Baby Mollie Rose (Newborn Photography)

If you go way back to the earliest posts of this blog, you'll see that it started as a photography blog- even before I had the idea to create "Raising Memories". I don't regularly work as a photographer now, but every now & then something special happens in my family and I get the chance to practice photography again by doing a little session. That opportunity came up when sweet little Mollie Rose was born and I was happy to be able to take some photos of her, when she was just 17 days day old.

We weren't able to get together any sooner than that because her mom & dad live several hours' drive from where we live now, but when we had the opportunity to meet in the middle, at Ken's parents' house, we jumped on it!

Baby Hayden (Newborn Photography)

My newest nephew arrived in August and I had the opportunity to go over to my sister's house to take some newborn photos of him. I actually started blogging a good decade ago, to have a place just to share photos from my photography sessions. It's been a long time since I've done a session, so it's fun to have some photos to share with you today!

Best of all, they are photos of the sweetest little munchkin around!

Martin's Newborn Photos

My newest nephew was born on November 25th and I went over to snuggle him and take some photos of him on his 5th day. My mom came along to assist me (both with the photography stuff and the snuggling stuff) and we made some fun memories with my sister, posing this little munchkin and rearranging his bedroom to get these shots. It's so sweet to see how they turned out!

 Marty's dad is a baseball fan, so we wanted to get a nice shot with a ball and glove.

He also happens to be a volunteer firefighter, so we took a photo with his coat & helmet.

Cake Smash with Two Babies

Last week, my sister came to visit from the U.S. It was so good to spend time with her and her three girls! Her youngest daughter turns one year old this month (and so does my other sister's daughter), so we decided to take advantage of everyone being together and do a little cake smash photoshoot. I'm so glad we made this happen- it was so fun and I love the photos that we got from it!

We started out with a few individual shots of the girls.  This is Tori with her little stuffed bunny:

Poor little Alexis was sick and kind of miserable when we started, but you would never know it from this photo! I'm so happy we managed to capture it!

Here's another of cute little Tori before we put the fluffy rug down:

Pink and Gray Baby Girl Nursery

I had to share this adorable pink and gray baby girl nursery with you!

My little niece Tori is growing up fast! It seems like just yesterday that I was taking newborn photos of her and now she's a little crawler! When I went to my sister's house to take photos of Tori for her Parts Poster, I also took photos of the nursery she had been preparing for her. She did such a nice job on it! There were a lot of little homemade projects involved and it all came together beautifully. 

Today I want to share those photos with you and a bit about how she created some of the pieces in the room (or where she found them).

Tori's Parts Poster

Has it already been about a month since I shared photos of my new niece, Tori? Time seriously flies!

I've finally put together her parts poster, so here it is:

We are so happy to have this little niece nearby! Enjoying every moment we get to spend with her :)

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Alexis' Parts Poster

I shared a handful of newborn photos of my sweet niece who was born on Valentines Day back in March.
Today I'm finally ready to share her little Parts Poster! :)



Just looking at these photos makes me want to teleport myself back to Utah for a snuggle ;)
Miss you all, Hilary!

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Lydia's Parts Poster

It has become kind of a tradition to do these "Parts Posters" for new babies in my family when they come.
My sister in law had a baby girl in December and we got together to get these photos a while ago so that I could put one together for her. What a sweet little girl- I love being an auntie and getting to hold and snuggle these sweet little babies!



Here's her big sister's parts poster from back in 2010.

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Baby Tori (Newborn Photography)

I know it seems like less than 2 weeks ago that I posted newborn photos of my new niece (because it was), but I'm back today with photos of my other newborn niece! (they were born just under 2 weeks apart). It has been so fun to be able to snuggle with each of my sisters' babies!

Photographing Amber's new baby, Victoria Rose, was a special experience for me because I did it alongside my photographer friend who has a bunch of special equipment (lights, etc.) to use for shoots like this. Now there is a nagging desire in the back of my mind for some new expensive equipment of my own! (maybe someday..)

Here are some of my photos from our session with little Tori:

Baby Alexis (Newborn Photography)

Just 4 days before I flew to Utah (on Valentine's Day), my sister had her baby! While I was visiting we took some time to do some newborn photos. Here are some of my favourites from our session :)

My sister made this bunting for Valentines Day - it was the perfect prop for a baby born on Valentine's Day!
(and we found that doll bed in her big sister's bedroom ;)

Alexander Steven (A Birth Story)

Almost a month ago now, I was privileged to attend the birth of my newest nephew. It was the second homebirth I've had the opportunity to attend and once again, I went away amazed and feeling blessed to have been able to witness such a huge moment for a family.

On Sunday I saw my sister-in-law, Betsy, at church. She let me know that she had been having regular contractions, but nothing too intense yet. That evening we decided I would go out of town a bit for a family dinner and that my girls would go to my parents' house overnight (Ken was out of town at a conference). It's a good thing we did that because my brother-in-law, Steve, called me at 5:15am to let me know that they had called the midwife and I could plan to come over soon!

I arrived at their house shortly after that (and just like Laura's birth, I was there before the midwife). I went up to see Betsy who was calmly focused, laboring in her room alone while their son, Donovan, slept in the next room and Steve hurried around, getting things ready.



