hailey and ryan

, originally uploaded by pr9000.

sleepy, originally uploaded by pr9000.

My first, and my favorite, child to photograph was my niece, Hailey. She'll be three in October, and of course her uncle and aunt will be home to eat some cake with her ...

She has a little brother, Ryan, who was born on Valentine's Day. His mom did a great job -- she had Hailey on our mom's birthday, and had Ryan on a holiday that nobody ever forgets. Uncle Paul won't ever miss a birthday card for these two.

We were home for Easter this year, and captured brother and sister sitting on a window seat. Hailey was very loving with her brother, who just slept a lot (as babies are wont to do). Hailey was eating some of mom's awesome nut roll cookies, and we really couldn't convince her to give them up. So there were some crumbs to Photoshop when I got back to my office.

Here's a shot I took of Hailey when she was no more than four months old -- her mom brought her on her first airplane ride, up to Minneapolis. We posed her all over the place, because at four months she was just very obedient Play Doh ... she could be placed anywhere, dressed any way, and she just sat there and took it in stride.

I'm sure her mom wishes that was an option now. :)

hailey, originally uploaded by pr9000.