I have issues. Lots. But today I only want to reveal one.
I have an incessant need to photograph people when they are sleeping.
I can’t help it. They are so vulnerable and available. I’m like Dexter…except less blood and more drool.
I believe this obsession always starts with the fact that newborns sleep so much. It’s the only time you can really photograph them. And I do. Oh do I.
Both of our boys like to sleep with us – Will more than Weston. And honestly, when they sleep in your bed, it’s hard not to snap a shot.
Will lately has been doing a lot of snoozing on the couch…taquitos not necessary.
And of course the car seat is a favorite. (in Daddy’s hat, or sunglasses, or while holding a photo of his cousin Clara)
This is his chair. I find him there probably once a week.
And I always find him in various positions in bed.
Weston is more of a one-position kinda guy and always prefers to sleep on his belly…with or without the paci.
But the lovies are almost a must in the sleep department for both boys…often times, multiple lovies for extra comfort. I will fully support this habit well into college…as long as the girls think it’s weird…I’m okay with that.
Weston does this thing called the neck snuggle…which of course, I LOVE and forbid him to do to anyone else.
And I love the fact that Weston will fall asleep pretty much anywhere if you do the cuddle right…(on the elliptical, on a lawn chair, at an outdoor concert!)
But my absolute favorite is capturing the little funny shots. These are the photos that I will probably treasure when I am old and gray and can barely hold my Metamucil. They are the ones that I will look back on while singing Remember When. These are my microscope slides (Dexter reference).
Will has fallen asleep in some of the weirdest places…planking inside the toy chest, inside the Lowe’s grocery cart and even crawled out of his crib to snooze on the floor…complete with hand-on-the-toy. just. in. case.
…digging for gold, while at the doctors office (he slept through the entire hour long appointment), and one time I found him under the bed (after a freak out that I thought he was taken!)
Weston can sleep at the beach..something Will never did, but Will has fallen asleep on a pillow on my lap under a blanket to the hair dryer…so we should call that a draw. One of the favorite things in my mommy book is that Weston sometimes does this thing that I labeled ‘cell phoning’…because apparently babies also dream of keeping in touch with the ladies.
And we all know that the absolute best shot is when you capture both kids sleeping at the same time…because that means you can finally watch The Bachelor in peace. This has happened maybe one time. ever.
This weird obsession with sleeping photography must be genetic…because no joke…just look what I found on my phone.
Will took this gem of a flattering photo. And yes, there is a lovie present.
So that’s my obsession…yes, I even have a folder on the computer called ‘sleeping photos’ so that I can keep them all together. Do you do this or am I the only one? Or maybe you have a different obsession? Or perhaps you are already asleep….because yeah…this might be the lamest obsession ever…
My phone is filled with them! I’ve also been known to take pictures of the video monitor during naps if there is something really cute going on 🙂
I fully support this obsession. When my two year-old falls asleep on me, I feel like she turns back into a newborn — precious moments!!
Totally do the same thing! And I post them all- I feel like I have to apologize since there are so many, but they are too darn cute not to show off!
So many sweet pictures!
I photograph my fur-babies asleep all the time! That counts, right? They’re just so cute!
Is it weird that I don’t have kids and still do this? I love capturing my husband napping. Bonus points if a pet is snuggling with him. I also love capturing my brother sleeping. I’ve always done this. In high school and junior high nearly ever roll of film (yes film) I had developed had a sleeping picture on it.
This is just one of the happiest posts I have ever seen. It makes me giggle and I can’t wait until my girl starts sleeping in odd places and at odd times (at 14 months she just prefers her crib over anywhere else…8-7 and a few hours for a nap)
It probably is just as dexter creepy that we all love seeing pictures of your boys and you and boyfriend!
I do this as well – my fleece by favorite is my two-year old asleep in my bed. He had stripped himself of pajamas and was belly up – with his round belly displaying his Avengers tattoo.
Not fleece, recent. Blasted autocorrect!
Ha! Mad sleeping skills over there in the Bower Household 😀 So many cute pics, too!
This totally makes sense to me. There is something about a sleeping child (or even a sleeping pet) that tugs at your heart strings and the need to document said preciousness is too strong to resist!
I do the same thing too (even of the baby monitor) there is something so peaceful watching a baby – especially your own – sleep. Your pictures & boys are beautiful.
These are hysterical… I love it. My 22 month old is the complete opposite- I don’t think she’s fallen asleep anywhere besides her crib since she was about 3 months old. Maybe the car seat, but even that hasn’t happened more than half a dozen times. Maybe #2 will be my random sleeper!
