I love photographing newborns. But, I also love big brothers and sisters.  The big sister of Baby H was adorable. Granted, her acceptable time for photography is about 2 minutes (ha! SO true with any toddler!) and that’s stretching it a bit. But, with Mommy and Daddy helping and some songs and stickers, she did great. I just love her soft brown curls. Adorable little girl! And such a cute baby brother.  I loved talking with Mom during the newborn portion of the session. Such a great morning with a lovely family! God has blessed them greatly with these beautiful children. With Gratitude,  xoxo, Jill

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.

Psalm 95:1

I am soooo excited for this super sweet couple to meet their baby boy and for his newborn photo session. This is seriously one super sweet couple. This little guy is going to be very adored and loved. For her mini- maternity session, we spent a little bit of time in their home. The rain held off and even though it was pretty overcast, they knew a nice green area just out of the subdivision, so we were able to get some outdoor images. What an amazing blessing to be welcoming a baby into their family. I wish you two the absolute best and I’ll see you soon for the baby session! xoxo ~ Jill

Jill Velicer is a natural light photographer specializing in pregnancy, newborn, baby and family photography serving the Greater Milwaukee areas.

*She was quite expressive and smiley

BIG Yawn!

Thank you sooo much for sharing this amazing time in your lives as a new family! ♥  Jill

Jill Velicer specializes in infant, newborn, baby, child and family photography serving the Greater Milwaukee and surrounding areas of Wisconsin.

While you visit, if you would be willing to share, consider clicking on the social bar below -see the blue arrows, he he he I know, I know…. shameless plug. Believe me, google is ruthless. I need all the help I can get! ha!

There are links to twitter, google, and facebook. I SO appreciate your help!

Visit: Jill Velicer Photography infant, baby, child and family photography

Jill Velicer is a natural light, on-location photographer specializing in infant, newborn, baby, child and family photography in the Greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin region.

Jill Velicer is a natural-light photographer specializing in Milwaukee infant photography as well as a baby photographer, pregnancy photographer, child photographer and family photographer in the greater Milwaukee Wisconsin area.

My kids love these … actually I love them too. A good friend of mine with 5 children shared this recipe with me. We’re both partial to organic whole foods that taste really great Keeps the  kids happier and much much healthier.

Since many of you are mommy’s with children I wanted to share with you an easy recipe that you can feel good about feeding your kids. And chances are they’ll gobble them right up! This is also a great snack for breastfeeding moms and  moms who are busy with a baby and barely have time to eat too. If you have the ingredients (and it’s a really flexible recipe), it takes only about 10 min to toast the oats, and about 5-10 min to measure it out and mix it up!

Energy Balls (or the recipe says, All natural, No-bake energy bites)

-makes approximately 2 dozen depending on size (I triple the recipe for my family)

•  1/2 C. nut butter (almond butter, peanut butter, sunflower seed butter or any other nut or seed butter. Anything will work here)
• 1/3 C. honey (locally bought honey has more health benefits than store processed mass-distributed honey… my Dad is a beekeeper, so we’ve got a good deal here )
• 1 C. old fashioned rolled oats (you can toast for a nuttier flavor at 350 degrees for about 10 min… I recommend this)
• 1 C. shredded unsweetened coconut (you can substitute any dry ingredients for this, wheat germ or bran, oat bran, some ground flax seed, any kind of ground nuts or seeds. For a cookie dough texture type bite try adding a few TBSP of your favorite whole grain flour)
• 1-2 tsp vanilla
• pinch sea salt
• 1-2 tsp of your favorite spices or spice combinations (optional… such as cinnamon, etc)
• 1/2 C. other addins (any kind of whole or roughly chopped nuts or seeds, dried fruit, good quality choc chips, etc)

In a large bowl add the nut butter, honey, vanilla and salt. Use less vanilla if yours is very strong or more if you enjoy the vanilla flavor. Don’t buy the alcohol based kind. If all your ingredients are at room temp you should be able to stir to combine. If this is difficult you can warm by setting the bowl in an inch or two of hot water for a few minutes. Once this is combined, add the remaining ingredients.

