'May you touch dragonflies & stars, dance with the fairies & talk to the moon.May you grow up with love & gracious hearts & people who care. Welcome to the world little one, it's been waiting for you!' -Anonymous

Our sweet baby girl gets to be my sweet baby model. In all honesty, it was a bit of a challenge to do a newborn shoot of my own newborn for no other reason except motivation. When I sit on the couch holding her, I have all these ideas for her pictures floating through my head, but actually getting up & following through with the ideas? That motivation, yep, it wasn't quite there...until a few days ago. I took some pictures here & there in our first week together (they can be seen here) & then my energy suddenly reappeared & with it came the motivation I was lacking. I'm so glad it returned because I am absolutely in love with the photos I got. Perhaps it's partially because she's my own, but I know part of it is because I finally did something I've been thinking about for months- I had a lifestyle newborn shoot. I've felt like this was the path I needed to follow for my newborn photography & have been a little anxious to try it out with Ella. While I think some posing is sweet, the extensive props & posing is just not a good fit for me. I love capturing the reality of our newborn- her bright eyes checking out the world so intensely, the love her brothers have for her, the tiny little details that are already changing. Everything seems to pass so quickly, but thankfully these pictures will help us remember the early days of EllaGrace, who we named after our paternal Grandma's (in one of the photos below).