E L L E N Z I L L A photography: welcome to the world baby judah!

Welcome to the world, Baby Judah! We love you so much already!

Yesterday one of my best friend's and her awesome boyfriend welcomed their first son into the world. He was originally due just after the new year (on my Mom's birthday, to be exact!), but that little bundle of joy grew so quickly and decided that he was going to go by his own rules, and came yesterday at exactly 6:24 pm (I know because me and the God Mother, Whitney, had our ears pressed up against the door like some serious stalkers :) but being stalkerish was worth it! we got to hear his VERY first cry! that little cry, made us ALL cry!) This cutie weighed in 7 pounds, 10 ounces, and measured up to be 20.5 inches long. We are pretty convinced this apple of mom's eye is going to grow up to be a basketball player! Or possibly just a really, really, really tall musician. We shall see, eh?

I am so beyond in love with this tiny little nugget of a human. I took his picture at almost exactly 3 hours old, and already he was staring into my camera (more likely because he was thinking what is this black blurry giant thing in my face?) and his eyes just melted my heart! I couldn't stop smiling the rest of the night! Kenda brought him into the world 100% naturally, and though I've always known Kenda is one of the strongest women that I know.. that just made my admiration for her go through the roof. I like to think of myself as a very strong woman, but I really don't know if that is something that I could do. And to see her bright eyes and smiling face shortly after really floored me. Wow, Kenda is AMAZING, I thought. I am so beyond proud of her. To me, Kenda is like a wonder woman of her very own. And dad Ryan has been such a great supporter for her the entirety of her pregnancy. Both he and Kenda are such strong individual personalities, and don't ever pretend to be someone they are not. I really can't wait to watch baby Judah and develop his own personality, and to watch my friends be the amazing parents I know they will be. I can't wait for him to realize later in life what great parents he was born to.

And I have to say... I think Judah may be one of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen! His face melts my heart! Isn't he PERFECT?!!! I hope he loves his auntie as much as his auntie loves him :)

Okay, now for more photos! I took all of these at the birthing center just after he was born. Some are of family and God Mother waiting and listening for what was happening, and others are of that teenie tiny baby Judah :) These photos make me so happy! So glad I could be there for the whole thing!

I love you Kenda! Hope you enjoy the photo memories :)