2010

One year ago tomorrow we discovered we were pregnant. I can remember last year thinking how long the year was going to be as we waited for our first kiddo to make his appearance. Today as I type one handed because my other hand is in his 4 month old mouth, I realize how fast this year went by. I think about the times I spent stressed over having a little one who was going to be depending on me. Living on the couch the last few weeks of pregnancy because my bed was just too uncomfortable. The many, many tears I cried at being so overwhelmed by the newness of someone who only communicated by crying. The joy as his first real smile and watching him learn to hold himself up or jump up and down in his swing. And the million things on my to do list that never quite get crossed off. I've never known this kind of love and life is so beautiful.

Thank you to everyone for all the love and support you gave me either by text message, Facebook or having your photos done. I could not have made it through the year without you. Mat, my little chub and I thank you. Truly.

I'm really looking forward to growing in 2010. As a wife, mother and photographer. I look forward to serving God better and making myself available for what He has in store for my life.

Here's a look back at this past year:





This was the slideshow we played at Cash's baby dedication in November. The lyrics express so perfectly the kind of mommy I want to be.


And Pouf my love. She has been so impatiently patient while I pull my new life back together. She's my girl.


I hope everyone has the happiest of New Years! See you in 2011.

Cash, My New Logo and Life

Life has been crazy busy in my little corner of the world. Mostly because of this little guy:



His 4 month stats: 19.3 lbs and 25" tall. He's a chub. A chub who can sit by himself for about a minute before falling over and has 3 teeth. 3. I'm telling you, he's going to go through puberty when he's four years old. I just know it. And he'll be shaving by the time he's 7.

He's mainly what keeps me from posting all the pics I so badly want to share. When he's sleeping and I'm not doing laundry, cleaning or trying to shower I try to get some work done and am also working on re-branding. You can see I've made some changes to my blog. Mainly the look and my logo. I LOVE MY NEW LOGO!! Love it, love it, love it. So much that I don't plan on changing it anytime soon.

I will discuss this all in another post. I'm finishing my last shoots of the year first and trying to get a post with those photos as fast as I can.

Here's a peek at a post coming up (hopefully before the year ends!!):


I hope everyone had the merriest Christmas and a fabulous New Year. I truly am so excited about 2011!

Winter 2010 {Mini Sessions}

Saturdays are my favorite days. I get to sleep in, hang out with my kid, keep up with my friends on Facebook...oh, wait. Ha! That's my everyday. My bad. This last Saturday was a favorite day because I got to work!! Yes--how many people get to say that?! :) I love my work. I got to shoot 4 amazing families at a GORGEOUS garden in San Jose (thank you Rebecca for suggesting it!) and ended the day with a good girlfriend at Baja Fresh and the outlets. Kid? What kid? I kid, I kid. I love my kid. I also like the word kid. But that day, I forgot to kiss my kid goodbye. Epic fail on mommy.

...I have been up WAY too late the past couple of nights. Mat's shift at work starts at 2AM and so he is up by 1230 and out the door by 1. Me, I figure why sleep? Sleep is for sissies. I love sissies.

On Saturday I had a full afternoon of mini sessions. We all met at the Japanese Friendship Gardens in San Jose. Seriously gorgeous. The only thing that made it better were the people who were there. Check out the beautiful families below.

I really am humbled when I get repeat business. I find myself flattered at the thought that anyone would give me a second and third chance to shoot their family. Such is the case with the next two families. Oh, and if you need a good preacher--I volunteer them. ;)

Aimee and Samuel and their kaboodle. Love them!






Love this next family. Amber was three months pregnant with their daughter the last time I shot their whole family. Their daughter--she turned a year old on Saturday. Their son--he does so well to put up with my three times now. :)






This family lives in my same town and drove out to San Jose for their photos. Dorothy has the prettiest accent and makes me just want to say y'all and bless your heart. Don and Dorothy's kiddos were so cute. Full of energy, spice and their baby is only two days older than Cash! Don loves them all in a most obvious way.






My friends. I love that I can call them friends. We're um, ahem, preacher's kids together so if you see us teepeeing someone's house in the rain...we're PK's. It's what we do. ;) Aren't they a fabulous couple?





Thank you each of you for taking hours out of your day for a half hour photo shoot. I had such a good time and was so happy to see each of you.

Happy Tuesday!

A Thousand Words

My new favorite photo. No words, just a million thoughts.

Jordan {Senior Session}

Senior session are one of my favorite kinds of sessions to do and I don't very often get to shoot guys. So, I was thrilled to get the chance to shoot Jordan's senior photos. We got some great shots at the ranch (I luurve shooting here!) which is an amazing location. I got to shoot Emily's senior session here and was so happy to go back.

Jordan happily showed off his mad basketball moves, modeled like a pro and donned all his gear for airsoft shooting for the camera. Airsofting? Airsoft gunning? Air soft? Why, yes, the air is soft. I will now retreat to the hole I currently live in.

The light was amazing and fall showed all her true colors and beauty. Jordan, congratulations on your senior year! I can't wait to see where your future takes you!!

This guy has such a handsome side profile and I am loving the orchard trees here.










Pretty sure this gun was loaded. Pretty sure I took this picture with my hand over my head and my eyes shut.




Happy Wednesday!

Cashy-Cash

Tomorrow he's 3 months old. I never thought I could love anyone so much. It's cliche, I know. But so, so true.

