the not so pretty...

This is going to the fastest post I've ever written. And it's probably going to have some mistakes because I don't have time to think much about what I'm writing and there is definitely no time for proofreading. That's just how things are these days. I've got 30 minutes before I need to be out the door and my hair still needs to be blow-dryed. Brooke is 6 weeks old today. And coincidentally, we're also having a bad day. I'm bouncing her in her bouncy seat with my left foot right now. She should be sleeping but she's going through a phase where she wakes up every 15 minutes. I actually sort of feel sorry for her – it must be torturous not to be able to stay asleep more than 15 minutes. Either way, this phase has set us up for a bad day. That, and it's cold and rainy. Depressing all around.

I had planned to do photos of Brooke to document 6 weeks. But I decided against it this morning when I looked outside and saw nothing but grey clouds, and when I quickly realized that Brooke wasn't going to be happy (and by "happy", I mean not crying) unless she was in my arms. I gave up on getting anything "done" and eventually settled down to rock her and surf the web on my iPad, something I seem to do a lot of these days. I landed on one of my favourite blogs, Let The Kids, and had my breath taken away by very a moving blog post featuring a fellow photographer and mom, Amy Grace, who is also a very talented writer. The post starts with an excerpt from her blog:

“i have said to myself, at my son’s bath time, hundreds of times: “i wish we had pictures of us here.” because here is as close as it gets, as full of comfort and longing at once. here is where we live. this is the feeling of us, the feeling of the memories on my skin, tattooed in my heart, with pictures like dense spirals of smoke.….i love these because they are true. they are not a set up. they are instant nostalgia. i took a picture of it, instead of waiting, or lamenting the passing of this time later. he is wading the waters between baby and boy, and i am holding his hand, helping him find his balance. he helps me find my own too. the antidote to the dark and twisty parts of me still trying to find their way out. and when they do now, they are met with this crazy light of a boy. ”

I was inspired to get off my butt, grab my camera and capture the complete and utter chaos that is my life today. Dirty dishes, groceries waiting to be put away, piles of laundry, a crying baby, the contents of our dining room hutch piled on our kitchen table ( a long story), my unwashed hair, unmade beds... you get the jist of it.

So when it comes time to put together Brooke's first photo book, we won't have a pretty shot of her sleeping peacefully or wearing a cute outfit. We'll have these – real photos from the day she was 6 weeks old.

And finally, she slept long enough that I could squeeze in a shower and upload these photos. About 15 minutes...

life at 'almost' 5 weeks...

It has been almost 5 weeks now since Brooke joined our family and things are finally settling down and starting to feel normal – the new normal, that is. Kyle and I are head over heels in love with our new baby girl during the day, although she's less than our favourite person during the night. Robin has accepted that Brooke is here to stay and is embracing her role as big sister – reminding us daily that Brooke used to be in Mom's tummy (yep, that's right – I'm "Mom" these days, not Mommy). I'm taking photos as much as possible, and often just on my iphone, but it's tough when you're chasing after a preschooler and taking care of a newborn (I'd totally forgotten how much attention a newborn really does need – the few minutes I get to myself needs to be used for the vitals - washroom, food & sleep!). So my goal is to at least mark the milestones with my camera – one month old being one of them. These shots were taken last Friday afternoon at 4 weeks and 1 day, and it worked out perfectly that Robin woke up from her nap just as I was getting started. We made it about 10 minutes just hanging out on our bed, with Robin singing songs and cuddling with Brooke. But then the camera had to be hastily put away and Brooke rescued from Robin's interpretation of "5 Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed"

My newest muse... Introducing Brooke

We welcomed our beautiful baby girl, Brooke Helen, into the world last Thursday. It’s been an amazing week to say the least, filled with so much love and support from our friends and family. Robin is adjusting well to her new role as big sister and is so far eager to hug and kiss Brooke, share her toys and oversee that Brooke always has a blankie (just like hers).  Although I’m still recovering from the birth, sleep deprived, and hormonal, I’ve never felt so happy. Cheesy, but true.

I finally spent a few minutes snapping some photos of Brooke yesterday, at 7 days old.

And a few highlights from her first week...