Blood, Sweat, Tears and More Sweat

That's what involves getting professional baby pics taken. And I've known this, which is why I've been putting it off, just dreading the headache. Plus we've taken hundreds of pictures of Preston and even set up a couple photo-shoots at home. But, it wasn't the "real deal".

So yesterday morning I made an appointment at Kiddie Kandids (which they are lucky to get my business with that cutsie "K" instead of "C" crap. Pet peeve!). And this is where the saga begins.

Minutes later I look over at Preston and he has a blood smudge on his cheek. This is the blood part. And why wouldn't he scrape himself before picture day? After all, it's not his fault his nails are daggers, it's mine. He can't trim them himself!

So off to Kroger I went, asking the pharmacist what I could and could not put on an infants face. I can't get his first pics taken looking like a feral cat got a hold of him!

I spent last evening and all this morning on scratch-patrol, along with slapping dollop after dollop of Neosporin over his wound. Which somehow he ended up having 2 more tiny nicks. This is the sweat part.

Finally 11:30am rolls around and we're all set in the waiting area. The girl signs us in and doesn't even ask to look at all the paperwork I was told to fill out and bring in for my appointment. I spent time on that sheet people. That sheet held the key to my perfect experience at Kiddie Kandids. It told the photographer what kind of poses I liked, backgrounds, props, and even traditional or contemporary imagery styles. Hello...waste of time!

So I speak briefly with the photographer who spends a couple minutes gooing and gaaing with Preston. He didn't even smile once, so I knew we were in for a treat. I change him into his first outfit and found a frog on the prop wall I thought would look cute in the picture.

The photographer sets Preston down, she makes some funny faces, tickles his cheeks...and whala...the eyebrows turn red, the bottom lip comes out, and then tears. This is the tears part. And for me, the sweat part, again.

The lady asks me to calm him down and to "get some of that red out of his skin tone". But, of course, I stupidly left my magic get-the-red-out-of-his-skin potion at home and we had to wait it out.

Luckily I had Preston's non-magical stuffed monkey to help with the situation. And thanks to the monkey, managed to get through a couple more frog poses, a wardrobe change, and even more pics.

All in all, the photo shoot went fairly well. We weren't able to squeeze any gigantic, gum-showing smiles out of Preston, but I know the little guy did the best he could do. He was passed out in his car seat before we got to the car.

And not to ruin it for our family members, but here are a couple pics...