DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | PROJECT 365 | WEEK 49

December 11, 2018

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Nightly Advent study.

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Baby J, fascinated by my empty Whataburger cup. Yes, he has a ton of toys, but this piece of garbage was his entertainment for a solid thirty minutes. #ofcourse

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Baby J came down with a cold on Thanksgiving Day, and in the weeks since then that same cold has traveled through each member of our family. I was the last man standing, and really thought I was in the clear but apparently not.

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Apparently H didn’t appreciate me trying to take a picture during his afternoon post-school TV show time.

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Christmas, toddler style. This munchkin is bringing a bit of holiday spirit to our household by unwrapping the gifts when we aren’t looking, toppling over the Nativity set on a daily basis and removing all the bows from presents.

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Baby J feeling under the weather again. He is scheduled for ear tube surgery in a few days, so I’m hoping that will help resolve his issues.

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We went to the drive thru light display at Texas Motor Speedway. Baby J could actually see the lights, and he was awe struck. After the drive thru light display, we went to the Santa’s village to take a photo with the big guy. J was not as excited about that endeavor. Our last Christmas themed event was to ride the miniature train around the parking lot, so that helped cheer baby J up again.

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Baby J’s cold took a turn for the worse, and he woke up with a 102 degree fever. Hoping his fever is gone in time for surgery on Thursday, otherwise it’s going to get postponed. He isn’t a particularly snugly baby, but when he is feeling poor he will sometimes sit on your lap for a few minutes and hug his arsenal of stuffed animals. His latest obsession is chewing the ears off his bunny. It’s especially cute because our older son has a special lovey that he chewed to bits as well. Must be genetic.

H Parker Photography is a DFW Baby Photographer with a residential studio in Roanoke,TX. She specializes in classic, timeless studio baby photographs.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | PROJECT 365 | WEEK 48

December 3, 2018

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Judd is expressing an interest in drawing. I am really trying to encourage this because I realize coloring is a precursor to handwriting. My older son never really liked to draw or color, and proper penmanship is currently a struggle for him. Unfortunately, Baby J prefers markers to crayons….I’ve tried giving him the really big, egg-shaped toddler crayons, but he just wants the markers. Probably because markers are messy, and that’s the whole point for a toddler. Oh well…trying to take a laissez fare attitude about this and encourage his creativity and coloring skills while ignoring the marker smears all over his face, hands, arms and sometimes the furniture. They’re washable markers, right?

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Baby J sneaks into brother’s room when he is away at school to play with all the off-limits toys in there. J typically gravitates toward big brother’s action figures, but right now Holden has an animated, singing snowman contraption for the holidays up on his dresser. Baby J wants so badly to be able to reach that toy, but it is just out of his grasp. Instead, I am tasked with pressing the button over and over and over for his holiday delight.

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Brother Nerf war. This game is a tad bit one-sided.

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Toddler and twinkly lights.

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Working on his letter to Santa.

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A special treat day at Chuck E Cheese for memorizing all of his addition and subtraction facts up to the 12’s.

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I’m always looking for ways to spotlight the spirit of love during Christmastime. Last year we did a ‘Daily Kindness Calendar’ during Advent. It was a wonderful tool for encouraging our family to demonstrate service and love to others. This holiday season, our Elf, “Miles” brought us “The Giving Manger.” The idea is to place a piece of straw into the manger for each kind deed/act of service that a person in the family performs. On Christmas Day, the hope is to have a full bed of straw to lay the Baby Jesus into. We got a head start by beginning this the day after Thanksgiving, and so far it is a nice addition to our holiday traditions.

H Parker Photography is a DFW Baby Photographer with a residential studio in Roanoke,TX. She specializes in classic, timeless studio baby photographs.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | PROJECT 365 | WEEK 47

November 26, 2018

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Sweet baby bathed in sweet sunlight.

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Thanksgiving Eve. We usually eat at my grandma’s house, but she broke her leg over the summer and it is still tough for her to get around. Thus, I had the honor of hosting Thanksgiving this year. It was potluck, so my only food responsibilities were a pie, fruit salad and rolls. However, hosting afforded me a chance to pull out the wedding china and use decent table cloth. When you live with all boys, using fancy things is kind of a big deal and the table setting deserved its moment in the photographic sun.

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Thanksgiving! Poor Baby J woke up with a fever and a cough. He was quite the grumpster during the daytime, but seemed to rally just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. I think he particularly enjoyed the dessert portion of the evening, where he successfully conned my grandma and my aunt into feeding him way too much pie.

