I was changing my daughter into her pj's and she looks up at me so lovingly and starts to giggle and coo. Her eyes were just so intensely staring right at my face with so much love that it could melt all of Antartica. I began to tickle her under her chin and on her foot and she starts to giggle even more and her toothless smile was so big my heart was hurting with all the love. I took a picture of my sweet little girl wanting to remember this moment forever. When I looked at the picture I snapped, it was adorable no less, but could not capture the rawness of the moment. With all the filters and editing that we have at our disposal, I could not capture the image and the picture that I was seeing in real time with my eyes . I wish my camera could capture the real color and softness of her skin. I wish my camera could capture the intensity of her stare at me. I wish my camera could capture how when I hold her and I am kissing her neck, that I am also inhaling that baby but distinct to my child smell, that I never want to forget smelling. I wish my camera could capture how full our hearts are in that in the moment I can physically feel my heart bursting at the seams with all that love overload. I wish my camera could capture the moments leading up to why I wanted to take the picture in the first place. The purity of it being unexpected and not planned, just wanting to remember my sweet little girl thinking that I am her whole world. I wish my camera could capture when she is sleeping in my arms, the pattern of her breathing and the sound that she makes when she is breathing. I wish my camera could capture how relaxed she feels knowing that she is safe in my arms. I wish my camera could capture all these beautiful moments with my little girl. Moments in time that I know that someday I will forget. Thank you camera for giving me the chance to look back at my pictures that I have taken, some edited and some not, and remember some of the moments and some of the feelings around the pictures but unfortunately not all. I will not always remember my little girl's distinct baby smell or how my heart felt that day. Me picking her up after the picture and holding her tight. But what I can do is use these moments to make sure I appreciate the time I have with my girls. Whether it is taking a minute to look a little longer in those big blue eyes or hold them a little tighter. Thank you camera for giving me the pictures. When my little girl grows up and becomes a young woman, I can look back at those pictures and try to remember.
