An Adventure, to Say the Least....

So, ever since R came home, my friend M and I have been excited about having our baby girls photographed together. Her oldest, C, is 8, and R is my first so it is about time. In April, we went shopping and found these cute daisy dresses for the babies to wear. Our original plan was to have just the babies together, but then we found coordinating dresses for M's 2 older daughters (the other daughter T is 2 months shy of 4 years old). N just turned 6 months so it was time to get her picture taken.

We should have known this would be easier said than done...

We get to the place before we need to because C had been at her dad's, and we picked her up on the way. She still has to get her dress on and her hair done. The other 3 girls are mostly ready to go; I just have to do R's hair. We check in right at 3pm, and the girl says it'll be about 15 or 20 minutes. Not good. M's older 2 are already getting antsy, and R, well, she's always antsy! She is bouncing around in my lap and occasionally lunging at the floor like I'm going to put her down to crawl around. The only one just chilling is N, but she is definitely the calm one of the whole bunch of us.

Finally it's time for us to go in. The girls are posed, but R tries to crawl away, and T sort of hunches over and grimaces. Now this kid is cute, and we had just been practicing smiling and promising cookies if the older 2 are good. M tells her to smile and look at the camera; she says she doesn't know how to smile. R is still crawling around, C is saying her back is hurting, and N is sitting there with her tongue out and will not smile no matter what we do.

(I think this is the first photo. Sort of down hill from here.)

To top it all off, the "photographer" (I swear she was like 16 or something) is the only one working so whenever the phone rings or someone comes by with a question or to schedule an appointment she walks out and takes care of them. You can imagine that is very helpful when it comes to keep the 4 darlings calm, happy, still, and smiling.

The photo shoot continues in this vein for over an hour. T is saying "I want a cookie now," R is crawling everywhere and trying to eat any electronic equipment and/or cord she can get her baby hands on, C is doing her best to be good because she really wants a cookie, too, and N is still not smiling in the pictures.

(N and R-- I just love this one!)

("I can crawl now-- watch out!" says Little Miss Busy R)

Finally, we're finished with pictures. We decide to go get the cookies while the girl gets the pictures ready for us to view on the computer. R's umbrella stroller is conveniently in A's car with him 2 hours away, so I get to carry Miss R on my hip through the mall. We get the cookies without incident and return to view our photos.

At this point, R starts screaming (this girl has a set of lungs on her), T has to use the RR so T and C go there, and M and I start trying to look at the photos as I balance R and try to prepare a bottle for her as she grabs at it and tries to spill it all over the table and computer. N, as always, is just sitting calmly. A minute or so later, we hear T screaming and crying in the RR. M excuses herself leaving me with the photographer. She returns and calmly says that the toilet in the RR kept flushing over and over again, and it was freaking T out. When they return, C gets the lemonade cup and begins pounding the ice with a straw to try to get it to melt better. At some point, R grabs the straw out of my lemonade, and I just let her chew on it. Better than thrashing around and screaming at this point.

M and I are just trying not to loose it by now.

We finally complete our order, spend more money than we meant to, and exit the store with all 4 girls in tow.

It's taken 3 hours, and I think we were all exhausted!