Someone Up There must really like me. When I did my mini-sessions last week-end, the sun came shining even though weather forecasts said it was going to rain. After two days of blue skies and warm sunshine, Monday was cold, rainy and just plain grim. And now, a day later, on a scheduled photo session with this beautiful family, the sun came shining for me again! Just an hour after I got home, the weather became cloudy and miserable again! Coincidence? I think not!

It was such a lovely morning and here’s a quick sneak peek of this family I spent it with:

{Phil and Emma, thanks for being such good sports this morning even though you guys must be so tired from your week-end away! I hope you like the sneak peek and I will be in touch again soon. Hugs to Mia!}

Meet Bo and Herbie. The birth of these twins is a story of love, perseverance and hope. (Photographed at 14 days old.)

Their parents, Niki and Jason, have had trouble tried getting pregnant for years. When IVF didn’t work them, they both looked for other options and decided to give egg donation a go.

Finding an egg donor proved to be difficult. Their story was featured in one of the national papers and after it was published, 200 women contacted Niki and Jason, all willing to donate their eggs. For various reasons, they couldn’t find a suitable donor from the people who contacted them at that time. In the end, one of Niki’s old friends stepped forward to donate her eggs to the couple. Not too long after, Niki became pregnant.

And now, she is blessed with twins–a boy and a girl.

There is a huge shortage of egg donors in the UK where there is an average waiting list for two to five years. Moreover, since donor anonymity has been removed by the law, fertility clinics are seeing an adverse effect in the number of spem and eggs being donated. Niki and Jason supports the National Gamete Donation Trust, a government-funded charity which aims to raise awareness about egg donation and change the problem of donor shortage. For more details, visit the NGDT website.

{Niki, it was such a pleasure and a privilege to have met you and your beautiful twins! Your love and devotion was so evident and so beautiful to see. It’s my hope that other people get inspired by your story as I did . I cannot wait to show you the rest of your photographs!}

This family is very special to me as they are very good friends. I met the mum, Sarah, at our post-natal class when our girls were less than 12 weeks old. We continued seeing each other even when the classes finished and became fast friends, along with some other mums whom we met at the same class. Eventually, our husbands became friends and we just kept seeing each other more and more. We go to the same playgroups, we look after each other’s children and pretty much become part of each others’ lives. I don’t know what I would do without my sisterhood of mothers…..

It was such a joy and a privilege to photograph this growing family. (And I got to cuddle their newest addition loads too!)

Beautiful, aren’t they? And here are a couple of outtakes from the session. Izzy’s trousers kept falling off–it was hilarious. And my little girl had such a great time being attacked by ‘Izzy daddy’!

{Steve and Sarah, what can I say??? You were all a dream to photograph. I didn’t do much but aim and click! We feel truly blessed to know you and to be called your friends. Much love from us, R&B + A}

Spring has definitely come!

And I am very excited to show this season’s first photo session. The bluebell woods is definitely one of my favourite places to take photographs. This family was such a pleasure to meet and the little ones were so adorable!

{James and Natalie–it was so lovely to spend the afternoon with you and your children. I hope you enjoy the sneak peek and I will be in touch when the rest of your photos are ready!}