Welcome Baby Grace

Julie, Mike and sweet little Lily had been expecting a baby boy so when Grace made her arrival, everyone was rather surprised! And that wasn't the only shock. When Lily was born, she was over eight pounds, so tiny Grace weighed in at only 5 lbs, 9 oz and was so miniature in comparison to what her parents were used to. Grace has the tiniest hands Mike and Julie have ever seen and so they were excited to capture this special time in the early days after Grace's birth as a family of four.

Darling Lily was so excited wehn Grace arrived, and when she went to visit Julie and Grace in the hospital, the first thing she would do would be to take the nursing stool and bring it over to her new baby sister's bassinet and peer in so she could have a proper look. Lily has been a wonderful big sister and helps her mummy get nappies and adores to pop them in the "Magic Trash Can". She is always ready with a kiss when Grace wakes from a nap and before her baby sister goes to sleep at night. She uses all the same nick names her mummy uses, which is totally divine coming out of a little girl's mouth. Endearments like "chicken", "button" and "lovey" which she says in that sing-song way people talk to babies. Once of Lily's teachers said that for those first few weeks after Grace came home, during circle time, Lily would out her hand up ever day and say, "Can we talk about my little sister, Grace?" How divine!

Mama Bear Julie has two brothers and always longed for a sister so for her, this is the next best thing. She gets to experience the sister dynamic through their daughters and all of Lily's cute clothes have a second life! Mike is beyond thrilled to have another twirly girly, though he did admit he would probably have to get a dog for a buddy to balance our his house full of ladies!

 

Julie tells me Grace started smiling last week, but if you ask me, this is definitely a smile already when she was not even two weeks old! Lily gets so chuffed when she sees that gummy grin from Grace and her whole face lights up - she is totally smitten with her little sister.

I usually try to have babies asleep for the shoot as their faces often make so many expressions which strung all together are darling, but any one moment frozen can be a little unusual but Grace was just as her name suggests - calm and gentle.

Lily rather liked banging the (out of tune) notes on my antique piano but apparently she has someone in the family who is mad about piano playing so it was the perfect capture.

Julie was keen to get the size comparison between the two girls which we managed in the end but at that stage, sweet little Grace was definitely at the end of her time to cooperate with us. But we got what we wanted just in time - so cute.

 

Thanks to the four of you for sharing this special time in your family's life. I think because I have been through it all myself that I always feel so much more attached to these sorts of shoots than I otherwise might. I love reliving my own memories vicariously through my gorgeous clients so thank you for inviting me into your world - the girls are gorgeous - you are very lucky! Lots of love to you all. xxxx