Business & Family Storytelling Photography Kingston

I’m a big lover of New Year’s resolutions. So every year on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, Steve and I enjoy a conversation (or two or three) about what we want to accomplish or try in the new year. And this conversation always includes a little retrospective of what we’ve done in the previous year.

During this year’s conversations, I realised what a difference a year makes.

One year ago, we still owned a home in the US. It was crazy stressful managing a rental from so far away and also trying to sell it. I lost many a night’s sleep and countless tears due to that stress. We also had an 18-month old, a 4-year-old, and an 8-year-old. Our youngest was still figuring out sleep and eating, as well as being much busier and requiring much more attention. Our 4-year-old was still in nursery for half-days, so that meant when the youngest was napping in the afternoons, I was entertaining the 4-year-old. And our 8-year-old was exploring his independence. When I think back on this time, I recognise how little time Steve and I had for ourselves and how much time we were spending just keeping everyone going. And to top it all off, we were trying to figure out our future, whether we would stay in the UK or start thinking seriously about moving back to Chicago. Oh, and I had just started my photography business!

This year, the house in the US is long sold, and I only think about it when I’m fondly remembering living there. Our oldest 2 children are in school all day and are much more confident in themselves, which translates to more independence and self-sufficiency. Our youngest has started nursery three mornings a week. I find myself with time alone, which was a novelty in September, but is becoming normal now.

Which brings me back to my new year’s resolution. This year, I decided to take on a 365-day photo project. With a little more time to stop and realise what is going on around me, I decided I want to document it before it all changes again and I start to forget the little things.