By now, most of you have seen the slideshow of pictures that Shawna took of Brittain (and some of her family :-)) a couple of weeks ago. I won’t go into again how much I think of Shawna and the gift she has with photography (especially with children), but I did want to post some of the pictures from the day so that it would be documented on the blog. I decided I was just going to choose my favorites since there were over 250 photos in all. But, as I’m sure you guessed, I had way too many favorites. So, these are a selection of my favorites. It was incredibly difficult to narrow it down!

Thanks again, Shawna, for making my birthday one of the best yet!

In case you haven’t noticed, I LOVE taking pictures of my child. I don’t know what it is exactly. Part of it is that I want to share the beauty and wonderment of my child with all of you, but the other part is that she changes so quickly, I don’t want to forget a thing. I want to have on record all of her quirky little stages…faces that she makes…it’s all priceless.

Since the photo shoot with Shawna Herring that my family got me for a birthday gift, I’ve even taken more of an interest in taking pictures. I loved the way Shawna captured moments without us even noticing. So, I have decided I want to be Shawna. Okay, okay…I’ll never be Shawna, but I can try. And really, I don’t mind that I’ll never be a professional photographer, just as long as I can capture in pictures what I am able to see every day.

These first few pictures are some cute shots of Brittain and her daddy. Because Dan’s work schedule changes day to day, Brittain never knows when he’s going to come in the door. I LOVE the looks she has when she hears the lock open on the door and then someone walks in. I always wonder if she’s hoping it’s going to be a certain person. You gotta love these:

These next shots were taken after the photo shoot we had with Shawna Herring. We were incredibly exhausted from the day, but after Brittain had her nap, she was raring to go again. Aunt CC and I spent some alone time with her on my bed, just relaxing…and doing plenty of laughing. Brittain just can’t get enough of her Aunt CC. Each time she’s around her, my heart is filled with happiness as I watch the look in both of their eyes:

I should point out with this next picture that Cecilia is NOT serious with this hat on. Earlier in the day my mom had brought over some old hats, thinking that they would be fun for Brittain to try on (and also a good photo opportunity). Unfortunately, we were never able to utilize these props, but we made sure to do it after the fact:

When I get home in the afternoons from work, it’s not always easy thinking of things to keep Brittain entertained. We play, read, take wagon rides, practice standing up, practice walking, eat…but sometimes I get to a point where I feel like both of us are bored. Since Brittain was born, whenever we feel like this, we always do the same thing – we gravitate to Mommy and Daddy’s king-sized bed. I don’t know what it is about this bed, but Brittain LOVES it. We can watch Baby Einstein DVD’s, we can roll around and laugh, we can look out the windows…it doesn’t matter what we do, we have fun! It’s not uncommon for us to spend an hour or more rolling around and laughing in the afternoons (I can’t believe Dan EVER wonders how we spend our time :-)). As Brittain and I played the other day, I figured there was no better moment than this to catch some great shots. I adore these pictures, and it may just be because when I look at them, I think back to that day and all the other fun days that we spend together. Regardless of the reason, I just love them:

Couldn’t resist the self-portrait:

Yes, this is the rubber band from my hair. For some reason she was enthralled with it. But don’t worry, I never let her (or the rubber band) out of my sight:

And lastly, a couple of pics of Brittain in a swing at the church. Before I head off to handbells and choir on Wednesdays, we try to spend a few minutes on the playground:

The first video footage taken in the hospital was when Dan filmed me holding Brittain for the first time. I love that footage. During filming, you hear Dan ask me who I thought Brittain looked like. My answer was, “Me”, but Dan’s answer was, “When I saw her back in the nursery, she looked like the spitting image of your dad.” There have never been truer words spoken. Ever since the day she was born, I am constantly told the same thing…”she looks SO much like your dad.” Well, yes, I know.

The strange thing about this is that Brittain has had an extremely difficult time warming up to this person who she favors so much. And, more recently, not only have we continued to see the resemblance in looks, but that Danny Clark personality shows more and more. Her expressions especially. She often gives me a look that causes me to say, “hmmm…I wonder who you got THAT look from.”

To be quite honest, the whole situation has depressed me. Mom constantly tells Cecilia and me stories about what a wonderful Daddy “Duke” was to us when we were little. And, he has continued to be a dad that I think most men would wish to strive to be like. It has been difficult for me to accept that Brittain couldn’t warm up to him like I wished she would.

I’m not sure if it was timing for Brittain, or what, but just this past week things suddenly turned around. On Wednesday afternoon after I had gotten home from work, Duke called me to ask if he could come by and pay Brittain a visit. When he came in, the scenario started out just as in the past. Brittain took one look at him and then began to cling to me. We headed to her nursery where Duke and I got in the floor with her to play. It was at that moment that Brittain decided she was going to love Duke. It was as if they had never missed a beat with each other. They were making their twin expressions to each other and laughing and playing like you’ve never seen. I LOVED it! It made me appreciate my dad all over again – the wonderful father he has been to me and the wonderful, fun grandfather he is to Brittain. What a great and refreshing day that was.

Here is Duke giving Brittain his famous “tummy kick”…that is a tummy kiss in layman’s terms. She loved it so much that she kept pulling his head back to her tummy for more!:

The night these next two pictures were taken, I had just finished looking at some old pictures of my dad. You have NO idea how much she looks like my dad as a baby and young child:

Thank you, Duke, for being the best Dad (and granddad) that we could ask for.