Welcome to the World, Little One!

I never thought I would do newborn photography. Phew- it feels good to admit that. The idea of trying to coax a brand-new little human into looking photogenic? Utterly overwhelming and way, way outside of my comfort zone. Until, that is, I actually took the plunge and tried it. God bless those sweet, sweet friends who let me work out the kinks of that first awkward newborn session. It was everything I imagined it would be: nerve-wracking, racing against the clock, constant trouble shooting to try and soothe the baby, struggling with light. In fact, we threw in the towel after an hour and tried again a different day. But that second session? Magic. Capturing the complete awe on that momma's face as she rocked her tiny baby brought me to tears. Knowing I played the tiniest role in preserving some of those beautiful, fleeting moments of the newborn phase had me hooked.

Fast forward to this past weekend and my most recent newborn session. Unlike that first one, this session was an absolute dream and my bucket overflowed with joy by the end. The Redding family has become good friends of ours over the past year. They are two of the most genuine, kind individuals you will ever meet and we were beyond thrilled when they shared that their little family was growing. It has been a joy to walk alongside them as they've prepared to enter this new season of parenthood and I was honored when Rachel asked me to do newborn photos for their sweet little boy.

In case you're wondering, he was a dream baby model who slept, snuggled and smirked through 98% of his entire session (the other 2% he was giving the best soul-piercing eye contact to my camera lens). His parents were pretty great models as well, despite some self-professed dislike of being in front of the camera ;-) Even though I have experience under my belt now, I still find my heart overflowing at the end of each session every single time I'm invited- just for a moment- into the sleepy, snuggly, blissful moments of new parenthood. Watching the three of them so completely enamored with each other was such a beautiful reminder that, despite the hardness of this past year for so many of us, joy continues to find ways to persist. For me, this session was a reminder that we should never stop soaking in those small, every day moments because they are the very thread that makes this life so beautiful.

Thanks for reading along, friend.