A Beautiful RAWR

Houston Style, Fitness, and Mom Blogger

Our Family Maternity Shoot

I am SO excited to share these beautiful photos of our family maternity shoot with Houston photographer Katie from Katie Hill Photography  from a few weeks ago.   If you remember, she also captured these wonderful maternity photos from another styled shoot I did for Pink Blush Maternity a while back.  She is such a gem to work with and I can’t say enough wonderful things about her!  So easy going, flexible & patient (a must when photographing toddlers), and really efficient with her time.
Going into this shoot, I had some anxiety because I knew Marli would be super shy being photographed by a stranger so I’ll share my 7 TIPS ON HOW TO SURVIVE A PHOTO SHOOT WITH A TODDLER  below.

I’ve made it a point to capture more professional photos of us as a family this year because we barely have any quality ones where all 3 (well, soon to be 4) are ALL together in the photo. Plus, I think it’ll help with Marli’s timidness as you’ll see in the photos below.  I couldn’t get 1 smile out of her, but thankfully, there were no meltdowns and after some coaxing (and bribes), she cooperated for a few photos.

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​TIP 1: PREPARE HER FOR THE SHOOT – I told Marli and kept reminding her the days leading up to the shoot as well as on the ride over to the park so she knew what we were doing.

TIP 2: FEED YOUR TODDLER – Yes, you never want a hangry baby or toddler so I made sure she was fed. I also packed her favorite snacks (and by snacks, I mean treats that she only gets when she’s rewarded for doing something great).  I packed gummy bears, fruit bars, juice, and some crackers.

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TIP 3: AVOID NAP TIMES – Try not to schedule a shoot around nap time. An overtired toddler is no fun.  We had a choice of 9am or 3pm so I picked the morning slot because Marli usually takes naps btwn 12-3pm on the weekends.
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TIP 4: PACK TOYS  – I packed her 1 toy and our iPad so she could play games during the waiting period.

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TIP 5: KNOW THE LOCATION & ARRIVE 10 MINUTES EARLY – This is self-explanatory. Just don’t arrive too early because toddlers start to get antsy.
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TIP 6: BRING HELP – If you can, ask someone to join you for the shoot to help watch your toddler if you’re taking any solo pictures.  For me, that was my husband.
TIP 7: HAVE A GAME PLAN – By this, I mean an order of how you’re going to take photos.  Luckily, we were able to park right by the shoot location so we didn’t have to walk far.  I decided to break the shoot into 3 smaller segments – solo pics, family pics, and then photos with just Toko & I.  My husband stayed in the car with Marli while I shot some looks alone and she played with her iPad.  Then, they joined me for our family photos. And lastly, I wanted some photos with just him so we put Marli back in the car seat, gave her some treats, and she was good.  By doing this, we were able to get everything done in an hour and didn’t waste time chasing a toddler around.
I loved these family pictures Katie captured of us (even with no smile from Miss M).  I remembered telling my husband “just keep smiling like you’re as happy as ever because Katie is just going to snap a bunch of images.” Haha
Marli looked so cute in her little outfit from Old Navy, but can someone tell me why she looks like she’s 5?!?! (On another note, she will be 3 in a couple months…omg!)
Luckily, she didn’t throw a tantrum and after a little pep talk (that’s what I was doing above in the photo), I was able to persuade her to take a few pictures with her momma and even got a kiss out of her 🙂 Heart melts…
Now for some pictures with my main squeeze.
I definitely researched some poses for this shoot because with a growing belly, not all angles are complimentary to your body so I took to Pinterest for help.  And of course I “coached” my hubby on some of his poses too to get the best photos.
I told him to give me his sexiest smolder look and we both ended up laughing at his failed attempt. LOL
But seriously, I do love him so…
Special thanks to Katie for these amazing photos we will cherish forever with our growing family!
Thank you for following along, lovelies! Have a beautiful Thursday!
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Comments

  4. Melanie Pickett says

    These are so beautiful. What a lovely family and these photos are a treasure. I’m 40-something so nobody did maternity photo shoots when I was pregnant so I have very few just candid photos of my baby bellies and I wish I had some precious photos like these. Prayers for you and your family!

    Reply

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