I love it when dads come to photo shoots and jump right in!

One handsome little fellow!

My Portfolio | Contact Me | Follow Me @emilyWbrown

Here is Miss Hayven’s beautiful baby girl. Born early yesterday morning. She is a beautiful chunky little thing!

Olive got a bit stuck on the way out and gave us a good scare as she didn’t “start” imideatly on her own. But after the quick attention of her midwives she started breathing and then screaming on her own and we were all quite relieved.

Ivy watched the entire birth and was so excited to play with her baby, and request to “walk her around” almost imediatly.

Well done Hayven!

My Portfolio | Contact Me | Follow Me @emilyWbrown

Many of you will recoginze my dear friend Hayven. She is my neighbor and her daughter Ivy was born two weeks before Simon and Simon and Ivy are good pals. Last night Hayven came over and we took some belly pics. Then she asked me for “some of that tea that starts labor” I said “you mean red leaf raspberry tea? it’s doesn’t start labor it’s just supposed to strengthen and bring contractions closer together” But maybe it does start labor because 6 hours later her husband called me to come meet them at the birth center nd 1 hour later their beautiful baby girl was born! So I am posting these images a day to late but she is still radiantly beautiful! More photos of baby coming soon.

My Portfolio | Contact Me | Follow Me @emilyWbrown

I witnessed a beautiful hospital water birth this morning. And yes you read that right, hospital water birth. No, the hospitals around here a not suddenly changing their policies in the light of research (that will be wonderful when it does happen though). This  birth happened in the water quite by accident. This little one was just in a hurry to get out. It was beautiful!

Introducing baby C.

Isn’t she beautiful!

I loved her soulful eyes and knuckle dimples : )

My Portfolio | Contact Me | Follow Me @emilyWbrown

Last weekend we celebrated Simon’s 2nd birthday. 2 weeks after his official birthday but this kid has a busy social calendar so it was hard to fit it in! The party was of course a “digger” theme. Simon loves all things construction as most 2 year old boys do so we went with it.Everyone got construction hard hats and we laid down some “road” and made a bulldozer out of cardboard.

Here is the big boy blowing out his candles

And look, I made a cake that didn’t fall apart (I am not a very good baker).

He scored big time with awesome presents – and now he totally gets the opening thing.

baby Rowan, Naomi, and Simon

And a good time was had by all! – but boy was I wiped out the next day. Birthday parties are a ton of work.

This is the Lovely Miss Sarah. She happens to be Myles’s first cousin and we are just thrilled for her and her husband as they are expecting their first baby (a girl!) at any moment now. I can’t wait to get my hands on that little bean! and in case you are are wondering about the title “Sassy” is Sarah’s childhood nickname. Best wishes for a quick and easy labor and delivery Sarah!

I don’t normally shoot natural light for newborns – I like the consistency of my strobe. But we changed it up a bit.

This sweet little guy belongs to a fellow photographer : )

We’re back! and we had such a great time in the windy city (and yes it was windy and cold). There are so many great activities (even for little ones) we had no problem keeping busy.  Here are just some highlights.

The Shedd aquarium was by far my favorite activity (and i think it was Simon’s too). It’s the largest all indoor aquarium in the world and it is impressive. We walked through an amazon rain forest,  saw Sharks, belugas (including a baby one), penguins, sea turtles, dolphins, and countless other critters.  After this day Simon sang “Baby beluga” endlessly!

Simon watching a dolphin

A stingray and a shark!

getting some famous deep dish pizza at Geno’s East.

witting on the walls is encouraged at this restaurant.

Sue, the largest most complete T-Rex fossil in existence. Simon walked around yelling “T-Rex ROAR”  after seeing Sue.

the sky deck ledge at the top of the Willis (formally Sears tower).

Digging for dinosaur fossils at the Chicago children’s

watching baby chicks hatch at the Museum of Science and Industry.

playing with water at the MSI toddler area.

playing in the hotel swimming pool – a favorite activity!

Can you believe that my little guy is 2 years old today. It has been a sweet journey and we have had so much fun being parents!

I have seen a few of my friends do really cute interviews with their little ones and I tried really hard with Simon but when I ask him “What’s your favorite color?” he responds with stuff like “huh?! I want juice!”. “Favorite” is a far off concept for him but for the record his favorite color is still purple.

A few things about Simon at age 2

• He talks non stop – I mean he will talk your ear off. He has put at many as 7 words together in a sentence.

• He has lots of cute little phrases like “nice and warmer” and “you come too?”

• When he counts he says “1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10″ and he says this consistently – probably 30 times a day.

• He loves dinosaurs, diggers (excavators, backhoes, and dump ducks), and playing legos

• He is almost completely potty trained. He got really interested in it and we went with it. He has gone up to 5 days with out an accident but using the bathroom away from home is much more challenging.

• He is a really good swimmer and can kick to the surface from the bottom of the 4ft pool.

• He is very affectionate (especially when he is tired) he gives me hugs and kisses all day long.

• He has 2 stuffed dogs one golden and one black and he named them (all on his own) after my Aunt’s real live dogs Max and Molly. Right now we cannot find Molly and it is making bed time really hard.

• He will eat just about anything but he hates sitting at the table to do it. This kid is a way better eater than I was and he prefers avocado and green beans to mac and cheese. He also loves salmon and will even eat salad.

We are putting off having a party for him for a couple of weeks because we are going to be in Chicago all this week (really putting that potty training to the test). But I will update with photos form his “digger” party once it happens.

until then!

-Emily