Mother’s day is one of my favorite days of the year. Not only because I get to be pampered by the men in my life but also because I am able to show my mother and mother-in-law how grateful I am to have them in my life. One of my favorite things about all holidays is giving, I don’t get excited about receiving gifts but I get all giddy when I’m giving someone a gift that I know they will love!

So this Mother’s Day I’ve decided that I want to give away a free custom session to one lucky mother! The rules of the contest are as follows; email me a picture of you with your little one(s) and write a little story about why you deserve to win a free photo session and why you are such an amazing mother. This is not only a contest for yourself, if you’re a giving person like I am you can always enter one of your friends or family members into this contest. If you don’t have a picture don’t worry about that, I’m mostly looking for the best story.

To find out more details about your prize, see the post prior to this one that explains what a custom session is. This will be so much fun! I can’t wait to start reading all your stories. Please send the emails to erin@sweetbabyphoto.com and in the subject please write “mother’s are great!”

The winner will be announced on Mother’s Day!

What is a custom session you ask? A custom session is a complete planned out session for your baby or child. When I say completely planned out I mean I will come up with a unique and original location that fits your child’s personality, I will supply the wardrobe (three outfits) which you will be able to keep, I will bring all the props necessary, and I will even design the hair-do if you’d like. Basically you won’t have to worry about a thing.

I have so many parents that are so concerned about what their child will wear or where we will shoot. Normally I will make suggestions and sometimes the suggestions are taken into consideration and other times the parents will do what they think will look good. The biggest difference between this and a regular session is that you won’t have to put any thought into anything, leave it all to me and just relax! If you decide to go with a custom session you are putting all your trust in me to create an awesome photo session for your little one. You’re child will be treated like a star for the day and so will you!

The fee for a custom session will start at $500.

Here are a couple pictures from recent sessions that I designed.

She’s got the looks, the smile, the sweet little personality, and she’s definitely got the hair! I photographed Olivia first when she was only a few weeks old and she had more hair than most two year olds. Now she has more hair than most five year old. Olivia is such a gorgeous little girl, I am so lucky to have the opportunity to be her photographer. Betty, I hope you enjoy the sneak peek, I can’t wait to see you and Olivia again soon. =)

I think this next one is my favorite!

This time of year is the perfect time to get organized and clean up the house.  I’ve really been trying hard to get organized and get ready for the whirlwind of work that I’ll be doing in the next few months.  Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m not the most organized person.  Even though I have a serious case of OCD I just would so much rather be shooting, surfing, or pretty much anything other than cleaning the house.  I’m trying hard to break my bad habits.

So I was looking up tips on how to get organized and I thought I would share with my loyal blog readers.

For the living room ~ holding on to things for “some day” is only going to make your house messy today.  If it isn’t relevent to your life here and now get rid of it and live life for the here and now.  Also, (and this is one I really need to work on) setting limits for kids helps them learn about values.  If you set a limit to the number of toys they keep around, they will learn  about priorities and what is important to them.  It will also help your living space stay cleaner and you won’t find yourself stepping on legos and cars all day like I do. =)

For the kitchen ~ simple plastic risers in your cabinets can be a great way to create more space and to see what you have easily.  Ikea makes great ones and I have to use them in all my cabinets because I don’t have a whole lot of cabinet space.

For your office  ~ keep your home office uncluttered by only keeping necessary items out and putting unnecessary items tucked away.  You will feel more organized with a clean workspace.

I hope these tips are helpful for you like they were for me.  Keep checking the blog because in the next few weeks you will see a lot of new things.  The new website is coming and it’s coming soon!  I’m just wrapping up the last few details.  I just can’t wait much longer!!

We all know that there are much cuter clothes for girls and a much larger selection.  As a mom of three boys I’ve had to do a lot of research to find all the best clothes for my little guys.  One of my favorite brands is Quiksilver but my all time favorite is Baby Gap.  They always have a good variety and they have by far the best hats.  Almost all of my favorite outfits for my boys have been from The Gap, and now that the heat is here I think I need to make another trip.  Or maybe I’ll just shop online at www.babygap.com.  =)

I’m often asked, “what should my baby wear for the session?” Normally I just say that they should wear bright colors and fun prints, or for little babies they look adorable in their birthday suits. While I was browsing online for dresses I came across this adorable online boutique.  If you are looking for the perfect dress for your daughter, I recommend these dresses, or something similar.  I have said it before and I’ll say it again, if only I had a girl! Well, I would buy every dress on their website if I had a girl. Unfortunately the boys clothes were not my style, so tomorrow I will post a review for cool boys clothes. But if you have a girl watch your coins when you head over to this website because I guarantee you won’t be able to leave without buying something. The best part is though that they are really inexpensive! So have fun shopping mommy’s!!

www.ittybittybundles.com

the photos here are off the site, I didn’t take them. I just put together all my favorite dresses. =)

I didn’t really think that I would actually get to the age where I wasn’t cool to my kids anymore.  My son Gavin is two and a half now and I’m totally not cool mom to him anymore.  He used to sing and dance with me to all the corney theme songs to his cartoons and now if I even try to hum along he yells, “don’t say that!”  As for singing to my favorite songs in the car which I love to do, forget about it!  And actually, I can’t even listen to what I want when he’s in the car.  He tells me, “no I don’t like that song.”  What does he want to listen to?  Seether and Incubus are his favorites right now.  Not that I don’t like those cd’s which I really do, but listening to the same songs over and over can really wear a person down.  Normally in the car I like to sing like I’m a rock star (although I don’t have the voice of a rock star at all) but not anymore.  If I try to sing over one of his songs he yells, “don’t say that!”

It’s too funny to me that he is already like this.  I remember giving my mom a hard time when she sang in the car too.  But I don’t think I started so young, who knows, maybe I did.  I just thought he and I would always sing together.  But I’m just not cool mom, I’m old mom with a bad voice to him now.  =(  At least Zakk will still let me sing and dance with him.

So tonight after the kids fell asleep I snuck out to Target for some necessities, like baby food and Red Bull and in the car I cranked up the music and sang away with no little voice in the back seat telling me, “don’t say that!”  Hehehe, sometimes we all need a little alone time.

Here’s a recent picture of Mr. Attitude himself.  I’m sure he was talking back when I snapped this picture.