We Have A Baby | Maeve Josephine » Heather Cook Elliott Photography

I have a story about me and about him and a story about her sister Wren and this past year I’ve been working on the story of Maeve. She is unexpected in almost every way starting with the fact that she exists. I never imagined I would have more than one child (I barely imagined having just one) and I was surprised by how much I love being Wren’s mama. And being Wren’s “mama Heather” (which is what she calls me these days when she isn’t calling me by my full legal name) has taught me how fast all of it goes and how much better it is – even when I think it’s good – when I stop worrying and just live the experience. So while everything with Wren felt happily, crazily dramatic and life changing and whirlwind and intense, everything with Maeve feels like a bonus, a sweet do-over where I’m not wondering is she’s supposed to do that? or am I doing this right? In a way, Maeve feels like a bonus baby, a wonderful addition to our already formed little family. That sounds…flippant, but what I mean is that everyday with her feels like a surprise and a promise all wrapped into one. I have taken fewer photos of her than I did with Wren but I’ve held her more. She has fewer adorable outfits and all her shoes used to be Wren’s but her gummy, brilliant smile makes me melt completely. She makes me slow down in a way that I usually can’t manage very well and her seriously loud, very intense cry makes me laugh and hold her tightly and tell her she’s crazy because Everything is just so very good.

I remember designing Wren’s room at our condo and realizing that the design was a reflection of who we were – where we had been and how we wanted to introduce ourselves to her and Maeve’s room is no different, except that I think it reflects where we are going and who we want to be in the future. We live close to the water now and find ourselves planning all our trips to watery, relaxed destinations. We traveled to Ireland and Hawaii in the year before she was born so it’s no wonder that Maeve’s room is vaguely nautical and a little Hawaiian while her name is all Irish, including her middle name which is inspired by our love for her Great Grandma Jo – nee’ Ryan – and still a powerful force in our family at 90+ years old. I was thinking about all of this and more while laboring to deliver her on a cold night in a week where we saw the first dustings of winter snow. As the deep hours after midnight crept into morning and she was almost here I was imagining the soft sand beaches and warm sun of Kapalua for her, me walking along the crescent edge of the Maui bay while her dad snorkeled and her sister dug in the sand and I wished for her to enter a world of Warmth and Light. I am posting this in Maeve’s 12th week of life, and while it has been an extraordinarily cold winter here in Wisconsin, our home has been filled with an equally extraordinary amount of Warmth and Light. Welcome to the world Maeve Josephine Elliott; we adore you.

Wren is in love with Maeve and has been nothing but wonderful with her. ALOT of her playtime now centers around babies and making the babies happy. I even find her arranging all her “people” so that they look at the Little People baby and make sure it is happy. She is also super excited for when Baby Maeve can eat food with her.