Once in a while your worlds all come together. Because, see, I take pictures of babies for a living. I’m often a birthday party photographer. (More info on booking me for a party is here.) Back when I was a junior in high school, I did a farm semester at The Mountain School up in Vershire, VT and bottle fed Wendell, the baby calf every day for weeks and weeks while I was there. So not only do I love babies, and birthday parties, and animals… but baby animals at a birthday party?? Eek! When my 8 year old and her best friend asked to do a Barn Babies birthday party, I had no idea how much my loves would all come together in one place.
Because guys, here’s what I love.
Groups of children, coming together, being gentle and adoring animals. And um, diapered baby lambs? Obv.
Swaddled kittens? Yes.
My baby girl, Sadie, at her birthday party, blissful? Yes.
Tootsie pictures? WITH A PIGLET??? Yes please.
Sadie’s best friend, cuddling a piglet? Yep.
My 4 year old niece, smooching a (momentarily nervous) kitten? Yes, this.
Soft furry kittens, just in general? Uh-huh.
Both my girls AND my niece, holding a bunny and a kitten? #mindexplodes #toocute
Sweet friends, loving on kittens with their mamas? Yes.
Friends taking quiet time to hold and cuddle? Yep.
Besties adoring bunnies together? Yes, this. This right here.
Oh and just bunnies, bunnies swaddled. Goodness they’re cute.
Barn Babies’ operation, by the way, was impeccable. They somehow dealt with the rain outside completely seamlessly, corralling all 17 children in our playroom and even vacuuming before they left. When I woke up yesterday morning to a downpour on the morning of the party I don’t have to explain to you how deeply my heart sank, just imagining my playroom with farm animals running around. But it was absolutely perfect.
The baby lamb, baby pig and three puppies were in pens that the kids could climb into, and the other babies were swaddled so the children could hold them. Dreamy.
Their presentation was slow and clear, the children understood what they could and couldn’t do, and they adored every minute of the hour we had the animals there.
You know how old these baby chicks are? 5 days old!
I will also bow down to the amazingness of doing a combo birthday party. Wow, what’s better than having your best friend’s mom show up with a homemade ice cream cake that looks like this?
Pretty much nothing, nothing beats it.
And getting to be a birthday party photographer at a party with baby ANIMALS? Perfection.
And so I leave you with this baby girl’s sweet face.
Oink!
