GIRL!!!
It is with great joy that I get to share with you all today that we will be having a sweet baby girl! Big brother is already calling her baby girl and baby sister and we are all quite smitten.
We took a bunch of photos to commemorate this special announcement. They are pretty sweet and special to this mama's heart. I will give some more details or tips at the end of the post about how we took the photos. So if you are interested in that, make sure to scroll all the way through. Because there are A LOT of pictures!
My baby boy is looking so grown up these days! I can't even believe it.
Here are a few outtakes that I found sweet or a little silly...
This would be us
About the photos:
// We took the photos ourselves setting up our camera on a tripod. One of the benefits of living in the middle of nowhere tucked away in the woods is that we can go right into our front yard to take photos. When I was pregnant with our son we drove to a different destination for each commemorative photo. There is no way that was happening this time around with how far away we live from everything and having a wild two year old to wrangle.
// Now that we are taking photos with a wiggly child involved, we set the timer on the camera and set it to take multiple pictures. This allows us to get more than one photo each set up or pose. If you are having someone else take your photo - have them get all set up and then take a bunch of photos. This will hopefully give a greater chance that everyone is looking and/or smiling.
// Candid photos are your friend. It is a lot easier for us to get good candid photos when we are playing and interacting with our son. He occasionally is cooperative at smiling. But seeing us interact with each other makes for some really sweet photos.
// I always like to take a few photos and then check our posing. Sometimes someone needs to adjust the way they are standing to make the photo look more flattering or natural (though ironically this is unnatural!). I set up the camera while my husband holds our son and as I approach them I will direct my husband to look at me, look at our son, etc to change up poses.
// Photos with our son are fast. To take all these photos, it probably lasted no more then ten minutes. And then when we were done he got free rein with the balloons. I try to keep the photo taking process light hearted. I try to remind myself that I only need one good picture. So once our son starts getting fussy and I know we have at least one good shot, I have learned to be okay with just being done.
// For special photos like these, I try to plan a little ahead of time. I will search for posing ideas on Pinterest and refresh my memory of them right before we take the photos. They don't always come out quite like the inspiration, but it gives me something to work with a lot more quickly. When we had our photography business I would print out a cheat sheet of poses I liked and bring it to shoots with me. It made posing so much easier - plus I could physically show my clients how to pose without having to act it all out myself!
// For the balloons, since we live so far from town, I just ended up buying a Balloon Time helium tank (which I usually get at Walmart or Target and it comes with balloons and string). We found that it has been a lot easier to just blow up the balloons at home when most convenient. We previously had a tank that we used for our son's first and second birthday parties. So I plan with the expectation that the helium tank will last me two events each. The balloons don't keep the air by the next day so I try to blow up the balloons just an hour or so before we need to use them.
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