Newborn Twins Photo Shoot

Before the twins were born, I knew that I wanted to do a newborn photo shoot when they were less than 10 days old. I contacted my photographer and let her know that I would be in need of her services, although I wasn't sure exactly when I would need her. As we approached my due date, I contacted her again, and we went ahead and scheduled the session for Thursday, February 12th. The girls were 9 days old on this day.

My mom was still here with us, so it worked out really well. Not only did I want newborn photos of the girls, but I also wanted a few family shots and a few sibling shots. However, I knew that we would likely be at our photographer's "studio" (which is a room in her house) for several hours trying to get good photos of the babies, and I didn't want the big kids to have to stay and wait during the entire session. We decided to drive two vehicles so Chris could take the big kids home after we were finished with them. In the end, the session lasted close to FOUR hours, so I was extremely thankful that we had a plan for getting the big kids home!

The babies had fallen asleep on the way to our photographer's house (she lives about 45 minutes from us), but they woke up when we started changing their clothes. I didn't mind this so much . . . I knew we'd be doing family and sibling shots first and it was okay with me that they were awake during these photos. It is much harder to photograph newborns who are awake, but I wanted to save their asleep time for when we were doing individual and twin shots of them. 

This first set of photos are our family shots. It's really difficult for me to look at these photos and not think about how I still look pregnant (yuck), but I have to remind myself that it was only nine days postpartum. I do think it's hidden better in some poses than in others. Also, Brooke (being held by Daddy) was very fussy while we were trying to take these so her face isn't showing in several of them. We were doing the best we could and it was not easy!

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This is my favorite family photo!

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I really wanted a few photos of just the kids, as well. Brooke was still fussy, so we struggled to get some shots of her not crying. The big kids did pretty well, although Brianna definitely has her fake smile on :-).

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This was just a fun shot Shea took while I was trying to calm Brooke. 

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So sweet of Brianna and Brecklyn!

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Love this photo of Bren!

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At this point, both babies were crying so the big kids were just patiently waiting for the photo shoot to resume. We eventually let them go play for about 15 minutes while I nursed the babies to help them relax. 

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My favorite sibling photo

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I also like this one!

After this, Chris took the big kids home while we worked on getting good photos of just the babies. It was important to me to get shots of them individually as well as together. At this point, they were both tired but refusing to sleep, so they were trading off who was being calm and who was being fussy. Shea would photograph whoever was calm while I tried to calm whoever was fussy. It was quite a workout!

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Brooke

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Brecklyn

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Brecklyn (a favorite!)

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Brecklyn (love this one!)

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We finally got them both asleep at the same time!

I don't love this because Brecklyn's chin is angled too high (Shea noticed and fixed it before taking more photos), but I love that Brooke has one little finger sticking out of her wrap :-).

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Love!

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I really love all of these of the girls in the wraps :-).

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At this age, Brooke always held her mouth slightly open with her tongue out just a little while she was sleeping. We tried several times to close her mouth, but she just wouldn't have it :-).

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Favorite!

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Brooke

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Brooke

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Brooke (favorite!)

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Brooke decided to be fussy when we unwrapped her, so Shea took several of Brecklyn by herself after we changed props.

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Sweet angel!

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As soon as I got Brooke asleep again, Brecklyn got fussy. Sigh. But, I do love these individual shots of Brooke.

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Precious.

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Finally both asleep again!

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So sweet!

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By this point, we were all getting pretty worn out! Shea asked me if I wanted to try one more pose, and I said yes ONLY if the babies are cooperative. I didn't want to spend another hour trying to get them to sleep and stay asleep as we moved them and manipulated their little limbs (in the set of photos above, it seemed like the woke up every time we repositioned them). Fortunately, they cooperated and we were able to get these precious shots of them.

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Melt my heart!

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Love this one!

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Four hours and a ton of work later, Shea captured some beautiful photos that I know we'll forever cherish! Mom stayed with me at Shea's house when Chris took the big kids home, and it certainly took both of us to handle the babies while Shea snapped photos. I was actually sore the next day from getting up and down and lifting them so much (remember I was still recovering from giving birth)! I think I nursed each of them about three times while we were there to try and keep them content. It was crazy, but I would do it again for these photos!

Which ones do you like best?