Sorry, it’s 2:00am. My brain wanders at 2:00am.

Anyways, to the matter at hand, our baby shower…

You see we never really had a wedding shower cause we got married in a fever. Hotter than a pepper sprout. Not really though, but isn’t Johnny Cash great? Truthfully, we had a decently long engagement, 10 months, but it was 2008/2009, the market was bad, we were kinda freshly out of college, and we lived in Tulsa with our other freshly out of college (or still in college) friends. Basically there wasn’t a lot of money. And while I’m sure family and friends in other cities would have thrown us a shower, we didn’t have the cash money to fly out there. And we preferred people spend money to be in Tulsa for our wedding and make memories with us rather than give us things. So we had a freaking fantastic wedding on a tight budget, I mean I used mason jars as center pieces before it was trendy, and we partied, and it was epic and people still talk about how great our wedding was. I’m lacking humility here because really, it was that great. Ask anyone who was there and they’ll tell you.

So when I thought about having a baby shower I was stoked. I wanted to recreate the fun, epic nature of a party that was our wedding, the goal: for people to have fun and for it to not feel like a traditional shower. No one would be smelling melted chocolate in diapers, and seriously no one needed to guess how big around my belly was. Whoever made up that game should be beaten with a wet noodle.

I LOVE planning parties in a weird Sandra Lee, Martha Stewart kind of way, it’s what brought about my party printable line. And while I realize it’s not typical to plan your own baby shower I have amazing friends who love me and put up with my weird obsessions for Martha Stewart party goodness and they basically let me plan the whole thing. And then when pinterest boards were full (oh what my wedding would have been like if they had pinterest 4 years ago) and we had done sketches of how the food would be laid out and lists were made and tasks designated we all got together and made it happen. And it was epic.

Here are the details: co-ed indoor/outdoor shower with a woodland creature theme (to match her nursery decor), poker for the men, a fire pit, s’mores bar, wine, beer, and lemonade, and a hot dog bar. I also brought the smash book I’d been recording every week of the pregnancy in, so people could see what the last 8 months had been like.

While everything was just about perfect and there was a party printable for everything imaginable, the thing that made our baby shower so great was the people. I left feeling so overwhelmingly loved. Here were close to 70 people, all there blessing us with their presence and with presents because they love us and because they love a child they’ve never met just because it’s ours. I remember sitting on the couch that night, staring across the room at the loads of gifts that covered our very large fireplace and crying as I slowly caressed my very 35 week pregnant belly, knowing that this child would never lack for anything, especially love.

One of the things I cherish most from our wedding is our guest book. We had a photo booth (Bill proposed in a photo booth) and folks basically scrap booked a page with their photo booth images and left darling notes for us. Since we weren’t going to have a photo booth for the shower (trust me, I looked into it), I created a Photo Guestbook of our maternity photos and everyone who attended signed it. We actually took it to our OBGYN office and had everyone there sign it. Even all the nurses when Issa was born signed it. Her foot prints sit next to a photo of my pregnant belly. It’s one of those things that God forbid if we’re ever facing a natural disaster I will grab and save from destruction, because in it, that love I mentioned above is expressed in words from our family, friends and the folks who made Issa’s arrival into the world possible.

The other thing I will grab is the quilt above. My mom is bursting with creativity, people have always said I get my creativity from her. And now that I’m a mom and I see her as a grandmother I understand that it wasn’t something that was genetically passed down but something she fostered and nurtured and allowed to happen and grow every time she let me flood the yard and make mud pies. I hope I can do that for Issa.

So 4 months after Bill and I got married my grandmother passed away. My mom’s mother. And it sucked, a lot. Because she was kind of our spiritual rock. And I loved her. And she made delicious strawberry jam. And I remember as mom and I cleaned out her very small one room apartment she filled a box with Gram’s clothes, a few pairs of PJs, a few fleece jackets I’m sure my Gram had had for ages, and a jean dress I’m pretty sure I remember her wearing since I was teeny. I didn’t ask why, it didn’t seem curious to me. It actually seemed kind of normal. And honestly I’d sort of forgotten all about it until the baby shower.

