By now you’ve probably seen my ugly cry Facetime screen shots when Katie told me that she was pregnant. I have already posted a few blogs here and here telling the story of their infertility and how Cooper found his way into our lives. We were having such a blast with him- completely happy with that blessing… not even thinking that maybe God had another one coming soon. When Katie pointed the camera to Cooper wearing a “Big Brother” shirt I was so confused. It was out of the realm of possibility in my mind. They’re adopting again? No, Cooper would be an Irish twin! Oh, how I cried. It was definitely one of the top 3 days of my life.

Katie & Stephen came to Richmond Hill To Tummy Peeks and found out that the baby was a girl. I was shooting a wedding but they pulled up long enough to hand me a bag with pink tissue paper in it. So much excitement. And then to top things off Katie told me that they were naming her Leanna Katherine, partially after me. My middle name is LeAnne. I am also the baby’s “Fairy God Mother!” So much joy and she wasn’t even here yet!

Katie was scheduled to be induced since little “Lele” as we have nicknamed her was already growing rapidly hahaha…. She was to be checked into the hospital on the 21st of September. So it’s pretty obvious what song I had blaring when I drove Katie to the hospital… yep- Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September”

…Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Love was changing the minds of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away
Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing.
As we danced in the night,
Remember how the stars stole the night away
Ba de ya, say do you remember
Ba de ya, dancing in September
Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day…

Our souls were singing… that’s for sure! Hahaha and I also made sure I had a playlist of all songs involving the word “baby” that I harassed Katie with all day. When she caught on she laughed so hard. “I’m Your Baby Tonight.” by Whitney Houston, “Baby,Baby” by Amy Grant, “Baby, What A Big Surprise” by Chicago, “Ooo Baby Baby” by Smokey Robinson, “Baby Love” by the Supremes….. you get the picture hahaha! Katie has had 8 years of this from me. Starting in the early days of their infertility I was always wanted to help supplement some positivity, hope and a whole lot of goofiness along the way. I have loved Katie being pregnant because she lets me do crazy, awkward things I will never be able to do with anyone else. Like yell to the baby through her stomach, ask a lot of questions,  “the baby dance” which I will leave to your imagination. We have had a lot of fun.

Leanna was not in a hurry to make her grand entrance into the world so Katie had to have a c-section. It was SO AWESOME because I had photographed the Obstretician’s baby, shot one of the nurses’s delivery and another nurse was one of my brides! I was able to hang back in the operating room to capture some sweet moments of Leanna taking her first breaths. I was then able to hang out with her for hours in the nursery while Katie and Stephen were in recovery. That time spent with Leanna was invaluable. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. She turned her head and looked into my eyes and I had so much to tell her. What do you say to someone in their first few hours in the world? Well, I am all about #priorities so I told her all about sunshine and the beach and how I will take her there ASAP, that there’s an awesome movie named “You’ve Got Mail” we would one day watch together. Without going into too much detail because it will make me totally emotional- I just told her all about my hopes and dreams for her life. I prayed that she will be the perfect combination of strength and gentleness and humility. I prayed that she will always feel cherished because she is. I prayed for her health, happiness, and for success as she measures it. That she will love and be loved in return. Dang it! Stopping now. Tissues please.

We have just been adoring her and soaking up every moment. I spent a lot of time holding Leanna in the hospital. With her tiny head in my hands I smooched her chubby little cheeks. Being able to spend so much time with Leanna in those first few days is the best gift Katie will ever give me. I still don’t know how it is that babies smell like vanilla and magic. I will never forget the feeling of her looking back at me in the darkness that night. Beyond my ability to describe kind of gratitude. Katie and Stephen definitely have their hands full having a 10 month old and newborn but we wouldn’t have it any other way!

There are a lot of photos below…. but keep in mind that these are narrowed down from approximately 24892373634876 others that I took that day…. hahaha!