Not so picture perfect:)

Okay, so this past Saturday we went to take pictures for Will's one year photos...and also to get a couple of pictures of us with Will-ones that are not being taken by my extra long arm.  We met the photographer at Tannehill State Park.  Let me first begin by saying, I am guilty of looking on Pinterest and Facebook and seeing these picture perfect moments of little ones and thinking, "oh I want to get a shot like that!"  We got to Tannehill and I was already feeling a little anxious because Will had been crying for about 10 minutes.  The pictures were scheduled for 5:30 because lighting is good...but this is Will's worst time of day, so I thought it should be pretty interesting.  We started off with some of him and Cullen and I were able to make him smile with our usual goofy antics...pretending a phone call is for him and saying his name in silly ways.  Once Will was done with our usual stunts, he didn't want to smile anymore.  His face got very serious and at times it even looked miserably unhappy.  I have to give props to our photographer for being so sweet and patient and just going with the flow.  The last pics we had done by a professional were newborn pictures.  I now know why the majority of pictures that get featured are newborn pics...when your baby doesn't care if it is dressed up like a turtle, or put in a bucket, or laid naked on the floor...they just want to sleep.  At 12 months, things played out a little differently...I think it was payback for putting him in a wheelbarrow when he was a newborn:)  Cullen and I jumped around, we made noises, we sang "old McDonald"-very off key I might add, we tried tickling, we tried it all...and nothing.  In addition to the lack of smiles we were getting from Will, we were being full blown attacked by gnats.  I felt like a rotting piece of carcass the way they were swarming me...and not just me, but our photographer and poor Will.  If his pics end up looking like he has black freckles, everyone will now know why:)  I got so tickled when we were done because what "picture day" looked like in my head versus how it played out were so different.

Later that night as I rocked little Will to sleep and he looked up at me and smiled, I realized that pictures are just pictures.  While I will cherish photographs, the moments that can only be captured in my mind and kept in my heart are the ones I will covet the most.  So if there's any advice I can give for the unknowing Mom like myself, just "roll with it".  Kids will be kids, gnats will be gnats, but any picture of your little one will be priceless to you.  

Our "sneak peek".  Lindsey does such beautiful work!