Friday Frames // Dear Moms

Dear Moms,

I never thought I wanted to be one of you. Your job is hard, messy and not at all glamorous. I was young, immature, way to cool for kids until I met my husband and got married, we wanted to start a family. I was so scared. What if we weren't "us" anymore?  Having my son Teag (like League) was this immeasurable experience. Everything that was once important stops cold.  Your priorities shift. You live life for a whole new reason, that little human. Becoming a mom made my life complete, whole, worthy. It's everything I ever wanted but never knew it. Then I got pregnant with my second son, Cooper, I was even more scared. "It won't be just the three of us anymore".  I laugh at my old self now. I am nothing if I am not a mom to these boys. I have never been so challenged, so pushed, so full of love. They make me remember how to be silly, how to be lazy, how to build forts and watch cartoons in bed until 10 am. Everyday is a new adventure, (tonights adventure was hot lava carpet and your only safe to stand on pillows! ) They make me the adult which was new to me. They need me 110% of the time, so "me time" has a whole new meaning. Being a mom has cut me down to size,  made me humble, worried, paranoid and even crazy at times.  Dear moms, how do we do it? How do we not do it?  I have had the pleasure to meet many many extraordinary moms in this job. I see the way the look at their children I think "I know exactly how she feels".  Every mother / son dance I let the tears roll, "that will be me someday" I think to myself. I think the best lesson I learned from being a mom is how to be Thankful. Thankful for every single sunrise. Thankful those boys wake up in the morning. Thankful they are healthy and can run and play and fight. Thankful they make piles of laundry and dishes. Thankful for all the toys, the whining and the hugs. Being a mom has taught me to be Thankful for every single day that I get to wake up to them. Everything else falls to the way side. That's a pretty big lesson I learned and It has changed the way I look at life.  Dear Moms, Thank you for allowing me into your club. You are all amazing. You are all glamorous. 

Dear boys, If I know what love is, it is because of you. 

Friday Frames // Deep Breath

It's no secret I have a lot on my plate, I always worked better under pressure for some reason, I used to work in an Operating Room at a hospital and I would hand over supplies "stat" and I thrived during those times, the downtime is where I struggled. So it's no surprise that I find a balance for work-life, home-life and photography-life.  I know I am a broken record when I say, you find time in your life for things you love, but it's true. If you love something you'll find time whether it's a person, a hobby, a sport, work, party, etc. We're all busy in life but we find time. This year has been probably my biggest year yet, but I never felt out of control (minus October,damn you)  I found a good balance but I had to subtract something I like to do to continue something I love to do. I cut out family & senior sessions to shoot weddings. You can imagine it's not an easy week to work all day and then rush to a family session, shoot it and get home by 6-7pm to spend very little time with your children before bed. It just didn't fit anymore. Traveling miles one way to a 30 min session just stopped making sense to me. (When available I do still travel for engagement sessions when you book a wedding with me) I have had a lot of interest in sessions and it really pains me to let past clients down or see them go elsewhere.  My response to them is "I do limited sessions, at my home and as available".  No more travel and no more scrambling my family around. Once a year I do hope to add mini-sessions to the schedule, like I did this weekend. I have a full schedule Saturday & Sunday! 

Thank you all for your support, for following my work, for your "likes" and commenting and feedback (I can't express enough how much I love feedback) thanks for sharing my page with others and recommending me and most of all for understanding that I can't do it all , as much as I would love to be superwoman ;)

I took the day off the other day to take a deep breath,  do nothing and shoot my very favorite subject at the apple orchard, scored some yummy honey crisp and pumpkins. These two are the reason for the reduction in sessions. As you can see these two are my whole life, the cutest boys on earth and I love them more than my next breath.