Making Use...

Another Christening at Wye House

The first weekend in May we drove up to the Eastern Shore of Maryland for "Baptismpalooza", where our neice, Althea, was Christened with several of her young cousins.  [You may remember Henry's Christening back in 2009?]  We traveled through the rain on Cinco de Mayo, which made me think of Isis, (oh, Isis, you mystical child), stopped for dinner around DC, and crossed the Chesapeake in the day's last light.

The next day we were up early with our toddler and strolled around Easton, where the streets were quiet and most every business was closed on Sunday morning.

Amongst all the children being baptised, Althea, at just over two months, was the tiniest baby in the ceremony, and she slept through the entire event.  Water on her head and all.  What a star!

Flora ran around outside beforehand and found an orange that had fallen from one of the potted orange trees.

Quite a gathering. 

Unfortunately, I experienced a communication breakdown with the two others to whom I handed off my camera (God-Mother duties called me upfront during the ceremony), and so there are no actual pictures of Althea, or any of the children, being sprinkled with Holy water.  Oh well.  It happened.

Althea with her mother and great grandmother:

Four generations of women (plus brother Henry!):

After the service there was a luncheon in the backyard.  Crab cakes, mac 'n cheese, roasted veggies, biscuits...  The usual deliciousness.

Flora and Brooke were born 12 hours apart.  We think someday they might find that coincidence kind of cool.  But this was not that day.

Althea in the Blue Room:

Congrats, my sweet God-baby.  May your spirit always be flush with both peace and wonder!  

Shannon & Dave + Twins

Shannon and I met as 6th-graders and really only knew each other that one year before I switched schools.  But, thanks to Facebook, I think, we reconnected in the last couple of years.  We both welcomed babies in 2011, but she and her husband got the sweet deal of two at once.  A boy and a girl!  

I went out to their home in Earlysville a couple of weeks ago to make some family portraits in their field of buttercups, at the new house they're building on the property, and in the woods between.  

Beauty all around! 

Behind the Scenes: Hook Weddings

Stephanie has shared some behind-the-scenes details from our Hook Weddings photo shoot last month.  You can check out part one and part two over on the Fête Blog.  

What a fun day that was.  I'm already dreaming up another styled shoot for late summer.  You can call me crazy, but this is my inspiration for that summer vision.  Ah, romance.

Go on.  

Crazy.

Hello, Little Girl

This week I have been wonderfully distracted by the arrival of my new niece, Althea.  She is such a beauty, such a love.  

I spent a couple hours with Carter, Maggie, Henry, and Althea yesterday and got to hold the little lady for quite a while, hearing all about her beautiful birth, feeling her stretch and relax again in my arms.  She is the first newborn I have cradled since my daughter was born one year ago.  It felt wonderful.

Meanwhile, Flora and Henry have become big buddies, just in the last few weeks.  It is exciting to picture this troupe of kids playing together in the coming years.  

And Flora got to pat, pat, pat her first newborn, too.  She was very gentle and sweet, which made me quite proud.  It's so obvious to even type this... but I cannot believe how far we have come in one year.

Henry's arrival, nearly three years ago, was so thrilling.  He was the first grandbaby for my parents, the first child of my siblings.  It was easy to love him and all the newness he represented.  But now I feel a much deeper and more experienced love as our family grows further, which comes from knowing my nieces and nephews (on both sides of the family) and knowing my own feelings as a mother.  That, too, feels wonderful.

[Official baby photo shoot to follow in the next few weeks.]

A Poem And Some Pictures For This Sunday Scratch That Monday Night

Snow Poem

 

It waited, this year, till almost March to snow,

It started on a cold Sunday afternoon,

Hard after a Saturday that felt like Spring.

And I was probably alone in the house in just tolerating its arrival.

 

I carried Littles onto the front porch, after a half hour or so of its falling,

A wet blanket that stood up on the grass (but not the street),

And pointed to the great whiteness for her sake,

Though the one-year-old had already seen it, and was in awe (as she often is).