You see the quilt above is made from my Grandmother’s favorite clothes. And my mom made it. As I pulled it out, the last gift we opened that night, and mom began to read through the scrapbook that she’d made to explain the whole thing to Issa I started balling. I wasn’t alone either. There were sobs among everyone watching us open gifts. It’s one of those things I will cherish forever. And the funny thing is, when Issa was two weeks old and she wasn’t sleeping at all at night, and consiquently neither were we, wrapping her in this quilt, dubbed The Grandma Hug, was the only thing that would comfort her long enough for her to fall asleep. And now, she sleeps with it every night.

That was our baby shower. It was epic. I can’t thank my friends and family enough for helping make it happen with all their hard work and with just being there to make memories with us and to celebrate this little peanut of a girl who has stolen our hearts.

I go on the front porch and look around, none of my neighbors are out. She grabs my free hand (I’m still holding Issa) and starts to pull me along. She wants to inspect the other side of the porch, still mumbling as if I fully understand every word she is saying. I pull her to the opposite side, asking her where her parents are and where she came from. She just mumbles some more. We walk to the edge of the driveway where I’m sure I’ll spot someone frantically looking for this little girl but there’s no one.

I realize I have no shoes on and the bits of pine cone left over from the local squirrels’ daily meals are digging into my feet.

I start to kind of panic. What does one do with a lost child? Where do you take it? Who do you call?

Not ghost busters.

So I decide that we’re going to walk. Someone has to be looking for her somewhere. And she’s like 3-ish, her legs are tiny, she can’t have walked far. But first I need shoes.

We walk back to the house, I try to get her to stay on the porch cause I know there are flip flops just inside the door, but she refuses. She walks right in the door, past Sam’s inquisitive sniffs and licks and into my living room where she mumbles some more stuff. The water is still running. I keep thinking she can’t be in here, someone is going to think I stole her. So I quickly slide my shoes on and tell her we’re going to go for a walk. She seems much more interested in exploring my house, but I grab her hand and we head out.

I’m still carrying Issa.

We get as far as the neighbor’s driveway when a guy in a chef coat who must be my neighbor’s nephew or something cause I see him quite often, frantically emerges from their house, cell phone firmly pressed against his ear. He see’s me, see’s the little girl, and a look of relief comes over his face. I say, “Is she yours?” He says yes, takes her hand, and apologizes profusely. I tell him it’s no problem.

That was by far the strangest thing that’s happened to me in a while. This whole situation has made me think several things…

1. I’m not sure how she reached the doorbell because she could barely reach the handle to the screen door.

2. I think it’s very sad that I was nervous to let her in my house, scared of being accused of  stealing her or something. I suppose that’s the world we live in.

3. Shoes are important and I don’t like pine trees.

4. I wish I knew Spanish or child gibberish better.

5. Six weeks ago I probably would have called him an irresponsible father. But now, and my kid isn’t even mobile yet, I can totally see how this could easily happen. As a parent your brain is going a million miles a minute and you’re thinking of 1000 things a once. You’re doing at least two things at once at all times. It would be so easy for that little girl to just open the front door and walk out while he was say, doing the dishes, or going to the bathroom, or changing the laundry over, or doing one of the hundreds of things we do in a day. And while it scares the crap out of me to think that in a few short years it could be Issa ringing our neighbor’s doorbell without me knowing, it does make me thankful that we have good neighbors. And it certainly makes me want to get to know them better.

6. Lastly, I should always turn the water off.

That is totally the wrong way to go about it. I honestly wish someone would have seriously sat me down over coffee or something and said something like, “Look, this is going to be seriously hard. You’re not going to sleep, like, ever again. Daily showering is a thing of the past. Consider it a bonus if you get to eat and your food is still hot. Running short errands with the kid will take weekend vacation type preparations. You will be tired, and sore, and cranky and it’s going to suck. But you’ll have this precious little person and even though she’s the bane of this new existence, you’ll keep going, because you love her more than you could have ever imagined. You’ll cry. You’ll second guess your decision to be a parent. You’ll second guess your ability to be a parent. All of this is OK and completely normal. Your boobs will hurt in a way you’ve never imagined. You’ll cry some more. But then she’ll smile at you and it will all be worth it.”

