I thought this post might be particularly applicable today, so close to Mother’s Day, because the day I took these photos was the day that Mandie officially became a momma.

Since last year at this time my admiration for mothers has evolved a bit. I had the joy of documenting my sister becoming a mother back in January and my cousin-in-law (as you’ll see from this post below) give birth to her first child just a few weeks ago. I left both of those different hospital visits overjoyed at the new life in my family but also just being in awe of these women’s strength, bravery and determination. Good job, new mommas!

Another recent life event that has shaped the way I view and admire mothers was my dad’s mom passing away last month.  I found myself thinking about how much my MaMa poured herself into raising my dad, how much this woman shaped my father’s life — and in turn the life of my entire family — and how incredibly thankful I am to her for doing such a great job of it.

And then there is my own mother — my wonderful, darling, quirky mother. My mother who ingrained in me my honest work ethic by refusing to sign off on my junior high band practice slip unless I had actually practiced my saxophone (even though at the time I couldn’t understand why she couldn’t just be like everyone else’s parents and just SIGN IT). My mother who has shown such unwavering encouragement and what it is to champion one’s child by very early on in my photography career proving that when I post something to the JZP Facebook page, she will take it upon herself to comment or “like” it.  My mother whose truly ridiculous sense of humor has made all four her children part ridiculous and part hilarious.

Y’all, mothers are so great and I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating yours.

All that said, getting the opportunity to document Mandie and Josh’s very first exciting, straining and exhausting step into parenthood was such a privilege. Here is a bit of Briseis’ birth story told in photos.

Also, I know I’m all “MOMSMOMSMOMS” at the beginning of this post but I really must brag on my sweet cousin, Joshua, here too. He was such a steady source of encouragement for Mandie all day long. I was so ridiculously proud of both of them from watching how they handled this first-time life experience.

What a sweet, sweet time in the life of this family.

Praise Jesus for little Briseis.