My wife Allison and I have been together for going on seven years and married for three. We had our first child in November of last year. I love my little, and continuously growing, ANT (Adelynn Noelle Talley)! I know everyone says that the process of having a child is the most rewarding/greatest experience of your life, but now I know from personal experience that it truly is! I plan on updating this page with her progress throughout her first year, so feel free to check back and see how our little girl is coming along!
Life
11 Months:
Well, it has been an EXTREMELY busy month! I have been very busy shooting all of my end of the year weddings, as well as preparing for Adelynn’s first birthday. My last wedding of the year actually took the family to San Diego where we had such an amazing time. Adelynn traveled 5.5 hrs in the car each way with out ANY issues. Allison and I were surprised because she usually hates being in the car for more than 10 minutes. We visited Mission Beach, allowing ANT to see the ocean and real sand for the first time. We also went to Sea World to see Shamu do some tricks for us. Lastly, we went to the world famous San Diego Zoo. Wow. That place was amazing! Adelynn loved it there. She was able to see so much in such a short time. Though I didn’t have a lot of time this month to take “set up” shots of ANT, I was able to get some candids from all of our travels.
10 Months:
What a fun month October has been. It has been filled with ANT starting to walk around quite a bit now on her own! That is pretty exciting. I never knew I would be so proud of my baby for doing such a common task as walking. However, it is so cool to watch her learn to become more independent. We spent quite a bit of time this month out and about. With all of the Halloween activities/parties, it was not hard to find something to do. We were blessed with a visit from Grandpa Pappy, and Grandma JoJo…even if they were supporting and pushing their OSU product on our defenseless daughter. Adelynn go to wear three Halloween costumes, even if it were only for a short period. They were either too big or too terrifying to her…as terrifying as a giraffe costume can be. Here are some of my favorite shots from this month.
9 Months
I am turning into a pansy. Really, I am. I get somewhat emotional when I look at photographs of my daughter. It sucks. It goes against all things manly! I just cannot help it, I have never loved anything as much as this little booger head. I find her so beautiful, and if it were not for her gorgeous mother, I wouldn’t have the slightest idea how it happened. So fun. ANT is so much fun I cannot even explain it. She is slowly starting to be a Daddy’s girl again. She is enamored with me lately, and I LOVE it! Allison and I are enjoying this party of our lives so much right now and couldn’t be even a fraction of in inch happier than we are. I am truly a blessed man. Ornery is the word of the month, cause that is her favorite mood!
8 Months:
At this point in fatherhood I have really lost the “give a $hit” factor for looking like a dork when playing with my daughter. I find myself dancing, singing, and making silly faces with her no matter who is around. I never liked the cheesiness that I assumed came along with having a young child. However, now, I really can’t imagine it any other way. I love my little girl more than anything I could have ever imagined. I know it is cliche’ to say, but there really is no other explanation suitable than that overused phrase. Her personality is shining more and more every month. Now ANT is starting to have a partialness towards me that she had lost for about 6 months. She runs (crawls fast) to me when I walk in the door, and even starts to whine when I walk away from her. I actually love it. Makes me feel special to her. I literally hate being away from her when I am at work all day and the recent scare of me deploying for 4 months was a terrifying thought. I cannot explain how excited I am to know I will be witness to her first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Birthday, and Christmas again. A couple of week ago, we went to Floyd Lamb park and spent some time having a picnic, playing with the peacocks, and photographing our little ANT. Here are my favorites from the day.
7 Months:
With each month Adelynn grows older, she also shows more and more signs of independence. She is starting to have more and more of a personality and is really starting to become more comfortable around strangers and other children. This is very refreshing for Allison and me. It is extremely nice to be able to go out and NOT have her freak out when someone looks at her with a funny looking smile on their face. We recently had the opportunity to meet up with some of Allison’s friend at a local “playpen” for children. ANT LOVED it! It was so fun for us adults too. The ball pen was just big enough for all of us, and my camera. I probably looked like a weirdo running around a bunch of children with a camera, but I really didn’t care. I love my little girl so much and I want to be able to capture her first experiences every chance I get. A majority of these photos are from the play place, mainly because I was sooo busy in July that I didn’t get much opportunity to photograph Adelynn as much as I would have liked. Here are some of my favorites.
6 Months:
This month to me, has been the most exciting and fun time so far. She has developed a FULL fledged personality and is showing such enthusiasm lately. Sometimes it seems to be in areas we are trying to curb. Such as, crying for mom when we DON’t want her to, getting into things we DON’T want her to, and even refusing to eat things that we DO want her to. LOL. We took a trip to the park one day when she was at her worst. I still had fun taking her photos, even if she didn’t. We finally got some of her crawling around in the buff, even though this will hopefully be the last time she poses nude in front of a camera. We also took some of her in her crib, now that she is a big girl and can stand up in it on her own and play LOUDLY until we come get her to eat….
. A fun month this month. Sitting up, crawling, supported standing and walking, and endless chasing……mostly on our parts. Here are my favorites from the month.
