Are you a mom? Then this is for YOU!

Roll call!! Where are all of the mom’s out there? Raise your hand if you’re knee deep in diapers, potty training, nursing, washing bottles, chasing a toddler or two, picking up toys, endless laundry, stepping on Legos in the dark and attempting not to scream, dealing with a little one that has a new bed with new freedom and you can’t keep them in bed at night, nightmares that cause you to lay in bed with your child until they fall back asleep. Does this sound familiar???

As a mom myself, I GET IT! We’re all in different seasons of parenthood. Whether your little is still nursing round the clock, or you’ve just sent your child to school for the first time…we’re all moms and that in itself is HARD! We constantly put everyone else first, and that can become exhausting.

As a photographer, too many mothers I meet before their session says something along these lines: “I LOVE having pictures of my kids, but I DON’T want to be IN the pictures, they’re much cuter.” Or “I’m not quite ready for pictures, I want to lose ten more pounds so can you hide me behind my kids?” Or “We haven’t had family pictures since the baby was born two years ago because I can’t bring myself to step in front of a camera.” Or “Why don’t you just focus on my kids, and NOT me?” Every one of these statements breaks my heart!!!

Think about it this way: You’ve spent most of your life (or at least the last several years) raising, nurturing, teaching, and paying for things for your children in one capacity or another; you’ve enabled them to grow into amazing members of society who are respectful and loving! Congrats, you did the best thing for them, and created THE BEST life ever…but now that they’re older and raising their own children they have NO idea what their mom looked like when they were two, or three, or eighteen?! They can’t understand why there are zero family pictures from their most loved family vacation. It’s the best memory they have from childhood and they’ve just realized that the only photo memories they have don’t include YOU, the woman who played such an important role in their life! Doesn’t that sound sad? Do you want this to be your situation in ten, fifteen, twenty years?

The biggest challenge for most women is feeling comfortable in their skin again after they have children. I’ve lived that myself, so I totally understand! Creating life changes EVERY single thing about you, and every mom I know admits that they wouldn’t take any of it back just for the “body they had before”.

I say all of this to every woman reading this because its a huge goal of mine to get moms to realize that your babies/tweens/teenagers/adult children DO NOT CARE if you haven’t finished losing “the baby weight”, or if you’ve had a rough year and you look a little heavier than you used to, or if you’ve dealt with sickness and you’re thinner than you wish you were, or you’re self-conscious about your arms. They LOVE you and want you IN the pictures! They want you to chase them, tickle them, hug them, kiss them, and love them in those pictures.

For me, I’m a mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, and a granddaughter…I love nothing more than to look at old pictures of my family and enjoy what their life was and still is and show them to my children. PLEASE don’t let minor insecurities deter you from stepping in front of a camera for 30 minutes at least once a year!! You will regret the moments you didn’t capture while you’re in the trenches of raising your family. That time is fleeting and will never come back, and sadly, as much as you want to freeze time we can’t.

It’s my hope that every woman that’s read this post is now thinking, “you know what…she’s right! There is nothing stopping me from booking a session for the spring.”

Maybe you’d like to schedule a salon appointment for the same day as your session so that you feel 1000%, that’s perfectly fine! We can all admit that hair stylists are magicians and enable our hair to do things that we cannot even dream of. The next step might be that you’re not sure what to wear? Guess what…I’ve got you covered!! Check out my What TO wear in a photo session blog post right HERE.

So moral of the story…love yourself, love your family, and love them enough to stand in front of the camera so that you’re IN your precious photos!!