Tag: Gurnee IL Newborn Photographer

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Mommy Chat: Surviving Our First Winter

If I were to write a mommy manual one of the first chapters I would write about would be how to survive your first winter and it would simply say: “Stock up on boogie wipes and stay away from other people until Spring.” I might even give advice on how to hibernate for the winter months or how to live in a bubble, keeping every germ possible away from your family.

While I understand that our little ones have to build up their immunity to all the germs we encounter in our lives, why does this have to happen all at once? Can’t it be a gradual rising?

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This winter we fell victim to a combination of flu bug, ear infections, pink eye, and the most stubborn colds we have ever experienced in our lives. I never realized how horrible it is to see your baby sick and for you to be sick at the same time. Being a new mommy in this area has been quite the learning curve for me. I will confess we did the panicked call to the doctor on Christmas Eve. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the first nor will I be the last mommy to do that…

But the one piece of advice I have heard that gets me through each day is that “Your first winter is the worst.” It will get better, you will get healthy again, you won’t be carrying around rolls of toilet paper because you ran out of kleenex and are too sick to go to the store to get more anymore, your nose will stop producing massive amount of snot, your voice will come back to sound like your voice and eventually, you will feel human again. While I know we aren’t out of winter, yet, we have turned a corner and have been healthy-ish for the past month. This is our longest stretch of no illnesses and it has given me the hope that we can make it through our first winter! Don’t get me wrong, we still have boogie wipes all over the house for any sign of a nose issue and we have restocked our supply of kleenex…but, we are hopeful that we will make it through these last few weeks of winter.

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How did you survive your first winter with your little one?

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Ask A Photographer: What do you bring with to a newborn photo session?

A question I get asked a lot is: What do you bring with for a newborn session?

Since I do all of my newborn sessions at your house I tend to bring quite a bit with me. Isn’t there a motto about “always being prepared”? Maybe that is a boy scout motto…but, with newborn babies you can never be too prepared! I’ll walk through what items you’ll see me show up with to your newborn photo session.

  1. Giant Bean Bag – I use this to pose your little baby on…the bag is large to ensure the safety of your little one
  2. Backdrop Stand & Clamps – I attach the backdrop (blankets) to the stand in order to create the look you see in the images of my portfolio, clean solid color backgrounds
  3. Multiple Backdrop blankets – I bring extra blankets just incase an accident happens, which they typically do, so no worries
  4. Puppy Pads – These are great for catching any accidents when your little one is naked on the bean bag
  5. A Variety of Color Wraps, Hats & bows, Fur Blanket – I will bring a nice assortment of wraps / hats / bows to use for your newborn photos
  6. Wooden Box – This is another item to pose your little one in for a nice added variety of photos
  7. Heater and Extension cords – I use this to keep your baby warm when they are naked…a warm naked baby means a nice sleepy baby
  8. Baby Wipes – Accidents happen and I want your little one to look their best at every angle
  9. Hand Sanitizer – Your precious new baby deserves special care
  10. Receiving blankets – These are used as little pillows under the background blankets to help pose your little one safely and comfortably
  11. Step stool – I’m short so I need some help in the height department for family photos and a place to sometimes sit when I’m working with your little one to get a perfect pose
  12. White noise app – A sleepy baby is important to have during your session so I have some extra help if you baby needs it to fall asleep
  13. Camera – The most important item in my luggage

I know it may seem like I bring a lot of items with me but I use everything and I’ve managed to downsize quite a bit! So please don’t look at me too weird when I show up with my two suitcases and have to take multiple trips to unload my car I promise I’m not moving in, just taking photographs of your little newborn.

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Pope Family {Gurnee IL, Newborn Photographer}

I recently got to photograph one of the most handsomest little men I have ever met…ok, so maybe I’m being a little extreme because I think every baby is super adorable but honestly this little guy is really adorable!  Plus he had the cutest hair ever!

We started his newborn photo session with family photos and I will confess that I fell in love with his big sister first…she was so full of life, joy and excitement. I love how mom and dad have a secret way of coaxing her little crinkly nose smile to come out, I would share their secret but I was promised to secrecy…you know, photographer – client secrecy. Big sister gave her little brother the sweetest little kisses and held his hand so gently. I was secretly dying inside when I captured the image of her smile with his little fingers interlaced in her one hand…trust me, you will to when you see it!

When it came time for mom and dad photos it was amazing how calm this little guy was in their arms. It never gets old seeing a baby held in their parent’s arms.

