How did you and your spouse meet?
We met in Philadelphia during the last year of both our graduate trainings. We met at a dinner for a mutual friend.
Describe how your life changed once you brought home your newborn baby.
Our baby was in the NICU for 21 days so when we brought him home we were nervous and excited at the same time. We had been through a lot of stressors prior to his birth and we were so thrilled to have him home. In the beginning we just wanted to make sure that he was safe, healthy and growing.
Describe your newborn baby.
Siddharth was calm, peaceful and would barely cry when he was newborn.
Describe a typical day in your life as a new mother with a newborn baby.
Diaper change, feed, sleep repeat… that was our life when he was a newborn. We had a lot of help from our family so we had home cooked meals and we didn’t have to worry about house work. I showered when I could and slept when I could!
How did you prepare for your newborn lifestyle session?
We had our outfits picked for each session and we wanted to make sure our dog would be included. I read the instructions from Laura and asked for her feedback / opinions when preparing. We were comfortable with Laura and the lifestyle session allowed us to have our normal routines and we did not have to prepare too much. It was laid back and the photos were incredible.
How did you decide what to wear for your in home lifestyle session?
I didn’t get to have a baby shower because it was cancelled because I was admitted into the hospital, I wore the dress I had planned on wearing during my shower so that I could create positive memories with it. Siddharth wore his going home outfit during the photo shoot and my husband just matched us the best he could.
What is your favorite portrait from your lifestyle session? Explain why it’s your favorite.
Its the portrait with all four us – the baby and our puppy. It truly defined our “new family”. It perfectly captures our personalities, with my husband looking at us laughing, me petting our dog and our baby asleep!
How did you decide to schedule a newborn lifestyle session with Laura Mares Photography?
I saw Laura’s work and also saw that she did in home sessions, since our son wasn’t technically a newborn by the time she did the photo shoot, I felt that the lifestyle session was a great fit. We didn’t want to take him anywhere and we had a long journey between my hospitalization and his NICU stay, I wanted to capture our daily life with him versus just a newborn shoot. There was so much more to his birth and I think Laura captured it perfectly. She was so accommodating!
