a normal day

On October 18th, my daughter was born and I became the mother of three children. Hundreds of miles away, on the same day, another baby girl was born and another woman added the third child to her family. We were complete strangers at that time, but our love of photography and family brought us together. We started to have a conversation about motherhood with images, because we tell stories with our cameras. Since some tales are so similar, and some are not, we decided to collaborate and share a photo a week from a normal day as a mother to three.

“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.”         – Mary Jean Irion

and-hr-10-6-16-webcopy

today i put you in the crib for the first time.  i just wanted to see what you might look like in there.  there isn’t much room in your bassinet so i figured it was a good time for an introduction to your future bed.  but the moment i placed you in the crib, i felt sad.  you smiled at me and laughed once and then you began to cry.  as i scooped you up and held you to my heart, i breathed a sigh of relief. you don’t need much room.  not just yet.

photo by Heather Robinson     blog | Facebook

9h4b3619-resize

Fourth grade is really something else. Drum lessons. Field Hockey. Girl Scouts. French Class. Advanced reading. Book club. Regular school work. I’m literally spinning, trying to stay on top of it all. You are handling it with way more spunk and grace than I am. I think it shows how ready you are for it all. It’s like your true time to shine just started now. Go get it, baby. And have a blast.

photo by Olivia Gatti     website Facebook

freelensing | september

you do this thing. when the love that you feel becomes so powerful that you just can’t take it any longer, you wrap your arms around yourself and hug with all your might.  when i see you doing this, i have to hold back the tears because i know exactly how you feel.

9p6a5182-webcopy
9p6a5185-webcopy
9p6a5179-webcopy
9p6a5176
9p6a5191-webcopy
9p6a5158-webcopy

the effect of her being

“But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive:

for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts;

and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been,

is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life,

and rest in unvisited tombs.”

– George Eliot, Middlemarch

9p6a5049-webcopy

Heather Robinson

blog | Facebook

amanda-effect-9-20-16-1

Amanda Voelker

website | facebook

few and far between

time is funny. it has only been 12 weeks and already my memories of those early days are few and far between.

9p6a1369-webcopy
9p6a1378-webcopy