June 28, 2023

Wake Forest Family Photographer

Cliftonnnn! I photographed this kiddo last year and his parents warned me that he was slow to warm up, but we were BFFs immediately. Something about people that like cats meeting other people that like cats and agreeing to always be friends. Clifton is my buddy. During this session he really enjoyed excitedly showing me things like his smoothie, the cup that he was drinking his smoothie out of, the color of his smoothie, the straw inside the smoothie, etc. He also enjoyed showing me his cat Jackson, who we once again gently pried from his stranger-danger hiding place to excitedly admire before he quickly ran away from us (we’re so sorry JJ, we love you). Clifton also liked having conversations such as:

Clifton: We went on vacation!
Me: Where did you go?
Clifton: We went on vacation!
Me: Yes, but to where? Was there a beach? Were there mountains?
Clifton: We went on vacation!

He’s my favorite. It was so nice to see this family again and to to see how much taller Clifton got and how much higher he can jump and that he likes kayaking now. He’s one of the most joyous little kids I’ve met and excited about everything. But mostly cats. And I respect that so much.

Kid playing with set of cars in the living room with his mom

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June 22, 2023

Deidre+Eric+Braelyn+Braedyn // Cary Family Photographer

I got the chance to photograph this wonderful family several years ago when Braelyn was only 1, and now she’s pushing her mom on a swing, riding a big girl bike, and driving go karts around her living room (!!). She loves stickers and bubbles and choosing her shoes. She also is a great older sister to little brother Braedyn, and even let him choose multiple stickers out of her much valued sticker book. Braedyn himself is one of the sweetest little toddlers I’ve ever met. Super easy-going and very kind, he gave me several stickers from said sticker book, as well as offered me a bite of every single snack he ate. He is such a loving little kid and liked to grab my hand and run across the house to show me things. Together they had a great time putting together Legos and wrestling with Dad, and then riding go karts and bikes with Mom. And let me just say that the go karts are really something fantastic. The kids can steer and drive them themselves, or they can be remote controlled (!) by the parents so that your kids aren’t constantly running into your furniture or other people. They also light up and play carnival music and I definitely want one for myself and/or my cats. We had the first nice day of the summer for this shoot and it was worth all the rainy reschedules we had to photograph this great crew once again!

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June 16, 2023

Abbi+Olivia+Arlo // North Carolina Family Photographer

Abbi and Olivia! It had been a little over 5 years since I saw these two last! I photographed their engagement session and then they got married and then there was a pandemic and then they had a magnificent child named Arlo! They also adopted Basil, a second German Shepherd to be friends with Maizee (but really Basil is Arlo’s bff and buddy. Also Maizee’s bff and buddy. Also your bff and buddy and everyone’s bff and buddy). Arlo loves smiling and watching his Mama and Mom act like dinosaurs, which they do frequently and with great gusto. It’s really incredible to watch. The roars are intense. Arlo loves it. Arlo loves building with blocks and watching Basil swim in the pool. Arlo also loves playing with video game controllers and with his (badass) toy staple gun. Yes, it makes staple gun noises. Yes, it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen. And yes, I grabbed it and pretended to staple my clients because that’s what you do with a toy staple gun.

But what Arlo really, really loves is being turned upside down. I think he would’ve let us keep him upside down forever except that’s probably not safe so we made him take breaks but wow. He really loves being upside down when he’s not stapling things. He is heckin’ cute. He’s even more heckin’ cute when we goes swimming but we didn’t put him in a swim diaper so his diaper grew 3 sizes that day and he had a giant baby butt and we just love Arlo. Maizee, the black German Shepherd, is a polite lady who enjoys eating snacks and hanging around with all her friends. Basil is a high-energy ball of barking who is obsessed with tiny balls of reflected light that come from watches, rings, and cameras. She also enjoys swimming and fetching and protecting Arlo and responding to the word “squirrel” with lots of enthusiasm! I’m so happy for this family of 5. They’re so sweet and so kind and I’m glad to know them. I’m also glad that they introduced me to toy staple guns.

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