If I could only always remember

I've been busy with work. So busy that my weekends are filled with shoots, nap times is filled with downloads and previews and after my family has gone to bed, I stay up late into the night making edits on hundreds of images taken of the same, small, beautiful child.

It's rare that a child between the ages of 1 to about the age of 7 actually sit still long enough for someone to realize just how incredibly breathtaking they are. Those eyes... that hair... her skin... his laugh... I feel like I miss seeing my kids in this light because they are always either on my hip or at my side.

The other day I sat Taylor in front of a shape sorting toy she often plays with. I decided to sit with her because I had a moment to breath and why not pass that moment with her. Not even looking up for my approval she places each of the five shapes into their corresponding spots, in about 5 seconds without making a single mistake... I shook my head in disbelief and she walked away.

She thinks she's flying when she's on her trampoline and prefers to only jump on it now while she is wearing her fairy wings. Chris calls her our angel with butterfly wings.

If I could only always remember these things, the way they move when they do them, her smell when she wakes from her nap.

how she moves when she dances...

she sings every note even though she can't say the words...

he doesn't mind stepping aside because he's so proud of his little sister, "She's so beautiful mommy."

"Austin what's Taylor up to in there?" "Oh, she's just being cute..." sigh...

he bites his nails when he's scared...

he's on his 6th night tonight, sleeping alone, even though I know he's so scared, even though I've told him he has the best guardian angel and because I know he just doesn't quite understand and because I know he is so smart and his imagination is so active, so brilliant.

she wants me to hold her when daddy comes home from work, even before he walks through the door so she can see him face to face and then, and only she locks gazes with him will she allow him to hold her.

I am so proud of my little ones. They make me the luckiest person alive. I do my best to capture these moments through images, but sometimes I just need to spend it with them and so close to them that not even a camera can come between us.