I Want {BD Photography}

about six months ago, my dollface pumpkin bitty brooklynne had a serious thing on her heart that she needed to share. 

sensitively trying to hold back a smile she says to me, “mama, i’m not your baby anymore.”  maybe to her, losing top teeth was the deadline.  i’m not sure where it came from but i wasn’t having it. 

“what do you mean you aren’t my baby anymore?  you promised you would ALWAYS ALWAYS be my baby,” i replied, followed by my guilt inducing puppy dog face {which i learned from her}.

“ok mama, i’m kind of your baby… but i’m big now.  no, i can’t be your baby.” 

i responded with funny melodramatic fake crying which of course was my comedic cover up for mixed emotions, ranging from pride that my girl is so smart and grown to sincere heartbreak that she didn’t want to be the baby.  i wasn’t having more babies. and besides, a deal is a deal we went back and forth, with her giving in to be my baby, then taking it back as her sensitive heart got to her…giving in again as she saw she could use it to bribe me {i’ll be your baby if i can have another cookie} to finally deciding that independence tasted even better.

in curious retrospect, i wonder if this moment was God preparing my heart for our suprise baby to be.  or maybe this moment was the motivation for my ovaries to spring into action and fight past our birth control that had worked for 7 years.  either way, she AND briella will always be my babies, whether they embrace it or not.  of course a mama is happy that her girls are healthy and confident, and to be needed all over again by a new baby on the way helps ease the sting.  now let us all pray for the new baby who will be smothered by me AND it’s two shorter mom/sisters who are exuding maternal instinct and excitement from their pores as we speak.  poor child may never learn to walk.

 

for now, let me brag shamelessly on my 7 year old.  as you may or may not be aware, my girls got burned out on having the camera in their faces pretty quickly.  as i went pro, they became pro at dodging my lens no matter how sly i thought i was.  in the case that i was relentless {for example, i HAVE to at LEAST do their birthday shoots} they became expert negotiators.  negotiations for the following shoot lasted 5 weeks.  so to be precise, here is my 7.1 year old. funny how her usual whine of “stop takin my pitchurrrr” turned into a hambone’s “what about this pose?!  hey mom look at this…”  hollywood vogue-ing ensued.  i was pleasantly shocked and clicked away before it passed. 
oh.my.gosh. seven is full of unapologetic vigor.  unjaded confidence.

brooklynne is my sensitive thinker.  it’s like i can actual see the wheels in her head turning sometimes.

she is part tae-kwon-do super hero, part girly girl.  sugar and spice as they say.

ask and she will tell boldly educate you, “tae-kwon-do means the way of the hand and the foot”.  she says so in THE cutest lispy voice that has ever uttered those words. ever. i check my facts on the internet. 

she also will complain about the silly no hat rule at school and say, “but i’m a fashion guhll” in the way that those who can’t quite pronounce R’s say ‘girl’.

my heart jumped when this one ↑ came onto my editing screen.  how old is she??!  i think she looks just like me!  {please don’t shoot my self-esteem w contrary opinions here.  i know she favors daddy but if i can dream of being a fraction this beautiful it’s gonna be a good weekend} what? {seriously guys, she has my eyes and none of you can take that away from me!}

mmm hmmm.  this is what teeth look like when you are seven.  and proud!  can you keep that healthy self image please?  thanks.

sweet pea grin.  you can’t fool me.  you’re not all the way grown up yet.

how about we tone it down a bit so i can be sure you are still my baby little little girl.  insert innocent playtime with american girl doll.

she IS the self-proclaimed “funny one in the fam-i-leee” so let’s hope she doesn’t lose her sense of humor about this next one at her wedding slideshow.

model time ↑

and

 i don’t like this hat or hair and i’m done time ↓

↓ mama’s favorite ↓

↓ daddy’s favorite ↓

↓ sister’s favorite ↓

and brooklynne’s favorite ↓.  this was actually a strict part of her negotiation.  she spent half the shoot asking, “now can i do the pic of me and juliet’s feet??”  hilarious.  someone seems to have picked up on the newborn+family foot shot trend.  color me proud. 

thanks for letting me be THAT annoying mom who thinks her kids are the greatest today.  i will return to my regularly scheduled obsession over how adorable yours are with the next post.  have a fabulous weekend!!