There's quite a bit for me to catch you up on!

At the end of the school year I spent time during nine different days documenting at Milo's school. I have been going through and working on the thousands of photos and I am loving the pictures I made while there. I am so happy that he is at the school he is at, it is such a good fit for our parenting and our family. The slideshow I am sharing below is such a good representation of what a day in his school is like. Watching it has brought happy tears to most of the moms who have seen it. (myself included of course) If you know me, you know that to me that is a success. I love you ladies!

I also recently, had a Day in the Life session, photographed the birth of my nephew, spent a couple of days with my photography mentor the amazing Kirsten Lewis in Denver, photographed two families there, came home and two days later spent Sunday at an all day retreat with the equally amazing Natalie Fuoco of The Designed Life and five other inspiring women, and then last night I met up with another group of inspiring small business owner women at The Spark Collaborative's monthly Happy Hour event.

It has been an inspiring and fulfilling few weeks!

I think now it might be time to plan to go camping, head to the beach with Milo, and maybe visit our friends while they vacation in North Carolina. 

Omg, you guys, I loved this family and this session. I was so happy going through the images and had the hardest time narrowing down their images for their slideshow because I loved so many of them. The whole family made it easy to be there and for me to become engrossed in capturing their moments. When I first arrived at their house Shay was napping still so I got quite a bit of time with just Leora and Adi. Let me tell you, Adi is awesome. She is full of personality and seriously just a kid you want to hang out with. She is confident, funny, and herself without reservations. Exactly how all of us adults aspire to be!  Shay is a sweet baby boy who is so obviously madly in love with his mama. You can see how at ease and happy he is in her arms. This has been one of the great things for me to witness over and over again. Mamas your kiddos ADORE you, each of you, there is no exception. We (me included) get so caught up in what we are doing that we start to miss how they look at us and look TO us. I am here to give us a record of these moments. It is a purpose I am so happy to fulfill. 

Leora, you have some happy & fun kiddos. It was an honor to witness your family's love and your kiddos joy. Thank you for having me. xoxo

Toward the end of their session Dad came home and we quickly did some relaxed portraits. If you feel like you are really loving the idea of a documentary session, but keep thinking, "but I'd love just a couple of us all together", let me know and we can totally make that happen. Of course my favorites from this are still what some might call the "outtakes." I'm especially loving how mom and dad are looking at each other in the third one. <3

Milo recently turned five. FIVE! I love seeing how he changes as he gets older, how much he surprises us with the things he understands and says. We are in awe of how imaginative, strong, loving, and funny he is. We are those parents who can't believe how cool we think our kid is. But I’ll be honest, five is a BIG KID number and it kind of made me miss my baby a bit. My little guy I wore everywhere and nursed for years the one who wouldn’t sleep unless he was touching me and who totally tried to say I love you back one time when he wasn’t even talking yet. I found myself crying and sad and having so many feelings I didn’t quite know what to do with them.

On the eve of Milo’s birthday, after making his cakes, both blueberry and chocolate, and wrapping his presents, I went up to bed feeling a bit melancholy. Thinking I would watch a show or read a book to take my mind off of how I was feeling, I got into bed. Tim was still downstairs, so I was alone in our room. I ended up just sitting there for a bit, in the spot where five years before I was in labor, where I was at the beginning of my biggest dream coming true (and the beginning of the pain, I’m still real about it). I am a sappy human, if you know me, you know. So I was there, feeling all the feelings.

Every night Milo goes to sleep in his own bed, but ends up crawling into bed with us somewhere between 12am and 4am. It’s something Tim and I welcome him doing for as long as he wants to. He comes into our room all slowly, eyes barely open, if at all, and often grinning. I usually hoist him over my body and he curls up between us and falls right back to sleep. I found myself wishing that Milo were already in bed with me, but it was too early and I didn’t want to go get him and wake him. Plus I do like a little time to myself where he isn't cuddling me so closely you'd swear he was trying to crawl back into my body. At the very moment I was thinking about how much I’d love for him to be there, in he came, earlier than he ever does. He came in in his usual fashion, slowly and sweetly, but instead of wanting me to pick him up and put him in bed next to me, he crawled up and into my lap and fell right back to sleep. It was like he KNEW, he FELT it too. The universe knew exactly what I needed and delivered. It's hard for me to even express how this felt. Exactly five years from the time he was preparing to leave my body and join me and Tim, he sensed what I was feeling, or maybe in his sleep he was feeling the same, I don't know. Whatever the reason, however it happened, he knew. I held my baby, my almost five year old baby for the longest time. I soaked up his smells and basked in the feeling of our connection and how much I love him. Eventually I decided I was ready to go to sleep too and moved him over next to me, but I think otherwise he may have stayed there all night. 

iphone selfie of us on the eve of his birthday. 

