The photographers that come to visit my blog will know what I’m talking about here.  I was just SO excited to shoot the L family’s newest member, O.  Saturday night I’d set everything out, formatted the memory cards, checked and double checked my list and was ready to go!  Tammy (the mom) and I are friends from high school.  So, I had even more excitement than normal because I was thrilled to get to see her again too.  I woke up Sunday morning to an awful forecast.  ALL. DAY. RAIN.  Blech.  For a natural light photographer, those are just the worst words.  There was no light to be had for any period of time.  We had to reschedule.  But, Monday started with clouds and then by the time we started shooting, there was plenty of light!   I don’t think I’ve laughed so much at a newborn session in the longest time!  Baby O was very generous in marking my blankets, mom, the floor, and me.  But, it all washes out.  No harm done!  He was just a peanut with perfect peaches and cream skin and the lightest features!

I was working on some of Bodie’s newborn photos tonight and found these. I honestly forgot I took them. Bodie’s first few days/weeks were a blur for me. I had a much harder (physical) recovery with him. I attempted a few small newborn shoots with him. It was physically too hard on me, but I made myself do it because I knew I wanted them. Those sessions physically wiped me out. I should’ve hired someone to do it, but I’m a *wee* bit stubborn. (ok family, stop laughing now) Emotionally it was an even harder time. Richie was only able to take one afternoon off of work, and in that afternoon he had food poisoning and literally spent it curled up on the bathroom floor. I wish I was exaggerating. I had very little help from him at all. He’s an extremely involved dad, normally, so this just compounded it. Then, throw in the HUGE issue of me grieving my mom. Richie was super busy after Carter was born, too, but for 2 weeks Mom was at my house everyday during the hours that Richie worked. When Bodie was born I had a few people offer to come and help, but I wasn’t ready to let someone come in and *replace* Mom. But, the morning Bodie was delivered, and Richie told me his obligations to work that week, I called my aunt and godmother, Peggy, and she came down 2 days. I am not even sure when exactly these were taken. I think about 10 days old for Bodie. So, I am just getting to the point where looking at Bodie’s newborn photos don’t make me a little emotional. It only took 4 months.

He is so tiny here. He was born at 8lbs 14oz. While not “small” that is smaller than the 9lbs 12oz Carter. But, Bodie quickly put on the weight and he is even bigger than Carter was now. At a little over 2 months he was 16lbs 2oz and nearly 26in long. He’s my little linebacker, I tell ya.  I think he wore the outfit below twice.  He outgrew newborn clothes by 10 days old.

So, here’s a dose of just some snapshots of him. Not a perfect newborn session photo, but a perfect little baby.

1. Bodie is rolling.  Please note:  this is not with great enthusiasm.  I quite enjoy the time when he’s not mobile.  I even considered fashioning some sort of concrete block contraption to extend the non-mobile period a bit longer.  However, my dear friends brought it to my attention that that’s considered cruelty, so I guess I’ll let him continue with his development.  ::sigh::  The immobility was nice while it lasted.  (please note that I’m kidding and would never harm my child).

2.  I have such big things planned for this fall!  I’m working on Christmas card templates right now!  I plan on making them a password protected gallery for viewing (similar to last year, but even better).  I am GIDDY with excitement over this years templates.  Some are great ones from last year with a lot of new ones too!

3.  Is 4 months too late to send out birth announcements?  Because that’s what we’re doing.  Yup, I never got Bodies announcement sent out.  My kids are like the cobbler’s kid that have no shoes.  They have plenty of snapshots but I always put client editing ahead of theirs, so they sit on a folder on my computer collecting proverbial dust.

4.  Mother’s helpers.  MY LORD what did I do before them?  Oh that’s right?  I got very little done that wasn’t super late at night.  I’ve been so blessed this summer to have quite a few days with help from mother’s helpers.  I’m going to have to figure something out during the school year, because I can’t go back now!  The ability to sit down and work for any length of time is a luxury for a work from home mom.  But, with the helpers, I can be here to feed Bodie, run in the kitchen to make my lunch, or whatever.  It’s been glorious!  I plan on packing them in as best as I can before school starts back and all of my helpers go back to school!!!

5.  What I’m working on right now.  This is a long overdue session for a friend.   She is so sweet!

Email me at JenniferMauren@gmail.com to book your mini session today!

Last week I had the PLEASURE of capturing this precious sweet sweet baby girl.  She was a feisty one!  But, ultimately I won… I almost always do.  I have my ways, tricks, and techniques to get little ones to slip off into dreamland.

P.S- I am working on the post for the voting for my “It’s all about the LOVE” contest.  Bear with me as I endeavor into techmology I’m not familiar with!  LOL!  It will be up soon!  Get your voting fingers ready!

I’m baaaa-aack!!  Sunday was my first shoot officially back from maternity leave and it was GREAT!  It’s wonderful to be shooting again.  And, while I did have to leave my precious little one at home, I was heading to a shoot to snuggle someone else’s sweet baby, so it made it a little easier!  This is the beautiful Miss L.  She was a little peanut and her mother had the most amazing story of her pregnancy!  I forgot to ask if I could share any of that here, so, we’ll just say that little Miss L was quite the surprise!  She may be tiny, but she is full of spirit!  She looks adorable in pink, and it’s a good thing because I have a feeling she is going to be one heck of a girly-girl!  See for yourself!

