The other night, I turned off my desktop, grabbed my favorite blanket, and popped my head into the boys’ room to check on them before heading down to bed. When I looked in on them, the flashlight on my phone illuminating their innocent little faces (yes! I’m totally the mom who will use a flashlight to check on her kids!), I was greeted with the same sweet sight that I have seen every single night since Henry ditched his crib for a twin sized bed: Max and Henry bundled up in the same bed, a mess of limbs and blankets and long hair sprayed across pillows. Max’s legs were squished flat against Henry. Henry, sleeping on his stomach, had melted his entire body into Max and, watching him breath, I could see that he was totally and completely content. They both were.
Smiling hard, I backed out of the room, turned off my phone’s flashlight, and shut their bedroom door. When I pulled the door close, this little door knob hanger – a Do Not Disturb Sign for kids that Max scooped up somewhere – got caught in the door and, as I pulled it out, I was hit with the most bittersweet and unexpected wave of nostalgia. I remember putting door knob hangers on my door when I was a child. I remember my mom coming in to check on me every night. I remember snuggling up with my sister in our shared bed, limbs and hair spread across blankets and sheets and pillows. And my kids? They are in that phase of life right now: The phase where their whole life revolves around their family and each other and playing their hearts out, too. And as I straightened that Do Not Disturb Sign? I felt this overwhelming rush about how fast time is passing by.
Right now, my kids still want to sleep in the same bed every night but Max is six years old and, the older he gets, the more privacy he’ll want. And at some point? They won’t even share the same bedroom! My kids won’t always be wild haired boys. They’re going to phase out of this stage of life just like they phased out of their babyhood. They’re going to be adolescents and teenagers and men. They’re going to be men who fight for their idea of a wonderful world and, in that silly Mom Moment where I straightened an alien themed Do Not Disturb door knob hanger as I headed to bed, all I could think was this: The future is coming for us and it is coming so fast.
Right now, though, it’s 2016! And in 2016 my family looks like this:
Max loves school and Pokemon and math and drawing and Minecraft. Henry loves dinosaurs and friends and cowboy boots and Victoria and laughing. Andrew loves cooking and Dad Jokes and watching episodes of Drunk History and, every morning, he packs lunches for both of our boys (have I mentioned that my husband is dreamy?). And me? I love being a mom and a photographer and I love books and crocheting and convincing my husband that I need a back rub every single night (don’t all wives need a back rub every night?). But most of all? I LOVE these boys of mine.
We hadn’t taken family pictures since 2014 (!!!) and, y’all, I’m so in love with these images. These are super low key photographs – Lauren and I photographed one another’s families in less than a half hour total and then we edited our own family photographs – and, when we took these, I arrived at The Maude Wall straight from photographing an in-home family session. The day before, Andrew and I had photographed Anna and Jimmy’s wedding and my face was puffy from lack of sleep and I still (!) need to loose, like, five hundred pounds and my kids were basically wild animals during the session and Andrew has never needed a haircut so bad in the entire time that I have known him. And yet? These photographs are PERFECT and I adore every single one.
How cute is my sweet family, y’all?! I’m so thrilled to share these with you!
Have I mentioned that my boy Henry is a ham? Love these!! Thank you, Lauren!
These next photographs on the steps are my very favorite. I love the mischievous sparkle in Max’s eye and the way Henry was amping up the charm! Also, my husband is cute.
After the boys burnt out on posing for photographs (which took a whopping ten minutes – ha!), Lauren took a few photographs of just me and Andrew and I love them. Not gonna lie though: When we started this part of the session, I started to turn into a super boss. I am so used to bossing couples around that, initially, I started putting us into poses and then I realized real fast that, because I couldn’t see us, I actually had no idea what I was doing. So! I stopped sassing and let Lauren do her thing instead and I love these photographs of the two of us so much.
Life with this man, y’all. It’s never not full of laughs or love. We have SO much love and that, I think, is why I love documenting love for others so much. Because before this guy? I never knew it was possible to be so in love or so loved by another person. Also, he bought me my first DSLR right after we were married and he has been my biggest cheerleader since the very beginning. Without him, I never would have become a photographer (or a mom!) and, basically, this guy is the very best of all of the best… and he’s going to love that I gushed about him all over this blog, too. Ha! I love you, Andrew!
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Love your family photos!!!! You guys are just too cute!!!!