In these strange times, I’ve been trying to think of ways that I can help with my unique skillset. I’ve been a professional newborn photographer in Calgary for almost 15 years, and I’ve done my own newborn photos for 3 of my 4 kids. (I’ve also hired photographers too, but I can’t resist taking some myself as well)

I wanted to write up a little guide for those parents who may be disappointed that they won’t be able to have professional photographs of their newborn babies right now. It might not be exactly the same, but I want to help you get the best photos possible!

Things you can use:

• plain blankets, swaddles, flat sheets or towels
• white or plain onesies
• beanbag, dog bed, couch cushion, floor
• white noise machine or app
• portable heater

First of all, I find some good window light. I schedule all my newborn sessions in the morning. The light is the best and baby is usually calmest. I also recommend bathing baby before the session, it can really tire them out. I turn up the heat or put a portable heater in the room (but not aimed directly at baby). I use a Dyson hot/cool that is really awesome but totally not necessary. I have baby in just a diaper, covered with a blanket. The bigger the window, the better. I put baby sideways next to the window, so if they turn their head they are looking out. I don’t put baby in direct sunlight, I will hang sheers or move baby into a shady part of the floor if I need to. I use something called a Baby Shusher but any white noise app or machine will work great, just playing fairly loudly and constantly throughout the session.

I use the simplest blankets, swaddles, towels I can find. I use mostly white and cream, but also use plain pink, blue and green. Light, pastel colours are great and don’t leave colour casts on the skin. Darker blankets will really suck the light from the photo, but can be great for making dramatic black and white images! Fleece blankets are great, also jersey knit cotton (like T-shirt sheets) and flannel.

I use a bean bag to place baby on, but I’ve also covered dog beds and couch cushions. Something firm and safe. The floor also works and is safest. I also discovered that my plain Endy mattress makes a great backdrop, and we have really good window light in our bedroom. Babies are small and you can do a session anywhere that is bright!

Then I make sure the blanket/sheet/towel/swaddle is smooth with no wrinkles. A smooth backdrop is the hallmark of a newborn photographer. Sometimes I use a textured blanket to remove this worry.
I swaddle baby tightly with just a diaper underneath. And I always use a very plain swaddle. If hands and feet are tucked inside the images will look more peaceful, and baby will be calmer, no flailing around. You can tuck any remaining blanket right under baby for a cleaner look.

I focus on baby’s face (usually the corner of the eye), shoot from above (safely with a strap or carefully with your phone). I’m not afraid to take photos of baby sneezing, crying or any other emotion, you’d be surprised at how cute these can be! Smiles usually come in twos or threes, if I miss one I just freeze and focus and see if baby will give another!

I also turn the baby so the top of their head is facing the window and slightly roll baby facing the camera, I put a small rolled up swaddle or washcloth behind to prop them up. This way I can back up and get full body images.

I take a lot of detail shots – fingernails, ears, tiny toes, eyelashes, etc.
Finally I end the session with mom and dad holding baby against a blank wall, again – simple clothing, baby swaddled. Dad holding baby face to face is always super cute. I position them so the window is to the side of them, and I get on a stool if I have to.

My advice to a mom doing her own session – have help if you can, and take breaks to feed the baby as much as possible. It keeps them happy and milk drunk. It’s also nice to have the help so you don’t have to be moving around a ton. I would also recommend not worrying at all about sibling photos. They are the most stressful part of my job, and the hardest to do. Give yourself a break and focus on your new baby!

If you want to take a look at my website, check out the newborn section for more inspiration. My style is super simple and doable at home. If you want to send me 5-10 of your best images I would be happy to edit them for you. hello@freshsugar.com

Have fun and congrats on your new arrival!

We just returned from a week in Hawaii at Aulani, A Disney Resort and Spa, and I thought I’d write a quick post while everything is still fresh in my mind. We really, really tried to do this trip on the cheap because after our debacle of a vacation in December, we were kind of behind the 8 ball after paying off the hospital bills. Originally we thought we weren’t even going to do the trip – we had the room booked but the flights were an astronomical 11K for the 6 of us.