They’re tricky those babies, with their cuteness and tiny toes.

So yes, it has been difficult. But she’s so freaking amazing and incredibly worth it. And we’re learning, all of us, Bill, Issa, Sam and myself. We’re all figuring each other out and what life now, looks like. Did I mention she’s incredible?

I officially went back to work last Friday. I did my first photo session. It felt good to be back. And I have to just thank all of my clients who are booked this month and their incredible flexibility and love as we make adjustments. Like I said, we’re still figuring all this out. I honestly thought working from home would be easy, but it takes so much more planning and dedication than just dropping your kid at day care and heading off to the office for 8 hours. The trade off however is I’m sure those folks miss their kids. I get the advantage of spending time with her all day, and not missing things. But I also have to work at 2am, or between feedings or naps, or not answer the phone call from a client who’s been trying to get a hold of me for days, because every time they call my kid happens to be screaming all while trying to keep the endless piles of laundry going. How does such a small thing produce so many dirty clothes?

All this to say, we’re getting there. The fact that this blog post is written and live is proof. I’m excited about what is to come in both our personal lives and our business. It’s changing, and it’s changing for the better. And seriously, friends, family, clients thank you so much for all of your support, love and flexibility. We could not do it without you.

For a daily dose of cute baby photos follow me on instagram.

If you weren’t aware I’m pregnant, we’ve done our maternity photos, and the nursery is just about done (photos soon I promise) and I’m on maternity leave. On Saturday I’m officially 40 weeks pregnant (which if you count it, is really 10 months, whoever said it was nine months, they’re liars) and I’ve spent the last two days doing everything I can to move this process along. I suppose I can’t complain too much, I’m not over due yet, just about due. Still this last week has been going agonizingly slow and the two hours a night of contractions for the last two nights are just painful teases of whats to come. One of the ladies in our doctors office told me she’s never seen someone so excited to have contractions.

This whole pregnancy thing has been a wonderfully odd experience. The fact that I have to strain to reach the keys on my lap top (which is currently resting mostly on my knees since I have very little lap left) says a lot in itself. At this point, dropped items remain on the floor unless the handy grab Bill bought me is close at hand. I can’t put my own shoes on. Shaving my legs is an ordeal in itself. I’d kill to be able to paint my toenails. And every so often I get a swift internal kick in the ribs. Weirdest. Feeling. Ever.

But it’s also pretty freaking cool because the man I love, my husband, my partner in life and crime and I made a human. I’m sorry, maybe you didn’t hear that. We made a human. And she’s been living in my body, let’s be honest here folks, for the last 10 months. I have a small human in my abdomen. And shortly I will expel her from my body and she will live in the world and it’s our job to teach her all about it and how to navigate successfully through it. Awesome. Freaking awesome.

We’re excited. And nervous. And anxious. And as ready as we could possibly be to see her face and start this new journey called parenthood.

From our AMAZING Baby Shower, pictures of that soon to come too. 35 Weeks Pregnant.

So, each season we put together a little clothing guide to help our client’s out. Our biggest piece of advice, look to the mannequins! Professional designers coordinate the outfits that go on mannequins, and stores like Gap and J. Crew have styles for the whole family, it makes putting together outfits SUPER easy.

And to help even more…here’s our Spring 2013 Guide.

