Baby Penelope | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

I have such a precious baby girl to share with you all today. This is little Penelope, who was such a gorgeous newborn! We did her session at 18 days old, and she did just amazing! I swear I get the best babies in my studio. And the cutest, too! Penelope has an awesome big brother who came in for a few shots too. He was so fun to work with, and really got into snuggling and kissing his baby sister for the camera. We pulled out lots of pinks and creams for Penelope’s photo session, and I must say that the pink really suited her! We got such a great variety of shots — and at 18 days old!!! I never understand when I see other newborn photographers say they absolutely won’t take a baby older than 10 days, or 14 days. I think if you know how to work with newborns and are experienced in posing and soothing, then a 1-weeker is really the same as a 2 or 3-weeker. There’s not much difference from my experience… they’re still bendy and sleepy! Sometimes the 3-weekers are the best sleepers of all of them!

I had too many favorites from Penelope’s newborn session, so I just had to share a big chunk of them! Here she is, the absolutely precious baby Penelope! 🙂

If you want photos like this of your baby, please contact me! I’m taking bookings for maternity, newborn and Baby’s First Year sessions in the Raleigh Durham Cary Wake Forest, North Carolina area. Be sure to contact me early to reserve your space! I’m currently booking for July 2015 and later.

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Baby Emily | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

I tell ya, I’m having quite the string of baby girls in the studio in 2015 and I’m really excited about it. Last year was definitely the year of the boys! It’s been so nice to change up the colors and props I’ve been using. Only another newborn photographer can understand the feeling of having a cute new girl hat, headband or various other prop that arrives in the mail and then just sits there unused for several sessions. It’s excruciating! 🙂 So with all these girls I’m finally getting to use lots of cute new props. So satisfying!

Baby Emily was my New Year’s baby and was the first newborn I photographed this year. She has got to be one of the most beautiful baby girls ever. Her hair is just to die for – a newborn photographer’s dream! And she had the perfect amount of squishiness. She was perfect and sleepy at 12 days new.

I get asked a TON what the perfect age is to photograph a newborn. Often my clients think they should get in for their session during baby’s first week. But actually I find them to be sleepier and more peaceful during their second week of life. If you pay attention to baby’s ages on my blog here, you’ll see I photograph most of them somewhere between 10 and 14 days old. There are several reasons for this, but the biggest one is that by this age, babies have had a chance to get into a good feeding routine (they’ve learned to take the bottle, and/or Mom’s milk has come in by then), so they’re typically less fussy and more sleepy. After having photographed newborns regularly for the past five years, plus having had three of my own, I can say this with confidence! My sessions go smoothly 100% of the time, and my galleries are filled with 100+ photos in a wide variety of poses for Mom and Dad to enjoy.

Enough jibber jabber. Here’s a peek at baby Emily’s session!! 🙂

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Baby Lliam | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

Another sweet baby boy to share today! Newborn Lliam was born back in November, and he came into my studio in Wake Forest at an itty bitty ten days old. As you’ll see, he has a gorgeous older sister who is so good with him. I really enjoyed having this family come see me for their baby portraits. And I love the photos we got of sweet Lliam!

If you want photos like this of your baby, please contact me! I’ve opened up bookings again for Baby’s First Year packages, and also still offer both maternity and newborn sessions in the Raleigh Durham Cary Wake Forest, North Carolina area. Be sure to contact me early to reserve your space!

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COLE | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

Well, sadly, all of my Baby’s First Year clients eventually graduate and I no longer get to see them every six months. Cole went ahead and turned one way too quickly, just like they always do! 🙁 I’ll miss seeing his big, gorgeous baby blue eyes!! They’re some of the best blue eyes I’ve photographed, without a doubt. He’s a happy little man with such a cute personality to go along with his good looks. And I was happy to learn at his one-year session that he’s going to be a big brother later this year too! So happy for this awesome family!