Once it is all combined, place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Then remove from the fridge, scoop out some ‘dough’ and form into a ball.

If yours are too sticky you can consider adding more dry ingredients into them or rolling them in something like ground nuts, coconut, etc so they aren’t as sticky. Place balls in an airtight container either in the fridge or the freeser for a quick and easy snack.

recipe from: food doodles.com

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The batch I made in the photo was tripled for our family of 5:

1 1/2 c Peanut butter

1 C. honey

3 C rolled oats (toasted in the oven for 10 min at 350)

1 C coconut

1 C. ground flax seed

1 C. sunflower seeds

salt, vanilla and mini choc chips

REALLY yummy! As soon as I’m finished with this post, I’m going to go grab another and snuggle in with a good book while the house is quiet and everyone is asleep for the night! Enjoy!

If you’re anything like me, you are often the one behind the camera. You are the family photographer because you want to remember these days when your children are growing and changing quickly. With Mother’s Day quickly a little over a month away, I’m offering a special mini session only for mothers and their children. If you’re a Daddy reading this… this is a wonderful gift idea for your wife and honestly, for your children as well. Moms, …. don’t be concerned about how you look or don’t look. That doesn’t matter to your children when they are looking back at photos of their mothers. Seriously, mom’s are the most beautiful women in the world in the eyes of their children. That’s because they see your heart. Your heart is unconditionally loving towards them.. and that’s true beauty. So in honor of the amazing bond between a child and their mother, Mommy & Me mini sessions are being offered.

* session spaces are limited and will fill quickly.

Note… adjustment is being made to the date as May seems to be a better date for most. Please check back soon!  Thank you!

Jill Velicer is a professional photographer specializing in pregnancy, birth, newborn, baby and family photography in the Greater Milwaukee area.

This adorable 8 month old was born early weighing under 4 lbs and look at her 8 months later. SUCH a healthy and thriving and beautiful baby girl (great job Mommy & Daddy)! I can relate to having a teeny baby – our daughter was only 3lbs 15oz (her twin brother was 6lbs 3 oz). I love her thoughtful faces and also her happy and smiley personality. She is really a gorgeous baby with her soft brown hair, blue eyes and creamy skin.

Photographing your baby at milestones is a wonderful idea. This darling is new to sitting unassisted and this is one of the best times to have a session. I recommend a newborn, sitting unassisted and 1 year old session as top priority in your child’s life. Most families then choose a yearly sessions from that point forward.

Thank you SO much for taking a moment to view this sweetie’s session. I so enjoyed meeting her and her family! Have a wonderful day! With gratitude, Jill

Jill is a maternity, newborn, baby and family photographer serving Greater Milwaukee Wisconsin and the surrounding areas.

Our last day in Ethiopia. Kind of difficult to believe. Months of preparation and very busy days and now to imagine it being our last day… sort of crazy. I was ready to get home and see my kids and husband for sure, but also realizing what an amazing journey this had been and how this has been (aside from my wedding day and having the blessing of my children) 7 of the most impactful days of my life so far.

We spent our last day in Dahley, Ethiopia. Daley is a village in the countryside and it is quickly being developed into an area where the wealthy are building their homes nearby. A few of the ladies who had been to Dahley the year prior were stunned to see all the wealthy homes built so quickly. The traditional stick and grass huts are being replaced with the dung/mud/tin homes. The air was amazingly fresh compared to the exhaust-filled streets in Addis Ababa. It was a relief to our eyes and noses and throats to be in fresh air.

We partnered with a group called ‘ 6 Baer Essentials‘ to bring bananas and bread to the children in the school. The school is the turquoise building below. The door on the left is for the young children and the door on the right is for the older children. The rooms are plain except for a chalkboard, some posters on the wall, some long wooden desks and another table with paper and pencils. A room with books and extra tables was to the left off of the photo.

The kids were SO well behaved. Being a former public school elementary teacher, I was seriously thinking that they definitely have a secret to keeping the children so quiet. ha! I complimented them on how nice they listened (and these were 3, 4 and 5 year olds in the young room). We read to them, sang some songs and then played some games before passing out the bananas and bread. The children peeled their banana and carved out the middle of the bread and stuck the banana inside the bread. Voila! Instant ‘banana bread’. Brilliant.

