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I may have been so obsessed with my new camera and lens over the last few months that I begged asked a few friends if they would let me take some maternity and newborn photos. Lucky for me I have some awesome (and super trusting??) friends who willingly agreed. And oh boy did I have a fun time with Noelle and baby Declan (and big brother Atlee, who was a bit camera shy).

The “newborn” shots of Declan were actually more like 1 month photos. I so wish we had been able to get a few more with him sleeping and in some different poses, but between us we have three older toddlers and that was quite a handful to wrangle between snapping some pics.

Y’all… thanks for letting me test out my new gear on your precious family!

 

 

I finally got started on this girl’s surfboard. She will someday share a room with Pippa, so I wanted to coordinate the salmon pinks that are in Pippa’s surfboard and curtains. Of course now Pippa wants an update (aka more flowers) to her surfboard and Sawyer wants a surfboard too. Good thing this mama is ready to get back to artwork!

Here’s a sneak peek of her Boho chic board:

One year ago I took photos of the kids running around the yard with handfuls of daffodils. The pics were a bit blurry since my camera was on it’s last life, but I loved the idea and so they hung above our kitchen table for most of the year. One a gorgeous weekend in March when it hit 70 degrees by 10am and we were running all over the yard (well, the kids were running and I was walking fast trying not to sweat to death in my 36 week pregnant and huge body), I wanted a re-do. Boy am I glad I did!

And that field of yellow flowers? It really is an invasive species growing along our neighbor’s creek. They open during the day and close up at night. Invasive or not, they are beautiful and I wish they’d grow along our oh so attractive drainage ditch in the front yard! I feel the same way about dandelions. Love ’em!

I’ve been getting in a good bit of practice photographing in full sun. I do my best to get a shade source over my portrait subjects, and in several of these my hubby willingly stood arching his hands over them to shade their faces so I could grab those catchlights in their eyes without too many funky sunspots.

And PS: I realize you’re reading this a month later, gotta plan for post-baby y’all!

How lucky we are that my parents live at the beach! Before they retired to the coast of NC, I had never been to the beach in the winter. It’s quiet. Peaceful. We have almost the whole beach to ourselves on some days minus a few dog walkers.

In late February we had days in the low 50s and windy, but that didn’t stop the kiddos from running barefoot until their feet froze or they fell over exhausted. Can’t wait to visit again with three littles in tow!

And did I mention I am loving my new iMac? It also helps that I finally upgraded my version of photoshop from the one I had been using… 13 years old might be some sort of record, lol.

#wildsunshine #childhoodunplugged #sunsetbeachnc

One reason why I love living in North Carolina… we can go to the beach for Thanksgiving and end up with THIS: beautiful sunny days that are warm enough for the kids to go wading in the water and run around in their underwear.

*images may not be used without written permission

I’m a big planner. And when we found out we were expecting baby #3, I knew I wanted to wait and announce it on our Christmas cards. So on Sawyer’s 2nd birthday– the only somewhat nice weekend day we’d had in a month — I dragged the family to a little known spot near the Eno River with a massive meadow to take family photos. Armed with a tripod and lots of warm clothes, we managed 45 minutes of pics before Sawyer lost it and my hubby asked for the thousandth time how many photos I needed.

Then I spent a week in photo nerd heaven editing these pics from my new camera and a borrowed lens.

Just when I was getting motivated to kick off a batch of these babies… baby #3 decided to make me so darn tired at nap time that it took…forever. But FINALLY! I’m excited to share some of my winter projects now up for sale in my ETSY shop: www.surfpixie.etsy.com.

Come April, I will be on maternity leave for a month or two but I’m hoping to get a few more new designs completed this summer once we settle down as a family of 5.

Way back in the fall we were fortunate enough to meet up with one of my best friends and her boys at a local park that also has an old farm on site. Goes with my farm dreams, no? Here are a few gems of the little ones as I dream of crisp clear days outside.