I'm so excited you are interested in having me capture this precious time for you & your family!  Welcoming a new little person into your family & into this big, beautiful world deserves to be documented - & what better way to remember this sweet season than with images you can look back on the rest of your life!

I like to do newborn sessions when the baby is about 5-10 days old, so they’re still sleepy & squishy. Plus they change so much in that fist month it’s nice to capture that first sweet phase right away. After you contact me I’ll pencil you in about a week after your due date; that’s totally flexible & we can move it around as needed depending on when your baby arrives.

As with any of my other sessions, I approach newborn sessions as relaxed & naturally as I possibly can.  Some people prefer to use a lot of props (or use the baby as a prop), which I am definitely willing to try for you if you are interested in that kind of session...however I generally prefer these sessions to be more of a reminder of how things were when this little babe entered your world....how sweet, how tiny, how snuggly, & how precious he/she is to you in this very moment.  That means a lot of images of mom & dad holding your new little one together & individually (with the babe asleep or awake), & any older siblings get their turn too of course. Then I like to take a little time & get some images of just the babe - swaddled, naked, sleeping, smiling (if we're lucky), including baby feet & baby rolls too of course,  :)  Like I said, for this portion of the session we will try to get them to sleep, but that doesn't always happen...the key with newborn sessions (or really any session involving young children) is to stay flexible!  The more relaxed & flexible you are the happier you will be with your images, really & truly.  & we all know that baby is actually running the show during these sessions & if he/she doesn't want to sleep then we just have to make it work.  haha

These sessions generally take about 3 hours, sometimes longer.  Please don't feel rushed or flustered...I am not going to hurry through these, so you can rest easy that we will try to do as much as your little one allows us to do.  You will more than likely need to stop & feed him/her once or twice during the session & that's totally fine.  If your baby decides to stay awake the whole time, then we will just wind up with more sweet images of you all snuggling & some beautiful shots of your little one with his/her bright eyes wide open.

I am happy to come to your home (with all my gear - blankets, swaddles, bows, hats, & baskets) for your session. If you feel that your home doesn’t have much pretty natural light, or you just don’t want to tidy up whatever areas we’d be using for your session, then you are welcome to come to my home. I have backdrops that look like different types of wood, brick, & tile - they are only 5x5, so the ones of all of you together will be nice & snuggly. The three images below are in my home.

Here's a few ways to prep you & your babe for the session
(some only apply if we’re doing them in your home):

I'll want to use the rooms that have the best natural light for a majority of the photos (indirect light, not direct sun coming in the windows while we're shooting)...so just try to tidy up any of the areas that you'd like me to use by clearing off anything you wouldn't want in photos off of table tops, shelves, dressers, etc. & we'll be able to move freely from room to room (your bedroom, the nursery, living room, etc.)...but we can just stick to one room too if that's all you have that will work, I'll work with what I can.  :)  

Try to keep your baby awake as much as possible before I arrive & feed around the time I'm due to arrive (I'll have to set up my backdrop & things before we can get started, so it's okay if you start feeding when I get there). & hopefully the babe will be full & super sleepy for a good portion of the session.  Also, it's okay if he/she decides to stay awake awhile too, we'll just use that time for images of you guys loving on the baby & then if/when the baby goes to sleep we'll get as many alone as we can.  Usually these sessions take about 3 hours - between changing props/swaddles, feeding, & soothing the baby it just takes about that long - so we aren't rushing. :)

Keep the house a little warmer than usual - if we're not sweating it's probably not warm enough in there for the baby to be undressed (usually that means close to 80 degrees).  On that note, it may be best if you don't get fully dressed for your portion of the session right away (especially if you’ll be wearing warmer/winter clothes), since I like to start with the ones of the baby alone first & I don't want you to get all hot & sweaty while you wait (this mostly applies to daddies, but breastfeeding mommas can get pretty toasty too. haha).

Since clothes tend to be a little big on new babes it's best to pick out a onesie that fits your baby really good at this time to wear for a few if you want some of him/her dressed, otherwise we'll probably stick to swaddling.  We don't want to put on clothes that are going to swallow your little one up, we want to see that sweet, tiny body. :) I have a fairly large selection of swaddles, outfits, bows, baskets, & blankets for you to choose from, so don't feel like you have to have anything if you don't already.

If there are a few props you'd like to use for some of these, have those out & ready to go so when we get your baby asleep & posed we can easily grab them & add them to the photo. (stuffed animals, hats, bows, bloomers, booties, etc.)

Now that we’ve covered all of the Newborn Session info, I have to mention how sweet it is to document your child’s First Year Milestones too! It will forever blow my mind how much & how fast babies change & grow in the first year…simply incredible! I love the opportunity to capture them as they grow & change with the seasons in that first year. If you decide to do a First Year Package, you’ll receive a discount at your 1 Year Session (the amount depends on the number of sessions you do throughout the year - all pricing details are on the CONTACT page of my website).

I hope all of that information was helpful & you feel even more excited about capturing this wonderful season in your life!!

For more details on my session pricing & available packages head over the the CONTACT page on my website.

If you decide to do any of your sessions at my home in front of my backdrops here is a link to choose which STUDIO BACKDROPS we use.

Please feel free to email me with any questions you may have. I look forward to seeing you & your beautiful growing family!

hugs, Gertrude