Professional pictures

Sometimes I seriously think we're crazy.  Of course, a lot of people thought that a long time ago when we decided to have another baby so quickly after having twins!!  But anyway.  We took all three girls to have their pictures taken yesterday.  We were finally getting around to the big girls' 2 year pictures and we had Elli's 3 month photos done.  And we wanted all three of them together for a picture as well.  I tried to line up a little help so that it would be one adult per child, but that didn't happen.  Nate and I were outnumbered.

The plan was to take the group shot first and then take Addi and Livi's individual pictures while I changed Elli into a different outfit.  Well, the big girls were having absolutely nothing to do with it!  They screamed, they cried, they bolted for the door, etc.  It didn't help that they were hit with cold #3 that morning.  And because of the new colds, they only took a 25 minute and 45 minute nap (normal is anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 hours)!  So I told Nate to just take them home.  But as he reached the door, I changed my mind and asked him to stay to see if they might be interested in watching Elli have her pictures taken.

Much to my surprise, they were very interested in watching Elli and seeing the big flashes go off.  All of a sudden it became fun and they each wanted to take their turns!!  I knew right away that Addi had hair in her eyes (she actually has enough hair for that now!) and Livi's hair looked crazy.  But the fact that they were sitting and smiling big and having a good time...well, I wasn't going to disrupt it just to fix hair.  Otherwise I feared we wouldn't get any pictures at all!!  So yeah, they looked a bit disheveled.  But I'll take that over no pictures! 

So while they were getting their individuals taken, I changed Elli BACK into her original outfit for the group photo.  Little peanut was such a great sport about the clothing changes.  At least one of them made this whole ordeal easier!!  In the end, it all worked out and I'm glad that I decided not to send the big girls home before giving them a second chance.  But I can also tell you that I'm glad that they're done with professional pictures until they're three!!  I've had theirs taken at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 (roughly) months.  And we'll do the same for Elli.  But from the age of 2 years on, we'll just be doing them yearly.  Oh, and doing yearly photos after the age of two was determined a long time ago...it was not a result of the meltdown we had!!

And in case you're wondering, I'll be headed back to work in roughly 36 hours.  But who's counting, right?