I’ve been trying to blog Charlotte’s 5th Birthday Session for months.  And now finally, (today at o’dark thirty), Im sitting at my desk (aka kitchen table) praying that the new blackout shades My Husband installed yesterday will keep my ‘Early Bird’ sleeping past ‘early’.  Seriously, this kid wakes up no later than 6:30 most days.

I can hear my mother and mother-in-law telling me ‘You’re going to miss this’, and I probably will.  How does a mother find balance?  Has anyone figured it out?  Seriously, if you have any ideas, help a sister out!  About this balance thing, it’s flipping hard!  All too often, my things are put on the back burner until spare time reveals itself.  Like this morning.  Thank goodness.

I had intentions of posting Charlotte’s Birthday Session three months ago, when I actually took these pictures of my little five year old; aka ‘Early Bird’.  I was in the middle of a website re-vamp, spring sessions, and a general life-craziness.  But in all honesty, it might have actually been trying to find the words to express how I feel.  Are there any?

How did the news of my pregnancy, then, seeing her body inside my womb jumping around, become her?  This little child, part me and part Dan, from this black and white image of an alien on a screen, to a person with real personality and the ability to form words?

I can hardly remember all the stages of her babyhood, but I am clinging on to the best parts.  When she started to make us laugh, and when her imagination bloomed are some of my favorite memories.  And there are sometimes when I wish I could go back and savor those moments just a tiny bit more.  Now, at five; she is an incredibly intelligent little human and she amazes me every single day about the things she understands.  I can tell I am already losing those moments of teaching and discovery, but I hope there will be new things to discover and do together that neither of us realize yet!