Drew B Photograhy

Well, he was 3 months old this past Monday, but it’s hard to find time to fit in a little photo shoot now that I’m back working. I was really excited because I found this old garage in an alley on a walk last week. The house is going up for auction and will probably be torn down so I wanted to get a shoot in before that happens. I envisioned Brayden in jeans and a tie with no shirt. But, apparently ties are a chocking hazard for babies. Whatever! It would have been cute. I suppose we’ll have to wait until he’s 1 for that.

Okay, onto Brayden. He’s a talking machine! He can say, “Mama, I love you!”, “Daddy, you’re cool!”, and “Hi”. I’m not kidding. He can really say all that. I know. He’s the smartest 3 month old, ever! He’s been squeaking and talking away more and more everyday. He’s graduated to sitting up like a big boy in his stroller and he loves the wind in his hair. Well, not really because his hair has pretty much all fallen out. And I think it’s growing back in brown. He is a really strong boy and he loves to dance, dance, dance! But, his most impressive new talent is that he can fly! I know, impressive, right? He LOVES to fly! He especially loves to fly over to the mirror and see his friend Layden Little who lives in the mirror. That Layden Little sure is cute! Looks a lot like my Brayden!  He’s been a really happy boy for the most part this month and his little personality is really starting to come out.

Here are the many faces of Brayden Bittel at 3 months old!

Okay, there’s no baby yet. But, there will be very soon!

Some of my very loyal blog readers may remember Jill and Brandon from almost two years ago when I took their engagement pictures. Well, now they are having a baby girl and I had the privilege of shooting their maternity pictures! Jill is due at the end of June and she looks amazing! Jill was born to be a mom. She is the best auntie to her nephew and she is great with babies (even my own!). And Brandon is going to make a great daddy! We tried to get him to practice changing Brayden’s diaper, but he just observed. I’m sure he’ll get the hang of changing diapers very soon!

Check back in early July for baby Cameron’s blog debut! I can’t wait! For now, here’s the slide show and some of my favorite pictures!

Everyone is having a baby! Shooting newborns is so much fun now that I’m not super scared of them! And it’s especially fun when I’ve been looking forward to meeting the little guy for so long.

Baby Julian is the first baby I’ve shot where I’ve also shot the babies parents wedding (does that make sense?). What I’m trying to say is, I shot Gina and Joel’s wedding in October of 2006. So, this was a very special shoot for me! Gina and Joel are probably my all time favorite couple. They are fun, cute, and so in love! And they are two of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Julian is truly a very lucky little boy. Julian was just 11 days old at our shoot. He tried really, really hard to be a good boy, but modeling is a very hard job. He didn’t love the warm house, but actually loved being outside in the wind. If it weren’t considered child abuse I would say Gina and Joel should move his crib outside and then maybe they would all get some sleep

Gina and Joel, thank you for trusting me with such important moments in your lives. I can’t even tell you how much it means to me. You two are already such amazing parents. I can’t wait to shoot your next little one’s newborn pictures XOXO

Gotta love little, wrinkly newborns!

Julian started to get a little cranky so Daddy played him some tunes

Gina and Joel weren’t planning on being in any of the pictures, but I’m so glad they did.

These next two pictures are two of my most favorite pictures I’ve ever taken. Little boys and their Daddy’s…

Gina is such a natural beauty

And we can’t leave out big brother Harper!

Snoozing away on the front porch

And here’s a little slide show. The song is the same song that Joel was playing on his guitar and it’s also the song that Gina walked down the aisle to. Aren’t they the cutest???

Yep, you read it right. The little guy who I shot on Monday has the coolest name ever! Drew! How cool is that? His mom Sarah and I had been emailing and I never even asked the baby’s name. But, when I pulled up to their house they had a big stork out front that said, “Baby Drew” and I knew it was meant to be!

Little Baby Drew was just 11 days old when he had his first photo shoot. His big brother, Wolfgang, joined us for the shoot as well. His big brother loves him and seems to be adjusting well. Mom and Dad are a bit tired (who isn’t with a newborn?), but you can just see how much they love their little guy. Bobby is a pediatric orthodontist and Sarah is a pediatric dentist so you know Drew is going to have the perfect smile!Sarah and Bobby, thank you so much for inviting me into your home. Drew is SO cute (how could he not be with that name?) and your love for him is so evident. He’s a very lucky boy! Below are some of my favorite pictures and a slide show.

Drew and his big brother Wolfgang.The family

Check out this awesome mural in Drew’s room! It goes around his whole room and into his bathroom. It’s really incredible. The artist is Sharon Anderson and her number is 714-404-6796.

