Y’all… these hiatus moments have to stop.

It seems that I find it difficult to keep up with writing. Why? You ask. (Alright, you didn’t ask… but here it goes.)

So for the past 3-ish years, I’ve been off in the land of birth work. I decided to take my photography love into the birth space and I haven’t looked back.

The days of keeping up with simple things like laundry, dinners from scratch, and blogging have kind of taken a back seat.

In case you haven’t checked out what’s keeping me so busy, you can click here to take a peek. 

Well, to keep life complicated… #YouKnowHowIDo I decided to take on another challenge. I am now offering doula services.

Being in birth spaces has been invigorating. I find myself reaching out to help in any way possible outside of my documentarian role and I decided to listen to my yearning to help. Even if my doula role is short-lived, I can’t imagine that bringing on this new level of birth education can go wasted in my line of work.

A birth photographer is not a portrait photographer. We are navigating a very different scene and we are documenting moments that forever change families. We SHOULD have a full understanding of how to read the birthing mother’s feelings. We should recognize when our camera needs to come up for a shot and when it needs to sit out the shot to allow the birth team to do their jobs.

There are big changes coming to my business soon and I’m kinda geeking out over here. I’m also really really really freaking out about adopting a new name and changing things that have been working so well for 3 years now. Change is good is what I keep telling myself. Growth comes from change and I hope I can be a positive light for my community as I launch this new chapter of my small business.

So, cheers to change!

~Norm

It’s been 84 years…

2-year hiatus. Mcallen Mom Blogger returns from the dark side…

Haha! Just kidding. There was no dark side involved. Although I’m sure I did watch a lot of Star Wars movies during this 2-year break.

I’ve been a little busy Y’all. Two years ago I decided to launch an official business and well, it’s had me tied up. From setting up a website to creating a Business Facebook page to filing an “official” business license and getting insured… this is no joke, guys! I never imagined I’d be going down this rabbit hole. 😂

I’ll spare you all the details and try to keep it somewhat short.

In 2012, I decided to stay home with B full time. Now before making this decision, I had to think back to the times I stayed home with my older sons and how batty that drove me. Seriously, the SAHM thing is mind-boggling. (I miss the days of interacting with adults.)

I knew that I’d need something to distract me and keep me focused on something other than parenting and motherhood. Since I was always carrying a camera around, I decided to upgrade to a starter DSLR and learn a little bit more about photography.

I took this idea and ran with it… I suppose I imagined myself saving hundreds of dollars in photography (😂😂😂 joke’s on me now- more about this later) as my kiddos got older and we hit milestones as a family.

So fast forward to 2 years ago… My husband had started to notice my photos were getting better and he casually asked if I was planning to take on clients or doing this “thing” for other people. I kind of did a double take… “no, I hadn’t really thought about that.” 🤷🏽‍♀️

Well, I sat down, talked to a few trusted friends and dug a little deeper… was the universe trying to tell me something?

Like I do with so many other things, I decided to take a leap of faith and go for it. What’s the worst that can happen, I fail? 🤷🏽‍♀️😅 My ego could potentially take a hit but in the end, people would forget my 15 minutes and move one right?

Well, here I am, 2 years later. Still chipping away at this and still finding the hidden art in some of the most vulnerable moments of motherhood.

I am a birth photographer. I document families and their love stories.

Raw beauty reminds me that getting in the frame isn’t necessarily ever a decision I make for me. It’s a decision I make for my children. They will one day only have photos left of me. They will remember things vaguely but will always have that special photo to look back on. The one that reminds them of what I looked like when the sun hit my hair or when I indulged with them and that box of Shipley donuts.

No matter where my journey as a professional takes me, I’ll never stop documenting the mundane moments at home. I know how special my childhood photos are to me and it motivates me to leave our visual story for my children as well. They deserve that. 💕

Curious about my photography page? Click here.

~Love & Light,

Norm

Fall-ing!

Goodbye Summer!

It’s the first day of Fall! I’m so happy to wrap up summer. ☺️

My last post was about my sweet baby’s birthday… In June!

After an eventful summer, I have finally decided to get back to writing. We had a few good months of family time and now we are back at our school/work/busy routines.

Homeschooling began the day after Labor Day for us… The husband went back to marching band/school at the end of July… And now, I’ve added the littles and myself into the local MOPS group. Busy busy!

So far, it seems everyone is adjusting to all the new routines fairly well! I’ve been having a hard time keeping the balance between watching my toddlers 24/7 and keeping up with all the homeschooling lessons. I am hoping that this smoothes out for me.

If you have any tips on keeping a healthy balance, I’m all ears!

How is your routine changing now that it’s officially Fall?

~Norm