A little bit longer... with the Mallyon family

Central Coast Family Photographer

I was greeted at the door with a big smile and a huge hug from the lovely Lisy. She’d obviously gone to some trouble to be ready for my arrival, wet hair and fresh clothes, hinted that she’d been up early to be presentable.

Her boys were chilling in front of TV when I walked in, with only a little complaint when the TV was turned off. They quickly went and entertained themselves. Kaden elaborately told me about his lego collection and his new lego reward daddy was buying him later that day.

Lis continued cleaning and organising benches as I followed the boys around. I let her know it wasn’t necessary for me. She kindly told me the cleaning was for her, that’d she feel better if the house was clean. I totally get this as I often go into a cleaning frenzy before visitors arrive. When Lis went through her online gallery of images, she told me she was disappointed that the kitchen bench was a mess. I think as mums we are so hard on ourselves about living up to our own expectations. I believe we need to give ourselves permission to accept our imperfections and embrace the chaos of this time in our lives. Because in 20 years time our kitchens will be clean, but our homes will be empty. When I look at this photograph, I see a father and son working together. I'm not worried about how tidy the bench is.

I knew Tyler is a bright child, but during this session I discovered he is exceptionally gifted. He studiously read through his solar system book and copied down details about the sun and planets on his white board. He was happiest when questioning my own knowledge of this topic and gleefully filled me in on the many things I didn’t know.

A little guy with big ideas and big emotions, he still reached out to mum for some downtime, reading together.

Kaden was ALL ABOUT DAD. He followed dad around the house and was constantly finding ways to engage him, building lego and drawing superheroes.

For a mum surrounded by boys, Lis has embraced the rough and tumble of everyday life. They introduced me to a game of ‘crack the egg’ which elicited giggles followed by some wrestling on the trampoline. I had a beautiful morning hanging out with this cruisy family.