Oh Baby, Time to Get Back to Work!

You may have noticed the blog has been a little quiet lately… well this little sweet pea is the reason why! After taking a few months "off", I'm excited to be back to the blog & my business :) And thrilled to share some of shots of my new time as Mommy!

 Selfie from our first Mother's Day together! 

One of the first "portraits" of my little man

 A wonderful treat, a surprise "BabyMoon" trip to Charleston, SC when I was about 7 months pregnant. Good job, Hubs!

Welcoming Arli Ray Zilbauer to the world on February 3rd, 2014 :) He's named after our four grandfathers Alton, Robert, Leonard & Ivan. He had a rough beginning, with a blood problem, jaundice & respritory issues & spent 11 days in the NICU. I was able to spend about 10 minutes with him after he was born & couldn't hold him again until the 8th day. It was… tough, to say the least. But we were able to visit whenever we wanted to & hold his little hands :) And of course, my camera came with every time. 

We made sure to keep our spirits up & celebrated every little moment… like Arli's first week!

And finally on Valentine's Day, he came home to us! And we locked ourselves inside & spent an entire week just being madly and completely in love with our new little family :)

And taking photos throughout the entire thing, of course :) 

Arli & his big sis, Rexie :) 

 

Photo by Melissa Rathke

Photo by Melissa Rathke - Thank you for the help with this shoot!!!

 I can't believe he's already three & half months old! So far, motherhood has been a wild ride, which has completely redefined who I am as a person. It's been sweet, sticky, beautiful, stressful, wonderful, exhausting and full of tears and laughter and smiles and more love than I have ever known. 

Excited for all the moments to come!