Anytime I can, I like to give back. I donate sessions for silent auctions to raise money for worthy causes and I have photographed military homecomings among other things….but the one type of session that just fills my heart with more than anyone could ever pay me is doing NICU pictures. It’s a long story, but a good friend of Baby J’s mama contacted me and told me their story. Mama (Shannon) was pregnant with twins and I believe she made it to about 36 weeks when something went horribly wrong….something so rare that even the doctors had never seen it. It resulted in the babies being without oxygen for almost an hour before the babies could be delivered. A few weeks ago, Baby G and Baby J were born. Baby G was worse off and never really showed signs of improvement. He lived a precious 11 days on this earth. A few days after the funeral was when I was told about this family and found out that Baby J (Jaren) was still in the NICU fighting for his sweet little life. He is stable now, but they won’t know for a year or two if there will be any lasting effects; his parents try to remain positive and faithful. This past weekend I was blessed to be able to take a trip to the NICU to meet him and his sweet mama. I asked her if I could share their story and her response was, “I, of course, have no problem with you sharing them on your blog. I believe in the power of prayer & would love for extra prayers for my little Jaren!” So please, keep this sweet family, who also have 2 little girls at home, in your thoughts and prayers. Baby Jaren is quite the little fighter and so adorable!
And tomorrow, if all works out, I’ll be going to the NICU to photograph another miracle baby!!
I know I sound like a broken record lately…I am sooooo busy!! I have been trying hard to blog each week day and for the most part have been doing pretty good (missed yesterday..shhh)….but some days the posts just probably aren’t all that exciting….like today’s for example 
While I was busy shooting some new babes at the hospital and then doing some editing at home, my hubby and father in law worked hard this weekend to keep my dog from jumping the existing fence. Let’s back up….. we have an 80+ pound dog….sweet as can be….but loves to bark. He loves to bark at anything..especially the cars that go by. We live on a dead end so luckily there aren’t too many of those, but there’s enough. Anyways… as Scooby (like the name?) got bigger over the last 2 years (since we got him as a puppy)….we often wondered when the day would be that he would figure out that he was taller than the fence. He figured it out. Twice in one week he was delivered to us…once by the lady who owns the gas station at the end of the street…and once by a complete stranger who was having coffee at the coffee shop down the street. Did I mention we live off of Wrightsville Avenue? Yea….we’re lucky we didn’t have a puppy pancake. So the men worked hard to put up a new fence….and here it is in all it’s glory…. I know the pics are just so fabulous (not)….
We got the fencing from my Dad about a year or two ago and Brian kept putting off the project…he thought it was going to be too high…but he likes it…and so do I.
I know that was terribly exciting..haha…but I have some more editing to do before I head out for a session tonight! Happy Tuesday!
Fall is just around the corner (I hope!) so today’s Fashion Friday gives you some ideas for your upcoming sessions…enjoy!
I’m on my way back to good health…I think. Yesterday other than picking up Anthony from school I didn’t even get out of bed. Thanks to my wonderful clients who are so understanding when I had to reschedule 2 shoots..I hate doing that!
Anyways….I’m back today with a fantastic family session. These guys were soooo much fun! I knew it was going to be good when they emailed me a few days before the session and asked if it would be ok if they had a water fight as part of their session. Ummm yes please!!
Oh did I mention the Wilson family came to Wilmington for the first time ever just so I could take their pictures?? Way to make a gal feel good!
So leave them some blog/comment love so they can get their free 5×7 after 15 comments!
Here are their 3 darling kiddos…
Their little boy is the funniest kid ever!! At the beginning of the session he told his sisters that they were ridiculous! haha..big word for such a small fella! So the rest of the session I kept teasing him about being ridiculous and he’d say, “No YOU’RE ridiculous!” And then I’d say you are a funny…and he’d say “No, YOU are funny!” Guess ya had to be there but I had a blast with him!
And here’s the whole family…gorgeous huh?
The kids were beyond excited when I asked them if they wanted to crawl up on the lifeguard stand for a pic….
Then we did some spinning….
and some jumping…
Then a little snuggling for Mom and Dad…
And Dad and son…(check out the sky…a big huge thunderstorm let loose at the very end of our session!)
And finally…the water fight!!
I can’t recommend enough making your session YOURS! Have fun with it…have a water fight…bring one of the kids favorite toys….eat ice cream…just do something that is totally your family!
I love this one of her Daddy’s hand on her…you can see how tiny she really is! 
Each day they spend a good bit of time doing Kangaroo Care (parent and baby spend time skin to skin). I love this first picture of Hilary getting ready to pick her up…you can just see how happy she is!
Yay, caught a little smile! 
by Katie
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