Stent Family

Every time I photograph this family I just like them more and more. They love dogs and each other. In my book, if you've got those two things down, you're a winner. And the Stent family does both those things incredibly well!

Penny, Dimitri, Kosta, and Bun in the oven.

Back in 2010 Maria and I photographed these guys' fabulous wedding (here, on our old blog). Since Dimitri is my fabulous produce guy that I see pretty much on a daily basis, I've been able to to keep up with their now fabulous family, scheduled to grow by one any day here! I did this little shoot of them over in their neighborhood so they could remember what life was like with just the three of them, well four (Sorry Beretta), before little sister arrived.

Emmerson's Birth

With both of my pregnancies, I've been lucky enough to share the experience with a really close friend. I was pregnant with Berkeley the same time my good friend Betsy was pregnant with Charlie, and I was pregnant with Wren the same time my dear friend Rebecca was pregnant with Emerson. And there really is just something comforting about sharing those months with someone. Comparing notes and woes and tips and yoga videos and double desserts- it's good times.

And this time it was made even better because I got to photograph Emerson's birth! It was just a few weeks before Wren would be born, at the same hospital, literally in the room next door.

The short of it is this: Rebecca was amazing. 1) Her labor lasted so so long, and 2) I felt like some of her nurses didn't say the most encouraging things to her. But in spite of having been at the hospital for going on two days, and in spite of having maybe not the most helpful help, she just kept with it; she stayed so positive and hopeful and determined and nice (I really don't know how she managed to be so nice through all of this). It was clear she felt so defeated and exhausted several times, but in the end, after being forced to move her labor to the operating room, and with the threat of a c-section looming over her, she pushed that 9+ lb of baby boy out!

I feel so grateful and happy and blessed that I got to be there. I love all three of these guys so much!



I should note here that I actually feel kinda guilty about having gotten to photograph this because another close friend of Rebecca and Derek's, Aubrey, was photographing this for them, but after having done so for over 24 hours, she had to leave to photograph a prior commitment. So I feel like a jerk- Aubrey is the one that was there with them in the trenches, and then I came in at like the eleventh hour, and took the gold, so to speak. Anyway, a very sincere nod to Aubrey and all her hard work!