Brady’s newborn photos
This is going to sound crazy, but I feel like our little guy is growing up so quickly right before our eyes, and I can’t take it. Every single day, he has new facial expressions, he opens his eyes more, and he seems way more aware of his surroundings. It’s not that I don’t want him to grow up, it’s just that this newborn baby phase is so incredibly precious.
Brady’s newborn photos: October 9, 2017
That being said, Dave and I knew that we wanted to capture some of Brady’s smallness with a newborn photo session shortly after his birth, so we had more than just our informal shots of this special time.
I started looking for a local newborn photographer about a month before I actually gave birth to Brady, and it was absolutely a coincidence that the lovely Shefali Parekh reached out to me right at that same time via Instagram. I took a look at Shefali’s work and beautiful Instagram feed and was very impressed. And Shefali was kind enough to give us a little discount on our newborn package too, in exchange for photo credit. A sweet deal? For sure! But not as sweet as these feet …
When we booked with Shefali, we decided to do the photoshoot about 10 days after Brady’s birth, so we looked at two potential weekends around my due date. Of course, as you guys know, Brady came a full two weeks early, and so when I got home from the hospital, I let Shefali know that we needed to move our shoot up. She was more than accommodating, and we scheduled the shoot for a Monday morning between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., just nine days after Brady was born.
In order to prepare for the shoot, Shefali sent me some information on things to do to make a newborn session go more smoothly and hopefully have a sleeping baby …
- Warm the room up to around 80 degrees
- Keep the baby awake an hour leading up to the shoot
- Find the best daylight in the room of choice with lots of windows, which meant 9 to 11 a.m. for us
- Nurse the baby upon arrival of the photographer, so he’s ready to sleep as soon as things are set up
- Wear neutral colors with no patterns, so that the baby is the center of attention in the photos
- Remove picture frames and too many trinkets from surfaces that will show in the photos so the scene remains timeless
We followed all of the rules, and yet our little Brady had his eyes open for most of the shoot, which was totally fine. It was pretty funny, because at first, he would only keep one eye open — which doesn’t make for the best picture, but is awfully cute. So we really only got one shot with his eyes closed …
Our session took just over two hours, and we did some photos in our bedroom and in the living room, and I absolutely love the look of all of them. Brady looks angelic, and so does Rudy. Dave and I provide some good support in the background, but we’re definitely not the focus — exactly what we wanted.
And we got a lot of pictures. We received 65 edited photos, in both larger print size and smaller digital size — super useful for storage purposes.
Shefali also gave us the option of including some props in the photos, and Dave wanted to include at least something Warriors/basketball, and a tiny trophy and towel were the perfect choices. Dave also tried to have Brady hold his NBA Champs ring, but it was too big and heavy to make it work. It was a good idea, but didn’t quite pan out. 🙂
Seriously, these photos …
So, we’ve never actually sent Christmas cards out, but this seems like a good year to do so, and I think one of these photos, with all of us present, will make the cut. Any votes for the winner?
Thank you to Shefali for the great work! And by the way, she’s available in the San Francisco Bay Area, so check her out if you are in need of some lifestyle photos. Shefali even wrote a blog post about our session and said the sweetest things about us — you can check out her post on her site.
We’ll just be over here snuggling our little newborn and enjoying these amazing pictures.
Hope you guys have an awesome day! Believe it or not, I’ve got a non-baby-related post coming up later this week. I’ll see you over on Instagram, until we meet again here, my friends!
Questions of the day
What would you choose as your prop in your photoshoot?
Christmas cards: do you send them? Yay or nay?
Beautiful!
Thank you so much, Erin! 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous! And yes for Christmas cards! I would go for the one with you holding Brady and Dave holding Rudy while you guys look at Brady. I love them all, though!
Thank you, Heather! 🙂 I like that one too! Hope you have a great day, lady!
