Guilty.

I had dismissed everyone's comments about not photographing Child No. 3 as much as the first two, yet there I was last week loading CD after CD into the disc player in my studio near Robinson, IL, only to discover one thing - I was totally guilty of this very thing.

I started replaying in my mind how it had happened and traced the roots all the way back to early 2000.

After four years of trying to get pregnant - and four IVFs - in 2005, we became the proud parents of twin girls.

Oh my was our camera busy.

Everything was so new. We have photos of their first bath, their first slobber, and so on and so on. We knew no boundaries.

As the girls aged, we continued to take photos, not as many, but still a lot.

Then, in 2011, we found out another Hevron baby was on the way.

I don't know what happened, but 9 months flew by and suddenly, the calm household of four because a chaotic group of five.

It was a whirlwind.

Three months later, I woke up wondering where the time had gone.

Trying to keep up with two 5-year-olds while caring for a newborn was hard, not to mention trying to get the older girls out the door for preschool without the benefit of having a full night's sleep.

I told myself when the twins were at preschool, I'd have time to take newborn photos, something that wasn't a realistic option with tiny multiples born during flu season.

I remember recuperating on our couch, envisioning the sweet little poses in which I could pose our new baby.

The reality was the second C-section was hard on my older body, really hard. When sweet baby slept, so did Mommy.

When I was awake, I was consumed with caring for our new bundle of joy and the laundry - lots and lots of laundry.

With the older girls, we had professional photos done at 3 months, 9 months and a year. With our youngest, it was 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and a year. It seems everyone has their own consistent monthly photo progression that first year, well everyone but us.

I did do a fair share of what I would call "studio" portraits of all our girls and plenty of candids. Today, the photographer in me has a hard time relinquishing control and allowing someone else to take our personal family portraits, yet there's is nothing more freeing than doing just that. There's a huge disparity between being "in" the moment and "documenting" it. 

Trust me, as quick as these girls are growing, I'll take "in" the moment anytime.