Introducing Baby Charlotte

Spent the morning with this gorgeous baby girl and her positively adorable brother and sisters a few weeks back.  A stunning family all around, and this baby girl was just a peach throughout the session!!

Baby Mason 5 days new

Chicago Newborn Photographer

Got to shoot this sweet bundle a few weeks back.  Teeny tiny and oh so precious, he was a total doll to work with!!

Welcome to the world sweet Penelope!

CHICAGO NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER

How gorgeous is this tiny little one?  Penelope Cate was just about 4 days new for our session and was just so sweet to work with!  After her newborn session we got a few shots in with her big brothers.  I love to shoot this family because they are all so darn good looking and the camera just adores them :)  Congrats to the entire Bennett family on your sweet baby girl!

Happy 6 Month Birthday Baby A!

Chicago Portrait Photographer

I love when mommie's sign on for a full YEAR ONE package...the ability to capture and document a little one's first 12 months is so special.  This sweet girl was born this fall and here she is...already 6 months old...and just perfect. Just look at those striking blue eyes..and those CHEEKS!!! I could eat her up! Happy 6 months to this little angel!

Baby Max -- 5 days new

Chicago Newborn Photographer

This little boy has such a special place in my heart!!  I've know his mama for the better part of my life and so shooting this session, with this gorgeous and sweet baby boy...it was just magic.

Laura and Dave, Max is so incredibly lucky to have you two as parents!  He was born into the most loving, fun, vibrant family and I am so beyond happy for all of you!  Cherish every single sweet and cuddly moment...and I know you will :)  All of my love!

Baby Abigail Newborn Shoot

Chicago Newborn Photographer

I had the pleasure of shooting this eager little lady last month.  Baby Abigail was not really down with the delivery date the doctors gave her mama, and decided that she'd prefer to make an appearance sooner than later---a full 3 weeks early!  She arrived perfect and beautiful and ready for the world...as you can see ;)

Newborn Session: Baby Harper

CHICAGO NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER 

I saw this little lady about a week ago and could barely believe how quickly she's growing!  I had had the pleasure of shooting this little lady's big brother for his newborn photos a few years ago...so an absolute treat to get to do it again with the newest member of the family!  

Sweet Little Lane

Evergreen Park Newborn Photographer

I have a special place in my heart for mamas who are 9 and 10 mos pregnant in the middle of July/August/dead of summer!! It is not a fun time of year to be carrying around another person full time.     But when you get a beautiful miracle of goodness as your end game --- sure makes all the discomfort worth while :)  A few shots from my session with the stunning and so very sweet baby Lane.

More Than Worth the Wait

It's been a while since I've blogged ... have been busy getting everything finished up personally and professionally in anticipation of our little one!! She was 14 days late and even then had to be encouraged to make an appearance...but she is finally here!!

Vela Carina Sitzes (pronounced Vay-lah) was born July 21st at 12:05 am.  8 lbs 7oz, healthy as can be and just beautiful.  I'd made a playlist for her birth, and when she was born Ingrid Michaelson's "I can't help falling in love with you" was playing...and I just broke down upon meeting her.  We never found out the sex so there was no way to know for sure---but I had secretly thought it was her all along.

You see, her name has a very special story behind it.  My name "Giana" came to my own mother in a dream well before she was ever pregnant.  So when she did have a baby girl years later, she used the name.  My mother passed away 5 years after I was born, but I have always known the story of where my name came from.

The summer after Eric and I got married, I woke up in the middle of the night with the name "Vela" stuck in my head like glue.  I'd never heard it before but loved it and couldn't help but think that maybe it was a message from my own mom? A name for a child down the road perhaps...

Then some months later I thought to google the name Vela.  One of the first couple hits was a Wikipedia description...it made my heart stop.

(from the Wikipedia definition)
Vela is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the sails of a ship, and it was originally part of a larger constellation, the ship Argo Navis, which was later divided into three parts, the others being Carina and Puppis.

Carina was my mothers name.

I know in my heart my mom was whispering in my ear that night 2 years ago.  It's magical to now have Vela home with us.  She is without a doubt the most amazing blessing Eric and I have ever received, and I cherish the fact that we will some day get to share this story with her.  

It may be a bit before I blog again...gonna spend some time with the prettiest baby in the world...but everyone asks where her name came from so thought this might be one way to get the story out there.  Also---I think a nice reminder for anyone who has lost a loved one...that they are never truely gone...always there, watching over us...and occasionally even whispering to us in our sleep.