I had a lovely morning hanging out with Meghan, Andrew and their sweet daughter Norah at their beautiful home in San Francisco for their family photography session. I enjoy photographing real and authentic moments in an environment that holds meaning to the people I'm photographing. Meghan wanted to capture this early phase of Norah and I could not be more humbled that she chose me to document it.
So much love between these three!
"Entering parenthood is like being thrust into a whole new, right-side up world. It is wonderful but suddenly everything is not what it once was. It is hard to capture in words - especially running on ‘new parent no sleep’ mode and consuming little to no caffeine in effort to keep up my milk supply!" -Meghan "In some ways, I believe I have spent my whole life preparing to be my daughter’s mom - especially the last nine months or so. That said, the minute Norah Jo entered the world, it happened - I became 'Momma Meg' and that will forever change my purpose. From July 19th, 2018 forward, I will dedicate every day to my daughter’s health and happiness." -Meghan "Getting pregnant was a two-year journey filled with an operation, almost a year of regular ultra sounds, hormone shots, IUIs, and many months of hoping for the opportunity for the love of my life, Andrew, and I to become parents. I vividly remember taking a handful of home pregnancy tests the tenth day after completing our second IUI, just as we were instructed to do." -Meghan "A minute is so short until you are waiting for a pregnancy test! The lines couldn't appear fast enough. Even after three positive tests, because I knew there was some chance that the hormones from the IUI were in my system giving us a false positive, I wasn't 100% convinced it was real. Only when I saw the flicker of a heartbeat on the monitor at 5 weeks did it really sink in…the baby we’d been hoping for was on her way!" -Meghan "My husband and I opted to do all the screening tests so were tears-rolling-down-the-cheeks happy to find out we had a healthy baby on the way. After a long drawn out dinner discussing (and debating) what it would be like to raise a girl or boy in today's world, we quietly sat together around our kitchen island to embrace the news- whatever was revealed to us. We knew having a boy or girl would impact the rest of our lives." -Meghan "We clicked 'reveal gender' on our computer after happily and diligently reviewing all the other screening results. My husband and I both had our eyes closed and counted backwards so we would see the news at the same time. I remember Andrew shrieking and jumping literally a foot in the air after learning we were going to have a baby GIRL and I couldn’t help but think there has never been a better time to bring another strong woman into this world!" -Meghan "Norah’s name is one Andrew and I were drawn to from the start; Norah is derived from the Latin word Honor and as a Meghan with an 'h' we liked Norah with an 'h' too." -Meghan "Jo is a name for female heroines. My late paternal grandmother's name was Josephine. I called her Grammy Jo. She was a hardworking, intelligent woman who put family first, always. Also, the literary protagonist, Jo, in Little Women represents another strong, independent, creative woman our Norah Jo can be inspired by." -Meghan "We wanted ‘Norah’s Nursery’ to be simple albeit playful. We chose bright whites, natural birch wood pieces that would grow with Norah into toddlerhood and modern art accents that inspire both exploration and adventure. We’ve also had so much fun filling the nursery with our family and friends’ favorite children’s books, educational wooden toys, and relics from our childhood and relationship." -Meghan "I have a cross stitched poem that hung in my childhood nursery that reads: 'Cleaning and scrubbing can wait ‘til tomorrow. For babies grow up we’ve learned to our sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep. I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.'"-Meghan "Also, when Andrew and I first started dating I sent him the 'You are my sunshine my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray' print. As silly as it may seem, that song captured how I felt about Andrew. His optimistic outlook makes my heart sing, no matter what we’re facing. Now, we sing that lullaby to our daughter each time we rock her to sleep." -Meghan "Certainly, motherhood has given me a much deeper appreciation for the African proverb – it takes a village. I knew the phrase but didn’t really know what that meant until living it. My tribe has picked me up and supported us through postpartum healing and unconditional love so needed during this pivotal first chapter of parenthood." -Meghan "I am incredibly fortunate to have excellent role model mothers to learn from and continually be inspired by. My mom Mari. My Mimi, Betty. My Grammy Jo. My mother in law, Beth. And all of the mommas in my sisterhood of women friends who have turned up - each in their own way - to welcome me to the M.O.M club." -Meghan "Our world has opened up to a new, expansive universe. I am in complete awe of its wonder and cannot wait to explore it for the rest of my life. Each day, each week, each month (and I can only imagine each year) is filled with change that has awakened a part of me that was destined to become a Mom." -Meghan "Specifically, in the last four months (my daughter just turned four months old) I have slept less, worried more, and experienced more perpetual “highs” than ever before. A few of my favorite things as of late include mommy and me morning singalongs to Raffi “shake my sillies out,” watching Norah discover her toes, daily park walks, and full-bellied baby laughs triggered by funny Mom faces that I hope she things are this cool years from now." -Meghan
Shefali Parekh | San Francisco Family Photographer | Get In Touch Here
