This morning at 2:22am tiny little Charlie Esterly entered the world! All 5lbs 10oz and 18inches of him! In Kentucky no less, and I was able to make it in plenty of time to capture the amazing event!

Witnessing a birth is always miraculous, but there is something just that much more special when you see your friends become parents for the first time! The tears streaming down my face made focusing difficult this morning for sure!

I am thrilled for Tony and Lauren and I can’t wait to head back to the hospital tonight to capture Tony’s parents meeting their first grandchild, to capture first moments tomorrow (after Lauren has had a bit of time to rest) and to do Charlie’s newborn session when he comes home later this week!

I’m fairly exhausted after just a few hours sleep so I will talk more about my trip later… for now enjoy Charlie’s very first photos!

This was the “we’re going to start pushing” excitement! HA!

I can’t wait to share more of little Charlie this week…