Lauren organised a homemade photoshoot of her newborn, Oliver. Let’s take a look and find out more…
Tell us a bit about yourself…
My name is Lauren and I have a three-year-old son called Joshua, and an 8-week old son called Oliver.
I gave birth to Oliver on 20-03-20, three days before official lockdown, so nobody has met or cuddled him yet, they’ve only seen him through the window or via video message.
I live in Kent with my husband Richard who is currently working from home during this pandemic. We have been trying to keep busy and keep a happy, fun balance in the house. It’s difficult some days because my son was attending nursery, and he misses it very much, so I try to do the same things he would have been doing there. Lots of learning activities, crafts, making salt dough handprints, etc. All in between spending time with Oliver and feeds and bum changes!
Tell us about the photo shoot…
One morning, we decided to do a photoshoot of Oliver on a washing line, as I had seen lots of them and thought I’d give it a go. Oliver is a very laid back baby, and smiles loads, just like his big bro, so doing these photos were a breeze. We had also cancelled a professional baby shoot due to the pandemic, so these are something to treasure and look back on with a smile.
Joshua has had lots of fun helping me with these, as his new little brother was born at the start of lockdown, we wanted something to do which involved them both. It has also helped Joshua get used to Oliver a lot more, and in a way, this lockdown has really helped with their bonding, because at the very start, Joshua was very unsure of him.
The photo shoots were very easy to do and didn’t take very long. We had to time it right, so Oliver had just had a feed or sleeping so he was snuggly during the photo of “the claw”.
Some of the props we used were from the toucan box craft box Joshua receives monthly, along with lots of Joshua’s toys which he loved choosing which ones to use.
Other items included coloured card, white baby Muslins, kitchen foil and paper plates.
What’s next on the agenda?
I have a lot more ideas for photos, and people keep sending me ideas asking me to do different ones haha. but we have plenty of time to do more. I use Instagram as a bit of a daily blog/diary of what we get up to and that’s called the_dyer_boys.
How has spending lots of time inside the house been for you all?
I can’t wait for lockdown to eventually be over, so my boys can see their grandparents again and for them to actually meet our newborn. Although some days are a little more difficult, I’ve had the best 8 weeks in lockdown with my family, especially having my husband at home because usually the dads just have two weeks with their newborns, then head straight back to work. So we are thankful to have him here and enjoy the time with his boys. Even if he is now working from home.
