The moment I walked through Chris and Shannon’s door, I was struck by the stillness within their walls. The peace.

As I closed the door and entered their home, I thought about how behind me, everyone went about their normal routines – this day was the same as any other. But in front of me, a baby had been born, a family had been made, and everything had changed.

Chris was sitting by a window with his new daughter held tightly against his bare chest, rocking her back and forth. My mind was transported back to the initial days of being at home with our own first daughter. Mike and I spent hours watching Lilah sleep.

Drinking in her newborn smell.

Running a finger over her barely-there eyebrows, her button nose, her rosebud lips.

Kissing and counting tiny fingers and toes. Ten of each.

Watching her long eyelashes flutter against full moon cheeks.

She dreamed of milk and the pulse of rhythm of what came before these minutes like hours.

We dreamed too.

These photos are simple. But I love them even more because of it. I think they capture this family in their initial days of discovering one another, and becoming a family.