2015

He was brand new and barely 8 pounds, but you trusted me to hold him, my hands to comfort him, and my vision to turn his delicate details into artistry.  

Weeks earlier, though swollen and spent and almost full-term, you relied on me to reveal your beauty amid this swift season of motherhood.

And then, when you feared chaos and crying (because, TODDLERS), you counted on me to connect your crew among your pack of personalities.

Your favorite parts of the past year: PRESERVED. 

By choosing me, you trusted me, and sharing your story frame by frame is a privilege you'll never see me take for granted.  

Thank YOU.

BABY MERRICK

NEWBORN SESSION.OKLAHOMA CITY/EDMOND NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER

Isn’t life fun(ny)?

After months of anticipation and hours of labor, it takes just one second of seeing your infant to feel a love so deep and heavy it aches. 

During what you’d probably agree to be the happiest season of your life, you find yourself on the edge of every emotion and only a simple mishap away from a full-blown breakdown.

It was in those first days when he was mostly asleep that you felt the deepest deprivation of sleep physically possible.  

And then, before you can say ‘maternity leave', you’re standing in your closet holding your 12-week old and trying, through blurring tears, to see your wardrobe options for your impending return to work. 

How is it fair that the most delicate and sentimental stage is over before you realize it, yet you were barely awake to remember it?

One too many details from those days are buried under a fuzzy fog of forgetfulness.  The difference, though, is every soft touch, tiny sound, and sweet smell are easily recovered when you reminisce through these pictures. 

Your child is young for awhile, a toddler for a fast few years, and somehow, only a newborn for days. DAYS.

 But best off all? He's yours. 

For forever. 

Just like these photos. 

WARRENS LIFE WITHIN

IN-HOME LIFESTYLE SESSION.OKLAHOMA CITY/EDMOND FAMILY & CHILDREN PHOTOGRAPHER

“We had our second date here," she said. “It was in the bathroom I stared in disbelief at those two little pink lines and then paced these floors while counting contractions.”

“Kate took her first steps here.”

Home.

So many pieces of our lives happen at home, adding up to an entire collection of memories we’ll remember well past our childhood. It’s ultimately the environment where you’ll raise your children and help embed their favorite pastimes of hide-n-seek, blanket forts, and messes that stretch across the entire kitchen.

These memories from home are what live on long even after you’ve moved.

How many years ago was it when you arrived home, sunburnt and happy, to congratulatory cards and wedding gifts piled high on the kitchen table? Sadly and far too quickly, the honeymoon was over, but it felt SO good to finally be home. Together.

Home is where your marriage would begin, blossom, and eventually grow into your family.

What do you remember most about your firstborn?  Is it the song you whispered as you paced the living room floors in the dark hours of night, bouncing her back to sleep in your arms? Or maybe it’s the rocker in the corner of the bedroom where you stared for hours, mesmerized, and memorized every feature of your baby.

Unbeknownst to visitors, the middle couch cushion has been flipped over to hide spilled juice. The walls, which acted as crutches to your teetering one year old, have been repainted in areas to cover those tot-sized fingerprints. Outside, your driveway is a museum of chalk art that will take many rains to fade the rainbow-colored dust.

Your home is your haven for laughter and for tears. It’s your refuge for anger, grief, arguments and make-ups.

Your home is alive with life and growth.

Realize it. Remember it.  Get proof of it. 

Because guess what your kids will relate home with?

You.

Get your very own Life Within session here.

SANTA BABY

MATERNITY LIFESTYLE SESSION.OKLAHOMA CITY/EDMOND MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHER

I would lay awake at night, giddy with magical excitement only children experience, straining my ears for hints of jingle bells and wondering when Santa and his reindeer would arrive on the roof. For the most part I thought I was well-behaved, with the exception of one year. I bawled behind the Christmas tree, crying so hard my parents were unable to understand my apology, but they reassured me I indeed was not getting a stocking full of coal. (Shoo! Close call.) Every Christmas Eve, I would fight my heavy eyelids. I would hazily drift off to dreamland with thoughts of remote control cars and soccer cleats, only to bolt awake in panic of missing Santa.  I knew giving in to sleep would make morning come sooner, but the anticipation of every child’s favorite day of the year kept my mind racing.

With only weeks remaining in her pregnancy, sleep is probably evading Reagan, too. Not because of a cheery, bearded man bearing gifts or a hungry, needy newborn (yet), but because of your spinning thoughts and wandering worries knowing labor is nearing. ‘But now is the time to catch up on sleep’, they say. How? When you’re weeks away from meeting your first child, your nervousness causes restlessness. Your mind jumps from thought to thought, rather than sheep to sheep, spinning your emotions into a bundle of excitement, impatience, butterflies and nerves.

