Happy Thanksgiving!

There is so much to be thankful for. I hope you are all enjoying great food and great times with your families today.

Thing 1 Turns 6

Yep, I know this post looks familiar. My kids’ birthdays are the same week. My daughter was born the day before Thanksgiving in 2002, my son was born two days before Thanksgiving in 2005, and I got to experience hospital turkey twice. Blech!

Wow, my firstborn is six. Five years and 364 days ago, I thought I knew it all and honestly had no idea what I was in for. I never knew I could love someone this much until I became a mom. I never knew I could be driven this insane until I became a mom (LOL). You think you understand how much a parent can love a child, but you really don’t get it until it happens to you. And then overnight your life is changed forever.

My daughter is smart as a whip and stubborn as hell. She can drive me to my wits end, and then a minute later says something to make me melt. Everyday she amazes me, and the true highlight of my life has been watching my children grow.

I have to thank my daughter, for her arrival allowed me to follow my dream. I spent many years in school to get my graduate degree in engineering, and I had a lucrative career in engineering. Still, photography was always my passion. I actually looked forward to getting out of engineering school so that I would have time to take more photography classes…how crazy is that? Once I held my baby daughter in my arms, I knew that I could not go back to the corporate world - stress, travel, corporate politics, 60 hour work weeks. I decided to turn my passion into a business, and I have not looked back since.

Happy Birthday, G! (( HUGS!!)

Sneak Peek

What an awesome family. They all have great smiles too. If you looks closely you'll notice two of my favorite kinds of smiles...missing teeth smiles, aka "jack-o-lantern smiles."

A little texture play for some variety:

I recently bought a new pettiskirt and have not had an opportunity to shoot with it yet. L was just the right size for it, and she agreed to model. Thanks, L! I like this picture because of the motion, but for some reason it also reminds me of a painting.

Thing 2 turns 3

I really cannot believe that my baby is 3. The time has gone so fast! Today he woke up and said "Hey, I'm 3 now!" We have been telling him all week that 3-year-olds use the potty and don't wear diapers anymore, so we'll see how that goes.

When I think back to three years ago, I am reminded of the rough entry H had into this world. I had complications with my c-section, H was a miserable colic-y baby, and his older sister who was three at the time was not too thrilled about his arrival and made life somewhat miserable at our house for a brief time. It's amazing how the good times outweigh and overshadow the bad. It didn't take long for G to learn to love her little brother, and now it's impossible to imagine life without him. His smile is contagious, and he is perpetually happy. He's a total boy - loud and crazy. My husband jokes that H only has two volumes - loud and louder.

So hugs to you H, and a big fat Happy Birthday!!

P.S. Don't forget the deal about 3-year-olds and the potty!

Four!

One of my favorite clients has probably been checking the blog all week to see if I got anything posted from her weekend session, and I am happy to say her sneak peek is now ready! I have been photographing this little one since she was a newborn and this weekend was her 4-year session. Next time I think we should do a mother daughter portrait because this little girl is a total "mini me" of her mom. (Down to the hair cowlick and everything..it's amazing!)

Just for fun, I played around with some different post-processing techniques.

And, I had to include this one because it made me laugh and reminds me of my own kids, who have been sporting an assortment of temporary tattoos ever since Halloween.

In Honor of Burns Copeland

Today's blog post is in remembrance of Burns Copeland, whose funeral was this morning. Burns was the founder of the Chicagoland Professional Photographers Association (CPPA) and was 92 when he died. I got to know Burns when I was one of the first women to serve on the CPPA Board of Directors in 2005. I didn't know I was indirectly linked to him before that, but learned that he shot my father's military photos in the 60's. I used to jokingly call Burns "Yoda" because of his age and his wisdom about photography and the industry. I actually gave him a little Yoda figure like this, and he thought it was hilarious. Being in his 90's eventually caught up to Burns, and he had not been too active at CPPA for the past couple of years. I just want to send my sympathies to his family and tell them that he will be missed.

I have been on hold, listening to elevator music all morning....

I apologize for the inconvenience, but AT&T has made an error and disconnected my voicemail. They are aware of this problem and have reactivated the voicemail. However, they told me it can take up to 24 hours to go into effect. Therefore I may be unreachable by phone all day today. If you call, and I am unavailable and voice mail does not pick up, please email me at jes@jessicagwozdz.com, and I will call you right away. Thanks for your patience.

My Best Friend's Girls

(hey, isn't that a Cars song from the late 70's?)

Clearly I am really getting a lot of mileage out of the box of giant peppermint sticks I ordered for this year's holiday portrait season. But you know, they are truly serving their purpose because kids will sit still to eat them, and they look really cute in Christmas pictures.

These are my best friend's daughters. They are each just a few months younger than my two kids. My best friend (or shall I say BFF?) and I met when we were in preschool. We went to grade school, high school, and college together, and we even went through pregnancy together. I realize that this is really unusual and special - not many people our age have maintained a close friendship for over 33 years. I am hoping that even though they don't go to school together, our kids will be pals for a lifetime as well.

The older girl looks just like her dad, but the little blondie is a spitting image of my friend. Sometimes I can't even look at her without laughing because she looks so much like her mother that it takes me back to our own preschool days. See what I mean? ===>

I know I have said this before, but my poor friends are always the last to get their stuff. When I get busy, they are the most understanding to have their orders pushed to the back burner. So I am glad I am at least able to put a few pics up on the blog here for you Jen, because you know that your Christmas card will be the last one I design. No hang on a minute - it will be the 2nd to last one that I design. My own Christmas card will be the last one I design.