 

Later, as I rocked her to sleep, I smelled a dirty diaper and began to change it, 

And called to Meredith (she can't smell), who called back that--alarm--

A fire truck was on the street.  So I did the awful work myself,

And rushed Littles down the stairs in her reindeer-inspired pajamas.

 

We watched the red and white colors that lit up the front of our house.  

It wasn't clear why the fire truck was there, out on the street.

But the lights on the trees, covered with blankets and pillows of snow,

Were startlingly beautiful.  Meredith took pictures.  

 

--THB

Snow, Charlottesville, VA, February 19, 2012

The Week Begins

Been quiet here on the blog for a couple of weeks as we had some major sickness run through our household plus other life and work obligations that kept me from my desk.  I'm happy to report that the vomiting has ceased, the baby is joyful, the mother can breathe from her nose again, the daffodils are poking through, and all is well in this tiny corner of the world.  

-- This weekend Todd and Flora celebrated their birthdays.  As I whisked up semi-sweet chocolate ganache frosting for their cake on Saturday morning, I realized I was so excited about the sweet little birthday party we had planned for the afternoon, and for the dinner date for me and my love that evening.  I have a new favorite day all year and it falls in early February.  I think I've been looking forward to baking Flora's birthday cake since she arrived last year, and it turned out beautifully.  It was a simple chocolate cake with choclate frosting, but I made it myself, infusing it with all my motherly and wifely love, and I was proud to serve it to my family and friends on Saturday.  The recipes I used for cake and icing were torn together from a Real Simple magazine sometime in the last 12 months.  Because we all know: if a recipe is not real simple, Meredith's not even going to bother!

-- On Facebook last month I saw a link to this letter that John Steinbeck wrote to his son in 1958.  His son was a young teenager who had written home to announce that he'd fallen in love at boarding school, and Steinbeck replies in the most thoughtful, respectful, and loving way that any adult could.  I appreciate how he honors his child's feelings and encourages him to "glory in it [...] and be very glad and grateful for it."  

-- Also on the subject of love, sort of.... I enjoyed this post from tulips & flight suits about being single.  I think Mary's advice is prudent not only for those who haven't yet started the life they hope to live, but also for those of us who have.  Whether you are single or married, content or searching, I feel it's always a good idea to embrace your life as it is, to surround yourself with beauty and good people, and to focus on what you have and what you can do with that.  Sounds trite, I know, but it is a scientific fact that a large part of being happy is making yourself happy.  (That's another post).

-- I watched this video recently and really enjoyed it.  Iceland looks so unbe-freakin-lievably stunning.  I think I must go there.  Interesting soundtrack, too.

-- Finally, returning to the subject of being happy, I started a new board on Pinterest last week.  I call it "MerryMakers" and it's just a collection of things that make me happy and lift my spirits, so that if I'm ever in need of a simple pick-me-up I can look at it and be made merry.  I can also use it as a reminder that going out for coffee, baking some cookies or granola, kissing a baby, etc... would probably be a wise move to improve a sour mood instantly.  I plan to continue adding to this board and ask that you consider making one also.  Share it here in the comments so that I (and others) can be made merry by the things you love, too!

I hope you have a heart-warming week.    

First Birthday Cake, Charlottesville, VA, February 4, 2012.  

Instagram.

Bo & Flora

My daughter's first name, Flora, is inspired by my grandmother's name.  We call my grandmother Bo, which is a variation of 'Flo', which is short for Flora.  To her grandchildren, Bo has always been Bo, and our Flora is never Flo (though sometimes Dora).  Do you follow?

This fall, while I was working really hard at my desk, my mom would come over, pick up my baby, and take her to visit my grandmother.  They would return home with stories about how Flora had charmed every person at the Martha Jefferson House, making appearances in the dining room at lunch, smiling at the doorman on her way in and out of the building.  How she liked to climb around Bo's walker, how she like to play with the assortment of tennis bracelets on her wrist.  Flora was seeing far more of Bo than I was and they were building a little relationship.  