Some additional helpful resources:

Gap’s Website

J. Crew’s Website

J. Crew’s Spring Look Book

I digress…

During Holly’s session consult she said something along the lines of, “I babysit, I don’t really have hobbies that photograph well.” And since senior pictures in a pile of children wasn’t really an option what we were going for we brain stormed together until we came up with some ideas. I think our brains really worked well together because her session was FANTASTIC and I absolutely love her pictures. She’s gorgeous which make my job incredibly easy and I’m a little in love with this new shoot location. Anyways, here are a few images from her session…

Enter our maternity photo session. I always thought I’d be that pregnant lady who was diligent at taking creative month to month photos of my growing belly. I think I’ve taken two. It’s sad. This is why I didn’t try to shoot my own wedding. But I really wanted this monumental new chapter in our lives to be documented, professionally, with a real camera, not my iphone in a mirror. So I took the bold step I ask my clients to take every day, with Bill as my support, and we had our maternity session done by the wonderful Andrea from Ethan Avery Photography.

Andrea and I worked together at a photography studio years back and hit it off right away. Since then we’ve traveled together, shot weddings and photo sessions together, constantly bounce ideas off each other, shoot each other’s families, share knowledge and tips and tricks. She’s the Lucy to my Ethel when it comes to photography. I love her, she’s fantastic, which made being in front of the camera a lot easier, still incredibly odd, but easier. I also had forgotten how much preparation went into a session on the part of my clients, gathering clothes, props, getting ready, hair cuts, making sure we have everything. Goodness it was job in itself.

All that to say, it was totally worth it. The photos are incredible. I can’t stop looking at them. Andrea did a great job and I’m super proud of myself for curating our clothing and accessories choices.

So that’s the shoot. There are about 100 more photos I could share but these are some of my favorites. Andrea you are amazing! I’m so so so glad we have these, I look forward to the day I get to show them to my daughter and say, “that’s when you were living in mommy’s tummy.”

And if you’re curious what the elephant is all about you can read about it here.

Just click this link to start the download (or click the photo below, that will start the download too). Print off your tags, I’d suggest using white card stock, punch them out using a 2″ punch (you MAY be able to get away with a 1.5″ too), punch a standard hole punch in the top and get to wrapping and tagging!

Just please remember these are free for personal use only. You can find TONS more printables at our etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/dilibertodesign, we’re always adding new items so check back often.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!!

I thought about hiring an intern, but that would mean I’d have to raise my prices to pay them. I have a really hard time asking any intern to work for free, though there was a time where I did and I learned a lot. But still, I wanted to keep my prices reasonable (also why we have a home office and not a store front studio yet), but I also needed help. About 3 months later I was at an Imaging USA convention and I heard Jeff and Julia Woods speak (they’re an amazing husband and wife wedding photography team). It was then I remembered I had an assistant, a life long assistant, my husband Bill. And after much pleading and coercion and begging because he loves me Bill agreed to assist me on shoots.

There was a slight learning curve at first. He definitely blindly agreed to help, I’m certain he didn’t know what he was getting himself into. If he had I’m positive he would have said no, or at least thought about it a little harder. But I taught him about light and light manipulation and angles. He was already pretty good at hauling equipment and props around. He picked everything up rather quickly (he’s smart like that) and soon he started mentioning little posing and location ideas and thoughts during shoots that were pure genius. I stopped having to ask him to shade certain things or pop light here or there because he just saw it and knew.

Then there were the children. I hadn’t had much of an opportunity to see Bill with children, other than briefly with his niece and nephew in Philadelphia. I had been told by different folks that he was great with kids. But it wasn’t until he started assisting me on family and kid shoots that I realized how truly fabulous he is with them. And they absolutely love him to boot! And sometimes while shooting the parents, or a different combo of kids, I turn and I see this…

…and then I melt a little. Cause it isn’t just that he acts goofy to get them to laugh or smile, but he plays with them and entertains them while I’m working with other members of their family. And seriously they love him. (This little one said she’d like to come home with us.)

I have tons of these kinds of pictures of Bill being awesome at what he does floating among client photos, but the photo above is from a more recent shoot and it absolutely kills me. Maybe it’s pregnancy hormones. Maybe it’s that in three short months he’ll be holding our little girl. I’m not entirely sure. But what I am sure of is that he is going to be a fantastic dad and I couldn’t ask for a better photography assistant.