I’m determined to get back on board with our monthly family photos this year. After loving taking them over the summer, I missed out on the rest of the year as we hardly headed out due to me having so much pregnancy sickness. But it finally seems to be improving, and I’m so looking forward to capturing this year together as a family with so much change ahead of us.

We took this month’s photos on a trip to Claremont Landscape Garden on what must have been one of the coldest days of the year. Everything was covered in a dusting of frost, and the winter sunshine made everything sparkle. It was lovely to see how quickly Max got back into taking our family shots. He’s been in a bit of a ‘no photo’ phase lately, but as soon as he remembered the ‘press the button and run manically back to position’ game, he was all smiles!

January has been a big month of change for us. We’ve held off telling Max about the fact I’m pregnant until after our 20 week scan, which we had the day before these photos were taken. I’d wanted him to have time to adjust to the news before the baby arrived, but not so long that it seemed like he had to wait forever (pregnancy is such a long time when you’re going through it yourself, but I can imagine it feels even longer for a two year old!). And I wanted to tell him whether he was going to have a little brother or a sister. When we told him he couldn’t have been more excited, and started jumping around the room! The next day it had totally sunk in, and he was full of wanting to touch my tummy to say hello to the baby, and very concerned about how the baby was getting food. He’s also been wanting to show the baby all of his toys and his favourite TV programmes - it’s been just heart melting to watch!

I was really worried about how Max would accept such a big change in his life, but I’ve been so amazed by how well he’s taken it. I’ll always look at these photos and remember what a special day it was - all of us so happy as a three and soon to be four!