Monthly Archives: January 2016

The Motherhood Journals, Brandi

” My mother…she is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel.  I want to grow old and be like her.”  – Jodi Picoult

These words, written on the pages of novels so beautifully by one of my favorite authors couldn’t describe this gorgeous mama any better!

Brandi is stunning both on the inside and out!  When you meet her, especially in her role as momma, she instantaneously takes your breath away!

Her patience is unrivaled and her imagination brings a world of magic and merriment for her two littles that I know will continue even into their adult lives when they are having children of their own!

The Motherhood Journals, Brandi

Brandi is a mother of two:  BK and M!  She is a wedding/event planner by day and by night she is the creator of fairy tales and dreams for her family of four!

She is beloved by every single person she meets and she is the kind of woman that the second you meet her, you know you’ve earned a friend for life!  Kind can’t hold a candle to describing who she is in her heart and she has passed that on to her little girl in a fierce way!

She and I have been talking about her motherhood session for a while!  It’s a session I’ve been dreaming about actually!  There are so many ways that I thought we could shoot her session, but Brandi surprised me and just wanted a quiet morning at home.  These mornings are her place, where the whole family is gathered and it’s a sleepy/lazy kind of morning!  It’s those mornings we all cherish as momma’s… there is nothing required and nothing to do except just BE together and enjoy one another’s company.  There’s no rushing or hustling!

It’s these type of sessions that I truly feel blessed!  In these moments, where I just get to sit with Brandi on her bed and talk real talk, one on one, and truly hear her heart!  We get to cry a little bit together as we realize as mother’s and as women we have so much in common.  We have so many hopes that are the same and so many wishes!  That although we have different backgrounds, we have the same heart.

It’s these sessions here when I just sit back and allow the families to forget I’m there that I feel my heart swell and realize what a gift they are given me by allowing me to capture such raw and true images!

On this special yet no special morning, we made a breakfast of the best kind… bacon!  We enjoyed some one on one time dancing to Mickey with little M who’s big boy first year birthday was right around the corner.  We snuck upstairs to wake up big sister and then we enjoyed a little cake!  I watched as Brandi and her husband S worked their magic in their house with love, patience, kindness and a quiet that I have never seen before.  It was a comfort that even I felt wrap it’s arms around me and invite me in!

We eventually made our way… with little baby fingers and toes covered in chocolate to the bath tub filled with bubbles and this is where Brandi told me her story!

So please… in her own beautiful words, met my loving friend Brandi!

The Motherhood Journals, Brandi

What is my biggest success as a mama?
It’s Probably the fact that I just keep on trying. Not like half ass trying, but every day I promise I full on TRY my hardest. I exert every effort. I may be sad or depressed or overwhelmed, but I try to compartmentalize my babies, my family, and keep them in a bubble that is pure and whole and happier and so, so loved than most walking this earth!
The Motherhood Journals, Brandi
My biggest adventures as a mother?
With Bk we traveled together very early, we went home to TX to see my mom, and i just remember being terrified. She was amazing on the way to TX but on the way home she lost her marbles. I was starting to get very self-conscious and anxiety wracked, but the most spectacular thing happened:  a random woman walked up to me and said “I would absolutely DIE to hold your baby. I have not seen my grandchildren in months, and don’t you want to make an old lady happy?” She just took BK, walking, bouncing, making friends with other fliers. She phrased it so that I felt like I was helping out, but really, she did me the favor.
She allowed us both the chance to reevaluate and calm. Then she told me, “Honey it takes a village to raise a child. Whether it is one or three children, whether that village is family or strangers on a plane. Ofter the person who offers to help needs it more than the person asking for help. So don’t turn it down, God is sending you help.”
Her words just rocked me. I had brooklyn thinking “I got this shit”… As in, no one touch her, don’t read to her, don’t bathe her, don’t look at her, I’ve got it all. I was so overwhelmed, I cried every day. I cried out of gratitude, for her beauty, for her sense of humor, just her. I was in over my head and I had no idea. But we did it, we made it, and she is so, so smart and funny.
Then we added Maddox, and man did he rock our world. Between the genetic testing coming back abnormal, requiring extra testing, delaying our announcement, finding out he was a  BOY, then a big +big boy, and finally the ultimate christmas present.
I feel like it’s the daily stuff, the deep + bring them to life stuff, that has more weight than our adventures to Mexico. But really isn’t it about the day to day, the “mundane” as they call it, because i have yet to have a mundane day in motherhood.
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My greatest challenges are probably my own to bare. My greatest challenges are being present for my family and turning work off when I walk through the door.
My greatest challenge is not taking out my work day frustrations on my 3 and 1 year old, because oh my gosh they are babies.
My greatest challenge is balancing being an amazing mother while also being an amazing wife.
My greatest challenges are truly my own.
The Motherhood Journals, Brandi Beautifully Honest black and white Motherhood Photography by Brooke Tucker The Motherhood Journals, Brandi The Motherhood Journals, Brandi
My advice for new moms would be “do you”. Screw the advice. You will have an abundance of unnecessary advice, all with the greatest of intentions, but you and your family are different. Because you’re your’s.
So do things your way, whether your best friend or mom says otherwise, you have got to do what is best for y’all.
Trust your instincts because you will know what your baby needs!
Try harder, throw in the towel, its up to the two of you to decide.
Trust that you know what is best, your baby does.
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 Dear Brooklyn and Maddox:

