Summer Lovin’ {Lake County IL, Maternity Photographer}

Memorial Day weekend is the kickoff to summer, and living in the Midwest we are continuously rolling the dice with warm days and cold days. This day though was perfect for Heather and Dave. The temperature was spot on, no heavy winds, and beautiful sunlight. I picked this specific location because it gave us the option to play in the water without being in Lake Michigan and provide a perfect Lake County feel to the maternity photos. We met early on Saturday morning to beat the cookout crowds and enjoy some quite moments before everyone’s weekend festivities would begin. I thought we would be the first ones at the park, but I couldn’t believe how early some people must like starting their Memorial weekend parties.

I love meeting first time parents-to-be. I get so excited thinking about the amazing time they are soon to experience that will change their lives forever. I also love seeing how cozy and loving parents-to-be are with each other. Heather and Dave were no exception and I could tell right away that these two were going to be adorable. They had zero problems cozying up to one another and they were open to getting a little wet. The results are purely beautiful memories before their little one arrives!

Want to see more?  Checkout my Maternity Portfolio!

Are you expecting and interested in booking a session?  Checkout my Maternity Session Information!

Macro Monday ~ Twinkle Toes {Lake County IL Newborn Photographer}

I know Monday’s are not the best day of the week…back to work, 5 long days until the weekend…but have no fear, it’s another Macro Monday. I figured I would share my second favorite little newborn part.  Any guesses???
It’s their tiny little twinkle toes!  I love how cute and bubbly they look…newborn cuteness overload!

 

 

Interested in seeing more?  Checkout my newborn portfolio!

Want to book your own personalized newborn session?  Checkout my newborn session information!

Macro Monday ~ Squishy Lips {Lake County IL Newborn Photographer}

I love little baby details…like really love…like love chocolate on a bad day love.  Ok, so maybe I’m a tiny bit over the top but I can’t help it.  Can you guess what my favorite part of a little newborn is?  It’s their squishy little lips!  I love how they all look so soft and pouty.

I figured it would be a fun idea to start sharing some of my favorite little newborn details and first up, would of course, be an adorable pair of squishy little lips!

What’s your favorite part of your fresh new little one?

Interested in seeing more?  Checkout my newborn portfolio!

Want to book your own personalized newborn session?  Checkout my newborn session information!

30 Day Challenge {Lake County IL, Photographer}

Do you follow me on Instagram? If you do, you likely noticed some interesting pictures lately of my kitties’ paws. This past month I wanted to do a fun little challenge for 30 days, although I realized after I started that March has 31 days not 30…go figure.

So why do a 30 day challenge?  Simple…I wanted to take time everyday to notice the little things in my life.  All too often we are running from place to place, going to bed late only to get up early, constantly adding “to-do” items on our ever growing to-do list and never really taking a moment to notice the little things in our life. We start to take things for granted and while I don’t mean to be a downer…sometimes those things won’t always be around.  Life is about learning to juggle the conflicting priorities and I felt like I needed to push my reset button. I am known to consistently over extend myself and take on too many things.  The end result typically has me in tears to my husband while we figure out how everything that needs to get done, gets done. I’ve started to realize that sometimes the things I make priorities in my life aren’t meant to be priorities and instead I take things for granted when I shouldn’t…typically my poor husband is the one to get the raw end of the deal in those types of situations. But as life only gets more complex we need to realize to take a moment and notice the little things around us.

So how did my 30 day challenge go? Well I am proud to say that I completed it…all 31 days! But the real question is what did I learn from my 30 day challenge? Well, I learned…

  • Prince loves to sit on the bed in the morning, while the most beautiful sunrise will come streaming in on him as he dangles his little paws over the bed post.
  • Chip loves to sit next to his toys that he will typically brings to me in the late afternoon, and then drop them in the bedroom doorway.
  • Prince is much more adventurous with where he will go and always wants to be near me; when he’s not sleeping.
  • Chip is much more adventurous with how he stands or curls up or sleeps, in respect to the position of his paws.

I know…I imagine you are saying to yourself “Great, but I really don’t care about this lady’s cats.” So let me go just a bit farther, and tell you this… My big light bulb moment…I learned, that spending 5 extra minutes on just myself, laughing with my husband and playing with my cats, didn’t cause the world to come to an end…I didn’t miss any big deadlines, or miss any big meetings…instead, I would push forward and say that I gained happiness and joy for taking some time out of my day to make myself the priority.  So from this crazy little 30 day challenge of taking pictures of my cats’ paws I came away realizing that taking just 5 – 10 minutes a day for just yourself will bring with it great personal reward.

So, what’s next? Another 30 day challenge? More cat photos? Honestly…I’m not really sure. Maybe I’ll take the day to think about where to go next.

In the meantime…have you done a 30 day challenge?  Of any kind? What did you learn from it?  If you haven’t done one…try it out…let me know what you plan on doing and I would love for you to reach back out to me after your 30 days and let me know what happened!

And lastly…before you go…take a peek at my 31 days of kitty paws.
(Also, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @kate_fredrick to see what might be next for me…)

Albums {Lake County IL, Newborn Photographer}

I am a huge believer in getting your photos off your camera or computer and displaying them!  That is a big reason why all of my packages include prints…I want you to see your beautiful baby or family on your walls and have you remember back to when your child was that little.  Babies grow up way too fast and change almost daily at times…so why not for just a moment, stop time.

Along with the different print options, this year, I am starting to offer albums.  I’ve gone through numerous different albums trying to find the one that fits…the one that will make you spend hours just flipping through the pages…the one that will match the timeless, simple, clean photos of your precious newborn to a “T”. I’m so excited to say that I’ve found it!

Here are some of the details:
*Customizable leather cover – color options, name embossing
*10″ x 10″ in size
*Lay flat, thick pages
*10 spread (20 pages) – we will work together to select your photos
*Holds 20-25 photos

Interested in turning your past session photos into an album…feel free to contact me! OR Interested in booking a session…feel free to contact me!