5 Months:
What a month it has been. I have been very busy with wedding after wedding and because of that, I have not been nearly as motivated to photograph my own daughter as much lately. Luckily, I shot a lot of photos of ANT around the 5 months mark though. ANT is finally sitting up, unsupported on her own. This is great for me and my camera. This month was one of the most fun we have had with our little girl as she was showing a lot more interest in her toys, she wore her Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini for the first time, and she has started to unleash her separation anxiety from mom…..=(. Not fun for my photographs. Here are some of my favorites from this last month.
4 Months:
Month 4 has been an absolute blast. ANT’s feeding issues have become less and less of an issue and this is starting to relieve a lot of stress for Allison and me (especially Allison). It has been very cool this past month to see Adelynn start to show her personality. Yes, even at such a young age, she has a “style” to her moods. It is also very interesting to see her learning more and more. She has started to grab for things, place them in her mouth, and try more and more to move around on her own. We have learned that if we put her on one spot on the living room floor, that may not be the spot we find her 5 minutes later. She is rolling around the living room now and it is funny to watch. We took some Easter photos a couple of weeks ago and he was an absolute ham in front of the camera. This was a nice change of pace. Maybe, she is getting more comfortable with the camera in her face. She is also starting to eat solid”ish” foods. Her first experience is carrots. I think she likes them quite a bit. Here are a few photos from the past month.
Week 15:
I know, I have not put up any photos of ANT lately. I have been super busy, plus I moved my computer upstairs into an office and that took a few days. I had to shop for a desk, buy a new monitor, and get everything set up. Well after almost 4 weeks of no photos, I finally took some more last weekend. We three met up with some friends for a nice BBQ at the park on Sunday afternoon. We are now finally becoming able to take Adelynn out without her flipping out. As the sun was going down, I we set her up on a blanket with some pretty yellow bushes behind her. Made for a great back drop. Here are my favorites from the day.
Week 11:
This week has been fun. I purchased a lot of really awesome lighting equipment AND my daughter is starting to post for portraits while on her tummy. She has been laying on her tummy and picking her head up since week 1, but now she can actually keep her head up without looking like a bobble head in an earthquake. She would hold herself up for a bit, then get lazy and roll over like a dog begging for a treat. She was even able to keep her head propped up long enough to pull a ‘traditional” pose for Dad. I used some of my new lighting on her portraits this week and love the catch lights in her eyes.
Week 10:
It is hard to believe ANT is going on three months old! I know you all hear how fast children grow, but WOW, she really has grown SOO fast. It is ridiculous. My wife has been such an amazing Mom and has endured a lot of stress over the last few months. It can sometimes be tough walking out of the door in the morning knowing that Alli is going to have to deal with Adelynn all by herself, but that is really just the way it is sometimes. When a friend of mine from work bought Alli a gift card to get a massage, I quickly found a day I could stay home with ANT so that she could go take a break away. Even if it was only for a few hours, I could tell it helped a lot. While she was gone today, my and the gremlin played around. Here are some of my favorite photos from this morning.
Week 9:
Anyone who has been a parent knows how amazing and stressful it can be at the same time. Watching your child go through pain, no matter how severe, is probably the toughest thing I have ever had to deal with. ANT has had a lot of feeding issues. Lactose issues, combined with protein allergies, added to tongue thrusting, and wrapped up with acid reflux. Don;t get me wrong, I am very grateful that she has no serious medical issues, but dealing with her over the past few months has been taxing. That being said, it is great how much progress she has made and how much more she giggles and smiles now that we have somewhat of a handle on her issues. She loved to play a game I call kick and punch Daddy in the face. It sounds violent, but when you hear my high pitched girly voice singing to her as I pretend punch and kick myself in the head with her hands and feet, it becomes FAR less threatening. Here are some happy moments from this week.
Week 8 (2 Months):
Happy 2 month birthday to my little baby girl! I know it has been a tough week for your tummy and a stressful journey for your mother and I, but I want you to know that I am thankful for you coming into our lives. Also, thanks for letting me CRAM you into the stork pouch prop today. It really shows off how much you have grown ANT.
Week 7:
It has been a long 7 weeks. Very long. However, is seems like yesterday we were bringing our little girl home for the first time. We finally cut out all the formula from ANT’s diet and it has helped A LOT! It still has not made feedings completely care free, but it has caused a lot of her fussiness to subside. Here are some photos of this weeks highlights.
Week 6:
As some of you already may know, Adelynn has been having a lot of issues with formula over the last few weeks. We have tried 6 different formulas and are hopeful that the one we are on is the lucky one. Nothing can express the amount of stress that comes with a crying baby at 3am and knowing that there is nothing to you do to soothe her pain. =(. However, not all is doom and gloom. From time to time, and even more so now that we think we are on a formula she likes, Adelynn has happy times. Here are some of the photos I have taken this week during happier moments.
Week 4 (1 Month):
Adelynn turned 1 month old this week. Wow, how time flies. It has been a long slow first month, yet it still seems like it has gone by very fast. I wasn’t planning on taking photos of ANT today, but Allison was going to take some with her iPhone. I couldn’t allow that. I pulled out the cam and took a few for her. The tutu was a gift from a friend of ours (Jamie).
