I have wavered back and forth on how I would capture our daily life for a long time. For one, I would love to look back and see what my kids did day after day when they were little. But two, there are lots of hard moments in this stage of life. I kept thinking “Do I really want to look back on this and remember things like: 1) Declan following me around and biting my heels because he wants to nurse {True Story! I just can’t make these things up} 2) missed naptimes 3) kids who inherently stop doing something cute as soon as I grab the camera?” This list could go on… but in the end I decided to capture it all. I DO want to remember this time, I want to be able to look back and see where God worked in our lives, where He carried us through the hard days. I don’t care if it take 20 pictures of a kid crying to get just one of their precious smile. Motherhood is definitely the highest highs and the lowest lows, but the highs make is soooo worth the lows.
I never realized that committing to be a stay at home mom would be the hardest job I’ve ever had (and I’ve had my share of jobs). I never realized what it truly meant when people said “It takes a village”. I never so badly wanted to be surrounded by family; but there was no family close by to come be my voice of sanity in the middle of the week. And I’ve never so badly wanted to just be able to snuggle with these two precious kids, keep them little, and protect them forever. I ended up doing a daily project to try to remember all these “I’ve never’s…” And to make sure I never forget how important it is to help the younger generation of mothers as my children grow. I know that right now I can’t be the person to bring meals, work in the nursery, babysit, and do laundry for those who are so sleep deprived; but one day I will. Somehow writing it, documenting it, will help me remember. I can honestly write this blog post because I feel like my husband and I are finally coming “out of the trenches”. I have not nursed in the middle of the night for 3 nights, and I am finally starting to have some coherent thoughts again. I say starting to, because one look at my writing and you can tell I have a long way to go! I may have just jinxed myself, too.
And don’t get me wrong; I love my kids. They’re adorable, lovely, have amazing hearts, and so “squishable”. But raising kids is hard work, and even with all that hard work you still manage to mess up all.the.time. I am so thankful for my ever so wonderful friends (you know who you are) so we can play with our squishable kids together! And do some messing up together too…
So here it is. I didn’t even make it to bedtime because we had to run off to a photo session and church for the evening. The light was stinky on the day I chose to do this, but I went for it anyways. These are all with my new 35L lens 🙂 Early on the kids were tired of the camera, and many perfect moments happened in horrible light. I’ll have to pick another day to do our nighttime routine, but I am just thankful I snapped as many as I did! My favorite from the day as at the bottom 🙂
And truly, this is my favorite. Declan being fussy from waking too early from his nap, but finding comfort with his daddy.
Wise and Silly Owls 