Before crawling into bed (just to wrestle sleep), I would carefully choose the perfectly baked ginger cookies and stack them on Santa’s plate while Mom and Dad poured milk into a Welch’s jelly jar my sisters and I used as drinking glasses.  (My favorite one with the purple dinosaurs etched on the side, worn and nearly translucent with years of use.) I would memorize the placement of the cookies and make note of any minimal crumbs so when morning came, I’d know if Santa really did eat the cookies.

With a due date of December 25th, you ignore the negative murmurs of December birthdays and happily imagine the holiday season a year from now.  With one year of parenthood under your belt and a successful 1st birthday party complete, tiny toddler fingers will be 'helping' you hook plush ornaments on the tree and footed Christmas jammies will teeter at your feet while tugging on your flannels. Leftover birthday cake will be left by the fireplace for Santa instead of cookies, and without meaning to, a new tradition will begin.

At days break, I'd shoot up out of a slumber, upset that I fell asleep and slept through Santa's visit AGAIN. Eager to wake up the entire household, I’d start with my sisters who were in twin beds next to my makeshift bunk of carefully stacked couch cushions. It was our sibling tradition to sleep together on Christmas Eve, a memory I didn't fully appreciate until I grew older and recognized that as the baby of our family, my sisters continued the spirit of Santa solely for my sake. (If you ask them, I believed foreverrrrrrrr. Y’all, 12 years isn’t forever. I mean, 6. I totally meant 6.) We’d make our way downstairs as a family, me leading the way, bounding down the steps and skipping as many as physically possible.  I'd round the corner to a twinkling tree, stretched stockings, stripes and plaids and snowmen wrapping paper, and best of all, the unwrapped gift straight from Santa's workshop.  If not for the animated Christmas spirit of my nieces and nephews, I’d have to rely entirely on my own imagination to see the true essence of a child on Christmas morning. It absolutely is the most wonderful time of the year.

Deep down, you know it’s time. Still, you’ll probably time a few more contractions before waking Kyle from his deep slumber. In between the worsening pain, your excitement and fear will be replaced with a mental check list: hospital bag, CHECK; boppy pillow, CHECK; iPhone charger , CHECK; text photographer, CHECK!  Hours of wavering labor, genuine support from the nurses, multiple check-ins from your doctor and endless encouragement from Kyle, the anxiousness to meet your firstborn child is an emotional whirlwind.   It will be forever before you forget your tears of pain and joy and being completely overcome with a feeling that has yet to be defined when the Doctor raises up your baby and gleefully shouts, "It's a -------- !"

...To Be Continued...

BABY G

MATERNITY LIFESTYLE SESSION.OKLAHOMA CITY/EDMOND MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHER

Waiting has never tested your patience more than now. And waiting the rest of this out feels beyond the bounds of conceivable.

Speaking of conceiving...

Your heart raced, your bottom lip – chewed - waiting for the test results.

Those two minutes felt as long as a red light in a hurry.  It was clearly positive, but you barely believed it.

The first appointment available to confirm those two lines was weeks out, so you waited.

Surrounded by quiet murmurs, mothers, and antsy, older-sibling toddlers, you waited for your name to be called to see the monochromatic screen of your tiny miracle.

Congratulatory hugs and necessary small talk from the doc only delayed the impending ultrasound you've been anticipating.  It's not denial, nor disbelief.  It's the proof you can stare at, hold, and fall in love with.  You've seen a hundred sonogram photos shared to Facebook and loaded on Instagram, but unless it's your black and white lima bean, it's just another photo.

You waited, your heart beat frozen in time, while the cold wand slowly searched for your baby's heartbeat.

And then, *WOM WOM WOM WOM WOM*

No sound sweeter to your ears, your tears didn't wait to fall.

Nor did the rush of emotions, the reach for your husband's clammy hand, or the relief that amazing muffled sound draped over you.

Now you can cling to the comfort provided by the ultrasound.  YOUR ultrasound.  You finally understand the excitement that comes with sharing the one-dimensional, blurry, cone-shaped photo of your baby.

You knew this chapter of your lives needed to be remembered and savored in the familiar warmth of your home.  Life as you know it with your 3 fur-kids is winding down, and soon, they’ll have a sweet tiny baby brother? sister? to sniff, lick, and most of all, protect.

So before the remaining wait is filled with registries, baby showers and choosing paint swatches for the nursery, photos to share your early Christmas gift must be made.   Years from now, you'll pull one of these Christmas card photos out of a dusty box from the attic and tell your little one, "We knew you were in there and we couldn't wait to tell the world."

You waited to witness your little life.

You waited to floor your families with news of the addition.

You waited to shock your sisterhood of friends.

And now?

You wait to meet your little wonder.