I’ve been making photos for almost nine years so it’s always refreshing to do something completely new to me. This was both new and an incredible honor. We met the Grayless family through mutual friends after moving to Houston. Haley was pregnant with their second and I shortly after learned a bit of their story regarding that pregnancy. I’m going to let her tell it below, but not before I reiterate how amazing it was to be involved in a small way on this day. I cried when I read her inquiry asking me to be there when their son Nate met his baby sister. I’m so glad the timing worked and I was able be in the madness of the Medical Center just hours after Lauren Brooke Grayless was born. Fun fact: this was the newest baby I’ve ever met! Below is a bit of her story, in Haley’s words. And yes, it was really hard to keep it together while shooting Nate meeting his baby sister with the proudest little smile I’ve ever seen!

After multiple losses and years of monthly disappointment, we had all but given up hope that we would have more children. What made it even harder was our now soon to be 7 year old son longed to be a big brother. When he was about 3 years old he started praying faithfully each night for a “baby brother, baby sister or a puppy”. There were so many times we wanted give up on our dream of having more children, but in God’s perfect timing it was during those moments we found ourselves consoling our child who couldn’t understand why God had not yet made him a big brother. Most of his friends had one or two younger siblings at this point which made it even harder for him to understand. These moments gave us the strength to keep pressing forward knowing that it was all in God’s perfect plan. If our son hadn’t given up hope, how could we. In October of 2016 Ryan and I were beside ourselves when we finally got to tell Nate he would become a big brother that May.

Photographed in Houston, TX