Week One - Self Portrait - Me!

Yesterday I joined a very lovely group of people who are doing a 52 Week Photo Challenge. The first weeks theme was/is Self Portraits. Not a subject I'm really a lover of, I hate my photo being taken. But hey it's a challenge! The person who has started this particular challenge is the wife of an online friend of my husband's and I and you can view her blog here at Jenn's Photoblog and see her entries but also the challenges that will be facing us.

Having been very busy helping out on a fundraising event at my son's school and nursing an ill child I was a little limited in time for getting a shot, plus the last two nights I'd been kept awake nearly the whole time by my youngest son Riley who has been ill. So yesterday when Riley decided at 5pm that he needed cuddles with me and a nap I thought I'd try and get in some shots for the challenge. I quickly realised that this wasn't going to be an easy job, having to hold a great big DSLR camera above your head (flashgun attached too!) is not easy. lol. Then add in to that focusing and making sure you get at least part of you in the shot and not just the sofa and you quickly realise you are maybe being a fool with this idea. But I wanted this shot. Both my boys have always (as every child does) loved cuddling up with me and nothing beats that feeling of your child with their head snuggled in your neck and cuddling you. Those moments are what make motherhood what it is.Before I fell pregnant with my eldest son Callum I was working for a Law Firm in London and was studying to become a Legal Executive. Sure I wanted a family but I also thought it important to have a career.  And then Callum was born and I knew what my "career" was. I've never looked back on the decision I made to stop studying and after my maternity leave was up to not go back to work, one look at my handsome little man and I just couldn't leave his side. I was exactly the same when Riley my youngest son was born. I love being a Mother and yes it is tiring beyond words but it is the best feeling in the world when your child looks at you, calls your name or just gently takes your hand and holds it. Not long after I became a Mum for the first time a good friend of mine at the time asked what motherhood felt like (she wasn't a parent at the time) and I told her you just can't put it into words. A couple years ago she became a Mum for the first time and she told me "I now understand what you meant all those years ago.".

Photo taken by my wonderful hubby.

I am sort of in the shot, that's my belly Riley is lying on. :D