Time to bring out the chair again! Brayden Bittel will be 2 months old on Saturday! Where has the time gone? My little man is getting SO big! The doctor says he’s as big as a 4 month old! At his 6 week and 6 day appointment he weighed 12 pounds and 14 ounces and was 23 1/2 inches long! That’s the 95% for weight and 90% for height! We’ve got a big boy on our hands! This month Brayden has started laughing and smiling. My most favorite thing is when I get him out of his crib in the morning and he has a huge smile on his face when he sees me. It melts my heart! He’s also found his voice and coos. He loves talking to his butterfly on his gym. He loves to read Dr. Seuss books with his Daddy and enjoys looking at the pictures. He still loves UCLA basketball and Kevin Love even if they are big losers His diapers have Sesame Street characters on them and he hates when he gets the Elmo diapers! Don’t ask me why, but the kid hates Elmo. He’s not sleeping great through the night. He wakes up twice to eat and usually goes right back to sleep so it’s not that bad. All and all he’s a pretty happy kid and seems to be getting happier everyday.

This month we went to the Fullerton train station for his photo shoot. We had a very long day today so we made it a quick one. Here are some of my favs.

The cargo pants and hat are a gift from our awesome friends Johanna and Kyle. Doesn’t he look so handsome?

Check out Brayden’s awesome shoes! These were a gift from my BFF, Michelle.

That’s all for now! I have my first engagement session back tomorrow in LA and I’m super excited! It’s going to be my first time leaving Brayden all day, but I think it will be a good break for both of us Have a great weekend everyone!

Yesterday I got to meet Baby Griffin and do a quick session with him. Griffin’s mom, Kristi, and I were cheerleaders together in high school and I did their family session for them last year. Little Baby Griffin is only 6 days old! He’s so tiny weighing a little over 7 pounds. I don’t ever remember Brayden being that small (probably because he wasn’t!). Griffin didn’t get the memo that he was supposed to sleep through his session, but after some hard work from Mom we did get him to sleep for just a couple of minutes.

Congratulations Kristi! Griffin is absolutely perfect! Here are a few of my favorites!

Many of you will be very happy to know that I bought a new couch this weekend. It will replace the Ikea couch, which will now be retired to the garage. I will still bring it out for special occasions so don’t be too sad! This couch is in our front room, which will eventually be my room to meet with clients. I’m hoping it will be ready later this year, but we have a lot of work to do before then! And no, I won’t be taking it out on any shoots. It’s too heavy and I like it too much to get it dirty Brayden wanted to do a photo shoot on it and you know I can’t say no to Brayden when he wants to do a photo shoot. Even Hauggy joined us for a couple of pictures.

This is my last week of official maternity leave so for those of you sick of seeing Brayden Bittel pictures (how could you ever be sick of seeing Brayden Bittel pictures???) there will be lots of good shoots posted soon! I have an awesome engagement session in LA a week from Friday and three great weddings starting on April 19th! I’m so excited to start shooting weddings again. It’s going to be a heck of a lot easier shooting without a BIG belly weighing me down!

I think my parents are going to get their babysitting privileges revoked.  My kid does not wear dorky outfits like this…

This is how Brayden was returned to me this afternoon.  In a dorky cowboy outfit complete with cowboy boots.  See. Brayden is not happy about it! He doesn’t want to be a cowboy!  He doesn’t like cowboy boots.  If I didn’t like my freedom so much on Saturday mornings I would not let my kid hang out with them.

Here is a picture of a much happier Brayden

It’s so much fun now that he’s starting to smile, laugh, and really respond to us. He started smiling at 5 weeks, but at 6 weeks I knew for sure it was a real smile. He laughs and talks to himself. I think he really likes me and I’m starting to like being a Mom!

Is everyone sick of pictures of Brayden Bittel yet? Well, here is a whole entire post of pictures without him. Not that I didn’t try to take one of him during this shoot, but he was sleeping the whole time

Todd and Robin are good friends of ours who live up North. Chuck and Todd grew up right next door to each other and Chuck’s best (and really the only ones he remembers) childhood memories involve Todd and his sister Katie. Todd and I went to high school together too, but he was the cool senior football player and I was just a dorky, little freshman. I didn’t get to know him until Chuck and I started dating at the end of high school. When Todd moved up north to become a fireman he met his wonderful and beautiful wife, Robin. This past November they adopted little Robby to complete their family. Robby is just the cutest baby! He is a big boy with gorgeous blue eyes. And his personality is so cute! He’s super laid back and so interested in what is going on in the world around him. It’s pretty cool that Robby and Brayden are so close in age. I just wish we lived closer so they could hang out!

Below are some of my favorite pictures from their family session and here’s a slide show. Thank you to my friend Trista for letting me know where this super secret location is

Brayden is very excited that he was born in time to see his favorite team play in the NCAA tournament! We’re just getting ready for the UCLA game to start and Brayden wanted to do a little photo shoot in his designer UCLA onsie. It’s from Chip and Pepper.  How fancy!

This is Brayden’s “Whoa! Did you see that dunk by Love? He’s my hero!” face.

This is Brayden’s “My team is tougher than your team” face.

This is the face Brayden will make if we lose (which we won’t!).

And this is Brayden’s “Oh! You’re so funny Mommy!” face.

Go Bruins!!!