Henley | Columbia Children's Photographer

I think one of the most difficult things about parenthood, and I say this from the perspective of never having been a parent, so please bear with me, is choosing a name. A parent has to think long and hard about what to name their child. After all, a name is one thing a child will carry all his or her life. It's almost as if parents have the job of summing up an entire person's personality in a single name, before even having met their child. That's a lot of weight to carry. And yet, I know so many parents who have completed that task well. Thanks for setting the bar so high, by the way.

Take Henley, for example, the sweet and completely adorable little boy of John and Leslie. Before starting this blog post, I was curious to find out what the actually meaning of the name "Henley" was. For anyone who is obsessed with name significance, it means 'from the high wood' - but what I found particularly interesting was that several Web sites used the words "uncommon" and "rare" when describing the popularity of the name for boys.

And he truly is. Unique. Rare. An individual. However you want to describe him, John and Leslie picked the perfect name. Here is a little boy who so early on announced his appearance in this world. Whose sweet nature and joyful spirit make me smile every time I see him.  I feel so blessed to have been able to watch him grow and to learn from Leslie about his first steps and other milestones. And for being able to photograph some of these precious moments.