Switching to a different look for the post processing…

Makeup and Styling: Jessica Shinyeda Flowers: Fiori Flowers

Andrew and Ellie were our first couple to order an 8×10 traditional album (albums with just one image per page).  I love the images they chose for it and am a huge fan of how it came together–it inspired me to use a similar album for Ellie’s birth pictures!

Jessica and Joe ordered a metal photo cover album with a white patent leather spine, with a leather mini album as a parents album.

Lisa and Dave picked a cream leather with a textured brown accent strip for their cover.

Melissa and Dave chose a glass cover with metallic silver spine.

Three weeks in, and he still completely adores her. If you ask him what he thinks of his baby sister, or what she is like, he says “beautiful.”  He runs to check on her when she cries, and he smothers her in kisses.  We are so lucky.

I used the hypnobabies hypnosis for childbirth self study program for the birth and would highly recommend it to anyone planning a non-medicated birth.  With Will, I used the “whine and beg for death” method of natural childbirth, and it certainly had the same end result (a baby), but it was a lot less pleasant for all involved.  :P  The hypnobabies program kept me positive and patient during those traditionally impatient last few weeks of pregnancy, and focused and calm in labor until it was time to push (at which point I admittedly dropped the hypnobabies and switched to the curse/panic/beg for a c-section method of natural childbirth).  If any preggos have questions about the hypnobabies program, just let me know–I would be happy to share more with you!

One of the very cool parts of Ellie’s birth is that we had a photographer to document it.  Charlotte Geary, a Colorado Springs photographer I have admired for a long time, photographed the birth and she is now an honorary member of our family.  Not only did she capture the most beautiful photos, but she was the perfect attendant at such a time–she was very discrete, but I could still feel her pulling for me.  And when Ellie poked her head into the world, I think Charlotte cried just as much as I did!  We are so grateful to her for creating my new most favorite photos and for being “on standby” for weeks as we waited for Ellie!

Here are a few of her amazing images:

(relaxing through a contraction as Nic checked us into L&D)

Meeting Eloise Marie:

The moment I’d been looking forward to for 9 months finally arrived: Will got to meet his baby sister!  It was love at first sight–he completely ADORES her.

And then the amazing Charlotte finally got to hold Ellie!

***

We are home and doing very well.  Will continues to adore Ellie–I think the biggest obstacle in her life right now is just getting sleep around all of the kissing and petting.  At any given moment, the scene at the Turchin household looks something like this:

I’m behind on email (as you can imagine) but we will be slowly getting back to normal in the next few weeks.

If you’re starting to wonder how many more best of 2009 posts I’ve got prepped, the answer is:  a lot.  :)  Here come a few favorite wedding ceremony shots!

We are so excited to have received the Brides Choice Award by Wedding Wire again!  A big thanks to all of the amazing couples that made it possible!

Here’s the “fun pose” from our 5 minute photo shoot Saturday.  Fine print: I totally stole this from another photographer, so we can’t take any credit for it.  Except for growing the baby–that I claim credit for.  And for making Nic take the picture.  And for the rad “ferret stripe” down my belly that takes a detour at my belly button.  Did that with Will, too (although with Will it showed up much earlier and was much darker)!

As Nic was drawing on my belly (eyebrow pencil–although Nic really wanted to use a permanent pen and let me go to the hospital like that) Will was sooooooo excited.  “Can I draw Baby Ellie?!!” he wanted to know.  So after we fired off a shot or two we turned the pencil over to him.  He ever so carefully added eyebrows and was working on some beautiful newborn hair when the pencil broke.  I would have loved to see how he would have finished it all off!

I am crazy excited for him to meet her.  Unfortunately because of the hospital’s “swine flu” policy, no kiddos are allowed, so he is going to have to wait even longer than Nic and I…if my current plans fail.  (My current schemes involve dressing him up like an old man with a cane, putting him in a carseat box and smuggling him in, or saying “Ummmm–he’s 74.  Haven’t you seen Benjamin Button?!”)  Today we were running last minute errands and he saw a girl with her younger sister, ran right up to her and asked “Is that your Baby Ellie?  I have a baby sister Baby Ellie.  Your Baby Ellie is so big.  My Baby Ellie is so small.  She’s in Mommy’s tummy.  I like your Baby Ellie.”  Which made me so excited for Ellie to make her way into the world and see what a great big brother is waiting for her!

Anyone want to play “guess what date/time she will arrive?”  The person who has the closest guess will win an AMAZING prize.  (And by amazing, I mean something like a candy bar.  I’m no Pioneer Woman.)  Background scoop: Will was either 2 or 5 days early, depending on which of his due dates you go by.  And (on a conflicting “but she might be late” note) I won’t induce/strip membranes/etc, so it IS possible that she could be a February baby.  But she’d be a fool to wait that long with a big brother as cute as hers waiting on her!