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This should really be Day 326.5, as it occurred in the wee overnight hours. Poor Baby J’s cough got much worse overnight and turned into croup. Charlie and I spent two hours up with him overnight. We spent a lot of time making the bathroom into a steam room to help clear Judd’s lungs.

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Miles, our Elf on the Shelf, made his return for the Christmas season. Holden was thrilled to see that Miles brought powdered donuts straight from the North Pole. Baby J wasn’t really sure what to make of the elf, but those donuts did a good job of winning him over.

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Nothing says Christmas light children fighting over the Nativity.

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‘Tis the season of packages arriving on the daily.

H Parker Photography is a DFW Baby Photographer with a residential studio in Roanoke,TX. She specializes in classic, timeless studio baby photographs.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 36

September 9, 2018

Has it already been a week since my last DFW baby photographer Project 365 installment? I guess it has been. This past week I feel like it rained..or looked gloomy and rainy almost every day. I am completely certain I could never live in the Pacific Northwest…or anyplace regularly rainy..because it puts me a major funk. I am so lethargic when it is like this outside. I think it’s because of the lack of variety, every day looks and seems the same. I generally thrive on routine, so my life is as structured as possible. But something about the rainy days and being FORCED to choose boring, quiet, indoor activities gives me a case of the grumps.

Let’s see what Week 36 was all about.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 36

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Received some flowers from my mom and her husband for my birthday. They kept going strong for a few days after my birthday, and they added a nice touch of cheer to the otherwise gloomy atmosphere.

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Baby J watching jealously as Rufus got to go outside. Ignore the disgusting finger prints all over the glass. I live with animals aka children, soI pretty much give up on that door being sparkling unless I know we are having people over. #reallife

kiwi crate tops boy and father work together

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Our monthly Kiwi Crate couldn’t have come at a better time. A perfect rainy Friday night activity for Daddy and the boy.

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Is it just a second born thing that they want to grow up so fast? Baby J tries to reject the traditional baby straw sippy cup in favor of stealing his big brother’s school water bottles. I think I’m going to give up and just toss all the sippy cups and transition to the big kid bottles, but it breaks my heart. I know it’s just that Baby J wants to be exactly like his brother, but his brother is 6 years older so I wish he would just stay babyish a little longer.

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H’s soccer game was rained out. I already had a sitter lined up for Baby J, so I figured that instead of canceling on childcare I’d go ahead and have a Mommy/Boy date with the big kid. We went bowling. It was so fun spending solo time with him, but OMG I did not realize bowling was $45/hr. Holy cow y’all. I swear back in my day it was like $15 to go bowling. Maybe I’m just glorifying the good ol’ days, but why in the world is bowling so expensive!? It wasn’t even peak time–there was hardly anyone in the joint.

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When brother is away at school and you steal his Hot Wheels cars.

H Parker Photography is a DFW Baby Photographer with a residential studio in Roanoke,TX.
She specializes in classic, timeless studio baby photographs.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 35

September 5, 2018

Week 35 of this DFW baby photographers Project 365 is complete. The last time I attempted a Project 365 I quit the first week of October. I had a pretty darn good reason at the time (I was super, super sick with hyperemesis gravidarum), but I will say that I am happy to be continuing this project at a fairly steady pace. Fingers crossed, but I feel pretty confident I am going to make it to the finish line this time.

Anyway, this past week my son went back to school. It was mostly just the baby and I hanging around the house. I got back into my regular routine, and there was some comfort in that. Baby J was really cranky from teething. Plus, I can tell he missed his brother dearly. We had the whole, LONG Labor Day weekend to reunite though. I solo parented it the majority of the last 8 days, so I was a little worn out by the end of the holiday weekend. I will say it always stings a little when other people talk about the holidays and their plans with enthusiasm. It is a very good bet that on any given holiday weekend my husband will be working, which means I am solo parenting it. I try to keep things lively and fun for myself and the crew back at home, but sometimes it just sucks. #aviationlife

We did squeeze in some fun, including watching the season opener of LSU against Miami. It happened to be in our neck of the woods over at AT&T Stadium, but unfortunately tickets were like $300/apiece for nosebleeds, so I enjoyed the game at home with a large amount of pizza, a drink in my hand and the good company of my sister, brother in law and my oldest son.

Okay, enough blabbering:

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 35

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Lunchtime. Those squishy toddler hands though. So cute! Also, we are totally fine with eating on Christmas themed plates in August. Don’t judge.

