Holiday Photo-Ops

I'm learning about obligatory childhood photos, mostly from people who post pictures on Facebook (and I'm not talking about any one person here - you all have great photos).  You'll see their adorable children at the pumpkin patch, in a pile of leaves, picking out the Christmas tree, etc.  I use the excuse that Fall/Christmas is a busy time for my business, but really I just didn't feel like dragging the baby out to do photo shoots.  And for the same excuse/reason we haven't sent out Christmas cards for several years.  (In case you don't know, we moved to Virginia.  There!)  Or baby announcements.  (Oh yeah, we had a baby, it's a girl.)  But, after some gentle hinting from my mother this fall, I bought a little dress (not too fancy, and only $8 on eBay - NWT), made a little black hair bow, and took Olivia to the photo studio to do Christmas portraits.  We were late, as usual, but still had to wait for another baby to get his milestone (9 month) pictures. [I had full intentions of doing high-contrast black & white naked newborn pictures when she was a month old, but at Week 3 Olivia got some awful baby acne and by the time it went away she didn't seem like a newborn any more. And then I just couldn't be bothered to have quarterly milestone portraits taken, on account of the 1.2 million candids that have filled up my hard drive.  Now I just tell myself we'll do portraits with the next kid so they'll have an equal number.]

Patiently waiting, executive-style, for the little boy in the sailor suit...  (Hairbrush is her favorite toy.)

The photo shoot went well.  Livi smiled a lot, played with the Christmas background, and kept her shoes on.  Afterward she patiently ate Cheerios while I chose shots and decided which coupon would warrant the best deal.

Then we had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and Olivia surprised me by (slowly, in small pieces) eating chicken nuggets.  It's magical how the food that big people eat can actually sustain a little one in the event that Mommy forgets to pack the fruit she cut up.  No more jars of baby food.  Epiphany!

Last night Steve and I went to pick up the photos, then decided to swing by the Santa display to see how long the line was.  There was no line at all (!) and we were excited to check off another obligatory childhood photo-op when I asked if I could just take a picture with my own camera.  They ask that you shell out $18 for the smallest package make a minimum purchase, so we passed on that opportunity (no wonder there was no line).  I noticed at the other portrait studio there were lots of kids in fancy Christmas clothes, passed out on their parents' shoulders on account of it being 8pm.  So glad I booked O's appointment between naps; I can't imagine trying to photograph cranky kids.  (Lydia, my condolences.)

So maybe next year we'll get the pumpkin photos when Olivia's able to walk around and do candid non-posed things.  Until then we'll have plenty of pictures of her sitting in her high chair, feeding Riley.  Oh, and in case I don't get these mailed out, consider this your Christmas card from us!