In case you were wondering,

we see it a lot.

Pinterest is a wonderful thing full of inspiration, recipes, and great ideas. It also has the ability to be anxiety inducing and set expectations too high- especially for new moms. I guess there is a lesson to learn from it in a way. Those picture perfect poses and wonderful little moments are just that- moments. And sometimes, those desired moments just don’t happen. It’s not a bad thing! It’s actually, in my opinion, a wonderful thing.

There’s only one you. There’s only that moment with your little one. That’s what makes it so unique and beautiful. It’s what makes that moment yours.  You can hope and plan for everything.

You can read every tip and trick. When it comes down to it, the best thing to do is smile and enjoy the time. They’re only little for such a short time and you’ll have a great story to tell when they’re older!

You may recognize Crystal from her maternity pictures or the Mother’s Day video we recently posted. Well, the time had come for her to bring her little one into the studio. (And boy, is he cute!)

We hoped, prayed and waited 10 months, well 9 months, 3 weeks and 5 days to be exact, for the arrival of our bundle of joy. We cherished every ultrasound picture as a sneak peak of what our little prince would look like until the day we would hold him in our arms. Although there were countless unknowns embarking on our journey as new parents, one thing was for sure, we had great expectations!

With today’s technology and all iPhones unlocked and charged, we were able to capture Judah’s entrance into our lives. He immediately captured our hearts and captivated my mind. We began to saturate social media with our amateur photos and feeble attempts of trying to freeze these moments in time. As I would watch him sleep, I daydreamed and Pintrested all my newborn photo shoot plans.

One week after adding to our family and our lives dramatically changing for the better, we ventured out of our 4 walls called home and made our way to Judah’s 1^st doctor’s appointment. We came home, gathered our photoshoot props, loaded the car and ventured back out to my doctor’s appointment follow up. These were all very necessary and important preludes to the most anticipated appointment of the day… our newborn photoshoot at Baldino Studios.

Props out and baby in his birthday suit, we were ready to shoot. There was one detail that we had not expected- our little man was wide awake…and wiggling, and a little fussy! I was sure his temporary disposition would melt into the sleeping peaceful cherub that I brought home for the hospital. After all, sleep was the main ingredient to maneuvering those little bodies into those perfect poses.But, sweet dreams never came. “Streams” of tinkles and head tossing did. My anxiety and body temperature rose as my visions of a beautiful baby shoot sank. My husband did everything he could to assist my needs and take directions while Ray consoled me and shot images at all angles.

After a few hours, multiple feeding breaks, backgrounds and blankets, we called it a wrap. Ray assured us that we got some good shots, and that the candid ones were winners. He told us to be easy on ourselves and set realistic expectations. Our baby was only a week old and we were embarking on new territory as new parents.

I got in the car and collapsed into a puddle of tears. Maybe I was too ambitious trying to manipulate our newborn into an epic Pinterest fail. I barely know how to care for him, let alone carefully capture the essence of his little soul in a picture. I resigned myself to the factthat I may only get one or two newborn photos worth displaying of my firstborn precious baby. “Oh well,” I sighed…

The next day Ray texted me and said, “ We got some great shots!”

My first thought was, “I’m sure you say that to all your clients…but did you get THE SHOT?” I replied, “Really? Awesome!”

We scheduled a time that next week to review the photos. When I walked in to the studio Ray had a slide show on the big screen ready to show me the 43 shots we had. There were an orchestra of ooh’s and awe’s as each picture came up on the screen. Each shot was an exact representation of what I had in mind. Maybe they were not the perfect sleeping baby shot, but they were my baby. Little wrinkles and roars, eyes open, soul exposed.

Our unique shoot yielded the perfect pictures of our baby cub and I would not have directed the outcome any other way.

Thank you for taking a cloudy day and bringing out the “Ray of Sunshine!” We will cherish these photos for a lifetime and beyond and laugh about my manic motherhood newborn photoshoot experience!

-Crystal