Oh my gosh, can we please start EVERY family pictures blog post with a smile like this?! Summer is the perfect time to do family pictures in Syracuse because the weather is usually pretty predictable!  What isn’t always predictable is how happy a baby will be when you schedule a portrait session.  I LOVED doing pictures for my dear friend Alex and her husband Jeff and their little sweet pea!  I actually photographed Alex and Jeff’s wedding in 2018 and so to be able to do pictures for them again was so much fun!

Whenever I’m photographing, I always try to look out for sweet connections between people.  When I saw the way Miss R. was holding her dad’s thumb I knew I had to capture that little detail!

Alex and Jeff wanted to do their pictures in a location that represented Central NY’s beautiful scenery.  I had suggested shooting near the rolling hills around Lafayette’s “apple country”.  We did one better and ended up shooting at Alex’s grandma’s property just south of Nedrow that not only had the gorgeous hills of CNY but was nostalgically special to them too!

We took a break part way through their session to give little Miss R. a snack!  I just love this sweet representation of the way a mom cares for her baby!

And then Little Miss R. was the star of the show!  You would laugh if I told you how her parents got her to smile like that!  But then, what parent isn’t super goofy with their kids?!

Alex’s hat! (Where is my heart eyed emoji when I need it?)

I tell you though, little Miss R. was anything but unpredictable!  She was as happy, smiley and engaged as any baby every could be!

You wouldn’t know looking at either Alex or little Miss R. that they had both been up SIX times the night before!  I didn’t realize that lack of sleep can be such a thing when you become a mom!  But you can see the love that Alex and Jeff have for their little sweet pea when they snuggle her! All the work and lack of sleep is SO worth it!

Ah her headband was SO cute!

Right before COVID started, Alex and I started chatting with each other via the Marco Polo app.  As we chatted multiple times a week, we grew so much closer in our friendship.  So while I loved photographing their wedding and being there on that special day, doing family pictures for her a few years later as much closer friends was special in a different way!  Truly such an honor.  Thank you so much for looking through their blog!  If you’d like to see more of my work, check it out on my blog or shoot me an email here!

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