Sep
01
2015Meet Kyran.
At 6 weeks old, Kryan was a little old for my typical newbworn posing workflow. However, I love this age!
At six weeks, baby’s eyes have developed enough to actually focus on the camera. He can look at me. Better yet, his little personality is developing and we can begin to see all of his moods through varied expressions.
Check out the following expressions he gave me. Each were shot just a few frames apart. His face goes from disgusted/curious, to thinking I’m hilarious, to smiling in just a few seconds!
Aren’t these faces perfect?
Kyran arrived to the studio pretty sleepy, so after all these awake shots, I took and chance and posed him like a newborn. I popped in his pacifier and then patted his bottom until he drifted off.
Kyran was a big boy even at birth and his side rolls were gorgeous! There’s something beautiful about a tiny baby with so much chubbiness.
I’m so glad he took a little nap for me and let me capture him as a newborn. But it didn’t last long. We saw those eyes again pretty soon 🙂
And I still sneaked a few little detail images wide eyes and all. This is probably one of my favorite images of all time: these little toes peaking out. They change so quickly and just to bottle up all this newborn goodness and preserve it for generations… I love my job.
Kyran’s big brothers jumped in for a little fun and were super well behaved for this shot and the family image.
Looking to have your baby remembered and finding that he’s “too old for newborn pictures”? Let me give it a try! We may not capture as many sweet curly images, but we’ll make up for that in personality! Contact me today to set up your session.
Jul
23
2015Meet Maverick! I never saw his eyes until the very tail end of his photography session when he woke up just long enough for a little snack.
I love all the detail images. One of the reasons I named this business Quiet Graces is for all the little things we miss in the day to day. The newborn squishy back wrinkles, the peeling skin, those long beautiful eyelashes, and the sweet, and all too brief milia on the top of a newborn’s nose. I could capture details like this for hours.
Hands down, this boy will likely win the 2015 Quiet Graces Superlative for the most smiles from a newborn! We captured so many different smiles. I even grabbed a little video while he was smiling for us non-stop.
Looking to capture the sweetness of you brand new babe? Contact me today to start the booking process.
Jul
21
2015My newborn baby boy pictures in Greenville, SC of Jaxson were featured in Beauty and Lifestyle Mommy’s Blog!
See more pictures of this cutie and hear the story of how Jaxson is a miracle by clicking here.
Interested in having your own miracle documented by Quiet Graces? Click here to contact me.
Jul
17
2015
Click Here to Read the Rest of the Series
Dear New Mama,
I’ve been writing to you for seven straight weeks now and my blogs to you will start to come at a much slower rate.
You might still feel like a wreck half of the week, but you’re truly adjusting to your new normal. You’ve become an amazing mama and you are the best mama your little one will ever have.
I always find that encouraging so let me say that again: You are already the best mama for your littles. You can only get better.
But I wanted to encourage you to start looking for a tribe of mama-friends with babies of all ages to walk alongside you like I have for the past few weeks.
A tribe of women who can give you sound advice and listening ears, but who will also tell you that it’s okay to “Do what works for you and your baby.”
Look around and invite mama’s in. New ones. Old ones. Mere acquaintances that you admire. Your own mama.
I remember calling an acquaintance on one of those hard days and pouring out my heart and my mess and my ugly and asking her for advice and prayers and just a light at the end of the tunnel. She breathed hope and life into me and became a lifelong friend.
Don’t bottle up your struggles. Share them. Parenting is hard, so let’s talk about it.
I’m here if you need me.
Cheering you on, friend. Let’s talk soon.
Melissa
Jul
10
2015Click Here to Read the Rest of the Series
Dear New Mama,
So this is the week you head in for that 6 week check up (or maybe that was a few weeks ago). You’re about to hear some words that are going to rock your sleep deprived world and I’m going there today to talk about these words (but not without a bit of fear).
“Okay. You are healing great. You’re cleared to be intimate with your husband again. Call me if you have any problems. You’re doing a great job and your baby is so sweet! Thanks for bringing him in for me to see again.”
And I know what you’re thinking. “What did you just say?! Didn’t that get me into problem in the first place? And really? SEX? I haven’t slept through the night in 6 weeks and what about the milk and the stitches and the….?”
Oh, Honey. I get how tired you are. And I’m not gonna lie and say that sex after baby and especially sex while lactating is normal or easy at first.
But here’s the deal: your husband is still looking at you with your weird bread dough feeling tummy and your swollen ginormous nursing chest and thinking he married the hottest woman on the face of the planet.
Do you hear that? He still thinks you’re hot.
I know how insecure you feel in this new mama skin. I know how you’re thinking about how you haven’t slept in months and what if baby starts crying during that intimate act?
In 18 years, your baby will go off to college and you may realize that you missed a few chances to nurture your relationship with the love of your life. He’s worth a little effort right now when you don’t feel okay with your body and you may not have a sex drive at all.
My challenge to you, new mama, sit down tonight and talk this out with your husband. Tell him:
- how you feel about your new body (and try with all your might to believe the words that he will say in response)
- how you were just cleared for sex
- what your sex drive is really like right now
- in what ways you need to him to be gentle with your body during intimate encounters
And then together make a plan to tackle these intimate issues. And don’t feel guilty when things aren’t working out. You guys are a team. And it’s going to take awhile for the team to figure out how to play this game again.
(I’ll admit it, there was a season in new motherhood where my husband and I scheduled sex. I made sure to take an extra long nap that day of the week. And he took care of the babies and heated a store bought pizza while I took a shower and transitioned from new mama to lover.)
Cheering you on as you make this transition,
Melissa
