Tag Archives: Families

Little Aria // first birthday cake smash family photographer

FROM ARIA’S MOM // Where to start? From day one in the womb this whole process was a surprise. Our Aria was a surprise pregnancy! Because her pregnancy was so sudden, I did not have a chance to mentally prepare myself for being a mother. I found that when Aria did arrive, I was also not prepared for a very fussy and hard to deal with infant. Being a mother was nothing like how I imagined it would be. Never have I felt so many opposite emotions, those of such deep love and those of so much fear. I feel like my first year with my baby, Aria, was a challenging one. The more that I lived with my opposing emotions, the more I found it hard to deal with the guilt of feeling all of my uncertainty. Anything other than joy and love brought on extreme guilt in myself toward our new baby. Now, don’t get me wrong, I definitely felt moments of pure love, joy and wonder for her, but there were equal times where I just wanted to scream at the top of my lungs and walk away.

As she grew through the year, I realized that the best way to completely love my child, is to lean on my amazing partner, Andy. Aria and I have our wonderful Andy (Hubby & Daddy) who kept us calm when things were close to boiling over. Andy has been our rock through this whole year, through happy moments and struggles. There were times where I had questioned my own identity and faith having such a challenging child. As things began to get into a routine with a nine month old, he reminded me how it was so hard in the beginning. Thankfully, as Aria is growing into her personality, I can see her changing from being a needy baby into a cute self-sufficient toddler. I am truly blessed to see her little personality bloom before my eyes.

Aria has changed a great deal and is becoming more pleasant and beautiful with her maturities. It’s amazing to see that as she’s grown, Andy and I have also grown a great deal with her and learned a lot about love and life. We can now see that she’s silly, sweet, loving, brave, and curious, but she’s definitely also sassy, stubborn, and loves to push mama’s buttons. All of her personality or no, I wouldn’t trade her for anything or anyone. She’s our little adorable terror; a precious and scary gift from God <3

with love,

Mommy Mai

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Leighton’s First Birthday // Los Angeles family photographer

FROM LEIGHTON’S MOM // As a business owner/florist, becoming a new mama was equal parts exciting & terrifying. Throughout my pregnancy I debated numerous times with myself on whether I could still do both, own a business & be a mother. Debating whether or not vendors and clients would take me seriously with a child, or mind if I brought him with me to do business at times. Now, a year later, I am SO deeply grateful I chose to do both. Being a business owner and florist brings me huge amounts of joy and a creative outlet, while being a mother is one of the most naturally fulfilling & purpose-giving things I’ve ever done (also, many other things like exhausting, I’m not trying to sugarcoat that one!) I really feel that being able to do both pushes me towards being the best version of myself, and a better wife & mother. Being able to take time for myself, and have a creative outlet is a way I refuel my soul and it allows me to love my family deeper. These things together make me feel truest to myself and that is why I am so grateful that, with the help of Jordon’s encouragement & support, I chose to do both. I couldn’t imagine my life any other way these days & becoming parents last year has been the biggest & best adventure Jordon & I have taken on together yet.

Being Leighton’s mother is the most incredible thing. He is the splitting image of Jordon, and on most days carries a mellow, laid back composure that mimics his dad’s calming force so well. He is easy going & loves going new places. But also at a moments notice, or at the sound of a great tune, Leighton will raise that one eye-brow, throw a little sass on & break into a mini-dance party, letting everyone around know that he is most definitely, my son. It is so fun to see him grow, and become a mover and a shaker of his little world. Jordon and I both can’t believe we’ll have a one year old in just a few short weeks, and we can’t wait to continue to watch his personality unfold. As he turns one my hopes for him are that he would feel love that has no bounds, be a mover and a shaker of this world, and always, always dance it out.

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Mai & Andy // Palos Verdes family maternity photographers

FROM THE MOMMA // Pregnancy with Aria has not been like anything I ever imagined. My knowledge of pregnancy was fairly limited, but I always imagined that I would at least be aware of when it happened because of all the common symptoms in the beginning. I was completely unaware for a month and a half that our little one had quietly placed herself and taken up residence; waiting to surprise us with her presence. If I hadn’t mentioned my missed cycle to Andy, we may have gone on for another couple months without even suspecting her there. It even took me a couple of weeks before the news really started to sink in and I began believing that there was in fact, a little, precious miracle growing in my womb.

I have to admit, after hearing numerous stories from others, my pregnancy has been a breeze, and I feel incredibly blessed. No morning sickness, no heartburn, no weird cravings – just a huge, itchy belly and the occasional swollen ankles and feet if I was sitting at the office all day. I sometimes think that this is all a trick to get me to agree to another baby and I’ll have morning sickness and all the awful symptoms doubled in the next round.

I’m looking forward to meeting this little girl and learning about who God created her to be. I definitely don’t feel like I’m totally ready for parenthood, but I’m trusting in the Lord that he chose Andy and I to be parents to this little one

and to raise her well in his Love and that He will help us along the way. Andy is just bursting at the seems to hold Aria in his arms and I think he hasn’t totally processed the hard reality of the sleepless nights and new changes and challenges of our new life with Aria that’s in store for us. Then again, he may very well have, and is all the more excited and ready for it all; in which I am so grateful to call him my husband and the father of our child. Aria is a very lucky and blessed little girl and I am so grateful to know that she is incredibly loved by so many.

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Kyle & Lauren // A Los Angeles Love Story lifestyle session

FROM THE WIFEY // Kyle and I met in January 2013. After a few months of “vacationing in relationship land,” we got married in July, exactly six months after our first date. We eloped at the county recorder’s office and went out for sushi after. We kept our marriage a secret for the next few months, partly because we didn’t want anyone to worry about our decision and partly to have a secret we could keep just for us. By the end of the year, we were ready to tell people we were married, and our holidays were filled with lots of funny and awkward “surprise we’re married” conversations.

By summer the next year, we started looking for an apartment in downtown Los Angeles. Kyle had always wanted to live in a loft, and I was missing the city life I fell in love with while living in NYC. After an exhaustive search, we found the perfect place — a bright one bedroom with exposed brick, high ceilings, and a great view of the street. We’ve been living there for almost a year now and absolutely love it. It has speakers through all the rooms and plenty of space for our foosball table. It also didn’t hurt that it was (RIP The Gorbals) across the street from one of our favorite restaurants and site of our third date.

As we settled in to our new place, we discussed getting a puppy. We had been watching my parents’ puppy, but he was going to live with my brother. One day in late March while I was stuck on a business trip, I came across a petfinder.com post for a very loving, sweet, cuddly pitbull boxer mix that had been abandoned on a ranch. Kyle drove down to go see him and within a week, we brought home a 60-pound monster. We knew right away that our new puppy, who we named Buddy, was the perfect addition to our family. He likes watching us play video games and jumping on the bed to wake Kyle up. He loves being lazy and sleeping under the pillows of the couch but also can’t resist chasing his favorite orange ball.

After realizing how quickly Buddy was losing his puppy face, we started discussing the idea of taking photographs to capture this moment in our lives. We knew we wanted Buddy involved. We thought about various places to take photos, but ultimately decided that the place that best captured us was our apartment. I had known about Sun and Sparrow for a while and been following their work on their blog. We contacted them and could not have been happier! Tiffani was amazing to work with and all of us, including Buddy, had a wonderful time!

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Welcome To The Blog

Tag Archives: Families

Little Aria // first birthday cake smash family photographer

Leighton’s First Birthday // Los Angeles family photographer

Mai & Andy // Palos Verdes family maternity photographers

Kyle & Lauren // A Los Angeles Love Story lifestyle session