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Baby Boy Fletcher | RALEIGH NC NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

I’m excited to share this sweet little guy with you today. After a really nice maternity break for me, I went back to work in September and baby Fletcher was my first session back. I actually returned from leave just a tad bit early to do his session because his Mommy really wanted me to do it. I did newborn photos for their first child a few years ago, so I always love getting repeat clients and seeing these sweet families again! Fletcher was such a cutie too, I was glad I got to take his session and snuggle with him! Here’s a few of my favorites from his newborn session.

Melissa is currently booking for Raleigh Durham maternity photography sessions and Raleigh newborn photography sessions in the Raleigh Durham Cary Wake Forest, North Carolina area. Be sure to contact me early to reserve your space!

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Baby Rory | RALEIGH NC NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

This little fella was my last newborn session before I went on my maternity leave in July. He left us all in suspense by being born eleven days late. I was starting to get a little worried that *I* was going to go into labor before I could do his session! Thankfully the timing all worked out great, phew! We held his session when I was 39 weeks pregnant… let’s just say I was doing some waddling, and was probably a tad slow. 🙂 Baby Rory was the biggest baby I’ve ever photographed at 11 pounds, 1 ounce. I loved it! He was so squishy and sleepy, and just flat out adorable and perfect. And that reddish hair is just to die for too. Here he is, sweet little Rory!

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Baby Lliam | RALEIGH NC NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

I’m excited to share this handsome newborn boy, Lliam, with you all today. I’m always ecstatic when I get these baby boys who have such great, thick hair and long eyelashes, like Lliam. He is the cutest!!!!!! He came in for his newborn session with his Mommy and Grandmother. It was one of those sessions where I bonded so well with the Mom. So often first time Moms come in and have a million questions about this or that… “is this normal for a baby?” or “what do I do when this happens?” I get it. I was in their shoes at one time too! And I’m glad I’ve been around the block — three kids of my own, and TONS of newborns photographed — so I can help, and I’m happy to. 🙂 Lliam rocked his session. He was awake here and there for some of those fabulous eyes-open photos that I love (and the parents always do too), but I have lots of tricks for getting babies back to sleep, so we got more than enough sleepy shots too. I love how they turned out. Here’s Lliam!

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Baby Konrad | RALEIGH NC NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

Sweet little newborn boy Konrad was in my Wake Forest studio for his newborn session way back in June (yes, still getting caught up on posting all these cute baby’s pictures!). He was 13 days old on the day of his session. His adorable parents are Marissa and Brendan, whose maternity photos were so fun, and a few can be found here. Baby Konrad, whose name I just love, was such a great little model and he was just as cute as can be! Here are some of my favorite photos from his newborn photo session!

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Clarkson at 5 Months | RALEIGH NC NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

I just had to come on and share a sweet photo of my own baby boy, Clarkson. He just turned five months old yesterday. I’m not sure where these months are going…. he’s gotten to be so big. I’ve been taking a nice monthly photo of him so I can make a first year album for him after he’s turned one. This month, since we’re all in the Christmas spirit at my house, I figured I’d do a fun holiday set-up. And OMG, is he the cutest thing ever, or what?!? I’m just sooo in love with this photo and had to share it with all of you! 🙂 I love this sweet baby! So happy he’s mine!

Melissa is currently booking for Raleigh Durham newborn photography sessions in the Raleigh Durham Cary Wake Forest, North Carolina area for January 2015 and later. Be sure to contact her early to reserve your space!

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Baby Zane | RALEIGH NC NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

I am SO excited to share this newborn session with you all today! Baby Zane has got to be one of the most adorable babies I’ve ever had the pleasure of snuggling in my newborn studio! His photos really speak for themselves, but jeeeeez, those eyelashes are just killer! I’ve seen some pretty great eyelashes on babies over the last several years, but Zane’s are just above and beyond! Goodness gracious! This little boy was so sweet for his session too — a perfect sleepy little baby at 13 days old. I was lucky enough to photograph his older brother waaaaay back when he was in pre-school… it must be about 3 or 4 years ago now. So I was beyond delighted that this family wanted me to do Zane’s newborn photos. They’re just the sweetest family. And they have a perfect new addition!

Here’s baby Zane!