My name is Renee and I am a portrait and wedding photographer based out of Abilene, Tx. I am so honored that you have chosen to visit my blog. Here you will find my most recent work. I also post about my life, things that are important to me and that I am passionate about. My hope is that this blog will serve as a venue for you to view my work and to get to know me better.
Most of all I would love to hear from you. Comments make me really happy!
I am currently on maternity leave and will not be accepting appointments until late September. Please feel free to contact me though to book your session in advance.
4 years ago today Andy and I got married. Crazy how time flies. Our first date was on March 24, 2000! That seems like forever ago. After six years of long distance dating we finally said “I do”. Andy was well worth the wait. The past four years have been amazing. I love my husband now more than ever before, and I didn’t even think that was possible. If I have learned anything over these past few years it is this: Every good relationship takes work. We work hard at our marriage. But this has made all the difference.
I look forward to spending the rest of my life with my best friend. I thank God for him daily.
Please enjoy some of my favorite pictures from our wedding day.
Above: The pretty edited shot.
Below: This shot is raw,unedited. But I love it because it’s us! I chose not to retouch these images.
Above: This was right after our wedding ceremony. I can still remember this moment. That’s what good photography is about!
Below: My mom got this image on her point and shoot camera. It is one of my favs.
Just love it. Wish I could get married all over again. How about you?
So people keep saying that my baby is going to one day hate my camera because I take so many pictures of him. These iphone pictures are my response to that comment.
Does he look like he hates the camera? HA! On the contrary I think he is going to grow up loving the spot light and being in front of the camera.
I have had a couple people ask for some tips on taking weekly/monthly photos of their babies. So I thought I would do a post on some of the things I do when taking Eli’s photos.
Here is a quick video of what we do and just some simple tricks to document the growth of any baby.
Has it really been 5 weeks since our son was born? I feel like a broken record, but time is flying by.
Here are Eli’s 5 week pictures.
Want some tips on taking weekly/monthly photos of you baby? Come back soon for a blog post designed to help you get some awesome weekly photos of you baby.
It started when I was a teenager and use to babysit for friends. I would constantly check on the sleeping children to make sure they were breathing. I would stick my finger under their nose to feel the air. If that didn’t work I would touch their face, so that the child would move and I could be at ease knowing the child was still breathing. Well the same is true now that I am a mom. I often find myself checking on Eli to make sure he is breathing. Am I alone in this? Perhaps I am. Perhaps I am the only crazy parent that worries about this. But on the slight chance that I am not, I have to share this awesome gadget with you. Let me introduce you to the Snuza.
This handy little tool measures movement. It clips on to a baby’s diaper and rests gently on their stomach.
If the monitor does not sense movement for a period of 15 seconds it will gently vibrate to wake the baby. After vibrating three times an alarm will sound if movement does not occur. This alarm is loud enough to be picked up on any infant monitor and alerts parents to check on baby.
I love it already. Now that Eli is in his own bed the Snuza gives me a peace of mind. I don’t have to worry about what will happen in he stops breathinG. No more sticking my finger under his nose or touching him to see if he is breathing. This little baby takes that worry away. It’s great and I highly recommend it.
August 26, 2010 - 10:00 amshari - i check on caleb ALL the time. he is a light sleeper so i can't touch him or he might wake up. but i watch his blanket to see if it moves up and down. :)
i had heard of this before, but i had some concerns about it waking caleb unnecessarily. i understand that it is sensitive, but if it happened to be positioned wrong on the diaper and it were vibrating throughout his nap/sleep time then he could not be going into a deep sleep like he should be. but maybe it's so sensitive that it would never vibrate unless he really wasn't breathing.
also, how much time after a baby stops breathing can you resuscitate? i know for humans, it can be a few minutes. not sure if that is the same for babies. so, in the case that he does stop breathing and the alarm didn't notify you until, say, 25 seconds afterwards and then it takes you another few seconds to get there and even more to position him right to be resuscitated, is that still enough time? (um, not saying you shouldn't do everything you possibly can to save your baby! i take every precaution to prevent SIDS for caleb, but a part of me just has to trust in the Lord that he is taken care of. i realized that might have sounded harsh after typing it!)
just some of the thoughts i had.
thanks for sharing.
August 26, 2010 - 10:34 amRenee - Hey Shari! Glad to know I am not the only one that checks on her baby in this way. Even though we use the Snuza we pray every night over Eli and must trust that God is going to take care of him. I remind myself that our boy is in God's hands all the time. This is really the only way to have true peace. As far as the snuza waking Eli up, we have not had that issue. It is super sensitive and has not gone off while on him yet. I know there are flaws with this system, but I just like the fact that if Eli is not breathing or moving for some reason I will know in 20 seconds verse minutes or perhaps hours during the night. Keeps me from being in his face all the time. Ha! I do appreciate your thoughts and think you make valid points.
August 26, 2010 - 1:16 pmJessica Marsh - Nope not crazy at all. When the girls were babies I used to check on them at night a lot, so much so that I wouldn't get sleep. After awhile I was ok just checking on them before I went to bed. My girls are 6 and 7 and I still check on them at night before I go to bed. Megan is kind of a loud sleeper so I can open the door and hear her breathing but Brynn is so quiet that I go in there and listen for her. That is a neat little device though and I would use it if I still had little ones.
Elijah is already one month old. Oh my goodness. I really can’t believe it has been a month. I have a feeling that time is going to fly by now that Eli is here.
It has been an amazing month. He is growing fast and has already outgrown most of his newborn clothes. He is doing so good getting on a schedule and eating very well. He is a great nap taker and already sleeps in his own room! I am so proud of my little man.
To record his growth I plan to take his picture each month. I saw this idea of using colorful fabric as a background on a blog that I read. They explain in detail a creative way to capture weekly shots and I just love the idea. Click here to check it out.
by Renee
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