rainy days.

     i took these photos last sunday, on a rainy day. we dropped aaron off at work in the rain and i spontaneously planned to hold a little photo shoot of both boys in their room wearing matching pajamas. they clean their room on sundays now, so it seemed like a perfect time. much to his brother's relief, asher decided to steal the show and so it turned into this. he would give me his best jumps and then run over to check the photos on the back of my camera. he was so impressed with himself and his "flying". i would give him a big smile and he would absolutely beam with pride. we had such a special, sweet time. i cannot stress enough how important these moments are to me: these are truly the photos that i live for. and yeah, i'm pretty impressed with him as well - these photos are awesome.       I have had the pleasure of getting to know a great group of ladies in the past couple months. If you are looking for some wonderful new blogs to read, check out the links below!

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"Rain" is the April writing prompt of The Mommy Blogger Collective. In addition to a monthly writing prompt, the collective hosts a monthly blogger featurette. This month we are featuring Katie of Hello, Little Bean. A few words from Katie --- Hi! I'm Katie and I write a blog called 'Hello, Little Bean.' It's about life as a new mom to my cute daughter, Lark Story. I'm California born and raised, but currently live in Michigan with my soon-to-be husband, James and my soon-to-be stepson, Brennan, as well as our little Lark and two kitties. I'm a full-time graphic designer who loves all things artistic and creative. I'm overly sensitive and sentimental, sarcastic and foul-mouthed at times, a foodie and a reality tv junkie who's completely and utterly in love with motherhood. You can also find me on instagram, facebook, pinterest and our little online boutique, Bold Threads. .

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 /// The Mommy Blogger Collective /// Christina, Courteney, Dena, Erica, Erin, Gillian, Katie, Misty, Nicole, and Renée. ///

portraits of asher / 31 months.

i love this boy + these pictures.

he radiates joy and appears so wild and free here. which is exactly how he felt in these moments:

frantically climbing from rock to rock, mountains as far as the eyes can see, happily running and breathing in the fresh air while slyly posing and looking to the side for his mama who loves to take
his pictures.

looking at these photos, i feel once again the peace and quiet and happiness of the moments in when i took them.

just a little glimpse of time,

saved.

happy friday!

i didn't used to like the idea of sharing my professional work on my personal blog. i like to be able to scroll down and just see uninterrupted photos of my boys, my family.
my blog is like a sweet little scrapbook. however, i have realized that my professional photos DO feel personal to me. after i put so much effort and care into them, i feel like i want to share them as many places as i can!

so there's a little preview of some photos i did for my sister's roommate for her graduation. you can see the rest of the photos on my sparse photography blog here.

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in other words, today is aaron's last late night shift at his job!
for the year, and maybe, probably, hopefully forEVER!
because in the next eight weeks we are planning to MOVE across the country!
but, more about that later ;)
for today, i need to start cleaning my house since my family is coming to stay the weekend and we are going to celebrate my sister's college graduation!
and right now, my little one is climbing up onto the sink to wash dishes
(his new favorite thing)
so, have a great weekend everyone!
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happy mother's day mamas!

twenty months.

oh this photo, the definition of our ash. 

twenty months, in the same little shirt that i made for roman when he was small.

i'll let the photos speak for themselves this time, but fear not - my heart is filled with just as much gushy mushy love for this boy as usual.

some previous monthly photos:

nineteen months

eighteen months

fifteen months

teddy bear.

ok, so these are obviously old, but i think that they are too special to never share.
i have so many photos of this boy, of these boys of mine.
and they sit on my computer. or on disks. or on flashdrives. and my computer is jam stuffed FULL,
 it always is.
lightroom has 16,000 photos on it right now. as usual.
i have client sessions backed up all over the place in no particular order.
i am a disorganized mess. with random photo albums + half started projects here and there and everywhere.
with all these photos, yet none on my wall.
with visions and dreams of what to do with them, but never really doing much...
honestly it stresses me out sometimes.
 but in reality, it doesn't really matter. at all.
i kind of like being a disorganized mess - thank you very much.
and at the end of the day, it means nothing if the baby book is caught up,
or if i have a  baby book at all.
i'll get around to it, and if i don't, it's okay.
i just want to appreciate my photos for what they are - real moments in time with my blessings.

