Its been a weekend of photos for us.
It was hubbys bday and for his birthday we decided to do a photo shoot with the girls. Our first attempt at a family shoot since Cupcake was born. Hahaha. We thought we were so smart, that we knew how to do this. We told ourselves we would have no expectations, that this should be a fun experience. We would just go with the flow, not care if the poses didnt happen or anything. Its not like we were paying for the shoot.
So there we are Saturday morning everything planned to a T. Breakfast, Snacks, Naps all co-ordinated so that the shoot would happen at the perfect moment. We had planned this thing and gotten everything to go according to plan, so of course in true Hubby and me fashion, we congratulated ourselves on a job well done before doing the job... We were ready, the girls were fed and napped (the perfect time apparently to shoot them)....what could go wrong. All we had to do was get on the couch and look cute. If you have met Munchkin and cupcake you know thats not hard.
But alas, we did not account for the flashing led red ring our Munchkin wanted to wear.
No, we didnt think of that. And that was the beginning of the end.
Hubby begged her to get rid of it. Took pics with her and the ring hoping that would be enough. Nope. Not at all. He cajoled, and Im sad to admit he even tried to bribe her with candies to just hand over the bloody ring so we could be cute and stylin for the shoot.
But not at all. She was not budging. That ring was her best friend, it had given birth to her and deserved the respect of the universe. It belonged in our family portrait. Not on the kitchen table. And of course, the off button for the flashing light on this 10 cent china toy was not working. Of course.
Remember all that no expectation, dont get worked up, take it as it goes talk...yeah it went out the window.... We did three time outs, a couple of crying, screaming shoots. Alot of talking to, yelling..... and then just as we were about to give up.
Munchkin conceded to taking a picture wihtout the ring. So all was well again in the M household.
Excpet now Cupcake was tired and cranky. There is only so much cute that a 4 month old can do and that window is small. so very small.
So now we had a somber, Im not smiling because I know how badly you want me to smile Munchkin and a cranky pants Cupcake. So much fun.
But did Hubby or I give up. No siree.. We were going to have our family portrait. WE did not care. HAHHAHAHHA So many funny faces, tongues sticking out, scrunchy faced photos later we were able to capture four images that were good. It only took two days of planning, one morning of military percision preparation, two hrs of convincing, and 5 mins of good shooting.
To be honest, the pics hubby and I stopped at the most at as we went through the pics were the ones that captured the chaos of our shoot. My feeding one as the I tried to soothe the nerves of another. It was the pic where my hubby is at eye level with Munchkin trying ot convince her to give up the ring. Its the one where all three of us are trying to entertain Cupcake so she will smile. Its the following shot where she does smile but all of us are not looking at the camera...
Those moments captured our life right now. Anyone can rustle their kids together and take a postcard picture. Thats the easy part. Its the behind the scenes, the nitty gritty that make up our memories. Whenever Hubby and I look at this photo we will remember that ring, that godforsaken ring and all the hilarity that ensued.
im glad we did it. Its the first time we did a family shoot and we learned alot of lessons. Hopefully we will try again. Later. Much. Much Later.
But at the same time, I have to admit I think nowadays we are so obsessed with taking the picture to capture the moment that we forget to enjoy the moment. We were out with some friends the day before the shoot. At one point, their son gently held Munchkins hand and started walking. All four of us parents melted and immediately we were like someone get a camera, take a picture. And it just so happened none of us had our cameras at that moment. so we ended up just watching our kids hold hands and walk ahead of us. It was brilliant. And all four of us commented that we need to do more of that, just soak up the moment. Memorize the moment not memorialize the moment. In this age of Instagram, facebook, twitter and what not. It feels like its becoming more important to take the pic and post it to social media then to just have the picture for the moments sake.. I am guilty of this. So very guilty of doing this.
So at the end of the weekend, while I am happy we did the shoot and I love one shot from the shoot, I think I need to focus on enjoying my kids not worry so much about capturing the moment.
I want more red flashing plastic rings in my life then perfectly positioned smiling photos.
It was hubbys bday and for his birthday we decided to do a photo shoot with the girls. Our first attempt at a family shoot since Cupcake was born. Hahaha. We thought we were so smart, that we knew how to do this. We told ourselves we would have no expectations, that this should be a fun experience. We would just go with the flow, not care if the poses didnt happen or anything. Its not like we were paying for the shoot.
So there we are Saturday morning everything planned to a T. Breakfast, Snacks, Naps all co-ordinated so that the shoot would happen at the perfect moment. We had planned this thing and gotten everything to go according to plan, so of course in true Hubby and me fashion, we congratulated ourselves on a job well done before doing the job... We were ready, the girls were fed and napped (the perfect time apparently to shoot them)....what could go wrong. All we had to do was get on the couch and look cute. If you have met Munchkin and cupcake you know thats not hard.
But alas, we did not account for the flashing led red ring our Munchkin wanted to wear.
No, we didnt think of that. And that was the beginning of the end.
Hubby begged her to get rid of it. Took pics with her and the ring hoping that would be enough. Nope. Not at all. He cajoled, and Im sad to admit he even tried to bribe her with candies to just hand over the bloody ring so we could be cute and stylin for the shoot.
But not at all. She was not budging. That ring was her best friend, it had given birth to her and deserved the respect of the universe. It belonged in our family portrait. Not on the kitchen table. And of course, the off button for the flashing light on this 10 cent china toy was not working. Of course.
Remember all that no expectation, dont get worked up, take it as it goes talk...yeah it went out the window.... We did three time outs, a couple of crying, screaming shoots. Alot of talking to, yelling..... and then just as we were about to give up.
Munchkin conceded to taking a picture wihtout the ring. So all was well again in the M household.
Excpet now Cupcake was tired and cranky. There is only so much cute that a 4 month old can do and that window is small. so very small.
So now we had a somber, Im not smiling because I know how badly you want me to smile Munchkin and a cranky pants Cupcake. So much fun.
But did Hubby or I give up. No siree.. We were going to have our family portrait. WE did not care. HAHHAHAHHA So many funny faces, tongues sticking out, scrunchy faced photos later we were able to capture four images that were good. It only took two days of planning, one morning of military percision preparation, two hrs of convincing, and 5 mins of good shooting.
To be honest, the pics hubby and I stopped at the most at as we went through the pics were the ones that captured the chaos of our shoot. My feeding one as the I tried to soothe the nerves of another. It was the pic where my hubby is at eye level with Munchkin trying ot convince her to give up the ring. Its the one where all three of us are trying to entertain Cupcake so she will smile. Its the following shot where she does smile but all of us are not looking at the camera...
Those moments captured our life right now. Anyone can rustle their kids together and take a postcard picture. Thats the easy part. Its the behind the scenes, the nitty gritty that make up our memories. Whenever Hubby and I look at this photo we will remember that ring, that godforsaken ring and all the hilarity that ensued.
im glad we did it. Its the first time we did a family shoot and we learned alot of lessons. Hopefully we will try again. Later. Much. Much Later.
But at the same time, I have to admit I think nowadays we are so obsessed with taking the picture to capture the moment that we forget to enjoy the moment. We were out with some friends the day before the shoot. At one point, their son gently held Munchkins hand and started walking. All four of us parents melted and immediately we were like someone get a camera, take a picture. And it just so happened none of us had our cameras at that moment. so we ended up just watching our kids hold hands and walk ahead of us. It was brilliant. And all four of us commented that we need to do more of that, just soak up the moment. Memorize the moment not memorialize the moment. In this age of Instagram, facebook, twitter and what not. It feels like its becoming more important to take the pic and post it to social media then to just have the picture for the moments sake.. I am guilty of this. So very guilty of doing this.
So at the end of the weekend, while I am happy we did the shoot and I love one shot from the shoot, I think I need to focus on enjoying my kids not worry so much about capturing the moment.
I want more red flashing plastic rings in my life then perfectly positioned smiling photos.
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