One With Nature-Barrington Illinois Maternity Photography

♥ 9.12.2014 ♥

As I had said before, I’m truly trying to get back on track with blogging but it is really hard with the first few weeks of school. Now all three of my kids are back in session and I’m finally able to get a little extra work like blogging in! I’ve had a lot of challenges to get caught up including a 30 hour power outage in my neighborhood last weekend! Luckily we did not get any damage but our neighborhood had trees down everywhere! There is still talk that it might have been a small tornado that tore through.

Onto the post as I have been waiting to share this one. It is from a maternity session I did in June and really was a perfect session. The young couple I met were very laid back and just open to any of my ideas so I just let them be one with nature. I truly felt such a sense of peace at the location we chose and even though the sun was in and out of the clouds, it really created a fun mood for the session.

Baby H made his appearance shortly after which I have already shared HERE. I just love to get to know a couple ahead of the newborn arriving during their maternity session. It lets me see who mom and dad are before baby comes and allows them to be so much more relaxed during the newborn session. Sadly, the Chicago area doesn’t allow for outdoor sessions all year round but I have even done some in the snow and loved them just the same. There is just something about being one with nature.

Enjoy these images from this maternity session.

If you are expecting and would like to set up a maternity or maternity/newborn combination session with Just Peachy Photography, contact us at [email protected] or 847-302-1783.

Little Lake County–Chicago Northwest Suburbs/Mom Around Town

♥ 8.29.2014 ♥

mom around town palatine illinois

Welcome to our Mom Around Town feature! We took a bit of a break over the summer but I’ve got a lot of great features lined up for the fall! Last time I posted my visit at BELLE+BEAU, a children’s boutique in Park Ridge. Today I have an interview with Melissa Haak, creator of the website, Little Lake County and the blog, Peanut Butter in My Hair.

Since many of the business owners I will be interviewing work directly with children and expecting parents, I think it is important to get to know them well. Our Mom Around Town feature will help you do that! Make sure you check out our other Mom Around Town posts!

Blog Name: Little Lake County / Peanut Butter in my Hair

Website: www.littlelakecounty.com / www.peanutbutterinmyhair.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/littlelakecounty http://www.facebook.com/PeanutButterinmyHair

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/PBinmyHair

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/littlelakeco/

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/PBinyHair

Year Established: Peanut Butter in my Hair started in 2008 and Little Lake county in 2010

Erika: What services does your business provide?

Melissa: Little Lake County is a website for families in Lake County to get all the information they need to have fun and explore Lake County. We have a calendar of events and 10 moms that write reviews and experiences about being out and about in Lake County with their own kids. Peanut Butter in my Hair is my personal blog on motherhood, life and everything in between. I write out the “sticky side” of motherhood working through PPD and miscarriage and pregnancy after loss.

Erika: How did you get the idea to start your business?

Melissa: I moved to Lake County from the city in 2008 and was shocked at how hard it was to find and connect with other moms online. Everyone at my schools seemed to know all these cool things to do with their kids because they have lived in the area their whole life. I wanted to create and curate a space where families could find and connect to their local community. There are so many local gems in Lake County, probably in your own backyard, that you don’t know about. I wanted to get people, and myself, out and staying local instead of only hitting the big places (usually in the city) that had the marketing forces to spread their message.

Erika: What did you do before you started your business?

Melissa: Prior to having kids I was in healthcare. I started staying at home when I had my son in 2005 and was just a volunteer, writing for my local parents group before moving to the suburbs.

Erika: Can you share one memorable story from an experience you had related to your business/blog?

Melissa: Well I have had a lot of really cool experiences thanks to my personal blog and for being part of (now closed) Chicago moms Blog and ChicagoParent.com. I have been an ambassador with Campbell’s Soup and Huffy Bikes and am currently working with Netflix. I have met Apollo Anton Ohno, and I have met amazing writers and friends. My favorite experience is summed up in my 2012 Listen to Your Mother Performance (which was such a great experience)! I met a great friend who lives down the street online.

My favorite, and the coolest thing really, about Little Lake County is when someone I meet or know casually through school etc says to me, “Hey have you seen this site? Little Lake County? It’s so great!”. I love hearing people referring it to friends and hearing that it helps them.

Erika: Do you have children yourself? Feel free to tell us about them.

Melissa: I have four children and an angel son, their “online” names are: PBboy (9), PBgirl (7) JSH (angel lost at 18 weeks) PBToddler (3) and PBFin (1).

Erika: Do you have anything you would like to tell us that is new for your
business in 2014?

Melissa: Little Lake County is really growing and we have big plans! Look to see us out and about in the community more and having more events for kids and moms to connect and have fun! I also just won the Lake County Suburban Life Women of Distinction award.

 

Erika: Is there anything else you want to tell us about your business or yourself?

