Meet Fiona. Her Mom and Dad waited very patiently for this little miracle.Then they brought her home during a pandemic. Talk about waiting to make a large entrance into the world! This cutie will hear pandemic stories over and over for years. She will go to school with other pandemic babies and they can compare stories and pandemic baby books. I am thrilled to be able to contribute to documenting this start for Fiona and her parents.

There are so many to-dos and preparations as a first time parent. New parents plan and prep and then scour the internet wondering what they forgot to do and what more then can check off before their baby arrives. Up until now, planning for a pandemic has never been on the list. No one has ever told new parents to plan for their partner to be the only one allowed in the hospital with you. The internet says to accept help after, they do not say to plan on your parents, siblings and best friends stuck on the other side of the glass waving through the window to sneak a peak at the new addition. No one said make sure you have twice as much toilet paper as you usually do because you might get stuck with that one ply stuff!

No one said that you wouldn’t be able to have newborn portraits in the hospital or with in the first two weeks of life. Of course safety and health are first priority, but it’s ok to be a little frustrated as these are moments that fly by. They are only this tiny for such a short period.

As I promised and posted and shared over and over with new parents through the shelter in place; you will get sweet baby portraits even if they are well past two weeks old. Fiona was 6 weeks when I finally met her and during my time with her we were able to get perfect posed portraits, lifestyle documentation showing their first quarantined weeks at home as well as some open eyed images showing off that big personality. It feels like the perfect mix to me.

This was my first newborn session after the COVID shelter in place. I put on my mask and stocked up on hand sanitizer. We started with some lifestyle photos in their home and then wrapped her up, rocked her to sleep and took some posed portraits.

Following the posed portraits, Mom dressed her up in her fancy name shirt (all these cute outfits and nowhere to go!) and we snapped a few inside. As you can see, Fiona showed off a lot of expression at this time. We then headed outside where a few of the welcome home decorations still hung and were able to capture some family portraits. Front porch photos have become trendy during this time but they have always been a standard in my portfolio. This is an important image. Your child’s first home will be special to them and to the parents, take this at any age whether it is trending or not.

If you have ever been a model, you know that it is hard work. Fiona needed a meal break so we hung out and waited for her to give us the go ahead. A bottle, burp and some snuggles later and she was ready for a few more.

These three have spent 6 weeks (even more by now!) together behind this glass. Staying safe, keeping healthy, getting to know each other and figuering out this parenting thing. This was a must have shot to document this very bizarre and totally unprepared time they made it through.

One last moment in the home with mom and a special onsie that Fiona was ecstatic to wear. As I look back now this was the only time we got a HUGE smile out of her that day. Sometimes kids just know.

Have a baby during the pandemic? Contact me today and we can discuss your first portrait session.