Project 52 Week 8 - Books

The theme for this week's Project 52 (a 52 week-long photography project I'm participating in with 17 other extremely talented photographers from The Bloom Forum) was Books. Oh, how I adore books! I could think of a million different photographs that would fit the theme. This week, though, or today, really, is a special day for my family and me. It is our baby girl, Julietta's first birthday. Oh, I could eat her up, I love her so. And so does her papá. He is also a major book-lover. When I think of books, I also think of him, and how when we packed up our house, we could easily part with most of our stuff, but not our books.

Anyway, today is a very special day, but it is also a sad day. My husband isn't here. He's still in Spain, trying to sell our cafe, and missing his daughter's first birthday. It breaks my heart to know it's breaking his. A year ago, I was in a birthing pool in our living room (the one we had flooded a few weeks earlier with that very same pool!) and Alex was the saint of saints as far as husbands of laboring wives go - bringing me juice, holding my hair while I was puking my guts out, and allowing me to cut off the circulation in his hand from squeezing it so hard. (Was that really just a year ago? And at the same time - has it already been a year?!)

This week, my photos are for you, Alex. Here are your girls, doing one of your favorite things in the whole wide world -  reading. Someday soon you'll be here to pick up where you left off with story time. The Queen of Hearts and Los Tres Cerditos just aren't the same without you (I, apparently, don't do the voices right!)

We miss you madly today. We miss you madly every day.

Will someone please buy the café already?!

Now, friends, eat something sweet in celebration of Julietta, and head on over to see what the cunningly creative Shauna, Sudbury Child and Family Photographer, from Simply Shauna Photography has come up with!

Project 52 Week 6 - Love

Love Love Love. That is the theme for this week's Project 52 that I'm participating in with 17 other wickedly talented photographers from The Bloom Forum.

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of doing a photo session at dawn with the lovely Sarah Cook from www.beingfrugalbychoice.blogspot.com and her beautiful family. Their son, Jack, was out of sorts. He was crying and having mini tantrums and just plain ol' grumpy. I was like, "sounds like a perfectly normal two-year-old to me", but, apparently, this was not like him, and so both Sarah and her husband, Troy, were worried. I could tell that it was very hard for them to concentrate on photos while they're little kiddo was unhappy.

This was right after Jack had fallen down. I know this isn't going to win me any awards, but I just love the emotion in this photo.

I know it wasn't the ideal photo situation, but to me, those worried looks, represent the real LOVE that a parent has for a child. Once you become a parent, you are thrown into this whirlwind of emotion. It's something that no one can prepare you for. I certainly wasn't ready for it.  A huge chunk of all that emotion is the worry that is thrown into the mix. Sometimes I feel like I won't be able to handle it, because I know it will always be there. What we worry about as parents will probably change, as time goes on, but there will always be something - whether it's not knowing why your baby's crying, to holding on to the door as your 16 year-old  drives down the driveway for the first time.
 

And then there was the cuddly kissy love. Oh, I LOVE this LOVE.

Things calmed down quite a bit towards the end of the session, and it started to sprinkle, while the sun stayed out. Beautiful light. Beautiful family.
LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Now head on over to see the amazing Shauna, Sudbury Photographer, from Simply Shauna Photography, and her interpretation of this week's theme.