Happy Valentine's Day!

Two weeks ago, I took Avery to get these photos taken (mainly to surprise Josh for Valentine's Day). It is kind of a production anytime we do photos, but it is even harder when I try to do it alone. That morning I had brought along a separate outfit and hairbows to daycare. I asked Lizzy to please put her hair in pigtails and have her ready at 5:00 pm sharp so we could make it to our appointment on time. Lizzy had her looking perfect when I arrived after work, and I had stashed snacks and toys in the car to distract Avery on the way to the portrait studio so she wouldn't be tempted to pull her pigtails out. (I can never get her hair looking as pretty as Lizzy can).

We arrived on time and everything was going according to plan, until I took Avery out of her stroller. She immediately took off running and did a faceplant on the carpet, giving herself a big rugburn on her forehead before we had even gotten one single picture.  The photographer assured me that with the bright lights, it would probably "wash out" the red mark and it wouldn't be seen in the pictures.  So we went into a room, where the photographer pulled down the backdrop, and sprinkled some rose petals on the floor. I set Avery down in the middle and she instantly burst into tears. Not just fake tears,  REAL tears, rolling down her beet-red cheeks. Again, all this before we had gotten one single picture. SIGH.  The next 20 minutes were spent coaxing her with treats to get off my lap so we could attempt to get some shots. 

Look at this sad face.  (And notice my black and white striped dress that she is sitting on. I had to lean out of the picture because she wouldn't get off of my lap without tears).

I kept trying to move her towards the center (where the flashes would work the best) and distract her with different props, but she wouldn't budge. At one point I had the idea that I would just be the backdrop. So I covered myself in a white blanket and held it up behind her. (See my fingers at the top of the picture?) But still so much sadness!

We were SO lucky that the family who had appointment after ours had cancelled, because it took Avery a full 30 minutes to warm up.  When she finally did, we miraculously got these shots:

Happy Valentine's Day!