He has become so alive. He talks his coo talk. He makes himself screech laugh when he's laying by himself. He tries to lift himself up to a sitting up position when he's laying down. He frustrates himself because he can't do it. He loves to sit up in a sitting position for minutes and minutes with a little help. Pillows are no help, hence the reason my laundry isn't done. He likes to stand up and dance. He converses with you if you talk to him. He's used to getting talked to all day. He won't cry if you change his diaper if he's fed. He sleeps four hours at night, will wake up for a feeding and then go right back to sleep. Bless him. Forever. He will sit and watch a book while you read it. I need to pull out different books. Baby chickens, caterpillars and building a doghouse for Henry are getting a little old. :)

I wouldn't trade a day. The lessons my mom has taught me. The love and patience Mat has had for me. The way Cash has taught me to be selfless.

I love him. He's amazing. Watching him grow everyday and see his senses develop in new way fascinates me. Every.Single.Day.







Happy Friday!

Kidwell Family {Family Session}

They leave an impression on you when you meet them. You walk away saying to yourself they are some of the nicest people. You tell others have you met Jason and Melissa? They are sooo nice. Well, I did at least. And it is so true. Jason, Melissa and their beautiful daughter, whom they so affectionately call, T.T. or Tiny. Jason and Melissa are local photographers and did my maternity photos some time back in June. In return I was lucky enough to get to take their family photos. We had such a good time. Mat, Cash and Pouf came along and TT LOVED Pouf. Pouf was oh so accommodating in her snobberish kind of way. {I totally just made up a word}

The light was gorgeous while we were out.

Can I just say how much I love this picture of them?













I heart this little family.

Ladies and Gentlemen: J&M Photography--well, the photographers. Aren't they such a good looking couple?

Melissa~you're beautiful. Really.

And we'll end with this. She had me cracking up. One day I'll post the outtakes of her. :)

Happy Thursday!

Jordyn {Newborn Session}

Okay. I need to have a girl. I love my little guy--just the whole tutu and flower headband thing wouldn't look good on him. I tried. ;)

This little beauty is the daughter of a former high school schoolmate. Doesn't she look so peaceful? She made us work for these photos. She was so alert and did not want to sleep no matter how warm the blanket or how tight the swaddle. But one thing for sure, she was worth it. I am loving these newborn photos. Isn't her mommy beautiful??

Congrats Lindsay and Justin~I can't wait to see her grow prettier every day!!

















Happy Wednesday!

Domesticated

Having a baby changes you.

I have this inner need to be domestic. For the first time in my life I WANT to clean my room, do my laundry and scour the bathroom. I WANT to cook fancy meals and be in bed by eight with a good book and go to sleep at nine. I WANT TO.

Really.

Eh. Who am I kidding. I need to do the above but want to be sitting down in front of a sewing machine practicing my mad sewing skills. I want to be shooting a wedding and capturing loveliness. I want to be making skirts and headbands for the NEXT child. :) (Because with my next child I'm SURE I'll have this balance of time thing down! ha.)

My sister got a sewing machine for her birthday and I am in awe of her passion to sew. So, I joined her. And then we went to LA to go to the Garment District. I think she's still there. I haven't seen her since. But in the spirit of the trip I made my little cousins whom we get to see about 3 times a year some sweaters for the winter. I loved the way they turned out. And to prove how secure I am about these I am going to leave them web size...so you can't see the flaws. Just believe they're perfect. :) I actually really hope to learn and become better. I've seen a couple tutorials for these and so had to try. For some "name brand" gorgeous sweaters Evy's Tree sells them and they're beautiful. You must buy one for a shoot!

But these. I made these with love. And they make me feel...domestic.
*excuse the photo quality--it was 6:45 and I don't function well at that time. Neither does my flash*


Off to clean the bathroom. Happy Monday!!

Holiday Mini Sessions

Thanksgiving. Christmas. Family. Fun. Laughter. FOOD! oOoOoOHHHH foooood!

Mini Sessions.

The perfect way to spend half an hour with your loves.

You'll see I'm offering two kinds of mini sessions this time around. The one for couples is two fold. A really great price because I know what it's like to be a couple and have a lot of other things to spend money on other than photos. I wish Mat and I had had more of an opportunity to have our pictures taken when we were still newly weds. I'm also trying to build up more of couples portfolio and thought this the perfect way! So grab your significant other and book your spot now!

The second option is for your family. Or 5 random people you may or may not know. Whichever is your prerogative. I recommend knowing them, but hey...totally up to you.
Bring your family, your style and awesomeness.

:)



Details:
I will have 4 time slots open on each day in each location. It's getting dark really early now...which mean winter is finally coming!! I love me some holidays and all the food goodness.

November 13
Morgan Hill: 2pm, 245pm, 330pm and 4pm
Exact location: TBD

December 4 (after the time change)
San Jose: 2pm, 245pm, 330pm and 4pm
Exact location: TBD

Within a week and half of your session, your photos will be up in a gallery for you to browse through your awesomeness.

This will be the last time Mini Sessions are offered for a while, so take advantage!

CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR SESSION or email me at deanna@urbanrosephotography.com.

Have an AMAZING weekend!

Website Down

If you've been to my Facebook page then you may have already seen this announcement. I pulled my website down until the end of the year. I'm going through some business changes and my website isn't giving off the kind of information I want it to. It will by the end of the year when I do a relaunch. But, I figured that since I'm on maternity leave it's the perfect time to do it. :)

I am so excited about the changes coming! Excited and scared. I'm not a risk taker by nature. Like, I would love to go sky diving but would hate to go bungee jumping. I'm scared I'll hit my head or something. Yeah, try and figure that one out. Hehe. Anyhow I want to take my business in a new direction but first want to get some leg work done.

I'll take prayers. Seriously. I'm scared I might die.

And then I'll have to get a job selling hot dogs.

On the street.

And then where would we be?

:)

My two favorite subjects. I love them. A lot.


Have a great weekend!