Need to Grow Your Heart? Just add a Newborn Baby Girl.

There is nothing I love photographing more than a newborn baby. Probably because I get to hold them during the session; yeah, that’s definitely one of the perks. So when this sweet family emailed me late one evening to see if I was available, I was literally crossing my fingers while I checked my calendar.

Dad was so cute in his message too, telling me that they had just had a baby and didn’t realize that they were “already behind the ball” in getting her newborn photography session booked. Well, I call it serendipity because I had just one opening and they fit right into it!

Just 12 days old, this little cherub was the most alert newborn. She was so aware of her parents and of what I was doing that I got several images of her looking right at the camera. Since most newborns can’t focus on anything farther away than 8-10 inches until around 3 months of age, this behavior just amazed me.

Her mother was completely in love with her. As glad as we moms are to have them out of our bodies and into our arms, sometimes the love we feel is so intense we want to put them back inside our chests (right next to our heart). You can see the deep love she has for her little one in every move she makes and every word she speaks.

Daddy was so proud and taken with his new family. He was so attentive and considerate to both the needs of his wife and new daughter; he just beamed!

But this little newborn baby girl was definitely the star of the morning. She never cried and simply watched everyone until it was time to drift off to sleep. Then she let me move and position her to my heart’s content, getting gorgeous images like this one. Have you ever seen such perfect lips!

My favorite part of the process though happens at the family’s “Look and Choose” appointment. This is when they get to see exactly what I created for them and get a little glimpse of what they look like as a new family from the outside looking in. After seeing their images in a slideshow, Mom was moved to tears. Of course being surrounded on her couch by her parents, newborn daughter, and loving husband probably helped the emotions flow.

And I just smiled inside because they loved the images and because they can now look back on the time when they brought their baby girl home. Remembering how small she was inside their hands and home and just how big their hearts grew.