I am so excited that I have some entries for my Mothers day contest. Truthfully I was scared that nobody would send me anything, but you guys pulled through and I received three entries. I would have loved to receive more but I said that all I needed was three to give away a shoot and thats what I got! Next year I will make sure to give you guys more time I promise.
Since I only have three entries to choose from I feel a bit strange choosing the winner of the shoot so I am going to have my Mom choose the winner. (She doesn't know that yet though, surprise Mom!) What better person to decide the winner than my own Mother? Its the perfect solution. I will post the winner some time on Sunday.
Here are the entries I recieved:
#1 Kaleo Bird
My second child is exactly 1 month old today (May 7th). He’s our surprise baby boy. Not a surprise because we weren’t intending to have a baby, but a surprise because he’s boy.
When we went in for our sonogram at 19 weeks our radiologist wouldn’t give us a straight answer about the baby’s gender. Having done this once before with our first child (a girl) I pointed out to him, which I’m sure he appreciated, that the image had no penis.
“So it’s a girl, right?” I prodded.
“Not necessarily, the penis is sometimes hiding, and I can’t tell from this angle if that’s labia or scrotum.”
I thought, how is it that you can take a million cross-section photos from every angle of the baby’s internal organs, but you can’t make out the body parts on the outside of the baby? Luckily there was a resident in the room observing our scan and she could tell we were annoyed so she helpfully offered, “So -- 98 % chance it’s a girl.” We went with that.
I like to know the gender of our children ahead of time because I like to have whatever reaction I’m going to have before the baby is born. Also, I’m a planner. I enjoy selecting names and clothes and decorations ahead of time. No matter what the gender of the baby is there is a sense of loss for me, because before I can embrace the “flavor” of baby that we have been blessed with, I have to give up day-dreaming about the other option. I prefer to get this mourning “the road not taken” reaction out of the way before the actual baby arrives, so that I can be whole-ly joyful about them as individuals immediately.
When we found out we were having another girl, we knew that our daughter would be thrilled. My daughter, Noli, is two and half and very big on the whole gender thing right now. She wanted the baby to be a girl like her. When we would remind her that the baby might be a boy she would purse her little lips together and say, “I don’t like boy babies.” So we knew she would be pleased. My husband, Tu, has loved being the Daddy to a little girl and having grown up in a family of four boys wasn’t all that interested in having a boy anyway. He was annoyed when some people at work reassured him that he could always “try again” for a boy when he told them we were having another girl. He really doesn’t see having a girl as being “less” than having a boy.
I felt some disappointment initially. We weren’t planning on having anymore kids after this one and I would never know what it was like to parent a boy baby. I have had a very estrogen-laden life. I grew up with a sister and had very few male friends, and the ones I did have were gay. All of my dad’s friends were female and he had an aversion to sports. I had been hoping to gain insight and empathy into the male experience through a son.
Anyway, I soon let go of my baby boy fantasy and relaxed into the familiarity of raising another little girl. I know about tea parties and sisterhood and dolls and all things girly. My friendship with my younger sister is one of the most important relationships of my life and I was pleased to be able to give that experience to Noli too. We were going to name the new baby Violet.
On April 7, 2008 I sped though labor and delivery in 5 hours (a big relief after the 42 hours I had with my first child. Yes, you read that right, 42 hours!) and when I delivered the baby the mid-wife didn’t even check the gender, because I had told her it was girl and these days everyone knows this stuff ahead of time. Tu helped catch the baby and cut the cord but he also somehow missed the additional equipment on our baby “girl”. So when they put the baby into my arms and I looked down and saw a penis all I could say was “Oh! Oh! Oh!” and then, “ Honey, come look at this!” Tu and I stared at each other in shock. “Violet has penis.” I said. Tu’s first thought was that Noli would be disappointed and his second thought was that this was the wrong baby and there had been some kind of mistake. I had no thoughts at all. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the change.
We named him Calder, after the Alexander Calder mobile that we first met each other under. We have spent the last month teaching ourselves not to say “her” or “she” when talking about Calder and collecting second-hand boy clothes. Noli adapted very well to getting a baby brother instead of the promised sister. She is mad at us for not giving her our total and undivided attention anymore, but she adores Calder and announces her new title of “Big Sister” to everyone we meet.
My main reason for submitting this entry to your Mother’s Day photo contest is that in trying to balance my time between Noli and Calder, I haven’t really had much time/energy to photograph them. I feel like I am missing some important moments but the time just slips away from me and before I know it I have fallen asleep nursing the baby on the couch again. We took millions of photos of Noli and I feel like Calder deserves a little documentation too. I can’t think of a more wonderful Mother’s Day gift than to have professional photos of our newly expanded little family!
