MOTHERHOOD

If people ask me what my most valuable possession is, I will not hesitate to say that they are my family photos and albums. From all the big events like my wedding day or Dannica’s first step to all the tiny yet equally important events like the face Dannica made when she had her first broccoli, I want to document them all and make sure that I never forget them. It’s such a paradox because as much as I love photos and taking them, I have a hard time being in photos. A part of it is because I am painfully awkward when someone takes a photo of me (who isn’t right?! Am I smiling too much? What do I do with my hands?! Where am I looking?), but a larger part of it is because I am such a control freak about how I want each photo to be taken that I don’t trust anyone but myself to do it!

D’Ann’s unbelievably breathtaking backyard.

When I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to have Dannica’s newborn photos as well as our family photos taken professionally. I thank my lucky stars that I met D’Ann from Smitten & Swoon. We first exchanged emails when I was about 6 months pregnant and then we went back and forth, tossing around ideas on what we wanted to accomplish for Dannica’s newborn session. She always creates a shared Pinterest board to fully grasp your vision and is so hands on and collaborative from the beginning. When we met for the first time (a week after I gave birth), I just knew that she was going to be in my life forever. She is a lifestyle photographer, but she is really so much more than that.

D’Ann’s beautiful place with the barn her husband built with his own two hands in the background.

She lives on the most beautiful piece of land with rolling hills, luscious green trees, and crested mountains. She tends to the most beautiful garden you can possibly dream of in her backyard. Her photo studio is a cottage straight out of a fairy tale. She and her husband also have two beautiful children, two adorable dogs, two of the most stunning horses you can imagine—one black and one white stallion, and so many other barn animals. (By the way, her husband BUILT their barn!) With so many resources at her fingertips, a photo session with her is only limited by your imagination.

One of her gentle and sweet horses, Sebastian.

Amidst her garden

Our newborn session was a daylong affair but the time just flew by. She is an animal and baby whisperer and I could not believe how easily she would coax a smile out of Dannica. I could not believe how patiently she would wait for that perfect little baby yawn and stretch that we mothers melt a million times over for. She captured all the yummy newborn baby details—I was in near tears when I reviewed the gallery because by then, Dannica already lost all of her fresh newborn look. It only solidified in my mind how glad I was to have documented every bit of it. It is heart breaking how short that stage is.

My ALL time favorite photo. EVER.

She knits and makes all her newborn outfits. She has baskets upon baskets of the most adorable accessories and clothes.

We used this as our birth announcement!

She also did Dannica’s 3, 6, 9 month and 1 year session and each session was just so much fun. She always creates a fresh Pinterest board for the perfect session. For example we did a tea party themed session for Dannica’s 9 month session because we were throwing an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party for her one year. And then for her one-year session, we did an UP!/balloon themed session, which I loved too!

Tea party themed 9 month session taken in front of her wall of peonies.

She seriously makes magic.

Amidst all the blooms in her stunning garden.

1 year UP session

I am so excited that Dannica’s 2 year old session is coming up. I always catch myself daydreaming about what we will do, and what D’Ann has planned. We decided to go for a Secret Garden theme for this session. So far we are thinking lots of blooms, wildflowers, and green, green meadows. I cannot WAIT for our session and I cannot WAIT to share with you the final photos!!! If you want to see photos that will just take your breath away and transport you to a fairy tale that you have dreamed of growing up, you have to check out her portfolio and her instagram.

Smitten & Swoon | www.smittenandswoon.com | @smittenandswoon

When my parents-in-laws bought Dannica a playhouse for her Christmas present, I was blown away by their generosity and also secretly wanted to play in it myself! Many of you who follow me on instagram have asked me about her playhouse.

The original playhouse is the Aspen All Cedar Wood Playhouse by Backyard Discovery. You can find it here. We absolutely love this playhouse–it has a small built in kitchenette, working mailbox, a mini fence, dining cafe bench, and other cooking accessories. Here it is before we made it over:

Original Playhouse

I loved the house, but I really had this vision of it being a summer cottage by the beach rather than it being a wooden log cabin in the mountains 🙂 With that in mind, I poured over the colors because I definitely wanted to go with purple accents, bluish grays for the exterior and simple white for the interior. The key to gray is to pay close attention to the undertones. Do not pay any attention to paint swatches because those rarely if ever convey the true colors in real life. Gray is such a subtle color that any undertone will completely overtake it. So if it is a gray with a slightly blue undertone, you will end up with a wall that looks pastel blue. A color more suitable for your firstborn son rather than a summer cottage.

The first step is to dismantle the house so that you can easily paint it with minimal taping. Another tip is to sand the house down if you want a smooth finish. I personally didn’t sand the house down because I wanted a rougher finish. If you like the paint colors I chose, the roof is Kendall Charcoal, exterior walls are Stonington Gray, all trims, fence and interior walls are Simply White, and the bench and front door is Chelsea Gray (all paint colors are by Benjamin Moore’s exterior paint). By the way, my favorite all time accent gray is Chelsea Gray and I use this color a LOT.

Next was just sprucing up the inside and adding textures and textiles to make it feel more homey and warm. The floral garland is by Fancy Free Finery, the drapes and small end table (which I spray painted white) are from Ikea and you can purchase the kiddie sized Adirondack chair here. The “Oh Joy! Rainbow” and “Home Sweet Home” welcome mats are both from Target. I later added a small rug inside that isn’t pictured here, but it is the perfect size and the perfect little outdoor rug for only $6.99 from Ikea (you can purchase it here). All other accessories are from Michael’s.

Dannica says bye bye and come visit again!

This playhouse has already provided hundreds of hours of fun for Dannica. I hope you enjoyed this little playhouse makeover! And of course, please feel free to ask me any questions!!