Jennifer was the winner of a giveaway that I ran just after World Breastfeeding Week. I'd unintentionally begun a little week-long project throughout that week in August that ended up being very well received. To celebrate, I gave away a Nourish session for which Jennifer was nominated by a friend - what a gift this was, for us both as it turns out.
Jennifer warmly welcomed me into her home one morning just after Patrick woke from his morning nap. He was interested in this new person suddenly in his home, but was more interested in his morning milk, so we settled into his mum and dad's beautiful bedroom where he could feed comfortably.
We spoke about our relative breastfeeding experiences, and as with most mums, Jennifer had a lot of determination and support from her husband to persist with breastfeeding through those not-so-easy first days and weeks. She mentioned many times how grateful she is to still be feeding Patrick one year on, how special this experience is.
This session was a series of lots of little feeds - Patrick was very interested in me, as well as his best mate and dog, Joey who wandered back and forth past the bedroom window while we worked. Being one, and almost walking, he was active, curious and talkative, but would quickly realise he was still hungry and would crawl back into mum's lap for some more milk. At one point, he crawled up into Jennifer's lap but instead of laying down, he sat and wrapped his legs around her middle. Completely adorable, the first photograph I took after this has got to be one of my favourites from their whole collection.
I'm so pleased it was Jennifer who won this session, I know she felt a little nervous before we began our session, but I now know she's happy we did the session and preserved this wonderful time in her life as mum to gorgeous Patrick - so much so that she and her husband were happy for me to write this blog post for them.
I look forward to being invited back in future, Jennifer was incredibly sweet, more at ease in front of the camera than she probably felt at first, and we bonded immediately over sharing this season of life - raising small children. Spending time with Jennifer and Patrick on a particularly warm morning this winter was such a treat. xx
NOURISH: Milk Drunk Love Stories sessions are a lovely documentary style photography session dreamt up to celebrate that time in our lives as young parents when our children are so reliant upon us for nourishment and nurturing. The collection of photographs from these sessions are presented in a hard bound 6x6 inch book to well preserve and celebrate this moment in time.
Feeding our babies and small children is so much more than a food source, it's a daily practice of bonding, slowing down together, learning about each other, loving on each other and relaxing, for you both. These sessions are not solely for breastfeeding parents, they're for any parent who is feeding their baby. Please click through to the contact page or call me on 0452 394 908 to book a session for yourself.