Today was an ordinary day. Brooklyn Grace was in a tutu, Maddox danced to Mickey Mouse. We had bacon for breakfast. Daddy and I tag teamed the whole routine because we were lucky to catch him on a day home. Most of your days will be normal, breakfasts before you wake up, slow mornings, home cooked meals, lots of snuggles, spontaneous dance parties, but SOOOO much love. That’s it, that is all I want you to remember, our love.

That mommy and daddy literally would have laid down for you. I hope that you’ll remember how mommy was always trying to get us to read, and throw silly celebrations, and never turned us from her bed at night. I hope that you’ll remember how daddy loved wrestling and gangster rap, that he was crazy in shape, that he always made mommy kiss him even when she was mad, and he had silly, silly jokes.
But most of all, I just hope, I hope that you know that you (brooklyn and maddox) are our end all be all.

You rise our sun and set our moon, there is no life without you. The parties for writing your first sentence or going peepee on the potty, those will fade. We just want you to know that you are truly the best jewels in our life. Without you mommy and daddy would feel incomplete. We love you so.

XO

 

*I stayed with Brandi and her family as their read their book on the couch and M fell asleep in Brandi’s arms.  I stayed in their warm house that was full of so much love and comfort and joy!  It’s always the smallest of details (like their winter bucket list taped to their fridge of fun things to do) that make the most in a family’s life!  It’s in the way that S allows BK to pour and crack the eggs into the pan for breakfast no matter if she spills or makes a mess!  Heck… that’s all the more fun!  It’s these little things that Brandi’s littles WILL remember and pass along to their children and so on.  The way that Brandi and Stephen didn’t care about a mess and let them enjoy being kids.  It’s the way they were loved and allowed to have dance parties!  It’s the way they were encouraged to be who they are and allowed to wear tutu’s to the park and eat bacon with wild abandon!

These are the memories we hold so dear!  The silly bath time kisses and toothbrush smiles!  The stories on the couch and the way that mom and dad look every day and look at us as children every day!

Thank yo u Brandi for sharing your heart!  Thank you for being so brave and bold and real!  Thank you for letting me come in to your morning during such a precious time!

I am blessed beyond measure to know you!

 

xo

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  • January 13, 2016 - 6:59 pm

    Amanda - Just love this Brooke! Well done!ReplyCancel

    • January 13, 2016 - 9:19 pm

      brooketuckerphoto@gmail.com - Thanks so much Amanda!!! Your encouragement means a lot!ReplyCancel

365 day challenge by brooke tucker photography, children

Title Caught ya didn’t it?!!!

mahaha!

How was your weekend Friends?!  Ours was just like that title… a quickie!

We took a little trip just for 24 hours and it was a little crazy but it was FUN!

