Sarah Maxey Kansas City Birth Photographer and Portrait Photographer

Ryan has officially hit the TERRIBLE-HORRIBLE-NOT-SO-GOOD-TWOS. Oh my God, it’s bad. Maybe we’ve just been spoiled with Jake- he was a good baby and a fairly easy toddler. I’m sure a lot of that had to do with his advanced verbal skills and he never really had a problem communicating with us. Ryan, on the other hand, doesn’t talk very much and is currently in speech therapy for it. And while we’ve seen a little improvement already in the short time he’s been doing it, he still has a ways to go before we can understand all of his “words”. So for now it’s a lot of “what do you want, honey?” and “I don’t understand what that means” and everyone gets frustrated and cries.

So these were all taken on the same day. It was an epic day of fits and I kept my camera closeHe only let me get a few of his faceIt breaks my heart to look at these now but at the time I was just shaking my head and laughing (on the inside of course!).

This one was because he’d reached his time limit on the iPad for the morning and was NOT happy about it.

 

This one was when the cat walked by him and wouldn’t let him pet her.

 

And this one (just moments before the cat “incident”) was when he wanted to go outside but I told him we had to eat lunch first.

 

Oh, the hard life of a two year old.

 

Next up is Jen Dunham of Jen Dunham Photography. Jen specializes in creating artistic newborn portraits for her clients and is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Click HERE to follow the circle!

You know when you have an idea in your head of the photo you’d like to create on paper? But then no matter how hard you try you just can’t quite get it there? That is me with this weeks P:52. I had planned to take this week’s photo on Mother’s Day when we were all dressed up for our lunch outing (from which we would have returned home to clean out the garage- woohoo!) but instead I was called to photograph a beautiful birth where I got to see a baby girl and a mom born at the same time- so much better than cleaning out the garage!! So the lunch and the photo never happened. We had just planned to celebrate yesterday, but Jake had a very long and very dramatic kindergarten physical in the morning and then he insisted on going to school so lunch with all of us didn’t happen yesterday either and dinner was out because I had a photo session. Photo fail.

Myself and my children aren’t exactly the most perky morning people but I had no choice but to take a quick photo today. I set up the tripod and remote shutter release, promised my kids they could have breakfast today if they would give me one minutes of their timeIs it perfect? No. Is it us? Absolutely! Jake with is fake and pained smile plastered on his face, Ryan holding toothbrushes which he had been using as drumsticks 2 seconds before, and me in my lounging clothes (or pajamas…whatever…). I’m not in many photos with my kids so I’m happy to have this perfectly imperfect one

 

Next up is Andrea Orozco of Drea Lyn Photography. Andrea is an on location, natural light photographer specializing in children, seniors and couples from the California Bay Area. Follow the circle HERE to see Andrea’s beautiful work!

I’m cheating a bit this week- instead of a photo, I have a video to shareI can’t ever get enough of the sound of my children laughing! Also, I’m sure I’ve mentioned how hard it is to get photos of  my kids doing things without the blank stares that immediately get plastered on their faces the second my camera comes out. Someone please tell me they grow out of that!

Next up is Megan Lee of Amber Decadence Photography. Megan is a natural light, modern lifestyle and portrait photographer specializing in children and families. Amber Decadence Photography is based in Singapore.

 

 

Yep, baby #3 is on the way! I’m due in September…and I’m kind of ready for it to be September right nowThis pregnancy has not been an easy one, although I’m feeling much more normal these days- yay!! I fell like this bump gets bigger by the second and it pretty much rules my life. So yeah, here we go again!  Jake is excited about the baby and likes to ask questions about it- like what it eats, where does it go to sleep, talks about possible baby names- it’s really cute! Ryan has no idea what’s up- for now. Todd is trying not to lose his hair over getting a bigger car, maybe moving to a bigger house in the (probably distant) future, how to make more money…you know, “daddy worries”. I’m just trying to keep up with this expanding waistline and not cave in to every single food craving I get- which lately has been pickles and pickle juice (so cliche, but I love it not pregnant too), flavored sparkling water from Trader Joe’s and pasta…nothing too terrible at the current moment!

Over the next several months we’ll be trying to find ways to fit another human being into our little house. I’ve been in a declutter (read: donate/throw everything out) phase lately. It’s crazy how much “stuff” we accumulate, especially the kids! It’s kind of nice to get some things cleared out and make room for the items we actually use. I don’t see this ending any time soon for me- and I’m totally fine with getting everything down to the essentials only.

But on to the big question everyone’s been asking- “is this baby a girl?”. I guess since I have two boys the general consensus is that this one must be a girlWanna find out? Watch the little video below! Disclaimer: it might take a minute or two to show up, if it doesn’t just refresh the page. Oh, and there is a cute little song so if you can keep the volume on that would be funAlso, Ryan is in this weird “I don’t want to wear pants stage”, you’ve been warned. The boys were not too excited about having their picture taken (shocker) so it was like pulling teeth to get them to listen to me. A completely trashed basement and 2 very exhausting hours later, the photos were done- photobombing dog included!

 

Next up is Tricia Burrough of Lilac Blossom Photography. Tricia is a portrait photographer and freelance photojournalist based in Collingswood, NJ. Check out her self portrait HERE.

We have these beautiful trees all over our neighborhood. I believe they are Bradford Pear trees? They only bloom for a short time in the spring and then they shed their tiny white flowers and become boring green treesWe have a huge one in our backyard and when the blossoms are falling, it looks like snow! It’s really pretty to watch on a sunny day, although it does leave quite the mess behind- a small price to pay for the lovely view out our back door

 

Next up is Lanie Coulter. Lanie specializes in newborn, family, senior and wedding photography in the Chattanooga and North Georgia area. Check out her “spring macro” shot for the week HERE!!