A Note to Future You: A Mother's Day Reminder.

  If you look around the internet these days, there’s been a recent proliferation of blog posts and
articles about why moms should ‘stay in the picture’.  Since it's Mother's Day our team thought
it would be a perfect time  for me to remind you all of something we've learned. 
 
​I used to be that absent mom missing from the picture, but no longer am. Either I was feeling too
chubby after the birth of our 2nd child, or feeling too frazzled and unable to find time to make myself
look presentable after the 3rd, but either way there are gaps in the photo albums where I don’t exist
for a variety of reasons. Those gaps make me sad now that I’m older. I’d love to have a photo of
the way my babies wrapped their little legs around my side and nuzzled into my neck when I
carried them around as I moved through my life.  As much as I adore the photos of my children alone,
it’s the rare few of us together that so vividly remind me how their milky breath smelled and how their
soft cheeks felt when I held them close.

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And another surprise, to me anyway: when I do look back on the few photos I find of myself from earlier days of motherhood, I no longer cringe at my appearance the way I did when the photos were first taken. Later motherhood me is so much kinder and more forgiving of early motherhood me than I ever thought she would be. The photos evoke feeling now instead of self-criticism. As it turns out, the photos aren’t really about me, anyway. They are about a relationship, between me and my children, which is the thing I value most in the world.

If I could make a recommendation to my friends and fellow moms, it would be to get in the picture, even if you can’t bear to look at those photos now without being hard on yourself. Future you will thank you for capturing the sweetness of the relationship you have with your children right at this moment. That relationship is changing all the time and will never be quitethe same again. Find some clothing that makes you feel good, and piece together outfits for your family. You won’t really care what the outfits are years from now, but a flattering outfit (and maybe a glass of wine!) will help you feel confident going into a photo session and help you do what you know you should: get in the picture more often.

To piece together a family of outfits, start with your own outfit first: choose something flattering and comfortable. In any photo session, it’s important to be able to move and interact with your children. Using your own outfit as a guide, determine the color palette for all of the outfits needed for your group. Try to coordinate colors but not to match everything exactly, adding pops of color and pattern for variety And accessorize! A fun scarf or statement necklace can add interest to an outfit for a woman, just as an adorable hat or pair of suspenders can add pop to a boy’s outfit. But most of, remember that when you (and your children) look at the photos years from now, what you will see is how much you loved each other and not your imperfections or even the awesome outfits you chose.

With Love this Mother's Day, 
​-Audra