Pictures--A Necessary Evil

I got a new camera for my birthday. I love it. It makes such a difference in the pictures I have been able to take. There's nothing evil about that camera, or the pictures it takes.

The necessary evil I am talking about is getting professional pictures taken of babies and toddlers (you HAVE to--because they change so much during the first year). But getting those pictures taken is always a painful experience.

We got pictures of Jonathan taken in the hospital. I'm glad we did, but at the same time, my babies look completely different as newborns. It usually takes my babies one to three months before they start to look like "themselves." Before then, you really don't know exactly what they're going to look like. So, while the newborn pictures from the hospital are very sweet, they look nothing like Jonathan.

I have been meaning to plan a trip to get some pictures taken of Jonathan and Peter for quite some time. In my wishful thinking, I was hoping to get to my pre-baby weight and get some family pictures taken around Jonathan's 3 month mark. However, by that time, I hadn't lost any of my baby weight yet and I was not about to document my pudginess in family pictures that could last for the rest of forever. I figure that those family pictures can become a reality around Jonathan's 7 or 8 month mark.

When I realized that I wasn't going to reach my weight goal in time for family pictures around the 3 month mark, I changed my direction and decided to at least get pictures of Peter and Jonathan. But there seemed to be something scheduled every Saturday and it's always so rough to get pictures taken in the evenings (I mean, you have to wait for the hubby to get home, eat dinner, and rush out of the house--in addition to negotiating baby nap times and feedings). And in my defense, if you are saying to yourself in your mind "Well, why didn't she just go during the day by herself without Jeremiah?" then you don't know my son, Peter. I couldn't have done it without Jeremiah's help!

But time kept passing and I decided that it was a now or never situation. Jonathan was quickly approaching his 5 month mark (which he just hit this week) and I wanted to get pictures before that happened. Our Saturdays were naturally booked, so I reluctantly scheduled a picture session on a Monday night.

I figured we could grab fast food, eat in the car, get the boys dressed once we reached our destination (because of course, we couldn't let Pete eat while we were driving and still expect his clothes for the pictures to stay clean), take pictures, get home, and put the boys to bed. Whew!

Well, we got there (JC Penney) and they were way behind schedule. So, my 6:20 p.m. appointment time became 6:40 p.m....then 7 p.m....then finally 7:10 p.m. As is the way with kids, Peter ate hardly anything on our drive over, so he was hungry and riled up by the excitement of getting pictures and the frustration of having to wait forever to actually do it. Jonathan could have had his evening nap on the drive over, but of course he didn't, so by the time we were ready for pictures, he was tired and hungry (in addition to having spit up on his outfit...you can see a little wet spot on his pants in one of the pictures where I cleaned the spit up off. Also, I know this is snotty, but Jonathan wouldn't have spit up on himself if we had started taking pictures on time).

And even though I had high hopes that we could perhaps get a picture of the two boys together, that hope didn't come to fruition because Peter would only hold Jonathan for about a split second and then he would decide he was done and try and push Jonathan off of his lap. Sigh. Lovely!

Jonathan is the most happy-go-lucky guy ever and he smiles at EVERYTHING. Well, guess who smiled at basically nothing that night? If you guessed Jonathan, you are right! Peter didn't quite understand the concept of getting pictures taken (basically, the concept of staying put and smiling on cue), so he was all over the place.

I was so frustrated and angry. We got barely any good shots of the boys because they were tired, cranky, riled up, and hungry. And after that, it took forever to get the pictures ordered. In addition to that, they were pricey and I had to spend a lot more than I thought I would. We got there at 6:15 p.m. and didn't leave until 8:15 p.m. (the boys' scheduled bed time is 8:30 p.m.). We didn't get them in bed until 9:30 p.m. It was a horrible night.

But, you wouldn't know it from the best of the best pictures, which are quite cute. So, it was a frustrating and over-priced experience, but I guess it's just one of those things to chalk up as a learning experience. But if anyone has any suggestions for places that we could get pictures from at a reasonable price, I'd love to hear about them! And we've already tried Kiddie Kandids. The last time we went, we had a cackling photographer who basically scared Peter rather than making him smile, so a lot of his pictures look very unsure and fearful. :)

Anyway, enjoy the best of the best pictures.








Above: All of the pictures of Jonathan turned out cute, but this is the only picture that I really LOVED. This is Jonathan heart and soul. He is so sweet and smiley. The photographer missed a few other really cute smiles (he seriously only gave me about 5 genuine smiles during the whole photo shoot--and this was really the only one that she captured). If the photographer hadn't gotten this smile, I honestly think I would have walked out without ordering anything!

But enough complaining! The pictures are cute and it is in the past! The only reminders that still remain are some pretty darn cute pictures.