details on a wednesday

I’ve been trying to bring the camera out more with Isabella. It was a dark winter. Ok, it still is winter, haha--but at least the days are getting lighter and therefore it is easier to grab a few good shots inside. Having an infant makes everything take a bit more time. Days are filled with laundry, drool, meltdowns (both hers and mine), messy meals, lots of playing and not enough naps. Despite all the craziness I really want to make a point to try and capture some everyday details and moments from this time. I know I will be so grateful I did. Isabella is 7.5 months, on the cusp of crawling and giggles and babbles all day long. I absolutely love it. 

isabella’s nursery

When I first found out I was pregnant I didn't even begin to fantasize about a nursery for my baby on the way. At the time we lived in a one room apartment and the closest thing I would have had to a baby's room would have been a small corner in our walk-in closet. Miraculously though we were able to find and buy our current home: an apartment with much more leg room and an entire bedroom just for baby. We bought the apartment and moved in just before our little Isabella arrived. Timing really was everything. However even when I knew I'd have a special space for my little one I still wasn't putting decorating schemes together nor filling Pinterest boards with endless ideas. First of all I was freaking exhausted (haha if I only knew what was to come), and secondly it was so hard for me to even begin planning a space for a baby I didn't even know yet. 

Now that Isabella is here I feel much more motivated to put together a room that is uniquely hers and that will reflect special aspects of her life. Slowly I've started to curate little areas here and there and am quite pleased with the sweetness and sentimentality I've been able to add.  I'm looking forward to doing even more as her personality, likes and interests develop. As for now, I'm enjoying planning all the designs (and outfits!) while I can :)

A collection of our favorite books of the moment...some which were my own when I was a baby.

Isabella Leahnora’s namesake, her great grandmother Joan Leahnora Shirey, “MeMe,” who is watching her from above.

Grieving MeMe’s passing just days before finding out we were expecting a little girl was a very trying time. I received this bouquet of roses from a student that week which were the exact color and shade as ones MeMe had painted a picture of which always hung in her home. Even though she had left us she was and is still all around.

A bow for every day of the week...

A sleeping babe, a sheepskin from my childhood and a personalized frame and photo made for me by my students as Isabella was growing inside of me.

A welcome sign for baby as well as the flower crown both my mother and I wore on our wedding days. Maybe Isabella will wear it some day...

Isabella’s closet with the rocking moose I re-painted with her Tia Bea a week before she arrived. Every Swedish child needs a rocking moose, right?

Just a handful of the many “gosedjur” (stuffed animals) we received for Isabella, cozily tucked inside a basket I purchased from the open-air market in Aix-en-Provence, France, where my husband and I met.

So many cozy blankets and dainty dresses--I wish I could display them all!

I’m still working on the wall decor but for now we have wedding photos of mommy and daddy along with the print I gifted my husband for our first anniversary--a rendition of the drawing Mary made for George in one of our favorite films It’s a Wonderful Life. It really is, isn’t it?

isabella leahnora

My how life has changed. After my last photo shoot I took a photography hiatus as pregnancy literally weighed me down to where I had absolutely no energy left. Then I gave birth and even more energy was sucked out of me! Haha, and now I realize that exhaustion is just going to be a part of my daily life for a while, so instead of letting it completely consume me I am trying to push through and maintain some sort of normalcy. Finally, two months after my beautiful daughter’s birth, I felt ready to bring out the lens again. And while my little Isabella is not the most cooperative when it comes to my creative process, she is my most inspiring muse. I have dreams of fairytale like scenes of her surrounded by fallen autumn leaves, but for the moment she’s only let me capture a few shots of her sweetly sleeping. I can’t complain about that.