Family Pictures

When we went to take our first family Christmas photo in Nov. 07, I had done bath duty the night before (something I never did because it was Doug's job) and had put the baby oil in Wyatt's hair after the shampoo. As I brushed his hair in the car the next morning while Doug drove, only then did I realize my mistake, so we had to swing into my brother's house, wash Wyatt's hair to get the oil out, blow-dry it, and then head out again. Chaos. This past Christmas, my mom got a stomach virus on the morning we were to take the babies and Wyatt to get their Santa picture taken; she sent daddy in her place. Only after the picture was taken did I realize he had put Amelia's dress on backwards and left her hair ribbon at home.

So, I decided this Easter's pictures would not repeat any of those mistakes. Yesterday, I diligently ironed all our outfits so everything would be ready. All the shoes and baby outfits were in the van, the hairbrush was packed, and Wyatt's treats were stuffed aplenty in my purse--I was prepared. Then, last night, Amelia cried every 30 minutes from 3:30 until I got her up at 7:30, so we were not well rested. As my bleary-eyed self went to put on Wyatt's outfit, I discovered that even though I tried it on him about a month ago, in that short period of time, he's had a huge growth spurt so that now the suspenders were too short. I thought he was looking taller, but honestly! The result: he couldn't wear the outfit even if I moved the buttons, so I had to call my mom and have her iron and bring over my brother's little white suit from when he was 2.

At the studio, as soon as we sat down for the first picture, Emerson started fussing, bucking, and crying. I kinda expected that, so I would have been ok with crying babies in the photos. But the photographers had jingle bells, and as long as they were ringing, Emerson would quit crying. My mom also took turns calming down Emerson and handing him back to Doug for more pics. Without her, I would not have even attempted the pictures, and apparently, I'm not alone in this thought--every woman in there with a baby had her mom with her. In the end, we got some surprisingly good shots where nobody is crying and everybody's eyes are open. Sure, the babies have the deer-in-headlights looks, but what do you expect from 5-month-olds who don't get flashing lights in their face every day?

We almost had a disaster when they pulled down the spring background--it's like unrolling a super-long scroll that's hung from the ceiling and then we sit on part of the scroll to take the picture. The "floor" of the background looked like brick, and a brick path wound toward the back where it appeared there was a pond. Pretty realistic 3-D image. Too realistic. Wyatt didn't see them pull the screen down, and when he came in, he looked at it and started "walking the path" towards the back. We caught him just as he was stepping on the background part that wasn't flat on the floor. I can just envision him ripping it down.

Our outing ended with lunch at La Madeleine's with Aunt Liza. REAL food, not Chick-fil-A kids' meals, which is our normal fare! Wyatt thought it was grand to sit outside to eat his soup, Liza's chicken, and jelly-bread. Then, the sparrows arrived--they must've seen Wyatt and knew he'd be an easy target since he requests to "feed duck bread" weekly. And sure enough, Wyatt threw one of Liza's croutons to the bird, which promptly took it and flew off. But, in the end, his own desires (versus the birds' hunger) won out, and he ate the rest of the croutons himself.

Thankfully, we don't have to do pictures again until November. I'm exhausted.