NATALIE GIBBS

I met baby Tessa last winter, and spent a cozy morning at her house with her mom, dad, big brother, and dog. (I loved that dog.) She wasn’t very interested in modeling solo, but that’s okay.

When I think back about my own children at this age, I don’t remember what they looked like clearly. Yes, I remember a handful of outfits, and I remember wearing a burp cloth most of the day, and I remember how we were never quite sure what color their hair was going to be. But what I remember most of all is how it felt to sit down in a quiet room and nurse them, how their soft little bodies nestled into mine, how it was “even better than a puppy,” as I told my mother at the time.

And that’s what I hope these photos capture for Tessa’s family. A feeling, a moment in time, a squishy little warm baby that by now is probably smiling and laughing and crawling about, ready to take on the world herself.