In a week my daughter Cheyenne will be starting her first day of school. Awwww, cute right? Actually not really. She’ll be a sophomore in high school. *YIKES* I know!!! Today I am the mother of a child who stands a full head taller than me, borrows my clothes and steals my makeup. She’s grown up so fast … But 15 years ago she was the bump in front of me that forced me to wear elastic waistband pants for the first time … that was a hard purchase for me, LOL. She threw parties in my belly at 4 a.m. every morning, which of course forced me to get up and go to the bathroom like clockwork 🙂 And even after she was born, she still woke me up at 4 a.m. every morning to eat … because apparently it was still party time!

I had just turned 19 when I had Cheyenne … a young single mom totally clueless about raising a child. But with the tremendous help, love and support of family and friends, I managed to raise a wonderful daughter who is now on the dance team at school, has all honors and AP classes, has a voice like an angel and is determined to be the next Beyonce, volunteers as a Catechism teacher’s assistant at our church, and has aspirations to go to USC … aaaaahhh yes, she is her mother’s child 😉 Despite all the difficulties of being a single mom, I did it …

A few months ago I received a phone call from Stephanie, a beautiful mom-to-be, who happened to see the maternity photos I took of her friends Mandi and Noah. I remember hearing the excitement in her voice as she talked of doing a session before her son Eythan was born. But Stephanie feared that her photos wouldn’t look right because it would just be her and her precious belly. As single moms, we immediately connected and I reassured her that we’d use creativity and some awesome props to make her maternity session work no matter what.

Well Stephanie ran with the idea, and clearly … she rocked it out!

Expectant mothers always have such an ethereal glow to them. I mean really, how beautiful is this mom-to-be?

Somehow I’ve been blessed to have wonderful clients who are always so excited about their sessions, and Stephanie was no exception. She was full of energy, up for anything, and even came through with the amazing idea of using a beautiful white cloth as one of her outfits. And that combined with a beautiful sunset simply created magic …

Thank you Stephanie for allowing me to get to know you and spend time with you as you approach motherhood. Eythan is going to be the luckiest little boy in the world because he’ll be surrounded by family and friends who care for him deeply, but most importantly because he’ll always have his mother’s love. You are going to be an *awesome* mommie and I can’t wait to meet your little boy. But until then, rest up and get all the sleep you can get because babies these days like to throw parties in the wee hours of the night and for some reason, they always expect you to be in attendance 😉

To see more of the gorgeous Stephanie and her precious Eythan, click on the slideshow below and make sure your volume is up!