More Moments With Maxwell

It has been a while since my last posting so here it goes.

My favorite little buddy is now over two months old and I have made it my own personal mission to document as much of his life as possible. In no particular order here are a collection of photos that I have compiled of his as of now.

While home My Little Buddy quickly showed that he has his daddy's sense of humor.

He also demonstrated his mommy's ability to sleep through just about anything at any time of day.

Of course babies are not exactly known for being super clean so there is of course bath time, followed by the few brief moments that he is allowed to go commando wrapped up in his towel or bath robe.

After all one has to look his best when hanging with friends ...

Especially if that friend is a cute little girl.

Over the past couple of months Little Buddy has met many new people and experienced many new things. It has been fun find out what he like and does not. As a few examples Little Buddy loves hanging out with his cousin and Auntie.

He like his uncle too, but I suspect its because he finally got to meet someone with less hair than himself.

Little Buddy did not however like it when mommy and daddy tried to get pictures of his footprints in the sand at the beach.

This whole experience has been amazing and wonderful for both my wife and I. As our Little Buddy grows and develops I get excited more and more every day as he discovers new aspects of life. Even the simplest things that we all take for granted amaze him. Feet for example, he just recently discovered that he can coordinate his feet!

To properly document this wonderful time in his life where he makes strides on a monthly scale I have been doing portraits of him in a chair with an over-sized necktie. At the one year mark I will be sure to share them all but for now as a thanks for reading here is a sample.

Thank you again for reading!

Baby in Black & White

As some of you know, or all of you since I am pretty sure only people I know read this blog, I recently had a son. Since this has happened I have taken well over a thousand pictures and he is only three weeks old. I am obviously not going to share a thousand photos but I would like to share a few.

I constructed a frame to hold a backdrop and fiddled with many lights until I produced the shadows I was looking for. These were all shot in color and converted to black and white with slight tweaking of contrast in Photoshop. Though I have found babies to be rather inconsiderate models who refuse to cooperate I feel that the end result is in fact adorable. Please enjoy.

Shooting pictures of my Little Buddy was challenging enough. Trying to do self portraits while handling a three week old proved to be too much. I enlisted the help of my lovely wife and got real creative with tripod placement to help frame these shots. In the end the results made me happy. I know I am not as cute as my Little Buddy but thirty years from now he might look at these and be amazed by how much like me he really looks. I know that happens to me every time I see an old photo of my father. Anyway, that's enough words here are the pictures.

Maxwell's Big Arival

Last July my wife and I found out that we were going to have a baby. This was possibly the most exciting and scary news I have ever received all in one package. Becoming a father is something that I have always wanted but never really felt ready for. But then again I have been informed that no matter how ready you think you are, you are not nearly ready enough. Over that past nine months construction projects in my house shifted from man cave and office to nursery and planning vacations turned into planning day care.

My son has finally arrived and like any good parent I am trying to document as much of his life as possible. These moments that my wife and I share with him are going to be some of the most precious of our lives.  So here is a little introduction to my new favorite Little Buddy.

The morning began, much like the last few, with a sleepless night and painful contractions. We arrived at the hospital in the early morning and were told that the procedure, though the doctor planed to assist the progression, would last quite a while.

Once it was time for the epidural I was asked to leave and when I returned there was chaos. Apparently there was a complication that the anesthesiologist has seen twice in twenty years. The absolute scariest moment of my life occurred when I was told "we have to deliver this baby now". With that twelve people rushed in, ran out with my wife, and said that I couldn't come. After one and a half minutes of pure panic and pacing a nurse arrived with operating room garments that I needed to put on I was taken down the hall. The baby was already born when I arrived, a record four minute c-section, and my wife was finally starting to calm. The doctors were able to show us our son and then he was rushed to the nursery in an oxygen tent.

My Little Buddy is now doing fine and my wife is recovering nicely, but I cannot adequately describe the emotional roller coaster that I was on that day.

 A few hours later the doctors were able to bring him by so that we could meet him properly.

It turns out that my wife and I make a really cute baby. So here he is.

Due to the fact that I think I am a decent photographer I also need to take a few of the more artistic shots.

After the first day of course we had some visitors. Lots of visitors. However none of them as excited as his new cousin.

Since grandmas always steal the spotlight I am only going to highlight the also very happy and proud proud grandfathers.

With this addition of my Little Buddy, my little family will never be the same. Ahead of my wife and I are some great times and I am sure a few challenging moments. I am looking forward to all of them, the good and the bad. I also happen to be looking forward to adding another player to game night.

The Baby is Comming

Sometime within the next month I am going to be a father. This is quite an intense feeling. That being said, when a baby is on the way there is usually a baby shower. A few days ago my wife had her shower and being the amateur photographer that I am I could not resist going to take some pictures.

Most showers have similar themes one is sweets ...

... the other is games.

I don't find myself at too many baby showers but I must say that they are joyous occasions for friends and family to enjoy company and celebrate a wonderful upcoming event.

We had a fantastic time and are grateful for everything and every one. I am sure that our little Maxwell will love all of his new toys, clothes. And elephants, so many elephants.