18 month pictures

Today we had Malachi scheduled for his 18 month pictures. We normally go to JC Penney's and we made our appointment for 10 am, right when they opened. We were thinking that we would have plenty of happy time before nap and would get some fabulous pictures...WRONG!!! I didn't take into consideration the time change, so we arrived right when we was ready to nap. We tried for a bit, and after the photographer missed several adorable shots because she was too busy getting him to sit "just so", he melted and we re-scheduled for later in the day. When we came back, Malachi was all napped up and ready to go, but just didn't like the lady. She kept getting right in his face and making weird noises and blowing in his face when we would cry. I wanted to punch her. She continued to be concerned with the perfect placement and missed more good pictures. We also found out that at their studio, there is a little red light on the floor that if the subject isn't standing directly on it, they say the picture will be blurry and won't look good. Do you really think that a nearly 18 month old is going to sit still on a tiny little dot and smile?? Ya right!! She kept commenting on how he wasn't doing good and saying that she got some good shots, but when I looked at the computer, there wasn't a single decent one in the bunch. We felt pressured into buying some, so we did. On the way out, we decided to stop at Picture People to ask them about how their studio works. No sitting fees, pictures emailed to you at no charge, and no silly red dot. But their sheets are $18 each!! Oy. They said they had time to photograph him right then and we could get a free 10x13 or 8x10 with no commitment to buy. We gave it a shot. What a night and day difference. The photographer was happy and up-beat, an extra lady was there to help him smile and act goofy and as long as we was on the white background, they could take pictures of him anywhere. We got nearly 20 adorable pictures! And, yes, we bought 2 more sheets, but don't you think paying a bit more is worth it when your kid doesn't look petrified?? Ya, me too. I don't think Malachi was the problem. Here's some of the shots from Picture People...hopefully they aren't too small to see.