Babies Don’t Keep: The Tooth Fairy, Missing Smiles, and Watching Time Pass

The Tooth Fairy has been making regular visits to our home for about two years now.

It started back in kindergarten with my oldest, the classic childhood milestone.

It’s been magic, truly. Creating little traditions, slipping folded bills under pillows in the quiet dark, keeping the wonder alive just a little longer.

But what nobody prepares you for is the sudden, quiet ache of missing their baby tooth smile.

A few days ago, I was looking back at old photos of my oldest daughter around age four or five. It hit me like a sudden wave—a moment that physically knocks the wind right out of you.

Who was this tiny, sweet child? Where did those little baby teeth go? 

I sat there with my phone in the quiet and just cried.

Coincidentally, just two days later, my middle daughter came wiggling her front tooth.

I remember looking at her, thinking, “I need to pull out my camera and take her portrait right now. Her baby teeth are loose, and I never want to forget this exact version of her.”

But life happened. The day got busy. I waited. And just like that, the tooth was gone. Then another.

“Babies don’t keep.”

There’s a reason those three words sit right on the front page of my website. It isn't just a catchy phrase it’s a lived truth. They don't keep. 

These days with young children can feel impossibly long. They roll into one another in an endless, repetitive loop of snacks, lost shoes, and bedtime routines.

But the years? The years are moving at high speed.

I look at my three daughters today, ages seven, six, and eighteen months, and the math hits me like a ton of bricks.

In seven short years, a length of time that feels like it passed in a single breath, will have a fourteen-year-old, a thirteen-year-old, and an eight-year-old.

Simply, I cannot.

Take the pictures.

You don't have to hire a photographer. You don't need coordinated outfits or perfect studio light.

But owe it to your future self..the version of you five years from now looking back at old photos on a Tuesday night.. to document them at every stage.

Capture the gap-toothed smiles. The messy hair. The fleeting, unscripted beauty of right now. Because tomorrow, they’re just a little bit bigger. 

And if you’d like someone to help you hold on to these exact, fleeting moments, without forced smiles or stiff posing, I’m always here!!

xoxo