December 2009

Add a new car and you're just a couple with a new car; add a new house and you're just a couple with a new house; but, add a new baby and you're a family.  Because I'm obviously familiar with my own experiences and because I've seen so many of my female friends become mothers, I'm always interested in seeing how the transition from couplehood to parenthood sits with men.  The transition obviously sat quite well with this dad.

Everywhere I look, families of 5 are cropping up.  And when the love is as abundant as in this family, it's no wonder people are having more children.

Plus, these folks make really pretty babies!

Don't worry--I won't end this post without my signature pose!

So many of the portraits I compose of mothers and their children portray women receding to the background to lovingly admire their children, who are themselves positioned front and center.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by an analogous sentiment from a pregnant woman who would prefer to show off her belly rather than her face.

Of course, this is most definitely not to say that women become somehow lesser or are rendered more invisible versions of themselves upon motherhood, but it does speak to the change in their focus.

Fortunately, 40 weeks of gestation is a good chunk of time to begin getting adjusted to this permanent change of focus. 

The same belly at 29 weeks on the left and at 37 weeks on the right:

Truly, members of entire family unit, pets and all, end up finding new roles in the household and a new way to express their equilibrium.

And as you can see, motherhood actually made this woman a GREATER and MORE VISIBLE version of herself than before: