"Let them be little, they're only that way for a little while."

~~ Billy Dean

Milestones

Currently available only to newborn clients

One child per session, sitter to age 2

(To include siblings and/or parents, please book Lifestyle)

Sitter/1Yr Milestone sessions are weekday mornings only - no afternoons or weekends

Suggested Milestones

The "sitter" stage is typically around 7 months, but it varies with each baby. Your baby needs to be able to maintain his/her balance while sitting unsupported on the floor for several minutes at a time without toppling over. Rushing it to try to get those "6 month pictures" before the baby has mastered the sitting ability usually results in a frustrating session, for the baby and mom.

The 1 year session is scheduled at about 11 months, for a couple of reasons......one, to allow for gallery turnaround time to get you as many images as possible before the birthday and two, even more importantly, to try to catch them before they're super mobile and able to walk away from the setup space out of the lighting area and away from the camera.

*Note: A 1 year session can be used simply to document their growth, progress, and personality, with a couple of generic outfits, backdrops and minimal props. It doesn't necessarily have to include a birthday celebration setup.

Package Options

What is a "Splash"?

Many babies enjoy playing in water, they tend to relax and forget about performance pressure, and smiles are pretty common during a splash part of a 1 year session. It can also provide the added benefit of clean up from a cake smash. Win win! Various tub options are available, including a child-sized white clawfoot tub, a galvanized washtub for a more rustic vibe, or a large white enameled metal wash bowl. Water options are clear water, bubble bath, or "milk" bath (not real milk, a special bath oil formulated for baby skin that magically turns the water white to resemble milk.) We can also add flowers or fruit like citrus or strawberries, if desired. Splash option details can be chosen on the pre-session form that we will send you about a month before the session.

Cake Smash Tips

It's about the Baby, not the cake

You can elect to bring a cake (cake, cupcake, pancakes, fruit, cookies, donuts, barbecue....whatever food your child likes to eat) or not. Birthday celebration setups are just as cute without food if you choose not to include it. You may opt to capture your own casual "smash" snapshots at the birthday party instead.

If you do decide to include cake, we highly recommend keeping it small, simple, and inexpensive.....white cake/white frosting (the less frosting the better) with minimal lightly colored decorative accents or just a cute cake topper. Actually, "naked cakes" are a popular trend....just a sheer thin coating of white frosting, allowing the cake layers to show through. (Much of the issue that many 1 year olds have with cakes is actually the frosting.....they tend to dislike the texture and the feeling of it on their hands. Fewer of them have a sensory problem with the cake part under the frosting.) Consider asking your baker to do just a "crumb coat".....they'll know what that means.....with a not-too-sweet whipped frosting (instead of buttercream frosting) for a lighter, less sticky texture. A six-inch cake with 2-3 layers is the perfect size to sit in front of them. Even an oversized cupcake will do.

We suggest saving brightly colored theme cakes for their party....the ones smothered in red, blue, green, orange, purple, etc.

Most of all.....no chocolate cake or chocolate frosting, please, and no red velvet cake or red icing. If your baby does actually get into the cake (although most do not) they will look like they're bleeding or smeared in mud (or something worse)....probably not quite what you have in mind for professional portraits, right?

If you do feel it's necessary to have a colorful cake, color can be achieved with an hombre design, like the color swatch cards at the paint store, with the darker shade at the bottom going up to the lightest/white shade at the top where the baby will likely be touching and tasting it.

It's also a good idea to "preview" your child's reaction with a frosted cupcake a few days before the session (and before you special order an expensive cake.) As much as we enjoy cake as adults, it's easy to take for granted that the baby will love it too. Often the photo session is the first experience with the taste and the feel of it on their hands, and it can be disappointing to mom when they reject it, which is very common. (Our conservative estimate through hundreds of cake smashes is 50-60% of them cry and/or try to scramble away from it when pressured to touch it.)

If there is a particular theme and/or color scheme, please let us know at least three weeks before the session. About a month before, we will send you a link to the pre-session planner form to let us know what you have in mind. We usually try to provide most of the props/decorations in birthday setups, which are typically the most time-consuming.....this allows us to have everything in place before you arrive so you (and the baby) don't have to wait an extra 25-30 minutes. We encourage you to send us individual pics of your specific theme/colors/outfits/decorations, either by email or Facebook message or uploading them to the pre-session form. Pinterest page images are fun to look at and easy to send, but many times they are basically useless when they include items that you will not be bringing or do not want included, and it can often require extra back-and-forth correspondence and sometimes lead to miscommunication. Please be specific.