I hear a lot, ” oh you’re a blogger? You get everything for “free” and that’s so far from the truth. Yes, I blog on my personal site and for Chicago Parent as a way to tell stories and connect with moms. At Little Lake County, we are much more like journalists. We spend a lot of time researching and aggregating the information to make sure we are not only giving you the best answers and resources but the correct ones. It’s not about sitting at home waiting for someone to give me something for free.

Personally I think it’s so common for moms to put their dreams, hobbies and desires on hold while they are in the early mothering years. I love, love, love my children and being a mom, but I am a person too. Taking time and energy to cultivate my hobbies and desires only makes me a better mom and teaches my children that their desires matter in a relationship, it shouldn’t be all consuming.

Erika: What is on your “bucket” list?

Melissa: To run a marathon. I love running and was training when I got pregnant and subsequently lost my son. Now that we are done making babies I can’t wait to get back to running and training. I also really, really, want to write a book. I have several ideas and I can’t wait to see where they take me.

 

Erika: Any fun, unusual talents you have or what is a fun fact about yourself?

Melissa: Weird talent-my toes are like monkey toes, I use them to pick things up all the time - usually because my hands are full with babies and stuff!

Thank you so much for doing this interview with me! Make sure you check out her two blogs, Little Lake County for fun events in Lake County and other useful kid-related articles as well as Peanut Butter in my Hair for a look into the “sticky” side of being a Mommy!

7 Day Old Bright Eyes-Palatine Illinois Custom Newborn Photography

♥ 8.25.2014 ♥

I can’t even believe how behind I am on blogging! My goal is to do at least a post every day or every other day until I’m caught up! Needless to say I had an amazing summer with my boys and they came first. I met a lot of new clients and worked with some returning ones but the blog took a back seat for a bit.

I’d love to start with a newborn session because they are always a lot of fun! This little guy was only 7 days old for the first set of his portraits and then we finished up at over 2 weeks old. When we began his session, it took him awhile to settle down. I believe he was having a little growth spurt based on how hungry he was and then he had a little diaper rash too. It is important to really tune in to a newborns needs and figure out what they want or the portraits won’t happen. This little man gave me about 10-15 minutes at each session to sleep and then he was just all eyes. I can’t complain though because I got some extra cuddling time with him, got to know more about his fun parents and got to be creative! If you missed his parents’ maternity images, you can view them soon! I’ll be blogging those this week too!

Here are some of my favorite images of baby H and his family. It was really hard to choose which to post because they were all so beautiful! What a lucky family they are to have such a beautiful baby boy! I look forward to watching little H grow 🙂

Back to School Portrait Vouchers Special-Only 5 Available!

♥ 8.15.2014 ♥

Another summer has almost passed and sadly the weather has been pretty cool. My family still had a wonderful summer though and did so many fun things! I’ll be blogging about a few of those events when school returns. I’ve also been busy photographing lovely newborns, families and children this summer as well as some fun small events! Since it is always an exciting time returning to school, I thought I’d hold a very rare special on portrait vouchers. This voucher is a little different than our spring voucher because it is for a full session with ALL of the digital images included! This is a great opportunity for fall or holiday portraits! This is normally over $750 value so it is a great savings!

The voucher includes the following:

 

The voucher is valid from September 1st, 2014 through August 31st, 2015 so a full year!!! It excludes newborns (babies under 2 months old) but you can have up to 5 people or pets in the session (each additional is $15). If you for any reason do not get a chance to redeem your voucher by the date it is valid to, you may get a credit for any of our sessions or small events in the amount you paid for the voucher. No refunds will be issued. Vouchers can be purchased as a gift for someone, just let me know who is receiving the voucher as a gift.

Did I mention only 5 were available???

If you would like to order a voucher, please click HERE and fill out our contact form. For message just say “Voucher Please!” You may also call or email me with your order at 847-302-1783 or [email protected].

Contact Erika with any questions!

Little Ladybug-Palatine Illinois Baby Photographer

♥ 7.17.2014 ♥

After several reschedules do to an illness and the holiday, we were finally able to photograph Miss A now that she is 9 months old! I enjoyed photographing her since she was a few weeks old and capturing all of her milestones for Mom and Dad. A is growing so fast and this time I noticed a little more of that darling strawberry hair and also more teeth! She was showing those pearly whites off at our session this week! It was a special session too because it was her first portrait with her doggy, M. M was a little feisty but listened well so we were able to get a few images of them together. I think he will be a “girl’s best friend” very soon if not already!

Another challenge this session posed is after all of the rain, the mosquitoes were attacking like crazy! I sprayed bug repellant on twice but they still got me at least 6 times, including 3 on the face! It was all worth it though, as you can see below! I’m so excited how A’s portraits turned out and really look forward to her one year portraits in the fall! Mom mentioned a possible cake smash and I’m excited about her theme too! I think we’ll get even more cuteness out of A in a couple months!

Here are some of my favorites (and believe me it was SO hard to choose)!

N e w s l e t t e r
F a c e b o o k
R S S   F e e d
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