In retrospect, I should have known what would happen. It's a tradition as old as Alexis, and every year SOMETHING has to complicate the process.
Each and every summer, I find a white dress for Alexis to wear, I pick a few dozen daisies from our garden, and I take Alexis to have her portrait taken at Picture People. The first few years were a piece of cake, but then one year I couldn't find a white dress anywhere. Last year I couldn't find daisies (there weren't any in our garden because we had moved and the transplanted daisies were still cranky). Both are simple tasks in theory, but in reality I just about lost what's left of my mind making it all come together.
I overcompensated this year. I maybe sorta kinda had TWO dresses stashed for months and months and months. I had so many daisies in the yard it looked like they may take over the universe. I even had a Groupon for the photographs, so once I made the appointment to make a little magic, it should have been smooth sailing.
It wasn't.
Let's put it this way--Oh, new parents. You are SO adorable when you take your tiny baby to get his picture taken. SOOO adorable! It's super cute how you bring all those outfit changes and how you ask the photographer to try again and again to get that newborn to smile because you swear you saw him do it that one time three nights ago and surely he will again if only the photographer tries a little harder and blah, blah, blah. Despite the fact that all Picture People photos wind up looking exactly the same no matter what (as evidenced below), you seem to be very insistent that you get five poses of your little man in his blue polo shirt with plaid shorts, another six poses of him in his board shorts, four more of him in a suit, and don't forget the dozen of him in his sweater vest and slacks! No worries that he's still basically a blob and can't do anything but blobby blob blob his self in a bean bag chair. I'm sure you ended up with dozens of unique photos that you will cherish forever.
We ended up waiting well over an hour past our appointment time. You know, that appointment time that was first thing in the morning because it wasn't my first rodeo and I'm not dumb enough to schedule anything for the afternoon. Ever tried to keep a bored kid from destroying a white sundress and her perfectly braided hair for over an hour? It's really fun, especially when you have a bored husband on your hands. I'm not sure which one of them complained more about the situation, but I really wish they would have taken their complaints to either the parents or photographer responsible for the delay.
(Side note: Oh, new parents. If you truly want a ton of unique poses and wardrobe changes and a photographer who will take the time to get a smile out of your baby? DON'T GO TO THE FREAKIN' MALL. Hire a real photographer. I can even give you the contact information for a few who will do a fantastic job. The Picture People is for generic, fast, "adequate" photos. That's it.)
Anyway, it took two trips to the mall and a whole lot of patience to complete the mission this year, but it's done. Thank goodness.
And now I might just have to buy the lighting equipment I would need to take the damn photographs myself next year. Maybe.
2006--The window for naked baby photos is very narrow, so I took full advantage of it and skipped the dress the first year.
2007--Newly walking babies cannot be expected to do anything except run in circles, which is exactly what Alexis did that year.
2008--This level of cooperation has only been seen at The Picture People. I have no clue why that is.
2009--The daisies looked GOOD that year. Too bad the guy who bought our old house killed them all. (I moved some to the new house. They're still working their way back to amazing.)
2010--The posing thing still baffles me. Why is it that when *I* hold a nearly identical camera, the kid's face gets buried in the sand?
2011--We waited so long the daisies were wilted. First time that had ever happened.