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Another Session With Luna

Baby Portraits Raleigh, NC

As a new driver..I must have been sixteen or seventeen, I got in my car after school one day to drive like three miles down the street. As soon as I got on the road, the skies opened up and the craziest storm came through. It was just horrible. I felt almost like I was in the wizard of Oz and farm animals were going to start flying by soon. It was just that bad. I finally made it safely to my Dad’s store but the main road I had to cross in all of that mess was just scary because I couldn’t see a thing. Ok, so after that whole traumatic day, wind + storms has not been my BFF. Like, I cannot stand the wind storms. And we really barely get anything bad here. (I could not live anywhere with tornado sirens.) So of course, the news has me stressing today + trying not to watch the weather. The wind already has the creepy howl. ugh. Hoping we do not have to huddle in the bathroom tonight + these scary storms stay away. (If it is storming, you will always find me hiding in the bathroom)

So I have to tell you, this family has the sweetest puppy named Luna. She will just steal your heart. I know Garrett is going to love growing up with her + having their own “Henry and Mudge”adventures. (My boys lovvve reading Henry and Mudge, especially Harrison, who has started asking for his own big dog.) This Mama is so creative + crafty and their house is just decorated so amazing! Such a sweet family – loved photographing this sweet baby boy – cannot even believe he is one. I got such a kick out of his sweet little personality!

According to Mom…

What kind of feel were you thinking for your session? real, everyday, silly and fun!

Who are the members of your family and a quick fact about each one.

Luna- our English Lab, she’s 10 years old and the most laid back doggy there is, she’s always been an old soul.
Luke– Dada, Computer geek and outdoor enthusiast…a real Mr. fix-it both technologically and home improvement…ha ha ha!
Patti- Mommy, former elementary educator and antique enthusiast…LOVES a good DIY project!!!!\
Garrett– aka “G” for short, one year old, loves to tell stories with his hands (in baby talk) ha ha ha, also an outdoor enthusiast, and feels that sleep is overrated! ha!

What was the weather like the day of your session? March is always a gamble…ha ha ha… the week before our session we had snow…and our day was luckily 55 and sunny!!!! Thank GOODNESS!

What was the best part of your session? Trying to get Garrett‘s attention was REALLY hard…and trying to get him to smile while looking in the direction of the camera was EVEN harder, so Luke was throwing a soccer ball up and down over Beck’s head…which worked so well, that during our family shots we all had genuine smiles watching Becky trying not to knock herself on the head while throwing the ball up and down, and taking our photos!!!! Too funny!

Tell me about the outfits you wore to the shoot. Garrett wore a teal oxford from Carters that made his strawberry hair color and his blue eyes pop. His jeans wear Cat and Jack from Target. They are great for crawling active little ones. Garrett doesn’t walk by himself yet, but he was wearing baby Tom’s shoes, that are perfect for practicing!
Luke is a t- shirt and jeans kind of guy, so he wore a pail yellow and grey patterned banana republic polo shirt with jeans.
Patti wore a lace top from Anthropology, her favorite worn out jean jacket that she got from her bff years ago, and black jeans.
We wanted to keep our clothing real, casual, and easy, with a hint of Springtime.

What props did you bring and why? we brought a cream blanket for a family “pile on” shot
A crate- for Garrett to sit on or stand up with
A baby photo from our newborn session with Becky, to compare how much he’s grown (we’d like to do this every year!)
A few toys to try to get Garrett‘s attention.

What words of wisdom do you have for other families preparing for a session? Just roll with it…if you are having fun, and being yourself it will show through in the pictures…if you are stressed or trying to get your little one to do/be anyone other than who they are…the pictures won’t be as good. Just laugh and enjoy! They may not smile in every photo, but that’s ok!

What’s your favorite family weekend activities? Taking a walk with the family, letting Garrett show off new skills in his playroom, enjoying the outdoors (weather permitting) Garrett loves to swing!

Were you worried about any parts of the session beforehand? Only about the temp being too cold…we didn’t want to wear big coats or hats for our pictures:)

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Raleigh One Year Baby Photos | As Seen in People Magazine + The Bump | Maternity and Newborn Photographer

 

 

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In The Woods

Raleigh One Year Baby Portraits 

So one of my nervous habits at sessions it usually talking. Like I talk a lot. And I’m really not that much of an extrovert in real life. (because working isn’t real life? hahahahahaha) My favorite things to do are usually quiet ha. If someone invites me to do something at night, they pretty much have to drag me there. So, when I get nervous, I just talk and talk and talk. So when you plan a session with RKP, just plan for a lot of talking. hehe! I do make myself go to stuff and I have a blast. But for the most part, given the choice between pajamas and going somewhere, I will choose pajamas. I do work a lot, though, so pj time is few and far between (unless I’m editing) So I have a love hate relationship with editing. I get to sit and be quiet and watch netflix, but also, you know, it’s time consuming. When I first started my business, I had to spend a looooot more time on the computer than I do now because I was not only doing all the editing, etc, but also researching a lot of business info. But that quiet time made me happy and refreshed. A lot of times people ask me how do I read so many books. First of all, I read very fast, always have. That’s just me. And I’m type A so I like to get things done. If I am stressed, I read more. It’s the quiet calm time I need. Epsom baths + reading is just the best. (Dr Teal’s Lavender (is THE BEST)

I first met this little one at their maternity session, which we kept having bad weather and had to reschedule and then the day of their session, we barely squeezed it in before it started raining again. These three are just so sweet together. I love this location because it kind of looks like you are in the woods..and then there’s the pretty water.This location can be a little bit trickier to get to. I am the WORST at giving directions, I think. like seriously. I end up laughing half the time when I am directing during sessions because I give such bad directions.  Anyway, I feel like I need to put balloons out at this location like it’s somebody’s birthday so my clients can find it! ha! I cannot get over the cuteness of this little one and the fact that he’s already one! Happy, Happy Birthday, sweet little one!

