We are on a crunched budget, so I decided early that we were not going to be able to do professional newborn photos, despite how much I thought I wanted them. I went in knowing that the photos I took were not going to be the best quality, but then again, I never had newborn photos when I was a babe, and I don't feel like I missed out. Therefore, I decide to meet half-way and try to do my own set of baby photos.  Lesson learned.

I now understand why newborn photos are expensive, here are a few reasons why it might be worth paying for someone to do your photos.

• Babies have heavy awkward heads. It's hard to place that head on two adorable fists - how do the professionals do that!?

• They pee and poop while naked, we used puppy pads under my blankets.

• They have baby acne and bumps and red blotches that need smoothing by a professional.

• They cry. I have plenty of crying outtakes, and angry baby faces.

• They are jaundice and yellow, more editing please!

• They don't come with adorable photo props, which are expensive!! Oh, and you'll never use the props again.

Regardless, here are a few of my favorites from my attempted newborn photos!  A trick I tried in order to DIY my babe's first snapshots were to take a LOT of photos.  The benefit of doing your own photos is that you can put them all on a massive memory card, and delete them.  Another benefit of DIY newborn photos is the luxury of time.  If your photos didn't turn out today, try again tomorrow.  It's just you and your baby, so you can do 20 photo shoots if you must!  Whatever you choose, have fun with your new baby and enjoy these precious first few weeks!

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