A spring maternity photo session featuring a beautiful mama and baby boy #2 on his way!
This lovely sunset spring maternity photo session celebrates Stephanie, a mama-to-be for the second time! Stephanie, her husband Josh and two-year-old Jax can’t wait to welcome another little guy this summer!
Beautiful mama-to-be in blue
We kicked off this gorgeous family maternity photo session in Humble, TX with Stephanie in a gorgeous floor-length blue dress. With soft blonde waves and dramatic makeup, Stephanie looks absolutely beautiful with her basketball baby bump! Her soft blue dress against a backdrop light greens and yellows give a fairy tale vibe to her maternity photos – and the combination is stunning!
Stephanie’s blue dress is super flattering, accented with nude heels and a jeweled necklace of brown, blue and green tones. Her hubby wore a light blue plaid shirt and well-kept jeans, and two-year-old Jax is precious in his jeans, white button down shirt and blue tennis shoes!
A family maternity session with a toddler – how it works!
Stephanie sent me a message a few weeks before her maternity photos and said her parents planned to tag along during the photo session to help with Jax. While not required, it’s a great idea to have help with a toddler, especially if you have family close by. That allows us to capture couples photos without any worry about your toddler/younger child.
Typically kids at this age do well for photos during the first 20 minutes or so, and then it’s usually helpful if they can take a break from photos. I prefer to start the session with family photos when working with toddlers so that we get the must-have family shots right away. That lessens the stress on mamas and gives us the flexibility to bring a toddler back into the session during our time together without worrying if they don’t want to smile or snuggle!
Don’t miss the sneak peek Stephanie got the day after her maternity session!
If all else fails, cookies always save the day during photo sessions with toddlers – and they definitely helped with Jax! I bring along pre-packaged snacks that won’t stain for little kiddos as these make great incentives for them to smile for photos! For the family shots, I asked Jax’s grandfather to stand behind me and make faces to engage him and get him laughing, with beautiful results!
I also worked in a few moments with just Stephanie and Jax. As a mama of three myself, I remember the feeling of expecting baby #2 and wondering how I could possibly love another child as much as my first. These tender moments of mama and her first boy will always be sweet memories of Jax, before he officially becomes a big brother!
A cream dress and bright flowers
I brought along two options from my client closet for Stephanie to use after she wore her blue dress, including two lacy cream dresses that photograph like a dream!
She wore the high-low cream dress with a light mocha ribbon just above her baby bump for a series of couples photos, surrounded by flowers and so much color! While I encourage mamas to wear at least one floor-length dress for maternity portraits, it never hurts to change things up a little with a shorter option, too!
This was also the perfect opportunity to capture a few shots of Stephanie and Josh holding hands, walking together – I love how adding a little movement to a maternity session really adds variety to the photo gallery!
A flowy lace ivory gown and mama on a staircase
For the last series of photos, Stephanie changed into my strapless ivory lace gown for some mama-only photos on a staircase that wraps down a hill, surrounded by greenery.
I love this particular spot because it’s a wonderful break from all the vibrant greens and pops of color from all the flowers; mamas always stand out against the staircase! This was a wonderful opportunity to show how well this lace gown drapes over Stephanie’s perfect basketball bump. It’s one of my favorite places to work in full-body shots, with mama positioned a couple steps up on the staircase.
Up next: Stephanie and Josh will welcome their second son this summer!
This gorgeous maternity photo session ended far too soon – I could have worked with this beautiful family of almost four for DAYS! They were so easy to work with and Stephanie’s bright smile lights up every single image. She’s soaking up these last few weeks with just Jax, before life changes and baby boy number two joins their family! There is so much happiness ahead as Josh and Stephanie watch their little guys grow up together as the best of friends!
Take a look Stephanie’s fairy tale maternity photo session!