Then, the week before Christmas, Bo entered the hospital with pneumonia.  At first the hospital stay seemed to be a precaution, then it was a necessity as her health took a turn for the worse.  And then one night nearly all the family (daughters, husbands, grandchildren, husband of grandchild, great-grandbaby) crowded into her hospital room and filled every seat and corner.  Bo slept under our eyes.  She looked to me like a woman who was dying.  After the room emptied out, Flora and I went back to give her kisses and say goodbye.

But Bo lived through the night.  And the next day she was much improved.  And so a few days later she left the hospital and returned to her home.  And then it was nearly Christmas.

My 92-year old grandmother declared that all she wanted for Christmas was for all of her family to be around her, and to eat some candy.  Done and done!

I like looking at these pictures and knowing that the arms holding my baby once held me as a child, and my mother before me.  I feel so fortunate to see Flora and Flora together.  

Flora and Flora, Charlottesville, VA, December 22, 2011.

Bo gave Flora an Olivia doll for Christmas and we were shocked and amused to see that the two little critters matched!  Flora and Todd read about Olivia nearly every night before bed. 

(Flora got her own walker for Christmas.)  

Welcome, 2012

I'm so glad you are here.  

2011 was possiby the best year of my life, but it was hard, too.  

This past fall nearly knocked me down flat, and navigating my new role as a working mother over the last 11 months forced me to reexamine my goals, values, and identity.  Exhaustion, frustration, moments of despair...  I've felt all of these powerful forces in 2011.

Overwhelmingly, however, 2011 rewarded me like no other year in my life.  

I had the immense pleasure of photographing more couples this year than ever before, and those jobs took me to Maine (twice!), Massachusetts, New Jersey, West Virginia, Washington, DC, and all over Virginia.  I realized this year, in the middle of one wedding in particular, that I actually fall in love with my couples over the course of my working relationship with them.  I'm convinced that I collaborate with some of the nicest, most gracious, thoughtful, and beautiful people out there, and I am grateful for their trust in me.

My greatest accomplishment and most wondrous joy of 2011 is my daugther, Flora.  I suppose I don't really consider her to be an accomplishment, per se, as I find her so marvelously miraculous that I can hardly believe she is made of my bones and blood.  But as her mother, I do feel a compelling sense of accomplishment---for her birth, her survival, her daily thriving.  Motherhood, though incredibly challenging, of course, comes naturally to me, and I credit my instincts to the good mothering I experienced in my own childhood (and to this day).  I am grateful to my mother, my daughter, and my husband, who are all making this experience so emotional and special for me.  

2011 was a banner year, both personally and professionally, and now 2012 looks to be... a little something different...  But I am thinking it will bring a lot more of the same, if you know what I mean.  I am grateful to have the opportunity for more.

Hope your 2012 is looking bright as sunshine.

Flora, 10+ Months, Charlottesville, VA, December 21, 2011.  

P.S. What what of resolutions, you ask?  Okay.  I resolve to take up running again (did you know I ran a season of cross country in college?!).  But not until September.  I resolve not to run until September.  How's that?  

At 6 Months

Flora at 6 months, Charlottesville, VA.  August 4, 2011.

Mother's Day at Field School

As I have said before, I love making these mother/son portraits at Field School every spring.  I think next year is the year... the year for an exhibition.  I'd like to show my favorite images from over the years, as well as a progression of portraits of a few pairs of mothers and sons.  Fifth grade to eighth grade.  

What do you think?  Wouldn't that be sweet?

Here are some of my favorite moments from the 2011 Mother's Day session:

Carlos and Monica

Evan and MaryAnne

Evan and Karen

Sycamore and Carrie

Jonathan and Elizabeth

McKeller and Amy

William and Lady

Neal and Cindy

Samuel and Cindy

Reid and Isabel

Ian and Amy

Lucas and Freedom

Myles and Darlene

Jesse and Mary

Riley and Becca

Daniel and Candy

Jed and Carrie

James and Carol

Darren and Mary

Toby and Becca

Andrew and Kristen

A.J. and Elisabeth