Family and sibling photos of twins Dexter and Indie

January 2021 update: The above portrait has just been awarded a Highly Commended Rosette by the Master Photographers Association (MPA). Ray Lowe, Chairman of the MPA, commented, “I think this is gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. I love the sweep and flow of the material [and] I think the lighting is excellent. And I just love this because when you’ve got twins you’ll always have one doing something the other doesn’t do, they very rarely do identical things. You’ve got depth; you’ve got texture; you’ve got quality in the whites; the skin tone is beautiful. Technically [and] photographically that is beautiful. I love the way you’ve put the little teddy in. Quite beautiful. That is quite, quite superb… it is sheer perfection.”

Read on to find out Dexter and Indie’s story…

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“So this is your first scan?” The sonographer asked.

Amber nodded.

“You won’t already know then that you’re having twins?” The sonographer said, smiling.

Amber hadn’t known that. And her partner, Alex, had no idea, either. He was stuck waiting outside the hospital, not allowed to come in due to Covid-19 restrictions.

He text to ask how the scan was going, sending an emoji of a mum and dad with a baby.

‘More like this…” Amber replied, adding an emoji of a mum and dad with twin babies.

Alex did what most of us would in that situation… that is, assume it was a prank, a wind-up. It wasn’t until Amber came out of the hospital with a scan picture marked ‘Twin A’ and ‘Twin B’ that Alex realised that he was about to have two babies, not one.

I asked Amber if the twins helped to calm each other down, and she told me that the opposite was more often the case: one baby would start crying and that would set the other off. Nevertheless, Amber and Alex have found staying calm has made all the difference (that, and an automatic bottle maker!).

When both twins are well-rested and well-fed, though, they love sharing each other’s company and are utterly fascinated by each other. If they are within reaching distance, they’ll grab and hold on to the other’s hand and sometimes share a smile, too.

Another advantage of having twins is a slight relaxation of some of the coronavirus restrictions. Normally, only one parents is allowed in the high dependency unit, but for multiple births it’s one parent per baby.

When they finally made it home and lockdown lifted enough for them to attend baby sensory classes, the same rule applied. Alex worked in the morning then took the afternoon off so he could be there.

Alex is just as hands-on in every aspect of parenthood and gets (rightly) irritated by assumptions that he wouldn’t be deeply involved in his children’ lives just because he is a man.

Indeed, Amber and Alex are a marvellously smooth multi-tasking machine, deftly passing nappies, outfits, bottles and babies between them as they both run through the many actions required to keep their babies safe, healthy and happy throughout our family photoshoot.

Indie is super alert and doesn’t like to spend too much time sleeping (just like her dad, who gets up at 7am even on days off, to avoid wasting the day). She’ll happily doze off in mum or dad’s arms, but as soon as they try to lay her down, her eyes snap open, like a reverse Baby Annabell doll.

Dexter loves his sleep, and prefers to snooze for longer, which is why this image so perfectly represents these twins:

With Amber and Alex’s Christmas shopping almost complete, and plans for a small family celebration on the day itself, I just know these two littles will be stealing the show:

So although finding out that they were expecting twins was the biggest surprise of their lives, now Amber and Alex couldn’t imagine life any other way 🙂

After our photoshoot, Amber said:

“Couldn’t be happier with the pictures Sarah had taken of my family! My twins are 15 weeks and I was worried as to whether we would get many good ones of them together as they can get quite cranky when they want sleep but she was very patient and able to entertain them! We will forever cherish these pictures.”

Amber, family photography client from Kidlington, Oxfordshire

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If you’re interested in updating your family photos please do get in contact.

Sarah Plater LMPA is an award-winning qualified, certified professional newborn, child, 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).