Mya's Newborn Photos and Birth Announcement ⋆ Growing Up Kemper

Today I want to share the beautiful photos that Joyce at Bundles Photography took of our sweet Mya Girl just 9 days after she was born, and what I sent out to family and friends announcing her special arrival.

Yes, I realize I just posted about her two month update on Friday. And yes, I realize that’s really backwards. But get ready for cuteness overload with my sweet Mya Girl and you’ll totally forget I’m two months delayed on this post. 🙂

If you’ve never done newborn photographs of your little ones, you do need to research and book them months prior to the birth of your baby. I chose Joyce because of the beautiful photographs she had on her website’s gallery, and I just adored her delicate, feminine props she brought to her sessions. And the best part, she comes to you! No going to a studio to have the photos taken a week after you delivered. I just can’t imagine loading up the whole family, plus all the baby things, and traveling to get photos done. It’s nerve-wracking and sweat-inducing as it is. No need to put the idea of traveling and being on time right on top of it all.

When you book, you obviously don’t know when your baby is going to make their arrival, so you just pay a deposit and book for a time period. In my case, Mya’s due date was really Christmas Day, but I knew I was going to induce early. We put December 18th on the calendar, but she was prepared for anytime that month for her arrival.

When I delivered, my photographer was one of the people I contacted to notify of Mya’s birth. Call to family and friends…and to your photographer. 🙂 You want to call to schedule because the ideal time to take the pictures is between 7-10 days after birth. It’s the perfect point where they are still so sleepy and can be posed without ever waking up for the hours the session takes place.

When Mya was born, I contacted Joyce and we scheduled our session for the Friday after, meaning she was 9 days old at the time. To make her extra sleepy, Joyce gave instructions to bathe her about 60 minutes prior to our schedule time and then to give a full feed right before she got there. Plus, we cranked our heat in our house to 80 degrees (yep…80.) so she would stay super cozy and sleep through it all.

And boy did it work. Joyce took photos for three hours. Mya slept for the entire time. No extra feedings in between to keep her sleepy. She was just passed out for all the “outfit” changes and poses. My word, she’s such a trooper! 🧡 And the final product was just beautiful!

Can you imagine being swaddled like this and NOT wake up?! 🙂

Part of the reason I love newborn photos so very much is because they’re able to capture the little newborn details that change so quickly. Her hair, her fingers, her little toes.

When the photos came in, I picked a few of my favorites and ordered birth announcements from this cute Etsy shop named West Willow. I wanted something clean and simple with her announcement and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out!

Plus the Etsy shop had wonderful turnaround. I ordered the listing, emailed her photos, and within 12 hours I had proofs emailed to me to look over. Within 7 days of my approval of the proofs, I had them delivered to my front door. Amazing work, even better customer service.

A combination of my favorite pictures and all her birth details make it a great card to share the exciting news. I’ll skip the typical Instagram announcement and stick with these any day. 🖤