This little man was a perfect gentleman during his newborn photos…he didn’t make a sound and didn’t have any accidents. I love the color scheme that mommy went with, simple and classic. We had to toss in a little football action for Daddy, even though I must confess that I’m a Packer fan, this little guy sure does look adorable all suited up for the Bears.  Who knows…maybe someday he’ll be a Bear? A Daddy can always dream.

It was such a fun afternoon to spend with this family of four (plus two sweet little fur babies).

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Print Image Inspiration – Image Boxes

Talk to any photographer and they will tell you to print your images and don’t just have them on your computer. I can’t help but agree. But you don’t have to print your images and put them in a boring photo album there are tons of other fun ways to print, display, and store your images. One of my current favorite ways to store the images of my little guy is in personalized photo boxes. I am 100% guilty of taking a million photos of my little guy and I created personalized image boxes to store all my photos. I broke my boxes down to 3-month increments because I had so much to put inside each box.

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I customized these boxes to match with my little guy’s room decor and each box has personalized photos from that time period on the cover. It’s so amazing to sit down and look at the photos from when my little man was a newborn. I know it’s only been 8 1/2 months but I still feel like he’s grown so much already.

These boxes can also double as little keepsake boxes. I have a mixture of ultrasound images, hospital bracelets, and images in my son’s Newborn box.

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I can just imagine sitting down with my son when he is older and looking through all the images of him as a baby. Sharing with him, stories from when he was as a baby and how much his mom and dad love him.

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Do you have a form of a keepsake box for your little one?

 

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Mommy Chat – 10 Baby Favorites Under 6 Months

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I love hearing and reading about recommendations for baby items and really any items in general. I spent hours online researching the best bottles, pacifiers, mattresses, cribs, breast pump, etc to use before my little man arrived. But the funny thing is that as soon as he arrived a lot of what I had purchased didn’t fit for us and my little man hated it so I’m sharing my top 10 items that worked great for my family during the first 6 months of my little man’s life. These aren’t in any order and span from paci’s to toys to clothes. These items are all Andrew tested and approved!

  1. Boogie Wipes – These were a reco from one of my great friends and they work perfectly for those pesky runny noses. They are damp so they don’t dry out your little one’s nose when you are constantly wiping away the snot faucet that they seem to have from the age of 3 months to 1 year.
  2. Munchkin Bath Toys – Here is my secret, these toys are perfect for the diaper bag and the bath. They are tiny and fit perfectly in little hands. They are also easy to wipe off when the land on the floor.
  3. Angelcare Baby Bath – We went through numerous bathtubs to find this one. With my little guy being a little bigger he was too squirmy for the all in one bath-tubs and this allowed him to freely kick away without me worrying about losing my grip on him.
  4. Zutano Booties – These booties are the best. When my little guy turned 4 months he found his toes and any pair of sock that was placed on his feet were quickly taken off. It was a game that he was the only one who enjoyed. These booties allow you to snap them on so they stay put and as they get older they offer grippies on the bottom…perfect for beginner walkers.
  5. Fisher-Price Rock ‘N Play – This sleeper / rocker was a life saver in our house. My little guy just loved lying in this and it soothed him instantly. He took numerous naps in this and we were very sad when he outgrew it.
  6. Skip Hop Owl Soother & White Noise Machine – I will admit this was an item I found online and it had great reviews…and this is a hit in our house. It has white noise and songs that you can pick from along with a timer to allow it to turn off without having to play all night long. It also gives off the cutest little star pattern on the ceiling…something that my little guy just loves to look at before he falls asleep.
  7. Medela Sterilizing Bags – These are a perfect way to help easy first-time mommy fear of haveing things clean enough. I use the bags for all the bottle, pacifiers, utensils…if it can be sterilized I will put it in these bags. A little 2 oz of water and 3 1/2 minutes later and my mommy fear is gone. Plus you can use these bags a good 20 times before you toss them.
  8. HALO Sleepsack – This was actually something we started using in the hospital and have continued since birth. Our hospital uses sleepsacks for all their newborns and it’s the perfect way to keep your baby warm at night without using blankets. These sleepsacks also have the option to swaddle your baby’s arms in or not.
  9. Fisher-Price Kick and Play Piano Gym – If your little one loves to kick this is the perfect little play gym for them. Andrew has always been a kid who loves to move and wiggle so being able to make noise with his feet was a perfect toy for him. He would get so excited when he would push hard enough on the keys to play the songs.
  10. WubbaNub Pacifier – My little guy no longer takes a paci but when he did this brand was perfect for us. Andrew loved to play the spit out game and due to the weight of the animal attached to the end of the paci it rarely fell out of his mouth.

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Have you used any of these items? Are there any items that you would add to my list?