
TWO The Moon! Indie’s 2nd Birthday

In honor of January being EA/TEF Awareness Month, this year I have submitted a short blog post to DifferentDream.com and I thought I’d share my words here on this platform as well. I have tweaked it so that it appeals to a broader audience, but what you’re about to read is pretty close to the article that will be published later this month. If you’ve been following me from before Indie was born, you probably read her birth story and have been keeping up with our journey as parents of a child with Esophageal Atresia/Tracheoesophageal Fistula (abbreviated EA/TEF). If you’re new, you can read my birth story by clicking here. In the article I wrote for Different Dream, I focused specifically on making connections in the EA/TEF Community and how they’ve helped shape our story. You don’t have to have a child with this specific set of special needs to be able to relate to the article you’re about to read – because when it all comes down to it, every parents need to connect with other parents to feel like they aren’t alone sometimes. Whether it be sleeping through the night, or navigating tough conversations, developmental milestones, or choosing the best daycare – “it takes a village” – and in parenthood, finding that village early on will make a world of difference. So I do hope you read and connect with this on some level – and if you have questions about life with EA/TEF, my inbox is always open!
Continue reading “Connecting The EA/TEF Community”So excited to be writing a “real” blog post right now! Lately it’s been a whole lot of milestones and just about nothing else…. but with this lockdown lasting so much longer than I think all of us really expected, we’ve had to get creative with how we’re spending our time at home. 90% of it is ultimate procrastination, laziness and boredom… but when the urge sparks to do something crazy, I answer the call! Last week I put Indie into our very own sink/milkbath photoshoot! On my weekly trip to the grocery store (mask and gloves included) I made sure to pick up a grapefruit, a navel orange, a half-quart of whole milk, and a very simple bouquet of flowers. All from your average grocery store. The supplies were about $12 total, and the photos turned out so fabulous! So I’m going to list out some DIY steps for all you mamas out there looking to get creative at home!
I hope this has inspired some of you to try this at home! After we finished Indie went straight into a real hose-down, so you might want to do this just before your kiddo’s regular bath time (as long as there’s ample natural daylight). Don’t be discouraged by your kitchen. I resisted this project for the longest time because I don’t have a white farmhouse sink and butcherblock countertops (goals!!!) but now that I see these photos, the bath itself is so prominent and everything looked perfectly in-place!
If you’ve been itching to be a better hobby-photographer (even if you shoot on your phone!) there’s no better time than now to take the plunge and try something super cool. The last thing I can recommend is to download Photoshop Lightroom for your cell phone and choose a pack of presets that speak to you to make editing a breeze! Personally, I’ve been using both of Lindsey Badenhop’s packs and I’ve been thrilled with them!
That’s all folks! Currently taking suggestions for the next fun and crazy at-home photoshoot ideas to help pass the time! What would you put inside a milkbath? Is this something you think you’d attempt? We had so much fun! More happening over on instagram so be sure to follow along!
the day came and went so fast i feel like i blinked – but our girl is officially ONE YEAR OLD!!! i planned an epic “first fiesta” at edel haus alpaca farm in wall, nj and collaborated with some pretty incredible vendors! they also happen to be many women-owned small businesses, so in honor of today being international women’s day, i’m sharing the details of our amazing event in honor of my most favorite tiny one-year-old little woman! any female-owned-and-operated business featured in this post will be in bold. click through to read about my dream first birthday bash and (of course) to view all the detail shots! Continue reading “Indie’s First Fiesta!”
we are kicking off indie’s big birthday weekend with her CAKE SMASH studio session by little nest portraits of westfield!!!! click through to see all of our favorites and to read about why this fun photoshoot was so special to us. Continue reading “indie’s cake smash photos by little nest portraits of westfield!”
it’s our first christmas as a family of THREE and you know that an epic holiday session was a must. we collaborated with little nest portraits of westfield who hosted a beautiful day of family photography at hidden pond tree farm in mendham, nj… with a special appearance from the betty booth bus, which was just the touch of cool-factor we needed to ‘spruce’ up our cards! (see what i did there? spruce? ok i’m done with the puns, i promise.) read on to hear about our heirloom photo membership and to scroll through our entire batch…. it was so hard to pick our favorites! Continue reading “ho ho ho! our 2019 christmas photos are here!”
my life as a new mom has been nothing short of a whirlwind, leaving me little brain space (or energy) to think bigger than a single instagram post at a time… but today i finished editing our halloween photoshoot (shot by the brilliant @laurenanzevino) and i was so taken aback by how gorgeous these pictures are that i had to share them all ASAP. not only are they beautiful to look at, but they got my wheels turning about baby’s first halloween and what it means to me as a creative, and as a mother. as it’s quickly approaching, read on for some last-minute halloween inspiration. this isn’t a “DIY costume” post or a “how i did my makeup” tutorial…. this is a blog post on making an everlasting memory with your “first timer” that goes beyond the traditional. Continue reading “into the fox’s den: there’s beauty in baby’s first halloween”
when you’re pregnant, everyone says time is going to fly… but at what point do you really look back and think “what the heck happened to my newborn?!” – for me, indie’s 6 month milestone was the “what the heck” moment i had anticipated and more. i cried twice the week before her half-birthday… i looked back at photos and videos from her first few weeks… and of course i planned an epic portrait session with melissa batista photography, who took my maternity photos back in january. we took the nostalgia up a notch and had indie wear the same flower crown that i wore in some of my own photos! click through to see the absolutely gorgeous photography, and to read a summary of my first six months as a mom. Continue reading “indie’s 6 month portraits!”