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Christina is a mother of three! She is a wife, a friend, a Christian, a leader and a sister! She is a gorgeous woman inside and out! She is a blogger (check her out over at caffeine and three) and she and her husband are working to create a pretty powerful business team in the real estate market!
She is many incredible things and she has many incredible roles! She takes on many important roles in the lives of those around her and she is loved by many! Most importantly though to her, she is a mother! She is a REAL Mother! She is someone who lays it all out there every single day just like all of us! She has some of the most fantastic moments and some of the most amazing moments she could never even dream! She also has some of the most trying moments and some where she might lose her patience. She has moments where she needs a moment to just be human… and paint her toe nails just to make herself feel like she is a woman and not JUST a mom somedays! (We all have those!) And she has moments where there is absolutely nothing else she would rather do than pick up her eldest son from school and scream at the top of her lungs in front of everyone and anyone like a mad woman… “WOOHOO LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!” because that’s what you do when you are one seriously rad boy mom!
This is Christina’s Story… in her own words (and a little of mine mixed in). She is the first of this series and for that I am eternally grateful!
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CHRISTINA’S STORY (written by her)
I remember when she messaged me, “Hey I’d love to get your thoughts on a vision I have about Motherhood shown through black and white images. I don’t want it staged,I want the real stuff.”
A woman who wants to see the raw and vulnerable side of motherhood? Someone who is asking to come to my home and capture moments of Life happening just as they always do? A mother herself,that wants to share these moments, both good and bad with others? This was a woman after my own heart.
We exchanged numbers and started discussing her ideas immediately. There was something so “easy and carefree” about her. It was as if we had known each other forever. Just two girls chatting about life. While listening to her vision for this project “The Motherhood Journals” which she calls it, I began to cry. It truly takes a mother to understand other mothers.
As I laid on the nursery floor laughing and crying with Brooke over the phone about the ups and downs of raising children,I knew in my heart, this project was something I HAD TO BE A PART OF!
After busy nights and a few revised scheduling mishaps, I was FINALLY able to have her come over.
“When you think of Motherhood what image comes to mind for you? Something you do with your kids that has become what you enjoy?” she had originally asked me
Without hesitation I knew I wanted her to capture my life at dinner time!
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Some may think this is a bit strange. Why not do a playground or at the beach? A field of beautiful flowers or everyone in their Sunday best?
THAT’S NOT REAL!
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In my home we wear mix matched clothes and messy hair. We run back and forth to make sure the food isn’t burning (which I did burn the rice) and the kids aren’t killing each other, all while trying to prepare a meal to feed us. It is the time of night where I find peace in the actions of what I am doing.
I am making food to nourish my family and to enjoy a time of gathering and good conversation.
I do not wear a dress and cute apron. My hair is usually up in a cotton candy swirl atop my head. More than likely I have one part of the meal cooked while the other is still frozen. My kids are probably out on the trampoline raising hell. My daughter has probably got herself into the trash can at least twice unless I have fed her. It’s busy. It’s loud. It’s REAL during this time of day.
As a mother, I take pride when I set the table for my family knowing they will all gather around to enjoy its many offerings. I know that at my dinner table my kids will have a safe place to talk about life,the way it’s happening to them. We,as a family, get a chance to escape the world and come Home. Dinner isn’t just feeding our bellies, it’s feeding our hearts as well.
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This session revealed so much to me that I already knew in my heart, but now actively wanted to play out in my life. Motherhood is not glamorous by any means. You trade in your wants and needs for requests and demands from others. You live life constantly wondering if what you are doing is enough. Does it all matter? Am I truly making a difference?
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People ask me all the time how I manage raising three kids so effortlessly and I laugh. It is the highest compliment to know people think it looks easy.Reality is, I cry A LOT! Seriously, it’s ridiculous. My husband truly believes I have a problem. I cry because it’s overwhelming as much as it is rewarding.
I am short tempered and yell more than I like to admit. My kids are probably so well behaved because they are worried Mom might lose her shit at a moments notice. I pray everyday for God to give me patience in the trying times of Motherhood.
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Mom’s you are going to lose your cool. You are going to get mad. You will yell and cry. It is 100% normal.
Sometimes I believe that the world constantly watches us under a microscope waiting to see how we raise our children. I don’t have a nanny who tends to my kids needs so I can enjoy walking the aisle of stores by myself. With this said, if my kids are hiding in clothes racks,pulling twelve boxes of cereal off a shelf, punching each other or asking me the same question a hundred times, BRACE YOURSELVES, because this Mom will probably lose it.
Reality is, we are human! What a concept folks. Mothers are people too. We are not robots. We are not immune to hurtful words or being unappreciated. We have emotions just like you and we will in fact tap into them when needed.
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This is a role we are blessed to have. I don’t think any of us would ever deny that. However we don’t need to constantly sugar coat things and make it seem more beautiful than it is.
It can get mundane.It can have moments of sadness,doubt and anger. However, it can be full of belly laughs and sloppy kisses; made up worlds and slip and slide afternoons. It can be filled with peek a boos and I love you’s. It can engulf your whole heart and your entire world.
Mother’s you are a rare breed. You are extraordinary. You are the maker of life and the place your family calls home. Never underestimate the effect you have on this massive world. What you teach inside the walls of your home will create a tidal wave for the world to see.
Motherhood is Real it is not PERFECT!
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** Christina and I spoke about all things Motherhood for the entire time I was at her house! We laughed, we cried… we even laugh/cried!
As you can see from her gorgeous portraits (and gosh is she gorgeous right?! but it’s from the INSIDE/out too) that she really let her guard down with me and became really vulnerable! THAT/THIS is what these sessions are all about!
Coming together as women and mothers and letting our true and vulnerable selves shine through so we can have those shining connections! That one moment was a gentle pause between us where we were speaking about the choice to have more babies and to expand our families! We were speaking about all that LOVE that floods in when you birth your babies and bring someone new into your family!
These are the moments we as mothers truly LIVE for.. these meaningful connections only we can have with one another because no one else has experienced what we have in our bodies and our hearts and our souls after we’ve experienced something like this! And it doesn’t matter whether you have carried a baby, adopted a baby etc… a mother is a mother is a mother~!
Thank you Christina for sharing your story and your heart with me and with other women and with the world! Thank you for inviting us into your home for a family dinner and teaching us about the meaning of family dinner to you!
When we can learn from one another like this and take away bits and pieces of hearts and souls… we can start to change the way we think about the world!
Part of OUR story now.. because once we start to meet and connect we start to generate a combined story was a bit of fun and flavor if you will! Her oldest I think might grow up to be a photographer one day! He absolutely has a great way of directing and fun! I will sit for you any day my friend!
I’ll leave you with these last few images because you can’t hear her story without knowing how FUN she is too… an instagram connection turned forever friend and sister!
Thank you Christina! xoxox
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To find out more about The Motherhood Journals or to get involved and share your story, send me an e mail at brooketuckerphoto@gmail.com
We would LOVE to have you be a part of our community and change the way we think of perfection and motherhood! Real is better than Perfect!!!