It has been almost two months since the 23-year-old Yesenia Aguilar was killed by a drunk driver who lost control of her vehicle and drove into the pregnant mother on August 11.
While Aguilar was killed almost instantly, her baby, later named Adalyn Rose, was miraculously alive. The infant is now happy and healthy, as seen in the photoshoot along with her father.
Just after Adalyn’s 1-month birthday, photos were taken by Grisel Leyva of X&V Photography. Leyva had previously taken photos of both Yesenia and her husband, James Alvarez, for a maternity shoot in July.
The couple was out on a walk prior to the devastating loss.
At around 7:30 p.m. on August 11, 40-year-old Courtney Pandolfi suddenly lost control of her Jeep along a road in Anaheim, California, according to police. In just seconds, it veered off road and onto the sidewalk, striking Aguilar and just missing her husband. The driver is facing multiple charges, including one felony count of murder.
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Aguilar died after being transported to UC Irvine Medical Center. She was 35 weeks pregnant at the time.
And on September 23, he took his baby girl to be photographed by Leyva — which his wife had originally planned to do after giving birth. The photos have since gone viral.
“James and I had a plan of poses we wanted to capture and our goal was to honor Yesenia in each pose,” Leyva shared with CafeMom. “We did that by using her makeup (she was going to school for cosmetology), wedding veil, her picture, favorite flowers, favorite blanket, and using pink for some photos for the color of her maternity dress.”
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The photographer revealed how the mood was positive and happy as the photos were taken — the ultimate goal being to honor Yesenia in each and every photo.
Alvarez revealed to Good Morning America how his little girl is doing well and he is thankful he was able to take a year off from work at a law firm to take time taking care of the newborn.
“My daughter, she’s the last gift that my wife gave me, she’s a blessing and a miracle,” the 36-year-old father shared.
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