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He made his momma and daddy wait for a bit, but when he was ready to come, he came into this world fast! Could not have been a more beautiful evening, M. Congrats to you on becoming a family of 5! Love, M2.

This is hard to write.

Driving home from this session last fall, I was grinning from ear to ear. I absolutely could not wait to see the moments we had captured on camera. When I actually sat down to flip through the images on the computer, I couldn’t stop. I had to edit the whole set then and there. I was so eager to show mom how vibrant, how positive, how loving, how beautiful her family was (as if she didn’t already know).

Looking at those pictures again now, I would never, never have imagined even for a second that something was so tragically wrong.

A few weeks after their session, I got a call from Stephanie’s sister in tears letting me know that this seemingly healthy, loving, strong father that we see right here had been diagnosed with melanoma. And it didn’t look good.

This is hard to write.

In spite of many pleas and prayers for a full recovery, Dana recently lost his very short battle with cancer.

This family’s faith and courage throughout this whole ordeal humbles me and inspires me and reminds me that nothing is more precious than the time we get to spend with the people we love. Dana was supposed to be treated at the Mary Crowley Cancer Research Center. If you’re so inspired, maybe you could give thanks for the blessings in your life by making a small donation, and in turn, honor the memory of a father and a husband who was very loved and will be very missed.

If you’re a photographer living *OUTSIDE* of the Austin area, Pinkle Toes 4 Photographers is now open to new members!

Albeit, a little cold. But who cares when you get to work with a boy this charming? (Great to see you guys again, today, M!)

But then, I spent the afternoon like this:

She’s absolutely pitiful. It’s so hard when your kids are sick. You can’t do anything and you can’t do anything for them. Snuggles are good. But does it make me a bad mom to say that I secretly enjoyed being forced to do nothing all day but hold my sleeping, fever-flushed angel in my arms? Perhaps, but it’s still precious to me.

Give a boy a chair and next thing you know, we’ve got Pinkle Toes X Games going on here. LOVE it! [Not sure if you can see it, but in the top left pic...check out the tongue...cracks me up!]

There is just an incredible amount of interest and texture and unique style on the east side of Austin and we could not have had more beautiful weather. It was so very wonderful to see you guys again, but mostly, it was wonderful just to give you a big hug.

[As with all Xpressions sessions, these images have only received basic edits to enhance contrast, but have otherwise not been retouched. The April 18th Xpressions are booked solid, but we do have 2 openings left for March 21st - The Clawfoot Tub Sessions. I've also opened up May 16th where we're introducing a new concept that I'll tell you about later. More details on Xpressions HERE.]

Absolutely worth it.

Thanks for braving the elements and wild outdoors today, K. I think we got some fantastic family pictures for you in spite of it all.

I always think it’s so much fun to see these, so I thought I’d share a little behind the scenes with you.  I try to remember to step back and take pictures of the surroundings, but usually I forget. This time, I happened to catch a glimpse of it in the mirror and thought "ooooh, perfect!" Enjoy, but don’t let it fool you. Newborns aren’t always this peaceful. We were pretty darned lucky with this little angel.

Lyndsay and I photographed our Helping Hearts session winners tonight. Um, magic…just pure magic. I seriously don’t know how we’re supposed to choose from these images because if Lyndsay got anything close to what I’m looking at here (and I’m sure she did), we’re in trouble. Thank you guys so much for such a great evening. You were simply ADORABLE and it just means the world that you were both totally willing to try any and all of mine and Lyndsay’s hair-brained schemes. Speaking of Lyndsay…

PHOTOG DOWN!

I can’t even begin to tell you how beautiful this morning was. And how amazing it is to watch good friends transition into parenthood…with such grace. And how special this image is:

Thank you three so much for this session. I know we were all a little bummed with the birth session didn’t work out, but wow, after today, I think we did just fine.  Congrats on your beautiful sweet baby boy!