I’ve been a bad photographer mommy.  I’ve had quite the “to do” list, and I made myself get through a good portion of it before I could edit pics of Bodie.  So, here on the day he turns 8 weeks old, I’m sharing pics of his first few days.  They aren’t fabulous portraits, just snapshots, but I love them, and I LOOOOVE the subject.  Boden is sweet, snuggly, sleepy, and just so many answered prayers!!   I need to take some pictures of Carter too, but he’s a bit more difficult in front of the camera so I choose the easy photo subject right now.  I have plenty more to edit from his newborn session (about 150 to be exact… yeah, I overshot a bit).

I love portrait photography, but sometimes just capturing the moment is all I want.  That’s what these are about.

I rented a macro lens, and this is one of the first shots from it.  That was a FUN lens, and I’ll be purchasing one of those soon!  Loved it for newborn detail shots!!

This swing was a fave of Carter’s and Boden is loving it too.  I just love the curled up hands in this shot.

Say it with me “Awwwww!!!”

Are you married?  When was the last time you had a photo (or portrait even) taken of just you and your spouse?   Go ahead and think… I’ll wait.  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  Stay tuned to the blog this week for an amazing blog contest!!

Also, are you a fan on facebook?  You should be!!!  I’m announcing a special for facebook fans ONLY right now!  Go go go!!  It’s a limited time offer!!  Just search Jennifer Mauren Photography and “like” the page!!

Did you think I forgot about this place?  Heck no!!  But, life has been busy (boy, is that the understatement of the year!!!)

1)  Let’s start with the first and foremost!  Boden Cooper Dunlap is here!!  ON his due date (not like his tardy brother who was 12 days overdue).  He was 8# 14oz and 20in  long.  He had his 6 week check up yesterday and is 13 lbs 11 oz and 24.5 in long!  He’s growing like CRAZY and is already in a size 2 diaper and is outgrowing his second set of clothes!!  You know, mom’s always say that “it goes so fast” and with him, it literally does!!!  I am editing his newborn pics, but here’s a snapshot or two from his first days.

2)  The next question is always… “How is life with the new baby for the rest of the family?”  Well, Carter LOVES his little brother, but is testing my patience with not wanting to listen.  Some of it is normal 2 year old shenanigans, some of it is fueled by mom having to divide her attention.  All normal.  All COMPLETELY frustrating!!!  LOL!

3)  Miles for Moffitt!!  In a little over a week me, my dad, my cousin Kim (who is flying in), my brother (only one, the other is fishing a tournament that day), a cousin and her fiance, and a spattering of other friends are going to be walking/running Miles for Moffitt.  I ran this race 2 years ago when mom was still in the hospital recovering from her surgery to remove the cancer from her colon.  This year we do it in honor and memory of her.  I’ll have Boden with me, and not sure if I’ll bring the “big” camera… but rest assured, there’ll be some sort of camera there and I’ll share photos!!  If you’d like to donate to Miles for Moffitt, we have a donation page set up for “Songbyrd’s Army” (that is what we’ve named ourselves).  Go to this website:  http://www.active.com/donate/milesformoffitt2010/songbyrd and you can either donate, or register for the event there!  Make sure you choose Songbyrd’s Army from the drop down box if you want to register for it!!

4)  Stay tuned in the next week for an AWESOME contest for a FREE SESSION!!  I’m brainstorming the details, but I want to give back and have some fun shooting, so don’t go too far!

5)  I am “back” from maternity leave for shooting June 1st!  So, if you’d like to book your sessions, drop me an email at JenniferMauren@gmail.com and we’ll get a session booked!  I’m loving shooting my new baby, but am excited to get back out there and shoot some newborns, children, families, and seniors too!

Look at me with 2 blog posts in a week!  I’m getting back in the swing and hope for even more frequent posts in the future.

1)  Kind of an exciting week here!  Last Friday was Richie and my 5th anniversary!   We celebrated at home with a great dinner.  We did filet’s (from Chop Shop of course!!), coconut shrimp, caesar salad, mashed potatoes (more like smashed potatoes with skins on and big chunks) and the crowning jewel of the meal which was my blondie brownies!  Those were actually Richie’s anniversary present.  Because our anniversary is exactly 3 weeks after Christmas and both of our birthdays are in December, our anniversary is usually light on gifts.  We do something special, but it’s usually “anniversary on a budget”.  And that’s ok.  What’s important is we celebrated the day, not the amount spent on it.  Lord knows we spent enough on the wedding!  I’ll have to check the annals to see if I can find a wedding photo of us from “way back when”

2)  We’re making progress on things around the house to get Carter a big boy room.  About to order bunk beds!  We need to move the office/workout room to the Florida room first though.  There’s also a closet that needs to be tamed.  Lord, help me!

