One-Year Pictures

Last Friday we had Samuel's one-year pictures. Silly me, I thought that everything would go according to plan. Pictures were scheduled for 2:30 pm, so I left work early and picked up some white and baby blue balloons at the store. Then, I picked Samuel up at daycare. When I showed up I was told that he had not taken a nap. OK, in all fairness, she said that he had 20 minutes worth of a nap. I am still thinking things are ok because I had time to take him home and get him down for a nap.

When we got home, I warmed his bottle and took him to his room to rock and feed him. He ate great, but did not want to sleep even though he was clearly tired. Jeff came in and also tried to get him to sleep. That did not work. Finally we decided that we would pack up his stuff and take a drive. Driving is usually a sure-fire way to get him to sleep. Notice I said usually. Samuel would have nothing to do with sleep the whole time we were driving around. It was about 2:10 and I decided to head on over to pictures. At that moment, he decided to fall asleep in tha car. Now comes the tough part...do we let him sleep in the car or take him out?! A major parenting delima (so far). We decided to get him out and take him inside thinking that he might wake up. Wrong again. He was sleeping like a rock. I kept holding him until the photographer was ready for us.

Mark was super nice and said that if Samuel needed a longer nap, the pictures could wait a little while longer. I on the other hand, did not want to take up any more of Mark's time, so we decided to wake Sam up. There is a reason the saying "let sleeping babies lie" is around. He was down right upset that we woke him up! Through much fidgeting we got his diaper and clothes changed, but it looked like pictures were going to be a bust. Jeff took Sam into the studio while I gathered up stuff for his bag. Samuel was still not wanting to play or smile even though his balloons and red RadioFlyer roadster were in the studio. Mark finally sent Jeff and I both out to see if he could get Samuel to refocus.

There is something to say for photographers that can work well with children. I just knew that we were toast and would have to schedule another time for pictures. All of the sudden I hear Samuel laughing and talking to Mark. It was the most amazing thing. Mark wowed him with bubbles, noises, the roadster's horn, etc. Anything to keep his attention. All in all, I think the session turned out really well. We will get the proofs back this week and I am very anxious to see how they turned out!

After we got back home, dad and Samuel decided to play with the balloons...Here is what I caught for posterity...