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Oh, this face. Baby J has been a cranky mess all week. He is into everything and at some point you just have to big in. So, yes, he is trying to eat the sunscreen here. No, I did not care to stop him. #pickyourbattles

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Hit up the splash pad before it closed for the season on Labor Day. I love that this place can entertain both kids for an hour.

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The first Saturday of college football is a special event in our household. It’s also a great excuse to binge on our favorite snacks. For Judd, that meant a turkey and sweet potato pouch for one.

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Labor Day was a washout. It rained all day and my children were driving me crazy cooped up inside. I ended up taking them to an indoor playspace that we had never been to before and it was a huge hit! I was surprised that my 6 year old was into it, because it was definitely geared toward toddlers playing pretend. Honestly, he may have been even more into it than the baby. Winning!

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Birthday cake time.

H Parker Photography is a DFW Baby Photographer with a residential studio in Roanoke,TX.
She specializes in classic, timeless studio baby photographs.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 34

August 29, 2018

This week was a big transition for this DFW baby photographer. We went from sipping drinks on the beach to sharpening pencils for the first day of school all in a matter of days. There was a lot of laundry involved post-trip, and a lot of getting back into the routine. So basically, boring, boring, boring. I hate to sell it to you that way, but it’s the truth.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 34

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Meet the teacher night. My boy dressed up in his new boy scout uniform as he was one of the kids to work the Cub Scout signup table at this same event. We got about two seconds with his teacher–those things are always so hectic! Holden was very excited about being in her classroom though–she was one of the two teachers he was hoping for. Looking forward to a fabulous school year!

236 | 365 Brothers. Despite the age difference, they seem to play well together. H loves building block towers for his lil bro to destroy.

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Mommy and baby. I’m getting ready to cold turkey this dude off bottles. He is 14 months, and I’ve allowed him to have a night bottle because I knew we would be traveling over the summer and I thought it would be easier to get him to sleep in unfamiliar territory if I kept that bottle in the picture. At least, that’s how I have justified it. It’s definitely time to say goodbye, and I think I’ve hung onto this tradition more out of me not wanting to let go. J is our final baby, and once I feed him that last bottle that will be it. Forever. It’s hard to say goodbye, knowing that he rarely lets me cuddle him outside of bottle time. I asked my husband to nab a photo so I can remember this by. I love this for its authenticity too–I’m not wearing anything special and baby J is wearing his ‘jailbird’ jammies. We aren’t picture perfect, but this picture IS perfect.

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Last day of summer!! Spent some turtle time in the pool.

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First day of first grade.

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It’s just me and the little guy for most of the days now. He is bored without big brother around. I’m trying my best to keep him busy, so it’s toys, toys everywhere.

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Waiting….
Wishing brother would get home from school.

H Parker Photography is a DFW Baby Photographer with a residential studio in Roanoke,TX.
She specializes in classic, timeless studio baby photographs.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 33

August 23, 2018

Week 33 of Project 365 was a blast for this DFW baby photographer! This post technically covers like a week and a half, as I got a bit behind because we went on a family vacation to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos.

We stayed at a resort on Grace Bay (which is rated amongst top 10 beaches in the entire world). I had high hopes for clear water and beautiful sand and holy cow this did not disappoint. I mean, I feel like I’ve seen a few beaches in my time. I’ve been to the Gulf side and the Atlantic side of Florida; two different beaches in Mexico; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Gulf Shores, Alabama; and the Florida Keys. While all of those beach vacations were wonderful and conjure up fantastic memories, I will say that Turks and Caicos wins hands down for the clearest water. It really was like swimming in a giant pool. There were almost no waves to speak of, it was shallow, calm and there was fantastic snorkeling right off the beach. The landscape was pristine, and every day of the vacation I was blown away by the beauty of the island.

In addition to the wonderful waters, the resort was really a fantastic place to travel with young children. There were a ton of included activities–hobie cat rentals, snorkeling, kayaking, paddle boarding and a glass bottom boat tour. In addition, the resort had kids camps so the hubs and I were able to enjoy some solo beach time by checking the kids in with childcare. At night we had a private babysitter to stay with our baby in the room and put him to sleep, so the grown ups and the big kid could enjoy sit-down dinners and sunsets. I feel bad writing all this, because it was just too wonderful and I feel like I’m doing some major bragging. I am not a huge proponent of traveling to the same place twice–I mean, there are so many places to see in the world. But, this is the first location that I am already planning to visit again. I can’t wait until baby J is a bit older and can enjoy more of the activities, like snorkeling and sailing, alongside the rest of us.

