18 month and 3 month pictures

Last Friday, the wonderful Katie Ryan of Katie Ryan Photography took Kiley's 18 month and Ella's 3 month pictures (granted Kiley is 17 and a half months and Ella is 3 and a half months), but only having to worry one day about some weird rash showing up on your baby's face or that your 17 month old is going to suddenly decide to cut her hair on picture day seemed a lot easier for me to handle once this month rather than try to actually do a 3-month shoot for Ella and an 18-month shoot for Kiley. 

Now onto my short plug for Katie Ryan, in which I get no compensation for this plug, this is just my own thoughts and feelings.  She is AWESOME.  If you live in the Chicagoland area and are in need of a photographer, check her out.  Her prices are reasonable, she will come to your house, and she sends you a cd of all of the images so you can do with them what you would like.  I have used her for all of Kiley and Ella's professional pictures thus far, plus she does pet photography, family pictures, weddings, engagement shoots, etc.  She is also starting to do some marathon shoots at different locations, which I love because you get a whole different set of scenery. This shoot she did at Brookfield Zoo and she is working on getting one together at a pumpkin patch for the fall. I can't wait. 

So, remember my miserable fun shopping day to the Gap with the girls last week. Well, I had to get these outfits for the photo shoot.

Is there really anything cuter than baby/toddler jeggings?

Matching dresses = love having two girls!

So of course, getting to and from the zoo proved to be quite a pain in the booty, but I think that it was worth it in the end.  Getting there, I decided to not get the girls dressed until we got there because Kiley always wants a snack in the car so I didn't want it to get all over her and Ella would inevitably spit up on her outfit if I put it on any earlier than necessary.  I left plenty of time to get there, and made great time, until I got to the one road I know how to take to get to the zoo, which was shut down to one lane.  Ugh, I sat there for 25 minutes just trying to get through one intersection.  We finally got there, did a quick change in the back of the car, and we were off.  Good thing I decided to not work out that morning because I had to power walk/run through the zoo to make it on time.  Of course, I couldn't exactly remember where the children's zoo was that we were going to meet at, so I ended up walking around it about 3 times before I actually got there winded and sweaty, but at least I was not hoping for a cute mom and daughters shot that day because it was not happening.  We finally made it and of course getting Kiley to cooperate was not happening.  All she wanted to do was have snacks and go through the back of clothes that I brought, but I think that Katie ended up getting some pretty good shots of my non-cooperative daughter.  Ella was her usual laid back self and couldn't have cared less about what was going on--that is until the drive home, in which she cried for an hour and a half straight as we sat in fun Friday Chicagoland traffic :(  To say I wanted to pull my hair out was an understatement, I think if I had had a razor at that point I would have gone all Britney Spears and just shaved my hair right there in the car.  But, we made it home, the girls got to bed, and I enjoyed a relaxing evening of popcorn for dinner, a couple glasses of wine, some Dateline episodes and my US Weekly.

Ok, so enough rambling, and on to the pictures.  I heart them and I know you will too.  Granted, I am biased, and think that my girls are adorable, but also again Katie Ryan is awesome, and even if my toddler is not being cooperative, she still is able to capture great shots.  Thanks Katie!

http://katieryanphotography.blogspot.com/2011/08/kiley-ella-81911.html

Have a great Tuesday!