# 2 Elizabeth Haring (No relation to my boyfriend Don Haring)
I come from a long line of strong women. Really strong women. The type of women that are born before their time and pioneer change. The type of women who survive terrifying experiences with their heads held high and their dignity fully intact. The type of women that other women long to know, befriend, and emulate. Within this line, I am the fourth generation of first-born daughters. This is a right in and of itself, and with it comes certain expectations and obligations. You can imagine the anticipation I felt when I found out I was pregnant with my own first child.
Ironically, my formal induction into this heritage of “strong women” surrounded my daughter’s birth. In the 26th week of my very normal and uneventful pregnancy, I went into pre-term labor. Though the doctors were able to temporarily delay labor, Riley was born two weeks later. She weighed just over 2 pounds and was, for a lack of better words, tiny. In those initial moments, I remember looking at my daughter, small and helpless, praying that she would quickly inherit my grandmother’s strength and my mother’s resiliency. We even chose the name Riley because it means strong and valiant~ hoping that we could bestow the influence of her namesake upon her.
Riley came home 5 weeks later, weighing exactly 4 pounds. Because she was born so early, I do not have any pictures of myself in which I am obviously pregnant. And because her body was so sensitive that small amounts light and noise would disrupt her entire day, we never had her professionally photographed as a newborn. The only early photos we have of Riley are harsh and blurry pictures of her in the NICU, taken by her scared and emotional father. I am submitting the most meaningful which was taken the first time I was allowed to hold Riley, four days after she was born. As soon as I put Riley to my chest, she opened her eyes for the very first time and looked right into mine. It was at that moment that I knew that we both inherited the power we needed to survive this situation, and that we possessed a bond that only a mother and daughter could share. Though the picture itself is poor, it captured a significant moment and therefore is irreplaceable.
Today, I am humbled by how fortunate we are to have a healthy and vibrant 2-year old. She battled terrifying odds and has escaped all of the worst case scenarios that we were warned of when she was born. On Mother’s Day, I feel blessed to have been able to contribute this “strong little girl” to the world. She has reinforced the circle of women in our family, and has brought us more hope and joy than can be expressed in words. I would love to honor her, and all the mothers in this circle, by capturing her spirit in a photograph. By looking at your pictures online, I am certain you are the person who can perform this justice. Thank you for considering us as part of your Mother’s Day contest, and we would be honored to be chosen for your baby shoot!
# 3 Danica Sumpter (entered by son Brock)So i overheard mom talking about a mother's day contest ms. joy was holding and when i heard that the prize was a baby shoot, i just had to enter. i know most people think their mom is the bestest ever, and i'm no different.
i wanted to get her something really neat for mother's day to show her how much i love and appreciate everything she does, but i'm not allowed to drive and don't get an allowance yet, so my options are a bit limited. i do however sneak online to blog once a week and thought it would be great if i could secretly enter this contest and win a baby shoot for her. "why?" you ask...this quote sums it up nicely...
A good snapshot stops a moment from running away. ~Eudora Welty
mom talks about how much and fast i'm changing and i can see in her eyes that she gets a little sad that her baby is growing up right before her eyes, and she's probably wanting to do anything she can to stop these moments from running away. to add to that, my mom and dad's families live in texas and florida so the only way much of my extended family gets to see me is through pictures. and no offense to mom, but ms. joy's a professional and if a picture by mom is worth 1000 words, one by ms. joy is worth 10,000.
so, i'm sure you wanna see me and my mom...
this is me (in my mommy's belly) and my mom on her mommy's lap (i guess you never get too old to sit on your mom's lap)
here's me in mom's belly...looks like she swallowed a big basketball
here's me on mom's belly...it's great to be on the outside
all this talk about bellies...for good measure i thought i'd throw in a picture of my belly (please excuse the drool, it comes without warning these days)
so, i hope you enjoyed the pictures of me and my mom (and g'ma), and i hope i'm one of the winners of the contest...it would be the best mom's day present ever for the best mom ever!
Good luck to you all and Happy Mothers Day!
Labels: baby, family
Tiny head
Tiny feet
She is so adorable. I love her expression here.
The new family
Wondering what this lady is doing with that big camera.
As new parents I think this is what they do the majority of the time, look in wonder and amazement at Abigail. I don't blame them.
We can not forget the other children.
This was our first of three sessions to document Abigail's first year. I am so excited to watch her grow and watch this family grow. Looking forward to our next visit. Until then.