Probably the only downside to traveling to this beach was that I didn’t bring my camera. I mean, that was planned, it wasn’t a mistake. I was on the fence about it…I had a hard time separating from my camera for such a momentous trip. In the end, I was afraid of having it damaged, stolen or lost. I took an Olympus TG-4 (basically a GoPro alternative) and my dated backup camera, a Canon Rebel t3i. I only brought two lenses–a fisheye and a zoom. If you aren’t a camera person, this probably means nothing to you. But, for my momtographer friends, you know what a struggle it was to make this choice. Plus, I am generally a prime lens girl, so restricting myself to a backup camera with a zoom was kind of ick. However, I figured I would be in the moment enjoying things more if I wasn’t worried about my gear. Also, traveling with a baby in tow meant we had to have a stroller and all kinds of annoying odds and ends, so I wanted to keep it as light as possible on the travel front. In the end, I have a ton of snapshots, and while I would have loved to have my big girl gear with me, I feel okay about my decision. But, if you are wondering about the quality of the photos this week..that would be a major reason why.

Without further adieu, Week 33.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 33

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I feel like Mother Nature got her signals crossed for the first part of August. It actually rained here in Texas for four days in a row. One of the big storms came down so hard that the drains on our patio backed up and my husband had to start clearing the lines during the storm to keep our patio and outside fridge from flooding. Holden loved watching the chaos from the comfort of the living room.

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Did I mention it was a soggy, rainy mess last week? After 4 days of being cooped inside, I loaded up the troops for a trip to Cabelas. I wasn’t brave enough to do the actual aquarium–too much of a people zoo. I feel like this was a major mom win though, because it entertained both kids for nearly an hour and it was only 15 minutes from the house.

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Packing. Oh, the packing. Traveling internationally with a baby is NOT for the faint of heart. My husband made fun of the Excel sheet I prepared to coordinate everything, until he actually had to start fitting this circus into suitcases and then he was bowing to my greatness. Or at least that’s how I choose to interpret it. Mostly, it sounded a lot like cursing and him asking why we needed to bring Calamine.

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Travel day.

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Baby’s first time in the ocean! Judd is definitely not what one would describe as ‘mellow’ — he has strong opinions about life, so I was pleasantly surprised when he took to the beach right way. He was all about that sand between his toes. I’m shocked, and elated that he is apparently a beach bebe.

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Beach party! Dancing to his own beat.

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Holden’s first snorkel experience. The great thing about this joint was that they had an amazing coral garden 5 minutes walk from our resort. Holden had never snorkeled before, but since he is a great swimmer I had full confidence he could do it. Full disclosure, he was PISSED during this photo. Salt water in his eyes, nose…going wild and hating life. Turns out, this kid is so used to goggles that a mask threw him off. We tried again with just goggles and he LOVED it. We saw rainbow parrotfish, “dory” fish, zebra colored fish, brain coral. The husband even spotted a barracuda! Definitely an amazing experience, and I am so glad that my Holden gave it another go with goggles. Probably one of my favorite activities from the entire vacation.

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My handsome boy all ready for a special dinner date with mom and dad.

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Time to head home. Always sad to say goodbye to vacation. Even Baby J was bummed about going home. That, and the fact that he didn’t take a nap ALL STINKING DAY. This kid fought sleep from 5am Eastern time to 10:30pm Central time. We kept thinking the airplane noise and motion would make him zonk out, but oh no, the stubborn is strong with this one. #perseverance #stubborn

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Post travel laundry day.

H Parker Photography is a DFW Baby Photographer with a residential studio in Roanoke,TX.
She specializes in classic, timeless studio baby photographs.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 31

August 6, 2018

This DFW baby photographer feels like my Project 365 hit a bit of a slump this week. I kept forgetting to take photos until the last second of the day–oops. I think it’s just those summer doldrums getting to me. Plus, my husband has been out of town a lot recently and I have been solo parenting it. The baby is getting two teeth as well, and has been in a horrible mood. My maternal grandma has also been hospitalized for pneumonia, so I feel like my heart just wasn’t into photography this week.

Oh well, I try to remind myself that getting it done is what counts and maybe next week I will do better!

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 31

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Baby J is quite the rascal. He loves digging through our lower cabinets, emptying their contents all over the kitchen floor. I can’t get through the kitchen without tripping over plastic cups and bowls. I’d love to put a lock on everything, but I would be depriving him of such a small, simple joy. So, instead I look the other way when he’s up to his mischief, and then I curse under my breath when I step on Tupperware in the middle of the night.

