This DFW baby photographer was reminded this week of the importance of taking photos of your daily life. I love having such a vast portfolio of images from our routine, mundane lives. As part of this Project 365, I obviously take at least one photo each day from my big girl camera. However, I am also a big phone camera person, so I think it is safe to say I’m capturing about as much as a human being ever could.
So, this past Friday we had to put one of our dogs, Bailey, to sleep. She was a geriatric dog who received a cancer diagnosis on July 5th. The vet told us she had six months to go, so we were just beginning to grapple with losing her. Then, she took a rapid decline on Friday evening. My husband was flying and I couldn’t get in touch with him. Thankfully, my husband got home from work around 6pm and I was able to get him up to speed on the situation. We had always intended on putting our dog to sleep at home, with our oldest son in attendance. That was the plan, but our precious Bailey Boo just couldn’t make it. We hoped to have her overnight and say goodbye on Saturday morning, but her situation was so horrible that we ended up frantically calling a neighbor to babysit the sleeping children so we could take her to the ER vet and ease her suffering. To be honest, the end was traumatic and horrible. Pet loss, any loss, is always horrible. I just wish those final hours hadn’t been so hurried and intense. Because it all happened so quickly, I wasn’t able to do any kind of ‘goodbye’ photo shoot. I wanted some portraits of our family with our dog. We have tons of phone pictures, but surprisingly we had never sat as a family of four and taken a photo with Bailey. Even though we weren’t able to snag that last official family portrait, I am so glad I don’t have to look back and realize in sadness that I don’t have any GOOD photos of my dog. In fact, I have quite a few and I am so incredibly thankful that I got that camera in my Bailey’s face a few times. 🙂
Last week was just an overall dumpster fire in general. My grandma also broke her leg on the 4th of July, and she had to wait a few days for surgery because it was a holiday. She remains in the hospital, doing alright but obviously breaking your leg is never an easy thing to recover from.
So, saying Week 27 could have gone better is an understatement.
DFW BABY PHOTOGRAPHER | WEEK 27
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Prepping for some 4th of July fun.
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My boy had his eye on these festive glow-stick glasses for weeks. The fourth seemed like a good occasion to finally cave and let him purchase them. Oh, to be 6 and have all the world’s problems fixed with a glow stick.
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We had a swimming party planned for Saturday, and borrowed this fun water slide from some friends. The slide hadn’t been aired up in awhile, so we needed to test it before the party. There was one little boy who was more than eager to perform that task.
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Our Bailey’s dog collar. She was 13 years old, and we adopted her 12 years ago. So, she was with my husband and I for nearly our entire marriage. She was adopted under the auspices of being a “lab mix,” but we later discovered she was mostly a pit bull. At first, I was terrified of her being a pit, but she turned out to be the sweetest, most loyal and affectionate dog I have ever encountered. I have always been more afraid of our beagle biting than I ever was of her. My mind is definitely changed regarding pit bulls. She was with us for our first apartment in Louisiana, and made the trek over to Texas for our first home. She helped us welcome our human babies. She was here for the first grown-up chapter of our lives, and it feels miserable not having her around these past four days. My oldest son, age 6, is also having a difficult time. He is at that age where he is starting to understand the finality of death, but maybe not all the way. He has prayed for God to bring Bailey back to life. He has asked me if we will get her body back from the vet soon. He cried in my bed the night of her death for about 4 hours until he fell asleep from exhaustion. We have been very busy the past few days, which I think has helped keep his mind off things. But, in the quiet moments he succumbs to sadness…just like we all do. And, he has told me in his little six year old voice, “Mama, I am having a sad moment now. This is just too much.” And I agree with him…it is just too much.
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A little brother peekaboo time.
H Parker Photography is a DFW Baby Photographer with a residential studio in Roanoke,TX.
She specializes in classic, timeless studio baby photographs.
I’m so sorry about the loss of your dog. We just went through that a year ago and it still hurts. Sending love and prayers. Wishing my favorite DFW baby photographer some healing and peace.