I met this sweet boy at his newborn session a year ago and look at him now! You might recognize him because he’s graced the front page of my blog a few times over the last year. He really enjoyed the balloons his mommy brought to the session and of course his yummy cakey goodness at the end! Enjoy your sneak peeks, “V” family! Thank you for inviting me to photograph your adorable children over the last year!

Easter weekend, I had the honor of photographing a remarkable 21 year old girl, with an incredible life story. It’s a story that touches depths of one’s soul, because it involves a tough subject - abortion. It’s incredibly difficult for me to wrap my mind around the reality that abortions, and more specifically late term abortions, occur every day. Right now, a pregnant mother somewhere in this world will make her decision to end her baby’s life today. I heard on the news the other day that a recent scientific study concluded that fetuses in their 2nd trimester of life cannot feel pain. I remember listening to that and immediately wanting to run into the bathroom to puke.

Meet Claire. She is a miracle. She is a twin abortion SURVIVOR. Claire’s biological mom became pregnant with her at the age of 13. Her mother took her to an abortion clinic where she had a surgical abortion. A few weeks later she realized she was still pregnant so she found an out-of-state late-term abortion clinic to do a second abortion. At the clinic they told her she had been pregnant with twins..ONE WAS ABORTED; ONE SURVIVED. They said it was too late to do a second abortion…Claire was born 2 weeks later. Claire was born 2.5 months early. She weighed 3 lbs 2 oz, she was on life support, her hips were dislocated and her feet were turned in…all because of the abortion.

Claire’s story is an true testimony of God’s amazing grace. She was adopted into a loving Christian family when she was 2.5 months old. I could go on and on about her amazing parents that I’ve been blessed to know. Jeremiah 1:5 says “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” - this scripture is true for all unborn babies but in light of Claire’s story, it speaks to the miracle and the great purpose for her life.

Claire’s mission in life is to save unborn babies from abortion. To share her story. To shine her light. Did you know abortions are scheduled twice a month at Planned Parenthood? Two days a month. I learned this from Claire’s twitter because I checked it the week after Easter and she said that Tuesday was “abortion day”. And she would be outside the clinic praying for those mothers who were on the schedule that day. I checked back later that evening and she had a ray of hope, one baby saved that day. One baby. Just like Claire.

How can you help?

Join her Facebook Fan page - http://www.facebook.com/#!/ClaireCulwell
Her Website is - http://www.claireculwell.com
Her Twitter is - http://www.twitter.com/claireculwell

Life is a miracle. Claire’s life is miraculous!

This sweet baby girl came 3 weeks early! Little Miss “E” is sooooo cute!!! Her favorite way to lay is to put her hand up by her head - a natural when it comes to newborn posing! She did great and even gave me this HUGE smile… Enjoy your sneak peek, “W” family!

(More sneak peeks coming soon - had a bit of a computer fiasco on Friday (my trusty computer died (literally) but I’m going to pick up my recovered “data” (ie. unedited session pictures) tomorrow evening! - Good news is that everything was saved!)

The trees are budding around Austin, the green grass is returning and I’m starting to find patches of wildflowers! It’s almost Spring! We’ve had an unusually cold winter in Austin, so we are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of warmth, and flowers, and days spent outside playing under the sun.

Remember these adorable babies? These twinkies are 9 months old now! You can take a walk back through memory lane and see their newborn session and their 6 month portraits. So much growth happens during the first year of life! I love watching my baby planners grow up! (Little Miss “C” is also the 2009 Ella Bella Photography portrait of the year winner!) Enjoy your sneak peek, “F” family! See you in a few months!!

First off, thank you to everyone who voted in the 2009 Ella Bella Photography Portrait of the Year Contest! It was a HUGE success! Now I’ve got to block out a good 2-3 hours tomorrow night to tally up the votes one by one on the comments section! The winners will be announced on Wednesday night!

And now for today’s sneak peek! You might remember this little guy I’m sharing today! He’s been lucky enough to grace the front page of my blog, not once…. not twice… now three times in his 9 months of life! I love watching him grow up and marveling at how much he changed every 3 months. He’s sporting more hair now, is crawling pretty quick and still holds the Ella Bella double record for bluest baby eyes & most drooly baby. I hope you enjoy your sneak peek, “H” family! Click the links to see him at 3 months and 6 months and (drum roll please….) 9 months:

His Mimi and Papa were over to help coax some smiles out of him. I thought this moment was absolutely precious…

The football was almost as big has him!

Touchdown!

This last sneak peek cracks me up! Their dog “Pearl” was so super excited with all the commotion of the photo session and when it finally came time for her “turn” to be in the pictures, she couldn’t contain herself! She was rolling all over the place and smiling from ear to ear - such a happy girl!

About 2-3 times a year, I will have a newborn session out of my home for families who live too far for me to travel. This adorable family came to my house last week for their 3rd daughter’s newborn session. These girls are 6, 2 and 1 week old. While mom was feeding baby “E”, I took the two older sisters outside for some individual and big sister portraits. It was a bit windy that day! Enjoy your sneak peek, “H” family!

When it came time for baby sister’s portraits, she fell asleep for a little bit and even gave me a few smiles!

All 3 sisters together
(Kudos to big sister, “M”, who handled baby sister’s “accident” on her jeans with such grace and maturity. )

Bright-eyed bunny…

One more of the two big sisters - I love the color on this one.

I love newborns. Especially this one. So sleepy and bendy and beautiful - a newborn photographer’s dream! Can I say beautiful about a newborn baby boy?

He has two handsome older brothers who are so super cute! I thought I had little boys pretty well figured out and could talk the lingo (since I have 2 little boys of my own!) but I soon realized that I have a lot to learn about Bakugan and Star Wars and all the things they are into once they outgrow Elmo, Dinosaurs and Diego… (or have an older brother to show them what’s really cool!)

Despite the slightly cooler weather on this day, I was able to capture these sweet outdoor portraits. Love those lips!! Enjoy your sneak peek, “D” family!!

First off, I must apologize to this gorgeous family for taking so long to get their sneak peeks up! Sooooo sorry! I’ll include a couple extra sneak peeks for being so patient! Isn’t this family gorgeous??

Mom is especially beautiful and sweet miss “C” looks so much like her mommy…

Before you start thinking I’m on a b&w kick, here is a color one for you.

Okay, I am on a b&w kick tonight! (it’s 1:44am!)

Miss “C” has an older 3.5 year old brother who is seriously the *biggest* UT fan I’ve ever met! (He has this rad UT guys playset (think army men but in football outfits) complete with a football stadium playmat with real goal posts. During the session, big brother was eating his lunch and watching UT football game reruns (1993) on their kitchen TV! (Now you believe me he’s a hardcore fan?) Well… it may run in their genes - look what baby sister did all on her own during the session… Hookem!

It’s the details that I love so much! Such a sweet beautiful baby girl. One last sneak for her proud parents. Enjoy!!