I love this obsession. I don’t take enough sleeping pictures, but I may just start. What a treasure! And … can you (or have you) blogged about how you organize your photos?
Hahahahaha, ever single photo makes me giggle. I love this!
Oh. My. Goodness. This made my day! Your boys are beyond handsome! There is something about a sleeping boy that melts my heart. They can be all busyness when they are up, and then to see them crash so hard and finally be still – I love it.
I love these kinds of posts, Katie! This is what I love about Bower Power!
Your boys are so adorable it’s just understandable that you would take tons of pictures of them!
I love these!!! Sleeping babies/littles are irresistible! Thank you for sharing your sweet moments with us 🙂
Each moment you captured made me smile! I get obsessed with staring at my niece on the video monitor when she’s around of I’m with her. Just so dang cute!
I have to totally agree with you about the sleeping toddlers. My three year old will sometimes fall asleep and I just snuggle in and enjoy it. My how time flies and they grow up!
Some times I joke with her that we are going to squeeze her back into a baby and it turns into a tickle fest. The best is when she asks to be ‘squeezed’.
Jennifer
Oh Lord Katie! The neck snuggling is tugging at my heart strings…must stick firm to my affirmation 3 littles is enough. All my babies did that and it was THE BEST!!!
Luv this post
XO
You must be my sister from another mister because I too am obsessed with sleeper shots! With our oldest kiddo (10 years ago) we didn’t have digital and so I actually paid good money to have rolls of film printed -of pics of her sleeping! I have entire photo albums of sleeping kids pics – just my own kids 🙂 thought with the Dexter references I should make that clear!
Killed myself laughing silently (because kids asleep) so it basically sounded like i was choking! Husband came to see what was wrong.
These are hilarious and adorable at the same time! I laughed out loud at a couple of these pictures. I have a million pictures of my little Cora sleeping, but she doesn’t do any of these cool poses yet. I love all of the places your boys fall asleep.
Those photos are gems! Your babies are such cuties.
My mom always did this and I thought it was weird until I had children, now I do it, too. My 13 year old now says it’s weird -ha. I still snap photos of my 1 yr old and hubby though. Daddy/baby sleeping shots are the best!
I just took a pic of my daughter sleeping on the couch yesterday and thought ‘is it weird that I take so many pics of her sleeping?’ She is not much of a napper, so I always love catching those moments with her little angel face!
These are hilarious and adorable. I teach high school French. Last year I took 40 kids to France. We had a lot of travel time via bus and train all over France. One student got the idea that she was going to photograph every single person on the trip while they were sleeping. And she succeeded. All 45 of us in the most hilarious/awkward/unflattering positions ever. I made it a point to stay awake because, as the teacher, I was so paranoid about what a kid might do with those photos! But, despite my best efforts, she got one of me. She has not published them on the Internet, to my knowledge and I’ve asked her several times. But I’m not dumb. I just figure what a high school teacher doesn’t know won’t hurt her. !!
LOVE this post 🙂 Adorable.
I don’t have kids yet, but I know this will be me, cause I do this to my cats. My husband makes fun of me.
I read this after taking pictures of my own sleeping sick child. She was just so darn adorable and pitiful at the same time covered up sleeping. I have many many sleeping pictures as well 🙂
That is awesome.
xo – kb
I wish my daughter could fall asleep anywhere! Now it’s a fight to get her to nap unless it’s bed time.
I love Weston’s “cell-phoning.” I have a 2-month-old daughter named Lochlyn with a similar habit. She talks on her “Lochy Talkie” during naps sometimes. #pleasedontevergrowup
omg. I snorted when I saw the planking in the toy chest and sleeping UNDER the bed. I’m glad my boys aren’t the only ones that can crash anywhere.
#raisingthemright
#sleepingishealthy
#whentheysnoozeEVERYONEwins
i just about died laughing!! those pictures are so adorable! i wish my kids would just fall sleep like that! my daughter is a horrible sleeper, but one time she did fall asleep in a weird place. my hubby is a high school football coach and after every home game, we go to our local pizza joint with our friends. one night, she fell asleep on the way there and my hubby pulled her out of the car still asleep and brought her inside and laid her on a table still sound asleep. we finally made her a bed on the floor out of all of our jackets and laid her down and she probably slept there for another half hour. it was so uncharacteristic of her, but absolutely hilarious!!
Me too! I have loads of sleeping cat photos. My husband gives me so much crap about it. I can’t resist, they are sooo cute while asleep! Can’t wait to have a baby and do this to them too!
I love to take photos of my little boys sleeping. Of of my favorites is of my 2 year old in is Batman pajamas asleep covered in books (like when you fall asleep studying in college and the book falls on your face – except he had about 4 books on top of him). My other favorite is of him laying on his stomach with his stuffed monkey on his back with an arm draped over his neck as though they had been wrestling and the monkey got the pin…I still don’t know how the monkey managed to end up on to his back like that…
This post was awesome. I enjoy your mix of personal life with home improvements!
Loyal Chattanoogan Reader- Emily
This is hilarious and adorable. I think this needs to be a mini book of just sleeping photos for the two of them when they grow up!
Ahhhh adorable! This post made me giggle- thanks for sharing. Your babies are darling and even cuter when they are sleeping!
Funny story… my husband remembers one instance when he was little being abruptly woken up by being dragged out from under the bed and screamed at by his mother ‘Never do that ever again!!’. It turns out he did the same thing as Will and fell asleep under the bed, meanwhile his mom freaked out, called 911, and had the whole city police department out looking for him. lol
This was so sweet to read/see!
My little man LOVES his bed and only wants to sleep there, coupled with the fact that he wakes easily, makes getting sleeping photos so hard. But every time he falls asleep in his car seat I have a picture to show for it
There is just something about it, he’s not walking, talking or playing like a big boy – in those moments he’s still my little baby. And apparently I’m a big baby myself, I need a tissue
My kids never slept in weird places so I never developed the urge to photograph them much. I have a few sleeping shots but not very many. I wish I had more now. Would it be weird to start when they are 11 and 8?? ha ha. My daughter however did have a weird photographic obsession. She started at age 3 taking photos of people’s butts (no one visiting our house was safe). Up close. Real close. I have a whole folder on my computer of her butt shots. She has eased up now that she is older but there are a few years of funny photos to look at that is for sure! Kids are weird. 🙂
Pure. Humor. That’s a keeper!
xo – kb
I haven’t but I need to. Putting it on the list!
xo – kb
Katie, love the post and your witty comments!
I saw this website a while ago that you reminded me of when you said you like taking pictures of sleepers. This gal had the same obsession with taking pics of sleeping pregnant women and their partners. I was very intrigued by it. Mostly by the size of the beds that the majority of the couples sleep in.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/09/16/jana_romanova_photographs_sleeping_pregnant_couples_in_her_series_waiting.html
Katie…I’m totally “diggin” the sleeping shots! Some of the greatest moments in my life were hangin with my sleeping kids on my chest. Nothing better than waking up with a new born or little one cuddled in your arms all tuckered out. These shots are the best. They remind me of me with my kids not all that long ago…I miss it big time. Gotta tell u guys…best advice I give to couples I meet with young families..don’t let busy life get in the way and hang onto the memories and keep shooting the pics…One day you wake up and they are in college!……I’m soooo craving the grand kids!
The toy chest planking pic is HILARIOUS!!
Oh my…what a hilarious and cute collection!
Thanks for the laugh!
I love taking pictures of people sleeping. It drives my family nuts! No one is safe
I thought I was the only one who did this! I LOVE catching my boys sleeping…the absolute look of peace on their face. It’s harder now with my two older ones being soo big (12 and 15) but thankfully the baby has stepped back up to the plate and sleeps a’plenty for momma to get her fix 😉
I also have lots of the “random sleeping” poses pics…on a storage tote I was filling with too little clothes, on the shelf inside our end tables, in the highchair with spaghetti still in his mouth…and my absolute fave (after my freak out) was under the miniature trampoline in his room (I also thought he had been taken 😉 ).
Love this Katie. Absolute love.
I read your blog daily, though never comment, but this post prompted me. I love that you have this collection of strange sleeping positions!! it made my morning
I once filmed my husband snoring because he didn’t believe me that he did it in the night, and right before i shut off the camera he did one big exhale and sleep smiled.. it was classic
I LOVE sleeping photos – just not of me. 🙂 I have so many from when my daughter was so small. My whole maternity leave is practically all pics of Lil sleeping. Even now, it seems like the only decent shots I can get of her are when she’s sleeping. 🙂 I may need to make a “sleeping photos” folder for them – that’s brilliant.
I have 4 kids and not one of them has EVER fallen asleep in a weird place. EVER. Not at dinner, not on the floor, not while playing. I got jipped!
I am so jealous! My little man is not a cuddler. Although, he sleeps 12 hours straight through at night. But there are so many times when I wish he would chill and snuggle!
Katie, these pics are adorable! Your boys are the cutest! I only have one boy who is 5, but I tell you, if I can get him to nap with me on the weekends, it will only happen if he can fall asleep literally on top of me! Snuggled into my mid-section (is that weird?) is the only way, I can get him to stay still and relax. That means mommy will have to breathe very low (imagine 46 pounds on your lungs) though. But, that way mommy gets some most appreciated snooze, and the kid is happy. I am so glad my son is still a snuggle-monster at five years. Priceless! And we also do the neck snuggle. It just fits, right? Hopefully we have a few more years before they all think snuggling is totally un-cool….. Such a great post!
Weston’s neck snuggle has got to be the cutest thing ever! Second to that is Will planking and sleeping under his bed. Adorable!
Love this 🙂
Love love loved these pictures! Your kids are so perfect! 😀
Love sleeping photos! I’m also extremely jealous of how easily your kids seem to sleep in different locations. Ha ha. I sadly have no photos of odd napping places, though my son does wind up in some fairly strange positions in his bed.
This is my favorite post – at least for this minute! 😉 I love the sleeping baby pictures… and fyi, the cuteness never stops… my boys are 5 and 6 (almost 7 already!) and they are the absolute sweetest creatures ever when they are sleeping. Thanks!
Bah hahahaha–this post is hysterical, and maybe one of my favorites. From one mom to another, sleep is something we treasure from all pupils of the household; but boy, what cherry on top to have two eclectically awesome sleepers that provide many a source of entertainment!
I was having a rough mommy day. We have had 3 snow days in a row and I have run out of creative things to do with my almost 8, almost 6 and 3 yr. old. For some reason, you help me embrace the perfect and the imperfect moments of motherhood. I don’t know you, but I want you to know that you help me be who the Lord wants me to be in this HUGE job I hold as stay at home mommy! Blessings and lots of love!
These are so sweet! I love the picture of Will snuggled on the couch with his little ripped-up jeans — it’s like a Norman Rockwell-esque capture of boyhood.
I have a label on my blog called sleeping Sarah. I love taking pictures of her asleep. Just such a sweet and innocent face. I always want to just scoop her up. I could make a photobook with just sleeping pictures. And in fact, might add the folder to my computer. The mug I just made myself at Shutterfly includes a sleeping Sarah picture.
Sweet boys!
These are great!! My mom must have had this obsession too. There is a large envelope filled with pictures of me sleeping in all kind of crazy positions. I hope your boys have fun looking back on these pictures; I love looking at mine and I’m so glad my mom took them!
This is the happiest post ever. Like whenever I feel bad, I should come back to this. I wish I had as many pictures of my kids sleeping. They never fall asleep unplanned and I would wake them up getting into their rooms to take pictures. Anyway, I lovvvve this collection! It’s the sweetest!
I’m a mom of three boys. 25, 21, and 19. Wow, your photos bring back so many memories. Enjoy it! I dare you to get a dog.
I love sleeping pictures! I have a label on my blog names Sleeping Sarah which includes pictures of my baby girl. I even added one to my new coffee mug. I might need to make a folder in my pictures of sleeping ones and maybe make a book of them!
Cute boys!
I have those days all the time girl. All. the. time. And I appreciate your encouragement TO ME!
xo – kb
Thanks for that Katie! Finally got a chance to catch up on email and this just melted my heart. Especially as I sit here on the couch watching my daughter sleep with her hands behind her head. That has always been her comfy position. And I realized recently that both her dad and I do it too. Must be an innate thing though since she has been doing it since she popped out of my belly four and a half years ago.
Thank you for sharing yet another sweet thing about your guys’ life!
AAAwwwww! I miss the neck snuggle!!! My youngest used to do the neck snuggle, and would do it til he was about 4 and starting school. How I miss those days!!! He’s 11 now. It would be weird if we attempted that now, huh??? LOL. Enjoy the snuggles while you can. They grow waaayyy to fast!
I am the same way! I love taking pictures of my almost 9-month old daughter sleeping. I can’t tell you how many pictures I have of her napping on my husband. It’s the cutest thing and makes me smile. Babies/kids are so precious when they are sleeping.
Hey Katie, awesome photos. Check out rockthatnap.com, a website I discovered recently. The Mum gets some hilarious shots of her deep sleeping boys 🙂
Hahaha! We call that creepin on the sleepin.
I love it. I too, love taking pictures of my kids while they are sleeping. They are just so peaceful and look younger when snoozing!
No worries — I do the same thing with sleeping pictures of my dog. He’s always sleeping in strange positions and with smushed fur. It means that I have approximately 1 million photos of him on my phone….