Before you have a baby, you know there are going to be expenses. You plan for the crib, the car seat, the diapers, and approximately 47 impossibly tiny outfits they will somehow outgrow before they get a chance to wear them.
What you cannot fully prepare for are all the surprise expenses. The bottle your baby suddenly refuses to use, having to switch to formula, then having to switch to the more expensive formula because apparently your tiny new roommate has very specific dietary requirements. The diapers they seem to outgrow overnight, then that brand that leaks, and the other brand gives them a rash. And, of course, the random baby gadget you order at 2 a.m. because the internet says it might help everyone sleep for longer than 37 consecutive minutes.
You add a baby to your family and suddenly you're basically hemorrhaging $20 bills.
Their first year is full of surprises, financial and otherwise. It's beautiful and exhausting and emotional and sometimes completely overwhelming. And it's also full of things you were definitely going to do... until you're actually living it.
Unfortunately, professional photos can become one of the things that gets put off with a quick, "we'll do them later."
I know because I did exactly that, I'm a photographer, of ALL people, you would think I would have made sure every stage of my child's life was being beautifully documented. But when my second daughter was born, I kept telling myself:
I can do them myself.
And technically?
I could.
What I failed to account for was that I was also a mom with two kids under two, trying to keep everyone fed and alive while my newborn had horrible colic from what we later discovered was a milk allergy. I was taking care of the kids, the pets, the house, my business, and myself... somewhere near the very bottom of that list.
My sleep-deprived brain always had something more pressing to deal with. I'd do her photos next week, then next month, then when she was sleeping better, then when things calmed down a little.
You can probably guess what happened, things never really calmed down. And before I knew it, my tiny newborn wasn't a newborn anymore.
That's something I genuinely regret
.
Of course I have photos of her. I have hundreds of phone pictures and little everyday memories that I absolutely treasure. But I wish I had intentionally stopped during that season and had her professionally photographed. I wish I had photos where I wasn't responsible for planning them, setting everything up, taking them, editing them, and, most importantly, actually remembering to make them happen.
I wish I had simply gotten to show up and be her mom.
And I've learned my lesson, I'm pregnant with my third baby now, and this time I already have a photographer lined up for our newborn photos. Yes. The photographer hired a photographer!
Because this time I know myself, I know I could take them, I also know there's a very real possibility I'll be standing in my kitchen three months later, reheating the same cup of coffee for the fourth time, wondering how my newborn suddenly fits into 3-6 month clothes.
I'm not leaving it up to "later" this time, because that's the weird, slightly cruel magic trick of motherhood:
The days can feel incredibly long, but the years are ridiculously short.
When you're in the newborn stage, it feels impossible that you could ever forget any of it.
How could you forget the weight of their little body curled against your chest? The newborn scrunch, that fuzzy little head against your cheek, the tiny fingers wrapped around one of yours.
You think you'll remember every detail because, right now, they're your entire world.
And then somehow... you don't. Not completely.
I'm a mom of two with another baby on the way, and one of the strangest parts of motherhood for me has been realizing how much those first years of my girls' lives have already blurred together. I remember them, of course, but not in the crystal-clear way I thought I would.
There are things I see in old photos that suddenly unlock an entire memory I'd forgotten.
Oh my gosh, she used to make that face, how tiny she was, or I remember those pajamas.
I think that's why photographs become more valuable as time passes.
So when I created my First Year Collection, I wanted to take one decision off another mom's plate.
It includes three of the biggest chapters surrounding baby's first year:
Maternity → Newborn → First Birthday
Three sessions.
Three completely different versions of your family.
The collection is $550, and payment plans are available, which, I think might be one of the best parts.
Because instead of reaching the newborn haze and suddenly realizing, Oh shoot... we still need to pay for pictures, you can take care of it beforehand.
You can book during pregnancy and make payments while you're preparing for baby's arrival, just like you're already doing with everything else. Then, when you're living on three hours of sleep, ordering your fourth type of bottle, and wondering how someone who only weighs nine pounds requires SO. MUCH. STUFF... Your photos are already taken care of.
You only get one first year.
And I don't say that to make anyone feel guilty, you absolutely do not need professional photos of every milestone to be a good parent or to have beautiful memories of your baby's childhood. Some of my favorite pictures of my girls are blurry phone photos taken in messy rooms. But if professional photos are something you know you'll want someday, I don't want...
"It's too expensive right now."
or
"We'll just do them later."
...to eventually become:
"I wish we had."
Because babies don't stay babies while we're waiting for life to calm down, and if motherhood has taught me anything so far, it's that I'm beginning to suspect life is never actually going to calm down!
There will always be another expense.
Another load of laundry.
Another grocery trip.
Another weekend full of errands.
Another phase you're trying to survive while simultaneously wishing you could freeze it.
But there is only one maternity season with this baby.
One newborn version of them.
One first birthday.
And someday, when that first year has blurred together a little more than you ever thought it would, you'll have something tangible that can take you right back.
The First Year Collection: $550
Maternity • Newborn • First Birthday
Payment Plans Available
Booking in Southwest Florida
Because sometimes one of the best gifts you can give your future self is making sure "I'll do it later" is one thing you don't have to say.
