~ celebrating our little grads ~

Every year our NICU at UCSD holds the most wonderful party to celebrate all of the families who have spent time in our unit throughout the years. Families look forward to our "picnic" and return to celebrate year after year. It's a great time to catch up with those who trusted the life of their baby to us and to finally enjoy life as it should be~ outside of the hospital! Once again, I am humbled by how gracious people are and how lucky i am.....some of these families have become lifelong friends to the NICU staff. These pics I posted are just a small amount of the hundreds I took! I snapped shots the entire day and those pictures can be seen and purchased by clicking HERE (password : NICU).  

nEoNaTaL iNtEnSiVe CaRe

* consent has been given to post these photos by the parents of these babies who are now home happy & healthy!

:abigail.one.year.young:

holy moly....it was so hard for me to choose which photos to post! first, this location, although i called it "secret", the sweetwater river bridge (circa 1929) came highly recommended! it's a place that would probably be so easy to come by on the east coast, but old bridges and greens like this are not very abundant in southern california! now on to this little piece of preciousness....i took pics (click here to see) of sweet abi last year when she was just a little wee one and now we are here celebrating her first birthday! we had so much fun doing this shoot....i was asked to be the family's official photographer ; ) i loved watching larry and emily interact with abigail. but i'm sure the pictures speak for themselves....one year olds are amazing!

~ t.family ~

i enjoyed capturing these sweet moments with such a great family! they were mid-move into their new home and took some time out of their weekend to meet me at presidio park in san diego!  this is my second time photographing them. their first shoot, last fall, can be seen here. kalei was as beautiful as ever....there is nothing more rewarding than caring for her in the NICU when she was born at 1 pound and than watching her run through the grass a few years later. have i mentioned how blessed i am to do what i do?!?!? 

I'm proud to share that some of my photography has been used on a website for the 
Southern California Association of Neonatal Nurses. A few of my nurse friends work hard to run the organization. Click on the link above to see my photos that were used...if you navigate through the pages you'll see my work at the top. I am honored to be a NICU nurse....

{baby.mason}

my beautiful friend andrea and her husband joel welcomed this precious baby into the world this month! i was totally go-go-ga-ga over this sweet character! he was so expressive with the best hair and most mellow personality. andrea was stunning, as always, as we took some photos in their home. i've been lucky to work with andrea in the NICU for the past 5 years. she's been such a kind friend and i couldn't be happier for her and joel!

love is all you need.

danny, 
thank you for your service. i can't imagine being away for 7 months from everything you love. america is so lucky to have people such as you out there fighting for us. you chose an amazing beautiful, strong, smart and kind woman to spend your life with. i know she has waited for this day for so long.....