“A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013”

I can’t believe it’s 20 weeks into 2013 already. My little girl turns 8 months old today. Soon she will have spent as much time outside of my body as she spent inside. It frightens me how quickly she’s growing.

We had an amazingly busy and wonderful day with her today. Despite taking a nap myself I am exhausted. The hour and a half walk may have had something to do with it. She swam this morning, had tamales for breakfast at the farmers market, napped, grocery shopped, ran errands, napped again and went to the arboretum with grandma and grandpa. It was exhausting but wonderful. And apparently the place to be today to photograph engagements, weddings and babies. She sat in the grass for the first time(dogs at home equal no bare grass for babies), and played pretty contently during dinner. She loved the beets grandma offered up from her salad.

We had a routine appointment at the hospital this week and I realized that sometimes setting foot into that place is still difficult for me. Driving down that parking ramp into the familiar garage makes my heart beat faster and my breath catch in my chest. The mixture of anxiety and nostalgia is unnerving. As far as we’ve come it still is unsettling to realize where we began this journey. Seeing the familiar faces of doctors we spent 24 hours a day with for a month is simultaneously comforting and frightening. Knowing they barely recognize her brings me great pleasure, but seeing their faces light up when they realize who she is makes me smile. It’s a strange feeling.

This weeks photo is from the arboretum. Grandma was in the background terrified she would topple over. I seem to be the only one who thinks she’s capable of sitting up without falling these days(note, she did not fall, as I knew she wouldn’t). I love the how quality of light shows just how creamy and soft her skin is. I just want to drink in her babyhood for as long as possible.

I’m finding it harder and harder to choose a favorite each week, as I look at more and more blogs. This week I loved this portrait, a sad moment for a sick little girl. I found the beauty in this brand new face quite stunning as well. And the portraits of her first bath are quite lovely. Every week there are more and more photos to love then the week before. It seems that everyone is collectively upping their photo skills.