I’m sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted.  And I don’t want the blog to simply be a place for me to promote mini-sessions!  But, time flies by and the next thing I know it’s been a week since I’ve been here.  I was telling a friend last night about a smoothie she should try.  She asked, “is the recipe on your blog?”  Um, no.  I have too much to share…so many good recipes, fall projects and of course hundreds of photo sessions.  Now I just need to time to stop for an hour or two so I can blog it all!  In the meantime, I wanted to share a newborn session that I did back in January.  They wanted to keep the photos on the DL until they sent out their announcements, so I filed these away and kind of forgot about them.  This is one of my favorite newborn sessions.  I love the soft colors and just how sweet these big brothers are.

Which leads me to my next train of thought…older siblings.  How do you prepare for a newborn session when you have older children?

First off, don’t stress.  Your photographer should have ideas, plans and back-up ideas and plans!  I assume that older children want to be involved.  So, I’ll tell them I have an important job and play up the big muscles or how sweet they are with the baby.  It really IS a big job.  Newborns are squishy, but really heavy when you’re 2, 3 or 4 years old!

If an older sibling just isn’t into holding the baby, that’s OKAY.  They’re going through a lot of big changes and sometimes holding a baby isn’t at the top of their to-do list that day.  I try to put the baby into a static position, like in a basket on a bench or sleeping on a chair.  Then I put all my attention on the older child.  I’ll manipulate the situation so the older child is has is hand near the chair or standing next to it.  Still a cute photo, but no one has to hold the baby. 🙂  Check out this example of a baby sleeping on a suitcase with her older siblings sitting next to it.

Lastly, don’t rule out bribes.  Sometimes, it just takes a photographer 30 seconds to get a few amazing shots and if a child knows there’s a fun toy at the end, they’re game!