When I entered this beautiful home yesterday, I was greeted by adorable three year old Harper, who is FULL of energy.  Whenever I enter the home of a family of four or more for a newborn portrait , my first attention goes, not to the baby, but to the older child.  It's a tough transition to suddenly not be an only child anymore, and I find it's best if I put big brother or sister in the spotlight at first, sometimes asking them to show me around or to "introduce" me to their new baby. Harper was happy to show me around, and he did a fantastic job introducing me to sweet Hadley.  

Like pretty much every three year old I've ever met, Harper wasn't interested in sitting and posing for photos.  But I don't really care for super posed photos anyway, so that's totally fine with me.  This is exactly why I love toddlers and preschoolers so much...they are 100% authentic, every single second. And authenticity is one thing I aim to capture.  

I'm not there to photograph a JC Penny style family photo of a perfectly posed family.  For a newborn session, my aim is to capture some of that magic that you feel when you walk into the home of a family with a newborn and a toddler.  This is a stage in life that is both terribly hard and wonderfully amazing all at the same time, and goes by so quickly. I want to capture real life details from this amazing time.  Baby Hadley loves for her daddy to rock her in the nursery when she needs consoling.  Harper is full of energy, loves books and adores his baby sister.  This is what lifestyle photography is all about.  

I get excited when I meet parents like this who embrace lifestyle photography.  They weren't focused on getting a specific posed shot of their newborn, but wanted to capture the magic of life as it currently exists.  I loved that dad was quick to grab Harper for a tickle fight and that mom stopped for a few minutes to play trains with him.  When Harper needed a break, I suggested that he hang out with dad for a few minutes while I photographed baby sister. Dad read some books to Harper and I was able to sneak a few shots of them together that are some of my favorites.  I hope that these photos are something this family will look back on years from now and be able to see the love that lived here.