Just play with squeezable newborns! I love newborn photography, and I could just photograph them all day long.  Baby L was brand spanking new (born at home here in Savannah Ga), and OH. SO. SWEET! Mom was game for all of my funky little crazy looking hats…gotta love those moms who just let you do what you do best :)  I always have a great time with this family and I look forward to watching the girls grow over the next year

Enjoy your sneak peek

Aside from the big gift giveaway, I can’t think of any better way to kick of 2009 than a cake smashing session :)  Oh and the really exciting part….it’s MY Nono’s turn! Of course you know this cake (and might I say it’s simply “smashing” lol) came from Belinda, and it’s JUST as yummy as it is beautiful! Noah had a super time…although when he was done, he thought throwing it at Belinda and I was rather comical. I just LOVE cake smashing sessions!

disclosure: I’m really not a terrible mom who’s lacking in the hair cut dept.  I just needed some time to cope with the fact that my sweet baby boy has officially turned one, thus becoming an official “toddler”.  I couldn’t bear to get his sweet curls cut off, so Dj and I comprimised after he saw the huge curl sticking off the side of Noah’s head in these shots (lol).  Just a little trim **sniff sniff**

Do you have a birthday boy/girl?  Schedule your 2009 cake smashing photography session today

Before he really knew what this big beautiful thing was….

Ok, so this one may not be my favorite technically, but CHECK out those rolls! Belinda says he looks small to her (and he IS a shorty), but he makes up for it in width…lol

I hope everyone had a super New Years!

First I want to start by saying that this has been the most difficult decision I have made thus far with my business.  I make decisions every day in this business, but how in the world can one possibly choose who is most deserving when all are so deserving of this gift.  I wish I could give this gift away to each and every one of our participants, and although I can’t right now….I can say, I will be doing this giveaway at LEAST once per year from this point forward as it gives me great joy to know that I can touch the lives of these families.  After all, God has blessed this passion for photography and has blessed my business over the past years in ways that I never could have imagined even a year ago today.  It is with GREAT honor that I can give back through this gift and plan on doing so even more. 

The winners of the 2008 big gift giveaway are:

Nominee: James, Katy, and Eve Woodward

Nominator: Lauren Mitchell.

Again, thank you ALL for entering this give away….I truly wish I could have given this gift to each of you!

Christmas time is just a special time of the year, but add the birth of a baby in and you’ve got yourself a very very special Christmas…one that you will remember forever.  I’ve had two Christmas newborns, and those two Christmases are still near and dear to my family.  I’ve really enjoyed E and hope to get to know the rest of her family throughout the next year as K is on our baby plan :)   I absolutely can’t wait to watch this little princess grow up in a house full of little boys :)  Oh, and check out all that BEAUTIFUL hair!

If you are interested in getting more information on photography for your newborn, please feel free to leave a comment or contact us for an information packet.  Baby plans are a fabulous way to insure you don’t miss one single milestone

That strengthen my passion for photography.  I never imagined when I first started out that these moments would capture my heart the way that they do, but it brings me great joy and pride to know that I was able to be there in moments like this. 

This was THE most romantic engagement ever, and I was just honored to be able to play a part.  When M contacted me, he was planning a trip to downtown Savannah with his girlfriend and planned on asking her to marry him while they were down here.  I spoke to M when he asked for K’s father’s permission and I could sense the excitement through his email :)  So, on December 27th, I brought Dj along as my decoy and we pretended to take pictures of Noah and I followed them when they passed.  I was beginning to wonder if M would ever ask because he walked half way around the fountain (me following all the time and I know K was thinking ” who IS this weirdo?”, but he did and K was sooo surprised! What an amazing engagement….Congratulations you two! You make a gorgeous couple, and I wish you all the best from the very bottom of my heart Here are a few sneak peeks.

Some of you may remember a couple of months ago this beautiful couple:

Dad is in Iraq serving our country and baby V came bursting into the world just a few weeks ago.  Isn’t he a DOLL!

The birth of a child is one of the most joyous times that a couple will ever go through.  We owe so much to the men and women who leave their lives behind at home to defend our country and put their lives on the line in doing so.  Please say a prayer for this family as they welcome their new sweet little guy into the family and for a quick return home for dad so that he can meet his newborn son. 

