This is my life.

I think getting your family pictures done is important.

So important, in fact, that it's what I do for a living and as a hobby.

But as a photographer, it's a lot easier to stay behind the camera. Obviously, I have an insane amount of pictures of my baby girl, and of her and her Daddy together. But the ones of her and I are few and far between. It's important to me for her to be able to look back and know that she actually did have a Mommy in her life.

I also think it's really easy to push pictures to the backburner. You always have a few extra pounds to lose or more important things to get done. THESE ARE YOUR MEMORIES. I'm not sure there's anything more important than preserving this time in your life RIGHT NOW, RIGHT AS IT IS.

So I scheduled for Vanessa to take our family pictures. We haven't had any done together since Nora was born and I think the time is overdue. But my sweet (and extremely busy) photographer has had important things come up the last two times we've scheduled to get them done. This last Sunday we were ready and walking out the door when I found out she wouldn't be able to make it. So we decided to call my mom down (who can barely work a point and shoot) and see if she could snap a few. Luckily she brought her boyfriend Dave who was capable of pushing the shutter button and we captured a few really good pictures.

I can't wait for our real photoshoot but thought I would share a few of these for now.