Can I just say, it is so much fun to have your portraits done when you’re a photographer yourself! It’s SO good for us to feel what it’s like to be on the other side of the camera. I asked Emily Gerald (a dear friend, past KJ Bride and incredible birth/newborn photographer) if we could hire her to do Graham’s newborn portraits and she said yes immediately! I was 1. relieved… because I had waited until the last minute to plan this and 2. So excited to have portraits done with both of my babies. When you lose a baby, there are little things that sting a little deeper than others. For me, I had envisioned getting to have beautiful portraits with Evy and Baby James before we knew how sick he was.
I quickly pushed that hope and desire to the back of my mind once we knew that we were going to lose him. When I became pregnant with Baby Graham, I thought about how I wanted portraits with my two babies again…. but it is really hard to get excited about something when there is so much fear that it will, once again, not come to fruition. Maybe that’s why I put off planning this session until the last few week of his pregnancy. I just wanted to know that he would be here and that he would be healthy. Thank you Jesus, he’s here and he’s perfect. Somedays it’s still hard to wrap my mind around that.
Emily is amazing and she did the best job encouraging and instructing these tired parents on what to do. She put up with a few Evy-meltdowns and yet still managed to capture everything I had hoped for while also hiding a large majority of the weight I still hope to lose. Three babies in two years will do that to you. I was worried about having portraits done two weeks after having my third…. but Em helped me find a dress that I loved and made all the necessary adjustments while we were shooting to make sure I looked my best. These little things are what make a photography experience beautiful and I’m so thankful for her!!!!
I could sit here and write paragraphs about how much these pictures mean to me…. but we have two kids and free time is limited…. so enjoy my absolute favorites!! These portraits capture one of the greatest answered prayers of our life. I’m so grateful for this precious baby boy!
Photos By: Emily Gerald Photography
Thanks for reading!
— Katelyn
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