These Memories to Last a Lifetime
Today I am letting you in on a very personal journey. It's something I don’t talk about much but must be said, so very often, especially to new moms.
When I became a Mom 10 years ago, I was so madly in love with his little human who called me home. She was the center of my universe. All days and hours revolved around her. Nothing else mattered!
So while I was truly and deeply in love with this precious little thing, I did not recognize the person I saw in the mirror. She was so far removed from what my life was before the baby. It was a constant reminder that I did not look or feel the way I did just a few months ago.
So I did what most new moms do, avoided getting in the photographs with my baby until I had my body back(my eyes just returned from their roll!)! Am I right?
All the special occasions, many of the firsts came and went and apart from a customary family picture, I kept waiting to get a portrait with my daughter, because I was not ready yet!
I wish I could tell you, after the first Mother’s Day without a Mother-Daughter portrait I regained my senses and discarded this notion of “perfect body image” and went with the flow. I wish I had known then how much I would miss the pictures I am not taking with my baby.
But I didn’t!
Now, there is no clear path in my mind, maybe I realized the time was slipping or my baby was growing up with lightning speed, but somewhere, I started to feel a shift in me and started getting more in pictures with her. Above is my very first Mother’s day portrait with her when she was 4 years old! Yes! It took me that long!
Since then I have made sure to get in the frame with my babies more. I also get one portrait of just me and the kids as a Mother’s Day gift to myself every year. It's a beautiful keepsake and such a cute reminder of how quickly they are growing up!
I am also acutely aware that this Mother’s Day portrait tradition won’t last long. In a few years the max I will get of my babies is a phone call on Mother’s Day. But until then, I will hold them close and cherish their little smiles and warm hugs.
