A 7-week-old reason to be thankful: Daleni

First off… HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDYYYYYYYY!!!! Love you LOTS!

Ok… so….I’ve been busy. I swear…hence the shortage of posts. I went home to Omaha this past weekend for a triple-hitter: Thanksgiving, a baby shoot for my aunt & uncle’s new daughter and a wedding for my cousin! I’ll be blogging the wedding later this week. But let’s begin with the ADORABLE BABYYYYY!

This newborn shoot was very special to me. My uncle Jim and aunt Traci, who is my mom’s baby sister, have waited a long time to be parents. But it was worth the wait. On Oct. 13, Traci gave birth to a beautiful girl they named Daleni (Duh-lay-knee). They are NASCAR fans… so their tiny one’s moniker was inspired by Dale Earnheart, Jr. How cute! (even though I don’t like the “sport”…wink wink haha)Because they live in Atkinson, Nebraska, which would be another four hours away from Omaha, they came to my mom and dad’s house for the holiday weekend and it was there that we had some fun with the infant. 🙂

We started off the morning shutter snaps with a bath:

The thing that is so cool about the below photo on the right, I didn’t really notice it till after I had taken it, but that photo behind and to the right of Traci is of Traci’s parents…MY grandparents. If I were Daleni, I’d hold this photo near and dear to me.

It’s clear from the photos above that her mommy loves her. But her daddy does, too.

I always tell my clients that the point of newborn shoots is to accentuate the size of the baby, not their personality so much as they mostly sleep, cry and just sit there looking adorable. To do this, we think of all sorts of places to put her that would be half amusing and half cute. Traci wanted to incorporate pumpkins in honor of a nickname of Daleni’s. So we put her on the mantle.

Next up? The linen closet. Those two afghans actually have meaning. Both were made by my grandma. The one on the left kept my sister warm growing up; the one on the right was mine. They now live in my parents’ closet until we come home and cuddle up with them.

Check this one out. She looks like she has superpowers. What would her power be? CUTENESS!! Spreading cuteness EVERYwhere!

I have never seen a baby stick out her tongue as much as Daleni did. Seriously. It was so cute. Here is an example:

We did get her to sleep again. I wanted to capture a few of the tiny details of her lil’ self.

A fave…it shows the peace that only babies can experience.

How flipping darling:

Killer kicks, eh? 🙂

A view from above… so tiny. So precious.

Sometimes you just can’t help but shoot them at all angles.

Another favorite for sure. Ohmigosh. Can you believe something that cute is related to me??? 🙂

My brother ended up with this faded red chair after college. He lived with my parents for a bit, and when he moved out, I requested that he leave it at my parents’ place so I could use it for JUST this reason.THANKS, Teej! You can take it back now. 😉

And then she got hungry.

Doesn’t she look so worn out here, but soooo delectable!

Daleni was given a super cute Christmas dress by one of Jim’s brothers.

And one of her first REAL smiles… this one made her mommy cry.

There is something about dads holding onto their kids that gets me every time.

And my third favorite. I think this might end up her mom’s favorite, too. It’s a classic “pose” for infants. And there is a reason for that.

The last photo I shot… a glimpse of love. Sigh.

Daleni…Traci…and Jim…. thank you so much for giving me the honor of being the one to capture these moments. She is so precious and everything I could ever want in a daughter for you both. Although we don’t want her growing up too fast, I am looking forward to watching her get older, wiser…and more like me. haha just kidding. Love you all! See you in the spring!