Newborn Baby Photoshoot @ 3 Weeks Old (Sleepy Willow Photography)

Timeline of blog post: First draft written on September 24th, then more content was added on October 31st, then finally published on November 4th

Baby Kendrick at 3 weeks - chilling in a bucket at his very first photoshoot!

On September 3, 2024, we went on a family adventure to take some ADORABLE newborn photos!!

Before giving birth, I knew I wanted some photos captured of our lovely baby so I booked a session in with a local photographer.

I did some research on the types of newborn photography styles and the vibes I wanted and ended up choosing Sleepy Willow Photography.

You know you love their portfolio when you spend countless hours scrolling through their Instagram feed!

When I had to choose vendors for my wedding, I spent DAYS (okay, probably WEEKS or MONTHS) doing research and scrolling through Instagram feeds but I knew that time is of the essence and there are sooo many amazing and qualified photographers out there so I ended up just looking up maybe half a dozen photographers and comparing their packages and styles and choosing the one I liked the most!

Sooo.. Sleepy Willow won!

Here was the timeline of the activities + process:

June 13 - Sent an inquiry to Sleepy Willow + Emilie from Sleepy Willow replied back to provide detailed quotes and packages. In the email, it was mentioned that our due date would be tentatively booked but may change depending on when the baby would arrive. The actual date would be booked within 3 weeks of giving birth (the ideal time to take newborn photos!).
June 18 - A follow up email was sent by Sleepy Willow to confirm our preferred package
June 19 - I decided to go through with the photoshoot so I paid the deposit and received an email receipt/confirmation.
August 19 - I emailed Emilie to let her know our baby was born while sitting in the hospital bed (lol). I had this as one of the first things on my to-do list post-birth and I’m surprised I remembered it! She sent over a few available time slots for the following week but I asked for a date in the week after that as I felt like we wouldn’t have been prepared for a photoshoot by then. Fortunately, pushing it over another week worked out because baby K ended up being in the special care nursery for a bit which added a bit more stress for us!
August 26 - Emilie sent over a questionnaire for me to fill out before the photoshoot that asked about my preferences in theme, colours, outfits, and any other special requests. I asked for something to showcase his Canadian side! It was sooo hard to just choose one or two colour themes because ALL of them looked amazing but I loved the greens and browns so I went with that!
September 3 - Photoshoot day!! Although I was about 3 weeks postpartum, I had to lug my bum out the door. I even put on makeup for the first time in a while and it felt nice to look decent, haha. It was a struggle but was worth it in the end. I also was sooo indecisive on what to wear that day so I brought a few outfit options and got Slam to steam them but I ended up borrowing a shirt from her maternity outfit wardrobe anyway (haha). More details about the photoshoot below!
September 9 - Got an email to let us know there will be sneak peeks shown on her Instagram shortly (exciiiiting!)
September 17 - Received an email to let us know the photos were ready! We chose the package that gave us 15 digital photos so we had to pick our favourite 15 out of 30+ photos! And OMG!!! It was SOOOO hard to pick the photos because all of them were sooo cute and amazing. I forgot the price it was to purchase ALL of them but I don’t think we wanted to do that (it might have been a few hundred) and like $60 to buy one additional photo (crazzzyyyy!). But that’s what you gotta pay for top talent! We ended up being happy with the 15 we chose :)
September 19 - Emilie thanked us for her service via email! <3

The overall photoshoot experience

Overall, the whole process from start to finish with Emilie was wonderful.

The communications were smooth and thorough, the questionnaire to choose our preferences set our expectations, and the day of the photoshoot was all right for our beautiful newborn.

Emilie was extremely professional and handled our precious newborn with care. She tried to get him to do a “froggy pose” but he really didn’t enjoy that position so we moved on from that. It looked a bit rough and I was scared our baby would get hurt so I was glad we moved onto the next poses.

She also introduced Kendrick to a dummy/pacifier for the first time. I also was a bit hesitant on letting her use one but I consented for her to do so, so I just watched him use one.

She also made this low humming noise that sounded like a meditation when trying to calm our baby down so that was something I learned to soothe baby after.

Fortunately, Kendrick was a cooperative soul during the entire photoshoot minus the froggy pose one. He looked super adorable wrapped up in different clothes and blankets and I felt like a proud mother cheering him on from the sideline.

The photoshoot photos

And of course, I have to share some of my favourite photos!

Kendrick as a head of cabbage in a basket

Kendrick in a koala outfit holding a miniature koala

Kendrick in a brown wool outfit (no idea what he’s supposed to be dressed up as but we liked this one because he gave us a little smile!)

Baby Kendrick chilling (look at how serene he looks and how soft his skin looks!)

Kendrick in that wool brown outfit again but now surrounded my maple leaves (the background was photoshopped in) - I’m not the biggest fan of Kendrick’s face here but I chose this photo because it was the only one with the Canadian vibes lol

And that’s a wrap!

I’m soooo happy we booked in newborn photography and I can’t wait to keep taking lots of photos and videos of baby K as he’s growing up so, so fast!

It’s fun looking back at these photos because I remember the newborn phase and how quiet and serene he once was. But now he’s making funny noises while sleeping and is much more alert during his wake window.

Cheers to continuing to embrace these special moments. :)

xoxo, knd.