If you've been following along from last month, I've been asked to join eleven very talented women across the globe who have come together with a common goal: to capture our families in a real and beautiful way.  No posing.  No forced smiles.  Just come-as-you-are lifestyle photography (my favorite!).  I am honored to be a part of this group and look forward each month to seeing what they've posted and what beautiful snippets from their families' lives they've chosen to remember and share with us.  It's called "What ___ Looks Like", and each month we fill in the blank with a new subject or a different example of the same subject... our choice. This project has been both a challenge and a joy for me, as it forces me to grab my camera for reasons other than "work".  And thank goodness for that.  My kids certainly deserve it!

This month I'm sharing What Meeting Finn Looks Like.  (Edited to add two photos from my sister, below.  They really help tell the story of how meaningful this visit was to me.)

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Last summer my sister had a baby boy.  If you read this recent post about the newborn I'd never gotten to hold, then you'll know how excited I was to have my my beautiful sister Amy and my sweet nephew Finn come visit us from Kentucky after Charlotte was born!

This is what he looked like when I first met him in the NICU (I took this through the window)...

My sister took these photos from her side of the window... Parker, me and Lila.

And the smears of kisses and salty tears I left on that window, after we found out that I wasn't allowed to come into the NICU of that hospital to hold my nephew.  I nearly left my heart on that pane of glass.

This is the only way I've "seen" him since... again, through a "window"...

Huge thanks to my sweet Parker for snapping this at the airport for me... xo  (Yes, Charlotte is in there somewhere.)  :)

I finally got to hold him!!!   No more windows to separate us.  I. Love. This. Shot.  What's funnier (to me) than our babies' sweet fishy faces is that Amy and I both did this at the same time without us looking at the other one... a complete coincidence.  And we are mirroring the expressions ourselves.  We're crazy.  And very much alike, apparently!  But I think Parker has the knack for capturing the right moments, don't you??  A lifestyle photographer in training.

This was the first time we'd held each other's babies.  :)  We had a wonderful time together.  Here are a few snippets from our long (but much too short) weekend...

And of course, what is a trip to Florida without meeting the ocean for the first time?

Sweet boy.  I tried very hard to hold it together when we said goodbye at the airport.  I didn't cry in front of her, but when I got back in my car I couldn't keep in the tears any longer.  I thought I was safe since she had walked into the airport and would surely be busy with baggage and tickets and checking in, etc.  But she texted me a few minutes later saying she looked out the doors and saw me crying... and then she lost it too.  As Truvy says in Steel Magnolias, "I have a strict rule that nobody cries alone in my presence."  And that certainly applies to sisters.  Especially to sisters.

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I'd encourage you to follow this circle of women, right along with me... next up is a very talented artist named  Gina Oh |  Arroyo Grande, CA Photographer.  Last month Gina shared the beauty and laughter to be had in a simple bike ride, and I can't wait to see her sweet kids' faces again this month.  I hope you follow us.  Enjoy the journey, friends.

xo, Stacey