Wisconsin Natural Light Family Photographer | Avery & Family at Home

The third child is something I know a little bit about, having three of my own and the last not much older than little Avery, the youngest, the girl, the baby of one of my favorite families. That family is headed by Meg & Dan, who are on a journey together that so far has included cross country moves, house swaps, searches and sales, a lot of schooling and exams and of course, the births Nolan, Theo and Avery. I’ve been following Meg & Dan and their growing family for years now and each time I capture them in photographs I find myself grinning from ear to ear – because of the sweet chaos that is parenthood. Because children can go from wildly joyous to depressingly uncooperative and back to giggling abandon in the space of 10 seconds. Because life is unpredictable and beautiful. And so it was on a sunny spring morning when I visited Avery and her brothers at home to celebrate her first year of life. We laughed and chased the cats, we looked for squirrels and the kids alternated between which two wanted to cooperate while the third protested. We may have munched on some bribery jelly beans and I’m sure Meg wondered the whole time if I was getting anything good but my answer is simple: it was all good. The whole thing, every second.