By now it’s no secret I’m obsessed with babies.  My love for the intoxicating smell of newborn skin is deep-routed from my childhood (I was notorious for purposefully waking sleeping babies just so I could “come to the rescue” and hold them)…and it only got worse the day I met my very own, brand new baby girl.  My life as I knew it was over.  And an even better one was only beginning.

Clay and I often find ourselves talking about how hard it is to even express how much we love our daughter…even to each other.  Saying that you love someone so much it physically hurts doesn’t do the feeling justice.  It’s indescribable – unfathomably incredible and terrifying all at once.

Motherhood is so many things.  I could sit here and write all day about motherhood – the highs and lows, the blessings and the curses, the days that are so hard and the nights that make the days make sense.  Did that make sense?  Anyways…I won’t.  Just do one quick facebook newsfeed scroll and you’ll find plenty of columnists and bloggers who have done a better job at that than I ever could.  My responsibility isn’t to show the world what it’s like to be a mother…but rather, to show my daughter what it’s like to be HER mother.  To show her that beyond the 6th pair of drenched Minnie Mouse panties and crumbled playdough and otherwise normal chaos of our days, there is joy.  That although “No – I can’t get off my computer right now, mommy has to work so I can buy you more Shopkins and applesause squeezies,” there will never be a day that doesn’t end without her feeling like she is the most special person on the planet to me.  That she is loved beyond measure and that I love – more than photography and Oreos – being HER mommy.

And that is what The Motherhood Collective is all about – a group of mothers with a similar vision and that same indescribable, unequivocal love for their children and the desire to make sure those babies know how our hearts beat for them.  Our project begins this month and will continue through 2015.  Wish us luck (selfies are infinitely harder with miniature partners) and follow us on instagram with the #themotherhoodcollective.  And get in the frame with your babies.  They’ll thank you later…long after the 30th mini marshmellow bribe.  And the skittles.  And the fruit snacks…

(Be sure to come back up and follow the blog circle around to see how the rest of our group of talented photographers want their children to remember them by.)  Next up is Estela Giargei of Estela Giargei Photography.

And because this photo so accurately represents the blurry, deliriously silly days we spend together, I’m including it.  And because I never did claim to be a selfie professional.

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Heather Carraway Photography specializes in newborn, baby, maternity, family, and child photography in Atlanta, GA and surrounding neighborhoods including but not limited to Smyrna, Buckhead, Mableton, Marietta, Vinings, and Brookhaven.  For more information or to book a newborn session, use the contact form above or email her at heather@heathercarrawayphoto.com.