Rachel Ludwig Photography | Abbotsford Portrait and Wedding Photographer

Because I simply can’t resist twins, Adria brought the girls by so we could grab a few pictures of them in these adorable hats. At one-month-old they are up from their birth weight (just over 7lbs) to right around the 10lb mark. It’s so fun to see how they have filled out and changed in just a few short weeks. They reminded me what good babies they are by sleeping again for me…at this age it can be pretty tough to convince babies to fall asleep for a photoshoot, but not these girls…they settled in and were sleeping in no time.

I love how Emily (? I think?) is hanging on to her sister to here, so cute!

And when they say twins can be a handful, they mean it literally!

It’s always a special treat to have the opportunity to work with family. I love that I get to share in some of the most special occasions of their life, whether it be wedding pictures, family pictures, newborn pictures, or in this case, pregnancy photos for my younger sister Marg. I was pretty excited when I found out Marg and Jake were expecting their first child. I know they are going to be amazing parents, and that this little one is very very lucky to have these two as mom and dad. And, for my own personal reason, I love it when my kids are lucky enough to have a cousin close in age that lives nearby!
The other bonus of shooting family, is that I get to try out some new things and ask them to do some crazy stunts all in the name of art. Case in point…asking a 36 week pregnant Marg to lie down on the driveway of their apartment’s parking garage (I’m sure we had more than a few people looking out their windows wondering what in the world we were doing!) You know your sister loves and trusts you when she doesn’t even hesitate to say yes. Thanks for being such a great sport about it.  I also happened to have Hudson along with me, so also included in my shoot, free of charge(!), was some advance parenting practice for Jake. I know he’s going to be a pro in no time with his own little bundle.

because I love focusing on the belly, here are a few that showcase Marg’s teeny-tiny bump

(and yes, those are her regular jeans that she’s fit into her entire pregnancy!)

this one feels so peaceful and introspective to me with the boat picture included in the shot:

my fave of the two of them as they wait for baby to arrive. And this look on Marg’s face is just so her.

Some adorable (gender-neutral! for anyone trying to figure out if this little one is a boy or girl) boots they picked up on their recent European travels:

This baby already has quite the little library…I think he/she is going to arrive knowing how to rhyme a la Dr. Seuss:

One happy and beautiful mama, who can’t wait to meet her little one:

I can’t get over how fabulous she looks:

Check out Marg’s adorable dimple in action here…she’s even smiling while lying on the driveway of the parking garage

This is completely inspired by one of my very favorite family photographers, Tara Whitney from Orange County, CA:

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned here before the journey we’ve been on for the last year or so with Arden (my 2 year-old-daughter) and her speech. Around her 2nd birthday I felt that things weren’t quite right with her speech development, and turns out that things weren’t. So started a road with lots and lots of appointments and evaluations  and most importantly, being given tools to help Arden learn to communicate verbally (instead of with the screeches and temper tantrums she was prone to). It’s been close to a year, and I almost can’t fathom how far she’s come and the remarkable progress she’s made.

Enter Skye…speech pathologist extraordinaire!  Skye has had such an incredible impact on Arden’s speech, and I simply can’t thank her enough for everything she has done. I don’t know where we would be without her. She has such an incredible gift and is extremely good at what she does. With every visit I’ve been so impressed with her patience and resourcefulness…she comes up with the neatest ideas and fun activities to help Arden, and as a result Arden thinks it’s great when it’s time to go ‘play’ at Skye’s house!

And now, on to some pictures!

I think this is my favorite picture from this session…just seeing these two together so happy makes me smile

(as does the fab flare I got here! The winter sun was beautiful on this day)

Rob just got back from being away for 6-months for work. Just in time for the baby to arrive:

It was a beautiful sunny day…and very cold and windy. Skye was thankful for her internal furnace (aka baby!):

A man who can serenade you with his guitar? definitely a keeper!

Beautiful on the inside and out. Can you believe that this is number 4 for her?

Four pregnancies and almost nary a stretch-mark. If we could only all be so lucky!

Here are some more pictures from Avery and Emily’s photosession, just in time for their mom’s birthday. Happy Birthday Adria, I hope you had a fabulous day!

There’s something about twins that is just extra special, I especially loved seeing how these two snuggled together. After spending nine months all curled up together, I guess it’s pretty normal to them, but it is still so neat to see.  When I was growing up I secretly wanted to have a twin sister…so I think these two girls are pretty lucky.  And they honestly were some of the easiest babies I have photographed. They slept for most of the 3 hour session, and barely made a peep throughout various background changes and being moved around.

Avery and Emily were born weighing in at 7lbs and 7lbs 1oz (that’s a whole lotta baby to be carrying around! Adria is totally my hero…I remember how uncomfortable I was with ‘only’ 9lbs of baby, I can’t imagine 14+lbs), but the difference was in their height. If I remember correctly they were two inches different in length, which turned out to be my saving grace for being able to tell them apart when I was editing the pictures (and now I’m hoping I got it right!). The funny thing was that I had brought Hudson along to the shoot, and we figured out that the twins together were still smaller than him at 4 months old!

Anyways, enough babbling from me, I know you all want to see some pictures. Here are some of my faves:

I can never resist baby feet, especially not two sets of them:

This is Emily. She’s the ’shorter’ one and therefore a little more filled out. I love her little cheeks:

This is Avery…she’s longer and skinnier. And equally adorable

I love how cozy they are here:

Proud big sister Addisen:

About 2 nano-seconds before Emily started to pee all over Adria

I just thought this was the sweetest onesie and had to grab a quick shot: