Sometimes a photo speaks a thousand words.

We wanted to do something my mother-in-law really enjoys during her last weekend here. So we went to the Amish village of Shipshewana, Indiana. We love a couple local stores there and we like to eat at Essenhaus.

Along the way, I snapped a million pics … per usual. I’m always the one behind the camera and sometimes I worry Maya will think it’s normal to have a camera surgically-implanted to my hand. Oops. Anyway I’m not in them for a couple of reasons (which is fine by me!):

1) I’m the one who is camera-obsessed in our family, with my camera always at the ready. I love taking pictures and will take a series of 15 shots to get one quality pic.

2) Luis prefers to absorb a moment and be somewhere — literally and figuratively — and not worry about getting the right shot. He takes a couple pics each week … not 1,500 a month. (Not that I do that … ahem!)

What this means is, essentially, he is always asking me to send pics to his family because I get all the good ones. 😉 Anyway … he happened to take this shot of Maya and me that I just adore. In fact, I loved it so much I made it my profile pic.

But what I love more about the picture is what it shows to the outside world, something a friend’s husband pointed out and she shared with me. He said: “You know what I thought of when I saw this pic? There’s a girl who loves being a mother.”

Truer words have never been spoken and I love that the photo captured my joy at being a mom.

I’m not perfect, and lord knows I have moments where motherhood isn’t rosy [lately Maya’s been pushing my buttons as she (age-appropriately) tests her limits].

But there is literally nothing I wouldn’t do for this child.

I thought I knew love before becoming a mom, but there is something just so different about this relationship. It’s not better or more amazing than the love I feel for Luis (or my parents/siblings/besties) but it is different, like nothing else I’ve ever felt before. It’s something that can’t be put into words.

But if a photo can evoke that feeling … well, then that’s all I need. Because, truly, I love being a mom. And not just any mom: Maya’s mom.