Well... guess what?? We have a daughter! We welcomed Mary Jean Mohinani on Sunday, December 31st at 11:11 am after a quick and easy labor.

It's still so crazy that she's finally here! 

Because we delivered at the amazing birth center by our house and had such an easy and natural labor/delivery, we were able to bring her home that very evening (just in time to ring in the New Year)!  

Sunil and I chose not to find out the gender of our baby during our pregnancy and it was such a fun surprise when she was born! We decorated with and purchased all gender-neutral items, so I didn't have any girly bows or headbands to put her in for pictures... but thanks to a few wonderful friends she now has a lovely supply of things to wear! (As soon as her head is big enough to fit in them! Good thing the one that fit her happened to be my favorite color - thanks, Christy!) 

Sunil is hopelessly in love with Mary. He sings her songs, calls her Princess, and is just so excited to be a dad to such a cute baby. He cried more than I did when we first saw her! :)

He's been an amazing support through this entire pregnancy, delivery, healing process, and parenthood in general! I'm so so grateful to have such an actively involved husband. 

Pixel (our sweet little Beagle) is adjusting really well! She gets super concerned when Mary cries (which isn't very often - how'd we get so lucky??) and is extremely interested in all the smells. Spit up, milk, poop - you name it, she'll lick it! Yuck! :P 

My journey into motherhood has been a slow one from the very beginning of my entire pregnancy, and I'm thankful that I have given myself plenty of time and room to grow into this new identity of mine. I'm thoroughly enjoying taking it one day at a time and savoring each new step. 

I don't think the weight and meaning of everything have fully sunk in yet. And it may take a while before I really feel like she's actually my daughter. (But I've heard that's normal!) ;) 

We're so thankful that she's here, that she's healthy, and that she's ours. Here's to the new adventure in front of us! :) 

PS - For those of you that love all the nitty gritty details and birth stories of any kind... I wrote out my entire birth story and it turned out to be 4 pages long! Whoa! I must be long winded. :) BUT if you want to read it in all of its gory detail, just comment below and I'll send it to you! 

I tell my clients often... 

If the lighting is beautiful, we can make just about any location look lovely. 

When she suggested a Christmas tree farm for the location of our session, we searched high and low for one that matched our availability, but nothing seemed to work. 

So instead we improvised. With the highway only a few yards away, and the rows of trees at the local landscape supply used carefully for our background, we decided to embrace a non-traditional spot. 

And instead, we focused on the beautiful celebration of a lovely little family. 

Hannah and Jake, I'm so thankful you trusted me with such a crazy idea of a location! It was such a joy to work with your little lumberjack and I can't believe how precious his smile is!! Thanks for trusting me with your memories. :)