Crista Acosta Photography »

There is something so special about those last few weeks before your first child is born.  Those remaining days where it’s just the two of you, and everything is still unknown.  It’s in the way your husband places his hand in the small of your back in a gesture of quiet protection.  The way a mother glows with love when talking about meeting her new baby.  These two high school sweethearts fit that role… having dated for ten years, they’ve very much grown up together.  In a moment of down time during our session, Rich was telling me their story and he said “I just got really lucky… I met the most amazing girl when I was a junior in high school and I knew then that I had found it.”  That’s so remarkable, and I wish you guys nothing but the best as your prepare for your little guy’s arrival.  See you in a few weeks!

You know those women that you meet that have already had a child, are pregnant with their second, and they still look like supermodels?  Kadi was one of those.  I swear when she opened the front door of her home, there was a hidden fan somewhere that blew her beautiful long hair from her face.  We had such a great time together, and this session really pushed my creative limits.  Much of our session was done with the intent of capturing some very tasteful artistic nudes of her beautiful pregnant belly.  I am so in love with the images from this session, but for the sake of keeping things PG, here are just two of my other favorites.

Oh, my clients… they all become my friends, and become near and dear to my heart, but this is different.  Kristina was a friend and coworker before she was a client.  I cried when she told me she was pregnant, and I watched her belly grow.  Her son’s newborn session was the first that I walked away from feeling that I really had a calling to newborns, and ever other session we’ve done throughout the past few years have left me happy and inspired.  Kaleb is about to be a big brother, and I was so happy to capture these last few moments between Kristina and her sweet little guy.  This is a familiar scenario to me… a toddler who seems so grown, and in just a few weeks will feel like a giant compared to his baby sister…. but a year from now, I know that you’ll look back on these pictures and realize what a baby he was.  Kristina and Dave – I love you both, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your family’s memories.

The little dude…

Is this not the most beautiful almost full term belly ever?  I swear I looked like this at 18 weeks.

The BEST before and after EVER….. I asked Kaleb to blow raspberries on his mommy’s belly, and he was ALL about it!!

Oh, I just love the baby and the mama with her baby belly.  Can’t wait to meet Little Girl in a few weeks… the nursery is TO.DIE.FOR., if you haven’t already gathered from these pictures!!

As Danielle and I chatted away about the arrival of her twin boys – which at nearly 37 weeks could literally happen any day now, she glanced over to her four year old son and said “I just realized that I’ll never get this moment back, it will never be the same again”.  Tears sprung to my eyes, and I nodded.  This is why I do what I do.  This is why I love this job.  I know exactly how she feels, I’ve lived it, and I know how important those last few weeks as a family of three are.  Before your lives are turned upside down by a baby (or two in this case!), before you meet the new little people you’re going to fall in love with.  It’s a time of anticipation, fear, wistfulness, hope, and most of all – love.

While I consider myself lucky to document the lives of each and every one of my clients, every once in a while I come across a client who I really feel like I was meant to meet. Mary is the most recent addition to that group. She contacted me on Thursday inquiring about maternity pictures and managed to slip in that she just happened to be having a baby on Monday (as in – TODAY!). So I quickly cleared my schedule for the next day and drove to meet her. I am SO glad I did. Our time together seemed like we were old friends, and in between snapping pictures of this gorgeous mama, we also managed to put together her co-sleeper. That’s right, I’m a multi talented photographer!

I am so beyond psyched to meet the sweet little girl who has been occupying this beautiful belly!

Oh, hello there GORGEOUS!

One of the greatest things about marrying C was that I married into a huge fun family.  C is one of seven siblings, and has a bunch of wonderful nieces and nephews.  Krystal was just 10 years old when I met her (many many years ago, now) and she and I hit it off from the first time we ever met.  We were two peas in a pod… she’d always gravitate towards me at family gatherings, and I loved to sit and talk to her about how her life was going.  As the years went by, we grew closer and closer, and I consider myself blessed to call Krys my niece.

No longer that sweet little girl I first met, Krystal is now a beautiful young woman, engaged to a great guy and expecting a baby girl next month.

Gabby and Jason are expecting their first little one in just a few short weeks, and we got together to document and celebrate these last few days where it is just the two of them.  Gabby is so unbelievably cute, there was a (very brief!) moment where I found myself missing being pregnant.  Just a moment though, then I snapped out of it!

Let me take this opportunity to point out that when I was pregnant, my whole body was pregnant – meaning my face, my arms, my belly, my backside, you name it.  Even my toes were pregnant, I swear.  Gabby on the other hand truly just has an adorable little baby bump.  She’s gorgeous.

One of my very favorites!

And here is the family portrait as they are today with their two sweet pups.

… and Muffy, one of their first babies.

Duff is one of the amazing writers over at My Mom Genes, and she and I happen to be due about a week apart.  I’ve admired her attitude about parenting and her cool level headed nature for quite some time, so if I’m honest, it’s been wonderful going along this journey of each of us expecting our second child.  For some reason I feel a great reassurance knowing we’re on the same road, traveling sort of parallel to each other.   Enjoy your sneak peek!  

….and my very favorite shot of the day.  Actually, it’s quite possibly my favorite mother and child interaction shot ever.