Connor and I go way back. We first met six months ago, and then again three months ago. Now he is a big guy, 9 months old, on the verge of crawling and sprouting some teeth!

Connor thought I was hilarious! He would giggle every time I brought the camera to my face, which in turn had the rest of us laughing right along.

Thanks so much, Kelly & Chris! I can’t wait for the big one-year session!

I traveled up to Virginia yesterday to photograph this sweet bundle of Valentine joy! You may remember Ella from her 2 month and 6 month photo shoots…she is getting bigger and more beautiful each time I see her!

Just look at these big eyes! I know I gush about her eyes every time I photograph Ella, but I can’t help myself. She’s like a little Gerber baby.

Her mama is having a birthday today, on Valentine’s day no less! So I thought Ella and I would give her this little gift:

Happy Birthday Danielle! And Happy Valentine’s Day to the whole family!

I did my first twin newborn session last month, and I wanted to come back and share a few more of my favorites with you. It took two tries to get these shots, but it was definitely time well spent!

If you or someone you know is expecting a new baby (or babies!), you have to check out my winter newborn special!

Valentine’s Day, the day to celebrate love of all kinds. It’s this weekend, by the way! Do you and your honey do anything special for each other? Mike and I have never really been that into it, but we’ll get each other a card, maybe a little candy or something small. But we really like doing a little something for the kidlets. I found these CUTE personalized fabric mail pouches at Pottery Barn Kids, and I can’t wait to stuff them full of some goodies! (I was going to link them here, but it looks like they have sold out! Never fear, I promise I’ll take some pics this weekend to share.)

I have been poking around one of my favorite sites Etsy looking for some unique ideas for the mail pouches, and I have found the most fun little gifts for little ones! I thought I’d share some here…follow the links to buy these sweets for your sweets!

This hat has got to be the most darling thing I’ve seen!

And look at this sweet outfit…couldn’t you imagine your little girl wearing this for a photo session?

This little sheep has stolen my heart! And it would be great for any occasion, not just V-day!

I can’t forget the little men out there…Valentine’s Day gifts are harder to find for boys, I guess. But check out this adorable Robot Love onesie! Be still my heart!

If you’ve never visited etsy.com, I highly recommend it. It’s become my go-to place for any kind of gift, and the best part is (if you’re short on time like me) you can shop from your couch!

So last week I went on and on about my dear hubby. It wasn’t too much, was it? I worried a little that he’d be walking around here all big-headed, but I needn’t have. He’s got his head on straight. He’s a good guy.

So I may have mentioned here that my schedule is, to put it mildly, OVERLOADED. I thought I’d share some ideas that help keep me sane and in the right place at the right time (most of the time.)

1. Write -or type- it down. I have a million things running through my head at any one time, so I have to write down everything. I have written to-do lists, 2 Outlook calendars and a Google calendar. I keep a notebook in my purse for jotting down things I need to buy or research, or notes on a vision I’d like to create with my camera, or a recipe I’d like to try. I even cut out pictures from magazines or catalogs and tape them in there, as inspiration.

2. Ask for help. Take help when it’s offered. My parents and Mike’s mom and stepdad each come to our house one Saturday a month to watch the girls while we work. Mike’s parents drive almost an hour and a half to get here, and my parents drive three. Three hours down in the morning, to arrive by 9:15am. And then after a day of chaos violence fun, they drive the three hours back that night.

That’s big-time to me. I always feel guilty for asking them to do this for us…I’ve always been very independent, very “I can take care of myself.” And it’s a lot to ask. But honestly, I can’t imagine our lives being lived in any other way. The best part is watching my girls develop strong relationships with their grandparents. It’s simply priceless.

3. Meal plan, meal plan, meal plan. I’m a planner by nature, and typically very organized, so this comes somewhat easily for me. I actually created a chart containing meals, ingredients and instructions for 6 meals for the week. We have 6 of these meal plans, so we rotate through the whole batch of meals every 6 weeks. It took some work to create, but the payoff is great. I pull out that week’s mealplan, create my grocery list from it and go!

I’d be happy to email my meal plan chart to you! Why re-create the wheel and all that, right? Just email me christy@christyjohnson.com!

4. Schedule everything. I know I’m starting to sound reeeaalllly nerdy, but I swear by schedules. I have a Bookeeping Day, a Bill-Paying Day, a Grocery Store Day, a Laundry Day, and so on. There’s always room to move these things around as need be, but just knowing what I have on deck for the day is super helpful. It helps me to be less stressed and feel less overwhelmed, which is important to me. When I get too overwhelmed, I literally shut down and can’t accomplish anything at all. Less stress means I’m more effective and productive, which means I’m done with my tasks quickly and can spend more time with my family!

After all, they are my #1 priority. Every day.

I hope this helps someone out there in interwebland. And please leave a comment about how YOU keep from going crazy in your own fast-paced, out of control life!

And just for fun, a photograph from our snow day weekend! And look, I’m actually in it!