One Week

The other day the boys had some friends over, and while I was making some lunch, they were playing on our old rotary phone. That thing sucks all kids in, it's like an ancient piece of history, a bit of an unknown. Picking up and hearing a dial tone, turning the numbers around and around, with the prospect of someone talking to you on the other end. Well then they started joking about calling 911, so I was shuffling plates, jabbering on about how we don't make those kinds of jokes because it's actually a serious thing. Then a few minutes later, one sad face asked me over, to talk to the person on the phone. The 911 dispatcher. She explained it sounded like an altercation, I explained it was five boys playing on the old phone. She explained a trooper may want to come out, but it was up to his discretion. Thirty minutes later, halfway through my shower, the trooper did come. That, combined with many other mishaps on our Monday, was our entertaining entrance to spring break. Now it's Friday, and we're all looking around, wondering how our week slipped so quickly from our grasp. Kind of like childhood, as I look through these newborn photos, wondering how my babies slipped from my grasp, into big kids. Life's funny that way. Pulling us along on a bittersweet roller coaster.

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Sunday

I remember the soft white dress my mom wore in the photograph, on the cusp of birth. There was a soft fuzz to the image, her friend laughed, "is my eye-sight going, or is this supposed to be out of focus?" The softness spoke to the moment, as she awaited becoming a mother the third time. 

Each time is so different, just as each child is full of new emotions, adventures, trials and successes. The first-born seems to be the trial run, the experiment. Those early years with them, you start navigating parenting. Then the second child arrives and you discover your heart expands with all the love in the world for them, just as it did the first time around. You continue sailing through unchartered territory, admiring these children you call your own, when years from now you reminisce about these times, holding that photograph close, when you were eagerly on the dawn of your second-born. 

Nick & Katie

Many professions in Kodiak offer many varied schedules; leaving the 8:00 – 5:00 routine unfamiliar to most families.  Fishing families wave goodbye, as their partners set out to fish the waters in raging seas, for a few days or a few months. Military families await their husbands or wives return from rescue missions; or they send them off for months at a time. The fish may, or may not, show up; the weather changes; the schedule changes. There’s no definitive, only approximates. 

Babies born on the cusp of summer salmon, rarely see their dad’s until September. Mom’s learning to juggle the new throes of motherhood, are also swept into finding a balance without their other half. It’s a lifestyle choice many here are accustomed to- it's unconventional and it's Alaskan, and most importantly, it makes for sacred family time.

At home with Nick and Katie, in between fishing seasons.

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Jed & Leni

'If you have good thoughts,
they will shine out of your face like sun beams
and you will always look lovely.' - Roald Dahl

At our kids' school, we're immersed into one of the unique cultures of Kodiak- military. We feel the utmost respect for these individuals who are serving our country, as we watch these family's come and go. We listen to stories of packing up all their belongings, just a few short years after unpacking. Some of the boxes are never even opened. Some of the time frames are even less.

To hold onto a piece of Kodiak, I recently spent time at the beach with the Young family, before their next adventure in the coming months. We'll be sad to see them go, but hope they're able to return someday, with their smiling faces and sweet kids. They're full of all the laughter and happiness that shone through the images. 

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Tyler & Carrie

In between seasons and throughout the year, life happens. Routines take place, the morning alarm, drop-off time, pick-up time, dinner, bedtime. These routines quickly become our every day, with little pieces mixed into it, to keep us moving forward; that cup of coffee before work or piece of chocolate in the afternoon, listening to the radio as you wash the dishes, or a podcast while folding laundry. There's times the routine becomes too routine and there's times when it feels very comfortable. It becomes dotted with the kids taking their firsts. Their first steps, their first words, their first days of school, their first basketball game, their first dance, their first date. Most the time it moves as quick as the tide. Other times, it feels as slow as molasses. "What's molasses?" my kids asked. As I pulled the jar down from the pantry, there it was reminding me, the firsts are there every day. 

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Day One Sessions

Now booking day one sessions, hospital or home birth newborn sessions that take place the day your little one arrives. A time to document the many firsts of the biggest day of your life- siblings meeting, footprints, measurements, and more. To book, contact here. To view more family images, click here. 

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