While I was pregnant this last year, I had gotten away from taking out my camera at home as I’d been trying to do. I was so very tired this pregnancy and huge and nauseous (the whole 9 months!) that when I got home, I really just wanted to sit. Thankfully, as we’ve started to get back into the swing of things after a big move aaaaand welcoming a new baby, I’ve had so much fun capturing our new family of four. How is it possible to feel more well rested with a newborn at home? Over the last seven weeks since Julia came home, there were first meetings at the hospital, homecoming, first baths, Easter egg hunting, twirling, reading, puzzling, twirling, first smiles, SNOW in April, park visits and ICE CREAM! Thank goodness I felt up to capturing it all!

Last week, we officially became a family of four when we welcomed Julia Violet. She is such a sweet and happy little girl and we could not be happier. I got my act together to take a few photos of Florence and Julia this morning. Poor Florence is thrilled to be a big sister but has been sick for the whole last week! She was so excited to finally get to touch her little sister that she probably would have posed for me for hours.

I’m sure there will be lots more of both of these faces up here in the future.

I have been a bit quiet on here and the primary reason for that is because yesterday was my due date with the newest addition to our family. As you may have guessed based on the fact that I am blogging, I am not in labor…and the baby has not yet arrived. It is disappointing, but I am hopeful that he or she will decide to join us soon. If not, eviction by induction is imminent. ;-)

The other big change in our lives, that has had me a bit bogged down, is that we moved a month ago! It’s very exciting, but was also super stressful at eight months pregnant. We are officially never moving again. I don’t think I could take it.

So given all of this, I’ll be taking a brief shooting hiatus while we adjust to becoming a family of four. I am already booking for the Spring though and will be responding to emails continuously. I honestly already can’t wait to start planning upcoming shoots, so please email me and let’s talk!

Over the last few months, my personal shooting has been limited as I have become larger and larger, but there were a few key life events I had to pull out the big camera for; Halloween, Christmas, Flo’s third birthday. These are also some of the last photos in our first family house *Sniff, Sniff* and our first photos in our new home, which makes them extra special.

I think Flo was a pretty cute butterfly, but maybe we should have let her skip the antenna and wings. hah!

Flo wasn't into her butterfly costume at first, so we thought maybe she could just go as Steve Jobs.

A photo posted by Katie McMenamin (@katie_mcmenamin) on Oct 31, 2015 at 3:49pm PDT

For Christmas, Flo’s wish list was like something out of the 1950s; a yellow jumping rope, a guitar and a yo-yo. Unfortunately, I didn’t think any of these things were really 3 year old appropriate. She already has a toy guitar, I can’t even properly operate a yo-yo and I couldn’t imagine a jumping rope being used for anything other than tying up our poor dogs. So, I did get her the yo-yo (which she just sort of dragged around by the string) and a harmonica instead of a guitar. She was very pleased with the harmonica! I also love how proud she was of the frames that she painted for her dad and grandparents. The photo of her giving Jason the frame is my favorite.

Don’t tell Flo, but my dad is a mall Santa. For the last three years, she’s been visiting him. I think this might be the last year. She didn’t seem to recognize him, but several hours later when were sitting at dinner she said, “Santa’s voice sounded like Grandpa.” So I think she might be on to us. ;-)

Someone "helped" me make her birthday cake.

A photo posted by Katie McMenamin (@katie_mcmenamin) on Feb 5, 2016 at 4:10pm PST

Flo’s birthday was just a couple of weeks ago. I love that her favorite part of the celebration was still the yellow balloons and the cake…maybe in the opposite order though.