All sooooo beautiful! I would want to print and hang every single one. And yes you definitely need to send cards this year. I love the last one of all four of you. We sent them the year after we got married, but not since then. But everyone loves displaying cards with babies 🙂
Hi Patricia! Totally — I like to get cards with little babies on them for sure. Hope you have a great day, lady! 🙂
These are all so beautiful!!!!! For a Christmas card I would probably
vote for the last one with all four of you, but any of them would be good for it.
Hi Emily! I like the one with us four too! 🙂 Hope you have a great day, lady!
He is sooo cute! I love this so much! We always send Christmas cards. I like to do one big one on the front and then a collage on the back. =)
Hi Bethany! Totally — I like the collage Christmas cards too! 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful day, lady!
Such gorgeous photos! I think the close up shot of you and Dave looking at Brady would make a great Christmas card 🙂
Hi Ash! Thank you! That’s one of my favorite of the pics too. Hope you have a great day, lady!
Omg I love these photos. Send me a card so I can have some forever hahaha
hehehe you’re totally getting a card, Erin! Are you going to send out a card with Donut on it? Hope so! 🙂
Oh my, these are all so beautiful! That last one of the 4 of you would make a wonderful Christmas card! I say do it!
Hi Brandy! That one seems to be popular — thanks for the input, lady! Have a great day! 🙂
gorgeous! i love the ones with the whole family (rudy included! ) yes to the christmas card, it’s a must!
Hi Jen! For sure! I think Rudy HAS to be included — because he is an important part of our family heheh! Hope you have a great day, lady! 🙂
So adorbs! Precious beyond words!!!
Xoxo.
heheheh thanks, Courtney! As you can imagine, I’ve printed them all and am on the hunt for 8 million frames heheh! Have a great day, lady!
Ashley, the pictures are amazing. You have a beautiful little family there. Glad to hear all is well with Baby Brady. Rudy looks like he is taking on the rule of big brother well 🙂
Hi Dena! We are all figuring out our roles quite nicely over here! 🙂 Thank you, lady! Hope all is well with you!
Gorgeous work! Thanks for sharing these personal photos with your readers. Brady is just precious (and coming from me, that means a lot. I’m more of a dog person!). And on a side note, I don’t think any of you (Rudy included) could take a bad picture. You all look fab!
Hi Diane! I was totally more of a dog person until having Brady — I feel ya heheh!! Thank you so much for your sweet words!
My dear, I have known you forever and have never seen you look more happy and beautiful. I love them all!
Judy, you are just MAKING my day all over the place today, my friend! 🙂 Love you!
Beautiful and simple. I love the photo of you guys on the couch holding Rudy. I sent Christmas cards out for the first time last year since my fiancé and I took engagement photos. I loved having professional photos for Christmas cards.
Hi Alicia! Nice! Totally worth it to send cards when you have beautiful engagement photos. Thanks for saying hi, lady! 🙂
Beautiful photos! He’s so tiny!!!
Hi Megan! Thank you! And he is tiny — under 7 lbs. in these photos. 🙂 hehehe
Warriors!! I knew your hubby would incorporate them somewhere in the pics. I love it! We have also never done Xmas cards but this year we did baby announcements. We are thinking that will do for this year and look into Xmas cards next year.
Hi Daisy! Oh cool! We aren’t going to do baby announcements, but maybe would have if he had come earlier in the year — don’t want to saturate our market hahaha!:)
These are SO beautiful! I totally know what you mean, the newborn phase is so short and goes by so quickly, it’s such a special time 🙂
Hi Christina! I’m realizing that — I mean, I want him to be little tiny forever heheh — but then again, it will be neat when he grows up too. Yay for babies!
Gorgeous photos! You all look so happy 🙂 and you look gorgeous! Brady and Rudy are going to be the best of friends.
Thank you so much, Jessie!! 🙂 And yes, Brady and Rudy are definitely warming up to each other heheh!
Adorable absolutely adorable, congrats again!
Yay!! Thanks so much, Kelli! 🙂