Heather Cole Photography

Have you ever sat at a red light, late for something and said out loud, “COME ON…I have somewhere I’ve gotta be!!!” I used to say things like that, until it hit me…I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. That’s how I feel about the day I met my husband. I was exactly where I was supposed to be the night I met him and the chain of events in my life would never be the same because of it.

I’m no Jasmine Star when it comes to writing, but I can tell you this. My husband completes me. Sometimes I have to pinch myself because even I don’t believe that life can be this good and I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Rest assured I’ve experienced some hard times. Eight years ago when I found out I was pregnant, that same week my dad was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. He fought for his life my entire pregnancy and 8 short weeks after Olivia was born, he lost his battle. My husband, my best friend, was my rock through it all. I can honestly say that without him, I wouldn’t have been able to come out of that the way I did.

As a father he has far exceeded ANY expectations I had. I love that he and Olivia have the love of the great outdoors together. They love to camp, fish and climb rock walls together. I love how at the dinner table Olivia likes to rub it in that she and daddy like salmon but I don’t. She and daddy like to sleep in tents, and I don’t. She and daddy are going to climb mountains, and me..probably not so much. I love that he has that relationship with her. I love that he’s such a big influence on her life.

I think it takes a SPECIAL man to handle all girls so when I say God hand picked him for Olivia and Jillian, I mean it. I think that both of my girls are so lucky to have such a great man to look up to not only as a father but also as a husband. Six and a half years after welcoming Olivia into the world we were extremely blessed with another healthy baby girl, Jillian. Watching him with her melts my heart. Oh Jillian - I can’t wait to find out what awesome things you and your daddy are going to do together.

Fourteen years ago, I met a man that would make me a better person. A man that would encourage me to reach for my dreams no matter how high they were. A man that loves me at every size (hee hee) and still thinks I’m the prettiest girl in the room. A man that sacrifices for his family and lives to make not only my life the best it can be, but also our girls. He’s my biggest fan and the love of my life.

So today, Tuesday, February 16th I MARK THIS DAY as…”THE DAY I WROTE AN ENTRY IN MY BLOG ABOUT THE MAN I LOVE”. Consider this my UN-VALENTINE’S DAY post because honestly - why pick just one day to show someone you love them. Why not use the other 364 days showing them that because of them, your life is complete. It might be a post it note you leave in their suitcase before a business trip or a voicemail they get before they go to work. It might be as simple as pulling them aside in the kitchen - looking them straight in the eye and telling them, “I missed you today, I’m glad you’re home”. The point is - it doesn’t take a dozen red roses, or a balloon, or a fancy dinner on Valentine’s Day to show someone you love them. It’s the little things (at least for me it is) you do that make all the difference.

Consider this my post it note.

Happy Tuesday, February 16th baby. I hope you had a good day and hope it’s even better after you read this and know how much you’re loved.

I LOVE YOU

xoxoxo

Me

It is tradition that every year I send out Christmas Cards and every year they’ve had my darling Olivia plastered all over them. This was last years card…

This year was super special because it was the first card that had both Olivia and Jillian in it. It turned out better than I expected. I can’t wait to see what each year brings with these two.

The front of the card…

Inside of the card

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!!

The Coles

As you can tell by my lack of blogging we’ve been a bit busy around the Cole household. Miss Jillian Hunter Cole was born on November 16th weighing 7lbs 11 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. Life as we knew it has changed forever. She has brought so much happiness to our life that we seriously don’t know how we lived without her.

The day before Jillian was born, Olivia pulled off the LAST LINK! She was super excited!!

One last belly shot before I got “suited up”

Me and Proud Daddy to be, my hubby, Jake

12 hours later at 5:21 pm Jillian was born weighing 7lbs 11 oz 19 3/4 inches long

One happy family

Uncle Deano and Aunt Maria

Even Aunt Kelley came out to see Jillian and she took some amazing pictures! Check out her site to see them!

Here is a picture my friend, Josh Solar took of her about a week old. He has more from her first photoshoot (but they aren’t up yet..hint..hint..hee hee) but you can check his site out here.

