Tonight...

A little personal work with a story. 

Right before I was about to take photos of my aunt and her family we ran over to my parents.

We had been playing at the park together, and wanted to go say hello to my cousins who were swimming at "nana and papas". Ella was super bummed when we got there because we didn't bring her suit to swim with everyone else. So she tried to get toys out of the pool for her and jude to play with. While she was bending over she went in. Fully clothed. Her favorite "dress" that she picks out almost every day. And her little booties full of water. She kind of flipped backwards and the look on her face was pure terror. We are serious when it comes to only playing around the pool if someone is there to watch her. So when I pulled her out she was super embarrassed and whispered in my ear "are you mad mama". I simultaneously felt so heart broken and happy all at once. She is actually listening... it turns out, but secondly she was so worried I was mad. I felt the mom guilt. So I carried her away and just held her and told her accidents happen. She loved just being held, and tight. I think as a mom you just know the times when your kids NEED you. And no one can replace YOU. So I held her for 10

 minutes or so with her dripping wet little body on the stairs. And then I had to leave for a quick photo shoot for my aunt + family. She was heartbroken, so I told her she could come. I told her she could be my assistant for the night since it was family. She took her job very seriously and was over the moon. She tried to get everyone to laugh, she kept bringing me flowers, she even got my phone so she could start taking photos of them as well. She got some really amazing shots! And I started thinking she needs to be here with a little disposable on every shoot! The whole time my heart was kind of melting. It really was pretty sweet how hard she was trying for a little three year old girl. So after the shoot Ella really wanted to take me all around the fields. So that's what we did. This whole thing was entirely unplanned. Ella was still wet but refused to take off her dress and I was fine with it since it was such a warm night. Luckily we had a wrinkly jacket in our bag as well when she got cold. But honestly it was one of happiest moments as a parent. Her curly hair from the pool earlier in the day. The smell of sunscreen still on her skin. Her imagination as she ran through the fields picking flowers and old cat tails for me. She sang. She ran. She was so fully present and so was I. Tonight I have never felt more blessed to have her as a daughter. 

It's pretty rare I find myself sharing these stories on my business blog. But these images are everything to me. I felt like it may be time to pop on in from the personal side of things. 

xxx