I met the cutest family this week. They brought me a perfect little girl for newborn portraits and the sweetest big brother you ever did meet. I wonder if Theresa ever wondered, as I did while pregnant with my second, if there was any more room in her heart to love another baby as much as she loved her son. Of course you tell yourself that it most certainly will happen. Mothers all over the world find a way to love their subsequent children just as much as their first. But still you wonder. Your brain and your heart can’t even imagine it to be so.
And then you know. You hear that first cry and right then and there your heart explodes. For the next few weeks you walk around like a zombie. Partially because of the lack of sleep and partially because you are on overload. You are overwhelmed by the new perfect person you hold in your arms. By the miracle of her existence. By her neediness. It is almost like someone snuck a drug into your morning beverage to make ever sense in your body be on high alert. Because it isn’t just your heart that is on overload. Every cell in your body tingles with unadulterated sheer euphoria that she is here and she is yours.
Angel Baby dear,
fresh from Heaven you are here.
You make life so sweet.
Sibling Facts
1. Children spend more time with their sibling than with their parents, friends, teachers or even alone.
2. Siblings fight. A lot. Sometimes with a conflict every 10 minutes.
3. 65% of mothers and 70% of fathers exhibit a preference for for one sibling over another.
4. Having a sibling of the opposite sex makes boys and girls more likely to adhere to gender norms.
5. Having a sibling of the opposite sex may help you pick up dates more easily.
6. Firstborns are generally smarter than their younger siblings, having on average a 3 point IQ advantage over the second sibling.
7. Younger siblings tend to be more extroverted than older siblings in larger families.
8. In general, siblings tend to interact significantly less with each other if they are not fully related.
9. Your siblings bad habits may rub off on you.
10. A big part of individual personality develops in relation to interacting with siblings.
11. Siblings can make you shorter.
12. The number of siblings you have and your birth order can influence your health.
13. Birth order does not affect personality.
14. Siblings tend to resemble each other in looks and intelligence but are quite different in personality.
Facts obtained from www.nursingschools.com
One of the biggest joys I have ever had as a newborn photographer was being able to get on a plane last minute to fly to Arizona to photograph my newest nephew with his adoring siblings. This image just makes me smile!
For all the best things in life, the ones we can’t wait to happen, we “countdown”. Sometimes we cross out days on a calender, sometimes we tear off a link from a paper chain, we watch the tiny adjustments of a digital clicker. There are so many ways to celebrate the passing days before a happy event. Women, as the reigning queens of multi-tasking, have it down to a science. We do it all. We have the digital clicker on our blogs, the calenders are full of circled mile stone days and crossed out days that have come and gone. We track every type of progress, our weight, inches, gestational age, heart beat, blood sugar etc… There is even an app for that. We buy books that tell us day by day what is happening inside our wombs as the days go by. We journal the changes. We take pictures. The list goes on and on and we do it all.
The one thing that some of us forget to do, is to slow down and enjoy each moment. We are always so quick to look forward to the next milestone. Doing maternity portraits is a way to slow down and live in the moment. Kim and I had so much fun taking beautiful portraits of her pregnant figure. She is a goddess. A pregnant body is a work of art. A miracle. Every curve is met and balanced with another curve. Inside her beautiful body she has grown and sheltered another perfect little body. Every time I slow down and think about the miracle of conception and pregnancy my mind is blown.
There are no such things as time machines. We only get to enjoy the moment for a moment. As I write this I wish that I could rest my hand on my tummy and feel the fluttering kicks of a new life within. Celebrate your pregnancy. Don’t let a “countdown” steal away your precious moments.
I’ve been working on Sawyer’s portraits from his newborn photograph session. He is so adorable. Someone needs to drop a baby boy off on my door step.
I love capturing baby yawns. But I can never help but wonder why they are so sleepy. All they do is eat and sleep, lol! I think the person that really deserves the big yawn is the mother of a newborn. I just can’t even image how I made it through those sleepless years of child bearing. I can’t even function now with the crazy amounts of sleep I get. I think mothers of newborns are the toughest people in the world. They work SO hard. And get so little credit! Behind every sweet newborn mom is a totally exhausted mom!
Maxine Evans - Perfection!
Jessica Mitchell - This is so beautiful Jennifer!
Starla Wise - Such a beautiful image.
Carol - This is such a beautiful photo of perfection. Love it!
amy vecchio - wow! this image is fantastic!!! just perfect!