The "Me Before Kids" used to have hobbies, leisurely activities, interests...

I'm kidding. Kind of.

I still have interests, I just can't turn them into a hobby, time is not on my side with two small children. I'm totally okay with that! I love going to the park on my days off and buying bubbles when I pick up eggs and milk.

At some point in high school I had started playing pick up basketball games with a group of friends on a backyard, cement poured, court. After high school, I continued to play and in that time span, built some pretty great friendships. But fast forward 10 years and today many of us have spouses and children and careers and I have lost contact with a few of them, and don't keep in close contact with hardly any of them. They were friendships that I valued, so that's a little sad. Five years ago I found out I had moved 1 mile from one of them, John, and I was pretty excited. We don't have game night, play ball together or do any of the things we would have done together 10 years ago. I have a husband and two kids and he has a wife, a little boy and one on the way. Life just gets in the way. Lucky for me, though, this wife of his is pretty great. We are in similar seasons of life and our brains are wired to work in a similar way. I never imagined life would put us where we are, but I'm so happy to have her as a client, neighbor and, mostly, friend.

If you follow any of my life through the squares of Instagram, you know I have my hands full, and like anyone else, sometimes I have it handled.... and sometimes I don't! With baby number two coming very soon for John and Jess, she has volunteered to take Evelyn a few times, so that I can work easier or just spend time with Savannah and she can get Cooper baby ready. Recently, I've been struggling with balancing two children, my home, my business and life. Jess texted me the other night "I think I'm staying home tomorrow, do you want me to take that sweet baby for a few hours." My instinct is to say "NO- I've got this." Instead, I closed my eyes typed "yes" and hit send. And she did! The next day I dropped Ev off, ran to the bank with Sav came home, edited a session, did some laundry and started a lasagna. In three hours I did that, and I normally can't do all of that in a week. I can't say thank you enough for a little sliver of focus time and the idea for my new contractual agreement; you'll find in clause 6 where "client must offer services of childcare in order for photographer to execute post production tasks".

(I'm kidding- but momtographers, isn't that a grand idea?!)

Here's a little peak into their maternity session for baby boy number two. I was on stand-by the morning of the shoot and as soon as Cooper woke up she texted me "15 minutes". I jumped out of bed threw on jeans brushed my teeth (I think) and drove down to their house. I grabbed a few 'morning fog' shots of her and John before we departed for the Mahaney Recreation in Hemitage PA. The sun rose up behind a cloudy morning and the fog lingered a little longer to make for a calming and romantic backdrop. With gummies in my pocket I was easily Coop's BFF and we had a fun morning of chasing, laughing and compromising.

I feel so blessed to watch their family grow and share in their milestones as their photographer; and I can't wait to meet this second little boy!! Here are some of my favorites from their session.