Soon the midwife arrived and then my mother-in-law (who is a Doula and would also be attending).
The midwife got set up while Linda (our mother-in-law) helped out, doing whatever she could to help Betsy to be as comfortable as possible. This is the second time that I've been impressed at a birth, with how the mother seems to just retreat into a calm, focused place- sort of "away" from everyone else. She remains focused on what she has to do while everyone else scurries around doing whatever they can to offer assistance!

Baby Xander

My sweet nephew arrived 2 weeks ago, and we are SO thrilled to have him here! I went over to take some newborn photos on Saturday and wanted to share a little preview here :) I was able to attend his birth as well, and will have some photos to share from that in the future.

Henry James (A Birth Story)

On Friday night I got to do something amazing! I witnessed the birth of a friend's baby.
Today I'll share a glimpse into the birth story of Henry James, from my perspective.

Laura gave me the warning call- that she thought tonight might be the night- at 3:30 in the afternoon. Kyle called me not long before 7pm to let me know that it looked like the birth would be happening "now", and that it would be at home (not at the hospital as planned). I got in my car immediately and was surprised to arrive before the midwives!

Laura laboured at home, by herself and with Kyle for almost her whole labour, and the midwives arrived just after I did- and just before the baby!

Kyle was so sweet, telling Laura how good she was doing, being there for her in whatever way he could.



Laura was amazing. I remember the pain of a natural childbirth! She would endure those contractions, and then her face would relax into a focussed calm while she waited for the next.

Baby Liam

When baby Liam was just 9 days old, he had his first photoshoot. As you can see, he is adorable. It had been a while since I had done newborn photos, so it was a lot of fun to have Ken's cousin & his wife over to capture their 2nd baby. (You can see their 1st baby's photos taken 3 years ago, here.)

Baby Brooklyn

Earlier this year we visited my sister & her family for a few days since she just had a new baby. During our short visit, we were able to spend some time staging some photos of her precious new baby, Brooklyn Rose. I've been behind on posting any photography stuff, so it's taken me this long to share some with you!

Giveaway- Baby P Designs

Jill at Baby P Designs makes custom knit hats and newborn photo props.

They are ALL ADORABLE! I think I'm in love with her stocking hats and stork slings for baby photoshoots! (Check yesterday's post for my review of her baby cocoons!)

And if you have a baby or a baby's shower to attend, I know his or her little head is begging for one of Jill's cute pom pom hats or beanies. ;)

You'll find more in her shop- trust me, you need to go and see all of the preciousness! :)

I'm excited to tell you that Jill has agreed to give one of you this beanie!
(I had Katrina model it for you, so you could get a preview ;)


How to Enter

Leave a comment, telling me what your favourite item from Jill's shop is.

Extra Entries Please!

I wanted to give my regular readers a better chance in this giveaway, so if you are reading the blog daily, you'll find a couple of other ways to enter in the rest of this week's posts!

Giveaway Details: This giveaway closes on Thursday, June 24th. The contest is open to the U.S. and Canada. A winner will be chosen randomly from all of the comments. Winner will be contacted by email (please include your email in your comment if I can't find it through your profile). If you do not respond within 48 hours after I email you, a new winner will be chosen. The winner will be announced on the blog on Friday, June 25th.

Review - Baby P Designs

When I found Baby P Designs on Etsy, I was in love with Jill's products! I knew they would be perfect to share on this blog because there are so many moms with babies that are reading, and photographers who check in for my photography posts!

Jill gave me a beautiful Baby Cocoon in Raspberry Twist to review, and I have nothing but good things to say about it!

As soon as my newest niece was in town, I got to work getting some photographs of it, to show you!



It's extremely soft & stretchy, and was so great to work with! I loved the colour and texture of it in the final photos. I'm definitely impressed with it & excited to be able to use it as a prop for photos! Now I'm on to drooling over her other props ;)



Be sure to check in tomorrow because Jill has agreed to give one of her hats away to one of my readers & you'll definitely want to see what you have the chance to win!

Terrah's Parts Poster

This is my adorable new niece's parts poster:

I love designing these posters! Baby Terrah was just 6 days old when I took these photos- isn't she pure precious? :)

Katrina's Parts Poster

I finally finished and ordered my own baby's parts poster today. (Now that she's over a year old). I'm really happy with it!

The quote at the bottom is taken from her song. My father in law writes a personalized song for each of his grandchidren when they're born- it's a tradition that I love!

Before & Afters... want to send me a "before" to work on??

Well, it's definitely been more than a day or two, but when I posted Laura's session, I said I'd be back with before & afters, so here I am.

I do a lot of black background shots when I do a newborn session. This is one reason why my baby shoots take extra Photoshop time. But I love the result!



Sweet little Laura woke up with the dreaded baby acne a day or two before her session, so it was Photoshop to the rescue:



I have some pretty cool examples of non-baby acne removal as well, but I'm not sure that any of those clients would be too excited to have their acne displayed on my blog, so I'll keep them to myself. ;)

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I really love playing with Photoshop and seeing what I can pull off.

One of my favourite things to play with is faces (acne removal, teeth whitening, wrinkle lessening, skin smoothing, etc.)

I also think it's a lot of fun to attempt to take some pounds off of someone in Photoshop & make it look realistic. This is one I don't get to play with as often.

Is there anyone reading this out there that would like to send me a photo of themselves to let me play with taking some pounds off? If you're interested in seeing what I can do, send your photo to raisingmemories at gmail dot com. Include in your email permission for me to post the before & after on my blog, and send it off. I'll choose one to play with & post it here for you all to see :)