So, on December 20th at 5:00pm Bradley Wells and Tori Kirby “tied the knot” It was a beautiful wedding in down town Savannah Ga. 

From before the wedding Since their hired photographer was doing the grooms men during this time, I did Tori’s pre-wedding photos.  These were taken at the East Bay Inn in Savannah Ga.  I had never been inside this inn, but it was just absolutely breath taking! The brick you see behind Tori was the original brick from I believe the 1800’s

One of my favorites of her looking out at the city.

Tori and her mom outside in one of the squares downtown.

My mom, Tori and her mom

Tori and her dad…she arrived on horse and carriage.

This was Camden and Brad’s best man Tim (who was Cam’s best friend throughout the wedding…especially after he brought him m&m’s )  Camden insisted he was not the ring bearer, but bat man and that Tim was not his best friend because Diego is.  **sigh**  Little boys are so funny!

Ceremony photos were just taken from my seat

Reception was at Vicks in downtown savannah.  It was a beautiful place to have a wedding reception and beautifully decorated for Christmas!

Brad and Tori being nice after the cake smashing

Brad and Tori cutting the grooms cake…Belinda did an AWESOME job on this cake! She has done a cake smashing cake for a 1 year old that I’ve done and will also be doing Noahs.  If you want to get a hold of her, let me know

Camden and my not so happy nephew Christian.  I have to say though…Christian is 2 month’s younger than Noah (although he’s like twice his size LOL), and these babies were just awesome during the wedding and reception! These guys had been up all day long without much of a nap, and they lasted till the reception was over at around 11:30.  You just can’t ask for better babies! Both of these boys are just sooooooo good…although I may be a bit biased

Tori’s dad giving his super sweet speech

The pastor and his wife…whom I really enjoyed chatting with during the rehersal!

My mom and step dad

My step dad and uncle bernie

Emily and Camden (flower girl and ring bearer).  Yes, she is wearing a sleeveless dress in December.  We had cute little sweaters for them and NONE of the girls needed them….it’s been really warm here for December.

My nono in his suit

Congratulations Brad and Tori!

To nominate someone for the big gift give away.  Here is the info again since it has fallen to the bottom of the blog

You know someone. I guarantee it.

I want to know who they are, and I want to give them the chance to experience complimentary custom photography – $500 worth, to be exact. This will include a full session, a set of 5×7 images from session, and $150 print credit and a DVD slideshow to watch over and over .

Oh, and the best part? The person who nominates the winner receives a complimentary session and a $100 print credit. What better reason to show some love could there possibly be, people?

The nominees must reside in the Savannah, GA. area, including surrounding areas, up to 25 miles

Tell me who you know, what they’re experiencing, and why they deserve this gift. Please include a way to contact both your nominee and yourself as well.

The photo shoot must be done by end of Feb 2009 and all selections be made within 14 days of posting the proofs. The photo shoot will accommodate up to 5 people.

Comment on this blog entry to let me know you’ve entered, and e-mail me the full story: memoriesforkeepsake@comcast.net

The winner will be announced on New Years Eve…get nominating! I can’t wait to read all of your entries!

Open your heart to someone this holiday season – and thanks for giving us the opportunity to open ours

~Nicole Williams

…and because it would be just wrong to post a blog entry with no pictures, here’s ONE teaser from Brad/Tori’s wedding :)  Sorry, you’ll have to settle for my handsome little man in his tux until I get the rest edited :)  I can’t spoil the fun and show you the bride yet can I?

