Photo time with Mommy

I always loved photographing children, but now having my own daughters, a lifetime dream, seems to bring new meaning to my passion. In fact I have forced myself to not edit, but instead capture their innocent and pure beauty!

Of course Shelby seems to like the camera and has developed her own little poses for the camera.  There's the head tilt, the "i have no idea what you are saying look" and "i'll do what my sister is doing" pose!

And for those that know Kira, she's sooooooo dislikes having her pic taken, I have to plead with her, which doesn't help the situation any:)) Then she too has recently developed her own photographic style which is very unique to her personality.

Kira has perfected "the princess pout and pose", the "cheeky smile so Mommy will let me chew gum"pose and the "I'm actually having fun" candid pose.  The later is my personal favorite of course.  These days I'll take anything from the girls since they are growing like weeds and I want to capture every precious moment.

Everyday I look at these beautiful faces and say to myself "I can't believe they are my daughters"!  When I see the joy in their eyes, I feel the excitement and joy of being their Momma.  I am so happy and thrilled that they are slowly beginning to acknowledge one another as sisters.  Kira calls her "sweetie" when she hurts and has offered up her favorite dolls.  And Shelby just continues to look up to Kira and follow her moves, even Kira's spicy "foot stomping" lol.  It's all good and all fun to observe!

My daughters sure know how to raise parents!!!

You girls are so loved.

Fall Follies and more!

It's hard to believe that it has been a month since the first time we held little Shelby!  She continues to blossom as she explores her new world here, EVEN gaining 2 pounds, which has me tickled.  Shelby can eat like there's no end to her food pipeline.  I was laughing tonight as we finally ordered in some Chinese food since we got back from China and it's too bad I didn't take before and after photos, because the babe ate almost a pint of pork lomein, along with 2 yogurts!  Did I mention, the girl can eat???  I am normally not so food conscious since I finally realized after 4 yrs that kids will eat when they're hungry, but it's so important that we get some weight on her before her surgery.  In addition to her 3 meals/day I supplement with vanilla PediaSure shakes, cheese, whole grain bread and vanilla almond milk (yummy).  Even Kira seems to enjoy eating more these days.

Along with her fondness for food, she is also making great strides in communicating and her very first clear word, was the name of her Jie Jie, Kira!  I thought Kira would be amused but she seemed indifferent.  It wasn't until a few days ago when she started to look at pictures of Ariel and say "Ariel" when Kira sort of looked at her as if to say "hey that's my favorite Princess".  I explained before the yelling competition ensued that because Kira is constantly talking and drawing pics of Ariel, naturally little sis is following in her footsteps.  Guess I'm going to have to find her a fav. Princess of her own really quick:))

The girls delight and amuse me most of the day, but the transistion for Kira has been very difficult, even to the point where I just loose it and start to cry, holding her tightly and re-assuring her that I love with all my heart.  I am not sure what sets her off but she gets so defiant and acts out in ways I never thought she was capable of.  People tell me it's normal and this will eventually fade (not really, or perhaps when their 21, married with kids of their own), but it's so hard to see my baby girl get so upset.  For now we're giving her some extra TLC with little surprises here and there.  Honestly, the surprises don't effect her, but the extra hugs and kisses = magic!  And that's so easy to do.

Well, with little time to blog, email, talk, relax and so on, I still love to capture the beauty of my daughters (love saying that) through photography.  Shelby is a real little actress as you will see, and Kira, well she'd rather not be photographed, unless she's hanging in a tree.

Oh these big brown eyes!

My Hunan Princess!  How I adore you Kira.