Dena Robles | More Than Words | Grand Rapids Michigan Photographer

This whole parenting gig is hard. Some days I feel like my existence is all about the mountains of laundry, the taxi and 3 different carpool arrangements, school volunteering, bake sales, sports games, coaching, fundraising, trying to get a healthy bite of food into at least ONE of my kids at least ONCE a day.  Nevermind, all the growing pains that come with identifying with high school politics, the hormone train hitting my nearly middle school daughter or the struggles of the kindergartner who speaks a different language than me with a new passion every day and is frustrated that I can’t be in THAT world with him every second of the day.  Some nights I collapse in bed and bury my head under the covers.  Some days I want to escape it all and go on an adventure that is all my own.  Sometimes I wonder if somebody had told me how hard and tiring it was all going to be, and if my heart had been open to hearing it…if I would have done it at all.  The parenting thing.

Then I remind myself that in 4 short years, one of my children will be moving out into his own world.  I remember that a switch is about to be flipped on my daughter and she will be a teenager and our whole world together is about to change in unimaginable ways.  Someday soon, I will actually wish for the little one to talk to me about Ninjago or Bionicles or Pirates of the Caribbean or Jedis and Clone Wars,  because all too soon, his voice will be different and his conversations will all be to someone else.  The days are oh so long, but the years are short.  So you get up, put a smile on your face as you grab your Mega Man-Sized cup of caffeine, get your jungle boots on and suit up for another day of school lunches, lost homework, forgotten permission forms, mismatched socks and dirty faces and rush them out the door and look forward to that 15 minutes of peace  before you have to consult your calendar for the other 27 things going on that day.  And then at the end of the night you check in with them, give a snuggle and good night kiss (or a “hey…yeah, um good night) and know that while it wasn’t groundbreaking…all the small stuff we do everyday adds up to what is hopefully a healthy, happy and confident human being.  Maybe in the end, this IS the adventure.  And I would do it all over again.

So to all the mothers out there, I salute you.  Happy Mother’s Day.  Everyday.

Thank you to the moms out there who are willing to jump in front of my camera for a quick tickle and giggle and snuggle with their own children, thank you for remembering to document this special time in both of your lives.  I can learn from you.

In honor of Mothers Day, and Mothers Every Day, I want to gift you an 8 inch fine art print of you and your child together when you book your photo session with me.  Just a gift from one mom to another.  Carry on Warriors.  Dads and kids– you last minute gift buyers –if you are still stuck on the perfect gift for Mother’s Day, email me at denarobles@gmail.com to purchase a gift certificate for a Mom & Me photo session in my Grand Rapids portrait studio.  Leave the hard work to me, you can get the kudos.

xo

dena