You know that old saying, “the cobbler’s children have no shoes?” As in, the poor cobbler is so busy making everyone else’s shoes that he doesn’t have enough time left over for his own family’s shoes? That’s sort of where I’ve been at this past year or two with my personal images. Busy with clients and busy with life means little time – or energy – left to capture my own daughter. Well that, and the fact that she’s careening towards the pre-teen years at a neck-breaking pace and has zero interest in letting me take her photos anymore between her mood swings of loving me with all her heart one moment and telling me I’m the meanest mommy ever the next.

What’s a mom to do?

We may have been a week late, but I made her throw on a cute shirt and sit her spunky little butt down on our couch last night so I could grab just a few images to commemorate her 10th birthday. Her only condition was that she get to take some photos with her puppy. Yes, that’s a puppy in the photos. At 7 months he’s 70 lbs and already weighs more than my daughter. But he’s her pupper for life, no matter his size, so I agreed and we snapped away.

To the moms of pre-teens and teens, don’t forget to capture these years, just like you captured the baby and toddler years. Don’t let your baby slip into early adulthood without grabbing a glimpse of their still innocent, full of hope and life selves and documenting it for the future. I will always know what 3 year old Rebeccah looked like; I have much less material for what 13 year old Rebeccah looked like. I refuse to go the same route as my mom and stop taking photos simply because my kid thinks she’s too cool for school.

Remember to capture it all, because this is the good life.