Our first money saver was booking our room on our DVC points, which we bought last year. We used just over a year’s worth of points, and were still able to stay in a one-bedroom with a standard view because Amelia is still under 3 and sleeps in a pack and play. The one bedrooms at Aulani sleep 5 plus a baby – a king bed in the bedroom, a pullout double couch and a twin murphy bed in the living room. We learned last year that Aulani’s beds are pretty noisy, so we put Amelia’s pack and play in the closed-off bathtub area of the room with a white noise machine and she slept soundly. The older girls were great at putting away the bed every morning so we had the living room back during the day, which made the room feel much bigger. I realize that Disney Vacation Club is not for everyone, last year we rented someone else’s points and we were able to stay for about half the price of Disney’s advertised room rates. There are several companies that rent points, we used David’s with great success. We had to try a few different dates and room categories before we found availability though. Last year we had an incredible ocean view room and this year our standard view overlooked the back of the island, but it was still amazing to sit out there and see palm trees and drink our morning coffee.

Secondly, the flights were still not going down in price, so we started looking at connections and different options. Still nothing that was going to work cost-wise for us, so we decided to cancel the trip, and even told the kids we were no longer going. (We booked the room 11 months in advance because Aulani is our DVC “home resort”) While I was lying in bed with the flu at Walt Disney World, I happened to check our credit card points one more time – and all of a sudden the flights were available to book and we had enough points for all of us to travel direct! We use our points credit card for almost every purchase so we can usually use the points for one family vacation every year. It’s worth the fee of the card time 10.

Speaking of credit cards, ours also comes with lounge passes that we usually never use. I had six passes that were expiring, so off we went to eat and drink for free before our flight! We were able to save money at the airport, and on the plane. Win-win!

Our room had a full kitchen, so we ended up bringing a suitcase (free bags with our airline credit card, lol) full of food. I researched ahead of time and found that most non-perishables are fine to bring, so we packed peanut butter, mayo, mustard, coffee, cereal, granola bars, cookies, etc. It was so great to have food already available to the kids the morning after a long day of travel. DVC also has grocery delivery that will be ready in your room on arrival – we did that in December when we stayed at Old Key West. It was convenient but not really inexpensive.

We made the plan to try not to eat at the resort restaurants too much. I love them but once the six of us eat, and Josh and I have drinks – it ends up being around $250 USD, which is about $330 CAD. For a week that ends up being $2300 – for one restaurant meal a day for our family of six. So we cut it down to one character breakfast, and a couple of dinners across the street at Monkeypod, a restaurant we absolutely love and is very kid-friendly. We ate breakfast mostly in the room, lunches were quick service or sandwiches and we had pizza for dinner twice, and bought pasta and sauce from the ABC store across the street. We also didn’t use drink service at the beach this time, we brought a soft-sided cooler and got cans of beer at ABC and it was perfect! Although I couldn’t resist having a Dole Whip with rum – YUM!

The ABC store across the street from the resort is a godsend when it comes to saving money. The prices are still high there, but not nearly as bad as at the resort itself. We stocked up on bread, POG juice, champagne for mimosas, souvenirs, ice cream, etc and it helped so much with overall costs. It’s a fun time too – just very, very busy from about 6-8pm.

The resort has so many free activities, we didn’t spend a dime on entertainment! The beach is so calm and beautiful, Amelia and Max were happy to play for hours. Makiki Joe’s down by the beach rents out big bags of sand toys for absolutely free – no need to bring or buy shovels, buckets, etc. The older girls rented boogie boards every day (also free) and loved riding the waves or paddling out and floating. There are pool parties, tons of characters to meet, movie nights, fish watching, two different amazing iPad scavenger hunts, waterslides, infinity pools, a kid’s waterpark and toddler splash area. It’s almost impossible to be bored at Aulani. We also got a tip from our driver, and walked down at high tide to Secret Lagoon just past the Four Seasons. Sea Turtles come out here, and while we didn’t see any – we did see the most spectacular sunset of the trip, on a beautiful, quiet and peaceful beach. It was a 10 minute walk from the resort, and next time we go we are going to bring a pizza and have dinner in the sand watching the sunset.

When we went to Aulani last year, we hired a professional photographer to take our family photos and they are absolutely stunning. I am still so in love with them. Sadly, she moved back to the mainland so in the interest of saving money – we went down to the beach one night at sunset. They have free Disney PhotoPass photographers stationed there to take photos and while they aren’t necessarily my usual style, they are fun mementos. We ended up buying the disc of all our PhotoPass images from the week for $100, which ended up less than a dollar an image. There’s nothing incredible there, but I love having photos from all the character meet and greets, and family images of us from all over the resort – even the pool! If you want to save even more money, the photographers will use your camera to take photos if you ask.