I am overdo with sharing this session (and a couple others) with you!! Over spring break we all had some kind of virus that basically kicked our a$$es for two full weeks. I am playing catch up now, which isn't all bad. Being sick sucked, don't get me wrong, but there were some wonderful moments of love and cuddles, and down time that our little family seemed to really need. And the upside to trying to squeeze more work into less time is that it feel good in a way to get more done. And it's so fun to edit through these sessions and see all of your moments. 

It's not always easy finding the harmony that works for each of us, balancing motherhood with working or with caring for ourselves and our other relationships, but it helps me a little to try and find something I appreciate in each thing that happens. I am working on finding my balance, my appreciation. I am working on my limiting beliefs about time and how there never seems to be enough of it. I know rationally that this does not have to be my truth! Figuring out how to change this for myself is a journey and I am loving it. I am a true believer that having children is the best window into who we really are and if we allow it to it will open our eyes to see where we need the most work. Don't worry, I'm still normal, and totally lose my shit first sometimes or start to feel overwhelmed.... I just know it's not where I want to be.

That was totally not on purpose, but I think that is a perfect segway into Ashley's session. Ashley is not only a gorgeous mama with two adorable sons, a very nice husband, and a sweet dog, she is a mama who really seems to roll with the punches and enjoy the little moments. You can totally see that in these images. Make sure you notice when Logan is painting at the kitchen counter. The faces Ashley makes are perfect! There is so much love in this family and Logan is hilarious. I love seeing all of the little things that kids do that seem SO silly, but that we don't think about day to day because they're just always doing them and Logan delivered big time. 

Thank you Ashley because just watching you with the boys was a reminder to me to let the little stuff go, to remain calm, to enjoy our children being children. Your boys are lucky to have you as their mama and will benefit so much from these qualities you bring to parenting them. Thanks for having me and allowing me a peek into your Moments of Motherhood.  xoxoxo 

Watch the slideshow below! 

The first time I met Marisa I was a very new mom who was struggling greatly with breastfeeding. I was in tears with each and every feeding and I was reaching out everywhere I could think of for help because I was not ready to give up. Marisa saw my message and offered to come over that evening to help me. I remember being in shock. "You will come over now?!" Typing this brings tears to my eyes remembering about my struggle, but also her kindness and willingness to go the extra mile to help another mama. She made me promise not to clean or worry about the house and showed up that evening with her youngest (who is now the her middle daughter) in tow. She sat with me and helped me try and figure out why we might be having such a hard time. I will never forget her kindness and the kinship from a fellow mama I had never met. 

Fast forward almost five years and now I have been privileged enough to spend time with her and her three daughters capturing their moments. My impression of Marisa has always been that she parents with ease and is not easily rattled by her children. There is a calm to being in their house. She takes each moment with them in stride and you can see that she truly enjoys watching them each be and become who they are meant to be. Those are three lucky ladies to have a mama like Marisa.

Marisa, thank you for having me! I hope that I get to capture you and your three daughters as they continue to grow and become the amazing women that I know they will be. I also plan to come back and spend some time with you guys on that amazing property that you have ;) 

One of the things that's so great about doing Moments of Motherhood and Day in the Life Sessions, is that I get to see how much people love their kids. Of course we all assume and hope that parents love their children, but to see it in person, to FEEL it, is such a privilege and I am so thankful that this is such a part of my work. I get to see and capture people loving their kids, and their kids loving them. I get to forever preserve that love in these moments of time, when children are small, when families spend a lot of time together, these times that change so quickly, and then I get to give these moments to these families for them to have forever. I can't express to you how much I love that. 

Watching Andria and Troy with Declan was extra fun for me, because they reminded me so much of me and Tim with Milo when Milo was that age. You can see that they are obsessed with Declan, in the best way and he's this little guy who is just so sweet and full of love. Normally their days consist of Andria and Declan being home while Troy goes to work, so we started with a Moments of Motherhood session, so that I could capture some of their time together, as it is everyday. Then Troy came home from work a little bit early so that we could get him in some of the pictures too. This is a great idea if you are a mom who wants a Moments of Motherhood session, but also don't want to leave your husband or partner out of the session completely. (I know that they are important too ;))

Thank you Andria and Troy I loved seeing and capturing your families love. And thank you Declan for being the cutest little snuggler and for even allowing me to hold and snuggle you a little bit too. That is always a bonus! 

Are you ready to have me come and capture your moments?