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More summer fun. Holden and Daddy having some water gun fun. Poor Baby J caught in the cross fire.

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We had a few glorious mornings in the low 70s and high 60s last week. It was bliss, and we had to take advantage of that with a bike ride around the neighborhood.

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Did I mention Baby J gets into everything? Here he is trying to disengage the child lock on my china cabinet.

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After a busy morning at the splash park, my boy is spending some quality time in the covers enjoying a movie.

216 | 365 Judd’s favorite toy are these spinning gears. He loves to place his sippy cup, snacks and pretty much anything he can get his hands on onto the top of this gearbox to see what’s going to happen. Love this little baby and his experiments.

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I looked forward to this day for months!! Our family is headed on a beach vacation soon, and we have been keeping that info under wraps all summer. I considered waiting until the day before our trip to break the news to H, but in the end my husband convinced me to do it a few weeks early so H would have time to anticipate the trip and learn more about our destination. We surprised H by sinking a message in a bottle at the bottom of the pool. H found the bottle, which led him on a scavenger hunt to the movie room where a promotional video of our resort was playing. It was so much fun watching his confusion turn to elation! Of course, this silly boy was super perplexed as to how the message in a bottle ended up at the bottom of the pool in the first place. He couldn’t believe that his dad and I were sneaky enough to have dropped it in there when he wasn’t looking. Apparently, that was more surprising than the actual vacation!! Kids are goofs.

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We had an adventurous morning that took us about 1.5 hours from home, and on the way back we got to stop at one of my husband’s favorite restaurants. Granted, we had kids surrounding us so it kind of changed the dynamic, but it was still a treat.

H Parker Photography is a DFW Baby Photographer with a residential studio in Roanoke,TX.
She specializes in classic, timeless studio baby photographs.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | PROJECT 365 | JULY 2018

August 1, 2018

july 2018 project 365 monthly collage

H Parker Photography is a DFW Baby Photographer with a residential studio in Roanoke,TX.
She specializes in classic, timeless studio baby photographs.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 28

July 16, 2018

Week 27 was a bit of a stinker, and while week 28 was certainly an improvement for this DFW baby photographer, it still contained more than its fair share of chaos. Fingers crossed that week 29 can just sail on easy like. I’m thinking that July is just my dumpster fire month. Every year, I feel like there is that one month where a bunch of things hit the fan all at once. Last year, it was August. The year before it was October. I mean, truly, I have an incredible life filled with many blessings and I am grateful beyond measure for that which I do not deserve. All I’m getting at is that we all live through the roller coaster of life, and and the moment I’m on the part of the coaster where you want to barf. It happens.

DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 28

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If you keep up with my project, you know that we had to put our dog Bailey to sleep during week 27. This is Rufus, our other fur baby. Rufus is about to celebrate his 12th birthday, so he’s in his golden years as well. He is doing okay without his sister, but we are definitely going out of our way to give him extra loving, and I’m not sure how he feels about that. Rufus is an aloof dog, he reminds me of a cat. He gets pets from you when he wants pets from you. He has always been full of energy, jumping on all our visitors (to my dismay), but he is slowing down too these last few months. Trying to remember to take a bunch of photos and videos of this old guy.

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Baby J had my husband and I cracking up because he crawled underneath this side table and apparently couldn’t get himself out. He was stuck for more than 5 minutes. It was the most quiet, calm 5 minutes we’ve experienced in awhile.

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I also mentioned that during week 27 my grandma broke her leg. I finally had a chance to visit her in the hospital. Picture in parking lot, because there is no way my grandma is going to let me take her photo in a hospital bed and post in on the internet.

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I’m a big “eat what’s on sale” person, so we have been having a lot of asparagus lately. Trying to find ways to jazz it up a bit.

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Finding ways to get in trouble, taking all the stuff off my shelves.

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Brothers playing at the water table. We have gotten our money’s worth out of that thing!

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Of course Baby J had a fever of 104 just after the doctor closed on Friday evening. After a trip to urgent care, we discovered he had hand, foot and mouth disease. It is as horrible as it sounds.

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Baby J still mega sick. Day 3 of fever, and it was still at 103. He even fell asleep in my husband’s arms. That basically NEVER happens, so it deserved photo documentation.

H Parker Photography is a DFW Baby Photographer with a residential studio in Roanoke,TX.
She specializes in classic, timeless studio baby photographs.