I couldn’t be happier that we decided to do another maternity shoot. We did one for Luca when I was around 37 weeks pregnant (you can see that here) and for whatever reason, this time around, I just didn’t feel as glowy. I didn’t want to take photos, but it’s kind of like a workout – you never regret a workout. You never regret taking photos to capture a memory for eternity! So, to my fellow mamas who are feeling swollen and bloated these last few weeks of your pregnancy – just do it!
For this shoot, I didn’t want anything formal. With Luca, we went to a local park and took photos of us all dressed up (well, I was in a dress and Lu was in a button down) and I love those photos so much. This time around, we wanted something that was more of a reflection of where we are in life right now, and walking to a park to take photos seemed disingenuous. While we love going to the park with Luca, we also love spending our mornings in the apartment, playing, snuggling in bed, and dancing in the kitchen. So, I went with that theme, and we did all of the photos in our apartment!
Luca was adorable – he wanted to kiss and hug my belly a lot, so we got a lot of cute photos! He also loves using mama’s camera when I shoot food photography for Inspiralized, so he gets really excited whenever Erin Dwyer comes over to take photos, because she has an even fancier camera setup. He wanted to use her camera, so I ended up letting him hold my camera and he stood next to Erin and started pretending to take photos – it was so, so cute and Erin captured a few of those moments! We were dying.
And like last time, I did some more boudoir-style maternity shots. They’re always modest, because that’s just how I am – I would never feel comfortable enough doing fully naked photos for these shoots and the photos would reflect that. I recommend doing what’s comfortable for you and don’t feel pressured to take certain photos because you feel like you “should.” You know your limits. For me, it’s bra and underwear and something like a shirt or cardigan to cover up. I loved every photo!
Outfits
In case you guys want to recreate these looks:
- Jeans by GAP (maternity)
- Button down shirt by GAP (maternity)
- Tank top by GAP (maternity)
- Tan cardigan, old by GAP (similar here)
- Black bra by Bravado Designs
- Black undies by Natori (maternity)
- Pink nightie by LAKE Pajamas
More of our favorites
Maternity leave
So what does maternity leave look like for me? I’m going to play it by ear. It’s definitely going to be tempting to go back to work sooner, because I’ll have our nanny with Luca already, but I’m going to try my hardest to take at least 2 solid months of absolutely no work (like, no new recipes/cooking/etc), but I always will be on social media, writing new posts on the lifestyle section (can’t wait to share baby girl’s birth story!), and that sort of thing.
With Luca, I was able to take 5 months off before going back to work full time (I started with my first work project at 6 weeks postpartum – I had a photoshoot for my cookbook and then worked part time up until Luca was 5 months old.) When you own your own business, it’s kind of impossible to completely check out, but time with my family is very important, so I’m going to try my best to spend time with the new baby girl and Luca, of course. It’ll be nice to be home and be able to see him more.
Having said all that, I have a wonderful assistant that works for me that will be taking over the reigns. We have content for the main recipe blog planned out until mid September, so luckily, I won’t need to plan any new recipe content until then, giving me at least 2.5 months off completely from feeling that pressure. We hustled to get everything done!
There will be new recipes, recipe cooking videos, and more coming your way and some new posts here and there as I transition into a mom of two! As always, stay tuned on Instagram for daily life updates!
Thank you for your patience and understanding as I take time with my family and welcome our new baby girl.
All photography by Erin Dwyer Photography.
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