From wake to sleep

I always like to start my year with an inspiring course that will challenge my growth as a photographer. For the final assignment of this year's course, The Documentary Approach, I had to do A Day in the Life of my own family. While I document my children every week as part of my Portrait of Play project, I had never photographed a day of our family life in its entirety. I went to bed with my camera beside me ready to wake up and capture the day as it happened all the way until bedtime. There was nothing special about the day. Nothing was scheduled, and we never even left the house. I took pictures like I would if I were photographing another family and also while nursing and vacuuming. It's safe to say that this is something I will continue to do every year as a way to record the things that stay the same and the things that change in our family life from year to year. The photos remind me of these things that I don't want to forget that define this time in our life:

-Winnie coming up to bed with us in the middle of the night every night. Waking up with her next to me.

-The furniture that James made for us that will be part of our life throughout the years.

-The exhaustion. Serious. Lack. Of. Sleep. Such is life when you have young children and you like to work until 2 am most nights.

-How much Roland loves James.

-The way my kids entertain themselves and me. My mom once said I should just record everything that happens here or stream it as a reality tv show. Their imaginations delight me.

-How Chuck sometimes wants to take showers by herself instead of baths with her sister.

-The little details that may go unnoticed to everyone else but are visually a part of our every day life: James' resistance band, the chalkboard wall, the rug, the coffee cups, the toys, the boxes from the car seats they will be in for the next several years, and the painting that is hanging in the girls' room. These are all things that make our house a home.

-The work that never ends, dishes, laundry, meals, pottying, nursing, changing, repeat, repeat, repeat.

-Atlas, the dog we had before we had kids, the dog who is not getting any younger.

This year has been rough. I mean, having three kids is crazy. In the same breath that I am already aching for the days I know I'll miss (that have not even passed yet), I am dreaming about 3 years from now when I will hopefully have more personal space, time to myself, and sleep. Because I know this day in our life will look different next year, I went ahead and printed these in a photo book so I could look at them without having to search through an old external hard drive to find them. My future self thanks me.

While I was able to include my presence in these photographs, I am very glad my dear friend Anda Marie will be taking photos of our family this month. My family through my lens is different than my family through the lens of another. Plus, I want to be able to see myself with my children, and I want them to see me with them. My future self thanks me for that too.

Man yawns in a kitchen and a girl eats breakfast

still life of coffee and phone with a sleep chart on a table

Child puts hand into a plastic bowl of Grapenuts

Girl with a milk moustache laughs in a kitchen

Girl makes face at sister while opening the dishwasher

Child in red pajamas with head in the box while lying on the ground

Baby boy stands up in crib and looks in the camera

Girl sits in bath tup and puts her hands and feet together

baby slumps over in a jumper flanked by full laundry baskets

A girl sits on the toilet while another girl jumps on a bed

Baby holds bowl of yogurt close to his face

Girl in shower with tongue out of her mouth

Child stands on a stool and leans over into the washing machine

Man lies on a couch and looks at his phone

Reflection of woman holding camera with a child on her back

Baby looks at mother while nursing as seen from mother's perspective

Dog looks at boy in a highchair in a kitchen while a girl reaches into a cabinet behind it

3 children play with pretend food in an oven

baby holds on to child's shopping cart with a pretend kitchen

Mother vacuums while baby holds onto it taken from the mother's perspective

A child sits on a couch as a baby stands under a table and a girl sits in a laundry basket and talks on a phone

Girl writes on cardboard house with marker while sticking her tongue out

A girl gets ready to squeeze oranges as another girl looks over

A toddler sits on a potty chair in a bathroom with her arm stretched out toward the person taking the picture

A girl opens a door to go outside while a girl carries the top of a pineapple behind her

The top of a pineapple planted in a pot with dirt around it

A man and two children cut carrots with knives

A man lies on a couch looking at his phone while a child climbs on him and another child lies on the floor in front of him

A father puts pajamas on a baby who is holding onto his leg and another child leans on a couch beside him

A girl yawns as a father dumps pee in a toilet and another girl looks at the camera while brushing her teeth

A baby smiles at one sister while his dad sets him on another child lying in a bed

I'd love to spend some time in your home with your family. It doesn't have to be for a full day. You don't have to be at your prepregnancy weight. Your house doesn't have to be clean. Your kids don't have to behave. You just have to be you.