In-Home Lifestyle Milestone Photography

Today is my son’s sixth birthday.

Honestly, I get just as excited about his birthdays as he does. It marks the day I became a mother!

Since we are not doing a party this year I had the luxury of following him around for a

couple of weeks, curating what his last days of FIVE looked like.

Milestone sessions are some of my favorite shoots for clients (which are generally reserved for Baby’s First Year) yet still, I was amazed at how much I enjoyed documenting my own kid’s story at this age.
He’s definitely flexing his big boy independence muscles these days, however, touches of sweet baby Merritt still linger in our humble abode (a home he’s lived in since he came home from the hospital).

I know summer can be a blur of swim team practices, road trips, play dates, camp etc. etc. but I encourage you to pick up your camera and simply snap the day to day details in your child’s universe — the drawings on the fridge, the handprints on the window, the Legos you tripped over for the fifth time today. While these moments are such a big part of your life now — there will come a day when they won’t be. But you’ll always have the photographs to remind you of the amazing little people that gave your home a heartbeat.

Meet my little guy, Merritt. Endearing Juxtapositions, indeed.

City Boy Inside

He’s a morning person. He wakes up ready to pretend and create.

When left to his own devices (which he often is), this is what my living room shapes into —
paper trimmings, markers, glue, tape, scissors, empty boxes. (Oh, and Snoopy!)

He still prefers baths over showers . . .

…and his bedroom door remains adorned with decor left over from his First Birthday party.

It’s summertime in Phoenix and we’re doing way too much of this in the afternoons (watching TV).

Merritt insists on getting dressed immediately following breakfast.
There’s no sitting around in his pajamas all day (unlike mommy).

He’s a consummate mimic and he likes to do grown-up things.
I gave him my extra computer mouse to play with and he made his own computer
and desk to sit at (that’s his make-shift “phone” on the left).

He’s a snuggler. (I continually remind myself, roles will someday be reversed and I’ll be looking up at him like this!)

City Boy Outside

He lives to ride his bike in the clubhouse parking lot (even if it’s still 95 degrees out at 7 pm) . . .

And he has, literally, grown up on this little playground!

Merritt’s Favorite Things

Favorite color is light blue.

Current favorite song is Justin Beiber’s “What Do You Mean?”

He prefers his graham crackers whole, his toast cut in squares, his peanut butter sandwiches cut in triangles,
and his fruit cut in bite-sized pieces so he can eat them with a fork.