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This month, we took the girls on our first flying trip as a family of five (say that ten times fast). Travel is important to us. When it comes down to choosing how to spend our time and money, I will always choose to have experiences over things. I want to impart that on my kids. When we had baby #1, we certainly didn’t have much in the way of things, but we were on the go all the time. By the age of two, that girl had logged more frequent flyer and road miles than probably many adults. I was smug about how easy it was to get out and around, how silly it was to use kids as an excuse to stay home. Let me be honest, I was terribly smug about a lot of things when it came to parenting. I had it all figured out. Noooo problem.

Then we had baby #2. Insert the sound of screeching brakes. Suddenly everything was exponentially harder. I’ve had a couple of friends comment that since I chose to have a third, the transition from one to two must have been easy. Not true. I’m just crazy.

But I digress from the topic of travel. Air travel, as a family, slowed down to almost never. Road trips have been limited to two states or less. There have been other extenuating reasons why we’ve left home less, but the number one has been laziness, or maybe fear. It is WORK to take young children through airport security, with carseats, and diapers, and enough snacks and diversions to get you through the longest possible flight delay. It’s exasperating to try to find a clean bathroom to take your toddler into when you’re in the middle of nowhere on the interstate, not to mention taking 50% longer to get to the destination than it does without kids.

Now here we are with three wonderful, precocious, high-energy, high-maintenance little girls. Thankfully, going from two to three has been much smoother. And we have decided that enough is enough. We are going to get back to getting out. Not just to Atlanta, which we love, but to explore what else is out there.

Thank goodness, I can report that the trip was successful. We managed to fit in a lot of activity and time with family, and had zero MAJOR meltdowns. Small meltdowns are to be expected, dealt with, and forgotten. We are a family with four females. Realistic expectations are key. I couldn’t be happier and am feeling empowered about the BIG trip that we are setting our sights on in the near future (more on that later).

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I beat myself up for not taking as many photos of my family as I used to, before I also used my camera for work. I truly believe that the best moments are the little ones, the ones we too often take for granted until they have passed. Most of the time, I see two ways to maximize these moments. One, is to catch it in my camera, on my computer, and on paper. This gives me the opportunity to let others see what I see, to share that with others now and in the future. The other is to be present. Put my camera, my phone, the mile-long to-do list in my head all down and savor what is in front of me right now. I constantly vacillate between which I think is the better choice. Last year, the idea of a 365-day photography project sounded exactly like what I should do. Capture the day to day. Print more. Blog more. I didn’t do that. It just became another thing on my to-do list I was not accomplishing. I continue to look for a balance.

With that in mind, here are my big girls in the backyard last Tuesday. Scavenging for treasures. Building their collections.

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Doulananda Birth Services and Jennifer Mendoza Photography are happy to announce our new partnership! Because we share a passion for celebrating and supporting families, we are joining forces to provide photography services to Doulananda HypnoBirthing students and doula clients.

With our likeminded approach to creating experiences that honor each of our clients as individuals, we think that our collaboration is a great fit and benefit to Doulananda families. Each family will receive credit for one maternity or newborn session with Jennifer Mendoza Photography. This is a $300 value, but is complimentary to you with the price of tuition, or doula fee.

The phases of pregnancy, birth, and new parenthood are among the most beautiful and fleeting in our lives. Together we are committed to making it a positive and joyful experience that will be captured and cherished for generations.

If you are expecting, or may be in the near future, I encourage you to consider taking a HypnoBirthing class, or consulting with one of their doulas. I did both, with my last pregnancy, and with beautiful results! I’m thrilled at the thought of the families and babies that I will get to meet as a result of this partnership.

This is one of the very first photos of me, T, and baby CA, taken by our friend, doula, and HypnoBirthing teacher, Melissa Johnson (thank you for, on top of everything else, having the presence of mind to grab my camera)!

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A sneak peek from my last pre-Christmas family session of the year! A few newborns on the horizon, but it is up to them whether they will join us before 2012. I am crossing my fingers that I will even get to capture the home birth of one special baby boy this month.

A quick thanks to all the amazing families I have had the privilege to work with this year. As my own family has grown, I feel very lucky to have been able to continue do this work that I love. It is an honor that you trust me to document your lives.

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Having a child is surely the most beautifully irrational act that two people in love can commit.  -Bill Cosby

I met this mama just weeks before she gave birth to her son, and we have had dinner together with three other amazing ladies just about every month since then. I liked her immediately because her laugh is contagious and she always calls it as she sees it, no matter how (in)appropriate. We call our dates “Moms’ Night Out,” so while I hear a lot about what is going on with her family, I rarely get to spend time with her AND her family. This was a special treat for me to get to see and photograph her with the men in her life.

Beautiful light + beautiful family = one happy photographer!

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Next year this monkey will be at school Mondays through Friday. But for now, she still allows me some Mommy Days when we go to story time, run errands, and do some location scouting.

Here she is, on a cold rainy day a couple of weeks ago, helping me scope out the site of this year’s mini sessions.

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It was almost a year ago that I had the privilege of photographing this baby boy as a newborn, so I was very happy to get to have the whole family back again for a mini session.

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It’s the busy season for me and my fellow family photographers. The weather is more comfortable for outdoor sessions, and the organized ones among us have already gotten their family portraits taken for cards and presents! (Confession: I do not YET belong to that group.) Here are just some of the happy clans I’ve been lucky enough to work with lately.

I heard some folks at the grocery store grumbling about the Christmas items already on display. I used to think it was silly, too. But the busier life gets, the more I understand. If I don’t start early, it may not happen! Even though I’ve been planning for this season for months, I still am shocked to realize that Thanksgiving is in TEN days!

And, are you sitting down? Christmas is 41 short days away!

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Here are few highlights from one of my recent Atlanta Mini Sessions.

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Forget the terrible twos. In my house, three is the age of reckoning. This one is pushing all kinds of envelopes and wrestling with emotions that she can not understand, much less describe for those of us outside her brain.

At three and one quarter, she is funny, and charming, and, well, funky. And I mean that as a high compliment. Her days are stream-of-consciousness musical theater. She is sweet and fiery, and you never know which you might get at any given moment. My VC. She’s one of a kind.

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