Making Maternity Memories

Little Miss Piper is surely taking over around here, and it's equal parts completely strange to have a baby in house, and utterly unimaginable that there was a time that we didn't know her. But indeed there were pre-Piper days...lots of them, and we were lucky enough to get to document the very end of our baby-less life with a maternity photoshoot.

As soon as I got pregnant (ok, and WAY before) I knew I wanted to do a maternity shoot. It's not that I exactly love getting my picture taken- I'm kind of indifferent to that- I just love the idea of recording the crazy stage of life. And though we snap photos all the time around here, we haven't had anything professional taken since our wedding, so my baby bump seemed like the perfect excuse to do a real deal photoshoot.

Luckily we are friends with a super talented photographer (he didn't pay us to say that...we actually paid him!) Anthony Barlich, and he was up for the challenge of capturing my big self on film. He had never actually done a maternity shoot before, but we figured it's pretty much the same as engagement pictures...if the girl in question had gotten herself "in trouble". (For what it's worth, I was probably more nervous than he was- I sort of hated having our engagement pictures taken...it felt awkward to stand around stage-kissing and looking lovingly at each other while someone watched. Imagine now having to just stand around like a lump trying to "glow" for the camera. Strange!) I did have pretty strict rules for him though- I refused to take off my shirt (you can tell how big the belly is through a layer of cotton...no need to get graphic), I would not be wrapped in any sort of sheet or gauzy fabric, and Dustin was not to put his hands on my belly in the shape of a heart at any point (or kiss the belly. no.) It's fine if that's what you're in to...that's just not my scene. So we agreed to keep it as non-cheesy as possible, and I trusted Barlich to capture the maternity magic of it all without the cliches.

We actually had to postpone the shoot once because the time he planned to be back in Pittsburgh (from his sweet Chicago life) I didn't think I was big enough yet. I told him that's probably the first and last time he'll have a client push a date back because they want to gain some weight! By the time he was back in town, I was exactly one week away from my due date- so we were no longer worried that I was too small- we were just hoping I was still actually pregnant by the time he got there. But our little girl stayed put, God blessed us with the most beautiful day we've had in weeks, I put my "I'll look fat, and dumb,and lame" worries aside, and Dustin put on a sweater! And big boy shoes! We were ready...

And Barlich brought his A-game.

I am in love with what he captured, and so thankful that we were able to set aside an afternoon to record the end of an era.
















I tried to narrow it down to my favorites here, but I pretty much love them all...so the whole batch is posted on Facebook. Thanks again to Barlich for all of your hard work to make this special for us. Even Piper agrees that you were a wizard at capturing her good side..and she's a tough critic.