I was so excited to hear about the arrival of this little one! When this Mom emailed me about their newborn shoot, one of the first things that she said to me is that they didn’t get to do newborn photos with their first child because he was in the hospital for the first 9 weeks of his life. We didn’t talk more about it – assuming she’d tell me more when we met in person. Regardless – I could tell that this was going to be special for them and I looked forward to being the one to help capture some memories as they added a new little lady to their clan.
When I arrived, I was greeted at the door by a big brother who proudly told me his name – and proceeded to head over to the couch where Mom was sitting to introduce his little sister. He seemed to be very curious about all of my “stuff” that I was bringing into the house, so I let him help me carry some baskets of blankets – a task that he was extremely proud to help with… and once I got everything set up in the kitchen – this little lady was already asleep so we went to work! And while she opened her eyes up throughout the 3 hours I was there, I swear I barely heard her make a peep! Sweet little thing…
And right there keeping an eye on me while I worked with his baby sister was this guy – who had such an awesome little personality that I fell in love with even more once Mom told me what he’s endured. I learned he had a Congenital Heart Defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome that resulted in him having an open heart surgery at just 5 days old… and then at 6 months old … and then again at 2 years old. And if that wasn’t enough, he suffered a paralyzing stroke during the third surgery. As she was telling me this, this little guy was giggling, flirting with my camera and zipping around the house with the energy of any other kid his age. Had she not told me that, or had I not seen this guy’s scar that he seems to already wear with the same sense of pride that any superhero would – you would have no idea that this sweet little soul had gone through so much. And what I love is that Mom told me this story with a sense of courage… and later told me that they want him to be proud of “his story, his scar, his history and how much he’s overcome.” A true testament to how amazing this family is … and what a cool character this one is…
And after some time using his bed as a trampoline…
He found some time to love up on his little sister… and so did the rest of the gang…