Afterwards we played outdoor games with the children. At one point we had to shoo off a cow from the school year. Here are some photos from our last day

The little girl that is turned around on the right captured my attention with her personality.

* Below, the little girls’ shoes really stood out to me. Such a gorgeous child.

* The little girl on the left was such a little peanut. So teeny. She was shy too. Later on she and I played a little game of tag.

* And this little one was quiet but had ants in her pants. I loved her spunk and her big brown eyes.

We spent some time next with the older class. They were much more outgoing. Such a great sense of humor. Many of the people in Ethiopia focus on relationships and supporting each other emotionally.

How often I saw kids hugging other kids (adults are often the same way), speaking highly of each other, etc. Absolutely the way it should be.

We learned a new windmill/clapping game (I’m not sure of it’s name). This little boy was the grand champion.

Dancing is really an important part of the culture. These 3 little girls did a little dance for us as well.

We also see a lot of older children caring for their younger siblings. This little girl carried her baby sister on her back the entire time keeping her comfortable.

*Photos from the van as we left the village

* Cattle walking in circles to break down the straw

Once we returned to the guest house we packed up our belongings, had dinner together and met for the last time as a group. How bittersweet it was. Many of us are mothers and we missed our husbands and children – and of course we were excited to go home. But, there was an incredible bond that developed with each other. I knew no one from this trip prior to our 2 short team meetings and within a day or two these women became my sisters. I love each of them. They are so precious to me. God perfectly formed our group and we were sad to know that this experience was ending. Our interpreter Aki and our new friend, Joe (from Nebraska) were with us at our last meeting and when Aki spoke to us saying how deeply touched he was to have us wash the feet of the street children and give them shoes (his passion is the street children) it sent us all into tears. He explained ‘God bless you and I hope we meet again. If not in America or Ethiopia, then in Heaven” { insert lots of tears}

At 8pm we loaded into the vans and made our way to the Addis Ababa airport. We had one very ill team member and the airline wasn’t eager to let her on the plane at all. They almost made her stay in Ethiopia. God absolutely took care of her – a medical team from Madison, WI was on our flight (an ER RN and MD) and they put our friend into top concern and monitored her on the flight (and amazingly they let her board the plane). So she was allowed to board and then had a personal ER RN and MD for the trip. Such a blessing by God. No doubt about that. She made it home safely to Virginia!

For weeks after the return home I would wake up from sleeping in the middle of the night and see the faces of the poor people we met – especially those in Korah. It was very strange, but I believe it is because the trip was so impactful on me. I will never ever look at things the same way. I thank God for this amazing trip and absolutely hope and pray I am able to return to Africa in the future. This from a person who was extremely fearful of planes (not afraid anymore – yay!). Given a choice between resting on a beach in the Bahamas or serving the poor… I’d serve the poor in a heartbeat. There is no greater reward than serving others out of love and compassion.

Thank you for following my journey! Thank you for the many of you who prayed, supported financially, encouraged our team, donated shoes to Soles for Jesus and even made meals for my family while I was away. Thank you to my mother in law who helped with my children and for my loving husband for being a single parent for 10 days. Thank you to Diane Studor for the amazing ministry of Soles for Jesus and her humble leadership. Thank you to our team leaders, Sherry Mahnke and Kris Jansen from Soles for Jesus as well. Thank you to my church family at Community Church in West Bend for their amazing support.

My advice to you is to listen to God and when you feel him placing a calling on your heart. Obey him. I had so  much fear and anxiety upon applying for the trip because I strongly dislike planes and also I love being home with my children. I knew he was asking me to go on this trip though and felt very called to go. After SO much prayer the fear in me died. Absolutely died. I was never afraid on this entire trip and that is absolutely God blessing me with courage that I don’t have naturally. If I hadn’t obeyed God, I would never have received this amazing blessing and experience. So, my advice is to just listen, pray, read his Word (bible) and obey the one who knows everything.

Thanks to the LORD, I am filled with much gratitude and joy!  May God bless you,  Jill

Ethiopia

Mommy Talk