Paco's portrait and cake smash sessions

In celebration of Paco's 1st birthday, I would like to share his portrait sessions today. Yes, we had to do two sessions for him because it's not easy doing a shoot when you have no one else to help you out. It was just me and Pete, so we had to prepare the props and the outfits ourselves. And since I had to take the photos, Pete was left to make sure Paco didn't eat the grass or fall off the table during the sessions. He also had to dance around and make silly faces behind me to make Paco smile. Hehehe. Oh, and we had to clean up and bathe the baby by ourselves after each of the sessions. So, yeah. It's not easy being the mum and the photographer at the same time.

Anyway, fortunately, the weather was beautiful during the two afternoons when we did the pictorial. And lucky for us, we live in an area where there are gorgeous spots that we could use. I love how the photos turned out. Here are just some of my favorites...

We started a bit late. These first few shots were taken just before 5PM. However, the weather was great that day, so we still had lovely afternoon sunlight. Also, I think it's because the area we live in is relatively higher (hence, minimal obstructions) so we get beautiful sunsets a bit later than those in the city.


Paco's shirt (it's actually a onesie) says "Mommy's MVP".  And Pete bought these toy tools as props.


Paco bit his finger for a split second while he was laughing at his Daddy (I don't know what Pete was doing behind me), and the moment I took this photo, I knew it would end up on the blog.





In case you're wondering why he's holding the tools, it's because his birthday party (this Sunday) has a "construction" theme.  Some photos from these portrait sessions will be used for his party.:)


I love my Paco's smile.:)

Oh yeah, Paco is also wearing the Puma shoes that my client, Sheryl (Sofia's mom) gave Paco for Christmas last year! Thanks, Mommy She!:)


Next up, we used this hardhat and a heavy equipment model as props, still in keeping with his party's "construction" theme.


Since Paco insisted on crawling into the grass, we decided to removed the blanket and let him play on the ground instead.


Based on my experience, all one-year-old kids love picking on the grass.





We were about to wrap up the shoot, when we realized we didn't have a single shot of him wearing the hardhat yet. But that was because he hated wearing it!

It took several tries, but we were finally able to snap a single decent photo of him wearing it.;)

It didn't stay on his head for long though.:D

And now, for the cake smash session that we did the day after...

I always knew I wanted to do a cake smash session with Paco. And I had the perfect place to do it. We have this viewing deck right in the middle of the village, and ever since we moved here 3 years ago, I have always wanted to do a portrait session there. I knew it would be perfect for the cake smash.

Since it was just me, Pete, and Paco with no one else to help us out, it wasn't easy preparing for this session. At all. And it was even more difficult cleaning up after.:P We had fun nonetheless, and I was very happy with the photos that we got.:)

We didn't have time to order a custom cake anymore so we just bought a mango cake from Red Ribbon. It worked perfectly though! Here are just a couple of test shots I took before the session, but I love them so much so I'm posting them here as well.;)


Here's Paco looking all cute and clean. Hehehe.

When everything was set, we took the cake out and put it in front of him. At first he didn't know what do to with it...





A little pick here and a little touch there...

It took only a few minutes for him to figure out what he could do with the cake.


It was a big mess! I loved it!


LOVE this shot! Good job, Paco!;)

Paco is 8 months old today!

Our little baby is growing up so fast! He started crawling just a few weeks ago, and now he's learned to  stand up and even likes to show off by supporting himself with just one hand. If it was exhausting taking care of him before, I can't even begin to describe the torture my muscles go through daily these days. I don't regret the decision Pete and I made to take care of him ourselves though (That's right, no yayas, no other caregivers). Even if it means I need to limit my bookings. Even if it means I can only work around 2 hours during the day and have to work late at night to make up for it (just like tonight). Even if it means I get a backache every single day. It's all worth it. Yep, I wouldn't want it any other way. :)

I try to take photos of him as often as I can. Here are just a few from this month.

Back to work!

I'm not sure if many people noticed, but I actually went on a 5-month hiatus. Well, for those who've been visiting this blog in the last few months, it would actually seem like I took a 10-month break because of the lack of updates since late last year.:P  For those who don't know, the reason why I took time off was because I got pregnant and gave birth last June to a healthy and cute baby boy. :)

When I got pregnant, I had planned to keep shooting until my feet got too swollen and my body got too heavy. I also planned to keep working from home (editing, blogging, making albums, etc.) up until my due date. But then I got a bad case of the preggy brains. I couldn't blog or edit or do layouts. I did manage to keep shooting up until my 7th month of pregnancy, but I know I wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of my second shooters.

So, anyway, I gave birth 2 and a half weeks before my due date via C-section. And for the next month or so, Pete and I were walking zombies as we tried to cope with being new parents to a colicky baby. Things did get better when my baby turned 2 months and I finally got to start working on my albums again and answering emails. He was still clingy though so for weeks, I had to get used to working on my computer with a baby literally clinging to my body!

Fast-forward to today. My "maternity leave" officially ended this month and I was so excited to be shooting for clients again (because for 3 months, I had only my baby to shoot--not that I was complaining). I have already photographed two events so far with two awesome clients. And for the past 2 months, I have been trying to catch up on my albums which piled up when I was pregnant. And, hopefully, I will be able to blog more from now on.

I am so happy to be back! And I want to thank all my clients who have been so understanding and supportive. I feel so lucky to be working with ladies (and a few men) who know exactly how it is to be new parents. How it changes your life completely. How it is one of the most challenging and yet one of the most exhilarating experiences one could ever have!

Oh, speaking of blogging, I just realized I am actually a year behind in my posts. Yes, a year! So here's what will happen: I will be blogging new photos as soon as they are ready and then I will still be posting all my other events from last year up to my last event before I took my leave last May. So, please watch out for that.

And since blog posts are better with pictures...

Here is my baby Paco Andreas at 12 days.


And here he is at 3 months (taken a couple of weeks ago). :)