Happy New Year: What I would write if Instagram's captions were long enough

 Happy New Year! There are so many things I have loved about the past year.

Soccer Photography

For the past 2 years, I have been the official photographer for my now 12 year-olds soccer team. This year, her team gets the incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Spain to train. We are so excited for this opportunity for our daughter and her teammates and want to do what we can to help cover the costs for our girls. I've been considering doing something like this for a while and decided to finally go for it!

Film Photography

 

I got back onto social media for a little while to share some of my film photography, but I have learned that I don't do social media very well. Since I became pregnant with Brenden and his birth, I feel like I've changed and become a little more anxious and less confident in a way. Or maybe it's just less trusting? I don't know exactly what it is, but I know that I didn't like how often I was on Instagram and the other social medias and how I would agonize over every single word I wrote and how it would be received. I don't really want to be like that, and I'd like to feel confident again and just start posting, but I haven't quite figured out yet how to make social media a tool for me rather than becoming a tool for the app myself. Not since I laid down my business, anyway.

Brenden's Birth Story

 I guess I'd have to start with Roses.

**all photos c/o McKayl Ford @honeyandhope.doula**

2023 Fall Family Mini Sessions!

Hello Friends! It's been a little while since I've chatted with you as I've been on maternity leave since the birth of our fifth child, Brenden. It has been a wonderful 6 months with him in our home.

*photo c/o Cheyenne Pape*

Doula Chats: But What About the Vitamin K?

After your baby is born, there are three what I call "baby interventions" that all parents need to consider beforehand and decide if they want them. The Hep B Vaccine, Eye Ointment, and Vitamin K shot.

As I began my research on these interventions, it was clear to me early on that Hep B, and the eye ointment weren't necessary for my babies or my clients babies. Both were really only necessary for babies who are at risk of contracting Gonorrhea or Chlamydia from their mother (eye ointment), or some kind of STD (Hep B). On top of that, eye ointment hinders mother-child bonding and, aesthetically speaking, make for poor photos of baby.

But what about the Vitamin K? If it's just a vitamin, it shouldn't hurt, right?

The Hospital Birth Story of Warner

I met Miranda at a park. I was there with a group of my friends, and she was there with a group of hers. The children had all kind of mingled at the beach volleyball court and the two of us began talking. We became fast friends and about a year later, she told me that she was pregnant with her second child and wanted me to be her doula and birth photographer. I was overjoyed. I knew that her journey to pregnancy hadn't been easy, and that her first birth experience wasn't what she had wanted it to be. I was determined to help her to have a different experience this time.