This gallery contains 12 photos.
Reese was the perfect model during our session! She definitely hammed it up for the camera! When Reese’s mom first approached me about doing a session, my first thought was Alice in Wonderland. She can totally pull off this vintage, whimsical look. Reese was so fun and easy to work with, and she looked beautiful! [...]
I had the pleasure of meeting this family last year for CC’s one year photo shoot, and it led to me having the opportunity to care for CC on a regular basis and to them joinging our church! So I was excited to hear that they were going to be at the beach during the time that we would be and that they wanted CC’s two-year session there. And depsite all the excitement (i.e. an earthquake and impending hurricane) as well as the fact that CC and her mom had a bad cold, this session was fun! CC did awesome despite the fact that she didn’t feel well, and it was neat to see her in a different environment from where I usually see her. Thank you again, Wicker Family, for having me as your photographer! I really enjoyed our session!
This was such a fun session! Ben is such a funny, active boy, and now the Toler family has Sophia (who is 4 months old). I did Ben’s three-year session over a year ago, but this is Sophia’s first debut! And she’s such an awesome baby. I don’t remember hearing a cry out of her the whole time. 
Thank you, Toler Family, for being so awesome to work with!
Seriously?! Can I just say it was so easy to get baby fever looking at this sweet face!
Ben, this one’s for you! I know your mom wanted a pretty portrait picture, but this is one of my favorites!
I did decide, however, to include this one just for her!
There is a garden in her eyes, where roses and white lilies flow.
– Thomas Campion
Sometimes I wonder what my heart felt before I had children. I don’t remember. What I have in my heart for my girls is infinitely larger than whatever it was before they came to be.
Big Love turns six tomorrow. And while I usually have mixed emotions about her growing older, this year the mourning became a little less…and the celebration a little more. She’s amazing. When I was planning her 6 year session, I had visions of hazy summer light and whispering winds. I envisioned her sitting under a big oak tree on a hill in her dreamy little world because that’s where she often resides. But when it rained the motherload of all rains the evening of her session I simply couldn’t wait another day to do it and so we trekked out to the farm the next morning, the same farm where I took her 5 year pictures last year. And I’m glad (for once) that I let my impatience get the best of me. Not only was it overcast and cooler, but my sweet Big Love created her own hazy summer sunshine and whispering winds. I watched her talk herself into her little world and she let me look in. We talked about hopes and dreams and what she wants to be when she grows up. We talked about the rain and the fog and the different types of grass. She picked grass and made it into different shapes. And it was ever so quiet out there, ever so peaceful. No traffic. No computers or cell phones (gasp! I didn’t even take mine with me). No tv or music. Just us. And it was perfect. And what I got were images of my beautiful 6-year-old growing up little girl. I’m so glad she brought Lovey along too. It’s almost the only thing left that keeps my Big Love…well, little.
You may remember this little one from their their family session a few months back! Well, she just had her first birthday! I was so happy to do this mini session for them to capture this precious little girl at such an important time in her (and her parents’) life! Happy Birthday, sweet Keira!
The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? ~J.B. Priestley
Although I really hesitate to call it a snowy day because there was more slush than snow, all children see is snow. They don’t care if it’s slushy or icy or dirty or beautiful. They only care that when they arose in the morning, their world looked so very different from when they went to bed. But for me, unless it’s a beautiful white snow that makes the world outside quiet and I can cozy up on the couch with something hot and watch movies (only to go outside when I desire), then I’m really not much of a snow person. However, 3 crazy kids+1 large dog+snow+ a mere 1000 square feet of house = the 4 of us bundling up and heading out. And all in all I think our day was pretty successful…despite the fact that my socks were drenched and my feet were numb.
“I want to be a grown up like you,” she said in the dark.
“No you don’t. You want to be a kid forever and ever,” I told her quietly.
“How many years are you, mommy?”
“29.”
“Wow, I definitely want to be that number,” she whispered softly and yawning, almost as if it were this dreamy number where the girl turns into a princess and gets whisked away by the prince. She rubbed her eyes, and I wished her sweet dreams.
And so it has begun, I thought.
It saddens me now, my eagerness to be so grown. I understand now what was so important about my childhood. And I am saddened by this whole process of growing older, not because I don’t want to look older, but because I can’t be younger. Sure, I can still act young and do young things, but I still have to act older. I have responsibilities. Duties. Bills. We spend 15-20 years of our lives trying to be adults. And then we spend at least 40 trying to relive our childhood in any way we can (that is if we had a good one I suppose).
