teeny tiny baby { frost on flower }

I was so excited for this little guy to arrive. I first met his parents back in January when I photographed them during a maternity session at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis. Their due date was the same as Olive's three years prior. He ended up arriving a little early, just like Olive did, two days after her birthday.

I was also quite excited to meet and photograph him as I had been told he was a very teeny tiny baby. After having my giant June back in November... I could use a little teeny baby time. :)



His nursery is a nautical theme so that's how our session started out.



Arshad's parents bought this tiny boat just for his first photo session. It would be really cute to use for future sessions as well.. maybe sitting inside of the boat when he's a bit bigger and able to sit.



As babies often do, he sensed the excitement of the day and wasn't too interested in being asleep.









Their apartment had the most perfect floor and a nice blank wall opposite some very large windows. It made my job so much easier!





He kept needing a little encouragement from mom and dad.







And from the boat we moved onto a bowl. :)







He sure seemed to be sleepy...







And from the bowl we went to a tiny suitcase.. because I really enjoy putting newborn babies in suitcases. :)





He wasn't the happiest camper at this point.. but that always gives me some time to focus on other cute baby parts.. like little bitty feet!





Tiny babies are pretty lucky - even when they're super sad they're still really really cute. Crying baby photos just aren't the same once they're a few months old.





And I had to grab a few documentary lifestyle shots at the end... :)



To see all of the photos from Arshad's newborn session at his home in Minneapolis please click here.

Welcome to the world little guy!

a precious baby sister. { frost on flower }

Last week Olive and I drove to Richfield to visit some friends of ours. Our little friend Claire has a new little sister. I used to work with their mama when I worked at Fraser before having Olive. Claire was born a few months after Olive and their second little one was born just a few months before our second will be. So it's been nice to follow along with what they've been up to.

 I photographed Claire as a newborn and kept up with the family a few times for family photos as well as Claire's birthdays. For this little session we set up a few solo shots of Claire to serve as her two year photos and so she would have some time in the spotlight, too. Olive and Claire did a great job at entertaining each other during the session. :)

 Here are some of Claire's big sister photos:



We started with Claire in the chair but she wasn't too comfortable. She quickly left and came back with this little box and baby doll.  They both seemed to make her feel much for comfortable.



I love that Claire still smiles like this.  :)  She's been smiling like this for at least a year in our photos together.







 Let me introduce to you Claire's new little sister, Leah Rose. :)



Claire was not overly enthusiastic about getting into photos with Leah.  Later on in the session we tried again and had better success.



Olive, on the other hand, was very enthusiastic.



We started with Leah set up on this lovely quilt that was made just for her.  There is a tiny dormer in her bedroom that has a window in it and made for wonderful light.  The quilt happened to fit in just perfectly.





Something about being on top of a suitcase or wearing a hat in warm weather didn't sit too well with her.



But between the cries she looked peaceful.  :)



I've mentioned this before, but I love catching these moments of parents involved with their little ones even when it isn't a session with family included.  The various means of comforting the babies is always cute and meaningful to me.





After a little snack Leah was back to the suitcase but left the hat behind this time.



She was very content to relax on her tummy.





Claire came back in to see what we were doing so we grabbed a bucket and a new outfit for Leah and tried to get the two together again.  Being in a bucket was a little funny to Claire so she was willing to sit with her sister for a bit.

Putting a newborn and a two year old together can be complicated but confining them in something like this can be extremely helpful.  It's a novelty for the other kiddo and the blankets stuff into the container serve both as decor but also as support for the newborn so the new big sibling doesn't have to be in charge of holding and supporting.  That's usually just too overwhelming.



Olive soon came into the room with three things to add to their photo.  She dropped these two stuff birds and a pair of underwear onto Leah and informed us that they needed them.  The birds looked cute and were allowed to stay but the underwear was promptly removed.  :P



Claire was done with the bucket and Leah was extremely comfortable so we continued with some lovely relaxing baby shots.







After quite a few of those we mixed it up with one more container.  I haven't had a chance to use this one yet and I was happy to give it a try.  The setting and Leah's size made it a perfect opportunity.

















Welcome home Leah.  :)