Braden has been in swimming lessons for about 8 months now. He truly loves the water. I was a little apprehensive at first because his first swim experience went awful. He did not do well at the first swim school he went to. I think it was a little overwhelming for him as there were so many other lessons going on at one time – equaling loud noises. But, we switched over to Waterbabies Swim School in San Clemente, and could NOT be happier! He has grown so much as a swimmer; more confident and so incredibly happy. When the opportunity came up to have an underwater photo shoot, I jumped at the chance! What a great time to get some amazing pictures of him swimming under the water that I would not otherwise be able to get. Plus, I’m a sucker for a photoshoot 😉

I don’t think my words could ever do justice of how special this photo shoot was. Braden was at the happiest I’ve seen him (which is hard to top since he’s pretty happy all the time). I rushed home with such joy and excitement in my heart. I gushed to my mom of how amazing this experience was. For days I talked about how excited I was about getting to see this photos that I just knew would turn out ridiculously good. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned…Our photographer, Mike Morse (who was great by the way) had just got a new camera/lens and somehow was put on the wrong setting for our shoot. He was so sweet to offer a free session next time – which I will definitely be doing. But, I was still disappointed in the outcome of the shots. I know things happen, and it was truly an accident but I could not shake how bummed I was. I didn’t even want to post any of the images because they didn’t come out as good as I had hoped.

As the days went on, I kept thinking about that day and how much fun Braden and I both had. I found myself smiling with happy tears in my eyes. And then I realized, it’s okay that the photos didn’t turn out. It’s the memory I have of this day that I will treasure and remember for the rest of my life. I will never get the image out of my mind of how truly ecstatic Braden was during the whole thing. For some of the shots Braden’s swim teacher was standing on one end of the pool, me on the other, and the photographer in between us to the side. Everything had to be timed perfectly to get the right shot. Mike would cue the swim teacher – he would go under – she would count to 3 – then tell Braden his cue words (“Braden, ready go”) – then they would go under – then I would go under. I would then be waiting, with the biggest smile on my face, for my little man to swim underwater into my arms. This perfect little boy would swim his little arms, smiling from ear-to-ear, all the way over to me. Like I said, my words could never do it justice, it’s the feeling in my heart of complete and utter joy I saw coming from my son that I will hold onto forever. So, that is why I am sharing these pictures. I don’t ever want to forget this special day.

Thank you Waterbabies and Mike Morse – I look forward to many more swim lessons and underwater photo shoots!

I love you,

your mama xo