Howdy everyone! My name is Stephanie Howard, a long-time consumer and first-time contributor to this fantastic God-send of a community. My journey to Austin Moms originated somewhere in the 3 years of failed pregnancies.
As I was one of the first in my circle of friends to begin building a family, I was desperate to connect with a shared experience. Austin Moms restored hope when I felt lost struggling to conceive, allayed my fears on my transition from Non-mom, and helped answer the questions that seemingly flee from my brain when my OBGYN asks if I have any concerns. I want to give a heart felt thank you to all of you ladies and guest dads for sharing your “scar tissue” and lessons learned; it greatly helped me.
When people ask how we finally made our rainbow baby, my answer is we just stopped trying.
(So much easier said than done!) – getting rid of the stress of it all helped my body relax to conceive our spunky independent little lady, Clara Rose (2016).
Then a miracle happened with our second, JD (2018). When we decided we were settled enough to bring on a second, he was ready for action and we got pregnant immediately.
Let’s rewind a bit.
How did I choose Austin to be my home? Well, starting in 7th grade, before I could even appreciate the greatness of UT Football, my dad drove us down from DFW and brought us to games. On one of those many trips, we decided to venture out to Mt. Bonnell. Coming from a flat concrete jungle to seeing all that vast beauty completely relaxed my soul, and that is when I then-and-there decided Austin would be my home someday.
I started that goal when I moved here on my 18th birthday to attend UT. Austin decided to keep me after earning my degrees, when I ventured into the marketing/ photography job world, and then solidified when I met my medically retired Army Lieutenant dh, after he learned to walk again down in San Antonio. He loves deeper and makes me laugh harder than anyone else I have met and am thankful to the stars he was put along my path.
My ultimate dream became a reality.
After 5 years in the workforce, I launched Stephanie Anne Studios, where we specialize in Newborn and High School Senior Portraits. I found at an early age where I had trouble expressing myself with words, I could convey much more through my photography. What cemented my interest in photography was actually my own senior session. It really is amazing what the right portraits can do for a person’s self-confidence, especially in the cruel world of high school.
Between my patience (with other people’s children 😉 ), my love for those tiny humans, and being trained in the NICU for safety, photographing Newborns just seemed perfect. My love for both of my specializations runs so deep being such pivotal times in the human lifetime and only grows with all of my clients turned friends’ deepest fears being subsided.
Between mommying (the two tiny humans plus two pups) and photo life, (let’s be real, there isn’t much time)… you will find me practicing yoga, supporting charities near and dear to our hearts, having family dance parties, or throwing back a glass of whiskey with my bubble drinking mom tribe.
Cheers to the next venture.
