Baby Capri Luna

What better day to come into the world than on a public holiday? That is what sweet little Capri decided to do. She clearly listened to her Daddy, Gareth's wishes and arrived on Bermuda Day. Gareth had been saying the entire pregnancy that this one would be born on the 24th of May so Mama Christine believes he willed their little girl's birthing day. The little angel made her appearance at 10:05pm, after a fun day at the parade in her mama's belly, she was rearing to come out and see what all the excitement was about! The family didn't know what gender the baby would be and Christine was convinced she was having another boy to big brother, Grayson, so it was more than a pleasant surprise when they discovered they had been blessed with a girl. They found it quite exciting thinking of both boys' and girls' names and they finally decided on Capri Luna when she was a few days old.

You may recognise Christine from her utterly gorgeous maternity session. They decided to come back to my home studio to do the newborn shoot as well and I love the softness of this type of session.

I simply adore this photo so am including two versions since Gareth likes the softer processing above, while Christine really likes the richer tones below. I love them both and just think she is such a beautiful mama bear!

Capri was 20 1/2 inches long and weighed in at 6lbs. Christine was in her 39th week of pregnancy when she realised that signs of labour were immanent. She managed to get through that first night with no more signs of labour, and on the morning of 24th May, they went to see the runners and join in some of the local festivities. Christine knew her baby would come that day so she just wanted to enjoy the morning before they headed home to prepare the house for the home birth. They filled the birth pool and Christine was blessed with exactly the birth she was hoping for. It was intense and quick, but the experience was beautiful and left her feeling confident and ready to do absolutely anything. She was supported by a great team and felt this birth was particularly special since Capri was born in the water and Christine was the first one to catch her and hold her. That feeling of lifting her new baby up out of the water and bringing her up onto her chest was incredibly special and so empowering. It was as if this baby had always been with them. Christine feels she has learned something from each birthing experience and her life has been forever changed with each pregnancy and birth. She finds it so amazing that these tiny little humas are so profound at providing her with something that enhances her spirit right from the start.

The newborn stage is simply precious and Gareth and Christine were excited about capturing this time in their new baby's life since they did not have the chance to do so when Grayson was first born. This stage goes far too quickly so it was important to try to capture the special moments and details. Christine thinks about all the things she loves about this fleeting stage, from the tiny hands and feet that are wrinkled and still pink to that curious stare of wonderment as they adjust to life outside the womb. Ant the rooting as a newborn that lets her know it is time to feed... so many things she will miss one day.

When Christine knew she her new baby was getting ready to make her way into the world, she slipped into the room where her son, Grayson, was sleeping, and held him close. She shed tears of both joy and sadness. She was excited that their newest family member was on her way, but sad that it had been her last day of being with Grayson on his own. Life as they knew it together would be different very soon. She held him fro a long time while reminiscing about their fun filled day.

While tandem nursing has been exhausting, it has also been a special, treasured time to relax with her little ones and bond with them both. She adores to watch Grayson look at his new baby sister and stroke her little head as they nurse together. Of course there have also been moments when Grayson has asked for Baby Capri to be put down when he was in need of some one on one time, so it is not always perfect, but Christine was so thankful to have been able to capture the moments of harmony in this photos session. I was swooning as I am a big advocate of breast feeding for at least two years so was inspired to be able to photograph something so beautiful and natural.

I loved Grayson's little expressions as his parents spoke to him while he nursed. His darling little dimple appeared as he smiled and I just was so moved - the epitome of cute!

We had spent a huge amount of time before Grayson and Gareth even arrived at the shoot (they had been at art class!) trying to get Capri to sleep. When the boys arrived, we decided it simply wasn't meant to be and had given up. But after that sweet family time, Capri finally relaxed and fell into the deep sleep we needed for her to be in the bowl. It took great skill to rock the bowl, hold onto Capri and finally, slowly, extract her hand without the baby stirring.

The family received a lovely set of flowers from Gareth's parents and a dear friend. Both bouquets contained orchids which are Christine's favourite flower so she thought it would be nice to incorporate them into the shoot. It was particularly fitting since these were the same coloured orchids that Christine had worn in her hair on her wedding day so not only was it nice to use the flowers sent by Capri's grandparents, but also to tie in the wedding memory to the addition of a new family member.

These tracks were Oslo's when he was little and we had loaned them to some friends and thought that they had disappeared forever so I was thrilled to get them back as my kids had both said they wanted to hand them down to their own kids. And in the meantime, I have been excited about using them in a shoot somehow so this was the perfect session.

The image of Grayson playing with the toy trains around his sleeping baby sister is just too darling for words.

Welcome again Baby Capri. You are very lucky to have been born into such a wonderfully loving family and I can't wait to watch how you grow and although I know your parents will so miss this divine stage of your life, they look forward to all the stages of development you will go through and I look forward to seeing you in more family sessions! Big love to you all. xxxx