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May 16, 2011

Don't You Know How to Make Your Children Happy???

There are few things more stressful for me than a scheduled photo shoot.

I know, I know…if that tops my list, I should count myself pretty lucky…and I do…

…but having prepaid for my sessions and having so incredibly many things that could go wrong? Cue a night or two spent tossing and turning, and intermittent cold sweats.

What if someone wakes up with a pimple? Or runs into the door frame and gets a big bruise? Or worse yet, what if the girls run into each other and are both black and blue?

What will they wear? I want something that is classic, yet wearable…something that speaks to our day and time and the girls’ age, but that won’t look like the equivalent of M.C. Hammer pants in 20 years.

And what if somebody sneezes and gets a boogie on her perfectly chosen dress? Or sits down against a big ball of dust hidden somewhere at the photography studio (leave it to my girls to find it, of course)?

When should I get the girls’ hair cut in relation to the photo shoot? I don’t want them to have that “sheared sheep” look, but I don’t want sheep dogs, either.

Barring something catastrophic, I have learned to plan around a lot of these things...

...but the biggest gamble is the girls’ demeanor.

I count myself very fortunate that our girls are generally pretty amicable. They’re usually well-behaved, as long as I respect their schedules…and of course I put a lot of thought into the exact time of our photo appointment.

But making them SMILE? That’s another story.

I never think much about what makes the girls smile during the course of an average day. I feel like they giggle and laugh all day long.

But to pinpoint the exact phrase, or expression, or silly song and dance to pull out as the camera clicks? I’m a deer in headlights (and sometimes so are they!).

I usually leave a photo shoot exhausted from all sorts of shenanigans…and I’m often lucky if I’ve been able to make one of the two smile at some point in the exercise.

Upon seeing some recent professional pictures we had made, a family friend remarked, “Wow, your girls look so sophisticated.”

Hmmm...not what I was going for with my 28-month olds.

No, I’d more likely call that their “come hither” look…as in, “Come hither, Mom, and take us home so we can play and really have fun!

***

As part of the celebration of her twin girls' upcoming FIRST birthday, I'm guest posting today for dollimama on some of the more interesting "firsts" our girls have recorded.

Photobucket



Happy First Birthday Ky and Cadee! (And congrats to you, dollimama!)

10 comments:

Unknown said...

That's funny!
Thank you so much for writing for me today!

Quadmama said...

My girls used to never want to smile at photo sessions. In fact, one photographer annoyed Cakes so much that she started crying. The picture is quite adorable now, but at the time it was so stressful!

Marcia (123 blog) said...

Mandy, I love how you’re a schedule nazi – go for it! (hope you're not offended by that word - I call myself a noise nazi)

I never thought of it quite like you mentioned but yes, it does sound stressful. Does go with the flow stress you out more?

I keep expectations low and then am pleasantly surprised. Usually if I get ONE pic of all of us looking in the same direction (I don’t even care if it’s at the camera) I’m happy.

D’s taught me that not smiling makes it more interesting so these days I don’t even worry about whether anyone’s smiling. One of my favourite pics of Connor and D is just so introspective.

I also don’t know how to make my kids smile (D does though)

Andrea said...

I am right there with you....not a fan of photo sessions. For the same exact reasons you listed!!

Loved your post over at dollimama, but I always do! :)

Have a great week!

Helene said...

I will never forget our first photo session with just Cole and Bella...it was seriously nuts!

It's so funny because you just never know what mood they're gonna be in! What's even better is when they're a little older (like Cole and Bella's age) and you show them the pics. They'll ask all kinds of questions, like "Why was I crying in that picture?" and "I look like I just went poop"....uh, yeah...cuz you just went poop in your diaper right as the photographer snapped the shot.

Unknown said...

My kids won't smile for ME...but thankfully are usually pretty cooperative for another photographer. They just had school pics taken and they are adorable!!

Holly G said...

Same here! And it drives me nuts!! My friend just got these gorgeous photos taken of her infant boy/girl twins and both babies are looking at the camera with smiles in several photos. I told her they were beautiful. I didn't tell her that I was painfully jealous to my core. lol

Jenner said...

This is why, no matter how my mother begs, I have not have one professional photo taken of my family! I have a camera and the ability to actually MAKE my daughter smile! I'm not going to pay someone else to capture subpar shots and charge me an outrageous fee!

Anonymous said...

i'm scared to death to try to take the kids somewhere for some photos. i've had people come to the house twice. that seemed to work out pretty well....but i never get the type of "age one" photo that i think someone might want to look at later....

i'm dying to see some of yours! :)

Rebecca said...

"Sophisticated?" Is that another way of saying your girls look snobby? LOL...poor you...soon enough you'll be at the "CHEESE" stage where you get the goofiest grins in the world and everyone will call them out as being completely fake smiles...good times.