A Mommy Story

I was an only child, so I never had to deal with some of the issues siblings have to deal with. For example, I was the one in all the pictures. I never had to worry about having my firsts remembered because I was the only baby.

Some friends warned me that second children get shorted when it comes to stuff like photographs and baby books. OK, so Mira’s baby book is still sitting on the shelf, with only about a page worth of stuff filled it, but at least I bought one, right? I can still go back and fill it in, even if I have to make up some of the dates.

But on the topic of photographs, I figured I was winning. I’ve become more camera happy as time has gone on, and looking through my records, I think I have more pictures of Mira as a baby then I ever did of Cordy at this age. So while everything isn’t equal, I’ve compensated where I can.

And then my mom asked me this weekend, “When are you going to get some studio photos of Mira? I’d like some nice pictures to frame and put in my wallet.”

Oh yeah. Forgot about those.

Cordy had a lot of studio time in her first year. Thanks to all of the coupons for free sitting fees and free photos from the local portrait studios (LOTS of free coupons), we took her for pictures nearly every month. I was young, I was foolish with money, and I wanted to preserve every tiny change as she grew. By the time she was nearing 12 months old, she was a pro at posing for pictures.

But Mira? Well, there was the hospital photo…and I took her to Target once at three months old for some photos that didn’t turn out all that good because she cried a lot…but that’s it.

So on Sunday afternoon I trudged out with Mira to make sure the grandparents, great-grandparents, and all of the other relatives who have been hinting that they want new pictures would be happy with new photos to display on their mantle. Honestly, how can you say no to family members who simply want to show off pictures of your adorable children to all of their friends?

The results weren’t bad:

The reason she’s smiling for the camera in these pictures was due to the herculean efforts of her mother as I danced around, made faces and goofy sounds, and provided enough entertainment to cause other people walking by stop and stare into the room to figure out what all the commotion was.

You may be asking: But where is that serious baby with the icy stare we all know? No worries, folks. She gave the photographer (and me) the evil eye plenty of times.