Blog - Page 80 of 94 - Nesting Story

How to Have a Successful Newborn Photography Shoot, Plus Go Behind the Scenes

One of my favourite first memories of life with my twin girls was their incredible newborn photography shoot. Anyone who is on the fence about doing a newborn photography shoot, trust me… do it!!!!!! I actually hadn’t planned on doing one. I was so focused on getting these little people out of my body and navigating life with four kids that I didn’t even bother setting one up. Then a photographer friend of mine referred me to a local photographer who was looking for twin girls to add to her portfolio… it was perfect. So within the last days of my pregnancy the date was booked.

Six days into being a family of six we left our older kids with my parents and ventured out to our newborn photography shoot. As we walked through the doors of Sarah Martin Photography and Ooh Ooh Darling‘s photography studio and my jaw dropped. I had full blown studio envy! Sarah and Christin had the most incredible loft space complete with exposed brick, pine floors and oozing with vintage and eclectic charm.

Mike and I confidently handed off our girls to Sarah and Christin and spent the next four hours relaxing with our feet up. Other than a few peeks here and a feeding there, the entire experience was bliss.

Here are 10 tips to help your twin newborn session go as smoothly as ours:

Tip 1: Do your research. We got very lucky to be paired with incredibly talented photographers and mommies to boot. Keep in mind that whoever you choose will be handling your bundles for multiple hours and placing them in intricate poses. The studio should be quite warm, the photographer should be fine with being peed and pooped on and they should know how to sooth a baby. They better know what they are doing!

Tip 2: You get what you pay for. Don’t just choose a photographer because they are offering a discount. This is not the time to cheap out for reasons in Tip 1.

Tip 3: Keep the photography session as close to delivery day as possible. The newer the baby, the sleepier the baby. Try to book the photoshoot within a week of when your little ones are born. Ours was on day 6.

Tip 4: Try to keep your little ones awake before the shoot. Aim for at least one hour of awake time. Then they will be so tuckered out by the time the session starts they will be in la la land the entire time.

Tip 5: Feed right before the shoot. After the awake time fill your little one’s tummies just before it’s time to start. If possible provide the photographer with a bottle of pumped milk or formula. Be prepared to nurse multiple times during the shoot to keep that belly full!

Tip 6: Back off!!! We easily passed off our girls to the photographers without a second thought. Maybe because we weren’t first time parents or maybe we knew how rare it was to be childless for a few hours and we were more than okay to take advantage of the break. The last thing the photographer needs is you micromanaging their vision and being all up in their space.

Tip 7: Clear your schedule. Our session lasted over four hours. This is not something you want to rush. The amount of work and patience it took to get each shot was incredible. If your photographer can be that patient with your little ones you can be patient too.

Tip 8: Have realistic expectations. For the last pose we wanted a close up of Mike’s hands holding the babies. He was peed on, pooped on and Everly was DONE! Which brings me to Tip 9…

Tip 9: Know when to pull the plug. During our attempt at the last pose Everly was super cranky and no amount of feeding, soothing or sweet talk was going to get her to co-operate. We abandoned ship and called it a day. Although we weren’t able to get that pose we were pumped about all of the amazing shots we did get!

Tip 10: Enjoy! Cherish this memory. Babies grow so fast and looking back on these photos I cannot believe how tiny our girls once were. I am so glad we chose to enjoy the experience and give up control.

Nesting Story… The Blog

I have made a big decision that feels really good, so it must be the right one. After a lot of discussion with Mike and a lot of thought on my end I have decided that Nesting Story will no longer be offering any services. Moving forward Nesting Story will solely be a design and parenting blog. Although many projects have been coming my way over the last six months and after pondering if I could take any one of them on I am finally being truthful to myself that my place right now is at home. Making that definitive decision has not only lifted a massive weight off my shoulders of trying to figure out childcare for our twins but I have a new found excitement about parenting and blogging. The ideas have been absolutely flowing and I have found myself putting more effort into our kids and our home.

I am such a busy body. I get that from my Dad. After retiring from physical medicine and being the chief of emergency for many years he is now a psychotherapist. When he is not busy working he is painting or gardening in his vegetable garden and then cooking up a storm making fancy soups and stews for my mom, skiing, cycling… you get the idea! I am the same way. I am constantly decorating and moving décor from room to room, entertaining, complete with elaborate table settings, crafting, gardening, painting etc… all on top of parenting four kids. Mike just watches me whirr around our home and knows to just let me do my thing. My mom came over a couple of days ago to hold babies and instead of taking a nap, my way to unwind was pull out everything from our china cabinet and rearrange it and incorporate our festive red and green vintage goblets. I know… crazy.

