Enchanted Forrest

Abbie Grace turned 3 months old on February 13th, but I just got around to scheduling her 3 month pics yesterday. I made the appointment online for today. It was the only available appointment left for today...12 noon. Not a great time for her, but okay; nap time for him. I wanted someone else to go with me to help entertain and keep him busy while we took her pictures. I asked several people, but no one was available for that time, and I didn't want to put them off any longer...she's about to be 4 months...so I decided to brave the appointment by myself! It took me two hours to pick out 3-4 outfits last night..the socks, shoes, bows, etc. I ironed them, and had everything packed in a bag. I had the diaper bag packed and ready to go with extra clothes for both of them, snacks for him, bottles for her and sippy cup for him, burp cloths, diapers, etc. All this was done Tuesday night in preparation for me to get them up, dressed, fed, and on our way in the morning.

Well, she woke up at 5:45am ready to eat. She hasn't woken up that early in a about a month! She usually sleeps til at least 9am, if not later; so this began the morning off on the wrong foot. I wasn't sure when she would wake up again to eat, and I was planning her bottles around the appointment. Not too close, so she wouldn't spit up on the clothes, but close enough so she wouldn't be hungry in the middle, and not cooperate for the pictures. It's all about the timing! LOL :) That ended up working out. He woke up, I got him dressed, and fed him, before waking her up. I got her dressed in outfit number one for the pictures. I put a big bib on her & covered her in a burp cloth when I fed her. All was going well and on schedule, and I was getting a little excited that I was actually gonna pull this off by myself! I went to brush my teeth, and put my shoes on. (I got dressed up too. I wanted to take a few pictures with her like I did with Garrett at 3 months. Another thought out decision...coordinating with her outfit.) When I came back in the room, I smelled someone, so I decided to change diapers. I was planning on doing this anyway before we left, but that was all the time I had left to do..change diapers, and then out the door. I changed him first. Wasn't him. Re-dressed him, put shoes and jacket on..he's ready. Get her...WOW! She really stinks! I guess I should've expected it...she didn't make a dirty diaper yesterday, so I should've expected it today. I was just hoping it wouldn't be in the middle of the photo session. Well it wasn't! She exploded!!! It came out the diaper, and onto her outfit! AUGHHHHH!!!! Now I had to use one of the back up outfits that was not as cute. :( She really needed a bath after that, but there was no time, so she got what Aunt Stacey calls a "hooker bath." I wiped her down with wipees, lotion-ed her down, and got her dressed in another outfit. Then I loaded him, all the bags, and finally her, and we were off! I had 20 minutes to get to the mall.

I made it to the mall, loaded the stroller with him, her, the bag of clothes, and the diaper bag, and was walking into Sears with 4 minutes to spare! When we strolled up to the photo desk I told the girl I had the 12 noon appointment, and she asked me if I was here to take Enchanted Forrest pictures. What? Today was Enchanted Forrest day..a traveling backdrop with props and clothes..the whole nine yards. No wonder there was only one appointment left for the day! So I could take her regular 3 month pics, or I could take the fairy pictures for today only, and come back tomorrow for her regular pictures. Then I would have to endure another hectic morning all over again, BUT I could wash the cute outfit & have her in it for the pictures! So I decided on the fairy pictures. They already had someone back there, so she told me to walk around for about 10 minutes, and come back. I did, and she fell asleep! When we got back there, I decided it wasn't too girly, and even though I wasn't planning on having his picture taken, I decided to just do it! They had overalls for him, and a tutu for her. Got her dresses, and then him. (Thank God he was having a good hair day! Well, he had a little cow lick in the back that I couldn't get to lay down, but it never showed in the pictures!) He went first, and did GREAT! He even followed directions from the girl taking the pictures...she was AWESOME! (I asked her for her name to request her for next time!) She got some really cute pictures of him! I was shocked at how good he was doing! Then we added her in the pictures, and she took a couple with both of them. Again he did great. Then I got him dressed back in his LSU clothes, while she took Abbie Grace's pictures. I put him back in the stroller, and gave him his toy birds to play with while I got her re-dressed again. Now comes the fun part...waiting for the pictures to upload on the computer for them to preview. He got antsy, and I started feeding him goldfish. Then she started screaming, so I had to fix a bottle....this is when the extra person would've come in handy to stroller him around while I chose the pictures. But we managed. The sales girl asked if he would like some colors and a color sheet, but I told her he'd just eat them. Finally the pictures loaded, and I found out that because today was special Enchanted Forrest day... I couldn't do the BOGO option because I was a super-saver member. Each sheet cost $19.99 because they all were enhanced! Perfect! Since she got some really good pictures of both of them, I ended up buying the cheapest package that included the CD. Yeah, I knew Michael was not going to be happy about that, but I decided to call these her 3 month pics, and go with it! Hopefully that will make it a little bit easier for Michael to digest! :)

So after all that, here are the pictures:

She ended up falling asleep taking her bottle while I was choosing the pictures. I put her back in the stroller, and got him out. He sat with me for the last few minutes, and then we went to eat a Chick-fil-a. I walked around the mall for a bit, and he fell asleep too! SWEET! However, since I just dropped a pretty penny for pictures I couldn't even afford to window shop!

When it was all said and done, I am very happy with the pictures, and proud of myself for making it happen without any help!