Ro's Mother's Day Surprise

Lauren (my sis-in-law) came up with a wonderful idea for a gift for my mom for Mother's Day this year.  She suggested that we do a professional photo shoot of Ryder and Elizabeth together, and then surprise my mom with a large, framed print of her two beloved grandkids.  I loved the idea from the start.  I looked forward to the photo shoot for weeks, and my excitement built with each passing day as I imagined the PERFECT, BEAUTIFUL image that we would capture of R and E. 

The day for the photo shoot finally arrived and it was a Disaster.  Not just a disaster... but a Disaster.

Before I go on, I need to preface the story with a disclaimer:

I promise that I'm not a total drama queen, nor am I a chronic pessimist, nor am I a complete alarmist.  I'm a little bit self-conscious about my blog so far because I feel like the majority of my blog entries can be summarized as follows:  PRETERM CONTRACTIONS! PREMATURE BABY! NICU! EMPTY, DEFECTIVE BOOBS! COLIC!  SUCKY MATERNITY LEAVE!  COLIC!  RSV!  MORE COLIC!  OMG!  WTF!  WOE IS ME!

I seriously love my kid and love my life.  In fact, life is quite good.  I'm happy.  Blake is happy.  Ryder is happy.  Even Gaudi is happy.  It just so happens that a Blog is a good place to vent.  Blogging has developed into a form of therapy for me, and it's quite cathartic to re-hash the challenges that I've faced in the last six months.  But that doesn't mean there haven't been a million reasons to smile in the last six months too. 

Okay, I feel better now.  I just didn't want to be add "HORRIBLE, DISASTEROUS PHOTO SHOOT" to my blog summary without defending my character and promising that I'm really not a drama queen.  For this story, I even have witnesses.  Just ask Aaron and Lauren (or Blake).  They were all there and can back me up when I tell you that the photo shoot went just about as poorly as it possibly could have.

We all arrived bright and early at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens on a Sunday morning.  Ryder slept in the car on the way there and woke up soon after our arrival.  Elizabeth and Ryder both looked precious in their color-coordinated, navy and white outfits.  Crazy cute.  As my friend and trusty photographer Gara orchestrated pose #1, Ryder began to cry.  He never stopped.  Ryder cried and/or screamed bloody murder for 99.9% of the hour and a half session.  We walked with him, we "shush-ed" him, we bounced him and we pleaded with him.  Nothing helped.  He was uncharacteristically pissed.  We tried a million poses and Gara desperately tried to catch a non-crying image of Ryder.  Because Gara is a genius, she did capture a few great shots.

Would I be thrilled with the resulting photos under optimal circumstances?  No, probably not.  But am I thrilled with the resulting photos in light of my child's horrendous behavior during the shoot?  Why yes I am.  Gara was so patient and she really did do a wonderful job.  And while Blake and I were off begging and pleading with our son to stop crying, she caught some unbelievably adorable shots of Elizabeth.

In the end, I won't hold anything against Ryder.  He was 5 months old for pete's sake.  I knew going into it that a photo shoot with a 5 month old would be a crap shoot, but I still had high hopes.  Too high of hopes.  Next time we have professional pictures taken of Ryder, I'll truly go in with ZERO expectations.

Here is where I show you photos.  Don't let the cuteness fool you.  I know you'd never guess how bad things were based on the pictures, but again- I have witnesses.  It was bad.

First, the best of the best:



Then, the best of the worst:

(Intentionally zoomed in so that you can see Ryder's classic face)