Never Let Go


I loved Sunday afternoons when I was in elementary school! I’ve shared before my parents were wedding photographers and with that meant bridal fairs! Weekends filled with booths of vendors and lots of brides walking around with their mothers. My mom assisted a photographer at bridal fairs on the weekends and my dad and I would come up on Sunday afternoons to help them take down. If I was lucky and we got there early, I’d try to chat it up with every bride that walked by. I was a shy child, but something about these brides got me out of my comfort zone and talking a mile a minute. Brides were “big girls” in my mind and I loved that they got to walk around just picking whatever cakes, flowers and dresses they wanted. I mean at 8 I had no clue what a budget was, so brides seemed like queens in my book! I vividly remember telling a bride, “You really want to spend money on your pictures. [Sidenote: my mother was probably shuddering as she had always taught me to say, “photos” in the business. You don’t ever say, “pictures!” 😉 ] Your cake, your dress and all your flowers will go away at the end of the day, but your pictures won’t!” I mean can you tell I grew up around a camera?! Talk about an 8 year old knowing how to sell it. haha. But I can’t deny what I was saying! Even memories we never want to let go fade and photographs are such gifts to remind us how we felt in that moment.

Paul had been asking me what I wanted for Mother’s Day for the past few weeks and I just reverted to my inner 8-year-old spirit. I told him I wanted a way to organize photos of Maxi each year. I’m organized in general, but my digital life? Not so much! I deal with far too many photos with blogging to keep everything perfectly neat. Each year my best friend, Taylor, and I make one other books on Shutterfly to compile all the photos from the prior year! We jokingly call them selfie books and gift them for birthdays, so Paul said, “Well why don’t I make you a selfie book of Maxi each year?” I died laughing that he had picked up on our tradition, but thought it was perfect!

Paul made me a Mommy and Maxi book for 2017 and we plan to continue this tradition each year! He also included a matching acrylic photo book with the cover photo- which I had no idea Shutterfly made! How perfect does it go with our home decor style?! The funniest part of all of this is that my mom actually got Paul and I Shutterfly mugs in our Easter basket with photos of Maxi on it- you might have seen that on our Snapchat this weekend! She was so proud of them and kept saying, “I did it on my Shutterfly app so I was a little nervous I didn’t know what I was doing and  they wouldn’t turn out, but look how perfect they are?!” Paul and I gladly sipped our coffee from a mug with Maxi’s face on it all weekend long. haha!

Today I am so excited to partner with Shutterfly to share how to gift those moments you never want to let go for Mother’s Day. Each month I always upload photos to my albums on Shutterfly to print [and to save for me and Taylor’s selfie books 😉 ] and now I’m just adding an album for photos of Maxi. From lockets to acrylic frames and books you can just create these moments and memories into gifts for your Mom. My favorite memory this year has of course been the first time I held Maxi, so seeing that as the first page in the book Paul made me was just so special.

I’m so excited to celebrate my first Mother’s Day even though I haven’t been a mom for very long. But with each week that Maxi grows I feel like my heart is growing and holding on to so many moments with her. I’m constantly asking Paul, “Will she lay on me when she is older? Will she want to crawl in our bed when she is a kid? Will she hate spending time with me as a teenager?” It’s like I have this huge fear of her not needing me which I know is so silly! It’s completely irrational, but it’s a thought that’s always running in my mind because of how much I need her. So this Mother’s Day, however you celebrate, I hope you let your mom know that you will never let go of her, her love or her memories!

Be sure to keep a look out on my instagram today! As I partner with Shutterfly we are giving a reader a $100 gift card so that they can capture memories for Mother’s Day as well!

Sponsored by Shutterfly. All opinions and product selections are my own.

Photography by: Madison Katlin

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10 Comments

  1. Your room is goals, and the prints are so pretty. I hope they captured your family’s spirit! 🙂

    Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
    http://charmainenyw.com

    Published 19 Apr 17Reply
  2. Savannah wrote:

    I made my mom a Shutterfly photo book a few Mother’s Days ago and she still has it out in the living room for everyone to see! I can totally vouch for this idea. Paul, you did good.

    Published 19 Apr 17Reply
  3. The photos of the three of you are so incredibly sweet – they make me want to cry! We’re expecting our first little one this July (also a baby girl!) so it’s been so interesting to watch you and Paul go through this journey. You seem to do everything with so much grace – I can’t help but think, “You make motherhood seem so dreamy!” Either way, I know it’ll be special and it’ll be ours – and at the end of the day, that’s all that really matters. Thanks for sharing these sweet moments with us. XO

    Published 19 Apr 17Reply
  4. Lauren wrote:

    Love this! I remember my mom had one of these for herself & I and it was my absolute favorite to look at as a child!

    xo,
    Lauren

    Published 19 Apr 17Reply
  5. Pamela L Williams wrote:

    Gorgeous photos!! I have been making a Shutterfly book each year of my daughter (will be making book #11) this summer. It’s like a yearbook for her. I plan to give them all to her when she graduates from high school. It is a wonderful keepsake and a great way to have all the year’s memories in one place. Enjoy that sweet girl of yours!

    Published 19 Apr 17Reply
  6. So special! I love this idea for myself, my mom, and my mother-in-law. I need to do better with photo organization and printing pictures, so this is motivation for me. As a new mom myself, I love your heart for Maxi!<3

    Published 19 Apr 17Reply
  7. A wonderful idea! Love the photos and those black pajamas!

    Published 19 Apr 17Reply
  8. Gabby wrote:

    I love this. Memories are everything to me in life and Shutterfly has so many affordable options for saving them and gifting them. Happy first Mother’s Day, Katey!

    Published 19 Apr 17Reply
  9. Allie wrote:

    I am just absolutely loving following your journey of new motherhood. Makes me so excited to experience these things for myself one day! You make it look too easy!! 🙂

    Always,
    Allie
    https://champagnetuesdays.blogspot.com

    Published 19 Apr 17Reply
  10. I adore the book idea, wish it had been a thought the first year I began doing facebook to create documentation of my 1st grand daughter….
    I’m not tech-savy, isolated, have my youngest grander w/me on wkend, since we lost her Daddy, my son 3 yrs ago. My husband had died 14 months before…so you can imagine how precious my photos are to me, especially now.
    Long story short, my phone busted, replaced it with an updated version for a better camera, but the thing ate a lot of my treasured photos…about 1800.

    I definitely want to try to organize what I can and make these photo books for my surviving daughter and children to have when I’m gone too.
    Anyone who has had loss, especially lifelong loss, a spouse of nearly 39 yrs then a son who stepped in to do everything he could to help me for the remaining 14 mos…..cheated out of raising his 2 1/2 yr old gdtr, due to a negligent woman crossing over lanes and hitting my son, riding home from work on his motorcycle, she took his life in an instant, the penalty was a smack on the wrist. She was uninsured, had just gotten her license back after a 3 YR suspension for drugs,….& got another 3 YR license suspension, unsupervised 3 yrs probation, and 60 days in COUNTY to be served on weekends and no financial restitution either…not that money could ease the pain, lighten the burden possibly…..but then got another DUI 6 mos after she took my son’s life, no time given.
    Sorry, just be thankful for your babies and your husband’s everyday, your loved ones and always tell them, you love them before they leave you, each and every time & give them a kiss too!
    GOD BLESS YOU!
    Proud2bNana

    Published 08 May 17Reply