Memories Portraits {blogged} » Peeks into Memories | Knoxville Children’s Photographer, Nancy Belden

I had another ultrasound yesterday, and had to share the images. Can you believe how much they’ve grown?! It’s amazing just how quickly this is going for us. The hormones have definitely kicked in this week, if you know what I mean… we’re hoping the icky will go away within another week or so. The babies were all moving for us yesterday during the ultrasound, Dr. Donesky said they were doing the ‘Noodle Dance’ LOL!

I was so glad to have sweet Jackson in the studio for his third session of his Baby’s First Year Program. He is such an easy going little fella, and we had a great time trying out some new shots with him outside in a washbowl… he was the perfect baby model. This little guy just makes us smile!

I have known little Jaiden’s mommy since she was a little girl, and good friends with my oldest daughter. It’s hard to believe she’s all grown up and has a family of her own now… and what a beautiful boy she has! We love his sweet personality and we always look forward to him coming in for his Baby’s First Year Program. He’s such a doll!



I was just looking up Jaiden’s Squish session from his early days, and love seeing just how much he has grown…

Little man Weston came into the studio yesterday ready to celebrate. At 9 months old, he was all smiles and being very patriotic waving his American flag This is his third session of his Baby’s First Year Program, and my how big he has grown… great session with Weston!

Sweet Abigail came in this week for her last session of her Baby’s First Year program, and was just as adorable as ever. I just can’t get enough of her serious face and her big beautiful eyes, and big sister is just as sweet as can be. Precious girls!

… here’s sweet John (aren’t we so clever, haha)! Can you believe this chunky monkey is only six months old?! We haven’t seen John since he was a tiny newborn, so you can imagine our surprise to see just how big and healthy that he has grown to be. We had a great time during his session, and big brother Joseph was so sweet with baby John. Great session!

This little fella recently came in for his third session of his Baby’s First Year Program, and boy, what fun did we have! His eyes look so blue, and I just adore his outside images. And, of course, we had a great time coming back into the studio to smash up his first birthday cake!

We first met Campbell last Easter, when his mommy and daddy signed him up for a Baby’s First Year Program… and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know this cute fella and his wonderful parents. We had a great time with his session, and I really had fun taking him outside this time around… what a great little guy Campbell is!

Let me start off by saying just how very excited I am to finally reveal this video slideshow!   Many of you already know that my sister is an apprentice for Lisa Coomer, and has been planning for a home delivery ever since she found out she was pregnant.  But I’ve got to share with you a little about this amazing day, because I don’t want the images of the paramedics to leave you wondering.  {And a note about the video, I nearly decided to leave out the paramedic image, but ultimately decided to include it because it was an important part of the day… not a part that we planned on, but a major part of Robin’s delivery… so it’s in there, because real life happens.} My sister texted my mom and I around lunchtime to let us know that it was probably ‘Baby Day’… and not too long after that, we got a phone call from Jason (my brother-in-law) that we had better hurry on over because it was happening fast.  Let me tell you, we drove like a couple of crazy ladies to the other side of town just to make sure we didn’t miss this moment.  Once we got into the house, Robin was nearly ready to push.  Two hours later Luna Summer entered the world (did I mention that we all just knew that this baby would be a boy?!) We were so elated and surprised when Jason announced “It’s a GIRL!” just a second after delivery.  About 45 minutes after Luna was delivered, Robin delivered the placenta but it did not properly detach – part of it was still connected which meant that she was bleeding uncontrollably.  I immediately called 911, and Lisa began giving my sister medication to stop the bleeding.  The ambulance came and took Robin to the hospital, where she had to have surgery to remove the rest of her placenta.  After a couple of days, the hospital released Robin, and she’s doing more than fine now.  Robin showed incredible grace and perseverance during this amazing event, and I have never been more proud to call her my sister… and sweet baby Luna was born perfect and healthy, and is growing more beautiful by the day.  I feel like I should also tell you that what happened during Robin’s delivery is very, very rare; and I don’t want to frighten anyone who is considering a home birth.  Robin was Lisa’s 603 delivery, and this was only the 4th time that she has had to call for an ambulance transport… I don’t know the stats on anything, but I’d say those were pretty good numbers!  And I must say that if you are considering a home birth, I would 100% recommend Lisa.  I found her to be kind and caring, but also bold and assertive when it was necessary… just the combination you need in a good midwife.

Now… onto business.  We have been considering adding Birth Photography to our services for a while now, and now that we have done one… this project is AGO!  Most of our clients have met Michelle, Nancy’s daughter, working in the studio.  Michelle has an excellent eye for photography and also has become quite the Photoshop user around here, and she will be photographing these very special occasions.  Memories is currently looking for 5 expecting parents to allow us into your Labor & Delivery to photograph your amazing experience — at no charge to you!  With these special sessions, you will receive all of your original images, along with about 50-75 images in black & white on disc, a video slideshow set to music on dvd and an additional file that you may upload (if you wish), and a set of black & white 4×6 proofs of all images included in your video.  What we promise to you — to be a fly on the wall — we are not there to be in yours or the staffs way, or to distract or to interrupt your experience… we are simply there to document your day, as it happens.  There are so many things that are easily and quickly forgotten about these special days, we believe that it is important to preserve these memories just as they happen.  What we need from you — rights to your images and your video — in order to promote this new service, we need images and videos with which to share… we promise to use creative cropping, just as I have done in this video here  (and we can leave out the actual birth photos — my sister has given full permission to share, so they have been included in this video).  The last thing that I want to say is that I’m sure you’ll notice that we elected not to do touchup on Birth Sessions.  While we preform vigerous touchup on all of our portrait sessions, we feel that cleaning up skin and reducing body sizes would not accurately display the true events of the day… and these days are beautiful, so very beautiful, just as they are.

because. they. are. real. life.
[video type="vimeo" id="12755807" width="720" height="480"]

Interested expectant parents, please contact us with your due date and birth plan, so that we may see if we can accommodate you with a Birth Session… we can’t wait!

It seems like just yesterday that Blake & Wesley came in for their newborn session, and now these precious boys are one.  We had such a great time during their last session of their Baby’s First Year Program.  We all thoroughly enjoyed the smash cakes… what a hoot these boys were, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much icing on the floor by the end!  Happy Birthday dear Blake & Wesley, and congratulations to Mom & Dad for surviving the first year with twin boys… they couldn’t be better!