I have been harboring a little secret for the past couple of months, and now that secret is not so little (it’s almost 3lbs and makes all my clothes not fit!) My husband and I are excepting our first baby early this February! I haven’t shared anything public about my pregnancy, and for a photographer I have been terrible at posting bump updates etc, but when you’ve got everyone else’s photos to take care of, you kinda forget about yourself! I just entered into my third trimester and is quite obvious that there’s a little baby in my belly now. That being said the important part is that I will take maternity leave starting at Christmas until the end of March, so I can spend as much time as I can with our little nugget!

This was our announcement photo to our family and friends. Andrey (my husband) and I met working at Starbucks in 2011. It was only fitting that our new chapter reflects the old!

I’m also excited to share some photos that we took while on vacation visiting my husbands family out in Fresno, California. We got family photos done by the wonderful Vera Geier Photography. It was the first time Andrey’s whole family was together since his brother Dmitry got married last July. We needed some family photos outside our wedding gear as well. My husband is the oldest of 5 boys (all within 6 years of each other) and lucky me his next youngest brother got married a couple months after us, so I’m not alone in dealing with all the boys! I was surprised at how well behaved they all were, especially when I took them shopping for outfits :).  It was also special because my sister-in-law, Jenni, is due a month after me in March. Living on the other side of the country, we don’t get to see each other that often so we had to get a bump picture together of the future cousins. I always laugh when I see pictures of our family, because I stick out so much! “One of these things just doesn’t belong here” –that one, the blonde American. My husband and his family immigrated to the United States from Russia, and my sister-in-law immigrated from Russia/Germany to Canada (and is now living in California), so this Irish-American does not quite fit in! Our baby will be bilingual, so I really have to get better at my Russian (aka better than knowing how to say, “hello”, “how are you” and “apple” lol)

Check out some of my favorites from our session with Vera! She was so awesome, and thank you for taking on our crazy family.