Ever since making the big blog decision a couple weeks ago I have been writing like crazy and while Mike has been observing my usual crazy crafty lady tangents he has started to comment; “you should blog about that”. Nesting Story will now not only be about children’s room décor but also family life, twins, design around our home, a little about me and some lifestyle blog posts here and there. Have I said how excited I am? As mentioned before, my posts may have obvious signs of sleep deprivation but that will just be proof of it’s authenticity. My goal is to blog twice a week like I used to, and please feel free to share.

You will also notice that Nesting Story has undergone a bit of a facelift thanks to my web design genie from Brick Whale Creative. One big change is the addition of headings and sub headings for my previous blog posts. Have a look around, they are much easier to find now.

I’d also love to hear feedback from you in the comments section. Let me know if there is anything specific you would like me to blog about. HERE WE GOOOOO!!!!!!!

Blogging after 4 kids

I have been struggling the past few months with finding time to write on Nesting Story’s blog… understandably so. Anytime I would sit down to write I wouldn’t know where to start. In one sense I felt like I had too much to write about and other times I was drawing a blank. So I just decided to take a break and focus on organizing life at home.

Now, for the first time since finding out I was pregnant a year ago almost exactly I feel like I am ready to not only return to blogging but enjoy it like I used to. Only this time it will be more organic and dynamic. Less forced and more personal. I have spent many hours over the last few months, most during night feedings struggling with organizing all of the thoughts and ideas I have about Nesting Story, motherhood and life as a creative and artistic person. I have been trying to fit it into a box and map out a really specific path for my business. But I have decided that especially while my kids are so young to let it take me where it naturally goes and document the journey on my blog.

So here it is world, some posts may be about art, decor and great finds, others may be about parenting: twins, advice, life lessons and venting. Posts may document times past from when I was pregnant with my twins to those very first days they joined our family. Some may also just be about where I fit into the mix. My posts may not be perfect and some obvious signs of sleep deprivation may be very apparent but at least you will know it is coming from a very honest and real place.

So stay tuned… this could be very interesting!

Welcome Mia and Everly

They have arrived! After an incredibly difficult pregnancy full of hip pains, partial bed rest, heart strain and vision problems Mia and Everly came into the world full term, healthy and 6 pounds each on July 24th via scheduled c-section. Carrying my girls for almost 9 months was like running a marathon with the sweetest prize waiting at the finish line.

The bond with my girls was instant, we had skin to skin time for three hours to help stabilize their temperature. I knew that the hardest part was over and the girls fit into our family (almost) seamlessly.

I guess already having two children prepared me for twins because now two months down the road I have found it busy but never overwhelming. It helps that they are incredibly happy and predictable babies. The only time it gets hairy is bedtime. It seems like everyone wants me at the same time. It is so nice that they have each other and I can already see a bond forming. When I lay them down beside each other their breathing slows and it is almost as if they are thinking “oh there you are”.

There is this wonderful sense of peace and excitement knowing that your family is complete. I am trying to savour every minute of this phase, watching our twins grow and our older two taking on a loving protective role. At the same time I am making sure that I don’t get lost in the mix, still breathing life into my business and making sure I am being creative whenever possible. Because I know now that having my own interests and identity makes me a better wife and mother.

Sunny Twins Nursery and Names Reveal!

It’s official, the twin’s nursery is Mike and my favourite room in our house. Every night after putting Holden and Beau to bed I can find Mike sprawled out on the sofa in there. I think this room soothes his soul after a hectic day. Or maybe he is just picturing holding our baby girls… he loves babies!

I wanted to make this room elegant, refreshing and sunny which I think I definitely achieved. We were blessed to have a large bedroom to fit two cribs and a sofa very easily. We dressed up the room by adding wainscotting around the perimeter. I wanted to have a neutral grey backdrop and bring pops of yellow into the room. The pull out sofa was a must for twins so I can tandem breastfeed and I just had to buy two DaVinci Jenny Lind cribs for our little girls.

On top of a walk in closet for storage we also added a dresser, change table and a couple of fun printed storage bins for stuffies. I created a gallery with some art I purchased, flower art I painted and I framed a dress I wore as an infant.

Once we finally settled on names that we loved I had decals made by Lena from Muse Signs so we know who goes in which crib. The bedding is from Pottery Barn and I found the airy valances and ottoman for a steal at Target.

Now all we need are the room’s occupants to arrive… not long now!