If you’ve been following along on the blog for some time, you might remember Kristina and Alden! These two, along with their adorable pup, Lili, had a stunning garden engagement session at Airlie Center in Warrenton, VA. They were then married later that year in a District Winery wedding in Washington, DC. Big things in to these two at this time of year… first, they were engaged at the holidays. Then they were married in November and made their first home purchase just a few weeks later. And now? Now they were celebrating the birth of their first son, Elián, as the leaves were changing color as well!

It should come as no surprise when I say that newborn sessions are much different than engagement sessions — more subjects, for one thing! But at the core of it, you can plan and plan and will never know what direction the shoot will take you as that is entirely up to the baby! Elián had just finished feeding when I arrived and was about to fall into that sweet little milk coma when he got excited by all the commotion! Being a typical baby Houdini, he initially slipped out of all our attempts to wrap him in a traditional swaddle until we got creative; we wrapped him up with the snoo sack first, then put the pretty swaddle for photos! As soon as we turned on the sound machine, he was a restful little baby for the entire session!

Watching Kristina and Alden work through the joys and trials of parenthood in just my short time with them made it clear that these two are total naturals. Neither was easily worked up and they handled every step as a team. Having a newborn in the time of COVID is especially tough as help is harder to come by when following the hospital guidelines, so they are braving it almost entirely alone and are doing fantastic! Baby Elián is as sweet as can be!