As I am editing one of our last sessions before the baby arrives, I decided to go ahead and post something since it has been awhile. Here is our little diva…

It was just yesterday that she exclaimed to her brother in the van… ” Yes, I am the boss!” That should give you an idea of this little girl’s personality. She has us laughing a lot, and you never know what she is going to say. Her likes: shoes, chapstick, jewelry, books and coloring.

We’ve got 9 weeks left until the due date arrives! As we are counting down, the excitement continues to grow!

I have never been fond of maternity sessions, but we didn’t want this moment to pass us by and regret never taking any maternity pictures. With the pain I have experienced with this pregnancy, we believe that God is giving us a peace about it being our last pregnancy. We feel so blessed for the children that God has blessed us with. It is amazing to think that only about 6 years ago we were told that it would be very hard for us to have children. We are so thankful for God’s blessings and that He has given us the desires of our hearts. (Psalm 37:4)

We had a great time with this session and stopped to have a McDonald’s picnic lunch in the van between outfit changes. Tater treated me with these special images just in time for Mother’s Day. I know that someday I will look back at these and think… “Where has the time gone!?!?!”

We look forward to the day we will see this little baby face to face, but until then, I am treasuring all the precious kicks that I feel as I know it will all be over all too soon.

Here is a sneak peek of the little miracle inside the bump. We were blessed to have a friend offer a 3D/4D ultrasound for us. This image was taken by Baby Reflections.

Girl Friday in Bloomington, IL… You’ve got to check it out! It’s a “Charming Boutique and Full Service Salon and Spa. Where Every Day Feels Like Friday!”

It all started around Valentine’s Day when Tater got the personalized keepsake that you see above for me. State Street Design created this special customized piece and these amazing accessories can be found at Girl Friday.

I had never been there before and had no clue that it was a boutique, salon and spa in one… Last Saturday, we celebrated my 30th birthday and were out running errands. We had made a 5×5 canvas of this image for this company as a thank you and went to drop that by. When we arrived there, I was welcomed with a smiling question - “Are you ready to be pampered today?” I looked at Tater and he had a big smile on his face. He had surprised me with a facial, mani and pedicure on my special day. I was in girl glory and had a fabulous time getting pampered. Girl Friday is a place I highly recommend for some super fun and relaxation. You can check them out on Facebook, find them at 412 E. Front St. in Bloomington, or call them at  309.828.5906.

On a side note, here is an update on our booking for this year:

Many of you know that I have been experiencing pain with this pregnancy and the time on my feet is limited. Since we only offer our clients with both Tater and I photographing at every shoot, we are limiting the number of sessions for April and May. We will only book sessions for those who have purchased a gift card with us or for close family members. As a reminder, our studio will be closed June, July, and August for the arrival of our new little one.

We do plan to reopen and begin our fall and Christmas sessions starting in September. An announcement will be made when we will open booking for this. If you know you want to book for a fall or Christmas session with us, please email us anytime to be on the list to be the first to know when you will be able to book. Thanks so much!

We want to wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day! Here are our kids sporting their new spectacles. They had been begging for glasses for awhile because they wanted to look like grandpa and grandma. They aren’t real, so don’t let them fool you.  ♥ Enjoy the day with your loved ones!!! ♥

It was a year ago our baby little girl was born.

Here are some images from her birthday photo shoot. The poor little thing woke up from a nap on her birthday with a 102 temp, so she wasn’t quite herself… but was definitely a trooper and loved her cake when it was set in front of her.

Despite her not feeling quite right, we kept her party scheduled. (Thanks to all the family who came and braved the sick zone - She is doing great). Her party  ideas came from Hostess {with a mostess}. We love this site. You can download your own papers here (we tweaked ours a bit). Her cake was made by Janet’s Cakes, and it was SO yummy.

This little girl has brought us so much joy, snuggles, and love… Happy Birthday Briana Skye, we love you baby girl!

…to US!

This month we are celebrating our 2 year mark! It was two years ago when our business became official and this adventure began. We are thankful for times we’ve had and all the new people we’ve met! These past two years have been a lot of fun and filled with many blessings. We wish to thank all of you who have supported us!

Birthday Special: For the rest of 2009 all of our Jenni Jackson clothing will be 20% off. Please see top of blog (under boutique clothing) for more information.

Yep, you read it right. We are expecting our 4th little baby! It seems so unreal. We are early in telling, but we are very excited. I also didn’t want to fake feeling great all the time. We told our family on Halloween by putting what you see above in their trick or treat bags.  

Here are the kids all dressed up…

To see what we *all* looked like this Halloween click here…

Right after waking up, this little girl came down to the studio just as we were checking our lighting before a photo shoot. With all stuffed animals in hand, she was a willing assistant and gave us a hand with our light check. Here is Miss Ragamuffin herself…

Speaking of sleep… We apologize that our blog has been in sleep mode. We are in the busy, crazy photography Christmas season. We are finishing up our Christmas sessions and putting Christmas card orders in. We will get back to posting real soon! (hopefully)

Hey Tater here:

This may seem like a weird post, but allow me to explain.  I have been priviledged to work with the Acute Rehab staff at BroMenn for the past several months and have truly enjoyed myself.  They have all been such a joy to work with.  They surprised me the other day with this potato as an honor to my name.  This is truly one potato that happened to look like Mickey Mouse.  Their artistic ability really did turn this tater into Mickey.

Now for the story behind the name…

Why the name you ask?  Well I get this question a lot, so I thought I would let everyone in on how my nickname (name) came to be.  When I was a baby, I did not crawl as my siblings did.  I would crawl using my head and feet.  I really did not use my knees a whole lot.  I really liked the static electricity that it created.  I would crawl for hours in this position.  When I would run into something, I would just back up and go a different direction.  However, my nickname used to be Taterbug.  Yes, Taterbug!  Mom told me that there was a bug that used to like the potato plants in our garden.  They were kind of hunched over looking, and I must have resembled that because this is how my amazing mom first coined my name.  Now that I am so much more mature, (right), it has been shortened to Tater.  As a child I did not like the name at all and many in the family would tease me about my name.  It really was easier to call me Tater because if you used my birth name, David, then it was hard to distinguish between my dad and me. There are a lot of benefits to having the same name as your dad, but it does have its draw backs and so “Tater” it is.  Many of my friends and colleagues call me Tater, but there are a few that just cannot bring themselves to using that name.  I am really OK with any name. I just am so used to responding to Tater that if you call me David, I may not answer right away.  Again thank you to my parents for a rockin’ name and for a lifetime of explaining myself, really I do love it.

Acute Rehab - Thank you so much for this and for putting up with me.

Tater

Tater surprised us and ordered Elle and me matching Matilda Jane dresses. Here we are in our matching getup on Elle’s 2nd birthday.