I can still remember the surreal feeling of brining home my first baby… I was a flood of thoughts. So ready to leave the hospital but baffled that they were just letting me walk out the door…
Literally. It was NYC and we lived 2 blocks from the hospital. They wheeled me to the entrance and then let me stand and push the stroller home.
I remember looking down at my sweet tiny baby and thinking “what do we do now?”
Despite more than a little experience with babies, having my own made it all so different. I wanted to do everything “right”…
I laugh at that thought now – as if there is a right way to any of this parenting gig… Ha.
One thing I knew for sure, I would absolutely be getting newborn portraits done. I had the photographer booked. We’d done a maternity session and been over the timing and what not. But the day before the session, I panicked…
What in the world are we all going to wear? I thought that I would feel like my old self already but nothing was further from the truth. My body still felt foreign, I hadn’t slept more than a 3 hour stretch in 10 days & nothing I wanted to wear fit.
My husband sent me out at 7PM to walk over to The Shops at Columbus Circle and see what I could find to make me happy. It was the first time I had left my baby since her birth and I had about one hour to solve my wardrobe crisis…
I found a sweater in a color that flattered my pale post bedrest complexion & skimmed the extra curves I was sporting. It was itchy and hard to nurse in, but I would make it work…
Looking back, I wish someone had given me a plan. Here is how to prepare your home. Here is what you should have for baby to wear. Here is how you should plan to dress. All the details laid out so that I did not have to do any thinking in that post-delivery recovery haze.
And let me tell you, adding older siblings to the planning equation did not simplify things…
Over the years, I have learned that helping my new-mamas know how to plan and what to expect during their portrait sessions is key. I’ve got makeup artists & hairstylists who I can line up to make getting ready easy and enjoyable. And I love guiding my moms through the process of wardrobe selections. It’s not unusual for a mom and me to text back and forth as she sends me photos and I give her tips on what to look for… I’ve even scouted and sent links to exact items for the whole family to give mom peace of mind that all will look perfect…
And I have put together a number of downloads (like this one you can snag) and blog posts to give mom all the tips I can
Because at the end of the day, I want every mom (&dad!) to enjoy their newborn portraits. I want the day to one which they look back on and smile at how fun it was to pause and just take in all the tiny perfections of their little one. In the haze of trying to survive and thrive in those early days as a family, I want to come in and offer reassurance that they’ve got this under control… I want to leave them with tips I’ve learned over my years raising 4 littles and soothing many, many newborns… and I want to capture these sweet moments just as beautifully as they imagine them to be…
Because, truly, those moments are so beautiful…
XOXO
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