I used to be super nervous about traveling and flying with a toddler!  I won’t even lie… I still get anxious right before we get to the airport!  My thoughts always swirl around in my head:  will Linc be good, will he sit still, is he going to annoy anyone, is he going to cry, is he going to scream?!  BUT then I remember something a good friend told me who traveled with her first born extremely early;  she said you do the best you can and if someone doesn’t understand then that’s their problem, not yours!

We have been extremely blessed though so far in our travels!  Linc is such a curious little traveler.  He behaves extremely well and usually either wants to look out the window (so he always gets the window seat) or he will settle back down with his kids kindle and read books with me or occasionally watch a movie (and usually fall asleep!)

We usually pack lots of snacks for him and of course, he LOVES it when they come around with the drinks and cookies or pretzels!

This weekend, we all felt like we were on the airplane non stop!

We only touched down in Florida for about 24 hours, no joke!  We had enough time to spend with friends for breakfast and then a fun Luau dinner show at the Disney Polynesian Resort!

In tradition here are some lessons learned in the best fashion… awkward/awesome moments!

Awkward:

  • Linc wearing his hulk headset so of course naturally his level of speaking volume was increased by 7 decibels… yelling about the plane GOING DOWN!!!  Of course to him that meant the plane landing, to the extremely anxious young adult beside us who was crying the second she stepped on the plane it was terrifying!  SHHH Linc… SHHH!
  • Linc telling everyone he’s going on a trip to Florida when he’s actually IN Florida and totally not understanding that we had arrived!  He actually was to the point of crying because he just didn’t understand the trip was over and we were in Florida!
  • Linc ALWAYS deciding to fall asleep when we take early morning flights right as we are landing!  (no joke it’s like 5 minutes before we touch the ground!)
  • The weird quasi diversion we experienced having to go from Orlando to LGA but not being able to land in LGA so instead landing in CT and then hopping off the plane for 15 minutes only to get back ON the plane and go straight back to LGA and then actually making our flight to Norfolk b/c that flight was delayed!  Are you confused yet because we absolutely were and so were the rest of the passengers on our flight!
  • The terrible turbulence on the flight that people were experiencing in the back of our plane!  We experienced it as well but for sure not as badly because our flight ran out of air sickness bags and started passing out trash bags which they also ran out of!  When we did land, everyone clapped!  We felt soo badly for everyone who was sick!  Thankfully Linc slept right on through it!

Awesome:

  • The Disney Polynesian show!  If you ever have a chance to go it was amazing!  The sword and fire dancer was incredibly insane!  Linc cried in anticipation because he was scared but when he came on the stage he sat there mesmerized!  It was truly mesmerizing to watch!  And the food ya’ll… the family style buffet was delicious!  OH MY… yall!  Sooo good!
  • I found a new book and I’m totally obsessed with the story!  Plus… any of those Harry Potter fans out there you should read it BECAUSE Emma Watson is set to play the main character in the movie that’s in production right now!
  • We took Linc to gymnastics last week (like legit gymnastics) and they already want him to move up a class!  Plus watching him listen like he did and actually really enjoy himself and take his time was so cool for me as a mom!  I did have ONE moment of stage mom/dance mom but I quickly cleared that out of my system!  woah guys… not ever going to be that mom over here!  Don’t let me!
  • The new body flow release comes out this Saturday and I’m excited to be launching it with my friend Amanda!!!

This week I am BACK on schedule… finally and will be rolling out some great blogs! So check back this week so you can see some adorable little ones!

 

Also, We have a big announcement coming soon… but we can’t reveal it just yet!!! So keep a lookout for that!! 😉

xo

B

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Happy New Year my friends!  Did you all have a wonderful holiday season?!

Our little family slowed thing down over here and it was marvelous!  We took a break from working, from social media (I mean as much as you can really, my instagram was still firing away of course) and from blogging!  We decided to just really enjoy the time together going and doing fun activities and watching movies on the days we decided to stay at home and actually playing with all of our new toys as a family!

I actually watched Star Wars for the first time in my life!  I know that’s probably going to shock some of you out there, but I have never seen any of the Star Wars before last week!  NONE, actually!  What’s even more awkward is the fact that I grew up on the Ewoks!  Did you know that they have entire movie duo all to themselves?!  My brother and I used to watch the two all the time!  So somehow I bypassed the Star Wars series and went straight for a spin off!

