Drunken Sailor
I love when babies first start to walk. Each has their own way of figuring it out. Some are tentative and deliberate, taking small steps. Some just barrel into it full force, hoping they make it to that piece of furniture across the room. Some hold their arms out like Frankenstein trying to hold their balance. Some (my favorites) look like little drunken sailors as they teeter back and forth, wobbling and swaying trying to hold on to it!
The drunken sailor, that was Riley. She started her session pretty strong, standing strong, able to take a couple of well placed steps forward. As the session wore on, her swaying became more and more prevalent, one step to the left and then a shimmy to the right, and then a complete crash, ending up on her padded booty!
It was very entertaining to watch!! However, I know the next time I see her, she’s going to have mastered this whole walking thing, and she’s going to be a speed demon on legs!!
To Sleep Or Not To Sleep
When it’s a two month old in the studio, I never know what I’m going to get. Sometimes it’s great cooperation, sometimes they’d obviously rather be somewhere else. Sometimes they’ll sleep and sometimes they just stare at you, like you forgot to brush your hair that morning. Sometimes they smile and sometimes they eat their hands. I just know that whatever happens, it’s not me running the show, it’s the baby, and I have to roll with it!
Alice, even though she had a few fussy moments, was a total rock star. I think she did a little bit of it all – wide awake stares, eating her hands, smiling and sticking her tongue out at me, successfully soiled more than one blanket, and even fell asleep long enough for me to get some sweet sleepy images!
We rolled with it and we had success!!
Three Busy Bees
Photographing these three siblings was definitely exhausting, but the whole family was so sweet and full of joy it was hard not to smile, even after they had walked out the door!
The boys kept me on my toes, trying to keep them talking and laughing, so I wasn’t getting forced cheesy and vampire smiles. We had fun telling jokes, talking about girlfriends, discussing gross boy things, like boogers and farts, and even a little sports and Super Bowl talk! Between their silly faces, serious faces and awesome smiles, I just couldn’t stop photographing their adorable expressions!
Miss Lydia made us work hard for her smiles, but when she flashed them her bright eyes shone and her pearly whites sparkled! Even her serious, thinking faces were sweet and precious!
Hopefully we wore everyone out and Mommy and Daddy got a good night sleep!
Secret Weapon
Teddy strikes again! Over the years, I have kept a couple of Beanie Buddy Teddy Bears tucked into my cabinet, pulling them out when my subject needs a reason to smile.
Allie’s Mommy remembered this, and while Allie was giving me the oh so serious “it’s you again” stare, Mommy grabbed Teddy. After a few quick kisses from Teddy, Allie was grinning from ear to ear!
She thought Teddy was the coolest thing ever, and by default so was I!
Thanks, Teddy, we couldn’t have done it without you!
Watching Me Grow
How fun is this?!? Little Evan’s not so little anymore!
Just Pretending
Getting Brandon to fall asleep was a bit of a challenge! At three weeks old, he’s a few weeks older than the newborns I typically work with, and after that challenge, I am reminded why!
You wouldn’t think that there would be that much difference in just a few weeks, but the differences are noticeable. Brandon was more alert, with squinty, open eyes. His arms and legs moved a lot more, squirming and working! Little noises or movements, even the camera clicks, would make him stir. Even his sleep mode wasn’t as deep as it is with a brand new newborn.
When it came time to sleep, we filled the belly, wrapped him up, sat by the space heater, ran the white noise and, after some trial and error, determined that he really liked a small vibration movement. Just when I was convinced he was asleep, I’d start to move and get ready to put him in position. His eyes would fly open, he’d look right at me and say, “I don’t think so! I faked you out!” He was quite the little stinker…forcing us to start the whole process over again…but, against his best attempts, I won out!
Little Peanut
Ally may not be able to crawl yet, but put her on her belly and she can turn circles. With just a little push, she can turn herself all the way around, and boy does she think she’s pretty cool when she does this.
I’m pretty sure this watchful eye comes from having two older siblings that she just adores. For now, she can keep her eyes on them, but pretty soon, I’d be willing to bet, she’ll be figuring out ways to keep up with them!
Even though I have been photographing Allie since she was a newborn, for some reason she picked this session to be mesmerized and stunned into silence by my camera.
It was actually quite hysterical and I will not lie, it was easy to make very entertaining. If I had my camera raised up, she would follow it with her eyes everywhere it went. She would stare with total intensity, evidently convinced that the big black blob in front of my face was going to do something. If I lifted the camera to the right, her gaze would turn to the right. If I lifted the camera up in the air, she would look up. It didn’t matter where the camera went, her eyes followed.
During the entire session I felt like she wanted to talk and say something, but she kept quiet, just staring at the camera!
Despite the fact that Allie is a great eater, and that she’s reaching milestones on track or even earlier than normal, she is the tiniest little lady. This tutu, that fits most of my six to seven month old babies, could have held two baby Allies. We had to do some creative cinching, which of course just added to the tutu fullness.
Now that she’s started to army crawl, I don’t think this little lady is ever going to put on extra pounds. She’s sure to burn it off as soon as she’s consumed it!
Hard Work
As William will tell you, it’s hard work being a baby model!
First, they want you to sit up tall, so you have to work your core muscles and perfect your balance, so you don’t fall over. Then, they lay you down on your back and all you want to do is try and sit up, so you’re working your ab muscles…William has totally mastered the hollow man move! Then they put you on your belly and you have to work your neck muscles to try holding your head up.
All of those physical moves and then they still expect you to smile and look cute!
We wore William out! He did a little bit of everything and when he was done, he was sure to let us know!
Lots of Faces
Ellie started out the session a little timid…she has a bit of stranger anxiety, so I got the stare down for sure! As she warmed up, she started smirking and making flirty expressions towards me. When she stood up and got to bang on my stool, she thought that was pretty cool and busted out a few giggles and smiles. Daddy arrived half way through her session and she let out a huge grin…until she realized it wasn’t “home from work, play time”. Then the scrunchy, sad face broke out, including a few tears!
All in all, we definitely got to see Ellie’s full range of expressions, and learned that she has Daddy wrapped around her little finger…for sure!
Just Exploring
Riley was happiest when she was placed on the ground and allowed to explore all on her own.
Luckily, her crawling has not yet been refined. She kind of does this twist, move into downward dog, then on to all fours and finally end up flat on my belly move. Although, many times, she ended up with her back to me, or turned at the wrong angle, but at least it was all done in slow motion, and it was fairly easy to move her back into place.
Big thanks go out to big sister, Taylor! You were a huge help during the session…I couldn’t have done it without you!