Here are some pictures I’ve taken of her at the house over the past few weeks.

This is Jillian about 9 days old

hee hee

I love how her face gets all smooshed when she sleeps. SOO CUTE!!

This picture was taken just a few days ago. Almost ONE MONTH OLD! My how time flies. Love you baby girl.

Halloween this year, ROCKED MY SOCKS OFF!!! First we started off with our annual carving extravaganza!! Neighbors and friends all gathered around for what I feel is like one of the best years ever!! Check em out!!

My friend Melissa offered to carve the one I WANTED to do but didn’t have the patience for.

Liv was pretty proud of her pumpkin…

Even Deano and Maria came for some Halloween fun!!

Maria loved Deano’s pumpkin…see below

Jake got a kick out of it too.

The final product…How cool are they???

Sorry I didn’t have my D3 around when I was photographing the kiddos at night so if you want to see the pictures of Olivia all dressed up you’re going to have to check out my FACEBOOK account with all the other pictures. And if you and I aren’t FACEBOOK FRIENDS..all I can say is…WHY NOT???

Now on to Olivia - and everything else in between…

As everyone knows, I’m due to have our second child in t minus 19 days. Yeah - 19 days. Wow. For some reason, that number has hit me hard today. If I go full term in 19 days I will have a brand new baby girl and our family of three is now going to be a family of four. The excitement I’m feeling can hardly be described.  I dream about the moment where my baby girl, Olivia, sees her sister for the first time and what that means for us. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little sad that my time with it being just Olivia and I is coming to an end. For six and a half years - it’s just been the three of us and I know that in about 19 days that’s going to change forever. Obviously for the good, but still…our dynamic is going to change. So - yesterday it was my birthday, and I wanted to photograph her one last time before she herself changed from Olivia - to Olivia - Jillian’s big sister. All I have to say is Jillian is one lucky girl because Olivia is going to be the best big sister ever. Wow - to the cool things that are going to be going down….VERY SOON! We’ll keep you posted!!!

Until then - here are some pictures of Olivia that I snagged. My oh my how she has grown in FRONT OF MY EYES!! SPEAKING of eyes…..

Olivia, my love, thank you for blessing my life. You make me want to be a better mom/person each and everyday.

Love you,

Mom

Excuse the HORRIBLE mobile picture of me but I wanted to share a picture of my baby belly. Calling it a bump is a little far fetched at this stage in the game ha ha! Good news, I think this weekend I’m having a professional maternity picture taken (I know..finally) so hopefully I can give you something better to look at very soon.

On Monday I had the opportunity to hang out all day with some super amazing photographers at my second PLAYshop. It was a BLAST!! Despite the gloom and doom forecast for the day - the rain stopped just as my super sweet couple, Shelley and Andy, showed up to be photographed. Thank you girls for taking time out of your busy day to come PLAY with me. I hope you had a great time and learned a lot.

Shelley and Andy - it was a pleasure shooting you. I hope you had a great time with us.

To see everyone else’s shots from the day visit their websites here:

Ashley Turner - Ashley Turner Photography

Rachel - Serendipity Photography

Julie - Julie Branyan Photography

On a side note - I got lots of emails from people who wanted to be attend Monday but with first day of school landing this week was not able to. I’m going to be putting on another one of these workshops in February. If you’d like to attend - please email me at heather@heathercolephotography.com and we’ll get you set up. It’s going to FILL up fast so email me as soon as possible!!

EDIT: The DATE OF THE NEXT WORKSHOP IS GOING TO BE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8th.

ALL of these pictures were taken either on my street, on a driveway, or at my community pool. Just goes to show you that no matter what location you are given - the possibilities are endless. Hopefully something you can learn if you attend a PLAYshop of mine.

Color version of the sneak peek I loaded a few days ago.

WWWWhhhhhhhhhaaaaaatttt? HOT HOT HOT!!!

Oh can you imagine their kids??

oh yes…the sun came out for just a bit. HOW LUCKY ARE WE???

love this one!!

and this one too. Okay so I like them all!!

makes me want to kiss my husband.

That’s what I call - a FUN PLAYshop. Can’t wait for the next one!