Our neighbors are amazing and we are so blessed to have such an incredible family right across the street!  They lent us their copy of the entire collection and we have slowly been making our way through at night when Linc’s asleep.  Linc has been loving the older ones (because of course he is in love with Darth Vader… weird child, I’m telling you my kid loves the villains!)  So now that we are watching the older trilogy, we usually include him in on them later in the afternoon when the activities are done for the day and he is just mentally and physically exhausted.  We like to call this the witching hour!!!

365 photography challenge, black and white by brooke tucker photography

One of the most important goals that 2016 holds for me is to really embrace to 365 day challenge!  I really want to start capturing life in a single shot every day for one year!   I love the images that this challenge produces!  The simple random acts and reflections that it brings is really incredible and breathtaking!

This was a random image of Linc from last year that I caught because my camera was just available.  He loves to dance and he is always on the move.  Whether these images are perfectly precise and technically correct or not, the goal is to capture the essence of the day!  I love the notion of that!  The idea of letting go and just capture life as it is happening!

365 photography challenge, black and white by brooke tucker photography

As always a little lessons learned from our weekend, but I think it’s always more fun to do them in an awesome/awkward kind of way!

Awesome:

  • Spending so much time outdoors this holiday season with the warmer weather and watching Linc show complete fearlessness as he rode skateboards (standing up), my new Hammerhead paddleskate board by himself, and taking on some pretty crazy hilly driveways with his balance bike feet up!
  • Neighbor time and Brunch and outdoor time with our super fun neighbors and their kiddos!  Hearing them fill our house with screams (literally loud and high pitched screams) of joy and play!  Hearing their super fast running feet down the halls and the hugs and kisses they give one another.  I love this age for all the bonds and friendships and hugs and tears they have together!
  • The quality time we have had with Tuck as he has had no work and no travel since the week of Christmas!
  • Watching my Dad ride the paddleskate board like a pro and seeing the old surfer that he is come back!!!
  • The Beautiful Tianna of Andrew & Tianna photography and Yours Truly Portraiture giving me one of the best gifts I could ever receive!  Well two I should say… an amazing friendship and fellowship as well as the gift of seeing myself in a way that I never knew was possible!
  • Laughter!!!  So many laughs and that’s ALWAYS the best thing!!
  • A brand new year:  it’s like Anne of Green Gables says tomorrow is fresh without any mistakes in it!  I love the start of a new year for all that it holds!

Awkward:

  • Taking your little one who is entirely potty trained and has been for over a year now to the Children’s Museum for a day of fun and realizing that not even 5 minutes into the train room he makes this look that has you go WOAH… then tells you “Everything’s fine” only to realize about 3 minutes after that when he steps over to you that he’s walking funny and the front of his pants are completely soaked down to his shoes!!!  *Always keep a spare change of pants plus socks and shoes in your car if you have a boy!  Doesn’t even matter if he’s fully potty trained!  Just do it!  (Luckily we did!!!)
  • Taking your child to the field house to play and realizing your child has absolutely NO matching socks even though you are constantly buying socks.  Also none of the socks in his drawer full of socks actually fit him!  We found ONE pair, sent him off to play and an hour after playing came to realize WHY he has no socks.  While all his other friends come out of the play zone with their socks still on, my kid comes out mysteriously missing his socks and he has no idea how he lost them.  #wheredoallthemissingsocksgo
  • When your in the car with your sleeping child while your husband runs into the store for dinner ingredients and an elderly lady opens the car door and gets inside?!  Well Hi There!  Linc never woke up!!!  She was really sweet!!!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season and new year!  This week I have some wonderful sessions to show you so please keep checking back!  In the meantime if you would like to follow along with my 365 day challenge I will be posting them every monday after the re-cap!  If you would like to join in, I would be overjoyed!

For now….

 

JANUARY 1-3 (captions below each image)
365 photography challenge, brooke tucker photography

Super Hero with Daddy

365 photography challenge, black and white by brooke tucker photography

High Water Freedom

365 photography challenge, black and white by brooke tucker photography

HEYYYYYY MOMMMMMM

365 photography challenge, black and white by brooke tucker photography

snuggies

 

xoxo

B

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