Stop Saving the Idea of Family Photos for "Later"

jacquelinefoley
Jun 29
2 min read

Later, shmater.

My motto in life is to live with no regrets, and that absolutely includes family photographs. This season, this exact stage of your family, this particular amount of cuteness your kids are walking around with right now: it deserves to be captured, not postponed.

My (Very Short) List of Regrets

I don't carry around a lot of regrets, but I do have a few, and they're an odd little collection. Not joining a choir years ago. Giving up an instrument I used to love. Liking chocolate a little more than is probably wise.

And then there's the real one: not getting newborn photographs done with either of my children.

Why It Didn't Happen

I was so tired, so genuinely sleep-deprived, that organising a newborn session simply wasn't within my capacity. I could barely organise dinner most nights, let alone a photographer, an outfit, and a time slot.

On top of that, both of my kids came early. There was no calm window of planning beforehand, no chance to book something in advance and tick it off the list before they arrived. They showed up on their own schedule, and suddenly "later" became the only option, except later never actually came.

I don't have those newborn photos. I never will. That season is gone, and no amount of wishing brings it back.

This Season, This Cuteness, Right Now

That's exactly why I feel so strongly about this. Right now, today, your family is in a season that will never repeat itself. The exact way your toddler says certain words. The size of your child's hand in yours. The particular brand of chaos and joy your family carries right now, at this age, in this house.

It won't look like this in six months. It definitely won't look like this in five years. This is it, and it deserves to be captured while it's still happening, not filed away under "we'll get to it eventually."

Later Will Matter Too, Just Not Like This

I'm not saying later isn't important. It will be. Every stage of your family's life deserves to be marked and remembered.

But later is a different season, with its own different kind of cuteness, its own different chaos, its own different photos worth taking. It will never replace what's happening right now. If you wait for later to capture this, you're not delaying the same moment. You're losing it entirely, the same way I lost those newborn days I never managed to capture.

Don't let this season become another regret on your list. Mine has a choir, an instrument, and too much chocolate on it. Don't let yours have your family's "right now" on it too.