Little Rose is sleeping soundly so I thought I’d share a few things in my free time.

Family of Three. If you missed it or are new to our little space here, we recently welcomed our daughter, Rose Svitlana, into the world on February 14. We are now officially a family of three and loving every minute with her. Yes, even the exhausted 3am feedings. And 6am…and…you get the idea.

2015/2016 Weddings. I’ve had a few people ask me if we’re going to continue photographing weddings now that Rose has arrived. Absolutely! We are currently booking weddings for 2015 and 2016. So, looking forward to our first wedding this May!

Maternity Leave. Though Vitaliy is already back to work, all weddings and engagement shoots will resume mid-April when I return from maternity leave. I will, however, have limited office hours to return emails, blog, and meet with potential wedding clients. During this transition, Vitaliy has fulfilled one of his personal goals and has done some commercial work which he has enjoyed.

Referrals. Towards the end of last year, Vitaliy and I did some research on our business. It turns out the majority of our wedding referrals come from word of mouth. This shouldn’t have surprised me seeing that we have the best family, friends and clients. So, we want to thank you again for always putting in a good word for us. We continue to welcome your referrals as you have brought the best wedding clients into our lives and given us the opportunity to do what we love.

Make Marriage Happen. We believe in art and in marriage and pursue both here at Pictilio. Last year I started the Make Marriage Happen series on our blog which highlighted a different theme each month. It’s our sincere desire to make our marriage happen and to encourage any others in the process. So, I plan on continuing to develop this series, but it will look a little different than last year. I have invited two people to share about marriage while I’m out on maternity leave. Their stories will be up in the next few weeks. I can’t wait to introduce them to you!

As I think back on 2014, I remember being so afraid of starting a family, specifically being pregnant during a wedding season. But I did it! And now I face a new challenge of managing motherhood and our business. I’m taking it one day at a time with an open mind eager to learn one step at a time. As of now, my main goal each and every day is feeding this new life God has blessed me with. Anything on top of that is just an added bonus – like this blog post!

I cannot believe that today is the last day of the year. 2014 seems to have flown by! But in reality, they all do.

Vitaliy and I spent some time recapping our year and began a new set of powersheets to make goals for 2015. One of the questions in the worksheets asks you to name three of the best days of your life. The three days that I wrote down were all days that completely changed the trajectory of my life. I expect 2015 will have one such day when we welcome our new son or daughter. I am so looking forward to that day!

There are so many more thoughts I wanted to get down on paper and share with with you here, but I’m going to keep it short and sweet today. I’m weathering a cold right now, coupled with third trimester discomforts, so I’m going to go climb back in bed and force my body and mind to simply rest.

We want to wish each and every one of you a very, very HAPPY NEW YEAR! We are so thankful for all of our friends and family, our clients, and each one of you that follows along on this little space here on the interwebs.