At the end of the trip, we ended up spending about $2500 for our family of six to spend a week at Aulani in Hawaii. I realize this isn’t necessarily typical, not everyone has DVC membership or point credit cards, but I realized quickly that getting as creative as possible about saving money works well and can even be a little fun.

As I’m preparing images for the new website, I found these cute ones of baby Amelia last year. Since Valentine’s day is just a few days away I just had to post them – she was so cute and chunky back then! (Unlike the cute and chunky she is now, lol)

The tutu is from one of my absolute favourite shops – The Wishing Elephant http://www.thewishingelephant.com

Not Her Daughter by Rea Frey took me awhile to get into because I was so torn. I didn’t know what side to be on – which made it a very interesting read. The writing was solid and I felt like I could understand the main characters. While the plot felt far-fetched and some main things weren’t exactly flushed out (Sarah’s relationship with Ethan and her mother), I did enjoy this “thriller” although it took me much longer to read than normal. I would recommend it to psychological thriller fans. 3 stars. This book took me 4 hours to read. Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for my copy!

Emma Townsend. Five years old. Gray eyes, brown hair. Missing since June.

As Sarah and Emma avoid the nationwide hunt, they form an unshakeable bond. But what about Emma’s real mother, back at home?

I loved this novel by Kendare Blake, I think it was a great addition to the YA Fantasy genre, plenty of interesting characters, and a really rich and satisfying world. I know that a few reviewers have found the pacing slow but I really enjoyed learning about each queen and her allies separately and thoroughly. I can’t wait to read the next in the series (hurry up library hold!) and then purchase the third book in the quartet when it releases next month!

Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

In Iain Reid’s second haunting, philosophical puzzle of a novel, set in the near-future, Junior and Henrietta live a comfortable, solitary life on their farm, far from the city lights, but in close quarters with each other. One day, a stranger from the city arrives with alarming news: Junior has been randomly selected to travel far away from the farm…very far away. The most unusual part? Arrangements have already been made so that when he leaves, Henrietta won’t have a chance to miss him, because she won’t be left alone—not even for a moment. Henrietta will have company. Familiar company.

Told in Reid’s sharp and evocative style, Foe examines the nature of domestic relationships, self-determination, and what it means to be (or not to be) a person. An eerily entrancing page-turner, it churns with unease and suspense from the first words to its shocking finale.

This was not my typical read, as I’d say it’s more in the YA horror vein, but it was really fast-paced and a lot of fun to read. Characters and backstory were a little underwhelming but the speed and interesting premise made up for it. Some of it was pretty cheesy but I couldn’t put it down so it fits in great with summer reads. I received an advance reader’s copy from Netgalley and Disney Book Group for my honest review. This book took me 4 hours to read.

WELCOME TO THE NEAR FUTURE, where good and honest citizens can enjoy watching the executions of society’s most infamous convicted felons, streaming live on The Postman app from the suburbanized prison island Alcatraz 2.0.

When seventeen-year-old Dee Guerrera wakes up in a haze, lying on the ground of a dimly lit warehouse, she realizes she’s about to be the next victim of the app. Knowing hardened criminals are getting a taste of their own medicine in this place is one thing, but Dee refuses to roll over and die for a heinous crime she didn’t commit. Can Dee and her newly formed posse, the Death Row Breakfast Club, prove she’s innocent before she ends up wrongfully murdered for the world to see? Or will The Postman’s cast of executioners kill them off one by one?

Hits and Misses is out today! I enjoyed the humour and writing in the collection of short stories, although sometimes I wonder if I was smart enough to truly appreciate them. There definitely seemed to be a slant to those in the entertainment industry, with several winks in their direction. I did like reading the book and while personally not for my usual tastes, I know a few people that I would recommend this to that I think would find this hilarious. Thank you to @netgalley and @littlebrown for this advance reader’s copy. .
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. “A hilarious collection inspired by a former Saturday Night Live writer’s real experiences in Hollywood, chronicling the absurdity of fame and the humanity of failure in a world dominated by social media influencers and reality TV stars.”