i love taking pictures, especially buildings and street scenes.  or old barns or abandoned houses that i come across while traveling.  my photographer's eye naturally seeks out patterns and lines and so most of my favorite subjects have architectural elements to them. 

when my niece, danielle, delivered her daughter, ava marie, last february, i discovered two new loves...  ava and taking pictures of ava. 

the first few months were so much fun.  we had photo shoots with coordinating backgrounds and blankets, hats and headbands.  the etsy people made a small fortune from ava's arrival! 

of course, ava is a beautiful baby.  and i've had such a good and memorable time chronicling her first year.  it's so much fun to photograph a newborn.  ava was all pink and sleepy and, most importantly, posable!  she happily wore any hat, onsie or headband without fuss.  she snoozed while i snapped. 

i gave her a set of onsies for each month of her first year and we've tried to have a monthly photo shoot as close to the 18th of each month so that she would have portraits of her first year and could see what she looked like at 2 months and 6 months and 10 months. 

while i love a full on smile shot...

i love more the candid shot that usually goes unappreciated....

like her adorable feet in this one!

now, ava is closing in her first birthday.  she is walking and talking and screaming with laughter while she chases her mother around their living room.  her milestones and how quickly they seem to appear each and every day - within the last month, she's learned to wave and clap and WALK! - are amazing, of course.  i'm so happy that she's learning all these new things.  that also means, however, that she is leaving her babyhood behind and our monthly photo shoots are changing.   gone are the days when i had an entire nap to set up a layout and swap out hats.  now our photo shoots require her cooperation and sometimes she doesn't want to cooperate.  oh well, good thing i love the candid shots best! 

i cannot wait to snap away at her first birthday party.  it will be such a joyous day.  the photographer in me is hoping that she'll wear a big flower on her head, but the nannie in me will be happy no matter what because she'll be surrounded by lots of people who love her and who have had such an amazing time during her first year and who will be there to help her celebrate all of her future milestones.