When I met little Elisabeth for the first time for this family session, her mom, Grace, warned me that she was a little bit fussy and a little bit clingy that day. Oh no, I thought, please help me help Elisabeth through this. God must have heard my plea because when Grace asked me to hold the baby so she and her husband, Jason (my sister’s boss at Panera), could unload their car, Elisabeth held out her arms to me like we were old friends. Oh my gosh, I thought to myself, THANK YOU.

Whatever fussiness and clinginess she was feeling before that moment, it was gone and all we had left for this shoot was a very happy little girl in a baby sweater dress. Baby. Sweater. Dress. Cuteness to the nth degree.

Elisabeth’s 1st birthday celebration was coming up that weekend and, in Korean tradition, she would be placed in front of a few items representing a number of potential career choices. We spent this session giving her a preview of her future career choices and she loved every bit of it; not just getting to play with all this different stuff, but getting to run around the park.

After just a couple of hours with her, I’m convinced that Elisabeth is made of pure joy and light! She’s as happy a baby as I’ve ever seen and she makes everyone around her feel the same. Her parents are two of the nicest, most gracious people I’ve ever met and  it was such a pleasure spending that late afternoon with them. We hoped for as much light as we could so late in the day, and were generously rewarded. I’ll post pictures from her celebration soon. It was as much of a blast to shoot as this private family session, and Elisabeth did pick a fun career for herself =)