A little preface before the introduction to this family: **This session is a little bit different than my usual session. My vision, my goal, my heart, what lights me up is showing mothers the beauty in their everyday. Sometimes it is so hard to see how important and how meaningful it all is when you are in the thick of diaper changes, growth spurts, spit up, and temper tantrums. I feel called to show mothers how valuable and important all of these little moments with their children are, to show them what a great job they are doing and how much it means to their children. In no way does that mean that I don't see and know the value that fathers bring to the family and to their children's life. My husband is my son's hero and nothing about his life would be nearly as good without him being a part of it. However, being a mother myself, having many mom friends, I know that in general we are harder on ourselves than the guys are on themselves. I'm not saying we should be, but if we're being honest with ourselves, we usually are.

While my main focus remains the relationship between mothers and their children, there are times when a family wants a A Day in the Life session, a session that includes everyone. I love Day in the Life sessions and I am totally open to doing them. I am honestly so happy and honored to document the moments of a day that are part of a family's life. This beautiful family below is one of those families.**

Immediately upon meeting Jenna at a Mompreneur meet up at Honey in Ferndale, I knew I liked her. Her energy was so genuine and positive and she was so easy to talk to. A moment later I was fortunate enough to experience that same energy coming from this adorable little blue eyed lady, Jenna's daughter Myka. As she started to interact with me I started to feel very special because this adorable little girl, who didn't know me, seemed to love me. After talking a bit more with Jenna I found out that this is how Myka always is, she is a HAPPY baby. (I still felt special, why ruin that;) ) After spending time with Jenna and Adam at their house, it is easy to see why Myka is so amazing. She is adored by both of her parents who have such an easy going and calm energy. And I mean look at these pictures, this is an adorable family!

Jenna and Adam, it was such a joy to come and spend time with you in your home and to witness and capture your moments. I can't wait til we do it again next year ;) Thank you, thank you!

xo, Shelley

Lately, I have been posting mostly slideshows from sessions, but historically this blog has been both a mix of my personal photos and happenings and also what I'm doing professionally. I plan to continue sprinkling in personal posts a little more often, because I love having a place to record bits and pieces of our life and share them. As you can imagine, I have so many pictures of our little man. (SO MANY!) However, lately I haven't been getting my camera out as much at home or keeping up on editing the images when I do. One of the reasons that I include an album with every session is because I know that even I don't get things printed like I intend to. I'm looking at and working on photos all the time and have accounts at many professional labs and don't do it! I am vowing to work on my own families pictures a little more often and to share some of them with all of you. 

I am not often in these pictures because I am the one making them, but they still are important to me. AND, we have hired two different photographers this year to come and take our pictures, so I am taking care of the issue of me not being in the photos. I am so excited!

These are from a walk on one of the days recently when it was kind of decent outside for a Michigan winter day. People have always told me I have a lot of expression in my face. I think that maybe my kid takes after me. What do you think?

Let me tell you a little about Natalie and Shai, I am in love with the beauty and the twin-ness (yeah, I'm making up words) of these two, but even more so, I'm in love with their moments. Not that I didn't notice it while I was there, I did, but when I was sitting at my computer editing this session I couldn't get over how often they are gazing at each other and how they are making the same face while doing so! This mama and baby have such a connection you can feel it. And it isn't all beauty and no brains over there. Make sure while you are watching the slideshow that you keep an eye out for the hilarious faces and gestures Shai makes, I was actually laughing out loud while going through these images. It is obvious that Natalie is raising a strong and independent little lady who is going to make us all proud. She goes from expressing exactly what she wants in one photo and then in the next she's gazing at her mama with such love. It was such a pleasure to capture all of these moments.

Natalie, thank you for having me and welcoming me into your beautiful home. I look forward to watching your little lady grow up :)

xo

To see more

Instantly, I LOVED watching the relationship between Connor and Nora. Conner is so attentive and caring towards Nora and both of them are so loving towards each other. They already have such a great relationship at such young ages. I think this is a testament to the wonderful mama Stacy is and spending time with her, Connor, and Nora in their home was so easy and comfortable. Not to mention their wonderful fur babies, who I'm not afraid to admit, kinda loved me instantly ;) Being the mom of an only child, I am often in awe of moms who balance caring for more than one child and Stacy did so with such ease. Stacy, thank you for welcoming me into your home and allowing me to document your moments of motherhood. xoxo

I hope all you enjoy their slideshow as much as I enjoyed making their pictures!

I am working on a session and I couldn't help but share this one right away. This first one is a very real Moment of Motherhood. I can imagine, especially for a mom of more than one, that this is a regular occurrence. Make sure you notice their hands. LOVE.  More to come soon!

This session is going to be a little bit different than the others I have shared with you so far. One of the most important things to me in doing these sessions is that what I capture is a true representation of what each mothers time is like with her child or children on a daily basis. That the beauty and worth of this time right now is captured and preserved, before it is gone. I want for mothers to see, right now, how amazing they are with their children, how funny some of the moments are, and how at every session there is at least one moment where the mom is making a face while looking at a child that says something like "are you serious?!" Seeing each others sessions shows us that we are all alike, we are all great mothers and we all, hilariously, have moments where we might roll our eyes or make an "are you kidding me face?!"  So what is different about this session? None of that. Jenny is gorgeous and Gabriel adores her and looks up at her with love and anticipation (I love that look!). I teared up at least once while photographing them, just like I have with every other session.

What's different here is that you are going to see Dad in some of the pictures. Jenny and Gabriel get to see and spend time with Ian throughout the day because he works from home. He takes breaks from his work to come out and spend time with and play with Gabriel and be with both of them. Their Moments of Motherhood involves Ian being a part of their daytime routine. My vision for my work comes from a place of being a mother, of feeling like sometimes what I do is monotonous and not that important, from knowing that it really is though, and realizing I see and notice all of this in other mothers with their children. It is still so important to me that I show that to other mothers, that I give them a slice of this time with their children and show them their worth. It was never because I don't think dads totally rock, because they do. My husband is proof of that. And it is obvious that Gabriel adores Ian and that he is proof of that. Mothers are still my primary focus. But, that doesn't mean that I don't ever want to capture the whole family or that I am going to leave out big parts of their day because Dad might be in the picture. Just like in motherhood, everything is a learning experience. You expand and grow and open your heart to new ideas, new understandings. It sometimes humbles you and makes you rethink how you approach something. That is true here too. For Jenny and Gabriel, this is their Moments of Motherhood. 

 xo to all three of you, thank you for having me. I truly loved my time with your family.