Week 3:
Well, it has been a very busy and stressful last few weeks for the three of us. Allison’s father and stepmother left here on Tuesday after a week long stay. It was a sad day. It was very nice to have family here with us to help out with Adelynn and also to help us keep us from losing our minds. I wanted to take more photos, but it really can be difficult to get ANT to “pose” for her daddy when all she really wants to do is pee, poop, eat, and cry. She really doesn’t sleep as much as one would hope. The last few days of this week has been a little more laid back and I actually had the opportunity to snap some photos of her. Here are some of the ones I took this week of her. The one in the middle is funny to Allison and I, because there are a few of her with this face on and it really looks like the is balling her fist up…looking to fight one of us to prevent us from changing her diaper.
Week 1:
I have done a lot of maternity and newborn portrait sessions this year. So, when my clients/friends found out we were having a baby, they kept telling me how excited they were to see how I approached taking photos of my own kid. Hmmm, can we say pressure? I had a few newborn baby props that I have yet to be able to use and that is the first place I started. Here is one of my favorites from Adelynn’s first week of life.
Birthday:
After a long, long, wait, she is finally here! Baby Adelynn Noelle was born on 28 November 2010, at 12:36am. She was 6lbs, 9oz and 19″ long. Perfect, absolutely perfect. It actually was a great thing that she came 2 weeks early because I don’t know if Allison would have been able to have her if she were any bigger than she was. After having her contractions since 3am on Saturday morning, Allison’s water finally broke at 7am while we were laying in bed, timing her contractions. We quickly got all of our belongings together, and headed to the hospital for what would seem like an eternity. Only progressing from 3cm to 4cm after 12 hours of labor, we were starting to think Alli would have to have a C-Section. Luckily, from 9pm -11pm, Allison went from a 4cm to a full 10cm! Time for the pushing! After 45min of pushing, Adelynn came flying out like superwoman. I literally think there was a moment in time where Adelynn was neither touching Allison NOR the Dr.’s hands….Airborne! It was a life changing experience and I can honestly say from all my drawings, paintings, and photographs I have made in my life…this little bundle of God’s Smile is the best thing I have EVER created! I am so incredibly proud of my wife for doing such an amazing job. I am so impressed with how well she handled her first pregnancy, and the birth of her first child. Here are two of the photos from our 3 day stay in the hospital.
Pregnancy
36 Weeks:
So we are getting really close to meeting our daughter. Allison is actually 36 AND A HALF weeks according to her. However, she will remain 36 Weeks for the purpose of this posting until she hits 37. =) We headed up to Mt. Charleston earlier this morning to get some photos. When I went up there last weekend there were nothing but orange leaved trees all around. Unfortunately today, they were all dead and leaf less. That didn’t stop us from getting some great shots. Here were two of my absolute favorites.
34 Weeks:
Allison has been super excited to take photos of her belly for Halloween, and tonight she finally cashed in on her photo session. I was really not in the mood to paint her belly for an hour and a half but I must say, I think it came out pretty cool. I hope you all have a great Halloween. Be safe out there and play many tricks and eat lots of treats!
32 Weeks:
You would think a woman who is pregnant and who has a photographer for a husband would be all over taking advantage of her, well….advantage. It seems to be more like pulling teeth to get Allison & Adelynn out of the house to get maternity pictures. Every time I bring up taking her photos, I have to drag her out kicking and screaming. Well, this last time she was actually FOR it. I was so surprised. I didn’t know what to do with myself. We went across the street to the Aliante Park and took some photos again. I think we both had a little fun this time. Not to mention, she will thank me later for it.
27 Weeks:
I have yet to take a trip up to Mt. Charleston to do a photo session. With that in mind, my wife and I decided to head up there for my wife’s recent maternity session in order to start scouting out good locations for future clients. Wow, I was quite surprised at how easy it was to just pull off the side of the road and get some great shots. I wanted to get as many shots as I could to document Allison’s pregnancy and this was my favorite shot of the afternoon. It almost looks like a Summer’s Eve advertisement..lol.
25 Weeks:
A friend of ours recently went on a trip to Europe and when she was in Spain, she picked up this interesting Spanish fan for my wife. I loved the colors and thought it would be cool to include it in some photos. I am happy with the way they came out. Also, I finally got to use the “heart” shaped hand gesture as an idea on my wife.
20 Weeks:
I have used finger paints with many other clients during their maternity sessions, so when it came time for me to draw something on my Wife’s belly I was very excited. We thought we would include the symbol for a female for our photo update since we recently found out we are having a baby girl! I am stoked. Her name will be Adelynn Noelle Talley.
16 Weeks:
This is the first of my Wife’s maternity photos. Figured I would start out with something a little simple and eventually work in more creative ideas. She is just STARTING to show a little. Very cool to see out little bean make an impression already.
Credits
Las Vegas Maternity & Newborn Photographer
by mindiraser
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