Ada, Beau, Zoey | RUSTON LA

What an amazing treat have triplets in the studio! I have shot many babies, even twins, but I’ve never had the opportunity to shoot triplets. Quite a funny and very sweet story to how I got asked to shoot these beautiful babies. I had a friend of Reecie’s who contacted me about purchasing a session for her babies, her and some of their friends wanted to purchase it as a gift. I thought it was such a sweet gift! So she purchased a gift card and out by snail mail it went. Fast forward and her friend contacts me and tells me the babies are here, in the NICU but doing very well. She then tells me that Reecie is going to contact me but she has no idea about the gift card because of course they were going to present it to her at her baby shower, whichhhhhhh didn’t happen because as we all know, corona happened. So she gives Reecie my info and says she’s going to contact you about pricing but don’t tell her about the gift because we’re going to tell her about it soon together. Oh goodness of course my mind went wild with worse case scenarios and all I could imagine was responding to her email with pricing and she decided to contact another photographer and then book with them, pay for the session and here she would be with a free session yet paying for another. I was low key freaking out, but I played it cool. At least it’s easy to play things off in text anyways. But they didn’t wait long and Reecie said she cried at such a thoughtful gift. I was just pumped they picked me to do it, what an honor to be picked for such a task!

These three from the start, were champions. When I found out they had been born early that was of no surprise being multiples always comes preterm deliveries. But from what I heard, they really were doing well in the NICU too. When you hear the words NICU, it always sends a little wave of anxiety through you because ultimately it is an intensive care unit. But I’ve had two nephews who went through the NICU and each had very different experiences. My first nephew was born early and only went there because he was early and they needed to monitor him, but honestly he had no issues and what was a precaution was really unnecessary. Better safe than sorry though of course! My youngest nephew on the other hand was actually born at term, but he had swallowed some of the fluid which caused a lot of issues. We were justifiably concerned about him. It would seem as humans we focus on the negative and tend to place NICU in such a scary light even despite the positive experiences. But thankfully these little ones seemed to have done well and progressed very quickly for multiples. 

So let me officially introduce these adorable triplets Beau, Ada, and Zoey! Due to their NICU stay they had to come in later then normal. My sweet spot age to pose is 13 days, but we had to settle for 38 days old. Thankfully NICU babies you can cheat a bit on that age because preemies normally have the “sound sleeper” status longer than full term babies. Mom came in first with Zoey who looked so tiny in her carseat. She came in crying and ready to eat. Then Beau and Ada followed. We each took a baby and everyone was ready for a feeding. Now feeding one baby and a diaper change takes time but remember this is times three! I had flashbacks of my own endeavors with my daughter and how long everything took. From feedings, to washing bottles, to nap times, to diaper changes, to bath time, and everything in between and I had ONE! I was exhausted remembering those times with just her. But you know what was truly remarkable to witness, mom and dad alike were calm and organized. I’ve had brand new parents come in and I can see the anxiety on their faces as they are new parents dealing with colic and restless nights, figuring out how to keep a human alive when they’ve never had this huge of responsibility before and it IS overwhelming. Believe me I was there! I was the parent who was overwhelmed and cried continuously because of PPD. But these new parents really soared into parenthood and they’re really going to rock it with these three littles! 

After full tummies it was time to get to work! I’m gonna be honest I was really excited and a little nervous. Posing babies takes a lot of tender care, there are lots of safety measures you have to take to make sure when you pose them that they are securely place so they don’t hurt themselves in a pose. The froggy pose and prop poses continuously have hands on baby the entire time to keep baby safe, well that’s really difficult having enough hands with three babies. I had to really think hard on how to pose these three together. But I was pumped to try something new since I’ve never shoot three at once! So very thankful for my friend Gillian who jumped in to help, she’s been a friend for a very long time and she’s always ready to take a break from her normal motherly duties to her own three boys and get to hold some babies for me. She’s always wanted to have a baby girl but she is boy mom all the way! While she was holding both girls while I posed Beau, she asked me to take a picture of her so she could send it to her hubby with a caption about how she looked good holding a baby girl.

With twins I normally like to shoot in the same order every time to keep them separate for whenever I edit so I don’t accidentally delete images thinking they’re repeats. Honestly though, I didn’t HAVE to do that as they each had their own look. Ok so I DID try to do it because I’m a creature of habit and I’ve really learned that I don’t like change.

Here I began with Zoey and she hated her first debut, absolutely refused to pose in the beginning. Little did I know this was the beginning of a tell tale story for Zoey. You learn from babies’ personalities over the years and I knew Zoey was going to be my drama queen. Everything had to be perfect for this little princess. I would get every baby in a pose together and who was the one who started to protest? You guessed it Zoey. But even little divas are cute and honestly I think she was a little gassy so I can’t blame her for her protest. We actually took a break and let her eat one more time and after a little snack, she decided maybe modeling wasn’t so bad after all. Still it had to be her way! I like my details to be just so, it’s a blessing and a curse. I get myself into all kinds of trouble when I try to perfect those tiny details like fingers in the right place. Baby will be perfect in every aspect of the pose but as soon as I adjust fingers, some babies will jump up like a loaded spring and the pose is completely lost and I have to start all over. Zoey thankfully was not a loaded spring but she refused to move her fingers like I liked so it became the Zoey pose and her own spin on my posing. I can’t complain she was working the Zoey version. Be you honey, be you!

Now Beau’s personality in the session. Let’s just say when Zoey started to cry, Beau would start to whine himself. It was as if he felt for little Zoey and wanted to empathize with her. I think he might be the protector of these girls. Don’t mess with his sisters! He was such a rolly thing and had the cutest little lips! I always have fun dressing little girls with all the options for newborn fashion but don’t underestimate the cute options for boys. He fit perfect in my white romper and against that deep green, he looked like a little stud. You know if mom and dad had three girls, it would be a wonderful gift but I know they are thankful to have a boy in the bunch. I can only imagine dad and Beau sneaking away to have some guy time together, but I’m sure the girls will want to tag along.

And then there was Ada, who could care less if someone was interrupting her sleep because she had no idea Beau or Zoey were upset and slept through it all. Don’t get me wrong she had her moments like all newborns who have to pose but ultimately she was really only concerned with dreaming. She had that beautiful dark hair and long lashes. Every pose I put her in, she did so with no complaint. The only time she was upset is when she got hungry and took a break to eat, but then she went back to sleeping the day away. She is the type of baby that makes my job easy. I hate to label babies because it seems as if I’m saying that there are bad babies and good babies and that’s just not the case. Who ever heard of a bad baby? Their only form of communication is grunts and cries so it’s their only way to tell us that something is wrong. As parents we learn the different things that make them upset and can adjust accordingly. As a photographer I only have that small window to work with them and we all know every baby is different. I’ve seen them all, all those different type of models and I know how to work with every one of them! It just takes the time of the session. I’m first focused on baby’s comfort and want baby to be at ease the entire time. This is why it takes so long to photograph newborn sessions because you can be sure I’m stopping to comfort and soothe your baby if they are uncomfortable. Posing is only second to your baby’s comfort.

I really wished I could’ve gotten more of the three together but that was a difficult task with three. I knew I wanted more of them separate though, I feel that while they are triplets, they are their own person and deserve to have their own photos. So I couldn’t have asked for a better session and I’d say for my first triplets, it was a success! I loved each and every one of them, all their different personalities and they made me laugh throughout our time together. It’s amazing at such a young age you can already see some of their traits and how beautiful God has created each one of them. Welcome to the world Zoey, Beau, and Ada. We’re glad you’re here!