Belle Meinerz Photography

“To her the name of father was another name for love.” ~ Fanny Fern

I hope you all had a fantastic Father’s Day!

We celebrated with family & friends, and this year was extra special as it was also my kids’ Music Recital for the end of the year. So daddy got to enjoy our kids beautifully (and skillfully!) playing the recorder and singing, and they did a great job! We are so proud of them! Hubby couldn’t have asked for a better present!

I just wish I still had my dad here among us and the celebration would have been complete. Father’s Day has been bittersweet for me for the past 4 years… I was lucky enough to have had a father who loved me (and my sister) dearly, and always put his daughters first. I am grateful for that unconditional love. And I am grateful for the wonderful father my kids have. Family is where you story starts and love is the one force that holds a family together.

I have (of course!) bazillions of pictures of my father and I (have I ever told you my dad was also an amateur photographer? )  but the single ones that speak volumes to me to date are the ones below, still my very favorite images from my childhood — my beloved family, where I came from:

I am very, very blessed in life.

Part II will be my kids and hubby…. but these will have to wait as I am working on another sneak peek now.

Love,

If you were wondering why everything seems so quiet around here, well… I have great news: my first niece was born a couple days ago! And I had the most amazing experience documenting her grand entrance to the world! My sister chose not to document the whole labor (well and how could I do that if I was also her doula?) but as soon as baby girl came out, screaming from the top of her lungs, I was there capturing every single movement of hers! Such a precious, perfect little thing she is!

It was the most incredible experience ever. And such a coincidence that she was assigned to the very same room where I had my twins a few years ago… and the staff at the hospital… just amazing… I mean, the most wonderful nurses ever! Even Roman, the *fantastic* nurse who helped me all the way when I had my twins, she was there to help my sister with breastfeeding and such. Happy coincidences.

All around one of the most beautiful moments in my life. And I will never forget it.

Now for some images to illustrate this grand event, the miracle of life.

proud daddy cutting the umbilical cord…

Isn’t she perfect? Actually, that’s the very meaning of her name. Perfect.

She was wide awake even hours after the birth, doing all kinds of cute expressions that I, of course, had to capture
My brave sister (no epidural, folks!) and my awesome brother-in-law (we were a team supporting her through the loooong labor, and he was amazing) were able to sleep for awhile (after the almost 40 hours labor) so I had my precious niece all for myself for a few hours! If you know me, I *adore* newborns, love them, so this was extra special for me — I was in heaven. Pure heaven.

I was even able to capture her first bath (at the hospital)!

My sister was so into it that she didn’t even noticed I was photographing her bathing her darling daughter!
and here she is, all fresh and smelling oh so good (I adore their smell, newborns smell soooo good!) and bundled up by daddy. He did a great job, didn’t he?

I’ll be doing her “official” newborn session soon so expect a lot more images of her on the blog!

Do you have any doubt this gorgeous girl is going to be the most photographed kid in the whole wide world?

I would like to take the opportunity to thank my wonderful, supportive clients for rescheduling their sessions during my sister’s labor/delivery and for their patience and understanding on the delay of putting up their galleries, and for their warm wishes. Thank You, from the bottom of my heart.
And also and foremost my husband and kids, for being always so supportive – I love you!

Welcome to this wonderful world, baby girl! We love you so very much!

Love,

The Easter season is a time of life and renewal. I hope everyone is celebrating Life today and rejoicing in all that you have been blessed with…
and what a better way to celebrate life than a brand new baby? just a quick sneak peek for this *gorgeous* baby’s parents… more to come!

Happy Easter everyone!
Love,

I always try to reserve at least one whole weekend a month for some family fun, but this client called me on Thursday night saying her family would be in town from California and forecast was fabulous so I just couldn’t say no and I’m so glad we did our session on Saturday afternoon – it was a fantastic day and she picked a *great* location. I’ll have a few images up here soon to share with you all!
So when we were finalizing our session hubby brought the kids to the park where I was working (i.e. having fun!) and we spent a few hours there – what could be more perfect? I can honestly say it was just a perfect day – a great day “at work” and a great day with family – how lucky am I?

Anyway this post is actually about our outing yesterday – some friends invited us to spend the day @ PlayLand at PNE. And what a day! We only took our oldie trusty tiny Point and Shoot with us to get a few snapshots and try and capture the fun and the joy and the smiles on our kids faces in an effort to to freeze a moment in time forever! The images make me so happy I thought I would share a few here:

I just love this one of my son and I!!! hubby did a great job!!! we had a blast and my son was asking repeatedly: again, just one more turn, again pleeeeease….
they got home soooo tired!!

going down the slide “all by themselves”, with my son’s “bestest” friend

my point and shoot is not so bad…

my loves…

I have a ton more to share and will add to this post later (checked!)- I have a few orders to send to the lab right now so check back later for more pictures.

Hope you had a great weekend too! Mine was just *perfect*. Ahhh, the simple pleasures of life!

XOXO
Belle

Today I am grateful. Grateful for my kids. My healthy kids.

Back in January my son had to see an otorhinolaryngologist due to a tonsil infection + oral breathing + snoring while we were vacationing in Brazil and the doctor mentioned a surgery to remove obstruction due to enlarged adenoids. I know it should not be a big deal, such a common surgery, but it was for me. My son would be under corticosteroids until coming back to Canada and that scared the hell out of me too (ever since my past life, as a veterinarian, I have never been a fan of corticosteroids).

A few days later, back in Canada we saw our family doctor and he arranged an appointment with an otorhinolaryngologist for my son at Children’s Hospital. Well, we are talking February here but it was only last Friday – July 11th – that our son finally had his appointment. And it couldn’t have been better : he is fine, perfectly fine and there’s no need to have his adenoids removed. We were sooo glad and… grateful.

And just to rule things out the doctor sent my son to a Pediatric Allergist – which I thought would take forever again to get an appointment but no! – today we saw her and great news again… no allergies!

Grateful again.

Sounds silly, I know, but I believe it is really important to remind to be grateful – everyday – for all the blessings in our lives.

Today I am grateful… grateful for my kids… for my healthy, beautiful kids.

right after we came back from the doctor’s office today, i saw my son doing this:

i just had to grab my camera!

yes, life is good!

and here is his little arm tested negative for some allergens: