Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep
I have a confession to make. Remember how I spent a lot of time on Kennedy’s nursery making it perfect. We were finishing it until 10 o’clock the night before my scheduled c-section. Well, Kennedy doesn’t sleep there. She’s napped in there maybe 3 times. See, her nursery is all the way on the other side of the house. No, we don’t live in a huge mansion. But, a baby shouldn’t be THAT far away from her mommy, right?
Our pediatrician suggested that we move her out of our room. To help her and us sleep better. We’re thinking about putting Kennedy in Brayden’s room and turning her room into a playroom. I don’t want to do that until she is sleeping better through the night. So, where did we move her?
Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35 2.8
F 2.8, 1/40, ISO 500
580 EX II Flash (see below)
Into our closet. Before you call CPS we have a really big closest. We’ve even contemplated making that into her room. It’s just temporary and she doesn’t mind! She sleeps way better in our closet than she did in our room! Whatever works, right?
*** We have no windows in our closet so I had no choice but to use my Speedlite for this shot. Flash photography is not my expertise (and I really hate flash), but for this shot I angled the head of the flash so it bounced off the wall behind me. If I were to angle it right at Kennedy it would have created a harsh shadow behind her.
When using flash your shutter speed can be lower because the flash freezes the action. I use a slower shutter speed to let in more ambient light. So the shot doesn’t look overly flashy. You don’t want to go too low because you still can have motion blur, but using flash allows you to go much lower than when you aren’t shooting with flash.
With flash it’s really trial and error for me. Just play around and see what works best for you!
About DrewB
I’ve started this blog as a way to connect with other moms who love photography. Whether you are a professional photographer who is looking for advice on how to manage your own business and your family or if you are a mom who is looking for tips on how to take better pictures of your kids, I hope that you can find some good information and be inspired!
Haha! I love this! She looks so adorable and happy
Bobbie Brown´s last [type] ..Emerson
this makes me smile
because for the last 2 weeks our son (13mths) has been sleeping in our bathroom… we live in europe and in the midst of the deep freeze it was the warmest room in the house (with a heated floor) and the darkest room. we only have one bedroom in our apartment and he also sleeps in a pack n play. thankfully i don’t think the CPS exists here, and he’s a much happier baby, and is taking longer naps!
krista´s last [type] ..Delight Yourself in the Lord
couldn’t help but giggle when i saw this! so cute
My daughter is a 15 months, and for the past 14 months she has gotten up every 2-3 hours at night.. Finally I had had enough, I put her in her own room and she sleep through the night! It was a really hard decision for us to make, but it had to be done!
Rest assured you are not the only mom that has done this! We have a story and a half house-master on bottom floor bedrooms upstairs. My son was a preemie and came home on a monitor. I didn’t like him being upstairs so he moved into our master closet as well. It was only for awhile but it worked.
I have some friends that have a HUGE closet. The people that lived in the house before them had made it into their baby’s nursery! You are not alone!
Super cute pic!
AmyC´s last [type] ..Preschool Photography
I have twins and we seperated them and put one in our closet for a month or so : ) she slept better in their than she did in her room!
Oh no! I meant there! Not their! And it won’t let me delete! Hahaha.
cutest post ever!
HaHa… We totally put our kids in our closet!!! Love it!
Lucy and Brady share a room. We turned Brady’s closet into her nook. We took the closet doors off and painted the walls a seafoam green. Its so cute ad perfect for her! Brady still gets to have his space and she loves sleeping in their with him.
paige´s last [type] ..rainbow
You just have to do what you can do.
That’s always been my perspective. We lived in a tiny apartment when our son was born and his room was right across the hall….we still let him sleep in our room.
Courtney Kirkland´s last [type] ..Why I Do What I Do
I love it! Carter sleeps in the closet anytime we go out of town. It’s nice a dark in there for him and we can still move around the room while he’s sleeping without disturbing him. You do what you have to do!
Kelly´s last [type] ..Dinner Out on the Town
our third child doesn’t even HAVE a room
Right now she’s in a co-sleeper next to my bed. When she starts sleeping through the night (or I get sick of nursing her in the middle of the night!), I’ll probably move her to our humongous closet, too 
You are not alone!
Jess´s last [type] ..Wordless Wednesday: Daddy’s Girl
Don’t feel bad! Our 2 year old just moved out of our walk-in closet into her own room. It felt totally strange to put a 2yo in a crib for the very first time, but she loved sleeping in the Pack N Play in our closet, and I loved having her close by. You do what works, right?
We built a loft bed into our closet and that is where my son sleeps…and he loves it!
lara´s last [type] ..Sweet Evan.
look at her sweet face!
sleeping baby = happy baby & rested parents. That’s what counts!
Ada´s last [type] ..Becky Higgins 12 Days of Christmas
Shared bedrooms are my fave. Playrooms that you can shut the door on, also a fave. Babies that sleep (who cares where) are my super duper fave.
Julie´s last [type] ..Happy Sunday.
I have a 380EX so thanks for the tips to slow down the shutter speed. I was always shooting at the fastest possible! DOH! I also find that a smaller aperture works nice to focus the flash on the subject and makes the background nice and dark (sometimes)
Lisa´s last [type] ..March Photo a Day 2 "Fruit"
In our old home, we had a his and hers closet with a multi-level home so we made one of the closets a nursery for easier access and it turned out wonderfully. We just learned to share a closet and I taught my husband how to organize his things
The pictures at the bottom of the post are much better with better lighting but this was the closet we made into a nursery:
http://hibnerfamily.com/2008/03/31/averys-nursery/