Why I'm so Excited. (Kim's Maternity Shoot)

I love kids. I always have. I 'get' kids in a way I often don't with adults.

I'm not only an introvert, I'm also quite shy and find myself tongue tied and fumbling for things to say when I'm around people I don't know really well. I am not good at casual conversation!

I don't generally have that problem with kids. Of course, it still takes time for them to get comfortable with me, and to feel safe enough to be themselves, but the thing with most kids is, they want you to see them for who they are.

I love how they can be wildly funny one minute and then turn around and be endearingly earnest and concerned about the serious things going on around them. When you really and truly connect with children you can forget, sometimes, how young they are.

For years I had my own kids and then, as they grew older, a parade of kids who rode my school bus. Most of them will never know how deeply I cared about them. How much I celebrated their joys and had my heart broken as I saw them struggle with difficulties through the years. How often I prayed for them. I loved the kids who would sit at the front of my bus chatting about their lives, stuff going on in school, kids who bothered them, best friends they delighted in and, of course, stuff their moms and dads did and said at home. (Not to worry though . . . those kinds of things I kept to myself. ;D)

I've missed having kids in my daily life since I've retired. I've borrowed my sisters' grandkids when I visited, arranged the occasional playtime with younger nieces and nephews and even sent out calls on Facebook for kids (and their moms) to come and craft, bake, or dress up and pose for the camera with me. (Most kids still love to get in front of a camera and play pretend games.)

But now, (*D.V.) a new stage of life is about to begin. In no time at all I hope to be a grandma and to once again have a small child around regularly. (Don't worry Kim, I won't drop by everyday, I promise!)

The things we are going to do, the pictures I'm going to take . . .

My sister Tamara's favourite hashtag says it all . . . #blessingsabound

I'm still going to be borrowing other peoples kids once in a while though, I won't be able to help myself! ;D

I'll leave you with the rest of Kim's maternity images. How lucky am I that she still loves to dress up, pretend and is willing to do it in front of my camera?

Hair and makeup Holly Anne

(*deo volente)