Treasured images of our sweet baby girl and us, as a family of four.

Rachel Manzke has been capturing the chapters of our lives for several years now. When she couldn’t commit to being there for Vivian’s birth due to a mix of a needed surgery, the holidays, and work, we were grateful she recommended Anya Wait Photographer to document the birth of our rainbow baby.

Once Vivian arrived, we set a date for her newborn photo session with Rachel. These images are wonderful and all of them are favorites. It’s been a pleasure to watch my friend’s skills and passion improve over the years and her studio space allowed for variety and elegance. And warmth on a cold January day!

Vivian was absolutely amazing for this session which lasted nearly four hours! With a nursing session and a couple extra ounces of pumped milk, combined with an 80-degree temperature setting in the studio, she slept through it all! And Connie was pretty great too, however, the images do deceive some. She was ready for the session to be wrapped after the first set up and sitting still is not a skill or favorite activity many two-year-old have. We got the smiles and documentation I hoped for and again, I have images to treasure always.

The rainbow hat was handmade and generously gifted to us by my cousin. Rachel was kind enough to locate and incorporate the rainbow heart and headband for subtle hints of our rainbow baby’s documentation and theme. And as we did with Connie’s images, we incorporated my baby blanket handmade and gifted to my mother more than 38 years ago.

I did a lot of comparing between Connie’s and Vivian’s images. There are certainly similarities, but differences too. (Click here to see Connie’s birth story and click here to see her newborn images taken almost three years ago.) Below, Connie is in the top image in 2015 and Vivian in the hammock pose.