Finding out we were pregnant with him was only one of the ways the Lord has mended my broken heart. I know that Liam will face heartbreak for many different reasons and through different seasons but we will always be able to point back to this and remind him how good the Lord is, even in the ugliest parts of life. 

So instead of mourning through today I chose to celebrate Liam and my mom. I can't wait to meet this sweet boy and when he is old enough to understand we will tell him how he got his name. I'll also be sharing the story of how these pictures happened... the fact that we went to do them and ended up on an hour and a half monster truck tour instead. We went back the second day and set up a tripod with my camera... no one there to push the button for us! And even though the sun was almost down but we managed to capture a few pictures that we'll treasure forever. 

We were shocked at how well Greyson did looking at a camera with no one behind it!

Oh, and lets hope Greyson loves Liam as much as he loved these silly oranges!! 

Meet Max | Heathrow Newborn Photographer

Meet Max. 

I always enjoy newborn sessions because I love sweet little babies and I love chatting with parents about the transition a new baby brings. But this sessions was even more enjoyable because it was of my childhood best friend's little boy. His mom and I were born 5 days apart and lived a block from each other from day one. We grew up playing together and being more like sisters than friends. I have a ton of funny and embarrassing stories I could tell about those first 18 years. I moved away for college and she moved across the country with her new hubby... time passed and life changed for both of us. 

But now... we live thirty minutes away from each other. I am so incredibly excited to watch her be a mom and to hopefully raise our boys to be great friends who make a lot of embarrassing stories of their own :) 

Lincoln is here! | Lake County Newborn Photographer | Central Florida Newborn Photographer |

Meet Lincoln, my best friend's little man. I can't even tell you how much I already love this little boy. I hate that this family lives four hours away from me, but was so happy when his mommy and daddy decided to bring him to me for his newborn session. I loved taking his pictures but I also loved that they stayed with us for the weekend and I had plenty of time to snuggle him. I also got to watch my best friend be a mom. Motherhood sure does look good on her. I kept wondering "how does she have it all together?!" I remember crying a lot when Greyson was first home from the hopsital. I cried when I was happy. tired. sad. tired. unsure. tired.... I guess I remember being really tired in that season? Anyways, she has made motherhood look easy and way less exhausting. I'll be working on his birth blogpost shortly. Those images might be my favorite... ever! But for now, enjoy this cutie at 11 days old.

Natalie + 6 Month Session

     I met this sweet little lady for her six month session. She was as cute & happy as could be. Before we started her session she was all smiles. As soon as we got her in front of the camera she quickly got shy, leaving mom and dad to stand behind me and act a little crazy. But she was one of the happiest little girls. No matter where we put her or had her do, she was happy.

     Her parents were just as sweet, which makes meeting new clients so fun! From the moment Natalie's mom contacted me she was very sweet to say that she loved my work and completely trusted me with the directions for her pictures. I love that mom is already planning on booking Natalie's one year session! Thats absolutely the best compliment a photographer can get!

     These pictures were taken at my favorite field location that is being destroyed in order for them to build what I have been told will be condos. *sigh* More condos? Hoping to get to do at least one more session there... too many unexplored areas to not use!

   

sweet family of three

I love this family, all three of them. This sweet little girl can be very free with her smiles.... or not very free with them :) I spent a lot of the time looking crazy and repeating, "So you think you can dance?" in a really low tone to get Selah to smile. It works when her parents do it! Most of the time she looked at me like I was insane, but I was okay with that because her other faces are pretty priceless. I like her silly faces as much as the smiles. This little peanut was turning six months old, can you believe it? Do you remember her as a newborn? We took a picture of her when she was 4 days old in a wood crate and then again during this session. It really is amazing how much she has changed in 242 days. I cant wait to add another when she turns ONE! I love capturing each new step for this amazing family.