William + Torrey — Laura Bell

We got to Hoover, AL about 1:15 Saturday afternoon.

My husband’s first cousin, William, and his wife Torrey live in Hoover with their precious 4 month old babe, Blakley.

I asked if we could come visit them and if they would be willing to let me take some pictures of a Saturday at home.

William came in from baseball practice with plates of chicken fingers and fries, hot and sweaty from our oddly warm February weather.

He kept laughing at the thought of me wandering through their house taking pictures of them, and told me he wasn’t dressing up for pictures, his words “If this is lifestyle, I’ll give you life… I’m putting on a t-shirt and sweatpants. It’s Saturday.”

I’d have it no other way.

I really wanted something simple, a day with them to capture them.

Something for them to look back on and remember a Saturday in their early years of marriage, with their little one.

The days when sleep was limited and diapers were the biggest budget breaker.

When freezers are full of milk for the baby and their living room is covered in toys that soothe and entertain.

When the days are long and the nights start settling down at 7 for bedtime.

But they got to do it all together.

The sleeplessness and long days and baby giggles and diaper changes.

Because that’s life.

It’s what is actually happening.

The moments after you say “I Do” when the flowers have died and nobody cares anymore about the diamond ring he bought for you.

The moments where you find out what you’re made of as a couple when the wedding is over and the marriage is what you have left.

It’s the moments after all the baby showers and visits from friends bringing you casseroles and dousing their hands in hand sanitizer to hold your baby.

The moments when the baby is screaming and you can’t figure out why, when you have to go to work the next day regardless of the sleep you got the night before.