Jennifer Stocks Photography – The Blog

Day 3 of documenting the life of my family over the month of August. Stay tuned for a picture a day of my family just being themselves.

Captured – As Mitch and Marli had a kick on the playmat together.

The Story – I have this new niece. She is amazing. She is truly cute and beautiful. Plus, she is a girl and I needed a little pink in my life. (Well, let’s be honest – I really just wanted to be able to buy some pink clothes, you know?) Marli is 3 months and 3 weeks younger than Mitch. He looks like a giant compared to her, but they are both pretty big babies. My sister Bianca and I hang out a lot, which means our babies hang out a lot too. Marli is obsessed with Mitch. Mitch is obsessed with Marli. She stares at him. Smiles at him. He stares at her. Smiles at her. They hang out on the playmat together, and already enjoy each others company. They touch hands and stare at toys together. Then they smile at each other and wiggle their legs around a bit. I swear Marli is watching Mitch do everything, and taking it all in – getting hot tips for how to do baby stuff. I’m so glad they have each other to hang out with. I can’t wait to see what life has in store for these two little people who seem to already know each other so well.

Day 2 of documenting the life of my family over the month of August. Stay tuned for a picture a day of my family just being themselves.

Captured – I hate to admit it, but this one wasn’t actually taken today. It was taken about a week ago, but today was a day of sick kiddos and zero natural light. It just didn’t work today. Luckily I love this image of Beau, and I am happy to be able to include it.

The Story – So, right now I have my sick boy on my lap – Dusty that is. We are going to write about Beau together. So, I will be the scribe while my beautiful big boy tells us all about his little brother Beau. This is what he has to say:

“Beau is my little boy brother. He sometimes mucks around but he is a really good boy. Sometimes he scares the cat. Sometimes he tries to do the big boy stuff that I can do. He is three years old and I know he gets up to tricks. I try to stop his tricks and mucking around. And also I really love him. And he’s the greatest brother, but sometimes he mucks around that crazy kid. Sometimes he wants to be on the funniest home videos. He’s a very cheeky kid. I would really love to make him go on a train ride, but really he would like to go on a tractor ride. He’s really great. He comes up with really great ideas. He likes to watch Little Einsteins and Mister Maker. He likes Bo on the Go and Brum. Also sometimes he likes to watch stuff with great characters and sometimes stuff with naughty characters. Beau likes to eat apples, rice bubbles and sometimes he likes to eat bananas. He likes to enjoy when we have pizza. He likes going to the chippy shop and the Beekeepers place and the racing car park. He likes to play with tractors, and he plays with Mitchell and sometimes he tries to put funny hats on him. He chooses books for us to read, and sometimes they are very funny books and we laugh about dogs together. He likes to play with the Geotrax, and his remote control train – Seaside Flyer. And I only have a geotrax train to push – it’s Stumpy. I like playing with Beau because he is a great friend to me. He helps me when I need to do something, like when I slip off the lounge he tries to pull me up again. We watch shows together and sometimes when Beau isn’t here it makes me very sad. He really likes to do some dances, like the funky muffin man dance on Shrek.”

Cute! That is 99% verbatim. I did jam it all together when typing, as the new sentences and paragraphing would have made this blog post a thesis. I did ask some questions from time to time if he was running out of things to say, but overall it’s a  true representation. It’s beautiful to me. It has to be. I’m his mummy. And this little guy pictured underneath is beautiful too. Beau, darling. You are a little ray of sunshine in our lives. You are such a good-natured little guy, with a zest for life, a wicked sense of humour and a cheeky smile. You could get away with almost anything, just by flashing that grin and those dimples of yours. Your charisma just oozes out. You are a wonderful helper with your little brother. You are so kind and are always thinking of other people. You always shout to your big brother when you see or hear ANY kind of reference to trains, “DUST – there’s a train on TV”, or “DUST – look at the train over there”, because you know how much he loves them. You are so good at packing away your toys. You are fiercely independent, and believe you can do anything. I know you can.

Your favourite thing to say to me is, “You’re so boootiful mummy”, and you know it works a charm – every time. I love you little guy. I always will. Every single day.

For the first time ever in the history of me guessing the sex of a baby, I was right! A pink one! A pink one for my sister, to add to all the blue.

Meet Marli. Such a beautiful, delicate, lovely little thing. You are melting hearts already little one.

Just before Christmas I visited and photographed a very special baby girl. This lucky little girl was welcomed to the world by her beautiful parents, Brett and Sirlina and big sister, Tatem. I have photographed this family several times over the last few years, and they hold a very special place in my heart.

Little Phoenix Ruby arrived in early December, and we held her session shortly afterwards. Although she didn’t think sleeping was the most brilliant idea, she did relax in spurts and we were able to take some beautiful photos of her. Phoenix has been blessed with the most beautiful curly lips, eyelashes and hair! In fact, her parents couldn’t believe how much hair she had all over her little body! Beautiful wispy little baby hairs that have probably disappeared by now…

The most challenging part of the session was trying to achieve a shot of the two sisters together. Even for a one year old, big sister Tatem is a bit too smart for us and no amount of bribery or coaxing was going to work. In the end though, we did manage to get a few shots of the two beautiful girls together. I also couldn’t resist grabbing a shot of the new bundle with her gorgeous cousin, Cleo, and I think it is one of my favourite photographs from the day.

I hope you guys enjoy your sneak peek, and I also have your gallery ready. I will be in touch! Thanks for having me photograph your

In the spirit of Christmas I thought it would be super fun to run a lovely little giveaway. So… I am giving some lucky blog readers the chance to win some FUN stuff for Christmas. Anyone at all can enter – clients, blog readers, fellow photographers….

All you have to do is tell me a little bit about yourself. I love to learn cool things about other people, hear about their favourite things and see what others do at Christmas time. So, that is what this little giveaway is all about!

SO…. What fun stuff is up for grabs?? Well, I love cute kids clothes, and I love beautiful things. So, I’ll be giving away vouchers to some of my favourite online stores.

I have one $100 voucher at Baby’s Got Style (www.babysgotstyle.com.au), two $50 vouchers at The Hip Infant (www.thehipinfant.com.au) and two $50 vouchers at Pink Frosting (www.pinkfrosting.com.au). Baby’s Got Style and The Hip Infant are online childrens boutiques with a yummy selection of baby and kids clothes, toys and accessories. Pink Frosting is an online party supplies shop, which has everything you need to hold a gorgeous kids party, bridal or baby shower. The range of invitations, decorations, favours and other funky things are sublime.

All you have to do is follow these easy steps:

1) Post a comment on my blog (just under this post) ensuring you leave your email address and name in the designated areas.

2) Answer these simple questions:

a) What do you love about Christmas?

b) If you could have your photograph taken with any famous person who would it be?

c) What is your all-time most treasured photograph?

d) If you could give one gift to anyone in the world, what would it be, and to whom would you give it?

e) What do you like most about my photography?

f) List your town & state

3) You have between now and midnight on Wednesday 23rd December to submit your comment, answering the above questions. The winners will be announced on my blog on Thursday 24th December (Christmas Eve). Vouchers will be sent out early in the new year and my mum will be responsible for the selection process! Anyone can comment, but Australian residents (living in Australia) will be the only prize recipients.

So, get busy peeps! I can’t wait to read everyone’s responses! I’m think I am even more excited than Big Kev. weeeeeee!!!