Mother’s Day this year was amazing for me in a number of ways. To begin wtih, it was wonderful having my own mother and Ronnie’s mother in our lives so we could show them some love and appreciation. In addition to that, I have all my adopted mommies 🙂 These are the mothers of various friends who, over the years, have adopted me…fed me, cared for me, worried after me, scolded me and loved me. I feel so blessed to have so many mothers in my life.
Most importantly, my best friend, “twin,” and soulmate Mona delivered her first baby the day after Mother’s Day. Moving to a new city hasn’t been easy for me and having Mona around has helped me out tremendously. This is the first time since college days that we’ve lived so close together. Despite how hard it has been, I would never trade it for the world because I’m also loving exploring the Bay Area with my husband, Ronnie and getting to know a different side of myself as I embark on a different chapter. Moving can teach you a lot about yourself as I’m finding out. I also wouldn’t change anything because I got to be here throughout Mona’s 9 months instead of 400 miles away experiencing it through phone calls and short visits. Some days it felt completely normal and some days it felt completely surreal…like how and when did we get to this amazing stage in our lives? That is probably partly because half the time, Mona and I feel like we haven’t aged and are guilty of mistaking ourselves for 21 year olds haha! I’ve been known to give the wrong age when asked…and it isn’t because I’m afraid of admitting my age. It just isn’t something I’m constantly thinking about and then one day I realize I’m 33. It can be quite the shock to your system, let me tell you. Anyways, I was honored to be a part of her birthing experience too and was in the delivery room along with her husband, Nabeel and her mother, Cynthia (one of my adopted mamas).
I’m pretty sure everyone was half expecting me to pass out because, well I sometimes do that in hospital settings. Has nothing to do with blood or needles, though I don’t care for those. I just somehow get really anxious in hospital settings and find myself out of breath. This was different. It was going to so fast! She was only pushing for 45 minutes and then the baby was out. And I was so wrapped up in the moment and what it meant that I didn’t once think about being in the hospital or the blood, IV, etc. This was my second time in the delivery room…the first was when my sister had her first son. That was over 16 years ago and I was in a different stage in my life. I just feel so lucky to have been part of both of these births and am looking forward to seeing baby Asiya grow up. I also got to photograph the birth, although I won’t be sharing those photographs as they are super personal to Mona. I’m glad I got to share my view of the day with her as well 🙂
Something else that made Mother’s Day so special was that I got to photograph the hair and makeup artist I’ve been working with as part of a Glamour and Mother’s Day session. Becky is so good at what she does and really has the ability to use her skills to bring out the most beautiful side of a woman. On top of that, she herself is a gorgeous person inside and out. She’s super fun and goofy and great to hang out with. I love her attitude and really hope that we will continue to work and expand our businesses together. Towards the end of her glamour session, we added her daughter Vienna into the mix. Vienna is cute, smart and has the most beautiful long black hair.
You can view some of my favorites from our session below:
If you’d like to see some amazing before and after photos from my sessions, click here.
If you’d like to see more of my Beauty and Glamour photography, click here.
If you’d like more information about how to book a session, you can click here.
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