Throughout the mini session I was mentally checking the boxes of all the pictures I wanted to cram into 30 minutes:
Caroline + Daddy — check!
Thomas + Daddy — check!
Caroline + Mommy — check!
Thomas + Mommy — check!
Caroline + Thomas — check!
Caroline + Thomas + Mommy + Daddy — check!
Though we lucked out with the golden hour mini session, this timing also happened to coincide with our witching hour. So at times Thomas was fussy and didn’t want to participate. And Caroline would get bored and wander away. And we were all sweating. It would have been easy to wrap up our shoot at that point but instead Matt and I decided to tune the kiddos out and let them wander (out of Matt’s comfort zone) for a few minutes to capture just us.
Last year and the year prior I was too caught up in straightening Caroline’s bow, sliding shoes back onto tiny feet and making funny noises to get kids to smile that by the end of the shoot I was exhausted and had completely forgotten to request pictures of just me and Matt. Once again, we’d fallen into the trap of putting the kids first, as always, and each other second (or in this instance, overlooked completely).
But this year Matt and I made a point to capture just us — our marriage, a special separate entity within our family. It only took two minutes to get a few images that we’ll treasure forever. We held hands, locked eyes, smooched and just enjoyed being husband and wife in those brief moments. And we wanted our minis to see us as more than mommy and daddy too.
It’s easy to overlook the handsome man you fell in love with before kids when you’re deep in the trenches of parenthood. This stage is hard and it’s easy to let the kiddos consume you. But we’re trying our best to carve out more moments for each other in the midst of chaos.
Just the two of us…
Yes too often we are so focused on the littles, we ignore ourselves. Lovely pictures
Love this!
Oh my goodness I love your dress!! Where is it from? Great great photos!
Oh my goodness I love your dress!! Where is it from? Great great photos!
These pictures are perfect! I'm so glad you got some of just the two of you! One day, one day, we'll get some real pictures taken too 🙂 Also, your dress is too pretty!
I absolutely love this!! Beautiful pictures of just the two of yall!!
Christina, you are such a Godly example and I love this so much!! Xox, aMr
You two are such a sweet couple!! And I'm sure an excellent example to your kiddos about a healthy, God-loving marriage 🙂 We have three little girls now (youngest is just 2 weeks old!) and try to keep our marriage a priority. Sometimes, it's just going for a drive and holding hands while chatting, but every little bit counts!! Love the photos!!!-Sarah http://www.thefrugalmillionaireblog.com
What stunning & special pictures of just you two. You continue to be such an inspiration in so many ways. You go girl! And ps that necklace is amazing!!!
Love this, and these photos are so beautiful! We did the same with our family pics a few month after Tell was born. I plopped him down on a blanket in the sand, let L splash in the shoreline of the beach and actually managed to get a few pictures with just me and Anthony and I love them! You'll treasure these!
I love this and those photos are gorgeous! The perfect reminder that the marriage is the heart of the family. Jess at Just Jess
You two look beautiful!!
Beautiful pictures!!
I love these pictures of you guys! We don't have babies, but I've tried to schedule at least one photo session a year to capture the moments of our marriage… just like you said. Love that you took time for you and Matt, too.
Is it bad if I say these are my two favourite pics from this shoot? You guys are gorgeous and an inspiration to so many other couples! I love that you took this time together x