Focus on the Stories: The Newborn Session Saga

Everyone in my house is asleep, & I have the opportunity to present to you... block blogging! In which I try to make up for all the silence with several posts in a string. Binge blogging. Block blogging. Blogapalooza. You get the idea.

Let's discuss Rue's newborn session.

I put a lot of pressure on myself to use my baby as a model to have the longest newborn session ever. I envisioned myself taking every day of the first few weeks working on an idea, getting a hundred amazing images.

I had no idea what postpartum was like, & nobody really explained it to me. Even if they had, I don't think I would have grasped the concept.

The first week, Rue & I stayed in bed all day. We nursed in bed, watched Netflix, & slept. A lot. We only ventured off the bed to change diapers &, in my case, use the bathroom & occasionally shower.

The second week, we still made the bed our "home base", but we also migrated to the couch to sun a little. Rue had her first appointment, & shuffling from the car to the doctor's office was a very painful experience for me.

The third week was our first week alone together, as Bear returned to work. I was terrified, but she basically slept the whole week, making it the easiest week ever. This was the week we also switched to exclusively cloth diapering. We started with our gDiapers, which she fit for approximately 2.5 more weeks, & then out-chubbed.

The fourth week, I realized I had yet to take a single photograph with a camera that wasn't also a part of my phone (except one day when I tested my new Lensbaby on Rue in her swing & felt none of those came out very well!). I was horribly, horribly depressed about this realization! I beat myself up that whole week, still somehow unable to bring myself to pick up the camera. That Friday, before the Saturday that Rue would officially be a month old, I tried to capture some of her newborn adorableness on film (er... memory card).

It was not the wonderful session I imagined. These things are so much easier when you are not also the Mama! Mamas booking sessions... keep hiring a photographer to capture those moments... DIYing it is just stressful, even if you are paid to capture other people's memories!

Basically, we got a handful of okay shots, & a few hundred awful ones. I haven't figured out the Lensbaby yet, which helped in my disaster shoot, & Rue had outgrown the "I will sleep through anything & look peaceful in a photo" phase, having entered the "I am alert & particular about what position I am in... which is none of the poses you want me to be in... WAHHH!" stage. She is still in this latter phase.

Anyway, here are the earliest images of our Rue...

The Swing Lens Test "Session" (aka the Stare & Sneeze):

The Attempted Official Newborn Session (aka Disaster Strikes):

So, a few turned out okay. Cute, even, in a peek-a-Rue sort of way. And then I introduce a soft basket which she refused to be folded into all snug & instead makes these timeless faces...