A family photo session gone bad

On May 23, 2009, myself, Layla and Richard met up with a lady I have become good friends with at my office building. Her name is Monica, and she is a fan-tab-u-lous photographer!!! Uber talented. Check out her other work at http://www.monicadwalker.com/

Me and Layla had a mommy and me session with Monica last October, so I decided to have her snap some of our little family this time. Here is a shot of what Monica captured in October...The last time we had a family picture taken, Layla was 6 months old. This family session was way over due. I meant to have another one taken when Layla was 18 months old....oh well. Life gets in the way! Four months over due isn't terrible. Look how tiny Layla was? (And how big I was? Eeek!)

Okay, so back to the family photo session. The day began horribly. Richard did not understand why on earth I would schedule a session for 9 o'clock in the morning!!! I was worried about the time too when I scheduled it with Monica, but she insisted the light was much more appealing at this time. When the sun gets too high in the sky, everyone begins to squint, etc. Makes sense.

Here is a run down. Layla's outfit. She kept pulling the tie straps. Dress would fall to the floor. She loved it. For pictures? Not so good. So, we used Plan B dress, which was adorable. Her wardrobe!?!?! Ha. Ridiculous. She had plenty of back up plans! Pacifier. Misplaced the very last binky, that I swore I would NOT replace. Left the house right around 9 am. Appointment at 9 am, downtown. At least a 20 minute drive. And of course, daddy stopped to replace the binky. We were so late! Bad, bad business. I apologized profusely and Monica still likes me! Whew...

Of course, when we got there, (at this point, I feel like I have been hit with a Mack Truck!) Layla goes into full breakdown mode. Of course. So fitting. After all of the morning troubles, she doesn't want to cooperate now either? Well, she IS 22 month old. And as it turns out, she was cutting her bottom incisors too. You will be able to see that in one of her photos. At least I have the proof.

Okay, the best part of all of this are the pictures she snapped of us! So, I will stop the rambling and get to it already. (I know that's what you were thinking.)

Big girl walking up the stairs when we arrived!

Simply adorable.

At the top of the stairs...everyone say "WHEEE!"

And that was the extent of Layla's pictures!

Break down in progress below. Can you see the toofies?

All she needed was momma. Oh yeah - and the new binky. Ugh!!!

We tried to snap some of just the two of us...I look whooped! I was.
High school sweethearts still going strong.

Right before she snapped this, I screamed!

Luckily, she got this look instead of my mouth wide open!

And our handsome man...so GQ!

And one last shot for the road. (No liquor involved!) But, I needed some after this session. Monica probably did too! I owe her a few drinks from this day!

A BIG thank you to Monica for working magic on us!!!

We will see you soon for an evening time re-shoot.

And I cannot wait...