It’s bedtime and we sit in our favorite gray rocking chair, the same one I’ve nursed and rocked all my babies in. She pulls at my shirt excited to get started and settles in for the night. Our nursing sessions have gotten shorter and shorter these last couple weeks and as much as I don't want it to, I know this special time with her is coming to an end. She touches my face and her blinks get long. I close my eyes listening to her soft rhythmic swallows and try to memorize what it feels like to hold her like this.
How many hours of my life have been spent right here in this very chair rocking or shushing or feeding a baby??
2540 days | 363 weeks | 8 1/2 years...that’s how long I have been growing or nursing a baby.
Is this long chapter of my motherhood journey really coming to a close as I see my supply dwindle as our last baby is quickly growing out of my lap?
Looking back over the last 8 1/2 years, not just my body has changed...I’m not the same person I was before the first strip turned pink...I don’t even think I’d recognize her. These babies have changed me forever and through them, God has changed my heart forever. He showed me such a deeper level of love and willingness to sacrifice for others. He made me more compassionate and understanding because of them and definitely more flexible...cuz if anything in this life teaches you that you aren't really in control, it's toddlers 🤣 I am forever thankful for this beautifully hard and wonderful first chapter of the baby years in my motherhood journey that is officially closing for this tired, grateful mama.
So many times moments and changes like this just slip by unnoticed until one day you sit and wonder what happened... when was the last time that you picked him up and held him? Or when was the last time he let out that sweet baby giggle? Or the last time I rocked him to sleep? Or the last time he called me mama instead of mom? Or asked to hold my hand? Little by little those moments pass by and those “last times” so often go by unnoticed and quietly fade into memories. I'm so thankful for the times God slows me down enough to notice them before they are gone.
The opportunity to capture moments like this might be my favorite part about photography. To savor those last moments through my camera and capture those moments for the mamas I serve as they watch their babies grow up, too, is why I love what I do.
As I look at these pictures of my last time nursing my baby, I’m relieved and proud and really sad all at the same time, not quite ready to let this last moment go...does anyone else feel all those things at the same time? What last moments do you want to document with your growing babies or wish you had documented before the years flew by?
Do you want to capture sweet moments like this with your own babies?
Contact me today about booking an in-home motherhood session like this to capture some of those every day moments that define this season of motherhood for you, whether it's rocking babies, building legos, reading stories, kissing boo-boos, whatever makes this season special for you.
I know I will treasure these photos forever with my sweet baby girl! I can only imagine how much more precious these images will be as I help her get ready for her first date or teach her to drive or see her off to college. They say don't blink or you'll miss it, so I'm holding my eyes wide open as long as I can!
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