3)  Well, not Lord help me, but Aunt Peggy help me!  My mom’s sister (and my godmother) has SELFLESSLY volunteered to come down here in a few weeks to help me nest and stock my freezer in prep for the arrival of a certain bundle of joy.  I’m going to try to get through that closet on my own first.  Otherwise, the crew from the TV show “Clean Sweep” may have to make a visit!

What, you can’t picture what my Aunt Peggy looks like?  Not a problem!  I’m here to help!  hahaha.

When we were on vacation in Orlando, I headed over to their house in Apopka to take some photos for their Christmas cards.

4)  And in baby news, I found myself on self imposed bed rest for a bit this week.  I had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions that did not want to slow down unless I was laying completely down on one side.  Turns out an infection was to blame, so I’m on antibiotics and they’ve slowed down significantly.  Now, don’t go assuming I’ll go into labor early.  I did the same with Carter (and an infection was not to blame) and still delivered him at 41 weeks 5 days.  …but who’s counting

5)  Lots of exciting stuff is happening behind the scenes at Jennifer Mauren Photography!  Updates to the online buying experience, updates to the website, and lets not forget the excitement all business owners go through in January.  That’s right!  Year end bookkeeping!  (do you detect a note of sarcasm on that last one?  You should, because I was laying it on plenty thick)  Stay tuned for some giveaways, progress on Carter’s new big boy room and client images too!!!

First of all, I need to blow the dust off this blog!  I pretty much put all business on hold from August until now.  I’ve blogged before about my mother and her cancer treatment.  Well, in August we found out that the cancer that was supposed to “not grow fast at all, you’ve got plenty of time to find a clinical trial” actually did just the opposite and went haywire in her liver.  This caused extreme pain and lots of awful side effects.  We found out about Aug. 20th that she had “2-4 months”.  She passed away Sept. 26, 2009 at home, in her own bed, with my dad at her side.  I was driving like Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit trying to get there in time (as were my brothers) and we were too late.

Part of the reason for my delay in getting back into the swing of things was because my mom was so supportive of me and my photography.  She was the one who came to watch Carter for mid-day newborn sessions.  She was the one I bounced business ideas off of (since she’d run her own successful business for years).  So to take steps forward without her in this business felt wrong, awful, and extremely painful.  I consulted a friend one night as I was frozen.  I needed to edit pictures for a client but was literally frozen in my tracks, unable to do what I needed to do.  I spilled my guts to this friend and asked her advice.  She said “Ask your mom to help you.” And I did.  I prayed (like I do nightly) but I also just flat out asked my mom for help and guidance.  This time though, it wasn’t to watch her grandson while I went to a session, but rather to help me move on without her physical prescence but rather, her spiritual one.  I’m still working on this.  Heck, a lot of me is a work in progress!!  (including the baby I’m growing).

So, this is me, picking up the pieces, revamping, re-energizing, reorganizing, and preparing for bigger and better things for my business.  All with my Mom watching over me from above.

So, here’s my “5 on friday” that I haven’t done since August!  ::faints::

1)  I’m working on putting together my Christmas Card templates in gallery form for clients!  Stay tuned for an email and further details, clients of mine!!  I’m really excited about the variety I’m offering and know you’ll find the perfect card in there!  Don’t forget, all of my cards come with envelopes, so all you need is your address book, stamps, return address labels and one of those “sponge-y envelope sealer things”.  Lord knows I hate licking envelopes, I don’t expect you to like it either.  …plus, anyone remember what happened to Susan on Seinfeld from licking her wedding invite envelopes?  hahaha.

2)  Carter got his FIRST haircut this week!  Pics to come later.  Much to my family’s chagrin, I’ve grounded myself from working on personal photos until I get caught up with some pertinent business work.  Stop it with the raspberries, stop it!  Note:  in typical Carter fashion, he’s not looking at the camera.  I said he had a haircut, not had a miraculous takeover in which he now cooperates for photos, ok?

3)  The busy holiday photo season has begun!  I’m now pretty much booked for all of November!  I can’t guarantee before Christmas delivery on any sessions held after Thanksgiving, but if you don’t need photos by Christmas, I do still have one or two openings in December.

4)  I’m doing some tweaking to some things at Jennifer Mauren Photography.  Trying to enhance the client experience!  Would love feedback from you!  Aside from the delays during the time of mom’s illness/passing/grieving, there are things I’d like to do to make this custom photography experience even better for my clients.  I cherish my clients and want to make sure they know how much I appreciate them!  Also, I am going to be blogging the sessions I didn’t get to blog when mom was ill.  So you should have lots of photos forthcoming from me!

5)  I did mention this in the above “prologue” to today’s “5 on friday” but we’re pregnant!  And by we, I mean, I’m carrying a baby and Richie is helping out even more around the house!  LOL!  We also found out on Oct. 1st that we’re having Dunlap baby boy v2.0!  He’s yet to be named.  I love the name Eli and Richie loves the name Mason.  So we’ve tabled the discussion for a later date!  Feel free to leave a comment on your opinions on baby names!  I am not saying I will take the advice though

And because you’ve gone LONG enough withough seeing photos from me!  Here are some from Baby B that I did!  He was SUCH a good little guy!  He slept awesome the entire time, although he did “christen” his Dad in the last shots… oops!  Sorry Dad!!