the jones family is whole again! maine family photographer

oh. em. gee. I thought I would cry my little eyes out Tuesday night, in the middle of Presque Isle's tiny airport. somehow, I managed to keep my cool while Kelly cried HER eyes out.. but we all knew that was coming. ;) and with that, I'm going to warn you. you'll need tissues for this blog. I had to add this part cause I've cried twice now just writing it.

here's a little backstory, since you're probably thinking 'who in the world is this Kelly?!" I think it was about a year ago now (seriously SSOO hard to believe!) and I was reading my emails and there was one from this lady in TEXAS saying she loved my photos, and she'd be back in Maine for a little bit in May and wanted to do maternity photos. I was like "honey, look! this girl lives in Texas and when she flies back she wants MEEEE to do photos!!" a lot of times when people plan something so far ahead one of us forgets to check back in, and it doesn't happen. I am so happy that neither one of us dropped the ball and we did them. they are my favorite maternity photos of ALL TIME. they will be ridiculously hard to top. here's one if you don't believe we knocked them out of the park that day.

umm, swoon. anyway, her hubby Andrew couldn't join us since he's in the Army and was stationed in Texas at the time. Two months later and their little bundle of joy Parker arrived a little early, which worked cause now he's a 4th of July baby! I wish I could have gone out to do newborn photos, but we've made big plans for the next Jones baby ;) a couple months after that and Andrew left for a 12 month deployment. Kelly moved back to Maine to live with family so she wasn't totally alone with a newborn in Texas which works out GREAT for me, cause, well, I'm here! We've been doing monthly photos of little Parker since he was 3 months old so Andrew could see him grow up. here's just a couple ;)

isn't he the most handsome little guy?! In December or January, Kelly mentioned that Andrew would be coming home for leave in March and I JUMPED at the chance to do an army homecoming! we're lucky to live in an area that doesn't have TOO many soldiers getting deployed, so I've never done one. Kelly was a wreck, and understandably so! there was a lot of pacing, "look the plane's coming in!..just kidding!" and Parker drooling on his special 'welcome home daddy, I missed you' onesie. it seemed like it took forever for the plane to arrive (who knew a flight from Boston to Presque Isle took 2 hours?!) and once it was down, it seemed like time flew right by. I didn't cry then, but when I was looking at the photos today I started to cry. they're one of the sweetest families ever, and I'm so happy Kelly gets to see her love, even if it is just for a couple of weeks. He'll be home for good this summer, thank goodness! what started out as a seemingly random 'ohmigosh, I love your photos! can you do my maternity photos?" has turned into a great friendship. (I'm crying again as I wrote that part. thanks Kelly.) I have no idea how she can be such a strong woman, knowing her husband is halfway across the world, where she doesn't get to talk to him every day, she barely gets to skype with him, and knowing he's missed most of Parker's 'firsts' except for photos and videos she's done for him. nothing compares to being an army wife, and it takes a whole degree of strength that I can't even comprehend.

okay, enough rambling - here's the video with their homecoming photos. again, there's a song so either turn up or down your volume!

'fess up, did it make you cry? tell me in the comments!