Family Photos

Family pictures are bittersweet for me.  I love documenting our family at various stages, looking back and ooo-ing and awww-ing over how much little ones have changed in such a short time, thinking to myself "what was I thinking" with that hair, or "is Matt wearing the same cut-off shirt that he was wearing in our last picture?"  And while these images will always make me smile, they also make my heart hurt knowing that they will forever be somewhat incomplete. 

There will be "before" pictures.  Photos of our happy family of three. 

Fourth of July 2010

 Christmas 2010

 Charlotte's 1st birthday party

And then there will be "after" pictures.  Photos that once again make us look like a happy family of three...when really we are three plus one.  A mom.  A dad.  A smiling baby boy.  And the spirit of a sister gone too soon.

Christmas 2011 - Don't our pups look thrilled? 

June 26, 2012 - Taken just hours before meeting sweet Harrison

 Christmas 2012

There are no photos of Charlotte meeting her baby brother for the first time.
No images of her sweetly kissing him on his newborn baby forehead or trying to poke his eye out.

No crazy moments spent trying to get both kiddos to look at the camera at the same time.

And even though she is not physically in these pictures, I still see bits of here in each of them.  Whether it be through a picture within a picture, a heart sweater so aptly named the "Charley," or a little teddy bear that her brother has fallen in love with.

Harrison meeting Charley Bear for the first time.

 That little bear quickly became a big part of bedtime

 Moments like this...sigh...

She is always with us.  Forever a part of our family. 

Our photos may feel incomplete, but her spirit makes our hearts whole.