Orange County photographer | Tara Whitney – Orange County's Leading Photographer. Family, Pregnancy, Maternity, infant, Newborn, Baby, engagement photography in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego

Seven things I know about Anna.

1. Jalapeño chips are her FAVORITE. And turkey sandwiches with only mayo. And my garlic cheese bread. And broccoli. And Milky Way chocolate bars. And Spanish rice. And strawberries.

2. When I wake her up for school, she will grumble and make puppy noises and bat her eyelashes at me to try and persuade me to let her sleep in, or to get in and snuggle with her. I have had to crack down and let her be late to school once to prove a point. “I am not a snooze button,” I tell her.

3. “HORSE” was at the top of her christmas and birthday lists. (A living, breathing horse.)

4. $20 of her birthday money went to buy two pairs of metallic ballet flats. (Couldn’t decide between pink and gold, so she bought both.) She calls the gold pair the “disco shoes”. She knows what disco is because of the movie “Mama Mia”. (Sidenote: She watches it in my room and doesn’t know we can hear her singing along, and I will stop whatever I am doing, turn down whatever other noise is around, and listen.)

5. She wants to read ME a story every night. And for me to snuggle with her in bed. So that when I leave, there is a warm spot for her to nuzzle into, and it smells like my hair.

6. She is VERY animated, but can sometimes go quiet, serene, into herself. I love both parts of her personality. Her shyness is breaking up slowly, but is still there. For example, she will be belting out a song in the backseat but the second we draw attention to her, not a peep.

7. She LOVES her Daddy. Their relationship has blossomed in the last few months. She is reaching out for him more, instead of focusing most of her attention on me. They are bonding and I am so grateful she gets to grow up with a Dad like Jeff.

Also, I have noticed her pulling away from me. In a natural, I am growing up kind of way. Not wanting to hold my hand in public. Telling me she can brush her own hair. Not needing to make sure I sit next to her any time we sit somewhere as a family. This is very bittersweet.

She is one of the reasons we all work so well together. The last piece in our puzzle.

Without her around, we wouldn’t have anyone to get our daily fix of deliciously tickly little girl from.

And that would be a tragedy.

Met the Skinner family while in San Francisco at Chrissy Field. Fell in love, head over heels, for all of them. Like, really. Like, really really.

I have met many children in my life, and I can tell you – this little lady here? She is probably going to be in charge of the whole entire world someday. Her spirit just overflowed – sparkled! Even at the tender age of two, you just wanted to be around her. She had me from hello. Not to leave the boys in the dust – they were wonderful – and sweet – and kind – and gentle hearted – and funny. But she absolutely captivated me. I could photograph her every single day. I wish I could!

This next shot is the something new that happened to me. As I was photographing her on the picnic table, I saw something new  – something I haven’t paid attention to before. I saw the photo before I pressed the shutter, before it went into focus. And I gasped. My heart swelled. My throat closed up, tears were imminent. That happens sometimes, and it happened over and over with them. I felt like I saw what was in between us – what was really her. This out of focus, dreamy, water-color like photo energized me and excited me. I wanted to do it again. I wanted to play with this new idea right away.

And so, when I saw my next chance, I took it. And my heart sang once again. They looked painted into the scene! They looked magic. I am still not sure what it is about these ethereal out of focus photos that gets me right in the gut – but it is for the simple fact that they do – that I am taking notice. I have stumbled on something new that just clicked, and I am so grateful for it.

And then the sun set in a beautiful demonstration of pinks and purples, and it was time to say goodbye.

xo

Tara

P.S. Isn’t Mom just absolutely radiant in every photo? Pure love.

Anna woke up on the morning of her birthday (yesterday) with her bedroom full of balloons. It was a sweet day.