I have been somewhat taken aback recently as I look at myself in the mirror. My face, while fairly wrinkleless, still shows signs of age. I look different from how I picture myself in my head. The other day Baby Love and I found ourselves in the midst of a bunch of high school kids coming to our local college to visit representatives from other colleges. As we both watched them pass, laughing and talking amongst themselves, I found myself desiring to walk amongst them, for in my head, I am still one of them and I on some levels view them on the same playing field of life as me, or vice versa maybe. Yet, they look at me so differently. As they walked, and watched Baby Love play on the bricks, they looked at me like an adult, a mother, perhaps a wife, but most importantly older and not in the same stage of life as them. And honestly, I was not happy with their looking, with what I saw on their faces. It wasn’t mean or hostile. It wasn’t mockery or rudeness. It was simply how I looked at someone my age when I was in high school. And I was sad. And I am sad.
I know my children will do exactly as all children do and have done for centuries. They will play mommy and doctor and teacher. They will desire to do all the things the older children do. They, too, will not be able to see with their eyes open until they are older and it is too late to go back. They will want to grow up.
The thing about childhood is it is the period when we spend our time the best, not squandering it at a computer or in front of a tv, at work or paying bills. It’s the time when we’re freest, the time when we’re best able to explore and learn. It’s a few short years of really enjoying life in its simplest and purest state. And unfortunately, there is absolutely no getting that back. I will always encourage my children to remain children for as long as they can. I refuse to allow our home and our lives to be conducive to inappropriate aging. I know they will grow up, but they don’t need to do it too soon.
A little different today. I couldn’t have a post without a picture! This is actually a collage that I did while at North Carolina School for the Arts in 1996. As you may can see, I had issues with time then too.
There is so much that I’ve learned from having two children as opposed to one. So much that I need to remember in case we ever have another one. So much I just feel the need to share with those that only have one but may have another.
1. If it’s been found in or under the furniture or on the floor and it’s not moldy, it’s probably still edible.
2. Whatever non food product they ate will probably come out the other end eventually.
3. Glade Plug Ins are nontoxic.
4. Siblings fight. As long as no one is bleeding or unconscious, they’re probably fine. Let them fight it out 
They’ll be hugging again in a few minutes.
5. Just go ahead and buy two of everything. The principle of sharing can be taught in other ways.
6. Plates, cups, and eating utensils should all be one color. Less for them to fight over.
7. Someone will be crying at least once a day (usually it’s me)! Especially if you have girls. It’s normal.
8. If giving my kids food off of my plate (because “it tastes better”) gets my kids to eat, so be it.
9. They will do something to surprise and/or embarrass me in public every single time we’re out.
10. Generally whatever that embarrassing thing is will have something to do with me a) not having any money b) not being fair c) yelling “don’t spank me!” at the top of their lungs d) other peoples’ disabilities or e) all four. And it will always be said loudly.
11. It doesn’t matter how many times she tells me she has to pee and we go to the bathroom and she doesn’t go. We still have to go try each and every time.
12. Kids will always suddenly get hungry and thirsty and/or have to go to the bathroom the second you leave the house, even if they’ve eaten or already peed.
13. It is absolutely inevitable that someone will overhear you saying something to your children that will make them want to call social services.
14. You will respond to their glaring stares by offering that they take your child home (while she’s screaming at the top of her lungs and throwing herself on the floor).
15. Traveling anywhere with two or more children is a nightmare. Get used to it.
16. With one child, I would totally take her in to the gas station to pay for my gas, never to leave her in the car alone. With two, I lock them in the car, go pay for gas, grab a few snacks, and pray that they don’t kill each other before I get back.
17. When she says she feels like she’s going to throw up, it’s too late to get her to the bathroom. You’ll just have to clean up wherever it lands.
18. It’s almost always projectile.
19. If you’ve heard your name called 100 times or less in a day, it’s a good day.
20. There are three things that you simply cannot force your child to do: eat, sleep, and be quiet.
21. There will be days when you think a) you wish your name wasn’t “mommy” b) you had a day job (if you’re a stay at home mom that is) c) I would switch with my husband in a heartbeat. d) we are never having any more children.
22. You almost immediately change your mind because despite all the things you’ve learned about being a mom that you kind of wish you hadn’t, it’s still the very best and most important job in the world.
“Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what’s to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn’t have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves… for growing up.”
The Wonder Years
I so did not want this day to come…the day when that sweet tiny little baby is big enough for a real bed. I’m happy. Really I am. I’m so happy that she’s growing up, but I’m also angry that she is. And because I missed and was totally unprepared for her transition from crib to toddler bed/daybed because Bloke did it while I went out one evening, I wanted to make the hugest deal out of Avery getting her first big girl bed with big girl bedding and most definitely a big girl attitude (good connotations here)! I love her so much, and when she tells me she loves me right up to the moon and back, my heart melts and feels like it will explode. I want to remember the first time she slept in this bed, the first time I finally accepted that, while she will always be my baby, she most certainly is a little girl, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do or want to do about it.
Ben recently turned three! I had so much fun following him around on our photo session and really capturing who he is – ALL BOY! He is so lively and active and he certainly gave me and his mom a workout! He is such a sweet and fun boy. Thank you, Allison, for letting me capture your sweet little boy! I had a great time getting to know you (and Ben) better
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