And Then There Were Five!

On June 25, 2020, at Piney Run Park, I had the pleasure of shooting one of my best friend’s maternity session. I (Jenna) did the first few professional shoots on my own while Carly was completing her classes. So, she will start to be in the blogs very soon! April and Chris have been parents for eight years now. And they aren’t just parents, they are the absolute best mom and dad to their four beautiful little girls. April and I were very close friends in high school, but then college came along and we disconnected for a little while. Then, right around March of 2012, I saw that April was pregnant with her first little girl and I reached out to congratulate her. Well, since then, we haven’t disconnected again. April was my first close friend to have a child and at the age of 20, she made motherhood look so effortless. She was meant to be a mom. Although if you asked her about motherhood back when we were in high school, she would say that she wasn’t going to have kids because they would ruin her body. Which makes me laugh so hard today because she was my first friend to have a baby and now, she is my friend with the most children too. But, being a mom was April’s calling. The love and compassion that she has for her children is something to admire and I am proud to call her my friend.

When April met Chris, their connection was instant. They blended their sweet little families together and a couple of years later, they had two more little girls together. After their youngest, Brynn, was born, they talked about her potentially being their last baby. They had four beautiful, healthy little girls and April thought she was destined to be a girl mom. But, in October of 2019, that changed! April and I have always been one another’s confidants when it came to our pregnancies. We would tell each other our huge secret as soon as we saw the positive test! Well, in October of last year, I found out that Brynn would not be her last! In fact, a few months later, April found out that she was not destined to just be a girl mom because she was having her first boy! When she FaceTimed me after her anatomy scan to tell me the news, I cried with excitement. This little boy was meant to be!

Being able to shoot April’s maternity session was so special. Her baby boy, Cash, was due in the middle of July but with this being her fourth pregnancy, we knew that he could come at any time. So, although, it had just stormed minutes before her shoot, we made it happen! The girls were so attentive and listened so well. I do bring a prize box for my photography session kiddos. I tell them that if they listen and smile then they will pick a prize at the end of the shoot! It’s a huge hit! Pictures can be a challenge for little kids. There is a lot of direction and they have to be attentive to something that is not an activity that they are used to. Carly and I do our best to make each session as fun as possible. We make ourselves look insanely silly, but we could care less. As long as our clients are having a good time (no matter what their age is), our job is done! But these little girls were rock stars! They listened to every direction and each photograph turned out to be better than the last! This is all thanks to their parents too! April and Chris are a couple to look up to. They are now raising five little kids and they do it with ease. I am sure it is difficult, but you would never be able to tell. Thank you, Chris and April, for always being a couple that I can look to and learn from and thank you for allowing me to photograph such a memorable moment in your lives. Baby Cash, you don’t know how good you have it, but you will soon find out.