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As Seen in People Magazine + The Bump | Newborn and Family Photographer | One Year Portraits

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Who Needs Sleep?

Chapel Hill Raleigh Newborn Photographer

So I have to tell you something really funny about me – I am the most awkward hugger. like seriously ever. As I’m writing this, I can only see my husband cracking up as he as witnessed me trying to hug someone many times. So anyways, if you need a good laugh, try to hug me next time you see me. Or save me the embarrassment and run the other direction hahahahaha. I have no idea where this comes from and I apologize if I have ever hugged you awkwardly. It’s not you, it’s me. My closest friends make fun of me and hugging, and I totally own it. I just had to share this fact about me because it makes me laugh! Ok, on to the most precious newborn session!

You can’t tell by the images, but this little one was determined to stay awake her entire session. With a lot of soothing, we managed to get her to sleep, but she did not want to miss a thing. She also loved her Grandma holding her hand, which was just so sweet. Her puppies were also hilarious, one letting me know she was boss as soon as I got there, and the other one hovering everywhere we went and wanting to be photographed. What a sweet day photographing this sweet family of three.

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So let me tell you about ordering bananas on Amazon Prime Now. If I order bananas online, it’s usually been through the Harris Teeter online shopping I think, where you add each banana individually. Somewhere in my life I have ordered bananas individually online – ha, I just know it!  I was kind of in a hurry the other day (I order all my Mac Passports usually from prime now. When I’m working and I run out of hard drive space, I need one ASAP) so I’m sure I was like what else do I need, oh a bunch of bananas so 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or something like that, and BOOM! 6 or 7 bunches of bananas appeared at my door a few hours later. Now a friend of mine had this happen a long time ago and I remember her telling me about all of the banana bread she was going to make, so it looks like I’m going to be doing a lot of baking in the next few days! Banana muffins + banana bread for everyone! (And thank you Jen for bringing over that awesome gluten free sugar free banana muffin the other day, I think I’m going to need the recipe!) I’m 0-2 this week if you read about my fight with coconut oil here.

So back to the topic of this sweet newborn session. I first met this sweet family at their newborn portraits for their first baby girl. We’ve had so many mini sessions together, and so it was so awesome to see the two sisters together. She was just ecstatic to kiss her baby sister – it was adorable! All the smiles you see are right after a big kissing sound! Their parents are just so laid back and go with the flow, and that makes for such a great session. Big sister ate a lot of raisins, her daddy read a lot of Goodnight Moon, and we all laughed a lot! Super fun to photograph these four and was thrilled to capture their newborn portraits.

According to Mom…

What was the first thing you thought when you saw your baby for the first time? Relief that she was okay and joy that my labor was over. And all that hair!

What was your favorite part of our session together? Her big sister had a lot of fun and enjoyed taking pictures with her new sister. The raisins helped.

How did you prepare the baby for our photoshoot? Mani/pedi, blowout, glam squad – the usual.

How was your experience having your newborn photographed? Were you nervous or worried beforehand? I trust Becky to get good shots no matter what happens in real life, so I wasn’t that nervous. It turned out great!

What would be your advice to someone getting newborn photographs taken? Relax.

Do you have other chilren? How did they react to the baby? Normally Giuliana is overly affectionate to the point of injury with her sister, but she did a great job at the photo shoot!

How would you describe your perfect Saturday as a family? No one is sick, we eat pancakes and play outside.

Any advice to other families picking out wardrobe or preparing for a session? Ask Little Apple Styles and invest in a good pair of maternity jeans.

Styled by Little Apple Styles

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As Seen in People Magazine + The Bump | Newborn and Maternity Photographer in Raleigh, NC

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One Month To Go

Raleigh Wildflowers Maternity Family Photographer

So one of my friends was chatting about coconut oil and how great it is for your hair. So I tried it a few days ago. I was thinking, oh this is going to help my hair so much. I was actually cooking with coconut oil when the great idea to slather it all over my hair popped into my brain. If you google it, of course, everyone will tell you how wonderful coconut oil is for your hair. So I was like oh, this is great. I’ll do a face mask and then coconut oil in my hair and that’s a super pampering evening. My hair looked like a sopping mess of oil for like ever. I am not even kidding. No one on the wonderful coconut oil is so good for you blogs explained that you might have oily nasty hair for forever. I tried every “remedy’ out there which includes a gallon of dry shampoo, castille soap, and I was about to put eggs in my hair. I was a bit skeptical on that one, but after round six of castille soap, and dry shampoo, there was hope. All this being said, I am not in the coconut oil for your hair bandwagon. So if you were thinking about it, make sure you block out a week of washing your hair and not seeing anyone and probably adding everything back in with all the shampoo and soap to get the oil out. All of this to save everyone else out there from coconut oil drama.And if I photographed your family with oily hair this week, I apologize. At least the oil smells good!

All of that being said, I got to photograph this sweet family a couple of weeks ago. I first met them when they were expecting their first little boy, and was so excited to see them again! We had a gorgeous afternoon, gorgeous light + some beautiful blooms! This little one kept us on our toes and was full of smiles for his family portraits. They only have one month to go until their sweet little one is born! So exciting!

Styled by Little Apple Styles

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As Seen in People Magazine + The Bump | Maternity and Newborn Photography in Raleigh, NC

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