I’m excited to share today’s feature from a recent lifestyle newborn session. I had the pleasure of meeting this impressive couple earlier in the year at a volunteer weekend. It was my pleasure to take newborn and family portraits for them during their lifestyle session. My kids and I are so fortunate to have Brad as a youth paster at our church.
Are you from Pittsburgh?
Yes, I was born and raised in Belle Vernon. Brad is from Kansas and moved to Pittsburgh in 2013, right before we met.
What was your baby’s height and weight at birth?
8 lbs 8 oz and 21 inches long
Where did you deliver? Who delivered your baby?
St. Clair with Dr. Zubritsky
Tell me a little about your experience during the delivery.
It was a fairly straightforward labor and delivery experience. I began having contractions at 1am at 39 weeks and 1 day and delivered 14 hours later at 3:07pm. I had a natural birth with no complications. I ended up having to push for only 35 minutes, which was great. I was very blessed to have a normal, healthy delivery!
How did you choose the name for your newborn?
We had two full names that we liked before we settled on Carter Vance. We wanted to wait and meet him before deciding for certain. While we were on vacation at the beach this past August, we went to a souvenir store to buy a Christmas ornament, as is our tradition to buy an ornament from all the places we visit. As we were checking out, the cashier politely asked me if I was expecting, as I was 7 months along and obviously showing. She asked what the gender was, and we told her. She then told us that we are going to go with a name for him that starts with a “C”. We were shocked that she said that because we had a strong feeling that we were going to give him the name Carter, and she somehow knew this! We asked her how she knew, and she said that she sometimes gets “feelings” about things. It was a very interesting and neat experience, and her prediction ended up coming true because we stuck with the name Carter! We’ll always have that story to tell him when he gets older.
What has been the biggest struggle since coming home from the hospital?
Lack of sleep! Only getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night is absolutely the biggest struggle with a newborn. Thankfully, the body can be stretched to extremes, and I’ve been able to adapt. Each week gets better and better, and he is sleeping longer and longer each night.
What 3 adjectives describe your newborn baby?
1. Grunty (one of my favorite things about him)
2. Expressive
3. Cuddly
How did you style the nursery?
Noah’s Ark theme
If you had a 25 hour day and everyone else still only had 24, what would you do with the extra time?
Get in a solid hour of exercise everyday!
If you were stranded with your newborn what are the three things you’d hope to have with you?
Diapers, bibs, my phone to look up answers to all the questions that I have on a daily basis!
If you could share 3 pieces of advice with your younger self (before having a baby) what would they be?
1. Don’t worry during your pregnancy! It will all work out the way that it is supposed to and worrying does nothing but negatively effect your mind and body.
2. Start buying baby stuff slowly over time before you want to have children. It’s so expensive all at once!
3. Don’t overthink things! Go where God leads you because His way is always right.
What song or movie title best describes your experience as a mom?
The Hunger Games!
Why is newborn photography important to you?
Documenting his first few weeks of life is so important! Being able to have these photographs forever is priceless, and being able to show them to Carter when he is older is a wonderful gift to him. Capturing all of the love and affection that we have for our little boy in photographs is worth more than anything because we will be able to look back at them in the future and relive these memories.
What is your favorite portrait from your newborn session?
The picture of Brad and Carter, as he is holding him to his chest. It is so sweet and precious and captures their bond so well.
What was your favorite part of your newborn photo session?
Being able to capture our relationships with Carter separately in the father-son and mother-son aspects and also all together as a family. It is very sweet to have these memories of our individual relationships with him and our relationship together as a family.
If any of your personal items were used during the portrait session, where were they from? Target, Pottery Barn, Etsy, etc.
His pumpkin outfit is from Etsy. His Noah’s ark bedding is from Amazon, and his crib is from” All About Kids” Furniture in Washington.