Christmas angels in 2007.  Noah was due right at the first of the year, but we thought he’d come early just like the others.  Tatum was the only one of my children who was comfy right where she was at, so she was 2 days late.  Caitlyn was 3 weeks early, Ansley was 5, Emily and Camden were both 4 weeks early, so we felt Noah would make his presence known shortly before Christmas.  I only had ONE stipulation for this little guy, and that was that he could NOT come on Ansley’s birthday.  Although Ansley didn’t mind sharing a birthday with her new baby brother, I really just wanted them to have their own special little days.  Well, he came the day after :)  Actually, Dj and I went to the  mall to walk for a little bit before my doctor’s appointment because I had been having regular contractions and felt that it would probably be any day.  We got there, and Dr. Cobbs was pretty certain that I wouldn’t make it through the weekend.  Given that I have quick deliveries and that she wasn’t on call through the weekend, we decided it was best to “help” him along a little :)  That afternoon at 2:17 our little boy number 2 was born.  From his big gorgeous blue eyes to every single little curly cue, every ounce of him has all of us wrapped around his little fingers.  What a blessing Noah has been to our family! You see more of him on this blog than the other kids and mostly it’s because he can’t complain yet :)  lol….but here are a few more of him in his Christmas outfit.   They grow up so fast in a year! I try to tell all of my newborn clients to cherish EVERY SINGLE moment because they are grown in an instant! We spend so much time saying “I’ll be so glad when they sleep through the night”…then they do.  “I’ll be so glad when they can hold a bottle or drink from a cup”…then they do.  “I’ve got to get them crawling because they are behind so and so’s child”…then they do.  “I’ll be ready for that break when they go to Kindergarten”….TRUST me, that’s nice for the first day but then you miss the heck out of them!  If only we could just have them as grown ups first, and go backwards…lol! Well, I’m a bit sappy this time of year so forgive me….most of my kids were winter babies, so they all grow up on me at the same time of year

Noah has been “blessed” with this half curly, half not hair, so it’s all over his head! LOL…I just can’t cut it right now though, I need some time to move past this “my baby’s already a year old” thing first.  When we cut his hair, he’ll look all grown up and my poor ole heart just can’t take it right now

8 years ago today Dj and I welcomed our little Christmas angel into the family.  It had been quite the pregnancy from the very beginning when we found out we’d be having twins, to losing one of the twins and my water breaking 5 weeks early.  I’ll never forget that night that we found out it was twins.  Dj has just pulled a double and he came home to me crying because I thought we were losing our baby.  Off we went to the ER, and he was sleeping in the chair when the doctor came in after the ultrasound and said: “Well, your not miscarrying.”  We both sighed in relief and then he drops the bomb: “but you’ll need to call your doctor first thing on Monday because there’s not one baby, but two”…from that point on, I remember nothing else about the rest of the night.  Unfortunately we lost one of the babies, but Ansley was a healthy little girl and we were truly blessed with her. 

 The night I went into labor was almost as memorable as the twins story.  Mom and I had been to K mart to do some of our last minute Christmas shopping and my grandma was due to go into heart surgery the following day.  I wanted to go on a walk before I went home that evening because she had the perfect neighborhood for walking and it was a nice evening.  She was in her kitchen making coffee for herself for our walk and I remember telling her I felt crampy.  She says ” now don’t you get me down the road and tell me your water broke because I am not carrying you back”…lol! I’m guessing Ansley heard that and was a bit worried because when we got to the end of the driveway, my water broke.  I just stood there in disbelief and I tell my mom, but she laughs because she thought I was joking until I started walking back up the driveway. 

So, at 9:00 that evening we got our little Christmas angel of whom we named Ansley Noelle…all 6 lbs 10 oz of her.  She didn’t get to come home with us right away, and to this day when I hear Vince Gill christmas songs it takes me back to the days I spent with her in the special care nursery where they ran that cd over and over and over again.  When she came home with us, she wasn’t but a mere 5 lbs and wore preemie clothes for the first two months of her life.  To this day she is still so tiny that she and Emily (our 5 year old) wear the same size clothes and weigh within 5 lbs of each other.   She’s shy and giggly and loves to read.  She’s had to over come some learning curves and mountains in her short little life span, but she is such a hard worker and has come a long LONG way in climbing those mountains. 

If I could go back in time to 8 years ago this very minute,  I would just stare at her tiny little face and never blink because when I blinked….she turned 8 years old. 

Here I asked her if she would laugh if I fell off the stool I was standing on and she was thinking LOL. 

By the way, if you got your little girl one of those new cupcake maker thingys for Christmas, save yourself a LOT Of headache and take it back LOL.