A picture is worth a thousand words

When Addy was five weeks old, I decided that it would be fun to have her pictures taken every month of her first year. I blame that idea on some crazy post-partem hormonal thing. JC Penney and Sears have programs to hook sleep deprived, emotional, 'my-baby's-never-going- to-be-this-young-again' thinking Moms. No sitting fees and entire packages as low as $8. So, for as little as $96, parents can have their baby captured in time by a professional photographer 12 times in that first year. So, we started. The first appointment (at 5 weeks) was pretty stressful. Not because of Addy, but because of the mayhem that is considered 'normal' in these photography studios.

I fed Addy just before we left. She was eating every three hours, so I figured that she'd be well fed (and thus happy) for her pictures which were scheduled to be taken 45 minutes after we left the house. I thought that I had it all under control - I had scheduled the first appointment of the day so that I knew that I could be in and out before the rush of the day. Of course, this is the where I have to say that the control that I had was only in my mind.

We arrived at the studio to find one person answering the phones, greeting the public, taking pictures, placing orders and digitally enhancing the pictures before the orders could be placed. You might wonder how, since I was the first appointment of the day, all of this was going on. It turns out that there had been two 'walk-ins' that the photographer had decided to try to squeeze in to the 15 minutes between the time that the studio opened and the first sitting of the day. The photographer was running around like a chicken with her head cut off - and while she was nice, it appeared that the stress was starting to mount.

If things weren't off to a rough start already, one of the photo shoots that had been squeezed in ahead of Addy was of a two month old who was screaming his head off. His Mom tried to calm him down by bringing him out into the waiting area - where Addy and I were. If you don't know, babies have this sympathy gene built into their brains... if one starts crying within earshot of another, the listening baby usually starts crying too. So, I pulled Addy's flap of her bunting closed again and tried rocking the baby carrier - hoping that she would stay asleep. And then I tried to remain calm.

About two hours after Addy's feeding (and an hour and fifteen minutes after our appointment time), we were led into the studio. The photographer was in and out and in and out - still wearing her 'Jill of all trades' hat. After a few shots, we realized that Addy was clearly spent and decided that the few pictures that we had were going to be good enough. I ordered some pictures as quickly as possible - holding Addy who was being a quite a trooper, though hungry, tired and manhandled. I carried out a screaming baby carrier - glad to be done and swearing that it would be different next time. I thought that I had learned some tricks that would make the next time a little better. (It turns out that I had, but I was greeted with a whole different set of problems at month two).

After the first two months, I changed photography studios - but have found a similarly chaotic one person run operation at the new one too. So, I'm thinking that this is just what it is. Things are getting easier now that Addy is getting a little older... but every time is still something of an adventure. (I've found that even picking up an order leaves me with stories to tell as well.)

I think that I've left every sitting sweaty and stressed. But truly and honestly glad that we did it. I have to say - we've gotten some great shots along the way. All in all, I guess that it's worth it - and we're almost halfway done now... just seven more sessions to go. Of course, I know that I've set a precedent if we decide to have more kids. Hmm... double the fun? =)