Time.

“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” ~Jim Rohn

Chance is nearly 5 weeks old and I’m realizing it’s been nearly a week since I last posted anything on my blog. Time has definitely flown by this past week and my little peanut is continuing to grow. He’s about eight pounds now and growing more alert each day.  Though he’s growing I have to admit he reminds me so much of my “itty bitty” Hope. For a little longer he continues to fit into his newborn clothes and diapers and continues to sleep most of the day. Part of me refuses to believe that his “newborn” phase is nearing an end and as each day passes I’ve continued to spend a bit of time admiring my itty bitty baby boy and photographing him because I know it won’t be long before I’ll be missing him being this little. Yes, if only I could figure out how to hold time still for just a tad bit longer…but I can’t so I suppose embracing these moments through more photos seems quite fitting.

The other day Hope was looking at photos and said “hey, you’re taking a lot of photos of Chance!” I instantly felt like the guilty mother realizing that Chance has definitely stolen most of my attention the last month. Of course those that know my kids know that typically they get really excited for about 5% of the photos I try to take because I do take soooooo many photos — the other 95% of the time they seem to run the other direction, hide or whine about me trying to take their photos. But I know inside they really enjoy me taking their photos more than they admit and Hope’s reaction reminded me of that. This past weekend I spent a bit of time photographing all the kids together for a change. Usually photographing one can be fun. Photographing 2 together is a tad bit more challenging. Photographing 3 is definitely a challenge…especially when I wanted to get two kids to cooperate long enough to take photos with a sleepy baby. It’s kind of funny because it always seems sooooo much easier to do for other families but for my own it’s a bit more challenging. But thankfully I had Jason home to help. We totally bribed the kids that they’d get to play their daddy’s xbox games and thankfully it worked.

Jaylen really wanted to play his daddy’s xbox…so much so that he agreed to let us put baby Chance on his belly for this photo. Someday when they’re both much bigger I’m going to look back at this one and say “awe….” and miss them both being this little.

Hope was very cooperative for photos with Chance. She totally adores her baby brother and continues to be a super big sister. She begs to hold him often during the day and now that she’s nine she has convinced me that she’s big enough to hold her baby brother while standing. She begged for a month and I finally allowed her to this week…of course with a lot of supervision. Now she proudly proclaims she’s able to help more. She also insists on helping me get him dressed every day too. When I’ve got my hands full with Chance she’s being a huge helper with Jaylen. Having her help has certainly helped make things a little easier having a new baby in the house. I remember how emotional Hope was after I miscarried in October 2009 and seeing this photo helps remind me just how much she treasures her baby brother knowing she waited anxiously for him to arrive just as long as I did.

Just about every day since we’ve been out of the hospital I’ve tried to photograph Chance as I would any newborn. I still have a handful of hats and other ideas to try…whether or not I’ll pull them all off before Chance grows too much bigger is another thing. When I was pregnant with Chance I stumbled across some super cute newborn baby visors being sold on etsy. You’ve already seen Chance wearing one. Here he is sporting another one. Now that he’s over a month old it’s pure luck that I am able to get him to stay this sleepy in this position. I got him into perfect position and I swear he gave me just one shot before he moved. Here’s the one shot of him in his cute new visor.

Often times I fight and fight to get him posed and come to realize I just need to leave him be and admire him. This was just a few minutes later after I realized he just didn’t want me to pose him for photos any longer.

I received a lot of great responses to Chance’s one month photos of him in his bowl. I knew I wanted to try to photograph him one more time before he grew too much more because those photos outdoors didn’t quite do Chance or the bowl much justice. Sure they were adorable but I wanted to make sure I created memories to look back on that would make me remember my baby boy and his special bowl even more. And to think, I nearly gave up on trying these photos because I felt he was getting too big and feared he’d fight me. But he didn’t. Yes, he loves his bowl.

Though he did so amazing for these photos, it did take some work to get him into position. He fussed and fought me until he finally got comfortable. Once I took the first few photos I pushed my baby boy just a bit further. Yes, my poor children get tortured so much more than my students…I suppose that’s the consequences of being a child of a mother who is a bit of a perfectionist. I thought the first few photos of him were adorable and perfect but I wanted to try to get him to “curl” completely into his bowl…just like a newborn. But as I feared, he has grown just a bit too much for the photo I envisioned in my head. He fought me and refused to curl that little head and back of his to lay in that bowl so I accepted that a bit too much time has passed and this was about as curly as I was going to get him.

It didn’t take long and he was so comfy that he began snoring a bit so it was obvious I’d be able to take some macro photos to admire him a bit closer. Like his big brother he has amazing eye lashes…yes, it’s the little things like this that amaze me.

Though he’s still itty bitty there’s no doubt he’s gradually getting pudgier. As much as I’d love for him to stay little forever I am proud to see my little guy get a little pudgier because I’m working my behind off around the clock feeding this hungry little guy. Here he is with his pudgy cheeks.

Today was a pretty dismal day in Florida. It rained most of the day. The light was horrible. Today was one of the very few days since being home that I didn’t put a lot of effort into photographing Chance…but I probably should have because he was so amazing today. He slept so soundly and cried very little all day. This morning when he woke up briefly I let him sit with Hope and Jaylen. He quickly dozed back off beside them. Yes, I didn’t need to pose this little guy…he just loves to sleep this way on his own. Go figure it’s easier to get him into a comfy position when he’s resting on his own terms. So rather than challenging myself today I snapped a few shots of him to remember this adorable moment.

The kids are quite cute with their little brother. Right now they spend more time admiring him sleeping or talking to him if he’s awake. I know they’re quite anxious for him to grow quicker than I am so he can play with them.

I might not be able to hold time still, but I suppose photography will continue to help me keep these moments tucked away in my memory a little longer.