so, here are some photos from last spring to enjoy, at our last home, when asher was 10 months old.
playing in the back yard with his teddy bear that aunt hillary brought him from europe.

oh these boys, and these days. a dream come true.

p.s. how do you all organize family photos?? i would LOVE some ideas.
you know, ideas that i may never get around to doing ;)
also, do any of you have suggestions on a good external hard drive? 

 

nineteen months.

nineteen months.

oh my.

facing the reality that nineteen months has passed since asher's birth is simply unreal. just a moment ago i was folding tiny newborn gowns + reading spiritual midwifery in the sunshine on the back porch, preparing for a new little life. and now, over a year and a half later - our asher is almost a little boy. pushing his chair up to the sink so that he can grab my yesterday's coffee that sits inside. taking liberties to take his own diaper off when it's time for a change, singing the "mama" song that he composed himself, counting to three in his own little way. closer to two than one.

when the days were slower and asher was itty bitty, i often used to talk to him at night as he nursed to sleep about when he came into my life. i'd pet and kiss his sweet little head and apologize for not being there during that first week when he stayed in the nicu.  one of his doctor's told me during that week, that soon asher would be home and healthy and the time in the nicu would seem distant and brief. in a way that is not true to me. it’s true that one week is a short amount of time, but that was OUR first week. there is something so wrong about a mother and baby being separated at birth. even though i was able to spend much time with him, provide all of his milk for him, and was lucky that his stay was so short - there are still moments that we were robbed from. sometimes now at bedtime, i still go back to the beginning. i tell asher how much he means to me. nineteen months later i am still thankful that God answered my prayers and healed asher. that first week was hard, but for every first moment that was lost, i've now had nineteen months of asher in my arms each and every night to make up for it. and for that i will always be grateful.

Asher at eighteen months.

five.

well with all these updates on little ash, i  have to include an update on roman who turned FIVE over a month ago. it about broke my heart, but now that i've settled into it - five is pretty much the most perfect thing i can think of. roman is growing up so much but he is still such a little boy who needs his mom + dad so so much and thrives on being with his family and being at home. i'm so happy that he is still little and i'm so lucky to spend all day every day listening to his sweetness all around me. sigh. i absolutely adore this boy and everything about him.

he wasn't really into photos this day but i had to try because i absolutely love that hat and his little colorful skinny jeans that he always wears. he went through a phase of wearing that hat everyday all day.

naptime.

my little napping 17 month babe :)

so sweet, and peaceful and pretty.

roman of course was my little assistant during this photo shoot, 

taking photos by my side with the cell phone.

school starts tomorrow! and i finally just finished up everything on my to do list.

well no, not really at all. i don't even have a to do list, and if i did it would be horribly depressing to look at. but i have finished everything i needed to do online finally such as book ordering and form filling out. shew. i sorted through and edited a lot of photos today.

look forward to sharing.

my babies are growing and changing everyday.

4.

you have no idea how many times i have ideas for photos and i wait too long and the flowers die or the field changes. everything beautiful out  in the country is only the same for an instant and then everything is changing, changing.
but i caught the soybeans at just the right time while they were golden yellow,  a little bit green still but also turning brown. and i caught roman in a good mood right after asher fell asleep for his nap, and he told me i could take a few photos of him across the street. the soybean field has now completely changed to brown, and our little four year old is ever so quickly growing and changing as well, his "4" shirt is just a little too short in the arms and he looks a little too much like a big boy since i gave his hair a little trim last week. luckily, he is still wonderfully little and cuddles and kisses and hugs and melts my mama heart each day.