in-home Los Angeles newborn session | baby remy

the second baby. so much of it seems easier this go around. in the same way that your body settled into pregnancy sooner, you are more prepared mentally and physically for the demands of caring for a human life. the rhythm of childhood already runs through your household. the feeling of loving another so deeply and so vulnerably has been a reality every day for a couple of years now. of giving your body and your mind and your spirit over entirely day after every single day. you are familiar with milestones and joys ahead and so the harder moments seem no less difficult but perhaps more fleeting because this time is short and will pass in the blink of an eye and though there may be no sleep and there may be more tantrums this go around there is an ever present knowledge that this season of life is short and so very sweet. 

kim+ryan in-home los Angeles maternity session

so much beauty in this short and long season of waiting, anticipating, preparing, hoping and worrying. while baby forms and grows and develops, your body swells with change, making room for new life. your role is altered, your relationships are different. a shift in perspective and responsibility. so much of it feels abstract in the days of waiting until finally baby arrives and you meet face to face the one who'd been doing the kicking and rolling and growing and the literal miracle of life so precious, so vulnerable, so devastatingly beautiful.

lifestyle family session | pasadena

i challenge you to find anything cuter than a pair of wool bibs on a chubby toddler belly. meet little lewie. he was a pretty cute baby, too, but now he seems all grown up. adventurous, inquisitive, playful and a tender mamas boy. kait is one of the loveliest and most gracious mamas I know (you can read her musings on motherhood on her blog the fair finch). i got to spend an early morning with she and her husband bryce in their charming pasadena home and follow in the footsteps of a 16 month old - something I suggest we all find a way to do more often. and if you're on the fence about shooting family portraits in your home, kait wrote about the experience here.