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While we were at the cabin over the fourth of July weekend, I got a call and message on my cell phone from the modeling agency in Minneapolis that Mckenna is a part of, and they wanted her for another photo shoot that next week, after the holiday weekend.
Many parents have heard of the baby brand, Halo. Even if you haven't used them on your own kids, you may have seen them used in a hospital or sold in baby stores. We were really familiar with Halo because our sister-in-law Jessica has used their products with all of their kids, and the hospital where Mckenna was born wrapped all of the babies in the Halo swaddle. And now that she is older and out of the swaddling phase, she wears Halo's wearable blanket to sleep overnight and for naps. At first I wanted to try the products because I knew Jessica and Brad were very happy with them for their kids, and also because I liked the idea that they helped reduce the risk of SIDS by eliminating the need for a loose blanket. Now we still use them with Mckenna because of those reasons, but also because she is comfortable with it on, stays warm, and sleeps well. So I was excited to hear that Halo wanted Mckenna for a two-day shoot for their print ads. This would be fun!
Here is Mckenna all snuggly in her Halo swaddle at Fairview Southdale Hospital. It's hard to remember her ever being this small - what a little cutie peanut! :)
Inside Out Studios in Eden Prairie, where the Halo photo shoot took place.
All ready to go! It's a bit hard to see, but this is an example of one of her outfit changes. Halo not only has the Sleep Sack swaddles (for newborns and small infants), but also the wearable blanket, which is what she was modeling for the two days of the photo shoot. For those of you that haven't ever seen these, they are the same feel as a light blanket, and are literally a sack - the feet, legs, and torso go in the sack and it is zipped down from the top (so the child can't get at the zipper) and there are holes for arms. They also sell the same idea for toddlers, but with holes for the feet.
Halo has a lot of different products, including coordinating PJs, so Mckenna always had on both a printed pajama and the wearable blanket. Over two days shooting (about 2-3 hours each day) she literally changed about 40-50 times total - from cotton, to fleece, to fuzzy velboa, from solid colors to cute prints. I didn't know they had so many options! Matt and I were both able to be there for both days (gotta love that summer teacher schedule!) and we were with her the entire time, changed her clothes, etc. It was fun to be a part of the process! And this was about a week after we got home from Mexico, and you can still see the bit of sun in her face from the trip - she still has that vacation "glow." :)
Hanging out in between shoots. Mckenna was teething and had her top two middle teeth coming in, but even through all that she was a happy camper. The Halo people couldn't get over what a good girl she is - they loved her!
Before we came to the Halo shoot, we were told, "It's okay if Mckenna falls asleep during the shoot." Great news for all involved! Since all of their products are sleep related, they didn't mind and actually encouraged a sleeping baby. So in between shoots, when I knew that we had a few minutes longer break, I gave Mckenna a bottle around her regular afternoon nap time, and she fell right to sleep. One of the Halo woman came running over to us waiting on this couch when she saw that Mckenna was asleep, and said, "Do you think you could change her outfit and keep her asleep?" We tried it, she stayed asleep, and they got some great sleeping shots... I'm pretty sure I remember one of the Halo marketing woman literally jumping up and down, she was so happy to get those pictures.
We weren't able to take pictures on the sets while they were shooting, for obvious reasons, but also because with all of their lighting they had - our little camera flash washed out all of the light from the pictures. They took a few perfect shots of her sleeping, and then we had another break and she was able to stay in a dark and quieter spot in the studio to finish her nap - in the crib that they took her pictures in. How perfect is that? How nice would it be to get paid to nap? Sign me up! :)
This is a nursery set, one of many different scenes that they had laid out in the large studio. So when they were done shooting Mckenna sleeping here, they went to a different set with another baby. You can see Mckenna snoozing at the bottom of the picture. From my business teacher perspective, it was interesting to see all of the behind the scenes work... they had all different ages and ethnicities of kids - from 3 months old to age 5 or 6. They also had young adult models as parents, and older models as grandparents. There were siblings playing on a bed shots, parents standing by the child in a crib shots, and shots with grandma and grandpa rocking the baby in this rocker. It was fun to see all of that. And now I have more interesting real-life marketing stories to share with my students in business class. :)
When Mckenna woke up from her nap, I snuggled with her in the rocking chair for a few minutes. This was the second day of shooting, and after her nap she just had a couple more outfit changes before we were done for the day. After leaving the studio, we got a quick bite to eat on our way home. As Mckenna napped again while we were eating, Matt and I talked about how well she did and how much fun it was for her to be a part of. Except for her nap, she was smiling and giggling and having a ball. The Halo people at the shoot were so impressed with her sweet personality and happy disposition.
The pictures that they took over those two days could be in national Halo ads, on their website, on their packaging, Babies R Us ads, etc. When they let us know where and when her pictures will be in ads, I will post and let you know! We're not too crazy about doing this all of the time, but if the agency calls us and we're available, then we think it's a fun and unique opportunity for Mckenna while she's young. It will be so fun to have the pictures and memories to show her and share with her when she's older. And she'll have a small start to her future college fund, so that's not a bad thing either. As long as she seems to have fun doing this and it reasonably fits into our schedule, it works out well for everybody. It's also nice to have a little "field trip" to go on - it gets us out of the house and gives us a change of scenery, which is always a good thing with an energetic and curious child! :)
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