Newborn photos with 3-week-old Joni

Vicki and Lee were gearing up for another round of IVF treatment when they took part in Veganuary earlier this year – swapping meat for vegan alternatives throughout January.

They cooked up meals such as butternut squash and sweet potato curry in place of their normal meat and two veg. A few weeks later Vicki was surprised and delighted to find that she was pregnant naturally.

Whether it was the change in diet that helped is unknown – all that matters is that Vicki and Lee finally got to have and hold their much-longed-for baby.

Lee admits to being squeamish, so wasn’t sure how he’d fare in the delivery room. Nevertheless, he peeked over to see his daughter’s moment of arrival and now describes it as the best moment of his life.

Lee then spent 20 minutes holding, watching and falling in love with Joni, as her curious eyes adjusted to and explored a new world of light and shadow after nine months in the dark.

Vicki and Lee have known each other since they were 16, and their families have known each other before that, too: Vicki’s dad was even best man at Lee’s dad’s wedding!

The couple had been planning to get married this year but Covid-19 has stalled that plan, for now at least: Joni is the priority for now!

The pandemic has had one silver lining, however. Lee’s finally had the chance to forge ahead with a joint venture with his brother and business is booming already. 🙂

This new family have been showered with gifts: home-knitted blankets, colourful babygros and even a personalised teddy bear – somehow Vicki’s brother and sister-in-law managed to get Joni’s name embroidered on the teddy’s ear and delivered to them already, even though she’s only three weeks’ old!

I’m biased of course but I think the best gift of all came from the informal team of footballers that Lee coaches. They grouped together to get the couple a newborn photoshoot with me, a thoughtful gift that will last forever with images that will bring back happy memories for many, many years to come.

While the boys are kicking a ball around, Vicki prefers to be cooking. She’s started cooking from scratch this year, and now much prefers the taste of fresh ingredients. Lee is a fan, especially of Vicki’s Jalfrezi curry, but basically likes anything that’s hot, spicy and preferably meaty!

Indeed, following our morning newborn photoshoot, the couple headed off to get some lunch: a Balti-filled pastry from Nash’s bakery in town, perhaps. After all, Veganuary is a couple months away still…

After our shoot, Vicki said:

“We had a newborn photo shoot with our baby who was 3 weeks old. The whole experience was very relaxed and enjoyable with Sarah who was so lovely. We couldn’t choose out of the pictures as they were all stunning so we brought all of them!”

Vicki, newborn photography client from Bicester, Oxfordshire

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If you’re interested in newborn portraits or family photography in and around Bicester, Oxfordshire, please get in contact.

Sarah Plater LMPA is an award-winning qualified, certified professional newborn and family portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire. She is the Master Photographers Association Newborn Photographer of the Year 2019 for the Central Region (covering Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire).