So, I’ve been putting off my first blog post for a long, LONG time. This post has been in various stages of “just about to launch”, but I’ve never been able to follow through. Why is that!? I can name a few reasons, but really when it comes down to it, in all honesty, the idea of writing out my thoughts and keeping up with a blog seems so daunting, especially considering everything else I need to juggle as a wife and mother of two young boys . Can I really maintain a blog amongst the diaper changes, dinner making, play dates, grocery runs, and (hello!) my business?!
Like so many of you, I feel like time is always slipping away. Between family, my business, and friends, all the balls I’m juggling feel like they’re about to fall. Why does the one hour that my baby is napping seem to fly by but the hour after dinner just before my boy’s bedtime feel like an eternity!? Seriously?! Ugh. I know some of you must feel this way too!
It really took just one moment for me to look at things differently and realize I need to stop and take a deep breathe. This moment I posted on Instagram on April 11, 2016.
This was the day it dawned on me: I need to document moments, big or small, because I don’t ever want to forget them. And so I wrote on my post: “To remember the day you let me have my morning coffee before you even woke up #heaven.” For me, that morning, the ability to have my coffee (and hot coffee no less!) was so momentous in my world. Theo was two months old and Nicholas was three years.
Sleep was non-existent, so was my sense of self. To have this moment, by myself, quietly, with no pressure to rush or go anywhere, to just wait for my little guy to wake up, felt so, SO good. So, I did what I love to do: I picked up my camera and took the photo. But what was different this time around was a different voice in the back of my head. I wasn’t just taking this photo because it was cute seeing him all bundled up in his bassinette; I was taking it because I wanted to remember the FEELING. I wanted to remember how I felt during the first moments I was able to actually relax for the first time in two months, even if it was only for 15 minutes. It was just enough time to clear the fog and get back at it and tackle the day, because that’s what us Mamas do best.
I’d like to say this was the moment I fell in love with family documentary photography, but it wasn’t. I’ve always been drawn to its ability to make time stand still, for just that moment. That morning in April, I was able to observe and appreciate what was right in front of me all along. It was truly the first time in my life I felt the significance of that raw moment as a mother. It is because of this moment that I knew I needed to follow what was in my heart and help others experience this as well.
Over a year later, I feel confident in my voice as a family documentary photographer and I’m beyond thankful for the support I’ve received from family and friends. I’m so excited for what the future holds!