I am a big fan of Ilana at the blog Mommy Shorts, including a recent photo series she kicked off which is designed to show the beauty in every mother’s morning, even if we can’t see it ourselves. You can see her latest installment here.

About the same time I read Ilana’s first post on this topic, my own photographer friend Erika was going to be in town (do I sound sophisticated when I say I have a ‘photographer friend’?). She is actually a lawyer too, but she is doing more and more photography and I am so happy for her that she is pursuing this passion.

I was excited to see her for more than just an hour or two. She spent the night and we had time to catch up and laugh and have meaningful conversations the way you can do with an old cherished friend. She also took photos of my kids – nothing fancy, just pictures of them romping around in their pj’s and our normal Tuesday morning routine.

I do not have any professional photos of my family since my second daughter was born. I have a million cell phone photos, but they are often blurry and random. I feel a bit guilty about that, because I had nice photos of my first kid taken at least twice. So I knew I would appreciate even just one or two good shots of my daughters.

I had no idea how they would turn out – in part because I was busy stressing about what the hell to put in my daughter’s lunchbox for most of it – but I love the photos more than I expected. My house is messy, my furniture is mismatched, and I spent about 5 minutes grooming all 3 of us. After Erika left I was actually sort of annoyed with myself for not putting more thought or effort into the whole thing, seeing as it was an opportunity for free nice photos and I didn’t even wear clean pants or brush my daughter’s hair. I did, however, shower – so that’s something.

But that’s part of why I love them. Because they look like what I will remember from these crazy, exhausting mornings that are so full of life and chaos – days when my oldest child tapes paper all over my living room floor to make a ‘cake walk’ and then rubs her spit on the windows, while my youngest crawls into a box, wears her sister’s shoes, and drops bits of her beloved play-doh everywhere she goes.

I feel grateful that I have such a talented friend who was able to make lasting memories out of an otherwise ho-hum Tuesday. But I’m also sharing the photos here because I think it’s a worthwhile reminder for any mother – similar to the purpose of the Mommy Shorts series – that the everyday moments can be beautiful too (especially when you have someone talented behind the camera).

Spit-shining the windows, as one does.

You can see the rest of Erika’s photo shoot and give her mad props for her skills here. (seriously check out the amazing pregnant lady yoga photos in the post before mine. WUT is happening there. Not possible.)