Self love, and motherhood.

Self love is so important. I’ve learned that my biggest form of self care is giving myself grace and listening to my mind and body. If I feel I need rest, I try to rest. I acknowledge big and small feelings, and check in with myself.

One of my favorite things to capture is motherhood. Parenthood in general is so beautiful, but motherhood… it’s special to me as a mom. Sometimes motherhood is holding your babies, giving tickles and kisses… and sometimes it’s just you. Because you are mom.

Before I took these portraits I had plans to put on makeup and do my hair. I was going to do an orange and maybe a yellow eyeshadow. I was going to make my hair wavy and neat.

I went into the restroom to begin to get ready and thought… I’m just going to wash my face and put moisturizer on.

I wanted to see myself as my kids do every single day. No makeup. Loose, dirty hair. I thought about how I was taking these photos for myself, and went for it.

There is something so freeing about not caring what other people think. I truly believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Every single person has a different idea of what is beautiful.

It took me a while to understand that, embrace that, and to stop caring what people think.

We are all so different and all of our unique characteristics are what make us who we are. I love that so much.

Moms… I encourage you to get in the frame. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Just get in. You need memories to look back on and so do your babies. Real memories. You don’t have to share them if you don’t feel comfortable, but save them.

I see so many friends and acquaintances whose memories are full of snapchat filters, Instagram filters, etc. and although those photos are fun, make sure to capture the real stuff too!

I will be posting a blog post with some tips for taking photos at home, and will include a free preset!