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Creative title huh? I have some random pictures that I wanted to post so they are all getting lumped together because I am super tired and being lazy.

First of all, Ashton has graduated to eating avacados, green beans and today he tried squash. The avacado took a couple feedings for him to come around but he eventually warmed up to it. Green beans he took from the beginning but made a face the entire time while eating. His face clearly communicated, "I will eat these but I am not happy about it". Squash seems to be a hit though. Ashton was much happier about getting the orange goodness shoveled into his mouth than the green stuff.

First time with green beans

Distracted by something happening outside

Emerson was being such a goofball Sunday after church. All four of us were sitting in her room just being silly and she was putting on an Emy show as usual. I grabbed the camera to try and catch some of her natural silliness because sometimes I feel like all I am photographing are the posed moments and not the real ones. Here she is in all her glory.

Getting kisses from Toby

Emerson dramatically falling to the floor to laugh at something that was hilarious to her

Okay, back to the posed pictures:) I have been gathering up supplies to use for some newborn pictures I get to take this weekend (yay!). In an effort to practice with my non-newborn...Here is Ashton being a good sport and very posed (and cute).

I love how these turned out in black and white
A couple of minutes into the "shoot" Ashton starts eyeing the handle of the basket. Notice the huge line of drool running down his chin and onto his chest.

And, here is where he ended up. Yes, chewing on the handle. Shocking (see this post).

Teething much?

In my effort to practice photography everyday, I dressed Ashton in a plain white onesie and laid him on a fuzzy ivory piece of fabric. I was going for something sweet and simple. Not a lot of color so that Ashton would be the focus of the picture.

I tried posing him and this is what I got.




I tried re-posing him and this is what I got.


I tried taking his hands out of this mouth and tried to shoot again. This is what I got.

Again. See a pattern?

You think it is obvious that Ashton is working on cutting some teeth?

I kept trying and eventually got a couple of cute ones without his precious fingers in his mouth!

Emerson got her first tooth pretty early (before 6 months), so we keep expecting Ashton's first one to come in any day now. Stay tuned...

MckMama!!!

In late December, MckMama came to Fort Worth! Yes, as in the city that I live in. I contacted her immediately to see if she happened to have any room in her schedule for us. It turned out that she had 1 thirty minute mini session left and it just so happened to work perfectly with our schedule. Oh, and her pricing is ah-mazing. She is more affordable than any other photographer that I have worked with and she is mckmama, seriously. I was sold.

I decided that the pictures would just be of me and Emerson. Ashton had just had his newborn shoot and we had famliy pictures taken at the same time. I thought this would be a fun mommy-daughter thing to do and I was right. Emerson loved having this special time with just the two of us.

So, when we booked the sesison, Jennifer (MckMama) told me that it would take about a month to get the pictures back but that she would send the CD with at least 30 good images on them. I waited on pins and needles. The day finally arrived when the CD showed up in my mailbox. I put it into the computer and there are 140 incredible and unique images. Yes, 140! Needless to say I am an even bigger fan now. If you ever have the chance to work with her, DO IT! No questions asked. Just do it. (Houston folks- I think she is going to be there in Feb- check her site).

And because I can't post all 140 on the blog (well I could but that would be really annoying), here are just a few of my absolute favorites.

Without a doubt, I will absolutely cherish these images forever.

Emy

I think these shots perfectly capture Emerson's personality right now. She is all about silly and playful. She is also going through this phase (hopefully) where she is experimenting with different facial expressions- she has started doing several that are not very pretty but hilarious all the same. Several of these new faces include sticking out her tounge. Thankfully she decided to leave her tounge in her mouth for these pictures.

Cheese!

I'm bored with this already.

Silly goose.

Giggling while singing a silly song.

Laughing at herself and her silly song.

Perfectly precious!

While Emerson was napping today

Ashton and I did a photoshoot of sorts.

Why? Because it is cold outside...

And I am trying to take pictures everyday...

And he is just so stinkin' cute.

In case you like the black and whites.
These turned out pretty great.

Snow Day

It snowed today. It was nothing like the major snow we got last year but it was still the first (and probably only) snow of this winter. Steve asked Emerson is she wanted to go outside and take pictures in the snow. Her response was, "Okay. I need gloves, a hat, a jacket, shoes..." and she listed all her "requirements". Too cute!

Even though it was quite heavy for awhile, nothing stuck to the ground. Typical Texas snowfall. Good thing that Emy loved it all the same.

Ashton's first meal

Remember when I said that we were in no hurry to try baby food with Ashton? Well, I guess I was kidding because we decided to give it a whirl today! After thinking about it we realized that he really was showing all the readiness signs...sitting up more, putting things in his mouth, etc...so why deprive him of something he is developmentally ready for?

Sitting in the highchair for the first time, checking things out from a new point of view.
Very first bite. Not sure.

More is coming out than is going down.

Getting excited about this stuff. If you could see his feet you would see that he is kicking and flailing in excitement.

More please. Learning to open his mouth in anticipation.

What a mess!

Big sister gets in on the feeding. Look at how adoringly Ashton looks at Emy...isn't it sweet?

She took feeding him very seriously.

After Ash got the hang of it he really liked it. He ate the entire bowl. Such a big boy!